Author: jkirkby8712

Yes, the days have rolled along, and indeed got away from your personal essayist.  Tuesday was a relaxing day at home for this writer  – a short walk at one stage, and a drive for some shopping in the early evening, but for the most, simply an opportunity to catch up on tasks  at home, and prepare for that evening’s radio show  – usually go on air straight from the drive from work, and the city, but none of that on this ‘extra’ public holiday. Susie, who had gone through a weekend of good and bad days, returned up to Bendigo tonight – I was not keen on her doing the drive after dark, but her response was that she prefers to drive at night! Perhaps I felt the same way when I was her age, can’t remember now!  Anyway, she knows her Dad  –  I was just about to finish the radio show just before 8pm, when a brief text message came through –  ‘No need to stress, in Bendigo’

As a part of my ‘temporary’ subscription to the Folio Magazine, I receive a copy of their quarterly magazine, which usually contains previews of new book releases. Pity I can’t get this on a regular basis, as some of the articles are quite good.  There was one of this occasion that was talking about the meanings behind Lao Tzu’s famous work of Chinese philosophy called the ‘Tao Te Ching’ [translated by Arthur Waley as ‘The Way and it’s Power’].    Lao Tzu was apparently the founder of the main rival tradition around  the sixth century BC  to the philosophies of  Confucius.  The writer of the article tells us that modern scholarship has helped us to realise that the stories of Lao Tze have little basis in fact, yet they provide testimony to a rivalry between two major  intellectual  traditions – the Taoists and the Confucians., a rivalry which has been now dated to the mid third century BC. I was hoping that by reading this brief article, I might be able to gain a bit of understanding of those traditions –  it might have been  preferable if I’d just left it before proceeding, beyond the paragraph that stated “Completely beyond the comprehension of human beings who rely exclusively on dualistic, rational knowledge, it can only be comprehended by those adepts who follow a practice of apophatic inner cultivation…..or ‘Taoist yoga” That should have been enough for me, but I tried to read on, but had to agree that after a few quoted verses etc, I was none the wiser – beyond my limited rational comprehension, as warned…………………..let’s go straight to the ‘summary’ by H D Roth.  “To sum up, the compelling advice found in the Tao Te Ching has served as an ideal of cosmic wholeness and self-contextualisation, of withdrawal  from society and of laissez-faire rulership for more than two millennia”.   That makes so much sense!!!  Here’s one example of the teachings of ‘The Way’

From Tao Te Ching, XLVIII

‘Ridding oneself of desires is only one of a number of meditative techniques through which we may directly apprehend the Way in a non-dualistic fashion. The text also advocates limiting thought, feeling and perception to order apophatically to approach the Way:

Learning consists in adding to one’s stock day by day;/  The practice of Tao consists in ‘subtracting day by day,/  Subtracting and yet again subtracting/  Till one has reached inactivity,/  But by this very inactivity/  Everything can be activated’

Perhaps in past days, I might have persevered with this subject, and tried to get some element of understanding, or more realistically, and appreciation of the value of such ‘ideas’ as above!   In my 65^th year, I’m not sure that I really want to be bothered appreciating such ‘wisdom’ let alone understand it!!

Wednesday was not a very ‘happy’ day – early morning call from Shirley to advise that Susie [who seemed a little happier when she left last night] was in fact so low this morning, that she accepted the offer of Jodie or Shirley driving up to see her – she’d been unable to attend to her university commitments/placements, and was obviously quite depressed. Anyway, Shirley was going up to see her this afternoon after she finished her roster. And Dad was left to ‘worry’ for the rest of the day. Not surprisingly,   the work place wasn’t very attractive today.  Got back to Sunbury, wondering if I would find Susie had returned, as from the conversation this morning, seemed to be the probable option.  Not there! I decided to get some fresh air and exercise, with an early evening walk –  and it was quite ‘fresh’, becoming both cooler and darker halfway along my journey!  Ran into Brendan Bull [our plumber for most of our time in Sunbury] and his little dog, out for a walk,  at a slightly slower pace and less distance than my efforts tonight.. We chatted briefly – was good to see him up and about, as a few years ago, he had a bad period with prostrate cancer – as he said, ‘still walking and working’!  Ditto!!

Later, was cooking myself  a meal, when Susan and Shirley arrived, in their separate cars.  The latter didn’t stay, while Susie had given up university [hopefully just for the rest of this week – told me she would be going back up next week]. I didn’t press her for too much detail – obviously finds it easier to talk to her mother or sister about current problem. Dad is just here whenever needed!  Anyway, not around long tonight, going over to stay with a friend [in Watergardens  – more night driving!] – tried to persuade her to eat something, but line with her mood over past few weeks, didn’t feel like eating. I would be surprised if she has eaten much at all today!  Not sure if she would be back tonight – to ease my concern,  asked her to let me know if she decided not to return home tonight. Yes, but it might be late!  No problems, as far as I was concerned.  It was late –  in fact, at 1.10am, Susie’s message came through, although for a change, I had managed some sleep beforehand  –  ‘Hey Dad, staying here, sorry for late notice’  [wherever ‘here’ was!!].

On TV tonight, another episode of the great SBS Australian police series ‘East West 101’  –  one review of the current series describes it in this manner:- “A 6-part mini series about the investigations of the Major Crime Squad in Metropolitan Sydney. Zane Malik at 32 is a brilliant detective whose ability to connect with people helps him solve crimes. Ambitious and driven, he has confidence, strength and intelligence. Malik is an Arab and proud of it, a devout Muslim who clashes with his immediate superior, Detective Sergeant Ray Crowley. Both men are haunted by their past failures and the damage inflicted on loved ones. Ironically, they can only overcome the past with help from each other.”.  I enjoy it particularly because of the inter-race relationships, conflicts, and potential  solutions, and because it appears to provide a realistic approach [perhaps over the top at times]  of the involvement of racial tensions in the Australian criminal areas, and the manner in which innocent people on both sides are so easily drawn into situations simply because of their backgrounds,  It was last Wednesday, that saw the  return of this multi-award winning series which this time,  explores the fallout from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through a series of violent crimes committed in Australia. What happened during the war in the opium fields of the Chora Valley in Afghanistan, and the collateral damage to civilians in Tikrit in northern Iraq, comes home to the main streets and malls of Lakemba. The sophisticated robbery of an armoured guard van leaves four dead, including some of the robbers themselves. Meanwhile Malik clashes with new detective on the squad, a former army officer, Neil Travis, in his impassioned pursuit of those who have hurt him and his family.  I generally don’t like watching ‘crime based’ TV shows, but this one I find is different, and despite the over-indulgence of violence, etc, it is a series I make a point of watching.

Don Hany and Susie Porter

It was both Easter Monday, and ANZAC Day, this Monday, and if my memory serves me right, also a birthday [22nd] of a nephew – I recall he was born on Anzac Day 1989. I was up in Canberra at the time, part of a four week ‘management’ course, and that morning, we visited the Australian War Memorial to attend the Anzac Dawn Service – the first of only two such services I’ve managed to get to, the second some years later, at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance. Despite the reluctance [or is it lazyness] to actually get up on this morning to even our ‘local’ Mt Macedon dawn service, I do make a point each year [as with morning] of waking early in order to listen to the ABC broadcasts of firstly, the Dawn Service from Canberra [5.30am] and then the brief 6am service from here in Melbourne. As that time this morning, my thoughts went to brother Ian – retired from the Australian Army for a few years now, and having just gone through a few personal difficulties –  wondered whether he was participating in equivalent events up there in Brisbane this morning. I knew he would be glued to a TV this afternoon [probably in his local pub] watching his beloved Collingwood football team play against in the now annual Anzac Day match at the MCG!!

For readers who have not seen my Anzac Day blogs of recent years, a brief reminder of the occasion, with the aid of some general notes on Anzac Day.

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is the anniversary of the landing of troops from Australia and New Zealand on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, in World War I on April 25, 1915. The bravery of all military personnel who participated in this campaign and the lives of those who died in all military actions, in which Australians have been involved, both prior to Gallipoli, and subsequently, are remembered. In 1916, the first anniversary of the landing was observed in Australia, New Zealand and England and by troops in Egypt. That year, 25 April was officially named ‘Anzac Day. The Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today.The 1st official dawn service was held in 1927.  The marches, etc, are not a glorification of war itself, but of the sacrifices that have been made in those various conflicts, and the men & women who participated, and  to honour the more than 110,000 Australians

Many ceremonies, parades and other activities are held on ANZAC Day to remember the lives of those who participated or died in military action, particularly on the Gallipoli Peninsula in World War I. Dawn prayer or church services are a particularly important aspect of ANZAC Day. These represent the comradeship that the soldiers experienced as they rose each morning to prepare for another day of military action. After the services, gunfire breakfast (coffee with rum in it) is often served. In major cities and many smaller towns, parades, marches and reunions of current and past military personnel and memorial services are held. The fourth stanza or verse of a well known poem, known as The Ode, is read aloud at many ceremonies. The poem is called “For The Fallen” and was written by Laurence Binyon in 1914. It commemorates those who died and can never grow old. After the formal events, many people play games of “two-up”. This is a gambling game played using two coins. This form of gambling is usually illegal in many Australian states. However, the authorities usually turn a blind eye to it on ANZAC Day.As background to Gallipoli, one on site ‘historian’ has described it in this fashion

 “In the early months of 1915, World War I was raging in most of Europe, including the Ottoman empire in the geographical area that is now Turkey. Russian troops were fighting on many fronts, particularly against troops from Germany and the Ottoman and Austro -Hungarian empires. At dawn on April 25, 1915, forces from France, Great Britain and the British Empire, including Australia and New Zealand, landed at a number of places on the Gallipoli peninsula. The campaign aimed to open up new fronts for the Allied forces and a trade route to Russia. In the ensuing battle, many lives were lost on both sides and the Allied forces did not succeed in opening a trade route to Russia. The last ANZAC forces withdrew from the Gallipoli Peninsula by December 20, 1915, in a successful operation with very few casualties. In spite of their losses, the ANZAC servicemen and many Australians and New Zealanders saw this battle as the start of the ANZAC spirit. This is an Australasian ideal based on the “mateship” and cheerful suffering the forces showed during this campaign  ANZAC Day is also a public holiday and day of remembrance in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga. It is also commemorated with special services and events on or around April 25 in a range of countries across the globe. These include: the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Canada and the United States (including Hawaii).

Sunbury itself of course, has it’s own Anzac Ceremony, at the local War Memorial, here on the Village Grren, after a brief march of veterans through the town. I usually attend that ceremony, but decided that, as with my weekend ‘intention’ of relaxing at home as much as I could, would give it a miss this year. The bonus, in watching the TV coverage of the Melbourne march, was to note one of the divisions under which my father served during World War II – the 2nd/5th Field Ambulance of the Australian Army. I think there are only a small number of veterans left these days, and I’ve noticed that over the past year or so, I’ve not been receiving any material from ‘reunion’ group associated with that division. Must follow that up. A dawn service is also held up at the top of Mt Macedon [about 15 kms north of Sunbury] – have not made the effort to get to that one yet, either.

The following story is an interesting, and inspiring, sideline to the Mt Macedon ceremony – 

‘An 80km walk may not be everyone’s idea of a Sunday stroll but it’s the way two locals will challenge themselves and remember those who fought on the Kokoda track. Gisborne’s Ian Gilchrist and Sunbury’s John Turnbull will again walk from the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne to the dawn service at Mt Macedon on Anzac Day. It will be the second time they have walked the route, and this year Mokoda (Macedon and Kokoda) has a following with a dozen or more people joining in. Mr Gilchrist said the friends regularly walked up Mt Macedon and decided last year to try and make it to the dawn service – starting at the Shrine of Remembrance.“We do take a lot for granted about the freedoms that were granted by those before us,” Mr Gilchrist said. “We did it as a personal challenge and as a mark of respect.” Mr Gilchrist played down the length of the journey and the thought that it could rain.“I think it’s more like 73km and it’s not that bad.  “It’s quite easy, it’s mostly flat, Bulla is a bit hilly and Mt Macedon is a bit of challenge at the end but you just take it easy.” The IT product manager and Sunbury pilot will set off at 10pm [Sunday] to make the trek.’  I hope they all made it too the top of the mountain succesfully this morning as planned. There is a large cross at the top of Mt Macedon which forms the central focus of the Dawn Service.

I was watching the telecasts from Gallipoli [Turkey], and Villers-Breneaux [France] early this afternoon, of the ANZAC Dawn services been held in both countries, and found it quite emotional at times – particularly at the conclusion of the service from Anzac Cove [Gallipoli] when the National Anthems of Turkey, Australia and New Zealand were sung, and played. I thought that rather a special moment, more significant in fact than the speeches being thrown around about former foes, now celebrating together the same event – the Anzac forces of course, with the British having being the ‘invaders’ as far as Turkey was concerned, back in 1915.

However while watching that, my mind was also drawn to the fact that while the Turkish forces, at significant cost to their own numbers, fought a gallant, and winning campaign against the Allies, there was something else quite disturbing going on in that nation. Throughout the early part of World War I, Turkey was quietly behind the scenes, engaged in a systematic and pre-planned ethnic cleansing of a portion of their population. Twenty years earlier, up to 80,000 Turkish Armenians had been slaughtered, and shortly before 1915, plans were in place to rid the rid the country of it’s entire Armenian population. First to be eliminated were the 100,000 Armenian conscripts in the armed forces, followed by all Armenian community leaders, and finally the forced deportation of the balance of the population into the desert regions, and Interior Minister Talaat Bey was given responsibility for carrying out Turkey’s ‘final solution’ of it’s Armenian ‘problem’.  In David Shermer’s history ‘World War I’, he writes “Talaat instructed that ‘the Government…..decided to destroy completely all Armenians living in Turkey……An end must be put to their existence, however criminal the measures taken may be, and no regard must be paid to either age or sex nor to conscientious scruples’.” P136].  In the summer of 1915 [while the Gallipoli campaign was in progress], a quartet of a million Armenians managed to escape to Russia, but they were the exceptions. Of the two million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire in 1914,  one and a half million of them had disappeared from the face of the earth by 1916. Ever since then, Turkey has told the rest of the world to ‘mind it’s own business’.  And seemingly, in view of subsequent genocidal events in the 20^th century, the world has done just that, and sat back while nations undertook attempts to ‘ethnically cleanse’ their countries of those parts of the population not wanted, eg,   the Jews [by the Nazis], Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and so on!!!

So around Australia, countless speeches today, are talking of the sacrifices made by our soldiers, to bring peace to the world, but when you look at much of the world since 1915, we have seen very little peace, or kindness of man to his/her fellow man!!

But, that is another topic, and something that has been forgotten in the euphoria of today’s celebrations. During World War II, my father was, amongst other roles, a member of an anti-aircraft division operating out of New Guinea, in defence against Japanese war plane attacks.  On the 13^th May, 1943, he wrote a short poem, which he titles the ‘Anti-Aircraft Gunner’

‘I’m sitting here and wondering,

Just what it’s all about.

The guns are all a-thundering

And the fighter’s going out.

Our crew is standing ready

Lest the Zero come in sight,

We’re bound to give old Tojo

A most terrific sight.’

[by Gunner John Keith Kirk]

Turning away from ANZAC, to the big Anzac Day football match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this afternoon – a traditional game on the 25^th April between Collingwood and Essendon. Must admit, I put all else aside, and decided to watch this game  – a crowd of 89,626 present, beautiful weather, and a fairly close game throughout the match, although somehow, you felt that the favourites, last year’s Premiers Collingwood, just had the answers whenever Essendon challenged, and while the score of 30 points difference in the end, looked impressive, that was really only dominance in the last 15 minutes, apart from a strong first quarter. I thought the game even for the rest of the match. Final score: Collingwood Magpies: 16.11.107 defeated Essendon Bombers: 11.11.77.  Now, looking back over Collingwood’s games this year, I believe that result means that Carlton [my team] have got the closest to the Magpies so far this year, losing by 28 points!! Last week, we drew with Essendon – guess that makes our two teams very evenly balanced!!

When most people would have been sleeping, I was letting myself into the  radio studio at 5.50 am this morning – my aim to present 3 hours of sacred and classical music, with the first hour in particular dedicated to music either relating to, or simply in acknowledgement of  the basic message of the Easter message from a Christian aspect.  As with my Christmas Day ‘specials’ it was always important to me to be able to do something like this over the Easter period, and in any case, most of this morning’s music, while a tribute to Easter, was also a normal extension of the classical music I normally play on air at this time on a Sunday morning. That three hours disappeared very quickly,and I felt personally satisfied after the event.

From the closing words of composer Krzysztof Penderecki’s ‘St. Luke Passion’, magnificently presented by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, and the Warsaw Boys Choir:-

‘In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust;/let me never be put to confusion,/deliver me in thy righteousness,/Bow down thy ear to me;/make haste to deliver me,/And be thou my strong rock,/and house of defence,/that thou mayest save me./Into thy hands I commend my spirit;/ for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth’

The balance of my Easter Sunday was relatively relaxed, and included a family dinner over at Goonawarra, which for a change, my wife’s mother did not completely cook and prepare – she had little choice with one arm in plaster following her fall last weekend!!  On this occasion, all of our ‘kids -‘ were present, though in contrast to past years, only one of them had a partner with them – Ash, with Jodie, was still on the scene! Despite a degree of ‘sadness’ around Susie’s situation, and a difficult night she had ahead of her, that was a nice little family gathering, and something that I am always so grateful to be able feel so welcome and a part of despite events of years gone past.

A quiet night at home, alone, this evening – feeling for Susie very much throughout the night, and without going into much detail, she had gone out to a concert in the city, with a ticket that her bf has previously given her – he was also going, but with someone else, and personally, had I been in Susie’s position, I would have stayed away! Anyway, I drove her to the train early this evening, and was somewhat ‘comforted’ by the fact, that her Mum and sister had arranged to pick her up in the city at the end of the concert. I would have offered to do so myself otherwise, as we could not have allowed her to find her own way home, despite Susie’s confidence that such a venture was fully within her capabilities. I’m sure it was, but the alternative was important today. Despite that knowledge, I would be up until midnight, and would not get to sleep until Shirley’s car pulled into the driveway at around 1am!! I didn’t greet Susie, knowing she would much prefer a ‘private’ entry and to be allowed to arrive home in her own privacy of thoughts, etc. Meanwhile, I used my evening to advantage, doing a bit of re-arranging of part of my book collection, noting along the way that there were still many in that collection, I’d still not read – just wished I had the time to get into some of them. Also worry often, about what will happen to all my books, when I am gone -really must make some adequate provision for that aspect one day!!

The next few days, over the Easter break promise us good weather [says the Weather Bureau!!], though this morning doesn’t seem to be a promising start – a little coolish in town earlier this morning, and currently rather overcast. But we shall remain optimistic that the day will improve – maybe not too much however, have a trip planned to the football this evening, and it no doubt will be quite cool by then anyway, I’d like to see the stadium roof closed!

Not a good night’s sleep overnight – woke a number of times, wondering if Susie had returned from a friend’s place [to where she had walked], and then later, wondering when she was going to switch off the light that seemed to have found it’s way under my door. When all of that settled down, Bill couldn’t get to sleep anywaym – got up and made a cup of tea, around 5am I think, and eventually drifted off some time later, with the music of ABC Classic FM quietly playing away in the background.  Despite all that, I was glad to see Susie getting out with other friends when she could – yesterday, she was in the city at an exhibition with a friend, and last night spent a few hours across the local park, at another friend’s house – I guess her return [although I wasn’t conscious of it] was one of those times that I awoke in my night of broken sleeps!

Late last year, it was my intention to go and see an opera this year. In 2010, was my first visit to the ballet – the Nutcracker, with Jodie, Susie & Shirley, so I felt that before I retired, and could afford to do so, I must get to the opera. In fact, at one stage had considered subscribing to the whole series of Australia Opera performances during their 2011 series. However, financial sensibility soon persuaded me against that idea, so the number down a little, until at this point, I’ve actually made no plans, though still intend to get to one of the better known operas. When that happens, readers of these pages will no doubt hear about it! With all that in mind, I was interested to read a little article in one of the papers the other day headed ‘Opera out of tune with audiences’. Basically it was saying that Opera Australia’s audiences shrank by 16% last year, leaving the company $600,000 in the red, and rethinking it’s future. Now the reason is not simply because, as most non-opera fans would be quick to suggest, that nobody is interested. Apart from the global financial crisis, and a corresponding decline in tourists, there appears to be an unwillingness by patrons to pay the high cost of tickets – the principal reason why I have not yet got there! But the ‘cost of tickets’ doesn’t seem to be the major point in the comments by Opera Australia’s CEO [Adrian Collette] who suggests that two year’s losses in a row means the company ‘needed to broaden and deepen it’s appeal to audiences……Two operation deficits in succession make a compelling argument for change’.  Well I don’t know, I would have thought that the traditional, and the newer productions such as ‘Bliss’ last year, were still appealing to those audiences who en joy opera, and to suggest that the challenge was to merely think of a more inventive program, is missing the point. Apart from the ‘rich set’ of enthusiasts who would probably find the money to pay ‘anything for anything’, I’m sure there are thousands of music enthusiasts out them who would love the same opportunity, but at a minimum ticket price of $80 for entertainment which has a minority of support in terms of overall music genres in Australia, the price of attending is simply beyond them, or such attendance has to be at the sacrifice of some more necessary expense in their lives! Anyway, it will be interesting to see just what Opera Australia ‘comes up with’.

Meanwhile, the May edition of ‘Limelight’ [yes, I am getting ahead of myself, it still only the 23 April], there is further comment on ‘that’ iPod which Prime Minister Julia Gillard, presented to US President, Barak Obama, when she visited him a few weeks ago. That action certainly triggered a backlash of protest from the Australian classical community, and I included myself in that group, through my blog entry at that time. Outrage was expressed at the Government’s ‘perceived lack of interest in the nation’s classical music traditions’.  The ‘diplomatic’ gift, presented to Obama of an iPod loaded with Australian music contained plenty of rock and folk music [most of it deserving such recognition] but not a single track of classical music! As pianist Gerard Willems said “It is a sad state of affairs that we….are recognised around the world for our achievements, but not acknowledged in our own country by our leaders”.  In response to all this outrage, local musicians have compiled two iPod’s worth of Australian classical music to be sent to both the Prime Minister, and the US President, and hopefully, including a bit of a rebuke to the PM! The playlist ranges from Peter Dawson’s ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and Joan Sutherland’s ‘Lucia’ to Peter Sculthorpe’s evocations of the landscape, and also contains works by up-to-the-minute composers such as Elena-Kats-Chernin and Brett Dean. I think at the time, that I included a copy of the full listing of the original i-Pod, so must seek out this alternative version, and list the contents on these pages also. Will be interesting to see just what has been included – Australian non-classical enthusiasts might just be surprised at just how much thery recognise as having heard previously!

Well, most of this Easter Saturday, saw your ‘personal essayist’ feeling a bit poorly, a genuine excuse, after a busy morning, to collapse in front of the TV this afternoon, and watch the Sydney Cup race meeting from Randwick.. Like last Saturday, it was a miserable looking wet race course, although presumably not the same degree of coldness, that such all day rain in Melbourne would create, judging by some of the fashion outfits that the women in particular were [or weren’t] wearing.  Incidentally, the Australian Girls Choir sang the National Anthem again – they have been quite busy at various events of that nature over recent weeks, and today’s rendition of the anthem was particularly inspiring. It reminded me as always, of those 5 or 6 years, that daughter Susan spent as a member of the Essendon branch of the Australian Girls Choir. While it was a rather expensive and time consuming venture, it did open many opportunities to her, and gave her family various wonderful concerts and performances to enjoy. I was a little disappointed when she decided to give it away in her mid teens, although also, silently pleased that all of those long drives to rehearsals, etc, had come to an end.

As for the Sydney Cup, which is run over the same distance of the 3,200 metres Melbourne Cup [in November], the winner there was a bit of an outsider, which had actually been the emergency for the race – Stand To Gain- heard someone describe it as the best wet track racehorse in Australia!!  Well, when it lines up in the Melbourne Cup later this year, I must keep that in mind, particularly if the first Tuesday in November this year happens to be a wet one!! Meanwhilem, the Group One race prior to the Cup, was the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which in very appropriate fashion was won by a horse that should be very used to wet conditions – a horse named My Kingdom of Fife, which was formerly owned by Queen Elizabeth herself. Very apt result indeed!!

Anyway, in my present ‘frame of health’ I was beginning to regret my decision to go and watch the football in the city tonight, but the cdecision had been made, and it was going to be one of those rare occasions –  I’m sure from memory, the first time that three of my children [all adults now of course] had joined me at a Carlton football match. So whatever I was feeling like, there was no way I was going to allow that opportunity to pass by.  So joining me tonight, down at the Telstra Dome in the city [I decided to drive, good move, rather than catch the train] was Jodie [who gets to a few Carlton matches throughout the seasons], Susan [whom I couldn’t recall ever going before, but apparently she had been previously], and of course, James [ the most vocal current suppolrter in the family, who met us at our seats, as he was staying in the city for the weekend]. The missing ‘child’ was Adam, the only one of my family to stray away and decide to barrack for another team!!! I think I mentioned that fact last week, when Carlton played Essendon.

So, to our Carlton Football [Blues] update for Round 5 of the 2011 AFL Season, Carlton Blues versus the Adelaide Crows.  On paper, it should be a relatively easy win for Carlton, but I had mentioned to my family, that I have become a bit of a jinx, when it comes to watching the Blues play at Telstra Dome over recent years – they don’t win when I am there!!  As the sporting headlines would scream afterwards ‘Wayward Blues survive scare’  – a great start in the first quarter, as my boys got away to a strong start, and the match had images of becoming a very one-sided game. However, Adelaide had other ideas, and aided by atrocious kicking for goal by the Carlton players,  began to make the game as very low scoring and tight battle, so that as things went along, it began to look more and more likely that my jinx would continue. At least for Susie’s sake [who probably would have initially preferred to have been somewhere else] she was getting a close and exciting game of football.  After leading by 27 points late in the first quarter, my Blues found themselves behind by 11 points halfway into the last quarter, and suddenly we were headed for a shock loss! My head was in my hands by now, I couldn’t believe the ineffectual manner in which many of our players seemed to be performing. But, in the closing minutes, the Blues managed to ‘get out of jail’  through a combination of desperate persistence, and a couple of costly errors by the opposition in those last minutes of the match. And like all Carlton supporters, the majority of the Telstra Dome crowd, we breathed a big sigh of relief, getting away with a narrow win.  Quarter by quarter scores revealed that:

Carlton Blues:     5.5.35     6.12.48     8.17.65    Final:  11.19.85

Adelaide Crows:   1.2.8       6.2.38       9.4.58     Final: 12.7.79

The usual long and crowded walk back to the car, and an equally long [and for the driver] tiring return trip to Sunbury, but at least with the knowledge of having ventured to Telstra Dome for a positive result for a change. Incidentally, in a real turn up of results, the new AFL team, the Gold Goast Suns collected theiur first ever win today, defeating the luckless Port Adelaide team by just 3 points! Plenty of excitement up north tonight!

First day of five day weekend  – a longer break for Easter this year, because the season has fallen so late in April, it has clashed with another public holiday here in Australia.  ANZAC Day always falls on the 25^th April, which this year, also happens to be Easter Monday.  So the government has declared Tuesday to be an extra public holiday in lieu of ANZAC Day.

Of course, the extra day means more people will take the opportunity to go away for the longer break, which in turn means more vehicles on our streets and highways, especially in the rural areas. One thing I’m always very conscious of at this time of year – is the ‘Easter holiday period’ road toll of deaths and injuries through road accidents. Already by this morning, there had three recorded deaths. Of course, in comparison to toll figures in countries like South Africa, that kind of figure is minimal, yet from my point of view, any death or injury from a road accident should have been avoidable in some way – they represent an unnecessary waste of human lives and resources. Inevitably [as is the case every weekend, or weekday]  people driving around now, who won’t be at the end of the period. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life and death, and little amount of worrying on my part won’t change that!

Anyway, my Good Friday morning began with a phone call to the radio station – in preference to getting up on a non-work day and driving up to the station for my weekly 10 minute sports report, which I normally deliver before I head off to work. I think host Ron was a little disappointed at my non-appearance in person, however, I think he would have been more let down, had I not even rung in with my report.  That approach allowed me to return to bed for a while, with a cup of tea [a beverage I seldom drink or enjoy], and to do a bit of reading.  I always have three or four books at the go at one time – currently, it’s two rather contrasting reads. One is called ‘in My Words’ by top Australian horse trainer, Gai Waterhouse, virtually a transcription of a blog she has been writing over recent years, ever since the horse flu scare almost devastated horse racing in Australia. Interesting to follow the writing style of someone else. 

The second book is a Folio Society publication, which I purchased recently, in order to meet my commitment to that organisation. I purchased books from the Society some years ago on a regular basis, and of course, because their books are produced at such a high quality, they are also very expensive. With a couple of job losses a few years ago, I ceased that practice, but was drawn back in about a year ago, with the special deals that the Folio Society always has on the go, to attract subscribers. Those ‘specials’ are usually pretty good value, but obviously, there is a price attached – a commitment to buy a certain number of books over a specified period from their catalogued collection, at rather high prices. My latest purchase will have to be my last one I think – with plans to finish full time work later in the year, it is not going to be a viable ‘hobby, irrespective of the quality of the publication!!  This one for eg, is described as having it’s ‘Text set in Monotype Bell 11 point leaded one Point, and printed on Abbey Wove Paper, and Quarter bound in cloth with printed paper sides. Not quite sure what all that means, but it sounds impressive, and I must admit, that the collection I have built up over the years, also ,looks impressive!  This particular publication  is called Dickens’ London’ and is a selection of  essays written by the great English novelist, Charles Dickens about the city of London as he saw it in the early 1800s. It is quite fascinating in terms of the detail and almost intimate perception he draws together of the people, their lives, the good and the bad,  and which observations obviously formed the basis of many of the characters and stories behind his many novels, such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield [my favourite],  Bleak House, the Pickwick Papers, and so on. I’ve only read a couple of the essays so far, but feel I have some entertaining reading ahead of me.

Earlier this morning, I was listening to some music composed  [or at least being played] to recognise the 400^th anniversary of the creation of the King James’ translation of the Christian Bible. Now even that translation was influenced  by many other translations and scholars’ interpretations, going right back to the original writings of both the Old and New Testaments. Today, we have more modern translations, and while there are people who object  to any change in the King James’ version, I consider that view misguided – even the 1611 translation was partially a response to the needs of that time, and each new version before and since has been attempting to adapt to the times and attitudes, whilst retaining the same message, but making it more accessible and perhaps understandable to new readers, allowing the Word of God to reach people in their own ‘language’. I have no problem whatsoever with that.  In theatre and the music halls, we regularly see modern adaptations of traditional operas, ballets, plays by Shakespeare, etc, not to take away the original meaning and message intended.  My favoured modern interpretation is the publication entitled ‘The Message’, produced by Eugene H Peterson. In the Introduction to his production of the ‘New Testament, with Psalms and Proverbs’, Peterson writes:-

“The arrival of Jesus signalled the beginning of a new era. God entered history in a personal way, and made it unmistakably clear that he is on our side, doing everything possible to save us. It was all presented and worked out in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was, and is, hard to believe – seemingly too good to be true. But one by one, men and women did believe it, believed Jesus was God alive among them and for them. Soon they would realise that he also lived in them……………..This version of the New Testament in a contemporary idiom keeps the language of the Message current and fresh and understandable in the same language in which we do our shopping, talk with our friends, worry about world affairs, and  teach our children their table manners. The goal is not to render a word-for-word conversion of Greek into English, but rather to convert the tone, the rhythm, the events, the ideas, into the way we actually think and speak.”

I’m putting below here, a comparison of a brief portion of the Good Friday story, taken from John Chapter 19.

King James version:  Book of St John: Chapter 19: verses 25-30

‘Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman behold thy son!  Then saith he to the disciple, Behold they mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.’

Same text, as submitted by Peterson, in ‘The Message’

‘While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus’ mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her,. He said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother. Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, ‘I’m thirsty’. A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, ‘It’s done…..complete.’  Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.’

I gave myself plenty of time to find my way across the city to the south eastern suburb of Mt Waverley, where this morning’s funeral for our late ‘friend’ Jean was to be conducted at local Uniting Church. I generally pride myself on being able to competently find my way around the metropolis of Melbourne and to be quite efficient at the reading of a street directory. My mistake this morning was in placing reliance on a Google map which I had hurriedly obtained before I left the office yesterday!  Upon reflection, I’m convinced that the regular maps from the street directory is a much more reliable means of tracking where one has to go.

However, with the aid of Google, I was quite confident of my destination, and within about 15 minutes driving of my intended destination, I had plenty of time prior to the 10am starting time.  My first mistake was not interpreting the Google map accurately, which generally highlights your main route, but gives little reference to the roads, etc, in between that main route!   So eventually, the main road that I thought I was on, and off which was the church I was looking for, well put simply, I couldn’t find the relevant side streets that were so clearly marked as being just off the main road. As my frustration and annoyance grew at my obvious inability to find what I was looking for, I could see all of that spare time I had, quickly ticking away, and it was becoming obvious that I was not going to reach the church by 10am!  Ten minutes out, and I finally realised, that in the midst of this hectic mid morning traffic, I was searching along the wrong road! Off we went, this time to the correct destination. My next mistake was making one further stop to confirm my bearings, and the street I was looking for.  Mind you, the outcome would have been the same, wherever I had finally stopped, preferably at the church!  Already late, I set off again  –  or tried to.  The car would not restart! Couldn’t even get the gear stick out of the ‘park’ position!   ‘I don’t believe it’!! It appeared to be a problem with the battery, and a look under the bonnet didn’t reveal anything else as an obvious problem.

Now our motoring service organisation – the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria [RACV] –  is a very useful organisation for motorists to turn to in times of need, such as now. The downside to that is usually the time you have to wait to get that service. Thankful that before I’d left home, I’d made a point of recharging my mobile phone, my call to the RACV involved the usual discussion about exactly where I was, what the problem was etc. I must admit that the lady on the phone must have quickly recognised the frustration in my voice – she was calm and measured in her approach, and remained that way through my somewhat impatient attempts to describe where I was.  The usual story  – a service van will be with you in 20-40, but if it is going to be longer, would you like us to text you? That was a warning signal immediately!  Incidentally, by now I’d given up any idea of getting to the funeral I had been heading for!  Sure enough, right on 40 minutes, and my phone buzzes!  ‘We apologise for the delay and expect that a Patrol will arrive within 60 minutes [by 11.49am]”. I’d first called shortly after 10am!!  Well, already desperately in need of getting to a toilet, that was just not good enough, I couldn’t  ‘survive’ another hour, so I rang the RACV, and told them, I was going to have to be away from the car for 10 minutes, so if the Patrol turns up in that 10 minutes, I won’t be here. The ‘voice’ on the phone promised to ensure the delay was beyond at least 10 minutes!!  My destination was a major hotel that I knew was around the corner, but a preferable alternative was on the opposite corner – a MacDonald’s restaurant – didn’t buy anything, but was in and out, and back to the car within the specified time. Another 10 minutes and my  ‘rescuer’ arrived  – rather young, but hopefully he knew what he was doing!

Anyway, to cut a over-long boring story, it took two jump-starts [with a modern looking piece of equipment] to get the car going again, but with the warning – the battery is 4 years, normal life span, might be an idea to get a new one asap.  Oh yes, on the Thursday afternoon before Easter?  At least now, the engine was running, the car in gear, and I had no intention of switching the ignition off until I had reached Northcote [my work place]. That happened about 45 minutes later, but I drove straight to our regular service repairer first, not optimistic that he could help me at short notice!  Fifteen minutes later, I  drove away, new ‘pricey;’ battery installed, and hopefully, problem solved.

That was the spoilt plan – I didn’t get to pay my respects to an old friend!

The change of plan later was of my own doing. Bit of shopping for the Easter weekend when I reached Sunbury, and home, still in advance of Susie, originally expected Tuesday night, but had decided to stay up in Bendigo for a couple of extra days. She went out to play volleyball tonight, which I hoped was not a bad move –  most of the team was associated with her ex-boyfriend’s family, but she did not seem concerned, convinced he would not be there! Presumably he wasn’t, as she returned home later, in a reasonably mood, aided by the fact of a rare win in their match!

As with Christmas, I generally like to do a special program on the radio to acknowledge the fact of Easter, and recognise the original significance of the ‘celebrations’, but the only ‘free on air’ opportunity I would have was at midnight tonight – wanted to go in after the last Thursday presenter had \finished, and present a program of sacred music, basically for Good Friday, which the time would be by then. However, I’d not made any commitment about this, and from memory had only mentioned to one listener, that I might do a midnight shift, for that purpose. However, with doubts about whether anyone would be interested in listening to classical religious music at that time of night, and my own ability to wait until then after a tiring and frustrated day, I changed my mind. I was not expected, except by one, and I let her know through someone else, that I’d not be on air.  The little response I received back from that listener was rather heart warming –  :To Bill, the hours of pleasure you have given me, don’t you dare feel bad [about not going on air], many Sunday mornings, i could not get out of bed when my legs didn’t want to work, and then I would say, bills on air, much love, take care, your well being and health is worth more than being on air, as much as we all love you..”

So with those thoughts in mind, I gave away any plans to do a midnight shift, this time!!

I received advice earlier this week that one of our ‘associates’ from past years had passed away, on Sunday I think it was, another victim of cancer.

Jean was a member of the original Wesley Young Adults, a group associated with the Wesley Methodist Mission in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and like most of us had ‘migrated’ to Melbourne from other parts of Australia seeking work and/or study, and in the process, finding the companionship of like minded people in the middle of the city, as young adults, most of us in our early 20s.  Thanks to the specific efforts of one former member, Rosemary, most of us from those days are able to keep in touch through the odd function every year or so, although because of distance, I tend to get to less of those than do the majority. The other Monday night was one of the exceptions, as noted in my blog at the time. When I received Rosemary’s news this week, I immediately determined that I would find a way to get to our friend’s final service, this coming Thursday.

 Jean was part of a group of 3 or 4 girls who for a few years, shared a flat in Drummond  Street, Carlton [an inner  Melbourne suburb], while about 20 minutes to the north west, there were 4 or 5 [the numbers varied from time to time] of us guys, sharing a house in Tennyson Street Moonee Ponds – never forget our Greek landlord, Mr Marinos, a real character!   Anyway, at different stages, some of us guys were going out with various of the girls over in Carlton  – in those days, the guys all continued to live in their ‘residence’ and the girls in theirs! You had a date, then returned your date to her place of abode.   Or we simply just participated in the same activities as a group of friends in any environment would!  I do recall, that on at least one occasion, Jean was included in a group of three ‘girls’ who joined me at an Australian football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the other two were her flatmates, one of whom was my girlfriend [briefly] at the time.  Unfortunately, as happened with others on a  couple of occasions, she [the girlfriend] was barracking for the other team, and it was usually my team [Carlton of course] that won that match! Not always a good result for good relations!  Anyway, I wander again  –   at the same time, there were other flats, etc, other girls and guys generally following the same format.  From memory, I think I might have been the only one who ‘strayed’ from that practice on a couple of occasions. Today of course, the guy and girl would simply move in together, and stay that way until something went wrong. We thought our method was less risky, less complicated, and didn’t leave you with a lot of messy after events, when the inevitable breakup of a particular relationship occurred, which it generally did – for eg, in the two households referred to, all of us eventually ended up married to someone from outside of those two ‘specific’ groups, although in the long run,  generally speaking, the majority of those who made up the WYA membership, usually  ended up married to another member, which was in fact my situation. Generally those relationships have lasted  –  mmmmm, again, I think I am one of the exceptions!  Ohhhh, well, I always was a little different! J

I suppose the disturbing aspect for the rest of us, at hearing the news of the death of a friend from that era, due to illness etc, is the ‘reminder’ that none of us are getting any younger, and we are moving into a couple of decades when we are all going to appear on one of Rosemary’s emails of sad tidings!!  A sobering thought indeed!

Meanwhile, a general meeting of our local Family History Society tonight, which included a fascinating talk by our President about the history – but he did it through photographs – which showed as clearly as any wordy description, just how much this town has changed over the past 40 years, even since we have been here, in 1983 When Peter himself, was a schoolboy here, there was little in the way of prospects for Sunbury from the small sparsely populated rural style community it was. Now it is a thriving little ‘city’ almost. I found the historical photos totally exhilerating, and in particular the pictures of the estate upon which I now live, most of which was a stud farm, I think, for racehorses, where just to the south of us, the Sunbury Racecourse used to exist. I can’t picture that now amongst the residential areas, what a pity that part of our development disappearred. We must encourage Peter to put his photo collection – literally thousands of photos taken either by himself or others of the life of Sunbury over many decades, into a formal published record, in a book of some sort!!

Over the past weekend, I completed reading a rather dramatic, in many ways simple, autobiography, called ‘Little Daughter’ written by Zoya Phan. The title was the name that her father referred to her whilst he was alive. A true story, which left one feeling quite pained again, at the reminder of the constant inhumanity of ‘man’ to his fellow ‘man’, and the words I wrote to a friend from the radio, who spends six months of each year with his Thai wife in Thailand, I guess hint at my concern of the situations surrounding Zoya’s life. Those comments were as follows:-

“I’ve just finished reading a book  written by a refugee from Burma [Zoya Phan  a 28-year-old ethnic Karen refugee from Burma, who as a 14 year old,  was forced to flee her country after her village was attacked by the Burmese Army], and who subsequently spent some ‘tortuous’ years in a couple of the refugee camps just inside the Thai border with Burma, before she was eventually able to ‘escape’ to the West, where today, she continues to campaign for the rights of her people.  With the ongoing brutal attitude of the Burmese regime, those oppressed classes in Burma [the Karens in particular], are still suffering the same fate, and in view of the many problems we still face here in Australia in respect to refugees,  I was wondering what the general attitude of the Thai people is towards the refugee problem coming from Burma, and what the King thinks or does about it?   Just curious guys  – it was a very confronting and disturbing book – and one has to wonder sometimes at the value of organisations such as the United Nations [or the USA/Britain, etc] who are so ready to jump into places like Libya to ‘protect’ the citizens, while the regime in Burma has been permitted to run amok against it’s own people for decades, even up to 2011.   Incidentally, some of those people here in Australia, who are always so ready to attack refugees as ‘free loaders’, ‘illegal immigrants, etc’ would do well to read a book like Zoya’s, and perhaps get a better understanding of some of the conditions that the majority of refugees have to live under that drives them to the stage of taking desperate measures [like using people smugglers] to simply escape those conditions –  the book –  ‘Little Daughter, the Autobiography of Zoya Phan’   [as you can gather, I’m a bit of an advocate for the cause of refugees, and have actually taken part in work to assist some of these people, in recent years, but I don’t really apologise for that]”

In brief terms, that probably sums up my feelings arising from the book.  To give a clearer idea of it’s subject matter,  I copy from the book promo itself.

“Zoya Phan is a 28-year-old ethnic Karen refugee from Burma. As a teenager she was forced to flee her country after her village was attacked by the Burmese Army. She now lives in London and works for the human rights organization Burma Campaign UK.   She was born in the remote jungles of Burma, to the Karen ethnic group. For decades the Karen have been under attack from Burma’s military junta; Zoya’s mother was a guerrilla soldier, her father a freedom activist. She lived in a bamboo hut on stilts by the Moei River; she hunted for edible fungi with her much-loved adopted brother, Say Say. Many Karen are Christian or Buddhist, but Zoya’s parents were animist, venerating the spirits of forest, river and moon. Her early years were blissfully removed from the war. At the age of fourteen, however, Zoya’s childhood was shattered as the Burmese army attacked. With their house in flames, Zoya and her family fled. So began two terrible years of running from guns, as Zoya joined thousands of refugees hiding in the jungle. Her family scattered, Zoya sought sanctuary across the border in a Thai refugee camp. Conditions in the camp were difficult, and Zoya now had to care for her ailing mother.

Zoya, a gifted pupil, was eventually able to escape, first to Bangkok and then, with her enemies still pursuing her, in 2004 she fled to the UK and claimed asylum. The following year, at a ‘free Burma’ march, she was plucked from the crowd to appear on the BBC, the first of countless interviews with the world’s media. She became the face of a nation enslaved, rubbing shoulders with presidents and film stars. By turns uplifting, tragic and entirely gripping Little Daughter  is the extraordinary true story of the girl from the jungle who became an icon of a suffering land.” 

While Zoya was in London, now a ‘free citizen’, her much loved father, who had long being on a Burmese ‘hit list’ was finally assassinated in front of his home, and that tragedy drove Zoya even further into her campaigns to free her people from oppression, a campaign which sadly continues to this day. Arising from that is The Phan Foundation, which was founded by Zoya Phan, his sister Bwa Bwa and her brothers Say Say and Slone. It is dedicated to the memory of their parents, and the lifetime of sacrifice they devoted, Padoh Mahn Sha [who was the General Secretary of the Karen National Union, at the time of his murder]  and Nant Kyin Shwe. The Foundation aims to fight poverty and provide education for Karen people from Burma, and it helps people in Burma and refugees, who continue to be forced to free their homes in the Thai border regions of Burma, and to achieve this, has four main objectives –  to alleviate poverty, to provide education, to promote human rights, and to protect Karen culture.  Much of that culture has being systematically destroyed as part of the Burmese regime’s policy of the ethnic cleansing of the Karen people. Visit www.phanfoundation.org  for more information, and ways of providing support.

Meanwhile, as it was Tuesday night, my program of Show music took place on the radio  – with Easter approaching, I decided to highlight many of the wonderful tracks from the musical ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. For myself, the highlight of that was the performance of ‘Gethsemane’ from the show, which reminds me always of that dramatic scene from Mel Gibson’s movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’, where Christ is in the Garden of Gethsemane, shortly before his arrest, and he is pleading with God to ‘relieve Him from this yoke of destiny’ that has been placed upon Him.  I wish to share those lyrics with my readers:-

Jesus
I only want to say
If there is a way
Take this cup away from me
For I don’t want to taste its poison
Feel it burn me,
I have changed I’m not as sure
As when we started
Then I was inspired
Now I’m sad and tired
Listen surely I’ve exceeded
Expectations
Tried for three years
Seems like thirty
Could you ask as much
From any other man?

But if I die
See the saga through
And do the things you ask of me
Let them hate me, hit me, hurt me
Nail me to their tree
I’d want to know
I’d want to know my God
I’d want to know
I’d want to know my God
I’d want to see
I’d want to see my God
I’d want to see
I’d want to see my God
Why I should die
Would I be more noticed
Than I ever was before?
Would the things I’ve said and done
Matter any more?
I’d have to know
I’d have to know my Lord
I’d have to know
I’d have to know my Lord
I’d have to see
I’d have to see my Lord
I’d have to see
I’d have to see my Lord

If I die what will be my reward?
If I die what will be my reward?
I’d have to know
I’d have to know my Lord
I’d have to know
I’d have to know my Lord

Why, why should I die?
Oh, why should I die?
Can you show me now
That I would not be killed in vain?
Show me just a little
Of your omnipresent brain
Show me there’s a reason
For your wanting me to die
You’re far too keen on where and how
But not so hot on why
Alright I’ll die!
Just watch me die!
See how, see how I die!
Oh, just watch me die!

Then I was inspired
Now I’m sad and tired
After all I’ve tried for three years
Seems like ninety
Why then am I scared
To finish what I started
What you started
I didn’t start it
God thy will is hard
But you hold every card
I will drink your cup of poison
Nail me to your cross and break me
Bleed me, beat me
Kill me, take me now
Before I change my mind

[from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ – Gethsemane]

One of those Mondays in a month when things get a little busy at the office – Committee meeting day, etc, although it was admittedly a little quieter than usual, thanks to a couple of absentees.

And meanwhile, the family weekend dramas continued – they say these things come in threes, so I suppose it should be no surprise to receive a phone call from eldest son James this morning – he was taking Shirley’s 90 year old mother to the Sunshine hospital [where Shirley was last weekend]. Over the weekend, she had fallen in the backyard, and in the process, had broken one of her arms [thank heavens it was not a hip!]. Apparently, in all of her 90 years, this was the first time Win have ever actually ‘broken’ anything on her body. What a pity to get this far, and then this happen!  Anyway, she was back home tonight, with her arm in plaster – and worrying about she was going to manage, cooking the Easter Sunday lunch for the family!!

As for myself, I managed three walks in a row this evening – commitments and weather have broken that pattern a little this year, but with the weight appearing to come down a little, that is encouragement to step up the program. Particularly when I learn that my cycling brother [just 2 years younger than myself] is working towards a cycle tour ‘across’ America next year!!! I hope he gets to do it, and survives the attempt!

Late yesterday, after my  Sunday afternoon radio show, I was home in time to see the closing stages of the Chinese Grand Prix [Formula One car racing]. Australia’s Mark Webber, because of poor qualifying times, etc on Friday and Saturday, had to begin the race from 18^th position on the starting grid. I think that when I came into the picture, he had got up about 10^th position. In fact, it was a sensational drive by Webber, who with less than a lap to go, powered his way into third position and a place up on the winner’s  podium, in a race won by another great drive by former World Champion Lewis Hamilton, and Webber’s ‘team mate’, Sebastian Vettel having to be satisfied with 2^nd, after winning both the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix.     Meanwhile, it was around 7.30pm, when Susie left to return to Bendigo, I think she was aware that I was a little worried about her driving up the highway after dark – said she would message me when she reached the end of her journey [which she did]. Talking to her mother later, it seems Susie tried to see Jimmy yesterday – a visit that was not successful, and probably left her quite upset again.  However, after a chat at Goonawarra last night, and another spell at her job today, she did appear to be in a more positive frame of mind when she left tonight.  This ‘break’ has been forced upon her, and unfortunately, like we all do from time to time, she is going to have to accept the changed over time, as painful as I know that is going to be, Anyway, I was sad to see her leave the house again last night, even if it will only be for a couple of days this week, due to school holidays, etc.

Both Sunday night, and tonight, I did something out of character – watched a two part TV series – haven’t done that for quite a while, usually because they appear on a commercial; channel,  and I simply can’t be bothered trying to enjoy a show that is constantly interrupted by commercials. This one was on the ABC, so was uninterrupted!  Joys!!

It was the story of  the magazine that made history for what wasn’t being worn – courtesy of that nude male centrefold [of Jack Thompson]  –  .a  telemovie about ‘Cleo’ and its pioneering editor, Ita Buttrose, and in particular her interaction with the Packers [father and son].  Now Cleo is not a magazine that I have any shown any interest in – it was afterall a magazine for women, but the intended storyline attracted my attention. As one previewer noted,   ‘In 1972, two ambitious, young upstarts, Ita Buttrose and Kerry Packer, created Cleo, a bold and naughty magazine that became one of the most dramatic sensations in Australian publishing history’.  Titled ‘Paper Giants’,  it chronicled the mishaps and stumbling blocks along the way, whilst also highlighting the importance of a young Kerry Packer (Rob Carlton) in getting the magazine off the ground, as well demonstrating the relationship between Kerry, and his father, Sir Frank Packer, whom the staff in the organisation refer to as ‘God’. Looking at some of the scenes betrayed involving either Sir Frank or Kerry, in respect to their attitude towards the staff, one can imagine today’s laws of harassment, and gender bias, creating a field day for the  legal people!! But we are talking about the 1970s, and things & attitudes  in that respect were not far advanced.

Some great acting, particularly by Asher Keddie as Ita Buttrose, and Rob Carlton as Kerry Packer, although some critics have suggested he didn’t come over as ‘hard nosed’ as the real man, as the following preview of the show, the source of which I have mislaid, explains.

“Carlton’s an enjoyable actor, and his performance as Packer is a lot of fun, but it lacks the intimidating presence you expect of the big man. Carlton’s work here is similar to Felix Williamson’s Paul Keating in Hawke, it hit a lot of the right notes and got the look down pat but both those characters have an X factor that neither actor nails. The rest of the cast aren’t nearly as memorable as these two, with most of Ita’s staff getting a single title card listing their name and position and then fading into the background.

The two staff members we do spend time with are the long haired Andrew Cowell (Ian Meadows) whose persistence convinces Ita to bring him on board as Art Director, and Ita’s secretary Leslie Carpenter (Jessica Tovey) who may be based on a real person but felt more like a surrogate for Cleo’s readership at the time. Leslie’s relationship issues are the weakest part of the series, as she leaps from boring sex with bogan Muz to flirting with charismatic lawyer Mr. Ritchie (Matt Day). Leslie lacks much of a personality and the show grinds to a halt whenever we watch the effects of the magazine content wash over her (She just wants to know how to break up with her dud boyfriend! She sneaks a sex toy home from the office! She wants to nail the right man too!)

Paper Giants is a briskly paced romp for most of its run as it name checks historical events (The Beatles breaking up, Goth Whitlam, troops pulling out of Vietnam), pumps up the soundtrack and tells us amusing and interesting titbits about the formation of Cleo. It’s especially strong whenever Keddie and Carlton are on-screen together as Buttrose and Packer, who’s back and forth is amusing even if every scene seems to end with Packer saying ‘my dad won’t like it but I’ll convince him!’ Unlike the boring side adventures of Secretary Carpenter and her newly discovered womanhood, Ita’s home life is a necessary evil. Her husband who leaves her may be dull, and scenes where her daughter asks “can a girl really be a doctor?” and Ita replies “you can be anything you want” may be trite but it’s important to have the context for Ita’s work life.

Stories about historical events we know the gist of (there’s a magazine called Cleo, it will be created) can fall into the trap of trying to ring tension out of moments we already know the outcome of. If Ita has to tell her staff that their dream of making Australian Cosmo is out the window, we can’t be too worried for them because the series is called The Birth Of Cleo. Luckily Paper Giants instead uses most of its ‘moments from history’ as a showcase for fun writing and a truly wonderful performance from Asher Keddie. Keddie keeps everything rolling along even if it the show’s story gets a bit fuzzy around the edges. Paper Giants isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot of fun and one of the most entertaining Australian dramas to have come along in a while’.

I actually liked the role played by Jessica Tovey [of ‘Home & Away’ fame], although the description of  the part she plays above,  is  quite accurate.  A couple of notable instances I picked up on –  at one stage, Kerry Packer is involved in one of ‘heated’ discussions with brow-beaten associates, when a couple of cleaners come into his office [must be late in the day] to do their job –  they don’t stay around for long following the tirade of abuse that Packer screams at them.  Later in the film, after the death of his father, those same cleaners come in, whilst Packer is reminiscing about his father’s life  –  he never taught me anything but I learnt a lot from him  –  one of the cleaners ‘cautiously  offers his condolences to Kerry, saying he was a ‘great man’,  and is then  asked by Kerry, what he the cleaner really thought of his father –  ‘to be honest sir, I was a little scared of him’.  He and everyone else, I think!  There was also a very confronting and highly emotional scene, were Ita has to tell one of her longstanding and loyal employees that he no longer fits into the organisation’s profile, he has to go – not her choice, but Kerry told her to get rid of him, and the nature of that dismissal, man aged 47, big mortgage, difficult time to get another job, brings home the reality of the employment environment.

There’s lot’s more one could write about ‘Paper Giants’ – as a friend on Face book commented, she would have loved another 3 hours of the show. I sat down to watch it, knowing the basic outline of t6he story but not really knowing what to expect. I was suitably impressed, and particularly enjoyed the way events of the times were written into the production, with actual scenes from the 70s, and various brief interruptions as the ABC news headlines & newsreaders of the time suddenly came into a scene – I guess as a kind of  reference to the changing of society from a social, moral, fashion and political sense – with many famous and/or notorious quotations of the times inserted into the series, such as  ‘God may well save the Queen, but he’ll never save the Governor general’  or ‘Malcolm Fraser will undoubtedly go down in history as ‘Kerr’s Cur’  [November 11^th 1975  – I was standing in a flat in Brunswick Road, West Brunswick when those words were uttered, following the sacking of Gough Whitlam and the Labor Government, and the appointment of Malcolm Fraser as acting PM by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr]

Enough enough of all that – let’s see if we can insert a couple of photos from Paper Giants [incidentally, veteran Australian actor Tony Barry played the role of ‘God’ or  Sir Frank Paker, inthe series]  – below, Ita Buttress and Kerry Packer, played by Asher Keddie and Rob Carlton.

 Sir Frank Packer [Tony Barry]  and below, Leslie Carpenter [ Jessica Tovey, ex ‘Home & Away’ actress].

The forecast was for another beautiful Autumn day in this part of the world – I must say, it doesn’t feel or look that way at the moment [9.45 am], a little chilly, and rather overcast, but I’m sure the sun is there, just waiting to break through those clouds. Incidentally, I didn’t get to the local football match last night – a month of ironing took longer than anticipated [ I need a maid, or a woman, full stop[!!] –  however, the local team had a strong win, good start to the season!

My reconstructed cd version of the vinyl recording of Rimsky-Korsakoff’s ‘Russian Easter Overture’ let me down this morning – the cd ‘went on strike’ about halfway through the track I was playing. Thankfully, JS Bach [on a modern CD] came to the rescue, with some beautiful organ music. The remainder of my Sunday morning show went off without any such further problems!

A brief quotation from an article in this morning’s Age newspaper, sub-titled with the sentence that ‘Young people no longer know key Christian narratives – and we may be the poorer for it’. It goes on to say that ‘When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to God that he might be spared the horror of the cross, he might well have added that ‘by 2011, most kids won’t even know who I am…..they’ll be more concerned about why chocolate eggs are delivered by a rabbit’.  It’s considered  by many that it would be a miracle if children today actually knew anything about the ‘Bible’, yet at the same time, there is a broad view that our society will be poorer for that lack of knowledge and understanding of  the richness of many of the stories and human meaning behind the preaching of Jesus. Whether you believe in the Christian faith or not, many would agree that some of the stories display interpretations of good values, and the basic fundamentals of being kind and caring and thinking about your fellow human being. But these are discarded because they originate from the Bible or preachings of Jesus that people don’t want to know about. However, the article points out that the same moral values can be found in secular society, and they are more readily acceptable for that very reason – they are not tied to Christianity, or religion in general. The example is given from Gallipoli, and the story  of Simpson [John Simpson Kirkpatrick] and his donkey, who through the trenches of Gallipoli, rescued the injured time and again, until he himself was killed. Today’s children may not be aware, or want to know about the ‘Good Samaritan, but if Simpson was referred to in that manner – the Good Samaritan of Gallipoli –  the story would immediately be accepted and understood. As an aside to that article, the paper has included comments by the Anglican Reverend Jenny Nelson, of Christ Church, South Yarra [in Melbourne] where she highlights five stories from the Christian Bible which she considers still matter and are relevant today. Others will place a different interpretation, while still others will continue to discard them as myths and fairytales.  Her five stories are:

The Great Flood Story [Genesis: 6.9-9.29]: Noah builds an ark to save the world’s wildlife from a great deluge. Children love this story as it resonates with environmental issues.

The Exodus story [Exodus: 1.1-15.21]: Where Moses leads the israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. There are existential issues of oppression and freedom in this story.

The Nativity story: [Luke: 2.1-21]: The birth of Jesus. The story resonates with children and adults alike as it picks up on issues of the vulnerability of the human condition and the wonder of new life.

The Good Samaritan: [Luke 10:25-37]: A Samaritan takes care of a Jewish man who has been beaten up and left for dead, even though they are political enemies. The message is about loving one another.

The Easter story: [Matthew: 26: 26-28 and John: 20:1-18]: The death and resurrection of Christ. Ideas of betrayal, sacrifice, love and redemption are played out in the narrative. The growing popularity of the ANZAC dawn service [25 April, in Australia] may be a reflection of the community’s recognition of the importance of these ideas.

Interesting concepts, or perhaps simply the random plucking of comparisons of modern issues as justification for the continued acceptance of the Bible stories illustrated?  Depends on you personal point of view obviously.  An anthropologist from Melbourne’s Deakin University, for eg, suggests that ‘Bible myths are constantly reworked into contemporary stories’ [did you know, for eg, that the ‘Lord of the Rings’ is the retelling of the Book of Revelation, according to one view!]  I personally  found the ANZAC idea a valuable one.  All in all, much food for thought, whether on a religious or secular basis.