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I was not expecting her home until later today, but Susie returned from wherever she went yesterday – Nyora as it turned out, on the eastern side of the city towards Phillip Island –  at about 4am this morning. I’d not slept much, wondering if she was okay, and while the mind relaxed a little when I realised she had returned, there was the concern about her driving through the rural and city areas at that time of night/early morning. Anyway, it was another 90 minutes, and I had to be up and preparing to go to the radio station – in fact, I went back to sleep, and ended up having to leave the house less than ten minutes after waking again!!

Nevertheless, started on time, on air before 6.30am, and rather enjoyed this morning’s program of classical music. Featured a couple of beautiful pieces of music by the Estonian born composer [in 1935], Arvo Part – two compositions for violin [Tasmin Little] and piano [Martin Roscoe –  Spiegel im Spiegel [from 1978] and Fratres [1980].  This morning, it was Sunday Classics program No. 298, a show which I began in February 2006, and I sometimes find it hard to believe that I have continued to manage to get up early on a Sunday morning virtually continuous since that first program. The only Sundays I have missed have been the odd day of sickness, or when interstate or in Ballarat.  Quite proud of that record, but must admit to finding the early Sunday rising is becoming more difficult as time passes – particularly, when most Saturday nights, for one reason or another, I find it difficult to sleep!!  Like last night!

Email news from the home of the Blues this weekend –   This Sunday Carlton will play the Western Bulldogs in round 2 of the NAB Cup, Carlton’s first match in Melbourne for 2012.   While the Blues didn’t come away from Adelaide with victories, there was plenty gained from the trip, in particular the experience for a number of the young players at the Club.   Carlton’s 29-man squad for Sunday’s NAB Cup match against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium is a mixture of youth and experience as the Blues prepare for the 2012 season. As indicated earlier in the week a number of senior players who did not play in round one of the NAB Cup are being held back until Round three and Carlton will go into this week’s without Judd, Waite, Walker, Robinson, Duigan, Warnock and Jamison. Of these players, only Jamison and Warnock are expected not to play in round three of the NAB Cup in Maroochydore against Brisbane the following week. While the first round of the NAB Cup consisted of two games, each being of two 20-minute halves, tonight’s twilight game against the Western Bulldogs, and the remaining NAB Cup games, will be full-scale matches.

Well, I decided it was an easy outing by train this afternoon, down to the Edihad Stadium which is located within walking distance of the Southern Cross Station, although I was still in two minds about whether to go, until James rang with the query ‘was I still planning to go to the football?’ Actually, there was quite an interesting ODI cricket 1^st finals match on the TV between Australia and Sri Lanka  – conflicting interests! Nevertheless, met James at the Sunbury station, and we joined the crowds getting onto an already crowded train that had come through from Bendigo, for a relatively swift trip into the city. There with plenty of time to spare, and this game James the opportunity to purchase for me my promised birthday present from last October from each of the four ‘children’, my Carlton Member’s ticket for the 2012 season. I was happy with a general admission ticket to each of the 11 home games for Carlton, not sure if I will get to them all, but at least the option was there. Actually forgot to use my concession card when we made that purchase – James, always keen to save himself some money, went back outside the stadium before the game started, and was surprisingly able to get the change affected, I wasn’t sure they would do it after the original transaction had been finalised.

Anyway, here to watch a game of football. Carlton started off well, but for most of the four quarters, the Bulldogs seemed to have just enough brilliance on the forward line to make better use of their opportunities, and were in front, just, at the end of each quarter as the scores below show. Serious injuries to a player from each team, marred the game a little, and the smallish crowd of just over 10,500, tended to take away a bit of the normal atmosphere of the Edihad Stadium, though remembering that it was a game in the pre-season competition. The Blues got in front midway through the last quarter, and while the Bulldogs hit the front again late in the quarter, we felt there was still plenty of time for Carlton to regain the lead. Not so, the quarter was a little shorter than anticipated.  However, despite the lost, it was quite a young team on the field for the Blues with a number of our better players not yet ready to play. Yet with backline problems, added to tonight by the injury to Jeremy Laidler, we do look a little vulnerable as the main season approaches, and the team having lost it’s first three pre-season games, one more next weekend, up in Brisbane.  Final scores tonight were:

Carlton Blues:                 0.4.1.25      0.7.1.43      0.10.3.63      Final:      0.11.4.70

Western Bulldogs:          0.5.2.32      0.8.3.51      0.10.5.65       FINAL:  0.11.8.74
It was an extremely crowded train home to Sunbury, James & I lucky to get a seat, as when we got off the train at Sunbury, discovered people sitting all over the passageways and door entrances  – it was the regular Sunday night train to Bendigo, but V Line didn’t seem to have added any carriages to account for the football crowd, even though they scheduled the train departure time to go 20 minutes later than usual!

‘Old’ Bill feeling a little weary by the time I got back to Sunbury, and home.  No energy for much, other than a bit of food – ended up watching the closing stages of the cricket match – first Final between Australia and Sri Lanka.  Gutsy team the Sri Lankans  – halfway through the innings, there was no chance that they were going to catch the Australian score of 6 for 321, when they had 6 down for 144. But a century partnership and some great middle order batting gave the visitors a definite chance of winning, and gave Michael Clarke, the Aussie captain, a real scare!! Sri Lanka  finished up on a score of 306, losing the game by  15 runs with just 4 balls to be bowled. The teams go to Adelaide now, with Australia leading 1-0 in the best of 3 series.

Incidentally, today was Clean Up Australia Day  –  an annual event which began in 1989. Every year hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and clean up their local environment – parks, beaches, bushland, streets, etc –  by collecting and removing rubbish on one of the Clean Up days. It involves campaigns and projects  to collect and remove rubbish from the local environments, promote the recycling of materials, and provide education on climate change issues.  I admit that I’ve not been involved in this for many years, but in it’s early stages, we often worked as part of a school group organisation in different parts of Sunbury.

Awake to another coolish overcast day, drizzling rain as this early indication of wintry weather [3 months before it is due] arrives on our doorsteps. I didn’t hear Susie arrive home early this morning from her day long rock concert yesterday, though I did wake once she was in the house [and returned to another restless sleep, feeling more relaxed]. I say restless, because over recent weeks, I seem to be having nightly dreams, although generally as soon as I awake, the memories of what or who the dreams were about, have disappeared completely – I simply know they were of people in my past life, coming back, maybe to ‘haunt’ me, or remind me of past mistakes and misjudgements or  failures!!!  Interesting concept!

Meanwhile, the weather outside does not promise too much cricket for son Adam today, for Day One of their final season round of matches this 2011/2012. I’m presuming he is playing in the D Grade game over at the Melton Recreation Reserve against St Anthonys. That may well end up a one day game next weekend if this widespread rain continues.

It’s becoming a regular thing on a Saturday morning now, to post to my Face Book status, a little piece of verse, usually from one of the classic poets. This morning it was the turn of Lord Alfred Tennyson, with two verses from his 1842 poem ‘The Blackbird’. This is what I posted.  It was pleasing to find at least two friends [both of them local] found my contribution presumably to their satisfaction – in fact Ruth wondered ‘So poetic this morning, Bill – is it Alfred’s birthday today or something?’  I simply replied that no, it was just another of my Saturday morning poetic status contributions from my collection of classic poets, a bit of culture for my status!!  In actual fact, Tennyson was born 33 years before he wrote this poem – on the 6th August 1809 – perhaps I should remember that date and post some of his work then. Meanwhile, here are verses 1 and 3 from ‘The Blackbird’

O Blackbird! sing me something well:
While all the neighbours shoot thee round,
I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground,
Where thou may’st warble, eat and dwell.

Yet, tho’ I spared thee all the spring,
Thy sole delight is, sitting still,
With that gold dagger of thy bill,
To fret the summer jenneting.

[Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1842]

 

In the meantime,  it was a wet arrival at the gymnasium this morning, though thankfully dry inside – not so for the swimming carnival going on out in the main pool [as with last Thursday], another rather cold and wet morning to be engaged in open air swimming races! Anyway, back in the gym, I don’t know whether it was because I slightly increased the levels of some of my exercises or not, but by the end of that hour, I was feeling a little more exhausted than usual – maybe just the end of a week thing. Didn’t think I deserved an iced coffee this morning, and in view of the fact it was raining still, outside, decided to avoid to avoid the shopping area, and return straight home [buying a rare cappuccino, which I seldom drink these days, along the way].

An interesting little first paragraph to an article on the front of today’s ‘Age’ newspaper – ‘Gillard gets her man’ – ‘If an antidote is needed to the poison unleashed in the months leading up to [last] Monday’s emphatic 71-31 vote to topple Rudd, it arrived in the form of one of the nation’s most successful premiers’  –  a very insightful introduction to a feature article headed ‘The Carr Coup’ by journalist Michael Gordon, which says a lot about Prime Minister Gillard’s announcement yesterday to appoint former New South Wales [NSW] Labor Premier, Bob Carr to the vacant NSW Senate seat created by the resignation on Monday last of Senator Mark Arbib, and the immediate appointment of Carr as Foreign Minister, to replace the defeated Kevin Rudd [now on the back bench].

The ‘Age’ Saturday magazine ‘Good Weekend’ also had a feature of particular interest to me –  on Malcolm Turnbull, whom Tony Abbott defeated at Liberal leader a couple of years go, but whose public preference as Liberal leader has always, even today, far exceeded that of Abbott.  Certainly, Turnbull would be my immediate choice as Opposition leader.  In that article, and in speaking about the parliamentary situation of the past 18 months or so, Turnbull’s views are promising.  ‘Turnbull has watched with dismay as the political discourse has been ‘dumbed down’ in what he believes is a disastrous way. “The political debate has not been very edifying, I must say.  It has not been a great period of political discourse, the nastiness of it all,” he says, stabbing distractedly at his food. :Elements of the media have contributed to that and politicians have also…..There is a tendency to try to dumb everything down and turn everything into a one paragraph press release or even less, just a slogan. It’s depriving us of a substantive policy debate”  He doesn’t need to mention  that his own leader has often stood accused of sloganeering. He does contrast his own contribution. “The only thing I can do is not fall into that. I try to talk about policy issues intelligently. I try very hard to avoid thought bubbles. I make sure my speeches are well researched and footnoted. I make sure I am not talking through my hat”. And the voters seem to like it. Polls show that despite Abbott positioning the Coalition for a resounding electoral victory, Turnbull is the people’s clear choice for the Liberal leader’s job.’……………..

But outcomes don’t work that way in Australian politics anyway –  a few days ago, Kevin Rudd was the ‘people’s’ choice over Julia Gillard – but they did not have the say, in the Labor Caucas room!!

Later in that same article, the writer, Lenore Taylor, notes that ‘But social commentator Hugh McKay says Turnbull – “possibly the only politician on either side seen as a man true to his convictions” – would be powerfully attractive to an electorate utterly disenchanted with politicians of all persuasions, the almost pefect antidote to the disillusion of the times. “He may be seen as arrogant, but he is also seen as a man of substance and that is exactly what people are yearning for”  McKay says’.

By 2pm, I have to be happy with my ‘Betting Club’ tips so far this afternoon  –  first two selections have come through as winners, which means I’m in front – so far!!!  After that however, it all began to go downhill!! And in fact continued that way  – today I was a ‘loser’, didn’t get back all of my $40 I’d been entrusted with. Couple of horses came close, but not close enough!!  And it kept raining  –  here we are Saturday night, and it is still raining!

Bit quiet in my home tonight  – Susie went off somewhere this afternoon with pillows, sleeping bag etc, presumably not back until the morrow, didn’t press for an exclamation, and none was forthcoming.  Had a brief phone chat with my Ballarat friend, then settled down to a bit of reading, although these days, night time reading doesn’t prove very successful!!

Found the following little quotation somewhere, thought it worth sharing –   “Our thoughts ought by instinct to fly upwards from animals, men and natural objects to their creator. If created things are so utterly lovely, how gloriously beautiful must he be who made them! The wisdom of the worker is revealed in his handiwork.”
Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Franciscan.   I guess you can take that from whatever source gives the reader comfort, though it was included in a message from a Uniting Church group.

 

 

Actually, they were Dad’s cousins, well Linton Kirk, & wife Glenis, both in their late 80s and very much independent & remaining in their own home, down in one of the coastal suburbs between the CBD and Frankston.  Left the car behind, and enjoyed a pleasant enough ‘2 train’ trip from Sunbury to the city, and then, headed southeast on the Frankston line via a suburban train.  It was three years ago, almost, that I visited them for the first time, and this is how long a return promised trip has taken me. From the station, it was a short walk across the road, certainly very convenient for public transport use for the couple concerned.

I didn’t want to tire them with a long visit, no more than an hour. Arrived at 11am, and left at 3 pm! My hosts insisted that I remain for a slow leisurely lunch, much discussion, and sharing of family photographs from the old days  – I in fact had most of the photos, has Linton was unable to find anything from the pre-war [World War II] when he and Dad were particularly close. Interestingly enough, I did have one photo of Dad, that Linton himself claimed to have  taken, in the late 1930s  –  on Lake Wendouree in Ballarat in an old style rowing boat!  I also had two or three photos of his grandparents [my great grandparents] which Linton had not seem before, and I recall him mentioning last August that he didn’t think he had any pictures of his parents generation, the era I was particularly interested in.

They were a delightful couple – being married for well over 60 years, something which would put most married couples to shame today.  He had worked in the dairy industry most of his career in accounting, finance and business, and travelled the world at different times, including spending quite a bit of time in China.  I gathered that financially, they were very comfortable, and also determined to live out their lives if at all possible in their own home,  despite it’s large size which I imagine would require a fair degree of upkeep. A philosophy I kind of agreed with – rather than pay a fortune and sell the family assets etc, they would prefer to pay for personal assistance in their own home.  I probably won’t have that choice anyway, but think that is the way I would like to go, when it becomes necessary for such a decision.

Meanwhile the original family member in Australia, whose life we dedicated in the ceremony up at the Charlton Cemetery last September, had eight children, and one of them was our respective great grandfather & grandfather respectively.  Perhaps age has dimmed his memory, but I was a little surprised that Linton didn’t appear to have much knowledge of the generation of his grandfather, but there were various points of interest came out in discussion regarding his father’s generation, and I’m sure we could add to that with further discussions at a later date should that be possible, remembering that he is about a year younger than Dad, who would have 91 years old this September.

Anyway, a pleasant 4 hours indeed, but eventually I took my leave. My original intention, thinking it would be a short stay, was to return to the city and go and see a movie. However, at this stage I decided to return to Sunbury, just before the peak hour crowds hit the trains. The one I was on, was crowded enough anyway! Meanwhile, I believe that three of my four ‘kids’ were attending an all-day/night rock concert at the Melbourne Showgrounds. I think Susie was going in there alone initially, but hopefully she will meet up with some of the others, as I think she had arranged to give Jodie and Ash, at least, a ride home from the Sunbury station. At Flinders Street and Southern Cross this morning, I’d noticed quite a crowd of ‘young’ people obviously heading to the same venue!!

On the political front today, Julia Gillard finally came ‘out of hiding’ and announced her reshuffled Ministry. This report today from news.com

BOB Carr today was announced as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Julia Gillard after a week of confidential negotiation and evasion on the appointment.

In a brash display of defiance and contempt for critics, the Prime Minister confounded reports earlier this week that she had been rolled by ministers, led by Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

There were reports Ms Gillard had wanted to sign up Mr Carr on Tuesday but that the rebel ministers angrily forced her to back down and demanded the ministry, the most powerful after Treasury, go to one of them.

The former NSW Premier himself had earlier acknowledged that an initial offer had not gone ahead. He said today he had “warring emotions” until yesterday when the “distinctive voice of Prime Minister Gillard roused me from my slumber”.

“I am an unbounded admirer of this Prime Minister, and I suspect the more I see of her the more impressed I will be by her steadfastness under pressure,” he told reporters.

“I think I might have moved on from it (getting the Foreign Affairs job). But when the Prime Minister put that offer to me on Thursday, late on the Thursday morning, no part of me could say no.

“She asked me to serve my country and I would have been incapable of saying no to that.”

Mr Carr appeared with the Prime Minister in Canberra today as she announced the new ministry following Kevin Rudd’s return to the back bench, and the resignation of senator Mark Arbib, whose Upper House post will be taken by Mr Carr.

Ms Gillard said she had held “many conversations” with Mr Carr since Monday evening and made a formal offer yesterday. She was delighted he had accepted.

For the first time, small business was given a cabinet representative with the task given to Brendan O’Connor.

The major casualty of the reshuffle was Rob McClelland, a former Attorney-General who for the first time in 14 years is off the Labor front bench.

He was also one of five ministers who opposed Ms Gillard in Monday’s leadership ballot. He has lost his Emergency services role to Attorney General Nicola Roxon.

The Prime Minister rejected reports he might quit Parliament to force a by-election in his Sydney seat of Barton, which has a seven percent margin.

“Mr McClelland was ‘a great Labor man from a great Labor family, and he will continue to serve the Labor Party’,” said Ms Gillard.

Mr McClelland comes from a prominent Labor family. His father Doug represented NSW in the Senate for 25 years. He has held Barton since 1996 and had been on the Labor front bench, in Opposition and government, since 1998.

Western Sydney MP David Bradbury was promoted to the ministry as Assistant Treasurer, the post held by Senator Arbib. ACT Senator Kate Lundy gained Senator Arbib’s other responsibility of sport.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith, the man considered the front-runner for Foreign Affairs, today congratulated Bob Carr and discounted reports he had confronted the Prime Minister to get the job instead.

Mr Smith said he repeatedly – in public and private – since 2010 had deferred to Ms Gillard’s right to select the ministry.

But he admitted to one special request.

“After the 2010 election, I asked the Prime Minister if I could serve as Defence Minister and continue to make a contribution to our national security interests. I am very happy and privileged to serve as Defence Minister,” said Mr Smith.

“There are lots of challenges in Defence – transition in Afghanistan, capability, budget and cultural issues. I personally look forward to getting on with the job.”

Mr Smith said the Prime Minister “now has a very strong new team”. He said he had known Mr Carr for several years “and look forward very much to working with him”.
As for this writer, I would have a quiet Friday evening at home, after a reasonably busy week. I did do one thing this morning, that depending upon the results that arise from it, might have a major bearing of a negative nature on my immediate future.  A few days ago, I received an invitation from the Australian Government to participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.  There are some things that you feel might best be not known, but that is obviously not a sensible or even brave attitude.   So I completed the required ‘tests’, and this morning, posted off the relevant material, etc.  On this occasion, I have to hope for a ‘negative’ result!!  Bowel cancer is a malignant growth that develops most commonly inside the large bowel.  Surprisingly, to me, it is one of Australia’s most common cancers, especially for people over 50. In 207, approximately 14,200 new cases of bowel cancer were diagnosed. It is also a major cause of cancer deaths with around 80 Australians dying from bowel cancer each week.  There are various causes, but the most common ones are diet and age as contributing factors.  A few rather sobering thoughts to dwell upon.  Meanwhile, on a brighter note, after last week’s successful little betting spree for our ‘club’, I remain in the ‘selection chair’ so I had to devote my thoughts for a while this evening to picking some more winners for tomorrow’s races at Flemington.  I don’t really anticipate the same degree of success this weekend!!

First day of Autumn, and for some of us, it probably felt like the first day of winter – a day of cool breezes, drizzling cold rain, particularly this morning, as I went off to the gymnasium, and to the north of the State, and southern New South Wales, serious threats of major flooding following heavy rainfall in those areas, and more predicted this weekend.

Meanwhile the media continues to dominate our print sources, TV screens, and radios with such issues as possible changes to the Federal Labor leadership team and Ministry, questions about the old issue of independence for Scotland, and the role and outcome of the Oscars [held earlier this week, of which I noticed there were a couple of films in particular that I must go and have a look at], together with ongoing reports and analysis of the complex and serious situation which continues over in Syria!  While I’ve not necessarily referred to each of those subjects, they are the kind of issues that I try and keep up to date with progress and outcomes.  One of the movies I was referring to was a new ‘black & white’ movie  – one that everybody is talking about called ‘The Artist’, which picked up five awards at the Oscars, with barely a word of dialogue in the movie – it’s a ‘silent’ one [as of the old days].  Amongst those awards was that of Best Picture, but for many people, the movie’s greatest triumph was in the category of Best Original Score.  Limelight Magazine, for one, has commented on this apparently in its next issue [March] where the magazine caught up with French composer Ludovic Bource about the challenges and risks involved in writing music for a silent film, letting the characters speak through lush orchestral atmosphere, and penning a “love letter” to the classic film scores of Hollywood’s golden age. I’m looking forward to having a read of that, perhaps before I go and see the movie.

In the meantime, this Thursday night meant business – a shorter than usual committee meeting at the radio station, three missing members [one simply forgot!!].  Strange that we were here last Saturday in sweltering heat – tonight, one could almost say it was cold, certainly still damp outside. No heater on however!  Personally, I was not unhappy to have an early night, and home in time to watch a taped version of tonight’s episode of ‘The Straits’ – a well put together drama, but I felt the emphasise on violence and extreme language, was beginning to turn me off the show a little. However, now that I have begun to watch the series, may as well see it through to the end!

Autumn in Melbourne is generally the most pleasant, and in some ways, beautiful time of the year in this part of the world, perhaps its beautify typified in the photograph below.

 

As sources such as Wikipedia describe it, the 29 February has special significance, not the least of which is that it only occurs every four years, and the following ‘might’ make the reason why, somewhat clear!!

‘February 29, known as a leap day in the Gregorian calendar, is a date that occurs in most years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 but not by 400 do not contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year.  Although most years of the modern calendar have 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, during which an extra 24 hours have accumulated, one extra day is added to keep the count coordinated with the sun’s apparent position’.

Similarly, the BBC New Magazine gives us 10 ‘things’ of interest about the 29 February – do you want to know what they are? I do!!  Although they only apply until 2016 – things may change then!!

1. The leap year’s extra day is necessary because of the “messiness” of our Solar System. One Earth year (a complete orbit around the Sun) does not take an exact number of whole days (one complete spin of the Earth on its axis). In fact, it takes 365.2422 days, give or take.

2. Until Julius Caesar came to power, people observed a 355-day calendar – with an extra 22-day month every two years. But it was a convoluted solution to the problem and feast days began sliding into different seasons. So Caesar ordered his astronomer, Sosigenes, to simplify things. Sosigenes opted for the 365-day year with an extra day every four years to scoop up the extra hours. This is how the 29 February was born. It was then fine-tuned by Pope Gregory XIII (see below).

3. Every fourth year is a leap year, as a rule of thumb. But that’s not the end of the story. A year that is divisible by 100, but not by 400, is not. So 2000 was a leap year, as was 1600. But 1700, 1800 and 1900 are not leap years. “It seems a bit arbitrary,” says Ian Stewart, emeritus professor of mathematics at Warwick University. But there’s a good reason behind it.

“The year is 365 days and a quarter long – but not exactly. If it was exactly, then you could say it was every four years. But it is very slightly less.” The answer arrived at by Pope Gregory XIII and his astronomers when they introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582, was to lose three leap days every 400 years. The maths has hung together ever since. It will need to be rethought in about 10,000 years’ time, Stewart warns. But by then mankind might have come up with a new system.

4. Why is February 29, not February 31, a leap year day? All the other months have 30 or 31 days, but February suffered from the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, says Stewart. Under Julius Caesar, February had 30 days, but when Caesar Augustus was emperor he was peeved that his month – August – had only 29 days, whereas the month named after his predecessor Julius – July – had 31. “He pinched a couple of days for August to make it the same as July. And it was poor old February that lost out,” says Prof Stewart.

5. The tradition of a woman proposing on a leap year has been attributed to various historical figures. One, although much disputed, was St Bridget in the 5th Century. She is said to have complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for their suitors to propose. St Patrick then supposedly gave women a single day in a leap year to pop the question – the last day of the shortest month. Another popular story is that Queen Margaret of Scotland brought in a law setting fines for men who turned down marriage proposals put by women on a leap year. Sceptics have pointed out that Margaret was five years old at the time and living far away in Norway. The tradition is not thought to have become commonplace until the 19th Century.

It is believed that the right of every woman to propose on this day goes back to the times when the leap year day was not recognised by English law. It was believed that if the day had no legal status, it was acceptable to break with tradition.

6. A prayer has been written by a female cleric for people planning a leap year day marriage proposal. The prayer, for 29 February, asks for blessings on the engaged couple. It reminds them that wedding plans should not overtake preparations for a lifetime together. The prayer has been taken from Pocket Prayers of Blessing by the Venerable Jan McFarlane, Archdeacon of Norwich:

“God of love, please bless N and N as they prepare for the commitment of marriage. May the plans for the wedding not overtake the more important preparation for their lifetime together. Please bless their family and friends as they prepare for this special day and may your blessing be upon them now and always. Amen.”

7. The practice of women proposing in a leap year is different around the world. In Denmark, it is not supposed to be 29 but 24 February, which hails back to the time of Julius Caesar. A refusal to marry by Danish men means they must give the woman 12 pairs of gloves. In Finland, it is not gloves but fabric for a skirt and in Greece, marriage in a leap year is considered unlucky, leading many couples to avoid it.

8. The chance of being born on a leap day is often said to be one in 1,461. Four years is 1,460 days and adding one for the leap year you have 1,461. So, odds of 1/1,461.

But Stewart points out that is very slightly out, owing to the loss of the three leap years every 400 years. In any case, babies are more likely to be born at certain times of the year rather than others, due to a range of other factors, he says. Babies born on 29 February are known as “leapers” or “leaplings”.

9. Other calendars apart from the Gregorian require leap years. The modern Iranian calendar is a solar calendar with eight leap days inserted into a 33-year cycle. The Indian National Calendar and the Revised Bangla Calendar of Bangladesh arrange their leap years so that the leap day is always close to 29 February in the Gregorian calendar.

10. Explorer Christopher Columbus used the lunar eclipse of 29 February 1504 to his advantage during his final trip to the West Indies. After several months of being stranded with his crew on the island of Jamaica, relations with the indigenous population broke down and they refused to continue helping with food and provisions. Columbus, knowing a lunar eclipse was due, consulted his almanac and then gathered the native chiefs on 29 February. He told that God was to punish them by painting the Moon red. During the eclipse, he said that God would withdraw the punishment if they starting co-operating again. The panicked chiefs agreed and the Moon began emerging from its shadow.

Also of a supernatural nature, on 29 February 1692 the first warrants were issued in the Salem witchcraft trials in Massachusetts.

And what did your personal essayist do on this 29^th day of February?  Not very much actually!  An early morning call to the radio station this morning, with my weekly local sporting results segment.  A morning visit to the doctor [making up for last week’s aborted visit] – think that I actually got in on time this week, but probably ate up somebody else’s time by exceeding the 10 minute appointment [not that the doctor in question ever takes any notice of the time he devotes to his clients].  Amongst a number of matters discussed, there was no argument that I was not going to accept his giving me the flu injection, which had apparently just become available for 2012. I was actually going to ask about that – but doctor got in first, and had the needle in my arm before I was aware of what was happening!!  And later today, a couple of hours devoted to preparing the financial statements for tomorrow night’s monthly committee meeting.

Of course the other significant event about today  – it was the last day of Summer [officially] here in Australia, and in many ways, the weather of the last couple of days, made that obvious. In fact as of today, much of Victoria had been placed on flood alert, with more heavy rain predicted for the rest of the week. As far as many in the farming community were concerned, Monday’s weather break after a dry summer came earlier than desired, with such products as lucerne flattened, stock taken to higher ground. As the Weekly Times noted today – ‘The end of a long, not so hot, dry summer came with some of the most widespread thunderstorms yet seen in Victoria. Nothing will likely top the February 2011flooding rain in terms of numbers but as a single deluge, it created history in many areas……………as one agronomist said “It was the heaviest rain I’d seen, heavier than the flooding rains last year”………….Most agree the rain has come too early to be classed as a break.’.

 

 

I spent part of the day in Ballarat again today, driving down late morning for a midday arrival. Like the rest of us, Ballarat was also hit with violent storms, heavy rainfall and flash flooding. At one stage last night, about 25mm of rain fell in Ballarat in less than 10 minutes as a storm cell passed through the region. These ‘storm cells’ which have been hitting many parts of Victoria over recent days are usually short lived before they move on, but create a lot of damage and disruption during those brief periods. Between 9am and 11pm yesterday, Ballarat received 57.4 mm of rain. I’m not sure what the situation in Sunbury was, but I’m imagining it was quite similar.

I was in Ballarat for two reasons – to collect the Charles Conder painting that I purchased over the phone last week, and to have a look at the special exhibition celebrating  the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with an exhibition of vintage prints from London’s V&A Museum taken by royal photographer, Sir Cecil Beaton. This was a special exhibition of nearly 100 portraits taken by Beaton over a period of 30 years, and as I have continued over the years, to be a bit of a fan of Queen Elizabeth, I thought I should have a look, as a Member also of the Art Gallery of Ballarat.  Along the way, Heather had invited me to join her for lunch at her unit, and as it turned out, the bulk of my visit was in fact there!

Firstly however, with the Labor political dramas still ‘winding down’ in the media, I was interested to see what the Editorial Opinion in the Ballarat Courier was about the matter. Today’s Editorial provided that answer, and I’ve retained it here for historical purposes.

“Gillard has party support but can she win over the public? [Ballarat Courier Editorial, 28th February 2012]

AFTER all is said and done, the status of Australia’s government and leadership remains unchanged after Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s victory over Kevin Rudd in the Labor Party’s ballot yesterday. It was not a surprising result. Evidently, a return to Mr Rudd was incomprehensible for much of the ALP’s parliamentarians. The stories of his non-stop, hard-edged leadership style had not disappeared sufficiently enough from memory for change to be palatable. His method of campaign as a leader for the voters of Australia failed to cut through with those who had been once-bitten, twice shy. In a sense, yesterday’s vote tells us much more about Mr Rudd and his standing in the party than it does about Julia Gillard. Ms Gillard, according to published opinion polls, is not nearly as popular as Mr Rudd, yet was still seen as a preferred option. Ms Gillard is leading a government which has trailed in the polls for months, yet its members stood firm. The message from the parliamentary Labor Party is that it will not bend dependent on populism. That’s a stunning and courageous position in the cynical world of modern politics where leadership and polls are the news, and where a higher priority is placed on holding power than implementing policy platforms. Whether the outcome provides the impetus for a more stable government is hard to gauge given the previous premise. While it would seem impossible for Mr Rudd to recover after now being rejected twice by his colleagues, the spectre of a consensus candidate appearing remains a possibility if the polls do not show improvement. Ms Gillard, though, has again shown the tenacity which has become a hallmark of her time as leader and will be no doubt more comfortable. If she can extend this new certainty into results in terms of continuing her policy reform agenda, she will lead the party into the next election. The public, it seems, will be harder to win over. Concerns about the deals with the independents and Greens and the suspicion of broken promises remain a millstone of her Prime Ministership.  The last week has been the ALP at its worst. We will need to see the very best of Ms Gillard if she is to turn around her party’s fortunes.’

As for that painting, upon arrival at the Gallery ‘shop’ and presenting my credentials, it was mentioned that the day after I rang through with my purchase, the painting was enquired about by other potential purchasers.  Was a good move to pay on the spot [or the phone], as it turned out. My purchase was a glass framed copy of Charles Conder’s 1888 painting ‘An Early Taste For Literature’, the original an oil on canvas 614 x 512 mm, which was bequested to the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 1944. The work was painted at a farm at Richmond on the Hawkesbury River, in New South Wales, and captures the atmosphere  and the warmth of a rural Spring day  –  but, it is the subject matter [as per the title] of a little heifer cow blithely consuming the newspaper of the day, that turns an otherwise serious rural scene into a light-hearted fable and/or conversation piece.  The artist himself lived from 1868 to 1909, so at the time of painting this picture, he would have been 20 years of age.  Conder was originally sent to Australia by his father in 1884 in order to try and discourage him from pursuing an artistic career.  However, ignoring this, he studied art in NSW and Victoria before returning to Europe in 1890 to further his career.  Regarded as a something of a prodigy by fellow members of the Heidelberg School (which he joined after moving to Melbourne in 1888), Conder cultivated the reputation of a bohemian and revelled in the cultural life of the fin-de-siecle in Paris and London.

I decided to return to the Gallery later in the afternoon – it was already close to 12.30 pm, my parking, conveniently almost in front of the Gallery, was on a limited time scale, and I was expected for lunch. Meanwhile, being a little worried about one of my tyres, I called by a couple of service stations to check the air pressure – the first gauge seemed to take ‘more air out’ which was a bit of a worry, but thankfully I was able to reverse that anomaly on a second stop.  The trip down to Ballarat had not revealed any problems, it was just that the tyre seemed a little more deflated than I felt it should be. While it had now almost stopped raining in Ballarat, the trip down here had not being so pleasant this morning – driving rain for a large part of the journey, together with light fog conditions during the second half of the trip. Not particularly enjoyable driving.

Anyway, got to Heather’s place around 12.30, in time for lunch, and another 3-4 hours of pleasant conversation, reminiscing, eating, drinking – Bill even had a glass of the Jacob’s Creek Riesling that I’d brought down from Ballarat –  later on, a combination of wine, coffee with cheese and biscuits rounded off a perfect afternoon.  One thing we talked about were the younger days at Macarthur Street Primary School, and during that, I enquired as to whether Heather recalled there ever been class photos taken and/or made available  –  I had various photos from High School days, but could not recall anything at the Primary level. Heather felt there might have been some, but was not sure whether she still had anything. Ironically, in today’s edition of the Ballarat Courier, there was a special supplement of  about 22 pages, completely devoted to school class photos of the present year from schools all around Ballarat. It occurred to me – what a magnificent resource for future family historians, searching for photos of young children from 2012.  As a genealogist myself, I decided to retain that little supplement, not so much for myself, but for perhaps a local family history group of the future, seeking such records.

I returned to the Art Gallery shortly after 4pm, and would spent about 40 minutes examining the Queen Elizabeth photographic exhibition. And yes, I did purchase the special souvenir book that had been published for the occasion. Cecil Beaton [1904-1980] was an internationally renowned photographer, a gifted designer for film and theatre, and an avid diarist [I obviously take after him on that aspect]. Throughout his long and varied career he remained a romantic royalist, and his glittering portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family became among the most widely published images of the twentieth century. From the strenuous years of the Second World War to the optimism of the Swinging Sixties, Beaton’s portraits played a significant role in shaping the public image of the British monarchy.  The exhibition included many wonderful pictures [albeit, sadly most of the earlier ones in black & white] of Elizabeth II from teenage princess to mother and sovereign, as like her mother previously [Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother], she posed for Beaton’s camera on many occasions.  For most Australians under 30 years of age,  these photos would be unseen, as the portraits finish in the 1970s, and of course, the photographer died in 1980. One can imagine that during the war years, the photos in particular, of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, would have provided much inspiration and comfort to the people of Britain, and the Commonwealth [or Empire] at such a time. A worthwhile visit.

A more relaxing drive back to Sunbury, weather fine and cool. Stop in Melton, as I so often do, to visit Le Headquarters coffee lounge in the main street for a drink, before undertaking the final leg of the trip……….

Very heavy rain storms overnight, and that was continuing as I awoke this morning. Susie was intending to drive up to Bendigo this morning, but she seemed to be a bit slow in getting going. I must admit, I was a little concerned about her having to drive up the Calder Highway this morning – not a pleasant in poor weather like this. So it was with some feeling of relief, when she told me  thankfulness

A very ‘political’ day in Australia today, and I think all of the major television channels were broadcasting their programs this morning from the grounds of Parliament House in Canberra, all hoping to be first with the news of the outcome of the ballot between Kevin Rudd [former PM and Foreign Minister] and Julia Gillard [current PM]. I must admit, I watched quite a bit of all this while I was at home. The meeting of the ALP Caucas began at 10am, but the result of the ballot had not come out of the meeting room before I had to leave for my gymnasium session.

Not to worry, the TV sets were all operating in the gym complex  – obviously, someone from inside the Caucas  room texted out the result before it was official  – that was not permitted, but even politicians break the rules now and then!!  They got the result partly wrong anyway – the first score flashed on the screens said 73 to 29, Gillard’s way [as generally expected], but the official final result was Julia Gillard [71] Kevin Rudd [31]  – a total of 102 votes cast of the 103 Labor members in Parliament. One of the female MPS had just given birth to a baby, hence she was not able to be present!

In responding to her success, Julia Gillard assured Australians that her Party’s ‘political drama’ was over [can we really believe that?] and that she was ‘impatient’ to get back to delivering for the nation. As would be later reported, ‘embracing her solid mandate, as Mr Rudd pledged loyalty to her leadership, Ms Gillard was resolute as she admitted to errors [now!!] over the handling of her ousting of Mr Rudd from the Labor leadership in 2010, and vowed to beat the Coalition by refocusing on Labor values’.  Her victory this morning, ended months of leadership tension which was linked to lingering bitterness over Mr Rudd’s dumping as Prime Minister in 2010, a move led by Labor faction leaders. Although it would be some days before the PM reshuffled her cabinet, to replace Mr Rudd [who resigned as Foreign Minister last week] and Senate member, Mark Arbib who resigned later today, as Assistant Treasurer and as a Senator, Julia Gillard’s backers have been quick  to urge her to exercise her ‘heightened’ authority following the vote, by getting rid of the key ministers who led the campaign against her leadership, and thus clearing the way for her to create a cabinet of ‘supporters’.  Will be interesting to see how that all turns out. The Senate vacancy, created by Mark Arbib’s resignation will, by convention, be filled by another Labor person, and there is much interest in who that will be, generally considered to be someone of high enough status, to be considered for a ministerial position.

Anyway, after my session at the gymnasium, I returned home planning to spend most of the afternoon watching the washup of proceedings from Canberra, as well as Question Time, with Parliament having resumed after this morning’s drama.  However, a phone call from friend Ruth of Riddells Creek, suggesting coffee with her & hubby Barry, changed plans a little  – in fact, I left the video tape running, so that Question Time could be looked at a little later in the day!

Haven’t had an  afternoon tea/coffee break with Ruth & Barry for a while, so that was a pleasant little interlude, at one of the places we have frequented in the past for such occasions, although the name seem to change between every visit [located there, in the arcade between Evans & O’Shannassy Streets].  I even decided to be ‘wicked’ this afternoon, and have a slice of cake, as we used to do in the old days [before questions of diabetes spoilt all the fun], together with a cappucinio and  ‘then’, an iced coffee!!  Really downgraded my ‘health’ needs this afternoon, but but but, it was a rare occasion these days to meet with B & R, so made the most of it.  Barry had to go back to work after a while [problems to be solved], but Ruth & myself continued on for a while, chatting and getting up to date with all the usual points of conversation between us over the years. Needless to say, before Barry left, the question of the leadership  issue did get raised and discussed briefly, just a bit hard to avoid that today. Meanwhile, I discovered that Ruth was back doing locum work with the Vet practice, having put aside her studies this year, while daughter Sally completed her VCE year.

All good things come to an end  –  parted company, and I returned to some domestic duties [shopping] before returning home. An evening meal, and a few hours break before heading up to the radio station for tonight’s program. Outside, it was still raining, and had been doing so, off and on throughout the day. At one stage this afternoon, I tried to ‘clean’ up the mess that the rain had left my front driveway area in, but with further downpours occurring, it was a losing fight, whilst the weather remained as it was.    Our late summer rain continued as I drove up the hill to my radio studio that evening, and certainly, the heat and humidity of recent days had disappeared.

I tried to speak on air tonight with Melbourne soprano singer, Marilla Homes  – the young lady who had visited me during one of my Sunday afternoon programs a few years ago.  I was playing a couple of tracks from her Cd tonight, and thought it would be appropriate to get Marilla to talk to the listeners about that music, and the performances she had coming up ahead in the future weeks. Sadly [and annoyingly], the ‘talk back’ system would not work for this presenter tonight, so I had  with some embarrassment to apologise to Marilla for a change of plans. Nevertheless, my program continued [without feedback] as I continued to cover a wide range of musical genres as is my custom of a Monday night.   The importance of music in creating social and human cohesion can’t be emphasised enough, and I was reminded of this, after reading an article earlier today from one of the newspapers, and got to thinking how disappointing it was, that in world relations between nations, harmony is so difficult to achieve.

Headed ‘Sister cities torn over Nanjing Massacre’  –   ‘The wounds inflicted by Japan’s invasion of China are causing relations between the countries to take a lurch for the worse 75 years on, with Nanjing suspending its sister-city relationship with Nagoya. This follows an incident a week ago when Takashi Kawamura, the Mayor of Nagoya – Japan’s fourth-largest city with a population of two million – said only ‘conventional acts of combat’ had occurred during the seizure of Nanjing. This would have provoked a strong response from China at any time, but Mr Kawamura made his remarks to a delegation of officials from Nanjing itself, led by Liu Zhiwei, a member of the standing committee of the Communist Party in the city. More than 250,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were killed in what is usually described as the Nanjing Massacre. Several films have been made about the event, including City of Life and Death and Flowers of War, directed by Zhang Yimou.  One of Nanjing’s most visited tourist sites is a grim museum dedicated to what is described as China’s holocaust. Mr Kawamura refused to apologise for his statement, after Nanjing broke off exchanges. He said his father had been kindly treated by residents when he was based there in 1945 – something that would not have happened if Japanese troops had committed atrocities there in 1937. The outspoken, 78-year-old Tokyo Mayor, Shintaro Ishihara – who attributed last year’s devastating tsunami to ‘divine punishment’ for Japanese people’s egoism’ – backed his Nagoya counterpart. However, the 63-year-olk Kawamura found little support elsewhere. Both countries have worked to rebuild relations and younger Japanese had hoped the war was being left behind as an issue’ [written by Rowan Callick].  If I were a young Japanese, I would want the war to be left behind as an issue also – through shame at the way my people before and during the Second World War treated both civilians, their military opponents, and prisoners of war.  The well documented actions of the Japanese military in Nanjing in 1937 were repeated time and again through to 1945…………………….

 

 

Friday, the 24^th, and a hot afternoon in the C.B.D………..We are in the midst of an uncomfortable hot spell at present, day and night, although with the end of February close, this will probably be the last major  heatwave for this year’s summer.  Probably not a good day to agree to go into the city, although I had  been thinking of it in any case. Heather was down from Ballarat again to see her ill brother, was planning to have lunch with him  – then, with the rest of the afternoon free, wondered if I was going to be in the city?

Visit to the city – caught the train at 11.45am to Southern Cross/Flinders St.   Spent a bit of time in a quite extensive second hand bookshop in Flinders Street  – a lot of quite historic books there, going by my brief look and glance, but in many ways, too pricey for used books. Especially with so many discount shops around at the moment offering new books at low prices – such as my next stop in Collins Street  – all books $5.00!! Actually, I was only there for one reason today – to buy some more of those author biographies. Made three choices today  –  George Bernard Shaw, D H Lawrence, and Charlotte Bronte.  Then I sat out in Collins Street [like a shag on a rock], already feeling exhausted!!!  The heat and humidity – well those things don’t treat me too well these days, and I was not looking forward to too much walking. Neither was Heather!

We walked over to the restaurant at Federation Square – inside, out of the hot air, and that’s where we stayed, for 4 hours!! Drinking, eating, chatting  –  not something that I usually can be bothered doing for that length of time  – could have gone to a movie, or a boat ride on the Yarra, but after the stress of seeing her brother [who was apparently in a better mood this time], my companion was also content to simply sit and relax under those circumstances. Very pleasant 4 hours, though I was not too impressed with what we got from the restaurant in terms of quantity/quality versus price!!!  Ohhh well, the cost of friendship!  Irrespective of that, the conversation and company, was pleasant, interesting, and a very worthwhile way to spend a Friday afternoon. Just a pity that I can’t afford from a health point of view, to drink too much!  Much of our talk was bringing back interesting memories of my Ballarat days as a young boy, and teenager.

I think it was around 6pm, when we parted company again – Heather to do some Friday night shopping in the city [probably for shoes!!] before catching her train back to Ballarat, while I headed to Southern Cross Station, and the 7.15 train back to Sunbury.

Another hot and uncomfortable night – had the air conditioner on for a while, but in no real ‘energy mood’ for doing much other than sitting in front of the TV, and that was followed up by a sleep deprived and thoroughly restless night.

Saturday, 25th February 2012, and some big winnings on the horses [well, bigger than usual]…….I received an early morning greeting from yesterday’s companion, and in response to my replied list of today’s planned activities, Heather had this to say  –  ‘I feel tired reading all you have to do today. I didn’t sleep! I could hardly walk when I got off the train, was in pain all night. I am over all this old lady pain!!’  Oddly enough, I felt quite fit and ready for a 9am start at the gymnasium this morning, which was my first stopping off point.

Meanwhile, I found the following was an example of the kind of rhetoric that we have been getting inundated with, through the media over the past few days…….as reported in the Sunday Mail recently, Kevin Rudd was plotting his comeback a year ago as he panned Julia Gillard as a “childless, atheist, ex-communist” during a pub rant to political powerbrokers.  According to Labor frontbencher Kate Ellis and other witnesses, Mr Rudd made the remarks at Adelaide’s Stag Hotel in February last year.   Mr Rudd was speaking to guests associated with Senator Don Farrell, a Labor Right faction leader who helped dump Mr Rudd and bring Ms Gillard into power in June 2010.   “I’ve been wondering how you reconcile your conservative brand of Cathlocism with a childless, atheist, ex-communist as Labor leader,” he said.  Mr Rudd’s spokesman said the allegations were lies and Mr Rudd spent the entire evening at the function with then South Australian premier Mike Rann and his wife.  Mr Rann said he did not witness any inappropriate comments or behaviour from Mr Rudd. But Ms Ellis, the Minister for Employment Participation and the Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare, said he was telling anyone that would listen that he was plotting his revenge and would make a comeback.  A lawyer who was at the event backed Ms Ellis’s claims, saying Mr Rudd was “on a rampage” and “out of control,” and said he would sign a statutory declaration about what he saw.  Ms Ellis said she was “disgusted” by Mr Rudd’s disloyalty.  Well, certainly not a report that will win Kevin Rudd too many more votes I don’t think. Although there was quite an emotional public address by one Labor Minister today – the leader of the House in Parliament, Anthony Albanese – as I noted on Face Book later,  ‘Most of the Labor Ministers who have spoken about the vote for Rudd or Gillard have had some unpleasant things to say about one or the other. Anthony Albanese has been the notable exception. His obvious respect for all concerned, whilst still being forced to make a choice, was admirable and praiseworthy. He has my respect for that attitude’  Ruth replied with ‘I agree with you! Apparently JG trusts him to go on in her government no matter if he votes for Rudd because of his integrity’.  It certainly was a nice change from the way most of the more outspoken politicians, including Julia Gillard have been speaking about their opposition [in their own Party this time]. Anyway, that ballot between Gillard and Rudd happens on Monday morning, and no doubt there will be lots more canvassing between Labor Caucus members [and others – the ‘Faceless Men’ behind the Party mechanism] between now and then.

Radio station [committee] business meeting this afternoon, up in the studio meeting room  –  not a good location on a 37 degree afternoon, but with the aid of a traditional fan affair, we survived that couple of hours.  A meeting to consider the yearly progress of the Business Plan, etc, and to look ahead to the next year’s activities.

Meanwhile, today was my turn to undertake the duties for the little Betting Club of which I am a member – having joined up a few years ago through my association with some of the other station presenters, although in essence it is a family affair involving the Bents and Bourkes and various relations, I’m one of the ‘ring-ins’!!  My job today was to spend just $40 of the club’s funds on today’s races in Melbourne. Usually, I manage to come out a little amount in front, or a little down. Keep making a profit, and your ‘turn’ continues the following week, and so on. For a change today, I had a good afternoon – most of my selected came out and did basically what I was suggesting they would, and a little better in fact, so much so, that my total collections at the end of the day came to $214.40.  That may not seem much, but in terms of the usual outcomes of this particular group, and after a series of what was a period of poor weekly results [from others], I was rather satisfied with that outcome!! As mentioned one other time, I treat this little venture as my Christmas Club account –  what we have put in through the year, plus or minus the gross profit/loss, comes back to us at year’s end [and that’s when I do my Christmas shopping!!]. So far I don’t recall the year ending in a loss! Days like today help to keep it that way.

Sunday, 26th February  – another family birthday, and a major change in the weather……Yes, it was youngest brother, Colin’s birthday – 54 today. He and his wife now live up in central Queensland, in Rockhampton, a few hours north of Brisbane [where Jill & Ian reside].  Despite a ‘New Year’ resolution to send official birthday cards to everyone this year, I’ve only succeeded one in three, so Colin received my greetings via Face Book today. Not the ideal level of sibling greetings!

I was on the radio this morning this morning as usual, notice that it is now dark again when I leave home around 6am [remembering of course that we are still in daylight saving mode, so the real time is 5am].   I noticed also that the rabbits and magpies don’t seem to be as prevalent around the studio of a morning lately  – apparently there was a bit of a rabbit cull recently, they didn’t get them all, but certainly have diminished the population considerably.   The rest of my Sunday – nothing exciting to report upon, gave myself a rest day, although spent most of the afternoon, while Susie was at work, preparing future radio programs, especially for tomorrow night!   Late in the afternoon, it began to get unusually dark for that time of day, as a weather change hit this area, and over the next few hours, and through the night into Monday, we experienced severe thunderstorms, strong winds, and heavy rain.  I was rather disappointed that the work I had performed on the front nature strips last week, was all but washed away, and very quickly we saw the creation of muddy wet holes created on and beside the front driveway. Unfortunately, for the next few days, one of us [usually Susie unfortunately] would have to park out in the street!

The Carlton football team played it’s first official football games for the year today, over in Adelaide, and actually lost them both. These were part of the pre-season competition, and the coach played a number of first year players today, a good opportunity to gain them some experience at the senior level.  James did ring me earlier in the afternoon with an invite to go around to the local pub and watch the football from there, but I decided I was too comfortable doing was I was doing, declined that invite. Knowing James he would probably try and drag me into a game of poker, but apart from that, a pub scene is not really my scene these days. Anyway, Carlton had two games over in Adelaide – against each of the Adelaide teams. Shorter games then the normal  football season – just two 15 minute halves, but two matches played during the course of the afternoon. Scores were as follows.

• Carlton Blues:                      0.2.2.14    Final Score    0.5.4.34
• Adelaide Crows:                   1.2.2.23    Final Score   1.5.4.43

 

• Carlton Blues:                       1.1.0.15   Final Score    1.5.1.40
• Port Adelaide:                      0.2.7.19     Final Score   0.6.10.46

 

It will be up in Canberra for the next few days, and especially from tomorrow morning, when Kevin Rudd arrives back in Brisbane in the early hours of the morning, no doubt a sleepy press gallery will be waiting at the terminal for him.  The heat was on here also –  tried to do some work out in the garden again today, but I decided it was simply too hot – if I was a labourer, I would have been sacked after the first hour!!! The next 3 days are going to see the temperature up into the middle 30s!!  But hopefully, this might be the last heatwave spell this summer – Autumn ‘officially’ with us next week, although March can get pretty hot in Melbourne!

One of my normal gripes is about Australia selling out it’s assets and businesses to overseas investors, or our companies going offshore because the labour and other costs are cheaper in Asian and countries. In many ways, that’s easy to understand with any kind of business. I was reading an article today about a farmer here in Victoria, who despite not been a fan of foreign investment, has still sold his property to international buyers. By doing so, he ensured his sale took place at a premium price, which understandably is what he wanted. The farmer concerned claimed he would have preferred to have sold to a local family operation, but he believes that tighter lending restrictions by banks, and the provision of little assistance to young farmers made that kind of sale difficult. He felt that closer scrutiny of farm sales to foreign buyers would be an important assistance to the future of agriculture in Australia. Many of these kind of sales are going to Chinese interests in particular, and foreign investors are looking more and more to Australia during the world period of tough trading conditions in the search for property, mining and other business interests. It is the sale of our land and agricultural resources that I particularly find disturbing. Speaking to a reporter in this week’s Weekly Times, the farmer concerned said that “We are working in a world market, we have to accept this sort of thing is happening, but the Australian Government should keep a close eye on it. There needs to be a limit on it, its bad enough now that our food industry is not getting support or encouragement to grow and provide support for our own home grown food”.

I don’t know off hand what the current situation is but a couple of years ago in Federal politics, Labor  was demanding that  the Coalition back foreign investment in the farm sector after it said he would be prepared to limit foreign purchases.   Speaking on the 30 July, 2010, the then Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the Coalition must embrace the longstanding bipartisan support for foreign investment, insisting it drove jobs growth and warning that the Opposition Leader’s position would smash business confidence and damage trade links. The demand came after Tony Abbott declared he wanted to monitor foreign ownership of farm land and was prepared to take the appropriate action if the scale of investment threatened the national interest.  “We must be in charge of what happens in our own country, and obviously if we are going to be genuinely sovereign in our own country we’ve got to know what’s going on,” Mr Abbott said while campaigning in Adelaide.  My view is that I agree with Tony Abbott, without completely restricting it. At the time [in 2010], while Mr Abbott insisted he was not an opponent of foreign investment, Labor sources said the opposition was dog-whistling to appeal to xenophobic voters. And the  Australian Greens leader Bob Brown backed the creation of a register of foreign ownership and called on the Nationals to protect their rural constituents. Mr Abbott’s concern was based on the fact that the Foreign Investment Review Board  [FIRB] examines investment by foreigners in commercial and residential property but not small-scale rural purchases.  Earlier, Mr Abbott said the Coalition did not want to create a formal register of foreign-owned farmland because state titles offices already held ownership details relating to all property. But he said foreign ownership should be monitored more closely.  “It is important that the public understand that this country is run by the Australian government in Australia’s national interests,” Mr Abbott said. “We do want to sell the food, rather than sell the farm.” But he said Australia would always need foreign investment, just as Australian foreign investment in other countries was “a good thing” and part of a healthy, vigorous world economy.

Mr Burke said the FIRB had the power to examine any acquisition by a foreign company or government, regardless of the value. The minister said Australia’s agricultural export markets had developed over more than a century in a partnership between Australian farmers and international companies, allowing Australian producers to maximise the prices they could demand for their products.  “Federal Labor calls on the Coalition to immediately return to the longstanding bipartisan position in support of foreign investment to drive economic growth and job opportunities in rural and regional communities right across Australia,” he said.  Obviously, in the current political climate, this topic is probably not getting much attention in Parliament, in 2012!

Meanwhile, on the football scene, my team [Carlton Football Club] begins it’s pre-season competition matches this weekend.  The Blues’ 34-man squad for Sunday’s Round 1 NAB Cup matches against Port Adelaide and Adelaide at AAMI Stadium [in Adelaide] is a mix of experience and youth, with the three players recruited in the 2011 National Draft, Josh Bootsma, Dylan Buckley and Sam Rowe, preparing to wear the Carlton guernsey for the first time. While there will be some new faces for the Blues missing from the squad are seven players who represented Carlton in the Blues last game, the semi-final against West Coast. Chris Judd, Michael Jamison, Andrew Walker, Mitch Robinson, Rob Warnock and Nick Duigan will all commence their preparations for the 2012 season in the following rounds of the NAB Cup, together with Jarrad Waite who is returning from injury and is expected to play in round two or three of the NAB Cup. “The NAB Cup is about preparing the team and individuals for the 2012 season and we will be looking to ensure every player has the best possible preparation, whether that be two or three games, in the lead up to round one,” said GM Football Operations Andrew McKay.  “While supporters naturally focus on the first year players we are looking forward to seeing the development of our second and third year players who have had more than one pre-season and are striving to make their way into the team. “With hot weather forecast in Adelaide on Sunday we will use all 34 players over the two games and I am sure there will be plenty of rotations during both games. Everyone will have their opportunity during the day.”  Although there will no coverage of the games here in Victoria that I have access to, I’m looking forward to see how this ‘new’ team performs for it’s supporters.

Good to see that the team is quite popular up in Queensland –  support for the Carlton Football Club has always been very strong Australia wide and the sale of tickets to the round 3 NAB Cup in Maroochydore has proven how popular the Blues are in Queensland with the match a sell-out.  Carlton will play Brisbane at the Maroochydore Sports Complex on Saturday March 10 in the NAB Cup third round match and tickets sold out within two weeks of being on sale…………………………………………………………………………

Now finally, as a man of Scottish heritage, I was interested in this little historical note – ‘King David II of Scotland died on this date in 1731 at Edinburgh Castle, and was buried at Holyrood Abbey. He had an eventful reign – as well as spending eleven years as a prisoner of the English after invading England in 1736, David II was the last male of the House of Bruce and died childless. He was succeeded by his nephew, Robert II’  I have all those details on my ‘chart’ of Scottish kings, etc, think it’s about time I revisited that little exercise, and updated a few details!

Meanwhile, ‘the saviour’ of the ALP is winging his way home >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

 

 

 

The morning after, and needless to say, all of today’s newspapers, TV news shows, radio talkbacks – all about two people, and the upcoming leadership ballot, that the PM is apparently going to call for next Monday. Is all this assuming that Kevin Rudd will actually contest the ballot for leader?  We might leave that topic for the time being, it’s not going to go away!!

Bill’s up bright and breezy [trying to feel that way anyway] for another session at the gymnasium this morning. Kind of beginning to look forward to the hour, though not so keen on those post stretching exercises, find them harder work than what has gone before, oddly enough!  Anyway, we ‘survived’ another day, and just after I came out of the gym, switched on the car radio, as our esteemed PM formally announced to the nation that she had called for a leadership ballot, for 10 am next Monday morning.  Well, I thought that news justified some sort of celebration –  went and had a haircut, then shouted myself an iced coffee!!

In the meantime, while it would seem that the PM has the numbers over Kevin Rudd at present, and has the advantage of been able to campaign for the next 20 hours while he is in a plane returning to Australia from the USA, Gillard has indicated, that should she lose the ballot [and the role of Prime Minister] next Monday, she will return to the back bench with a firm commitment that she will undertake no further claims for leadership of the ALP [difficult on past records, to see her keeping that commitment, however…..], and she hopes that Kevin Rudd will give the same commitment should he lose the vote on Monday. It seems that the over-riding factor [apart from the perceived personalities of each of them, and their success or otherwise of their respective periods as Prime Minister] is the question of  which of Gillard or Rudd is best perceived to be able to defeat Tony Abbott in the next Federal Election [in 17 months  at the most] – general opinion seems to be Rudd.

I shall return >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>