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A few hours sleep – heard Susie go off to an early shift at the Bakery, and I got up soon thereafter, and while I should have immediately headed outside and did a bit of work in the garden before it got too hot, instead, it was catching up on some computer and other work!!

Meanwhile, with all Australian individual hopes now out of the Australian Open, my attention should have been directed towards the 4rh cricket test between Australia and India which began this morning in Adelaide, but I really didn’t want to get trapped in front of the TV for the rest of the week, A bit difficult, with Australia winning the toss and deciding to bat, and a run a minute coming in the first half hour. It’s a beautiful cricket ground, the Adelaide Oval with the backdrop of the city, and river, etc, and it was in fact one of the other major cricket grounds in Australia that I have watched cricket at, the other being Brisbane, and of course, Melbourne’s MCG. Have been to the Sydney Cricket Ground, but that was to watch a football match!  Anyway, glad I didn’t settle down to watch too closely, that first 30 minutes ended with the first wicket going down, not a promising outcome!

After a spot of work in the yard, I retreated from the heat of the sun, and indulged in some reading for an hour or so. In fact, the book was ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen  –  I’m not sure what encouraged me to draw that one from the shelves a couple of weeks ago, and go for a bit of English classical culture, as the literature from those  days one would not normally classify as a bit of light hearted summer novel reading. But, it was a change of pace from recent and other current reading, and I quite enjoyed it.  ‘Emma’, the writing of which commenced in 1815, is about the perils of misconstrued romance, and is described as an exploration of the concerns and difficulties faced by genteel women living in Georgia-Regency England at that time.  Here is an interesting little review of the storyline, which while it basically gives away the plot, might encourage a reader out there to pick up one of Jane Austen’s novels, and have a ‘new’ experience in something old , an original piece of English literature. I don’t know who the writer was, but it’s a concise précis.

“Although convinced that she herself will never marry anyone, Emma Woodhouse, a precocious almost twenty-one-year-old resident of the village of Highbury, imagines herself to be naturally gifted in conjuring love matches. After self-declared success at matchmaking between her governess and Mr. Weston, a village widower, Emma takes it upon herself to find an eligible match for her new friend, Harriet Smith. Though Harriet’s parentage is unknown, Emma is convinced that Harriet deserves to be a gentleman’s wife and sets her friend’s sights on Mr. Elton, the village vicar. Meanwhile, Emma persuades Harriet to reject the proposal of Robert Martin, a well-to-do farmer for whom Harriet clearly has feelings.

Harriet becomes infatuated with Mr. Elton under Emma’s encouragement, but Emma’s plans go awry when Elton makes it clear that his affection is for Emma, not Harriet. Emma realises that her obsession with making a match for Harriet has blinded her to the true nature of the situation. Mr. Knightley, the brother of Emma’s brother-in-law and her treasured friend, watches Emma’s matchmaking efforts with a critical eye. He believes that Mr. Martin is a worthy young man whom Harriet would be lucky to marry. He and Emma quarrel over Emma’s meddling, and, as usual, Mr. Knightley proves to be the wiser of the pair. Elton, spurned by Emma and offended by her insinuation that Harriet is his equal, leaves for the town of Bath and marries a young woman there almost immediately.

Emma is left to comfort Harriet and to wonder about the character of a new visitor expected in Highbury—Mr. Weston’s son, Frank Churchill. Frank is set to visit his father in Highbury after having been raised by his aunt and uncle in London, who have also adopted him as their heir. Emma knows nothing about Frank, who has long been deterred from visiting his father by his aunt’s illnesses and complaints. Mr. Knightley is immediately suspicious of the young man, especially after Frank rushes back to London merely to have his hair cut. Emma, however, finds Frank delightful and notices that his charms are directed mainly toward her. Though she plans to discourage these charms, she finds herself flattered and engages in a flirtation with the young man. Emma greets Jane Fairfax, another addition to the Highbury set, with less enthusiasm. Jane is beautiful and accomplished, but Emma dislikes her because of her reserve and, the narrator insinuates, because she is jealous of Jane.

Suspicion, intrigue, and misunderstandings ensue. Mr. Knightley defends Jane, saying that she deserves compassion because, unlike Emma, she has no independent fortune and must soon leave home to work as a governess. Mrs. Weston suspects that the warmth of Mr. Knightley’s defense comes from romantic feelings, an implication Emma resists. Everyone assumes that Frank and Emma are forming an attachment, though Emma soon dismisses Frank as a potential suitor and imagines him as a match for Harriet. At a village ball, Knightley earns Emma’s approval by offering to dance with Harriet, who has just been humiliated by Mr. Elton and his new wife. The next day, Frank saves Harriet from Gypsy beggars. When Harriet tells Emma that she has fallen in love with a man above her social station, Emma believes that she means Frank. Knightley begins to suspect that Frank and Jane have a secret understanding, and he attempts to warn Emma. Emma laughs at Knightley’s suggestion and loses Knightley’s approval when she flirts with Frank and insults Miss Bates, a kindhearted spinster and Jane’s aunt, at a picnic. When Knightley reprimands Emma, she weeps.   News comes that Frank’s aunt has died, and this event paves the way for an unexpected revelation that slowly solves the mysteries. Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged; his attentions to Emma have been a screen to hide his true preference. With his aunt’s death and his uncle’s approval, Frank can now marry Jane, the woman he loves.  Emma worries that Harriet will be crushed, but she soon discovers that it is Knightley, not Frank, who is the object of Harriet’s affection. Harriet believes that Knightley shares her feelings. Emma finds herself upset by Harriet’s revelation, and her distress forces her to realise that she is in love with Knightley. Emma expects Knightley to tell her he loves Harriet, but, to her delight, Knightley declares his love for Emma. Harriet is soon comforted by a second proposal from Robert Martin, which she accepts. The novel ends with the marriage of Harriet and Mr. Martin and that of Emma and Mr. Knightley, resolving the question of who loves whom after all”.

Of course the manner in which the C19th author depicts all this is very much in the style of those times, and I imagine that modern day readers of a ‘romance’ novel would find the whole process rather tedious and long winded – perhaps the difference between true literary styles of past decades [which often took years to write] and the ‘supermarket’ style production of much reading material these days. Anyway, I’ve put myself in the mode of the former, over the past couple of weeks, and I might well be into another of Austen’s books in the near future.

Stumps on Day 1 of the 4^th Cricket Test, sees the Australians in a strong position, on a day that saw Ricky Ponting score his 41^st test century. Scores: Australia 1^st Innings:  3 wickets for 335 runs, with Michael Clarke not out on 140, and Ricky Ponting not out 137. 

Meanwhile, at the Tennis, there were some Quarter Final matches completed today, and this evening, and those results were as follows. 

• MEN: Roger Federer  defeated  Juan Martin del Potro  6/4, 6/3, 6/2…………………Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berydch 6/7, 7/6, 6/4, 6/3 
• WOMEN:  Kim Clijsters defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6/3, 7/6…………….Victoria Azarenka defeated Agnieazka Radwanska 6/7, 6/0, 6/2

Not feeling 100% healthy or fit this morning, and certainly the knowledge of a session at the gymnasium this morning was not quite as appealing as it should have been!  It was a hot morning, and the normal peacefulness of this neighbourhood was going to be disturbed over the next few days by a series of road-works in our Court. Not exactly sure what they are doing, but has been going on in this area generally since before Christmas!

Anyway, despite the heat and ‘imagined’ physical difficulties, we got to the gymnasium, and managed without problems to get through an hour of exercises and activities. With most Australians now living longer and stronger, the aim after retirement is to get a new life, or perhaps, a better extension of what is gone in the past  –  so that stage, they tell us should be the new name for what was formally called  ‘retirement’.  So perhaps that should be my attitude from hereon – I’m not retired, I’m at the early stages of a ‘new life’  – it’s 23 days late, but maybe I should make that my 2012 resolution, i.e., to simply keep that attitude in mind at all times!! I’m advised that there are no magic new names for the post-work stage, but it’s definitely not the old-style retirement of ‘cardigan and slippers’!!  However, like most changes in life, these things don’t necessarily all happen at once – things like planning, readiness for change, and of course, resource availability [have I got enough money behind me] to help those changes actually happen.

On that subject, the recent edition of the Centrelink LifeChoices magazine had an interesting article about retirement planning guides, and while much of it was related to pre-planning before your actually get to that stage [too late for me], there were a number of useful bits of advice included there. However most of the issues revolved about the important aspects of financial and investment considerations, as distinct from the pure ‘survival’ aspects of retiring within the confines of government pensions and/or superannuation payments, etc, and the actual lifestyle choices to be made. I might come back to this subject on future occasions, especially with regard to progress on my ‘late’ resolution.

Not long before I finished my show tonight, it was obvious from the TV scene in front of me, that there would be no tennis left by the time I got home – our Lleyton was on the way to defeat, against World No. 1 Novak Jokovic,  down 2 sets and 0-3 in the third set. That was a gross misjudgement of Hewitt’s fighting capacity, and refusal to never accept defeat until it is here. I reached home, in time to see him get ‘up off the floor’ and win that third set, and create for the most optimistic of us, a bit of hope that ‘maybe’ he could still win the match.  It wasn’t to be, but that was quite an emotional 4^th set which ended around 1am, when Jokovic was still forced to fight to which that final serve game, as with defeat staring him in the face, Hewitt still refused to concede until the inevitable final point was scored.  If it wasn’t already high, I think Hewitt’s estimation in the eyes of the Australian public went up a further notch tonight, certainly in my admiration, it did.  But whether we will see him on Melbourne Park again for next year’s Open, probably doubtful, as the veteran’s role as our leader in tennis looks set to be taken over by the 19 year old Bernard Tomic in the years ahead.  The scores in tonight’s match saw Novak Djokovic defeat Lleyton Newitt  6/1, 6/3, 4/6, 6/3

Quite a few emotional and surprising results in today’s matches.  I was personally not unhappy to see Serena Williams knocked out of the tournament by a Russian opponent, but was  little disappointed that last year’s Final rematch between Li Na [China] and Kim Clijsters [yesterday] saw the Chinese girl defeated. However much admiration for the fighting qualities of Clijsters who came back from certain defeat after the first set [when she injured her ankle] to eventually get up and win that match.  While the opportunities to watch the tennis [outside of games involving the Australians] have been limited by choice, I must admit that I have enjoyed this time watching some of the overseas players, though I cannot find much favouritism for the women who continually screech and grown throughout their games  – as brother Robert indicated in an email yesterday  [I] “Do find the women’s games mostly boring and all that grunting or shrieking a complete turnoff”.

Meantime, I was on the radio for three hours tonight, so missed most of the Hewitt game, but enjoyed presenting a program of music especially chosen for Australia Day [coming up next Thursday], and featuring singers and musicians, and their stories from both the ‘European’ [white Australian] point of view, and that of the Indigenous people. I wanted to give both sides equal airing, because while we might celebrate the 26^th January, as the date in 1788 when ‘European’ settlement formally commenced, it should never be forgotten that the ancestors of the Aboriginal people who were already here on that date, had in fact occupied the land of Australia for between 30,000 to perhaps 60,000 years previously. So tonight, I had a bit of everything, and changed the format of the  program to cater for this particular anniversary acknowledgement. 

Whilst I was doing the show tonight, I sent a little text greeting to Heather, down in Ballarat – her reply was quite interesting – ‘Hi Bill, glad you are enjoying your program. Very hot here!! I have just come home from a fantastic night listening to Peter Roberts, who is Australia’s only music thanatologist. He plays prescriptive harp music to terminally ill and also to prem babies. Fantastic! Take care.H”.  After that, when I got back home, I just  had to look up the precise definition of a music thanatologist  –    in Peter Robert’s own words – ‘A certified Music-thanatologist is trained to offer live, prescriptively played music (harp and voice) at the bedside of patients facing the end of their lives. Over the years I have broadened the application of my music to include recovering patients as well, but the focus of the training in music-thanatology was entirely for palliative care. An essential component to this offering involves bringing an attitude of compassion, and an attentive, loving presence that is expressed through the music. I know this may sound a bit mushy to those with a cynical disposition but it is nonetheless very real. The effect is profound.  Musical sessions usually culminate in a comfortable deep silence’.  Incidentally, that message from Heather was the only communication I received tonight, a little disappointing again!!  I put a lot of preparation into all of my shows, and particularly a special program such as tonight – an occasional piece of feedback is always very welcome [ a little like these blog contributions actually, be nice to hear from an occasional reader!]

It has been both a rather busy week, and at the same time, a tiring one, where a lot of basic activities [such as these writings] were neglected, and put aside, hence another one of my consolidated entries appears here alas, pushing a number of days into one entry. I normally try and avoid such a situation, but now and then, we become a bit ‘lazy’ in our writing program and these things happen.

On Sunday, 15^th January, the emphasise was on an afternoon in a ‘pub’, and a late night TV movie.  It was preceded by a  quiet Saturday night at home, during which, amongst other things, I exchanged some text messages with Heather in Ballarat  – She seemed keen to meet, and we  arranged a meeting for coffee halfway between here and  her place [at Bacchus Marsh] providing her Mum, now in her 90s, and a permanent resident of Nazareth House in Ballarat,  was okay that morning, Wednesday. I think I have only met up with Heather on one occasion, at a church reunion, since the early 1960s, when the family moved from the Neil Street house, to Humffray Street North [near Brown Hill], on the eastern side of Ballarat, and we both moved to different secondary schools from the primary school we had attended [Macarthur Street, where way back in the War years of the early 1940s, my own grandfather was the Headmaster].

Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ this morning, which was in fact the featured selection of this morning’s radio show, which got my Sunday off to it’s usual early start. A couple of hours later, and I was on the late morning train into the city, and a warmish walk up to a pub in West Melbourne, not far from the Victoria Market  – Ron Bourke’s 70^th birthday. With one other exception, I think I was the only non-family person there, of about 40 – pub bar especially opened up today for the function.  I left around 3pm –  tram into city, visited J B Hi Fi’s, and purchased three classical cds –  to cover the next 3 weeks on Sunday morning with Classic FM Top 100. I was on a train back in Sunbury before 5pm.  Expected Susan home anytime – however, by 11pm,, no sign or sound of her return- sent message to the girls  –  back tomorrow!! At least I could relax for the rest of tonight. I also got home to find that the Third Test cricket match was already over after just two and a half days of the scheduled five days, again.  It ended up and easy win for Australia by an innings and 37 runs, as the Aussies took a 3-0 lead in the four test series.

An evening in front of the  TV tonight  –  the movie Balibo on the ABC. I have seen it a couple of years ago at the theatre – taped it, while I watched SBS this evening  –  interesting historical and archaeological program on the history of the British Isles  [A History of Ancient Britain – Age of Ancestors] – missed it last week. Then watched part two of the documentary called ‘Once Upon A Time in Cabramatta, where the inside story of Cabramatta’s Vietnamese community continues [most of them refugees from the Vietnam War] with the assassination of MP John Newman, and the growth of the heroin trade. Interesting, disturbing, a bit slow and repetitive at times, but worth watching. 

That was followed by another movie which I quite enjoyed watching –  from 2006, the drama movie called ‘Venus’ and starring Peter O’Toole, Vanessa Redgrave and Jodie Whittaker. While some reviewers described it as a comedy, that’s not exactly the way I saw it – probably wouldn’t have even started to watch had I seen it classified as such.  Maurice (Peter O’Toole) and Ian (Leslie Phillips) are old friends, veteran English actors who never hit the big time. Now in their seventies, they continue to work (Maurice, for example, is playing a corpse in a television drama) but their comfortable routines and banter over breakfast in a favourite café are disrupted by the arrival from the provinces of Ian’s grand-niece, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker). She quickly tries her great-uncle’s patience. But Maurice is taken with the girl, and proceeds to show her the cultural sights of the capital. Maurice tries to teach Jessie something about life, but in the process he is surprised to discover how very little he actually knows now that his own life is drawing to a close.  I like the following synopsis of the film, which I found in Wikipedia.

The plot concerns Maurice (Peter O’Toole] an elderly actor who finds himself increasingly attracted to his friend Ian’s great-niece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) while simultaneously finding himself in deteriorating health due to prostate cancer. Maurice’s friend describes the great-niece as a trouble maker and a nuisance, but Maurice discovers that Jessie warms up to him when he starts interacting with her. He takes her to the National Gallery in London, England to view his favourite painting, the Rokeby Venus, by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez.

Jessie had expressed interest in modelling (Maurice initially mis-hears this as “yodelling”) and Maurice arranges for Jessie to model nude for an art class. As a result of Jessie posing for the art class, and inspired by his favourite painting, Maurice decides to give Jessie the nickname “Venus”. Maurice and Jessie develop a passive/aggressive relationship over the course of the film. Maurice is forward in terms of his attraction towards Jessie while Jessie occasionally indulges his whims to a limited extent, such as touching her hand and smelling her neck, but also retracts the indulgences when she feels that he has gone too far. The plot of the film revolves around the evolving friendship or relationship between the two characters. For Maurice, this appears to be the last attempt at something approaching a love life, as his prostate operation has left him impotent. For Jessie, it is less clear what she sees in Maurice. During the course of the film we see her do everything from exploiting him (trying to get him to buy her presents, trying to use his flat to have sex with a boy), taking care of him, flirting with him, and rejecting him sexually to engaging with him as a friend. During the course of the film we learn that she has been rejected by her mother and great-uncle for her promiscuous life style; it is implied that she is drawn to Maurice because he does not judge her as harshly as her family members have.

The plot comes to a head when Jessie becomes involved with a boy. The two young lovers convince Maurice to take a walk so that they can have sex. Maurice initially obliges the request, but returns to kick them out of his flat. A scuffle ensues and Jessie knocks down Maurice, injuring him. Jessie leaves with the boy and apparently spends the night out partying with him at clubs, later returning to check on Maurice. When the paramedics arrive, Maurice claims he cannot remember who attacked him, much to Jessie’s surprise. Then Maurice calls for “Venus” to take care of him. Jessie, remorseful, agrees to look after Maurice. Some time later, after Maurice has at least partly recovered, he takes Jessie to the seaside at Whitstable in Kent. As they sit down by the water Maurice says to Jessie “Now, we can really talk”, and dies, leaning on her.

Tour Down Under cycling race began today, over in South Australia – today’s opening stage around the streets of Adelaide.  With one of the commercial channels taking over the coverage of this year’s race, it was rather disappointing, because that so-called coverage consisted of about 40 minutes of highlights, at 11.30 at night for an Australian daytime event. Another pathetic effort by Channel 9, and a disgrace that money and power so easily allows that network to take control of the rights of a major event, when the coverage elsewhere would have been far superior and much more relevant!!  And this is the channel that is going to be responsible for my viewing of next year’s Olympic Games!!!

Monday 16 January and the tennis begins, and my first session at the local gym!!    The first session this morning of my ‘Lift for Life’ gymnasium program, conducted in the gym at the local swimming pool Apart from the treadmill and bike exercises, most of the weight related and other activities were things I’d not attempted for some considerable years, and as an expected consequence there would be one or two ‘sore’ muscles over the next 24 hours or so. But I did enjoy the experience, although probably would have liked to have been a part of the group I was expecting to be joining me [or vice versa] – today’s appointment was actually an hour ahead of the scheduled normal session time for this program.  I won’t say the rest of the day was in recovery mode, but apart from some late morning shopping, I was not over active for the rest of the day, though did have to devote some preparation time for tonight’s radio show.

 Meanwhile, the Australian Open Tennis Championships commenced today. It had been my intention upon retiring, to spend some time at this year’s event, but time and the days have caught up with me, and I decided it was far easier to watch the occasional game [usually involving the Australians] on the TV – cheaper, less crowd hazzle, travelling, heat, etc –  maybe next year, added to which, minor problems been caused by a variation of medication have been a dampening factor, and a few other commitments this week.  In this year’s tournament, we have apparently seven Australian men and twelve Australian women competing in the ‘Singles’ competitions. I wonder if any will be left by the end of this first week!!!  The big hope, for many, is US Open winner, Samantha Stosur, but her form has been rather patchy since that event, and personally, I will surprised to see her progress right through the tournament, similarly with former stars like Lleyton Hewitt, and up and coming youngster, Bernard Tomic [who actually won his first major tournament on Saturday I think].    As for tonight’s radio program, made even moire enjoyable than usual, due to the inclusion of a 15 minute phone interview with a young singer from Brisbane, Ainslinn Sharp  – she rang me last week, hoping to organise an on-air chat, and asking if I would play her music. Well of course, that is something I do on this particular show – promote and play Australian artists, musicians, etc, who don’t get much [if any] airplay on commercial radio, and community radio such as ours has to be their avenue of publicity and promotion. Mixed results with Bernard Tomic [our teenage up and coming sensation] moving into the next round after coming from 2 sets down against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, while for the girls, wins to Casey Dellacqua and Olivia Rogowska saw them proceed to Round Two. Aussies losses were Greg Jones, Ashleigh Barty [just 16 years old and very promising], and Anastasia  Rodionova.  As usual, a collection of non-Australian names against our competitors, a reflection of the multi-cultural flavour of this country, and the number of tennis players who have adopted this country as their new homeland.

Meanwhile, here is today’s ‘Kids are Quick’ quotation::           TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?     DONALD: H I J K L M N O.    TEACHER: What are you talking about?    DONALD: Yesterday you said it’s H to O. 

Tuesday, 17 January – dinner with family ‘second/third’ cousins–  a bit of time spent up at the local radio station this morning, on administrative matters this time!!  We were in the middle of a rather wearying hot spell again, hence my decision [perhaps to be regretted later on] to travel by train and tram over to my ‘dinner’ appointment tonight. I was simply not keen on driving across the city in peak hour traffic and in top 30 degree temperatures. I knew the train to the city would be comfortable, though had overlooked the following ‘tram’ journey out of the city to the eastern suburb of Kew. It was 5.30pm by then, and yes, the tram was crowded, it was one of the ‘older style’ models [meaning air conditioning functioned rather poorly], and it turned out to be a hot and uncomfortable trip. My own fault!! Didn’t really enjoy that part of the journey, while at the Kew end, a bit of a walk around the main shopping precinct, looking for a suitable bottle of white wine for my hosts. I had put a bottle aside at home this morning, but later decided that by the time I got over to Kew, it would have been almost as warm as I was feeling.

A short walk from there to Ross & Marion’s home in Kew – a lovely large old style home with beautiful old established garden, both of the sort I would be comfortable with. Their main concern was apparently that since they had moved into the place, development in the surrounding properties had over shadowed and spoilt part of the views of surrounding areas they had previously enjoyed. Meanwhile, Marion is a granddaughter of one of my great grandfather’s brothers [hence the family connection]. I had previously visited them back in 1978, when their two children were there at home, and young teens I think, and then we did not meet again until last September up at the William Kirk dedication centenary in Charlton. My visit tonight was at their invitation.

And if I may say so, a very pleasant if not short visit [of about 3 hours] it was. An easy couple to talk to, and plenty of conversation relating to family connections, sharing of photos, and on more general topics, such as the recent disasters involving the hot air balloon in New Zealand, and the sinking of the cruise ship over in the Mediterranean [interesting news report on that which was claiming that the captain of the Costa  Concordia, refused the coast guards order to ‘return’ to his sinking ship and oversee the evacuations from his ship – his response was reportedly along the lines that he was ‘coordinating  things’ from where he was!!].

  Marion was particularly proud of the framed copies she possessed of the various invitations that our original ancestor, William Kirk, has received during the many proceedings that took place with the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia, here in Melbourne in 1901. Somehow, she and  Ross had received an invitation to the centenary of that event, held in 2001, and I had the opportunity to look at, and compare, the respective booklets for both events, that occurred at those times.  As a fellow family historian, a couple of magnificent possessions, and a privilege that the original William’s prominence in the life of early Victoria had justified his invitations and participations in the various activities associated with the original events.

Meanwhile, Ross and Marion were bike riders [as was my brother] and that enabled some interesting discussion of the various escapades [per bicycle] that both parties had participated in over the years. One little misconception was cleared up here – they were confusing Sunbury, and the Melbourne western suburb of Sunshine. They had done some bike rides out to what Marion was referring to as Sunbury, but in fact confusing that with Sunshine, where they thought I had come from today –  a little surprised that in fact I’d travelled on what Marion referred to as a ‘country’ train this afternoon [which in fact it was, having come through from Bendigo].

I left Kew around 9pm [needed to ensure that I got back to the city in time to catch the last train, 10.15, to Sunbury]. Marion & Ross, with their little dog, joined me on the walk to the tram stop, where we said our farewells. The tram ride, back into the city, was much more pleasant – large open air conditioned modern tram, and not too crowded, although more people on board than I would have expected at this time of night, going into the city. But then it was a hot night still, and the holiday season was still around for many people. In my usual manner of wanting to be on time for things, I had plenty of time to spare at the Southern Cross station end, though [despite the lovely meal with the Harris couple] would have liked something healthy to eat, as my stomach was ‘misbehaving’ again due to that medication problem, but most of the outlets around the station area were closed for the night. Had to suffice with a bottle of  water!

Meanwhile, to the Aussie performances at Melbourne Park today, and this evening, in the tennis?  The big disappointment was of course Sam Stosur going out in the first round – her form from when she won the US Open last year, has been a little sub-standard. This is part of  what Ron Reed in the Herald-Sun had to say.  “Sam Stosur’s proudest possession – the US Open Tennis championship – has proven a burden too heavy to carry. Weighed down by it, Australia’s highest ranked player, male or female, crashed to a shock first round defeat in straight sets to little known Romanian Sorana Cirstea [7/6,6/3] at the Open . A national hero after beating the legendary Serena Williams in New York in September, making her the first Australian woman to win a grand slam event for 30 years, Stosur was under pressure to validate the performance in front of her own fans. That expectation rocketed up notch with 19 year old Bernard Tomic’s epic comeback against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco on Monday, raising hopes of a big first week for Australia. But where Tomic seemed to draw inspiration from the crowd on Rod Laver Arena, Stosur seemed to shrink from the almost full house, with the official enclosure packed with VIPs keen to celebrate her new status…..”

 Our other two ‘drama Queens’  –  had totally different outcomes. Jelena Dokic cruised past her Russian opponent to move into the 2^nd round, while fellow adopted Australian, Jarmila Dajdosova crashed in equally emphatic circumstances, then apparently blamed her critics. I feel sorry for the girl, because over the past 12 months or so, she has endured a messy divorce,  suffered a hate campaign on Twitter, and seen a rise in her levels of errors, etc on the tennis court, which fact is constantly being pointed out to her. No wonder she was close to tears after exiting her  7^th consecutive first round  of the Australian Open. Still she remains at World No. 39 [before this event], and I feel she is a good enough player to come back again, although her confidence is obviously fairly low at present.  Three of our men had wins today however –  I returned home in time to see Lleyton Hewitt manage a win over Germany’s Cedric-Marcel Stebe, a good result in view of Hewiitt’s now low world ranking, recent long term injuries, and lack of matches during 2011. Unlike Samantha Stoser, he was not expected to be around for long in this Australian Open.  Lleyton of course, would have different ideas, as he would soon show us!!  A couple of our younger male players also had 1^st round wins today – James Duckworth and Matthew Ebden, and they would feature in Round two games in a couple of days for the TV coverage.

Wednesday, 18 January – and a pleasant lunch with a schoolgirl friend of half a century ago.  But that wouldn’t happen before yet another early morning visit to the radio!!  As always, I enjoyed the 3 hours on air this morning, and in particular the variety of the program that I was able to present. Another pleasing text message from listener Jayne, but I had to admit, that this morning was a bit a struggle, was feeling quite weary, and rather glad that Ron, the normal presenter at this time, would be back next week.  While he would still be looking for my sport report at 6.45 am each morning, I would at least avoid the 5am wakeup calls that were preceding these days.

Late morning saw me driving across to the township of Bacchus Marsh [halfway between here and Ballarat] to meet up for lunch, with former ‘primary’ school fellow student, Heather  – she probably recognised me, before I did her, as in the absence of any photos, I’d actually been struggling to remember what she looked like [as a 10-12 year old] when I assumed was the last time we had met.  I’d met and spoken to her brother, Ross, at the Neil Street 150^th celebrations last August, and it was through that, we had got into contact with each other. Heather had not attended the reunion that day, as I think she was with her mother, who was a terminally ill cancer patient in Ballarat’s Nazareth House.

Anyway, that was a very pleasant three hours at the ‘Baby Block Expresso Bar’ [what an old name]  –  located in a rambling old house and garden, opposite the Bacchus Marsh McDonalds store [my reference point to find the place]  –  quite a noisy, crowded, and obviously popular place, and also quite uncomfortably hot in the main part of the restaurant. Heather, who had arrived before I did, after driving down from Ballarat, had chosen a separate room, which as it turned out, we basically had to ourselves for the duration of our visit. I can’t say I was terribly impressed with the limited range of light lunches available at the place, but that was not really why I was here – enjoyed a couple of coffees and lots of nice interesting conversation with the girl who I will admit was the first girl I was ever ‘sweet on’, at the grand old age of 10 years old!!!  Once we left primary school, and my family eventually moved home a couple of years later, we never came into contact again, although there may have been a meeting of some sort about 30 years ago, simply cannot remember!  Of course, at the time, I assumed she ‘didn’t even know I existed’, although I learnt today that wasn’t true. I nice revelation 50+ years too late!!!  At school, Heather used to sit next to the son of  the Ballarat brick making firm people [Selkirks Brickworks] and she admitted that he was her ‘boyfriend’ at that time [we are still at primary school remember] but they too drifted apart eventually. He can still be seen around Ballarat, driving the latest sports model, etc. I imagine the business, which is still going strong, would have had plenty of ‘advantages’ for the family.

Heather and I parted at around 3pm with the usual promises of meeting up again. I think this one will happen. It seems that since her mother has been in hospital, she has visited her every day, obviously a personal desire and a promise to her late father, Charlie, who died a few years ago. I gather they are as much friends, as mother & daughter, and it is obviously going  to be a major loss in her life when the cancer finally claims her mother, who is in her 90s.  Although, as sometimes happens,  it seems that in tragedy, such an event will also allow this lady [who is a voluntary palliative care worker herself] ‘get a life’, which has been on hold for some years!

The afternoon was still very hot, although the hints of a change were on the way. I had a session at the gymnasium scheduled for this evening – probably initially didn’t feel over enthusiastic about going, but, after preparing a meal for Susan and myself, both of which were planned to be eaten later tonight [she and Jodie were playing volley ball], I headed off to the gym and had a useful enough hour – well, I felt better for it afterwards, although when I mentioned that I would be back in the morning, it was suggested better to wait a couple of days – when meant the next session would be Saturday!!

The girls returned from volleyball around 9pm – Jodie stayed and chatted briefly, but strangely, soon after she left, Susan went off to bed, not feeling well, without eating the meal I’d prepared!  It would not be until Friday that I would discover what the cause of the ‘not feeling well’ referred to.

Meanwhile, at the Australian Open Tennis today and tonight, a few Australians attempted to make their way through the 2^nd round.  In the two Centre Court night matches, Bernard Tomic had another great win in 4 sets over the American, Sam Querrey to advance to the 3^rd round.  Not so successful was Casey Dellacqua who had a tough call against one of the top seeds, Victoria Azarenka [one of those female players who constantly screeches while she plays] – she only managed one game in the two sets.  Earlier, China’s Li Na had a similar easy win over our Olivia Rogowska. Over in South Autralia, with the cycling ‘Tour Down Under’ event, they completed Stage Two today – I imagine the conditions all week over there would be extremely hot and unpleasant for riders, officials and spectators, yet it was still getting great support. Cadel Evans is not competing in this event, but the new ‘Australian team’ named ‘GreenEDGE’ seem to be doing quite well in the early stages of the race, which I think in time and distance, is about a third of that covered by the Tour de France. In view of their ‘off season’ participation, interesting to note that the two leaders after Stage 2 come from Switzerland and Germany, two countries currently in the midst of their winter season – tough going in the hot coastal desert conditions of South Australia in the middle of January.

Thursday, 19 January 2012-  proposals on Indigenous referendum   – This Thursday could be described as a lazy day for this correspondent –  it was indeed, I don’t recall even driving the car anywhere. I was admittedly, feeling a little muscle sore from last night’s session at the gymnasium, and was continuing to be worried by stomach problems from the ‘forced’ change of aspirin medication. The latter left this correspondent feeling a little despondent at times, and annoyed!

An interesting report in today’s media suggesting that hopes are high for an indigenous referendum in the near future, and in so doing, remove ‘so-called’ [my words] racially discriminatory provisions in the Australian constitution. Both sides of politics yesterday endorsed the thrust of a report prepared by an expert panel of politicians, indigenous leaders and lawyers. PM Julia Gillard declared, on receiving the report that it was time ‘to say yes to an understanding of our past, to say yes to constitutional change, and to say yes to a future more united and more reconciled than we have ever been before’.  Tony Abbott, Opposition leader said that his aim was to achieve unity –‘We accept that millions of Australians hopes and dreams are resting on constitutional recognition of indigenous people and the last thing I want to do anything other than welcome the report today’. Great words, from sides – but we need reality to be a fact, afterall, the big points of reconciliation were the ‘marches for reconciliation in 2000, and then the ‘Sorry speech’ in February 2008, and yet, we are still talking about achieving reconciliation through yet another [very important admittedly] means!!  Anyway, in a nutshell,  the recommendation is for Indigenous Australians to be recognised in the body of the Australian Constitution [currently not mentioned].  To go out of the Constitution is the wording of Section 25 which says a voter could be excluded from voting on the basis of race [note, this was drawn up at the beginning of the 1900s]. To come in, three new sections, viz, Section 51A: Recognising that Australia was first occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders;  acknowledging the continuing relationship of them with their traditional lands and waters; respecting their continuing cultures, languages and heritage; acknowledging the need to secure their advancement.  Section 116A – prohibiting racial discrimination.  Section 127A – recognising languages.  Certainly, one would hope that the basic tenet of these proposals would be accepted by the electorate in a referendum, despite the fact that historically, referendums so often fail in this country, change is so difficult on whatever the subject for many to accept.

As  for the Tennis Open – our Aussie representatives are disappearing at an increasing rate, with hopes such as Jelena Dokic bowing out, and young hopefuls of the likes of James Duckworth and Matthew Ebden eventually falling to more experienced opponents.  From memory, Jelena’s mild attempt tonight in her two set loss to French girl Marion Bartoli preceded the highlight of the evening for us Lleyton Hewitt fans  – another match he was probably not expected to win against Andy Roddick of the USA.  Hewitt eventually won that match, after Roddick withdraw at the end of the 3^rd set due to an injury that had been worrying for a set or so. At that point, Lleyton was leading 3/6, 6/3, 6/4.  So we still have two Aussies to look forward to watching over the next couple of nights!!

Friday, 20 January 2012- slow end to a warm week –  another day, lacking a bit of energy, and content to watch a bit of tennis at different stages.  Late morning saw some family duties  –  with Shirley and Jodie and James all working, or away, I was asked if I would pick up and drive to two ‘elderly’ ladies to the doctor, Win [ex mother in law]and her sister Val, who was visiting down from Queensland. Certainly a much cooler day, so Val was probably feeling it more so than the rest of us. I’m not sure who the actual appointment was for – they had both had recent minor falls. Anyway, my role was to drop them off at the Evans Street Clinic, and return later – in fact, I had a few jobs to attend to, and at one stage whilst at the surgery, made an appointment for myself [for tomorrow] – decided that I’d had enough of this medication problem!

It was during this little exercise today that I learnt accidentally through Val the nature of ‘Susie’s’ period of un-wellness a couple of days ago –  the former, naturally enough assumed I knew all about it, sharing a home with Susie, but as I indicated, I often seemed to be the last person to learn of some things. Last April, Susie’s boyfriend of 8 years broke off the relationship. They seemed to get back together again in December, at his initiation I believe, and Jimmy had joined us for Christmas at Goonawarra. They’d had reservations about the renewal of relations, worried that he would not stick at it.  He didn’t, and this week apparently, called things off again. Hence Susie’s response this week!  I guess we all hoped, that twice bitten would be the end of it. She deserved better! Certainly, I was rather annoyed an angered to hear that bit of news, but as already intimated, not surprised at the action on ‘his’ part!!  It also explained where she disappeared to – well, not where [I learnt that later] but why, on Monday night, after she and Jodie had returned from their little trip [or was it Tuesday night, mmmmm, the memory is deserting me!!].

Anyway, putting that aside for now, I had another night of watching an Australian play tennis on centre court at the Australian Open  –  19 year old Bernard Tomic up against the 13^th seed, Alexandr Dolgopplov of the Ukraine.  Another great performance by the confident Tomic in a long five setter, which saw him manage to outlast the northern European player  4/6, 7/6, 7/6, 2/6, 6/3.  While ‘Tomic mania’ of the Lleyton Hewitt sort hasn’t quite peaked yet, it will in a couple of nights one suspects, when Bernard Tomic has to play against his childhood idol, Roger Federer.  They have played each other once before – last year, in a Davis Cup tie, when Federer won in 4 sets. Somehow this time, despite his good form, it will be a bit of a tennis lesson for young Tomic! Meanwhile, after Stage 4 of the Tour Down Under, we have two Australians in the Top 5 overall placings – Michael Matthews [2^nd] and Simon Gerrans [5^th]. As already mentioned, very little TV coverage of this by the so-called ‘official’ broadcaster  –  brother Robert’s comment after the weekend on that point –  ‘Agree on TV coverage; why do Channel 9 bother only to show highlights at 11.30 pm; an ounce of sense would tell them that all interested bike riders who mostly do early morning rides/gym [as Robert does] would be in bed by then. Saw the last couple of hours yesterday[Sunday 22^nd]; even more amazing that after a several minute ad break, they return to the coverage only to interview a couple of footballers!! No idea.”
Saturday, 21 January 2012- doctors, tablets, and yet more great tennis

A middle of the day visit to the doctor was the ‘highlight’ of my Saturday  – prescribed something to supposedly counter the affects of the aspirin on the stomach regions, but I’m not confident of it helping much.  Oh well, not to worry!! Later, called in at the local cricket ground, to have a look at part of Day 1 of Adam’s latest cricket match, but eventually realised he wasn’t at this oval – discovered later that he was today playing in the Club’s senior team, over at Bacchus Marsh!!  I certainly was at the wrong ground!

Lleyton Hewitt played again tonight – another night match featuring one of our own!  I like it!   He was up against Seed No. 23, a big young guy from Canada, named Milos Raonic. Former Wimbledon and US Open winner, Lleyton Hewitt [turning 32 years old in February], is now ranked well down in the listings – prior to this tournament, he is No. 181. His opponent, aged 21, is ranked at No. 25.  As anticipated, another tough, fighting game by Hewitt – lost the first set, but in his typical never give up attitude, he would go on and win the next three sets, to move into the 4^th round in two days time against Novak Djokovic. Final scores with Hewitt winning were 4/6, 6/3, 7/6, 6/3. Meanwhile, in the Tour Down Under, after Stage 5 with one day to go, Australia’s Simon Gerrans of the GreenEDGE team, shares the overall lead with Spaniard Alejandro Velverde, 8 seconds ahead of their nearest rival.

Sunday, 22 January 2012 – a ‘Lark Ascending’

Played a beautiful piece of music on the radio this morning – well, more than one as usual – but my feature selection for listeners was a work by the English composer, Vaughan Williams, called ‘The Lark Ascending’. This was the ABC Classic FM’s listeners choice No. 4 in their selected Top 100 most favoured 20^th century compositions. The performers this morning were the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted of course by Sir Neville Mariner.   Williams wrote Lark Ascending as a ‘short romance for violin and orchestra in 1914 – it was inspired by a poem written by George Meredith, whose lark

• rises and begins to round,
• he drops the silver chain of sound
• Of many links without a break,
• In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake.

The solo violin part of this work unmistakably describes the lark’s flight and his song. Hopefully my listeners were able to gain that impression from what really was a lovely piece of music. It was first performed by the violinist Marie Hall in 1920.

In the Tour Down Under Final Stage today, Victorian rider Simon Gerrans sealed a fairytale debut entry for the new Australian team, GreenEDGE, by claiming overall victory in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under. He joined team mate and local hero, Stuart O’Grady, and German Andre Greipel in having won the 14 year old event, three times. Today’s final stage was raced over 20 laps [total distance of 90 kilometres] on a street circuit on the banks of the Torrens River, north of the Adelaide CBD. The air temperature for riding was 37 degrees Celsius, although the heat from the road surface would have made riding conditions much hotter and more uncomfortable. In an email received from my brother today, he noted that he was mot missing being in South Australia this year for the Tour Down Under, as in previous years, it was always good fun and good riding, but with a lot of pressures and work on with his employment at present, and plans to do a ride in the USA later this year, he decided best to give 2012 TDU a miss. Although he did miss being there from the point of view that the seats they usually have are always right on the finishing line of today’s street circuit. Of course, Robert doesn’t just talk about what these athletes are doing, he gets into it all himself and certainly leaves this brother, 2 ¼ years his senior, feeling a little inadequate. As he wrote ‘Tough ride myself this morning; 125 km mostly pushing into a strong breeze, hard work but good training’ –  for a 63 year old, it sure is!!

Another Aussie on centre court tonight  – the master and the apprentice – Bernard Tomic [19 year old Australia] versus Roger Federer!!  No one expected our guy to win, but most were fairly confident he would put up a reasonable fight under the circumstances.  The headline in tomorrow’s Age newspaper put it very well  –  ‘Here endeth the lesson, and tournament, for Tomic the true believer’.  This is what Greg Baum had to say:

‘The least consolation for Bernard Tomic as his Australian Open adventure came to an abrupt end…was that it was at the silky hands of his idol and everyone else’s, the immortal Roger Federer. Even in the straight-sets defeat Tomic lost no believers, and Federer is his own church anyway which gave the night the air of a charismatic rite, with plenty of hallelujah-ing for both players at the beginning and even more at the end. But in-between there were long periods of what might have been prayerful silence, but actually was dumbstruck awe. Even the Fanatics were reduced to mere mumbling. Federer does that. Not the least admiring was Tomic. He said he had never hit the ball so hard, only to see it repeatedly fly back past him into Rod Laver Arena’s corners. ‘It was good to watch, even for me’ said Tomic. ‘Playing, I enjoyed watching. I don’t think I’ll ever be as good a player as him. But you can only learn. The top four guys are different. They’re  something special. The rest are beatable for me’. In truth, this was mission impossible. In majors, Federer has not lost this early or to a player as young or lowly ranked as Tomic, since a series of mishaps midway through last decade at the French Open, his least favourite tournament’…………………….all this leaves one Australian in the Singles competition, Lleyton Hewitt who plays Novak Djokovic tomorrow night!  Another big ask!

A slow start top this Saturday morning –  most of which was spent down in the township, for a bit of banking and shopping, after I had collected my eldest son [and ‘my’ now damaged lawnmower] and drove him to the railway station   – it seems her has suddenly found his car unregistered due to non-payment of various fees, etc!!  He never seems to learn that lad, responsibility, in many areas,. Doesn’t seem to be his strongest point.  Stress of exams, etc, in November meant he overlooked a few ‘equally important’ matters. Anyway, seems he is without a car, until outstanding monies are paid!! That hasn’t stopped him spending a weekend in a hotel in the city!!

Meanwhile son number two was playing cricket over at Romsey, one of our neighbouring towns. I didn’t go and watch Adam  play today, mores the pity.  His team, which scored 3 for 190, of which scored a credible 56 runs, were apparently beaten by the opposition in the final over of the one day match!!

As for the girls, on their little beach road-trip excursion, I did finally hear from them today  –  they were trying to find some sunshine down at the beach at the Wilsons Promontory National Park.  It must be close to 40 years, since I visited Wilsons Promontory, either in a personal capacity, with friends, or on duty, as a member of the National Parks Service in the mid 1970s.  Affectionately known as “the prom”, Wilsons Promontory National Park lies at the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland. It is arguably the most popular park in Victoria (approximately 2 hours from Melbourne), and it is here that you get the best of everything this diverse state has to offer in one concentrated place: ocean beaches [where presumably Susan and Jodie are spending the day], rain forest, fern gullies, mountains, and a host of wildlife at your fingertips. They had intended to stay down there for the four or five days zaway, but discovered at the last minute that you will need to book cabins and campsites well in advance during the busy summer months [which I think I had suggested at one stage]. Maybe they got lucky, and found a spot they were able to camp [their trip was a camping one with Susie’s ‘two man’ tent].  The area has a bevy of both day hikes and overnight back country trips through this unspoiled paradise. Tidal River (30kms into the park) is the main hub with a number of lodges and serviced camping areas [I have stayed in the lodges, when working there], general store, information center, outdoor cinema, and other facilities, and as would be expected, is highly popular with bushwalkers and campers.  The Park covers the southern portion of Wilsons Promontory, a peninsula containing South Point, the southernmost point on the Australian mainland. A lighthouse on the south-east corner of the peninsula is the southern-most lighthouse on mainland Australia and has operated continuously since 1859.  A large section of the park was burnt out in April 2005 by a bushfire caused by a controlled burn that breached containment lines because of warmer and windier conditions than were forecast for that day, causing the evacuation of six-hundred people.  I have a poem somewhere, which I wrote from the top of one of the range mountain tops in the Park area, when on a private visit one year, in fact from the summit of Mt Oberon, as referred to in the picture, which [hopefully] appears below.

Tidal River as viewed from the summit of Mount Oberon

Meanwhile, as a sometime supporter of the Liberal Party here in Australia, I’ve been sent a copy of a speech made today by  Brian Loughnane  Federal Director, Liberal Party of Australia   at the Young Liberal Movement National Convention [held in Sydney, this Saturday 14^th January 2012].  While it’s obviously a one-sided view of the Federal political situation here in Australia at present, and I don’t necessarily agree with all the sentiments and/or tone of the comments in all areas, I’ve decided to make it the central focus of today’s blog contribution.

The speaker, Brian Loughnane: –   “I’m delighted to again have the opportunity to speak to the leaders of the Young Liberal Movement from around Australia.

The Young Liberals are an important part of our Party and as Federal Director I appreciate the support and assistance you give our candidates. I look forward to again working closely with you in the coming months as we prepare the campaign to support Tony Abbott and the Coalition team in the lead up to what will be the most important election in the recent history of our country.

Today, I would like to discuss with you the current political situation in Australia and in particular to deal directly with the campaign we can expect from the Labor Party.  Australian politics is particularly volatile and uncertain at the moment. Julia Gillard is the weakest Prime Minister in recent history and has no agenda, other than her own survival. She leads a divided party and is hostage to events. Her short-term interests are at odds with the long-term interests of the Labor Party. It is not certain the Government will see out its full term. To the extent her Government has any direction it is set by the Greens, the Independents and assorted other minority groups.  Because Labor has no direction, no leadership and no policy, the country is drifting and ordinary Australians are paying an unnecessarily high price for their continuous bungling, incompetence, division, poor decisions and broken promises.

Julia Gillard has been central to all these problems for the whole four years since Labor was elected:

• – The broken promise on the carbon tax;
• – The mining tax;
• – The blown surplus, four record deficits and historic debt;
• – The East Timor/Malaysia non solution, and the collapse of border security;
• – School halls;
• – Roof bats;
• – NBN;
• – Live cattle;
• – The faceless men, bungled reshuffles; and
• – Of course, Kevin, and the dysfunction paralyzing the government at the most senior levels.

In this situation the Coalition carries great responsibility. We are holding the Government to account and providing a strong, viable alternative – exactly what a good Opposition should be doing. The Coalition’s policies provide a better way which will get Australia back on track and restore hope, reward and opportunity for all Australians.  Because of its many weaknesses, incompetent leadership and inability to deliver good government, Labor is falling back on some predictable political tactics. All Australians concerned about the future direction of our country need to be aware of what they are trying to do. Julia Gillard and Labor cannot run on their record and they cannot run on their policies. Consequently, they have resorted to an unprecedented negative campaign; one particularly and very personally aimed at Tony Abbott.

Julia Gillard and Labor are obsessed with Tony Abbott. A typical Julia Gillard speech makes no mention of policy, provides no leadership or direction for the country but makes endless references to Tony Abbott. We must expect this to continue and to be a central part of Labor’s campaign as they try to avoid any scrutiny of their record, their internal divisions, their complete lack of policy and their alliance with the Greens.  As we all know, Labor is trying to pressure Tony Abbott and the Coalition to change course, to “understand” just how difficult minority government is and to support everything Labor does.  The fact is we currently have Australia’s worst government. The Coalition actually has a duty to ensure the decisions made by Labor and their alliance partners are transparent and accountable and to oppose those measures we believe to be damaging and against the interests of ordinary Australians. Should we just go along and accept the four biggest Budget deficits in Australian history just because Labor wants us to? Should we just accept the collapse of border security? Should we just ignore the destruction of the opportunities for young Australians to get ahead which had been built over a decade by the Howard Government? What would be “mindless” – and dereliction of our duty – would be to be complicit with Labor, the Greens and Independents in the bad decisions which are jeopardizing our country’s future.

In 1942 Sir Robert Menzies made a series of radio broadcasts which were collectively published as “The Forgotten People”. One of those broadcasts dealt with “the Function of the Opposition in Parliament”.   During the Second World War there was great pressure on the Opposition to simply “pull together” and not criticize the Government. Menzies rejected this. He said:

Every now and then you will read an allegation by somebody to the effect that the Opposition is “playing party politics” …. [But] in Parliament, we are divided on party lines…. What are the consequences of this? The first and greatest is that you cannot maintain the party system of government and at the same time expect the Opposition to treat the Government as if it were an all-party Government… differences must be discussed frankly and fully in Parliament so that Parliament itself may arrive at its own ultimate conclusion as to what is the wise thing to do. It follows from this that the function of an Opposition is to be quite unhesitating in its willingness to debate large matters of policy, to criticize the Government on those matters, to put forward and maintain its own.”

Seventy years later, this remains a good summary of the Liberal position.  We expect Labor to continue to try to pressure us to change course so they can avoid proper scrutiny. Tony Abbott and the team will not do so. Where the Coalition disagrees with Labor, the Greens and the Independents and where we see bad policy and bad government we will say so because it is in the national interest that Labor is held to account for its waste, mismanagement and poor decisions.  The Coalition refuses to be negative for its own sake. The reality contradicts Labor’s spin. The fact is the Coalition has voted against just 13% of Government legislation. We have supported 87% of Government bills. We have been responsible and true to our beliefs. But because Labor is governing so poorly it has no answers to the serious questions the Coalition raises.  A second false assertion Labor is trying to peddle at the moment concerns the Coalition’s costings. There are possibly another two Budgets and who knows how many Wayne Swan “revisions” of the national accounts before the next election. As Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb have made clear our policies will be fully funded and fully costed and released before the election. A Government which has blown the surplus and given Australia the four largest Budget deficits in history would do well to concentrate on its current responsibilities rather than on what may or may not comprise the Coalition’s costings in two years’ time. It is important Australians ignore Labor’s rhetoric on Budget management and look instead at Labor’s record. The Howard Government found a $10 billion budget black hole and it turned that into a $20 billion surplus. The Howard Government inherited $96 billion worth of Commonwealth debt and it turned that into a $70 billion net asset position. By contrast, the current government has turned $20 billion of surplus into $50 billion of deficit and it’s turned $70 billion of assets, at last count, into $134 billion of debt. And all this in just four years!  Thirdly, we can expect to hear more from Labor, like a tired broken record, about WorkChoices. Tony Abbott has been very clear about this and Labor knows it. But we should expect the campaign on this to intensify. Apart from anything else, it is now part of Bill Shorten’s campaign to become the next Leader of the Opposition!

The central question about workplace relations policy in this country today is how does the Government reconcile its rhetorical commitment to economic growth and productivity with the changes Julia Gillard made when she was Minister which abolished not just the changes of the Howard government but also the reforms of the Keating government? It is clear from the growing numbers of comments from both senior business leaders and small business operators that these changes are directly affecting Australia’s productivity. Perhaps Mr. Shorten might care to turn his attention to this dilemma instead of joining the parrot queue attacking Tony Abbott.  The Coalition understands the next Government will need a mandate in this important area and the Coalition will release its policy well in advance of the election.

Perhaps the most brazen example of Labor’s hypocrisy and ham-fisted political tactics is the occasional pantomime we see when Julia Gillard tries to attack the Greens and deny there is any relationship between her and Bob Brown. We should expect more of these manufactured stunts in the coming months as Labor tries to create the impression of divisions between them and the Greens. The reality of course, is different. Labor is in a formal, signed alliance with Bob Brown and the Greens. The Greens set the direction of the Government. Labor and the Greens will preference each other at the next election. As a result, the choice at the election will be between a united experienced Coalition with clear policies to build a better Australia and a divided Labor Party with weak leadership, no policies, no vision and dependent on secret deals with the Greens to try to sneak across the line.

Another tactic Ms Gillard and Labor are using is to simply brazenly assert things irrespective of the truth. The fact they have no positive record and no policies does not stop them mindlessly claiming to have a “reform agenda”, making “tough decisions” and to have “plans” going forward. We will hear a lot more of this between now and the election. In particular, Labor will attempt to say that things are getting better, that they have turned the corner and that, if re-elected, they will somehow be different. They will again make promises they have no intention of keeping. Those who have lived through State Labor Governments over the last decade would be familiar with this political trick: ignore your record and just make bold claims and promises even if the facts contradict them. This tactic depends on poor media scrutiny and an electorate with amnesia. It may work for a limited period at the State level, but it will not work for Labor at the national level. It is one of the reasons why the Coalition must continue to hold Labor to account for its inaction and poor record.

Ms. Gillard is also using other political tactics to avoid detailed scrutiny. Unlike John Howard, she does not provide transcripts of all her speeches, interviews etc. on her website. Those that do appear are usually posted days after an event. She also frequently disappears when the going gets tough. This happened in early December when the national accounts were revised yet again and Labor’s grubby deal with Peter Slipper became public. Julia Gillard gave no interview for ten days. She simply disappeared to avoid difficult questions and proper scrutiny.

But I guess its not surprising Ms Gillard wants to avoid scrutiny of her speeches. One of the things which has become very apparent with the drift of minority Government is that Julia Gillard is incapable of setting out a clear direction for Australia. The clearest example of this problem was Ms. Gillard’s speech in early December to the ALP National Conference.  It was mindless twaddle. Instead of discussing policy, setting direction and providing leadership she resorted to cliché.  The contrast with Tony Abbott could not be clearer.  Just compare his speech to the Liberal Party Federal Council in June last year to Gillard’s National Conference speech. Tony Abbott’s speeches are publically available on the Party’s website. In 2011 he made over 20 very significant speeches setting out the direction, priorities and policies for the economy under the next Coalition government. I invite any interested Australian to read them and compare them with Julia Gillard’s speeches over the same period and ask which Party really does have the policies, direction and leadership to grow our economy and improve the lives of all Australians.  In those speeches, Tony Abbott made clear the Coalition’s central objective is to restore hope, reward and opportunity for all Australians.

We will do this by growing our economy and strengthening our nation. We will help families get ahead by scrapping Labor’s damaging carbon tax to put downward pressures on rising prices, especially electricity, gas and fuel prices, to help reduce the cost of living pressures. We will reduce pressure on inflation and interest rates – by ending Labor’s waste, and paying back Labor’s debt and we will make sure the Government again lives within its means. As a result we will get taxes lower to help small businesses grow, create more jobs and build a bigger, stronger economy.  We will stop the boats and strengthen our borders. We will deliver better government and provide better services to families in health and education. We will help hard working Australians and small businesses to get ahead, and build a better life for themselves, and their families.

In his speeches Tony Abbott has made clear the priority for a Coalition Government will be to get the Budget back to surplus by ending waste and unnecessary spending so government debt can be reduced to take unnecessary pressure off interest rates. He has promised to help families and restore business confidence by abolishing the carbon tax and the mining tax. We will make a real practical difference to the environment with a 15,000 strong Green Army, we will restore local control of public schools and hospitals, and we will build national infrastructure based on proper cost-benefit studies. We will protect private health insurance, and reduce red tape to help small business grow.

And much, much more. The speeches Tony Abbott and other senior Liberals regularly make are posted on the Party web site. I invite you to read them. One of the things which will be clear to you if you do is that the Coalition is committed to helping all Australians get ahead. Labor seems to think this is a bad thing. Over the last four years, Labor has systematically gone about destroying many of the practical incentives the Howard Government had put in place to help families, small business, retirees and students. Over time, as the economy strengthens, an Abbott Government would hope to be able to again support those working hard and doing the right thing to get ahead.

Ladies and Gentleman, the next election will be held in the next eighteen months or so. Every election is significant, but the next election will truly be one of the most important in Australian history.The choice will be the clearest for a generation.   Labor is divided over leadership, policy and strategic direction. It is disconnected from the community and run by faceless operatives. Quite simply, Labor has lost its way. It needs “time out” to consider who and what it is. Labor can only be re-elected with the support of the Greens – and at what price to ordinary Australians? Australian families cannot afford another three years of Labor.

By contrast, the Coalition is united with an experienced team (16 Shadow Ministers were Ministers in the Howard Government). Only the Coalition has the policies, commitment and leadership to grow the economy, strengthen our nation and help all Australians get ahead again.  Between now and the next election we must make this case every day. No one should assume the next election will be easy. Labor will be desperate, and with Green preferences could squeak across the line.  So, Ladies and Gentleman, it is clear we will face a desperate and well-resourced opponent at the next election. They have nothing to say about the future of our country and will resort instead to aggressive and personal attacks on Tony Abbott, false and unsubstantiated assertions about the Coalition and empty promises they know they will never be able to deliver.   The Coalition is prepared for an election whenever it may be held. We have clear plans to grow our economy and strengthen our nation. There is a better way and Tony Abbott and the Coalition team are ready and determined to restore hope, reward and opportunity for all Australians.

I look forward to working closely with the Young Liberals in the months ahead to ensure the return of good Liberal Government to Australia”

My only to all of that –  by attacking Labour for it’s ‘negative’ approach’, I’m hoping that 2012 will see a major reduction in the negative approach that has flowed from the Liberal Party over the past 18 months, and which has constantly being criticised by most elements of the media, and the electorate in general.

Meanwhile, at Stumps on Day 2 of the 3^rd cricket test between Australia and India, we see that Australia is again in a strong position after just two days of the match, which although it has 5 days play available, is highly unlikely to get to the end of the 3^rd day tomorrow.  The scores see: –  India: 161 and 4 for 88.  Australia:  369 [of which David Warner scored 180 runs].

Awoke to an empty house, cloudy and overcast outside, and the cool nature of the past few days continues in our unusually non-summer type weather!  Some people regard Friday 13^th [of any month] as a bad omen, but I prefer to think of it as simply another Friday, or even just another day. The quietness of this neighbourhood has been disturbed over the past week or so by road-works out in the adjoining street – still haven’t worked out exactly what it is they are doing, but seems to be a necessity for as lot of heavy machinery!  But at least the crowd of young people who have been living opposite us here – all of whom seem to have hotted up and noisy cars which roar up and down the street at all hours of the day and night  –  they seem to have gone away on a holiday, or, more hopefully, have simply gone!!!   I’ll be pessimistic, and assume the latter is not the case!

Third cricket test – Australia vs India, Day 1 at the WACA in Perth.   Australia won the Toss, elected to bowl. Four fast bowlers, Lyons out of the 11. The teams for this match are”   AUSTRALIA (World ranking: fourth)    Squad – Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun Marsh Ricky Ponting,, Mike Hussey ,Brad Haddin , Peter Siddle , Ben Hilfenhaus ,Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc,    Coach: Mickey Arthur          INDIA (World ranking: second)  Squad – Mahendra Singh Dhoni [ (captain), Virender Sehwag ], Gautam Gambhir [Ajinkya Rahane [], Rahul Dravid [], Sachin Tendulkar [, VVS Laxman [], Virat Kohli [Rohit Sharma [], Pragyan Ojha [], Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma [], Umesh Yadav, R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun [ s ], Wriddhiman Saha, Zaheer Khan   Coach: Duncan Fletcher.  Another good start  for the Aussies, with Indioa all out for a low score, and then an unbroken century partnership by the two Australian openers.

Stumps Score: Day 1:  India: 161.  Australia:  0 for 149 with David Warner not out 104, and Ed Cowan not out 40. The Warner century was the 3rd fastest Test century [in terms of balls faced] in Test Match history, scoring his 100 in 69 balls. Warner, who came to notice as a very aggressive 20/20 cricketer about 4 years ago, has proven to the critics after this performance thar he is of the Test elite as well.The current top 5 listing shows

• 56 balls  –  Viv Richards [West Indies] versus England, at St Johns in 1985/86
• 67 balls  –  Adam Gilchrist [Australia] versus England at Perth in 2006/07
• 67 balls  –  Jack Gregory [Australia] versus South Africa at Johannesburg, in 1921/22
• 69 balls  –  S Chanderpaul [West Indies] versus Australia, at Georgetown in  2002/03
• 69 balls  –  David Warner [Australia] versus India at Perth in 2011/12

Incidentally, over the last few weeks, there has been a major 20/20 competition going on in Australia involving teams from various cities, etc  – under the title of ‘The Big Bash’ –  the name was enough for me not to take much interest, and the fact that it has been televised on Pay TV meant I couldn’t watch if I’d wanted to, although son, Adam has been following the matches closely. The competition is nearing it’s conclusion, and I actually, without looking up the paper, have no idea which teams have been successful. I’m afraid my principal cricket interest lies still with the Test Cricket genre of the game..

Slept a bit longer than anticipated, after waking quite early this morning [as with yesterday’s time] and reading for an hour. Quick rush to the Swimming/Gymnasium Centre for an assessment to get into the new Lift for Life Program that I wanted to enrol in. I couldn’t complete the assessment today – wasn’t told to come dressed for gym work, though I was just completing the paper work!!!  Back again next Monday!  Into town, bit of shopping, and as with yesterday, stopped for an iced coffee in the Brook Street restaurant – probably something I ‘should not’ be drinking too regularly, but it is one of the few ‘coffee style’ drinks I can enjoy these days!!

I was pleased to hear from, friend Bev today  – she has been having health problems for the past 12 months, and computer problems over the past month or so, but they were finally hoping to get the latter sorted out today. Well that must have happened –  and she had some advice regarding my ‘medication problem  – ‘As I said in my ‘phone message, Kamal went to 2 chemists & neither had  Cartia. However one pharmacy said a substitute was Astrix. However,  you must have it after a good big meal, even if you have to change your
time of taking it’…………………unfortunately, it was the Astrix which appeared to be causing me some discomfort, so while appreciating the information, it didn’t really help me a great deal!    I had been feeling fine this morning, then had a bit of a rushed lunch –  been feeling off colour eve r since. Rather annoying. Seems to be a problem with the digestive system, not sure, will see how it goes for day or so, then follow it up.

Susie went off on ‘her road trip’ this afternoon – via Footscray where she was going to pick up Jodie, and together they were heading towards the beaches of the South Gippsland/Phillip Island area. I just hope the weather warms up a little for them both, though the amended forecast tonight was not too promising. I didn’t expect to hear from the girls tonight, though I did notice on one of their Face Book sites, that they were in the Lang Lang area, so at least they had managed to get well beyond the city area during the peak hour of traffic. I thought they would have been better off to head away this morning [expected them to actually], but apparently Jodie had to work today, which was where Susie picked her up from.  In fact, Melbourne’s weather yesterday, where the temperature didn’t get above 18.8 degrees [at 5.30 pm] in a day in which, throughout Victoria we had midsummer storms which dumped snow in some of the alpine regions [in the middle of January!!!], and gave the city it’s coldest January day in three years. No wonder, I have been wearing a pullover off and on over the past 24 hours! But things should be more normal by the weekend, expected to be back up in the 30s. Just hope the girls get some good sunshine before they return home on Sunday!

I noticed an interesting story the other day relating to the famous Stradivarius violins.  Reported in the Limelight magazine, we find that the  results of an experiment comparing violins by contemporary makers with two Stradivari (c1700) and one Guarneri del Gesù (c1740) have shocked string players around the world.  The blind test, conducted at the 2010 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis with findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has yielded some surprising insights into the quality of modern violin craft and the way a performer values an instrument and rates its sound.   Claudia Fritz, an acoustics specialist at the University of Paris, worked with Luthier Joseph Curtin and a team of researchers to gather 21 professional violinists for the study. Participants were given two tests: the first required them to play six violins and nominate the one they would like to take home. In the other, they played and compared pairs of violins, not having been told that one in each set was a valuable Italian rarity while the other was a new fiddle.   Tests were conducted in a room with dimmed lights and a dry acoustic; players wore modified welding goggles and handled the instruments through a dividing curtain. The chin rest of each violin was scented with perfume to prevent the odour of the wood from giving the game up.  To the chagrin of antique instrument dealers everywhere, one of the Strads was the least preferred in the series of pairs. In the six-violin test only 8 out of 21 subjects chose an old instrument and one of the newer offerings came out on top as the most preferred.   Prized for their resonant tone and exquisite craftsmanship, Stradivariuses are among the most expensive instruments in the world; the priciest specimen auctioned last year in support of a Japanese tsunami fund, the “Lady Blunt”, fetched AUD$15.4 million. Lest any of the world’s leading soloists rush out to trade theirs in for a newer model, Fritz noted that “differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins.” 

Incidentally, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Satu Vänskä plays on a $1.79-million Stradivarius; Richard Tognetti on the 1743 “Carrodus” Guarneri.   While I like the sound of a good violin, one has to wonder at the ‘moral’ justification at so much money being expended on such an item  –  although, then again,  various categories of works of art, and other ‘collectibles’ attract equally atrocious amounts of money!!!     Away from violins, but within the same music genre, another interesting question was posed once by somebody, and no doubt echoed by many others –    “Is there a deeper, possibly unnatural, connection between music and death? Why is classical music, more than other arts, so preoccupied with the works of the no longer living? What other art routinely celebrates anniversaries of deaths as well as births?”  Certainly with respect to classical music, fans and the industry continually   mark these anniversaries all year long because it’s a great excuse to experience a lot of great music  –   it’s a time, and an excuse for the money makers, for the launch or completion of major recording projects, lavish boxed sets, pre-concert talks, radio saturation and, of course, special feature articles in publications, such as ‘Limelight’  Not always the case – I think last year, tributes were paid  to the living with Australia’s own Brett Dean turning 50, a milestone marked in a series of concerts around the world showcasing his skills as a composer, violist and conductor, while also, Peter Sculthorpe’s 80^th birthday gained some recognition [another Australian composer]. However, they are the exception. A couple of examples this year, briefly mentioned here  –  Claude Debussy [1872-1918], with the 150th anniversary of his birth on 22 August, 1862;   Frederick Delius [1862 – 1934] was born in Yorkshire 150 years ago on January 29;   Philip Glass [born in 1937], the American iconoclast, turns 75 on January 31;  Peggy Glanville-Hicks [1912-1990] is one of Australia’s greatest – and most unconventional – musical success stories.   John Cage [1912-1992], another American, and another century of celebrations likely to occur in memory of those and numerous others………………………….some of you might say, who cares?  But think about, musical composers are treated no differently, than countless other aspects of life  – we are always celebrating, acknowledging, or regretting the anniversary of someone, or something!!  It never ends.

Susan  away overnight for 2^nd night in a row, but home tonight before she and Jodie go down to the beach for a few days. Hope the weather is warmer than today – don’t think the temperature got above 19 degrees, unusual for January.  Meanwhile, another very early start for me this morning – on air at 6am for another ‘relieving’ 3 hours on the radio. While I was not enthusiastic about the 5am wakeup, by the time I had settled into the broadcasting studio, I was happy enough to be there, and really did enjoy my show – of music, news, weather & sport!  Another  morning text message from Jayne [our distant but regular listener], thanking me for the program, and enjoying the music.  I made sure, that before I finished, I played a little bit of the ‘sounds of Scotland’ for her!

I called in at the shopping area on my way home – was surprised at just how cold the breeze was at that time [about 9.30am]  –  I had a pullover in the car, and eventually, whilst walking around, had to go back for it!  A rare occurrence at this time of year during the daylight hours. While I was ‘in town’ called in at the local bookshop, and purchased a copy of the ‘complete poems of William Wordsworth ‘  – just a little something, at not a great cost that I wanted to add to my collection in that genre of writing.  This was a paperback edition of nearly 1100 pages – that man wrote a lot of poems!!  Wordsworth, who lived from 1770-1850, broke away from traditional poetry styles, and sought to write in the language of ordinary men and women, of ordinary thoughts, sights and sounds.   An example [from ‘The Sailor’s Mother’, written on 11 Dec 1802]

One morning [raw it was and wet

A foggy day in Winter time]

A \Woman on the road I met.

Not old, though something past her prime;

Majestic in her person, tall and straight,

And like a Roman matron’s was her

mein  and gait’………………………………………..

Robert Kirk’s birthday today   – 63 years old – and still working, and playing [cycling, ball room dancing, etc] like a 43 year old!! I’m envious! I posted him up a card this year instead of the usual email greeting and/or phone call. Hope to see him in April [Easter] when he and Evelyn come down for the Indoor Cycling Championships.

Family History committee meeting tonight –  useful session, although I find myself feeing a little frustrated at our new President, who takes so ,long to say anything, and then persistently goes over the same grounds. I feel like simply saying ‘shut up, get on with it, and say something’ – probably I’m the only one who feels that way, but I’m beginning to feel that most of this year’s meetings are going to be long drawn out and painful exercises – for me anyway!!   Got home just before 10pm, feeling rather exhausted.

A couple of brief quotations from books I am reading at the present time.

From ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen:-   ‘”I think, Harriet, since your acquaintance with us, you have been repeatedly in the company of some, such very real gentlemen, that you must yourself be struck with the difference in Mr Martin. At Hartfield, you have had very good specimens of well educated, well bred men. I should be surprised, if, after seeing them, you could be in company with Mr Martin again without perceiving him to be a very inferior creature – and rather wondering at yourself for ever having thought him at all agreeable before. Do not you begin to feel that now? Were not you struck?  I am sure you must have been struck by his awkward look and abrupt manner – and the uncouthness of a voice, which I heard to be wholly unmodulated as I stood here.”’ [from p.32, Folio Society edition]  ………………….. a quotation which I think gives some clear idea of the social ‘personality’ of the subject of this particular Jane Austin novel  –    a novel, first published in December 1815,  about the perils of misconstrued romance.  As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively ‘comedy of manners’ among her characters.

From ‘Tobruk’ by Peter Fitzsimons’ [pub in 2006]:- ‘ From London, Churchill was so alarmed at the fall of El Agheila that he cabled Wavell: “I presume you are only waiting for the tortoise to stick his head out far enough before chopping it off. It seems extremely important to give them an early taste of our quality’. At this point, Wavell might well have been forgiven for sending a blistering reply back to Churchill, but ever the correct military man, he did no such thing. Nevertheless, he did have some cause for complaint. It had been specifically at Churchill’s behest that Wavell had sent, from North Africa to Greece over the previous two months, more than 58,000 experienced soldiers and 8,000 vehicles. And now Churchill was asking him to stop the [German] advance and chop the tortoise’s head off?  With what?  And to what ‘quality’ did Churchill refer?” [p188-189]

From ‘ART” – Architecture-Painting-Sculpture-Graphics-Technics:-  ’40,000  years ago, during the last ice age, the continents were still connected by land bridges. ‘Modern’ humans [Homo sapiens] had long before left their home in Africa and set out to populate the world. They reached Australia over the Torres Strait; the settlement of the Americas would first occur tens of thousands of years later. At about this time, an artist in what is today southern Germany carved a mammoth, while another carved a lion-headed man. The artifacts found in the Vogelherd Cave are the oldest known works of art. Presumably, other ‘first’ works that did not survive the ravages of time were created elsewhere’ [p7]

Those quotations I have included today simply as an indication [and a reminder to myself] of the variety of reading material I find myself  involved with from time, and readers to these pages over a period of months [even years] will have gain the impression that my reading matter at any particular time often is dependant on  my frame of mind or mood, whether I want something light and quick & easy to read, or whether I’m prepared to spend, sometimes up to months, reading a more serious piece of literature.  I guess that if I read all that I would like to, there would be nothing else of consequence happening in my life – a desirable practicality of course!!

Meanwhile, reading our daily papers today we see the resurrection of increases in petrol prices again, with claims that Melbourne petrol prices could get to their highest ever weekly average of $1.64 per litre, recorded in 2008, with the blame being placed on an expected surge in global oil costs, over concerns that escalating violence in the Middle East could curb supplies!  So motorists are confused and frustrated at the pricing mechanisms that determine these things, while motoring authorities, continue to criticise the lack of competition in the industry which allows such variations. Interesting that we blame the Middle East – perhaps indirectly that is correct – however, I understand that Australia’s regional market for petrol in particular, is Singapore, and the price of unleaded petrol in that country is the key petrol. Pricing benchmark for Australia. To meet Australian fuel demand, about 20% of petrol is imported [mainly from Singapore], which is the regional refining and distribution centre.  Where then, does the rest come from? Australian wholesale prices of petrol and diesel, are closely linked to the Singapore prices of petrol and diesel, not to crude oil prices [the Middle East affect I guess?].  So I believe that the Singapore price of petrol plus shipping costs and Australian taxes represents almost the entire wholesale price of petrol – about 95%. The balance is accounted for by insurance, a quality premium for Australian fuel standards, local wharfage and terminal costs, and some element of a wholesale marketing margin. The time difference between changes in Singapore prices is about 1-2 weeks.  These ‘statistics’ [or broad facts] are provided by Australian Institute of Petroleum, but I don’t really think they help the average Australian furl consumer to really understand, why we have to pay so much for our fuel. Of course, if Iran goes ahead with it’s current threats to ‘close’ the supply lines for fuel from those Middle East areas, then the argument that the situation in that part of the world affects what we pay is valid. Obviously, there is a lot more to understanding the whole fuel supply situation than these brief and somewhat vague intimations!

A medical appointment this morning revealed all was fairly well on the diabetes side of things [as far as the results of a recent blood test were concerned], although I didn’t really get a satisfactory solution to the medication concern, seems I no option but to continue with what is available.  A ten minute [scheduled] appointment actually meant almost two hours of the morning were lost, but I guess I should get used to that situation!!  Anyway, the reasonably good reports did encourage this writer to go out for a lunchtime walk,. And a few duties in the garden later on.

The balance of my Monday seemed to revolve around music –either the planning of and scheduling of future programs, or eventually., later tonight, my regular Monday night program  – which features a mix of a wide variety of musical and other entertainment genres. One area I feature each night, is a selection of international tracks, and these are taken from the ‘Songlines Magazine’, and at present, I’m using music from Issue No. 80 [November-December 2011]. Songlines is the magazine that looks at the world through it’s music, and features articles on music and artists from all around the world.. It also includes a monthly CD from which I draw my weekly ‘world’ selections. This CD presents the Editor’s selection of the current top ten world albums – reviewed in the relevant issue, and from which a track from each album is included on the monthly CD. There are usually a further five tracks, being that month’s selections by a specific musical personality each month.  Issue No. 80 also included an additional CD –  titled ‘Global Sounds from Australia’ [remembering the magazine is  British/Euro publication]. As the introduction to that section says ‘Australia is home to some of the diverse musical styles in the southern hemisphere. Proudly claiming one of the oldest cultures in the world [Indigenous peoples], combined with a long history of immigration, the island continent has become a melting pot of global sounds. The annual Australasian World Music Expo [AWME] offers a musical expedition of the region and beyond, bringing together musicians, industry representatives and festival audiences from all corners of the globe”.  The AWME put together a compilation  CD [of 18 tracks] of Australian artists that have showcased at the event over the period 2008-2010.  So for 18 weeks, I’m using this CD of ‘Global Sounds from Australia’ in the program, as another little segment – basically described as Australian Roots Music.  Many of the artists, I have featured on the program previously, some are completely new to me, such as tonight’s track –  by an urban roots outfit calling ‘themselves’ ‘Blue King Brown’ with what was a great song ‘Never Fade Away, which delivered a blend of dancehall, roots, rock and Afro-groove, all built upon an irrepressible percussive foundation.

I also had a rather nice surprise during the program.  A phone call from a young singer up in Brisbane  – obviously, she couldn’t hear my program, but she knew that I was on air at this particular time, and that I promote and play Australian artists who are being sponsored by the AMRAP organisation here in Australia. Anyway, this lady was wondering if I would play her songs on my program, and of course, the answer was yes!! We chatted briefly, and she agreed to email me a sample of some of her work, and once I have managed to ‘copy’ her songs into a suitable on air playing format, I hoped to be able to interview her during the program.

She was true to her word – when I got home after midnight, there were four emails and four separate songs for me to listen to. Fantastic!  My initial reaction when watching one of the U-Tube videos she sent me, was to be reminded of my favourite Australian jazz singer, Katie Noonan. Different genre of music singing, much more versatile than Katie’s more jazz ballad style, but with similarities!!  Interesting!

This morning’s radio show just didn’t feel right, it wasn’t one of my best, although hopefully, I was the only one who noticed, or felt that way. It wasn’t helped by another restless night, with short sleep patterns, due to a general feeling on not feeling well, a sensation which tended to stay with me this morning. Usually, by the time I get on air, any tiredness or other concerns wash away with the pleasure of the music I’m playing, or whatever, but today, I’m not sure that was the case. I mentioned to Jack, who followed me this morning, that I felt an obligation to go to the station’s fund raising sausage sizzle this morning, though I really didn’t have the energy to be bothered.  As it turned out, I went back home for a brief while, doing a little shopping along the way, and then decided to stay there!! Tried to convince my conscience that I had done plenty for the radio station since Christmas – they could manage without my services on this occasion.

So there you go, after an early morning start, I returned home where I stayed – probably should rested more than I did – housework, reading, writing, typing, etc –  but really, those things were more restful than standing around in the warm sun beside a gas barbeque, trying to feel better than I really felt!  Anyway, enough of that!  The day passed by peacefully enough, and by Sunday night, I had decided to watch a bit of TV. That included and interesting documentary on SBS – the first of a three part program called ‘Once upon a Time in Cabramatta’.   As a reviewer, Doug Anderson wrote   “Malcolm Fraser says yes, and thousands of Vietnamese refugees start entering Australia. Pauline Hanson begins ranting doom and the Armageddon shock-jock choir cranks up ”We’ll all be rooned!”  But what of the refugees and their aspirations for a decent life? As we know, most have worked hard, integrated as much as is necessary and made amazing contributions to our social fabric. Anh Do’s story The Happiest Refugee is regarded as a bellwether of countless experiences but it was not smooth sailing to get here and the multilayered transitions required to build a new destiny came at a cost.  This series details some of the downside – the vagaries that confronted the children of those poor, tired, hungry huddled masses upon arrival. Stories of alienation, racism, lack of love and inadequate social back-up constitute a casebook study of what not to do for new arrivals.  Not all Vietnamese refugees have happy-ever-after stories. Not all Anglo-Aussies have abandoned their prejudices, either. The past hasn’t entirely passed – especially in Cabramatta, as this three-part doco makes clear”.  I must admit this was all happening in the years that I was not taking as much notice of such events, and I’d certainly not realised the extent of difficulties that many of these Vietnamese refugees faced, and created for those already  in the country when they came here in the 1970s.  My main contact was with a group of 2 or 3 Vietnamese brothers who joined our Wesley Badminton Club in the late 1970s, although from memory, they each seemed to be fairly well off –  educated, good jobs, and [I’m assuming] financially secure. I never asked at the time, but they probably didn’t come here by boat!  Family name was Lam or Pham, can’t recall which way it went – Shirley might remember, she was a better badminton player than I ever was, and as those lads were good players, she got to play as partners with them, more than I ever did.  Anyway, a program worth having a look at the next two parts of!

On the same channel [SBS], there followed a French movie – not sure why I started to watch it, obviously the brief descriptive subject matter drew my attention – story of an older sister, who comes out of jail, where she has spent 15 years for murdering her son – comes to stay initially with her younger sister ,her husband and two little adopted Vietnamese girls. For all intents and purposes, the younger girl had been forbidden by her parents to ever acknowledge the older sibling for what she had done, so the initial meeting and arrival in the family home is greeted with some tension, though not by the too delightful little girls who are very excited to meet their ‘mysterious’ Auntie!!  I really ‘enjoyed’ this film, if that’s the right word to describe a movie that in the main, is not a very happy storyline – filmed in French of course with English subtitles, which to my mind barely affected the viewing of the film.  I actually found a Wikipedia summary of the movie, which I thought did it great justice, and provides as good a synopsis as any other.  Incidentally, the name of the movie was “I’ve Loved You So Long”, made in 2008 I think.

From Wikipedia:  “When Juliette Fontaine is released from prison after serving a fifteen-year sentence, her younger sister Léa invites her to stay with her family – including her husband Luc, his mute father Papy Paul, and their two adopted Vietnamese daughters, P’tit Lys and Emelia – in their home in the university town of Nancy in Lorraine. Léa, a college professor of literature, is considerably younger than Juliette. The younger woman recalls little about her childhood. Because of the nature of Juliette’s crime (a secret which is revealed at the end of the film), their parents denied Juliette’s existence and refused to allow Léa to visit her. In addition, Juliette had refused to speak throughout her trial. As a result, Léa knows nothing about the circumstances surrounding the crime and, when pressed for details, Juliette refuses to discuss what happened.

While struggling to find employment, Juliette enjoys platonic companionship with two men, probation officer Capt. Fauré, who understands how prison can damage the human spirit and shares with her his dream of seeing the Orinoco River, and Michel, one of her sister’s colleagues. She also develops a close relationship with her young nieces, much to the distress of their father, who is concerned about their safety while in their aunt’s presence.

Juliette finds work transcribing medical records for a hospital, where her supervisor encourages her to be more friendly with her co-workers when they complain about her being cold and distant. But Juliette has been confined for so long she feels dehumanized and finds it difficult to relate to others. She agrees to accompany Léa when she visits their mother, who is confined to a nursing home with Alzheimer’s disease. For a brief moment the woman recognizes and embraces her, remembering her as a little girl rather than the estranged daughter who murdered her grandson.

Gradually, Juliette begins to fit in with her family, makes friends and is given a permanent job. Léa then accidentally discovers a clue to Juliette’s secret, leading to the film’s final revelations: Juliette was a well respected doctor; her young son had been diagnosed with a fatal and painful disease. When the disease progressed, Juliette had euthanized him so he wouldn’t suffer. During her trial, she had felt so guilty for what she had done, she hadn’t defended herself. Lea confronts Juliette with what she has learned and asks why she had never explained or asked for help leading to an emotional breakdown between the sisters. Juliette, finally able to express her feelings and describe in detail what she did and why, is able to come to terms with the past and move on”.

Peter Bradshaw of ‘The Guardian’ went a little further, in his review back in 2008, and I want to use this as a further illustration of the film.

“The presence of Kristin Scott Thomas in this literate French movie by Philippe Claudel is so powerfully distinctive that it’s as if Claudel has not merely written the lead role for her, but extrapolated his film’s entire narrative structure from Scott Thomas’s personality. Her formidable bilingual presence, her beauty – elegant and drawn in early middle age – her air of hypersensitive awareness of all the tiny absurdities and indignities with which she is surrounded, coupled with a drolly lenient reticence: it all creates an intelligent, observant drama about dislocation, fragility and the inner pain of unshakeable memories. Scott Thomas is on screen for almost every minute of the film, often in close-up and her face is at once eloquent and deeply withdrawn.    She plays Juliette, a forty-something woman who after a long and painful separation has been taken in by her younger sister Léa, played by Elsa Zylberstein. When we first see Juliette, being picked up at the airport, she wears no makeup and smokes perpetually; she has a dowdy grey cardigan of the sort worn in girls’ boarding schools, and has clearly been institutionalised in some awful way.  Juliette and Léa’s childhood home was near Rouen, but Léa has now moved with her husband Luc (Serge Hazanavicius) and two young children to Nancy, in eastern France. The film’s regional identity is cleverly underlined with material about intense football rivalries, and soccer-mad Luc’s resentment of biased sports coverage in the Parisian papers.

Juliette’s English-accented French is explained by the fact that she spent some time in England and that the women’s mother (played by Claire Johnston) is English, a patient with dementia in an old people’s home. Juliette’s sole meeting with the old woman is a brashly tremendous coup de cinéma, which Claudel saves up for the very end: a dramatic flourish like something from Tennessee Williams.

The reason for Juliette’s absence is a grim, unnameable secret. It is the elephant in the living room whose shadow has fallen over all their lives, and it is only when Juliette goes for job interviews, or for mandatory meetings with her welfare case-worker, or the local police officer with whom she must sign in once a week, that she can speak the truth aloud. This Juliette does with a crisp, proud defiance, and a perverse pleasure in shocking and upsetting people, to pre-empt their judgment and their scorn.  In a series of cleverly constructed, indirect dialogue scenes, Claudel shows how Juliette’s 15-year-old secret has sent her entire family into shock and a collective dysfunction. Ironically, it is Juliette who has been able to look the facts squarely in the face and, having had a decade and a half to come to terms with it, is relatively well adjusted. But Léa, carrying the twin burdens of her own family respectability and the need to appease her parents’ angry demands for silence on the matter, has had to spend her adult life in denial. To her astonishment, Juliette realises that her secret has induced in Léa a kind of learned amnesia about their shared youth, and she is enraged that Léa has made life choices that look like an agonised repudiation of Juliette’s past. Yet all this makes Léa’s passionate need to reach out to her damaged sister all the more moving.

Scott Thomas and Zylberstein make good sisters. It is not simply that they look plausibly similar, but not too similar, it is that they act out sibling tension so well: the tricky magnetic field made up of shared memories, rivalries, intimacies. (I couldn’t help wondering what a film about sisters starring Kristin Scott Thomas and her own sister Serena would look like.) For a novelist, Philippe Claudel shows remarkable skill with his first feature film: in fact, his script is almost a screenplay masterclass, absorbing a lot of facts and story into a small space, but without any uncomfortable cramming, and he adroitly suggests the slow process by which Juliette is gradually accepted into the family and the community. With miraculous efficiency, he creates for Juliette a flirtation with a melancholy cop, a sexual encounter with a bumptious guy in a bar, and a growing, tender intimacy with Léa’s colleague and fellow lecturer Michel (Laurent Grevill). Enough material for a whole soap opera season is miraculously reduced to feature length

My only quarrel with this drama is that the final revelation, when it comes, is a little strained. It turns on the discovery of a photo and certain details on the back of a handwritten poem, but these details, as well as not being spelled out, do not appear to offer us much more knowledge than we, by this stage, have already gleaned. Scott Thomas’s performance, easily the best of her career, countermands any such qualms: the centre of a deeply involving, beautifully acted and expertly constructed human drama by and for grown-up”.

On that last point of Bradshaw, I had to agree, as it was difficult to follow what was actually supposed to have been on that piece of paper – left up to our imaginations I guess, I wondered for a moment whether I’d simply missed the point through the use of English sub-titles, etc, as I was waiting for a more definite explanation of what was happening. Nevertheless, the subsequent acting performance gave us all the answers eventually in some superb character acting.

Secrets and lies … Kristin Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long

I was also quite taken with the acting of the ‘supposed’ 6 year old Vietnamese girl  – a beautiful little performance for someone so young, and even if she were in reality, a couple of years older,  I was rather impressed