Blog

After the dramas of the past two weekends, this weekend has begun with a beautiful morning of sunshine, and I am currently ‘enjoying’ [to the degree that I occasionally enjoy it] a cup of coffee, and listening to a 1960’s former vinyl recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Russian Easter Festival Overture’ – a wonderful piece of music, but because the recording is one I have transcribed from vinyl to CD, I’m not 100% confident that it will sound right when I play it on the radio tomorrow morning. Often such a ‘self-created’ CD sounds fine when I play it here at home, but on the more sophisticated and precise CD players in the radio studio, things do not always behave as one would hope. A little bit of background noise, one can cope with [hopefully the listeners also], but when the music simply stops mid-track, well, that is not so favourable. When I’m playing such cds, I always have a ‘good’ CD on hand to immediately take over from the rogue version!! Here’s hoping all goes well tomorrow! I actually have two versions of the same overture – a slightly longer one performed by the then [1960s] French National Radio Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch, and the other, by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra of the same period, conducted by Paul Paray. I prefer the former, however it is the most suspect, when it comes to an unexpected breakdown. So to be cautious, I will probably go with the American version.

Meanwhile, not sure where my Susie has gone today – appears to have been to her workplace, although she has said she no longer wishes to return there. Certainly she is not the ‘happy natured girl’ of a few weeks ago,and I feel bad, and concerned,  for her sake. In many respects she is better off I think, when studying or working, and these few days away from the university have possibly not come at the best time.

Last Thursday night, we had a very successful General Meeting of the radio station members and presenters, with one of our best turn ups of participants for some months – it was indeed pleasing to see so many new and ‘old’ members in attendance.  In my view anyway, all present were given every opportunity to have their say on any matters of concern to them, and to raise issues they considered relevant. I generally have found in the various organisations that I have been associated with, that it is usually those members who do not participate in activities, or attend meetings, that make the biggest noise in terms of complaints! Hopefully, this sees the beginning of a new phase of enthusiasm aimed at benefiting the overall future of the station in preference to simply satisfying a few inflated self-egos!!

Blues 2011 Season update: – Carlton has made two changes to the side that went down to Collingwood last week for this week’s big clash against Essendon at the this afternoon. Simon White returns to the side and has been named in the back pocket and he is joined by Lachie Henderson who will play his first AFL game of the season. The two players omitted from the team are Bret Thornton and Matthew Watson.Henderson had an interrupted pre-season after surgery prior to Christmas and he has played the first two VFL matches with the Northern Bullants after missing the majority of the pre-season matches.  Meanwhile, after playing two matches Matthew Watson will be back with the Northern Bullants in the VFL as part of his continuing development. Heath Scotland, who played his 200th AFL game in round one, will play his 150th game for Carlton today.

So it is back to the MCG this weekend for another huge match against another big rival. This time it is Saturday afternoon at the traditional time of 2:10pm against Essendon in Carlton’s second home game of the 2011 season. After a crowd of over 88,000 attended last Friday night’s away game against Collingwood, this is the chance for Carlton supporters to come out in force at this Carlton home game and give the team the support they deserve. Sorry Blues, in my ‘old age’ I will be watching from the comfort of my lounge room, though at the end of the coverage, I might even slip around to our local football ground, to watch the local team, Sunbury Lions, play it’s first game of the Ballarat Football League season – a night match, under lights at our Clarke Oval, as it is called. During this week, Carlton  membership reached 40,000 for the fourth year in a row, and  there is every chance 2011 will be a record membership year for Carlton.  In the meantime, my youngest son and myself will be on ‘opposite sides of the fence’ this afternoon, so to speak – he is the only member of my family who decided at a young age,  ‘not’ to support the Blues  – Adam is a keen Essendon supporter, and certainly as a boy, he had this Carlton supporter ‘reluctantly’, lol, taking him to see ‘his’ team play in preference to mine. Australian democracy extends to my family as well!!  I shall return a little later with an update on today’s game!!

Later this afternoon –  after a bit of shopping, time to watch from football.  Alas, not a good start for the Blues, just a couple of points in the opening quarter, compared to 3 goals to the Bombers –  before the telecast,  I received a text message from Ian, wishing ‘the Blues luck’ in today’s game. Sad to see two players [for Essendon] go off in the first quarter with knee injuries, which tend to be the most serious injuries suffered by AFL footballers these days.  By halftime, I was feeling a little brighter as my team started to get more into the game, and some of the players who had been down early, began to make their presence felt. At that stage, just 1 goal the difference, and the evenness of the two teams was more evident.  30 minutes later, after getting away to a lead of 8 points, the score at three quarter time saw Essendon one point in front – mores wasted opportunities by the Blues, they should have dominated that quarter but allowed the opposition to get back into the match. With half an hour to go, it’s anyone’s game!………………….then that final quarter, as the lead kept changing constantly.  Six minuites to go, the Blues in front by a point, then, a minute later a goal to Essendon, they are in front by 5 points. An immediate response by my team, with a running goal which puts the Blues back in front by a single point. For the last three minutes, the ball is taken by both teams from one end of the ground to the other, crucial mistakes by Carlton players [as has been happening throughout the match], including a final mistake by the player who had just kicked our final goal – an error that resulted in an opponent scoring a single point  – which, as the game ended a few seconds later, meant the match ended in a draw!!! So after just four rounds of AFL football this year, we have seen three drawn matches – in Australian football, that number of drawn games in an entire season would be rare [unlike soccer, for example]. I guess I should be happy – a draw is preferable to a loss, though really, in view of a number of bad mistakes and missed opportunities, Carlton should consider themselves lucky to have not been beaten!! A pity I had to watch this game on my own!  Final scores, quarter by quarter were:

Carlton Blues:              0.2.2     4.9.33     6.13.49      Final: 11.13.79

Essendon Bombers:    3.2.20  6.3.39   7.8.50 Final:  11.13.70.

To more serious matters, as I come close to completing a book I have been reading, off and on, over past weeks – called ‘Little Daughter’ and written by Burmese girl [of the Karen ethnic group] named Zoya Phan, it is her memoirs of survival as an oppressed member of her society in Burma, her times in the Thai refugee camps, and her eventual escape to the West. During a brief period of ‘relative personal peace’ despite the constant fear of being picked up by Thai police as an illegal immigrant, as she studies at a Bangkok university, Zoya compares the attitudes of other students with those of the Karen students studying with her. She writes:

‘They would turn up at college driving their own cars. They talked about going to expensive restaurants and the cinema and playing golf. They wore trendy designer clothes. Their parents were business people, doctors or diplomats. They had enjoyed freedom and privilege all their lives, whilst we had been in the jungle running from bullets. I wondered why. Why were people so different, just as an accident of their birth? I had been born a Karen, and I had faced  a life of fear, persecution and oppression. By accident of their birth those students had never faced one fraction of the hardship that we Karen had experienced. I had never being around people from such backgrounds before. They complained about the fact that they’d ripped their designer jeans; or their parents wouldn’t buy them the newest mobile phone; or that their car had got bumped on the street. And I thought to myself: “This is nothing. What are you complaining about?

I had been driven out of my homeland and shunted from refugee camp to refugee camp, places where I had nothing, absolutely nothing – not even a future. And here I was among people who seemed to have everything, yet they complained about trivial things. In fact, they seemed unable to appreciate the life of privilege with which they had been blessed. Sometimes they’d skip class or turn up late or they’d miss study deadlines and not even seem to care. I was amazed that people could treat education with such a lack of respect. We OSI scholars had fought so hard to be here. This education, this degree course – this was my dream. But to them, it was just another chapter in their lives. There were so many thousands in the refugee camps who would give anything to have a carefree life of opportunity like theirs. In among the designer clothes, the rounds of golf and the partying, there was never any mention of my country or its suffering. It wasn’t far away. It was just across the border. It was in the newspapers and on the TV news. These students had access to the internet and the global media, and there was no excuse for them not to know. But it was never once a topic of conversation at college.’ [pps. 238-9,: Little Daughter by Zoya Phan: pub 2009]

I have a friend, married to a Thai lady who spends six months of each year living in Thailand. I wonder what their view of the Karen refugees on the borders of their country with Burma has been over the past decade, when the problem was at it’s worst?   I wonder if those refugee camps still exist?  I must ask them about this before they return to Thailand for the Australian winter.

Meanwhile, Susie apparently went to work today, came home for her lunch break, but I was pleased that she was spending part of her weekend in that fashion. I think she had worked yesterday afternoon also, so at this point, she had presumably not ‘quit’, although that was her intention. I’m concerned that she is not eating very well – cooked her a meal tonight, but prior to eating it, she visited her girlfriend who lives nearby. I guess that kind of friendship is her sustenance at the present time, though hopefully the food will be eaten later tonight.  As for ‘my’ intention to go out and have a look at the local football match, decided I was comfortable at home. At our ‘rural’ style football grounds, it is possible to park one’s card around the perimeter of the football ground, and watch from the vehicle. However, I knew from past experience that the available spots to do that, especially for a one-off night match, would be taken quickly,  and I really didn’t feel in the mood to stand around in the cool April night air, though, I might well change my mind, and wander around to see the closing stages of the game!! One can usually stroll into the ground at three quarter time, without paying the admittance price, though I really don’t mind supporting the local competition in that fashion.

One of the principal Art Prizes in Australia is the Archibald Prize for portraits, and this year’s winner was announced today. Quite obviously, if I was one of the judges, I would no doubt make a completely different choice to the painting that is generally declared the winner. A picture of the  veteran Australian artist Margaret Olley has won the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture in 2011.  The picture by Ben Quilty beat 40 other finalists to the $50,000 prize from more than 800 entrants. Quilty embraced the elderly artist after he was awarded the in Sydney today. Interestingly, he commented in a TV interview this evening, that his biggest disappointment was that she refused his request to pose nude for the portrait. I’m not really quite sure why he would even make such a request, in view of the fact that the portrait only seems to be of the frail 88 year old  woman’s face anyway!  Quilty said he first met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. “It’s quite moving to be here today,” he said, adding that Olley had been a “very maternal figure to me, but most of all a friend”. Meanwhile, one rather ‘cruel’ headline, in the ‘Courier Mail’ [Brisbane] headed it’s report of the Award by ‘Portrait of artist, as ‘old bag’ wins’, though in fairness, that was the way Margaret Olley described the painting herself, when she first saw it – “there’s the old bag”, she said!! Anyway, here’s the winning portrait.

.

I think I mentioned a day or so ago, that my brother [the extremely fit one!!] who likes to go for the occasional bike ride in various parts of the world, had planned a ride in Japan next month, with his wife [who is also a pretty fir pedalar – that spelling doesn’t look right@!!!]. However, owing to the recent calamities in that unfortunate nation, they decided to defer their ride [having a particular concern about food contamination] until another tour in October. With that in mind, Robert sent me a copy of an email received from the guy who is the organisers of these tours in Japan that Robert and Evelyn intended to participate in. That email presents another perspective of life in Japan over the past traumatic four weeks, and I sure my brother won’t mind I sharing some of those thoughts on these pages. An interesting aside made by Robert was that “While feeling a bit bad about having pulled out of May, as clearly the locals need the moral support of visitors; on the other hand, can you ever trust what the Japanese authorities are telling you is the reality”. Meanwhile, the writer of the email, and presumably, tour organiser, was  John Morrell, and this is what he had to say.

HI All,  Just thought I would touch base with you regarding Japan and what has happened.
 I returned yesterday from a bike trip in Shikoku, which the riders, who were very well informed about the difference between Shikoku (southern Japan) and Tohoku (northern Japan), decided not to cancel. All the people we met in Shikoku had the issue upper most on their minds even though they were a long way away from the disaster area. They were very glad we came and showed support. On top of this the riders had a wonderful holiday with great weather and great riding.
There was an inordinate level of emotion being shown by a people who usually are very reserved. In one inn, the owners wife sang us a song during dinner that the local wife’s would sing in that area hundreds of years ago. It was very moving and completely out of the ordinary,
harking back to a desire for simple trouble free times.
 The whole country is in mourning over what has happened and even though it has dropped of the radar here (except for Fukushima) over there it is an incredible open wound. Newspapers and televisions are completely
dominated by the disaster and its aftermath. And of course the unnerving series of “aftershocks” that keep happening daily. The scale of the tsunami is horrendous, as everyone knows, but its impact on the Japanese psyche is deep and maybe permanent. The ocean quite simply swallowed up huge areas of northern Honshu on a level never
experienced in modern times in Japan. This was not a wave in the normal sense, it was a surge, an oceanic river raging over the land. The height of the wave varied depending on local topography. In one valley it
reached a staggering height of 38 metres!
 One detail not reported here is that the land area in Tohoku, where the disaster happened, actually dropped about 30 cm at the time of the earthquake, meaning not only did the sea water rise up from the extraordinary turbulence of the plates moving on the ocean floor, but
the land sunk, doubling the impact of the surge of dirty cold ocean water. The colour itself mostly stemmed from the turbulence raging over the ocean bed off shore, which is mostly made of black sand.
 I have travelled these type of coastal valleys for many years and I now look at them with a level of distrust. They are prime alluvial valleys and fishing ports in a land dominated by mountains. In many cases the populations are mostly old, as the young leave to pursue a life in the
big cities. Many of the dead and missing were old, unable to escape.  There were also a large number of young and fit men lost. Many of these men are heroes who, after rescuing people to higher ground, returned to try and help other people to frail to escape themselves, only to be
swallowed by the madness of raging ocean water where it shouldn’t be and the debris being tossed around by it.
 These coastal societies have been decimated and recovery is not really an option as those who make life tick over, are mostly gone, as are there jobs, homes and lives. The fishing boats are smashed and the once fertile land is still covered in salt water. For the hundreds ofthousand in shelters, there futures are now a mystery.
The quiet peace of these valleys has been replaced by a deep fear of the exposure to the ocean and the ever present sea walls designed to protect against tsunamis now seem almost pitiful.
Away from the disaster area and throughout Japan there economic activity has dried up, cherry blossom parties, weddings, holidays etc all cancelled in most cases. Most foreigners have left and inbound tourism has dried up completely.  Unfortunately, a lot of this reaction overseas is hysterical and not related to any of the facts. Much of the reporting about shortages of fuel and water were plain wrong. As well as this, there are no radiation health issues whatsoever outside of the effected area and there are no
transfers of product outside of this area. The problem is that radiation poisoning plays on our fears of the hidden and unknown. An unseen creeping enemy that you seemingly cant protect against. In fact, the low levels of radiation found, for example in Tokyo, if you were exposed to them for a year, would amount to the same amount of radiation you would be exposed to on a flight between Sydney and Tokyo!
Unfortunately this international reaction is very real and in my opinion, the Fukushima nuclear power plant will be in the news for some time and I don’t expect Japanese inbound tourism to pick up for at least two years. In many ways this disaster has changed both Japan itself and
the international perception of what Japan is. DFAT still has a no travel warning to Tokyo.
Accordingly, I have to face the reality of where my business, Journey into Japan is heading over this period. Since the disaster, I have had virtually no inquiries, and I would usually receive anything from 4-6 inquiries per week from Australia and around the world. Many of these
would turn into bookings for our tours……..” and he goes on from there talking about which tours etc, are cancelled, and so on. 

An interesting, I thought,  perspective of the situation in Japan. This an one or two other blogs I have read recently, including an excellent description by an English girl teaching in Japan, have added a more personal touch tol the, as described above, hysterical reporting in some quarters. I thank those writers for their contributions.

One of today’s news features was the announcement by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard [in a  speech to the Sydney Institute] that ‘war’ is to be  declared on idleness, revealing she will use the May 10 budget to press Australians to “pull their weight” and not give in to welfare dependency and economic exclusion.  In other words, the suggestion is [which many of us would agree with] that many people who accept welfare payments for a myriad of reasons that they supposedly can’t work to.   The Prime Minister tonight vowed to use the prosperity of the mining boom to fund programs to boost workforce participation, arguing that many people on disability and other pensions should be working, and in fact were fully capable of doing so.  She said taxpayers should not have to fund welfare for people capable of supporting themselves, and that she would offer training opportunities as part of a push to “entrench a new culture of work”.

An interesting concept, which the Opposition leader in true fashion,  has also jumped upon, claiming that the PM is merely echoing the Coalition policy, except that she has no plan to implement the declaration, compared to the Opposition. Of course we would expect Tony Abbott to immediately get on the attack to any proposals from t6he Government – unfortunately, that is the one aspect of his leadership style that I am coming to dislike thoroughly. Having said that, I would much like to see a greater effort than has existed in the past go into such a program. Australia has a very generous attitude towards welfare recipients despite the various restrictions etc, which to my mind usually disadvantage those who least deserve to be disadvantage, while others are able to get away with unfair practices, etc

As would be reported  in tomorrow’s media, in her speech last night, Ms Gillard declared that Labor was “the party of work, not welfare” and placing respect for work and a fair go at the centre of the national policy agenda. While she conceded there would always be some Australians who were unable to work because of disability, Ms Gillard said it was a “social and economic reality” that some people who could work would not. “Relying on welfare to provide opportunity is no longer the right focus for our times,” the Prime Minister said. “In today’s economy, inclusion through participation must be our central focus.”  She said the nation’s strong economy provided a perfect opportunity to target people stuck on welfare with reforms based on “high expectations\ that everyone who can work, should work”.

For myself, with the prospect of retiring after 40+ years of employment, I never really had any desire to not work, i.e., to spend my life sitting around without any work commitments at the expense of the rest of us. It was enough for me to ‘suffer’ through three periods of retrenchment since 1996, to have any desire to do ‘nothing’ on a fulltime basis. Admittedly, as I approach retirement I’m looking forward to not working  full time, think I’ve earned that,  and want the opportunity to do other things in my life, and to get away from the daily traffic snarls and pressures of getting to and from a job. But the idea of having spent the entirety of one’s life basically doing nothing of value by choice, while others paid for that ‘lifestyle’ simply leaves a very sour taste in my mouth!

As for today, it was a difficult period up until mid-afternoon, when I finally had some communication with Susie – up until then, I’d been genuinely concerned as to where she had been since late yesterday [or more importantly, whether she was okay, others in the family didn’t seem to be able to offer much information]. Anyway, the latter part of the day was less stressful, and I was able to return home & cook a meal for the two of us.  With school holidays on at present, her teacher training placement days [Wed-Friday] were on hold, so she was only required at the university up north for the first two days of the week. It did seem that for the duration of this year’s study, she might need to be more dependent on her Dad in a financial sense [the part time weekend job in Sunbury may not be available for much longer] but that did not concern me, obviously, while I was I in a position to assist, I would continue to do so.

After a poor sleep over night, ,I could have happily done without a meeting to go to tonight, however the Family History Society committee meetings are usually well controlled and short, under Peter Free’s direction, and pleasingly tonight was no exception.  I have been involved with this group since Peter established it back in 1984 after he had run a course on family history at the local Leisure Centre – because of the interest that course generated amongst the participants, he decided to form the Society, and most of the initial membership consisted of his former ‘students’ –  there are still three of us involved! Over the year’s since, I’ve been involved on the various committees in one form or another, usually as Treasurer, or editor of the group newsletter, and a few years ago, wrote up a ‘history’ of the Society for it’s 20^th anniversary. Oddly, on this occasion, I’ve never really had any desire to undertake the main leadership role [as President, about from a few months late in 2010 as ‘acting President’ when the group was under threat of collapse] –  mainly because, as a person who prefers to work ‘behind the scenes’ rather than up front as the public face of an organisation, the kind of roles I’ve undertaken, allowed me to achieve that aim – work for the organisation, but do so behind the scenes! The exception to that ‘rule’  involved my 22 years on school councils, which included almost 8 years as President of two separate councils.  I think the difference there, was that despite the importance of the School Council President role, the major spokesperson generally at those two schools throughout those years was the School Principal. I guess I made my strengths to be administrative and conduct of meetings, etc, rather than in ‘public relations’ – other Presidents might have a different style, the opposite in many cases. Despite that, I think I proved to be relatively successful in those roles.

Anyway, on top of all that, I had a relatively early night after a bit more reading of a book written by a former refugee of Burma  – more about that in a day or two.

Did you know that a dream is a wish your heart makes?   Great lyrics to a little song I found on an album I played a track from tonight – of all things, it was from the soundtrack of Walt Disney’s ‘Cinderella’. The lyrics go like this, with words and music by Mark David et el:- 

A dream is a wish your heart makes/When you’re fast asleep/In dreams you will lose your heartaches/Whatever you wish for, you keep/Have faith in your dreams and someday/Your rainbow will come smiling through/No matter how your heart is grieving/If you keep on believing/The dream that you wish will come true………….

………….The dream that you wish will come true

Well, I suppose it was a fairy story, but I always maintain, that you gotta have a few dreams, because dreams mean hope, and hope means something to look forward to!!  [Bill’s philosophy!]

I also played a couple of tracks from that great Danish entertainer, the late Victor Borge – from a selection of performances all recorded without the prior knowledge of the audience, and with the performances not actually planned for recording,  there is a guarantee of spontaneity in the outcome. His production consisted of a piano, a stool, a microphone and Borge himself – a talented musical comedian.  Played two selections tonight – sample of his ‘Comedy in music – requests’, and also  his famous ‘Mozart Opera by Borge’, which I have to admit to attempting to perform myself one night [minus the piano] at a church camp!! Not sure if the audience really took to the Borge sense of humour [or perhaps it was the person trying to imitate Borge, that they did not take to!!!].

Meanwhile, on a more serious note, there is a major campaign going on at present with respect to the use of poker machines, and attempts to force through parliament certain restrictions on their use. Naturally, the ‘gambling’ industry is mounting their own campaign in opposition. The ‘Get-Up’ organisation in particular, together with people like Andrew Wilkie MP, the Independent Member for Denison [whose election campaign I recall included promises to try and introduce anti- poker machine into parliament if he was elected]  are very vocal in the matter – as their literature states, in seeking support that    ‘What are we fighting for? The industry spends millions of dollars designing poker machines to be as addictive as possible – to give problem gamblers as little chance as possible to kick a habit that can destroy families. That’s why we must give these families simple tools to help them make their own choices, including a system where gamblers pre-commit how much they want to spend on a given day (known as ‘pre-commitment’).  The clubs industry is one of the most powerful in Australia. Its political influence is impossible to overestimate, and it will fight to the last penny to keep making a fortune at the expense of Australian families. But with your support I know we can build a campaign that proves the voices of the people can be louder then those of vested interest’.  Wilkie included the following story in his promotion.

‘A mother recently gave a searingly honest account of her rapid descent into pokies addiction at the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform that I chair. She had gambled all her life without a problem, but that changed when she was introduced to poker machines. In her words, she changed from a happy-go-lucky, socially-active mother and friend to a restless, isolated, depressed and suicidal woman. The nurse spent her days gambling on pokies, only breaking to pick up the kids from school and grab less than two hours sleep before heading to work the night shift in an intensive care unit at her local hospital. I have heard countless variations of this story during my years pushing for action on poker machines.   These personal stories are the reason we need to clean up this industry, in particular with policies like gamblers nominating how much they are prepared to lose, and maximum withdrawal limits from ATMs in gambling venues. But while I have an agreement with the Prime Minister to make this happen, the fight is not yet won. Some MPs have even told me that they don’t believe strong poker machine reform will ever happen: they simply can’t believe that an industry this powerful, with this much money at its disposal, could ever lose. It will take a huge public movement to stop the powerful gambling lobby from getting its way. I hope you’ll be part of it, and that you’ll ask your friends and family to join too”.  Obviously, they have a tough fight on their hands -against the power of well financed corporations, etc, and perhaps in some quarters, crime and corruption influences.

Having noted all that, I was thinking about my own son’s quite heavy involvement at present in the ‘competitive sport’ of poker [though not the poker machines themselves], and was pleased to note some remarks he placed online recently in response to someone else. While, in many ways, I sometimes wish he wasn’t so heavily involved in this ‘poker’ game,  the following comments made the other night, give one some degree of confidence, that his attitude at present has a lot of sense attached to it.  Hope it stays that way!

 He commented that    “Another win at poker. Money again 🙂   I don’t expect to back it up next weekend – I do know my luck. It’s not high. I do know my stats thou. The last five times I have played at that venue I have won three games, got second and lost one. The one that I lost was the game u played. I was first out. So stay away lol. It went win win last second first and now I’m due for a shit game. Stats all add up to me losing. I’m a stats and odds man. Don’t like my chances   Idea/advice is – Just have Fun, don’t get drunk, and no expectations, just knowledge that you are good enough to win”.

Now Susan returned to Sunbury last night – obviously arrived home while I was at the radio station, but no sign of her afterwards, in fact she didn’t return, so had presumably was staying with friends.  While she is of course an adult, as a Dad, one would sometimes like to have some indication as to likely movements, in broad terms at least.  So tonight, it took some time to get asleep – every car in the area had me wondering if it was Susie returning, and then an eventual early morning wake up [on Wednesday] at 4am, with my outside welcoming lights still on, no chance of any further sleep. Always was a worrier about a myriad of things, so hopefully I can be excused for a little bit of worry on this occasion. Unusual to have no form of contact, nor had her Mum heard from her tonight. One will just have to wait for another day, and a few hours to pass before any enquiries, obviously had an agenda previously planned.

Yesterday, the second of this year’s Formula I Grand Prix races took place – the Malaysian Grand Prix  –  not a great start for our Mark Webber, however, he gradually made up various positions as the race progressed, but in the end, failed narrowly to get a podium position, finishing 4th in the race. His team mate Sebastian Vettell won his second race of the year, after taking out the Australian Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago. Mark has a bit of work to do over coming weeks of the F1 championship if he is to be a genuine contender for the title.

As the blog title indicates, a bit of a quieter Monday, although despite the start of a two weeks of school holidays, the traffic was again rather frustrating this morning! Pleased to reach the office, and ‘relax’ with a cappuccinio!!  And then it was onto my next major project which is likely to occupy your writer for a few days, or longer – preparation of the estimates for the next financial year, most of which won’t concern me, as I won’t be here, beyond October!!

On the home front, James brought Shirley home [to Goonawarra] from the Sunshine Hospital, and later in the afternoon, Jodie drove Val Bennett to the airport, for her return flight to Queensland. If she was thinking of returning later in the year, I’d suggested a few days ago, that perhaps she should plan a visit for December, at which time Shirley would be celebrating her 60th birthday!

I’ve just heard that the Australian cricket team, currently having a short tour of Bangladesh for three one day matches, has wrapped up the series after just the second match – with Shane Watson belting 185 runs, in an innings that included a record 15 sixes!! It must have been a relatively small ground for that to happen, and he obviously also completely dominated the hapless Bangladeshi bowlers! This was the first tour under new captain, Michael Clarke.

I was pleased to see that a story on the front page of this morning’s Age newspaper was highlighting the percentage of cyclists who ignore red lights at road intersections, as though they have the right to disobey the law above other road users, and then claim murder, if an unfortunate motorist happens to be in their way!  As the journalist noted ‘Riding through red lights is frequently cited as the cyclist behaviour that most annoys drivers and is perceived as typical behaviour’. I will agree completely with that, and whenever I see a cyclist abuse the road rules in that manner, my blood boils! That and the uncertainty quite often as to what a cyclist is going to do.  Again, to quote: ‘Unpredictability is a key concern of drivers when interacting with cyclists on the road and cyclist red light non-compliance is likely to increase driver perceptions of unpredictability’. Quite so, and I must say, that when cyclists are around on the roads where I am driving, one always feels apprehensive as to just what they are going to do – as the car driver, I do everything possible to avoid any contact with a cyclist, but the worry is always unnecessarily there, as to what ‘they’ are going to do. To my mind, while it is difficult to argue against the reality that they also do have a right to use our roads, they really are a pest and a danger to safe driving at times. Even a spokesman for the riders admits that ‘It is really important that bike riders are predictable in their behaviour. We rely for our safety on drivers understanding how and where we ride on the road. Running red lights upsets the patterns of expectancy’.  I wish he could get the message through to the estimated 10% of cyclists who ignore red lights at every opportunity!!

Now for a change, I’m home this Monday night, and can have a look at my favourite TV program – Q & A. As usual, an interesting panel to face the questions of a live audience – we have on the panel: Penny Wong, Finance Minister; Greg Hunt, Shadow Environment Minister; Bess Price, central Australian Aboriginal leader; Graeme Innes, Federal Disability and Race Discrimination Commissioner; and Chris Kenny, political commentator. With the help of the show’s online promotional websites, we have a brief bio, just a few facts, I’ve decided are relevant, on each of these panelists.

Penny Wong is the Finance Minister and as such is at the centre of preparations for next month’s Federal Budget. Penny was born in 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, to a Malaysian-Chinese father and an Australian mother. She was eight years old when she, her mother and brother moved to Australia when her parents separated. They settled in Adelaide and Penny ultimately graduated with an Arts/Law degree from the University of Adelaide, where she became politically active and joined the ALP. In  December 2009, she was at the Copenhagen climate change summit where the international community spectacularly failed to reach agreement on a world-wide carbon reduction scheme.As well as being regarded as one of the most capable younger members of the Labor government, Penny is the first Asian-born member of an Australian Cabinet and the first to be openly in a same-gender relationship. She is also a committed Christian, attending the Pilgrim Uniting Church in Adelaide.

Greg Hunt is the shadow minister for climate action, environment and heritage. A tenacious parliamentary performer with considerable experience in foreign affairs and environmental issues, Greg is a key part of the Opposition’s attack on the
Government and is expected to play a major role in shaping the coalition’s fortunes in the years ahead. Subsequently Greg worked at the UN Centre for Human Rights, as the associate to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court and as an adviser to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. In 1998 he was Australia’s chief observer for elections in Cambodia.

Bess Nungarrayi Price is a central Australian Aboriginal leader.She was born at Yuendumu in Central Australia. Her first language is Warlpiri.  Bess has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Aboriginal Community Management and Development from Curtin University. She has worked in a variety of fields including education and training, public administration, media, community development, interpreting, translating and language teaching and also has experience in small business management. Bess has served on numerous management committees and boards.  Currently, she sits on the National body Violence against Women’s Advisory Council and chair’s the Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council for the Northern Territory.  Bess and her husband Dave are partners at Jajirdi Consultants, working in cross cultural awareness training, community liaison and Warlpiri language services.

Graeme Innes, who is blind,  was appointed Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner in July 2009. Graeme is a lawyer, mediator and Company Director. He’s been a Human Rights Practitioner for almost 30 years in NSW, WA and nationally. As a Human Rights Commissioner , Graeme has led or contributed to initiatives including the Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Inquiry, achieving removal of discrimination across federal law; drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and ratification by Australia; three inspections of Australia’s Immigration Detention facilities; and development of a National Disability Strategy. As a boy Graeme went to the North Rocks School for the Blind, where he learnt braille and other skills.  By his mid-40s he had travelled the world several times with a white cane, but has since taken to using a guide dog. His first guide dog, Jordie, travelled with him six times to New York to work on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Graeme has been a consultant to organisations such as Westpac, Qantas, and Sydney Water, on disability issues. He has also been a Councillor on Ku-ring-gai local Council.

Chris Kenny is a journalist, author and former political staffer. He served as Chief of Staff to the former Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, and was also Chief of Staff to Alexander Downer, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the former Howard Government. In the South Australian Government he was Director of Strategic Communications for Premier John Olsen and Chief of Staff to Premier Rob Kerin. He is now a columnist for The Australian.

It will be interesting to discover just how great a part of the program tonight will be dominated by the climate change debate, which seems to come up every week.  I also expect the subject of same sex marriages to be raised again, in view of Penny Wong’s personal status in that area. I shall return. [Meantime, disturbing news from Japan of yet another 7.1 magnitude earthquake – with reports that a  large earthquake has rocked Japan’s east and northeast coast exactly a month after the country was struck by a double natural disaster. Is there no rest for the people in that country?  My brother [the cyclist] had planned a bike tour with his wife in May, but they have, perhaps wisely, decided to forego those plan for the time being!].

Whilst Q & A was progressing tonight, I ended up in a long running ‘conversation’ per messages with two local Facebook friends, and while aim was to try and take a serious approach to what was happening on the TV screen, they obviously had other intentions, so the conversation as such drifted all over the place. As for the program, we did have the usual topics raise their head – climate change, argument against funding of the national broadband network versus other more important needs, the current ‘crisis in the defence forces in relation to a number of recent sex scandals and other discrimatory practices against women in the Services, and so on. I became a little annoyed again, when host Tony Jones continued with his practice of dominating the questions posed [particularly when it involved the politicians present] – Q & A is advertised as the opportunity for the public to ask questions of the panel members, but Jones frequently jumps in with his own probing questions, and certainly in the early part of the program, if you were not one of the politicians on the panel, you were often given little opportunity to contribute to the matter under discussion. Thankfully, there was later, some considerable talk about the intervention of the government in the life of the Northern Territories’ Indigenous communities [begun with the Howard Government in 2007, and continued on] and this gave Bess, the Indigenous panelist, the opportunity to be more involved.  While others have criticised the Intervention in various ways, it was intyeresting to hear Bess support what had taken place, and suggesting that the communities concerned were better off, and happier for it  – the children, for eg, where now getting fed properly. She stated that our governments were not racial in their policies – if the Indigenous communities where in any other country, they would probably not even be there any more! One view was that the process should have been undertaken bottom up, instead of top down  – by allowing the community leaders to undertake the process rather than bureaucrats from the cities moving in to run things!! Incidentally, as far as I’m aware, the question of same sex marriages did not come into the debate tonight!  It’s a pity the politics can’t stay out of it a bit more too – perhaps a program in future without any politicians on the panel might avoid some of the potential verbal confrontations that were bubbling on the surface tonight. Nevertheless, an interesting hour of television.

I saw a report recently that noted that 96% of Afghan asylum seekers who had their claims finalised in 2010 were found to be genuine refugees. Between October 2008 and 22 December 2010, 94% of all asylum seekers that arrived by boat were found to be refugees. Interestingly by comparison to that more maligned  group of refugees, it was noted that only 39% of asylum seekers who arrived by plane [or 909 asylum seekers out of 2,321] in the second half of 2010 were found to be refugees. It is this second who tend to be regarded by the broad community, as the only legitimate ‘refugees’ –  that evidence, at least, would tend to suggest otherwise! I am always maintained that the people who find themselves in the position of having to use ‘people smugglers’ and travel in dangerous and unseaworthy boats in the hope of finding a better and more secure life for their families are more likely to be the refugee in genuine need of protection and assistance.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that a short while ago, there were still up to 1,000 asylum seeker children being held in Australian detention centres, they are slowly being released into the community. Between October 2010 and March 2011, 268 asylum seekers were released into the community, including almost all of the male unaccompanied children under 15 years of age, and all but one girl in that category. I guess that suggests that most of those remaining are part of a family group – so while it is still completely unsatisfactory for these innocent children to be retained under jail like conditions, they do hopefully have some support from family to some degree, though how satisfactory that is, represents another consideration! Disturbingly however, survey polling has revealed that 53% ‘disapprove’ of the Federal Government’s decision to move asylum seeker children and families out of  detention – only 33% approved, indicative I think of continued ignorance and biased attitudes based on the spread of fear and prejudice by some individuals, and groups,  from minority sectors of the Australian community. There has also been the concern that such relocations will be into the  already overcrowded public housing environment, though the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has denied that, saying that housing for  asylum seekers will be sourced through faith-based, not-for-profit and welfare agencies. The Uniting Church for example, has a number of programs in this area, and finally it seems, our governments are acknowledging the value of those community contributions.

Continuing with the refugee situation, I also note that the Minister has introduced to Parliament, on the 24^th February,  a Bill to provide for a system of complementary protection for those seeking asylum in Australia. The aim of this Bill is to eliminate unnecessary processes for people at risk of torture, inhumane treatment or likely death to receive a protection visa in accordance with Australia’s existing international obligations. Currently, people seeking protection in Australia from these situations but only at the discretion of the Minister, and then often at the last stage of the review process. The Minister himself [Hon Chris Bowen] has stated  – “This is about helping vulnerable people – people at risk of the most serious forms of harm, if returned to their home country. Our international treaty obligations mean we cannot and do not send these people home. But, under existing processes, they are only able to get a visa through the personal intervention of the Minister. This is extremely inefficient, time- consuming and stressful, as applicants must apply, be rejected, seek review, be rejected again and then seek the personal  – and entirely discretionary – intervention of the Minister. While Ministers have historically agreed to grant these visas, this is no way for the system to operate”  Such interventions did not always work – in 2009, there was a public outcry when the Minister for Immigration  refused to intervene in moves to remove Grace Gichugi [aged 22] and Ndikaru Muturi [aged 21] back to Kenya where they faced the risk of female genital mutilation. The proposed Complimentary  protection system aims to cover such situations. The Uniting Church is currently establishing a Petition to Federal Parliament, in which they are asking Members of Parliament to agree to pass the Bill. As the wording states –  ‘Australia is currently one of the only developed countries which does not have a Complimentary Protection  process in place for those who arrive in Australia in need of protection and who fall outside the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee criteria [and this ] includes girls and women facing honour killings and female genital mutilation’.

Not sure how I got onto this subject – except that the whole refugee issue has always been a prime concern of mine, as I have previously indicated.  I have actually continued the theme with a bit of a ‘postscript’ to this blog, a summary of Refugee Week, as provided by my Uniting Church contacts.

In the meantime,  I probably wasn’t however, thinking of refugees, when I was playing Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto during this morning’s radio program. An interesting comparison was revealed between Liszt, and that other great composer of piano music, Frederic Chopin. Australian pianist, Leslie Howard, has just completed the recording of all of Liszt’s solo piano music – all 99 CDs of it. In an interview which appeared in ‘Limelight’ magazine this month, he was asked ‘So what do you think Liszt’s legacy is?’ Howard responded that “He simply expanded what the piano could do, more than anybody else in the 19^th century, I’m sure he always thought of orchestral instruments when he was writing for the piano, which is exactly the opposite of how Chopin thought.” Certainly, that was true of this morning’s playing, where the orchestra concerned was mentioned, but no specific reference to the pianist in question.

Young Jodie called me [from work where she was on duty again this morning, at a Leisure & Recreation centre over in the western suburbs] with the news that Shirley would not be released from hospital today, she  was recovering from a minor operational procedure this morning and was likely to be kept in for another night.

 

Addition to discussion on refugees:

Refugee Week is Australia’s peak annual activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. The event has been celebrated in Australia since 1986 and RCOA has been responsible for the coordination of Refugee Week in NSW since 2005.

Refugee Week provides a platform where positive images of refugees can be promoted in order to create a culture of welcome throughout the country.  The ultimate aim of the celebration is to create better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and to continue making a valuable contribution to Australia.

Over the past 15 years, Refugee Week celebrations have developed in a number of other countries.  While there are minor differences in the dates for Refugee Week, all include World Refugee Day (June 20).  In Australia, Refugee Week is scheduled to ensure that it does not clash with public holidays in any Australian state or territory.

The aims of Refugee Week are:

• to educate the Australian public about who refugees are and why they have come to Australia;
• to help people understand the many challenges refugees face coming to Australia;
• to celebrate the contribution refugees make to our community;
• to focus on how the community can provide a safe and welcoming environment for refugees;
• for community groups and individuals to do something positive for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people, within Australia but also around the world;
• for service providers to reflect on whether they are providing the best possible services to refugees.

Refugee Week is a unique opportunity for us all to experience and celebrate the rich diversity of refugee communities through theatre, music, dance, film and other events which take place all over Australia and highlight the aims of the Week, as outlined above. Refugee Week is an umbrella participatory festival that allows a wide range of refugee community organisations, voluntary and statutory organisations, schools, student groups and faith based organisations to host events during the week.

Past events have included football tournaments, public talks and exhibitions as well as music and dance festivals, theatre projects, and film screenings. Everyone is welcome to participate in promoting the aims of Refugee Week – the more the merrier!

Through Refugee Week we aim to provide an important opportunity for asylum seekers and refugees to be seen, listened to and valued.

REFUGEE WEEK THEME

The 2010 theme: Freedom from Fear

After careful consideration of options for themes for Refugee Week in Australia, RCOA has chosen to retain the 2009 Refugee Week theme in the lead-up to next year’s 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention. This means that the theme for Refugee Week in 2010 and 2011 will be “Freedom from Fear”. Our hope is that, by retaining this theme for Refugee Week over three years, we will be able to focus greater attention on the realities of the refugee experience.

The quest for freedom from fear is at the heart of a refugee’s flight from danger. This is acknowledged in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (and its 1967 Protocol), which defines a refugee as:

Any person who owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country.

The importance of freedom from fear is also affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the preamble of which describes the “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want” as the “highest aspiration of the common people.”

When refugees flee, they are forced to abandon everything they know and love. They are separated from family members, lose belongings, are left with little or no money. Some are traumatised by what they have experienced. Many spend years in camps, lost in no-man’s land whilst their fate is decided. Most have no idea what kind of future awaits them.

In seeking refuge in another country refugees are hoping to find freedom from that fear. They are looking for the opportunity to lead a normal life, as part of a community, where they can live in safety and security, find work and send their children to school.

In choosing our theme as “Freedom from Fear” we are hoping to draw attention not just to the fear that compels refugees to run, but the relief they feel when they are welcomed into another country and given the opportunity to rebuild their lives.

Why does Refugee Week have a theme?

The Refugee Week theme has a number of important functions:

• It raises awareness of the issues affecting refugees. The theme aims to highlight aspects of the refugee experience and help the broader community to understand what it is like to be a refugee.

• It helps to make Refugee Week a national celebration. The theme provides a focal point for events across Australia, uniting separate activities into a single nationwide celebration.

• It promotes a message of harmony and togetherness. The theme unites individuals, communities and organisations from many different backgrounds behind a common cause. The common theme is a reminder that, regardless of our differences, we all share a common humanity.

• It broadens the impact of Refugee Week. The theme provides a common, cohesive message which can be promoted across the country. Focusing celebrations on this key message helps to extend its influence.

 So there you have it – a few views and actions on Australia’s ongoing refugee situation, though most of those views admittedly coming from those who ‘care’. It’s now 5.40 pm, and already the  day outside is starting to dwindle. We haven’t had as much rain as anticipated., most of that came overnight, although it did rain quite heavily for a period whilst I was driving back over to the hospital. Susan has  been on the highway to Bendigo for an hour now, and I guess I won’t really relax until I can assume she has reached her little destination. I’d not intended to drive over to the hospital today, unless Susie wanted to see her mother again before she returned up north. James was driving the two ladies there again this afternoon, until he discovered that there was a problem with his car. That was when I became [by choice] the official driver, and drove Win, Val & James back over to Sunshine hospital to see Shirley, who thankfully was much brighter and happier today. If Susie had decided to come, we would have made room for her. She had spent the morning at a girlfriend’s place around the corner, and came back from there more cheerful then she had been all week. That was good to see.

Not a great deal of sleep overnight, I’d been waiting to get a phone message from Jodie, who spent some 4 hours or more in the casualty/emergency department of the Sunshine Hospital, while they waited for her mother to be given some specific attention. But when Jodie returned home, she decided it was too late to ring ‘Dad’, so by the time I got up this morning, I was completely ‘in the dark’ as to what was going on. At that stage, I was also expecting Susie to arrive back from Bendigo.

One of the few highlights of today, was the opportunity to see [on the television] the horse, which is currently being described as the greatest sprinter in the world – all seems a bit overdone, that kind of description – however, it is a magnificent animal to watch in action. This afternoon, competing in a 1200 metre race at Randwick [in Sydney], the annual T J Smith [Group 1] Stakes, we saw Black Caviar [ridden by Luke Nolen] run it’s 12^th race – and the horse has won every one of those twelve races, including today. Certainly it was a red hot favourite, and  a massive crowd of past years’ proportions turned out to see Black Caviar –  not to win any money on it, as any gains on a bet would be minimal, but simply to watch the horse run.

I seemed to be on the phone most of today, or relaying text messages to various family members, and the hospital over in Sunshine [in Melbourne’s western suburbs], trying to find out precisely why the children’s mother was there and/or how long she would be a patient. It was apparently a case of no doctors or surgeons available today, certainly not until later in the afternoon, and when James visited with Shirley’s mother and aunt, I think he might have stirred up a bit of action, because by the time Susan and I arrived at around 6pm, and Jodie not long afterwards, Shirley was much happier and feeling more comfortable, following the visit of a doctor.

As for Susie, I’d been expecting her to arrive back home from Bendigo this morning, and then go straight to work. But she must have decided to delay her return until this afternoon, and at the same time, give her job a miss this weekend – obviously the emotional upset of last weekend’s situation was going to take a while to heal, and she presumably didn’t feel able to face the people she had been working with for some years now, at this point. I just hope that that decision wouldn’t end up costing her the job eventually!  As for the description of tenseness and concern, well that was basically how this writer was feeling all day – a combination of the ongoing concern of how Susie was coping after the breakup with Jimmy, and now on top of that, her mother’s sudden overnight admittance to hospital. When I rang her this morning, with news about her mother’s ‘illness’, that perhaps encouraged her to return a little earlier than planned.

The weather deteriorated quite considerably by late afternoon, and our beautiful Autumn days  came to a sudden [but expected] end – by the time Susie and I headed off to the Sunshine hospital this evening, it was raining steadily in wild and windy conditions, and with darkness now coming earlier since the finish of daylight saving, they were the kind of night driving conditions I dreaded these days.. If I’d been tense earlier in the day, by the time we hit the highway, things were even worse. Thankfully, the return trip, which I did alone, the conditions were much better. I didn’t stay at the hospital for very long after James and the two older ladies left. Although Shirley was in no real good state herself, she had not seen Susie since last weekend’s episode, so I thought it would be nice to leave the two girls [Jodie had arrived from her work by now, and she would bring her sister back to Sunbury] with their mother, to talk, and while I wasn’t there, I’m hoping that Susie finally opened up to someone in the family. Incidentally, she said nought about the flowers and gift I’d bought for her yesterday – perhaps they had not yet being noticed, but no matter, it was something I wanted to do, and I’d half expected there would be no acknowledgement, at least initially anyway.

I was standing outside the Thai restaurant, after returning to Sunbury this evening, and waiting for my ‘takeaway’ meal order for Susan and myself to be prepared, when one of the diners came outside to have a smoke [as of course, no smoking is permitted inside public places anymore]. Noticing his actions, reminded me of a report which appeared in the media a couple of days ago.  As part of a major overhaul in how cigarettes are sold to consumers, the Federal Government is planning to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. Under proposed legislation, logos will be removed from packaging, the packet will be printed a plain olive green colour and tobacco companies will be required to print their brand in a smaller, specific font.  If the legislation is passed, health warnings and graphic pictures showing the dangers of smoking would cover 90 per cent on the front of packs and 75 per cent on the back. With a recent push by local councils to ban smoking in more public places, some consumers, and the tobacco industry, believe we are becoming a “nanny state”. I noticed in particular, that one major tobacco company intended to go to court over the matter. I think that industry is eventually going to have to accept that they are fighting a long term losing battle.

I noticed one interesting comment from someone who, while stating that they were not a supporter of smoking, did feel that the government has gone far enough on the smoking issue, for the moment. The observer noted that the haste to wipe out smoking left the assumption that it is a hot number for attracting votes. This contrasted with the hands-off approach to alcohol sales which is no doubt popular with the general public and vote sensitive. A minimum of 3 full page ads for example,  for cheap booze every Wednesday in that person’s  local surburban newspaper does not seem to balance with the current demolition job on smokers and smoking. Interesting point!

Anyway, with all these goings on through the day, I would end up missing out on the first of this year’s concerts by the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra – a pity, because I had only just arranged the season subscription yesterday, but by late afternoon, when I realised there would not be time to go to both Sunshine and Heidelberg, I rang the organisers of the concert, and told them to give my ticket for tonight, away to another worthy concert lover! So here I am – when I should be sitting in the Concert Hall of the Ivanhoe Girl’s Grammar School listening to my favourite suburban orchestra, I am instead, sitting here beside a radio,  listening to a similar concert recorded at the Melbourne Recital Centre last November [music by Beethoven at the moment], and also listening to the rain falling steadily outside – and admittedly, a little thankful that I don’t have to go back out in that weather. I imagine however, that it will be little changed when I hit the road at 6.15am tomorrow morning!  After my earl.ier trip this evening, it was good to be able to remain home, away from the rain and wind, both of which seemed to be settling in for 24 hours or so.

After work tonight. I made a point of purchasing some flowers and a little gift for Susie, upon her return to Sunbury tomorrow morning. The gesture may not be wanted or appreciated, in her present state of mind, however it was simply part of my acknowledgement of the personal hurt she was going through at present.

Meanwhile, another big game of football on the TV tonight – in days gone past, nothing would have kept me away from attending such a game in person, but these days, Bill prefers the comfort of watching his team, on most occasions, in the comfort of home. Tonight, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, we have a clash between the two most traditional and historic rivals in Australian football  –  Carlton versus Collingwood. I once stood for most of a day in a crowd of over 121,000 people to watch these two teams play for a premiership. Speaking before the match, Carlton captain Chris Judd had this to say:- 

‘Earning the right to play finals two years in a row provides a real platform for Carlton going forward. In 2010 we finished in a similar position to 2009, however we did it with a much younger team and I genuinely believe there are some exciting times ahead. The whole group is now getting a real hunger for achieving something together. We want to be the best possible players we can be so we’re the best possible team we can be. We want Carlton supporters to have a similar attitude, the desire to achieve to be the best possible supporters you can be. We want a huge membership team supporting the club as we strive to achieve something special together, 50,000 members and beyond. For my career to be fulfilled I need a premiership at Carlton. That’s what we’re all working towards and we want you to be involved.  The Carlton Football Club is at a stage where we’re ready to achieve again and I know the players are really hungry for that. It will take a lot of hard work. Together we can achieve, on and off the ground. However to succeed we must have no passengers’.  [Chris Judd, Captain].      Michael Jamison was selected in Carlton’s team for  tonight’s blockbuster against Collingwood. He returns after missing the first two matches due to suspension and is joined by a New Blue as part of two changes. Andrew Collins will make his Carlton debut in tonight’s game against Collingwood.  Collins will become the 1,333rd player to represent the Carlton Football Club in the AFL when he makes his Blue debut against the Pies. Collins turned 21 in November last year; he is 187cm and 80kg. He will wear number 16 for Carlton, the number having been worn in 100 games for the Blues by Scott Camporeale, Jimmy Buckley, and Maurie Sankey [three players from my period of watching the Blues].

Prior to the game coverage tonight – a direct telecast for a change –  I exchanged a few messages with my Collingwood supporting siblings up in Brisbane, who were also sitting down to ‘enjoy’ the match.

Well now, after all that build up  –  we didn’t actually win! A good even first quarter which gave promise of a ‘blockbuster’ game the match had been built up to attract the crowds –  which it did. At the MCG tonight, a crowd of  88,181 spectators turned up   –  the biggest ever home and away crowd for these two teams. Last year’s premiers, Collingwood were the red hot favourites, but one had to be optimistic that the improving Blues would make them earn a win. Unfortunately, it was the 2^nd quarter that did the damage – Collingwood got away to a 4 goal margin, and while Carlton, never really allowed their opponents to get much beyond a 5 goal margin, Collingwood always seemed to have the answer to any serious challenge that was mounted – mind you, a few crucial mistakes, in front of goal, and in other areas did not help the Blue cause!!! In the end, that quarter time margin of 27 points, had been increased by just one point, we were never able to bridge that gap!!  Final scores, quarter by quarter in AFL Round 3 for the 2011 Season:

Carlton Blues:                    4.3.27           5.4.34                      8.5.53                     Final:  11.8.74

Collingwood Magpies:      4.2.26            9.7.61                     12.8.80                    Final:  15.12.102

Meanwhile over at the family home in Goonawarra, poor Jodie, also a keen Carlton supporter like her Dad, had to relinquish her viewing of the game at quarter time – mother Shirley, who had been bitten by an insect of some sort during the week, and had gradually being feeling more unwell each day since, deteriorated quite severely tonight, and Jodie took her to a local doctor  I assume he then recommended that if there was no improvement, she should go to a hospital.  Not long after tonight’s football match finished, I received a phone call from eldest son James, and expecting him to have some comments about the football, instead, it was with the news that ‘Jodie is taking Mum to the Sunshine hospital’, and he explained why.  That was certainly a bit of a shock!  I contacted Jodie later  – they were still waiting [presumably in the emergency department] for Shirley to be given some attention. It would be around 3.30 am before Jodie was able to return to Sunbury, minus her mother, who would be kept in overnight and treated.

I would wake up numerous times over night, waiting to hear from Jodie, or James, as to what was happening, but I would end up having to chase up that information myself on the morrow.  Family wise, it had been a rather dramatic week, and obviously not finished yet!!

They often say that the best time of the year to be in Melbourne is doing the Autumn months, and certainly this week, that is so true – some beautiful weather, and improving as the week goes on. I recall back in 2006, when the Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, that each of the 10 days or so, produced pretty well perfect weather for most of the time – a perfect month to hold the event. I should know, as I was a spectator at events on each day and night that year!

A useful meeting of the radio committee tonight – a very cooperative group, plenty of differing ideas and viewpoints, but nevertheless, working well together. As part of our current licence renewal process, the point was brought home clearly tonight the importance of ensuring that the broad community [to which our broadcasting licence applies] must not just appear to be provided for or represented by our programming, but also be a major player in the actual choice and preference of the kind of programs the station presents – the ‘for’ the community component should also be the significant aspect. It seems that the relevant authorities are trying to ensure that community radio throughout Australia are all in tune [pardon the pun] with that concept and philosophy, and those that don’t strictly adhere to the relevant requirements should never assume that licence renewal is automatic in the industry. Quite a challenging discussion took place, on this whole question, with the outcome of which to be presented to next week’s general meeting of members.

Back to the days of proof reading my children’s assignments! James, who like Susie, is undertaking a post graduate teaching course, came around late tonight with a couple of assignments he had completed, which he wanted his Dad to proof read before submitting. I must admit that 10.30at night, is not always the best time to be doing things like that, particularly with his over friendly pup bouncing around the house, however we got through the task, and I was quite impressed with the standard of presentation he had completed in both instances. That visit also gave us both the opportunity to get in touch with Susie, up in Bendigo. According to James, and a call from her mother last night, she was ‘managing’, still a bit upset at times, but working away at her studies – in fact, because of those, she not expect to be back in Sunbury until Saturday morning due to some late lectures etc, tomorrow. Probably for Susie’s sake, the less time she spent in Sunbury over the weekend, at present for her own peace of mind.