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Yes, the Australian F1 Grand Prix is to raced in Melbourne at the Albert Park circuit, in fact the race is due to start late this afternoon. Maturally, us Aussies are hoping that our own driver, Mark Webber can finally have some success in his home Grand Prix. I guess the favourite is the young German driver, Sebastian Vettel, who will start from pole position at the front of the grid, while Webber is back in third position – not a good beginning, because if Vettel gets a good start, he will be hard to catch.  The 23-year-old produced a performance of dazzling speed and masterful control around the Albert Park circuit to take pole position for today’s Australian Grand Prix for the second year in a row in his Red Bull Racing car.

Sebastian Vettel smiles after securing pole position while teammate Mark Webber sports a more sober expression after securing the third spot on the grid. [Photo: AFP]. I’m hoping those facial expressions might be reversed before the next two hours is over.  I shall return with an update, a little later.

Well the race result – no luck to Mark Webber, he came in 5th position, so despite winning in other parts of the world, has not seen success here in Australia. The race winner was  1st: Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull], 2nd:  Lewis Hamilton [McLaren] and 3rd, V Petrov  [Renault] [the first ever Russian driver to get on the podium in Formula 1]. That result should please my niece down in Ballarat, who for some unknown reason didn’t want our Aussie driver to win, according to her Face Book comments last night! I didn’t press her on the issue!

On the cricket scene, the two remaining quarterfinals of the World Cup have been completed over the past couple of days.  Surprisingly, Sri Lanka 231 have defeated England 6 for 229, the Poms just missed out it seems. While our neighbours, New Zealand have earned themselves a place in a Semi Final – New Zealand 8 for 221 defeated South Africa 172. A couple of interesting semifinals coming up in the next few days – India vs Pakistan, and New Zealand vs Sri Lanka. Naturally, I’m barracking for the Kiwis!!  Meanwhile, at the local level, two Sunbury teams were competing in the local district cricket finals – the senior competition saw Sunbury United defeat the team from Riddell [just north of here] scoring 348 against 187 and 4 for 123. In the B Grade competition, the Sunbury team that my son, Adam, is involved with, were defeated by a another team north of the town, Woodend – scoring 165 but surpassed by the opposition, 6 for 185 and 3 for 144 [winning on the 1st innings]. Adam who is a junior vice president with the club posted a note of congratulations for a brave effort by his team on the website.

Didn’t see very much of Susie this weekend – after working this afternoon, she went back to Jimmy’s place for dinner, before catching the train later to return to Bendigo.  Didn’t even require me to drive her anywhere in the absence of her car – Jimmy, naturally enough, as the boyfriend [and with a new car to show off] undertook those roles!!

 

The news came through a couple of mornings ago of the death of actress, Elizabeth Taylor.  At 82 years of age, I would have thought she was older as she seems to have been around as a star, or former star for so long, almost got the impression she would go on for ever, and of course, we were waiting for husband number 9 to come along!!!  I haven’t actually many of her films, and initially took note of her, with her marriages to Richard Burton, who was always one of my favorite actors. In actual fact, her age was 79, the report I first read was wrong. She died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles where she had spent the last six weeks for congestive heart failure. One description reported her passing as ‘Elizabeth Taylor, the violet-eyed beauty whose hectic off-screen love life often eclipsed her most sultry film roles’.  The picture below is not the way I actually remember her – she was a few years older by the time I was taking notice of her films. Whether I have ever seen ‘National Velvet’ which she starred in at the age of 12 years, I can’t recall. Perhaps that is a movie to search out one day.

Wikipedia tells us that  Beginning as a child star then throughout her adulthood, she was known for her acting talent, glamour, beauty, and striking violet eyes; as well as a much publicized private life that included eight marriages, several life-threatening illnesses, and decades spent as a social activist, championing the cause of AIDS awareness, research and cure. Taylor, a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress,  is considered one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age.  I wonder how many of the actors or actresses from that era are still with us today – they are the people I grew up, watching in the movies down in Ballarat, as a teenager.

Meanwhile, here in Australia today, we have another state election taking place  – in New South Wales, where early on in election night, the predictions of a massive loss by the sitting Labor Government are coming true. The ABC said  a short while ago, the coalition was benefiting from a swing of 17.1 per cent, while it  needed only a 7.2 per cent swing to win government. ABC election analyst Antony Green said based on the figure, the coalition would end up with a majority of 49 in the 93-seat parliament. “We are seeing this massive swing from Labor to the coalition,” he said. ALP upper house MP and campaign spokesman Luke Foley said the situation looked dire for Labor, after predicting a “massacre” before counting had even started.  Luke Foley says the Labor vote has collapsed, a third of people who voted for them in 2007 have abandoned the party today.  “This is a massacre, a slaughter, the likes of which we have never seen sadly, for my party,” Mr Foley said. He said the “bloodbath” was the result of “white hot anger” against the government. The imminent defeat of the government was the result of “accumulated dysfunction over four years, and numerous changes of leader. The unfortunate most recent Premier, Canadian born Kristina Keneally  probably could not have done much more, having come to the leadership  at a very difficult time.  The potential new Liberal Coalition [Nationals] Premier will be Barry O’Farrell, pictured below.

Inching closer…NSW Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell and his wife Rosemary vote in the election. Picture: Kelly Rohan Source: The Daily Telegraph

 

I don’t seem to have worked out how to control the font size of these blogs I write on here. It doesn’t seem to matter how uniform I set out what I’ve prepared, it still seems to be published in a range of varying sizes print and font styles. Admittedly I don’t usually type straight to the blog page as I am now, nevertheless I am still bemused that every attempt to create a uniform display basically fails. So I should apologise to my readers for the variation of styles that you see on these pages. The menu on top here seems to have most things available except the ability to alter the size of the material. I wonder why that is?  Never mind, I guess I will work it out one day.

Back to the office again today, after giving my brief local sports report on the radio just before I left Sunbury. My boss ‘Jackie’ wanted to do an appraisal of the outcome of my findings in relation to the national Modern Award [for wages and associated conditions] from the workshop I attended at Bendigo on Tuesday. This was more or less a re-assessment of where our small staff fitted into the new structure in comparison with our existing classifications. The Award had been constructed by the Labor Government on a national basis, but because there were such large anomolies between the various states, the outcome favoured some over us, and as a consequence, as far as we were concerned, the comparitive classifications that our job roles slotted into, under the Modern Award were attracting lower salaries than our previous conditions had recognised. Of course, the idea was that no employee was to be worse off [supposedly], so with the recommended salary levels under the New Award, we would be all receiving ‘over award’ payments in order to simply stay where we were! I wondered if all organisations would take this approach, or whether some might take advantage of staff who they considered unlikely or unable to ‘protest’ – a fear I suppose of some of the opposers to the whole scheme.  Irrespective of that, I guess I was not showing as much concern as my colleagues in respect to their future payments –  the changes would be affected from the 1st July, and I intend to be gone a few months after that date, retired!

At home tonight, cooked a meal for Susie, expecting her to be home before I left for a stint on the radio, but she was later than usual – in fact, apparently came down by train this weekend, left her car behind. Jimmy picked her up, and the both arrived here at home some time after midnight.  My cooked meal [for Susie] remained uneaten!!! Ironically, if I’d not prepared something, she would probably have been looking for something!!

Anyway, as suggested last night, your writer was not feeling too well, after yesterday’s celebration lunch, and by this evening, was wishing I’d not made a commitment to go on air tonight! Nevertheless, we ignored that feeling – in much the same way as this morning, when I would have much preferred to have returned home to bed, after visiting the radio station, instead of facing that long slow drive through the traffic. In both cases, we proceeded, as planned, and tonight, enjoyed another three hours of great traditional jazz music, from some of the jazz masters of yesteryear………………………..

Today, I attended the 3^rd University Graduation of one of my children – this time, youngest daughter, Jodie, who had completed her studies at Melbourne’s ‘La Trobe University’ [Bundoora Campus],  in the Degree of  Bachelor of Business [Sport and Leisure Management] –  currently working at two part time jobs, one of them at a western suburbs Leisure & sporting complex, Jodie is seeking a  fulltime employment role in her field of expertise..

The Ceremony commenced at 10am, and for me was proceeded by another hazzle of a drive and parking search, something I thought I would avoid this time. These trips certainly don’t do much for my blood pressure, and the mistake I made this morning was to choose the wrong route  – traffic considerably delayed by a fatal accident involving a pedestrian [I guess in terms of that, I have nothing to complain about!!] For peace of mind, Jodie went ahead of us, so she didn’t get caught in those traffic problems, although she ‘spoilt’ my mood a little by warning that parking was going to be a problem!! The one aspect I’d counted on not being a problem!!!  Such is life. Despite that,  and a bit of  confusion at the university end,  parking eventually was not the problem thanks to the efficiency of the people running that side of things.  Incidentally, my passengers were Shirley [Jodie’s Mum] and her mother [Win, who turned 90 last week], the only three people that Jodie had been able to obtain tickets for.

La Trobe University is one of the newer universities in Melbourne, and first opened it’s doors in 1967 with 552 students, having been established as Victoria’s third university in 1964 [between Melbourne, and Monash]. It now has campuses throughout the state at Bendigo, Albury- Wodonga, Mildura. Shepparton and Beechworth   –  it is the Bendigo Campus that elder daughter is currently studying this year [she undertook her first combined Degree at Swinburne University].  Total current enrolments in 2011 are 30,071 students including 6,500 international students [some of whom study off-shore] from over 100 different countries. The number of overseas enrolments was fairly obvious when one took note of the list of graduates, particularly in the areas of tourism and hospitality.

The main faculties of study at La Trobe are Education [Susan’s current area], Humanities & Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Law & Management Science, and Technology& Engineering. I always find it interesting to look at the vision and values of organisations, small or large, these are the statements that essentially spell out what the organisation is all about, in broad terms, and what it hopes to achieve. In La Trobe University’s case, we find that Vision is to ‘promote critical enquiry, advance and share knowledge, and support the practical application of knowledge for the benefit of all. Following on from the Vision, it’s Key Foundation values are those ‘of responsibility, relevance, critical enquiry, integrity, participation and excellence’, considered to be as valid today as they were 40 years ago.

La Trobe University is named after Charles Joseph La Trobe, who was the first Super-intendent of the Port Phillip District [of the then colony of New South Wales] from 1839 to 1850, and then the first Lieutenant-Governor of the new colony of Victoria  [after separation from New South Wales] from 1851 to 1854.  He arrived in the colony in 1839, which was just  four years after the first white settlement when the population was less than 6,000. My home town of Sunbury was established in 1836, hence  the 175 Years celebrations this year. When La Trobe departed in 1854, Victoria  had become the richest of the Australian colonies [in part, thanks to the various operating  goldfields], and the population was close to 300,000.  Self-government had been won, and as indicated, the goldfields were booming,  the public library and art gallery were established, as was the first university  – Melbourne University where I studied for my first degree.

In fact, La Trobe did much for the early years of Victoria. Quoting from the Graduation booklet that came with today’s ceremony, we read:  “At Port Phillip [where Melbourne is now centralised], La Trobe encouraged the development of Aboriginal welfare and education and authorised establishment of the native police corps in 1842. Travelling on horseback, he visited many sheep stations, and saw the emergence of settled communities. In Melbourne, he had interests in the churches of St. James and St. Peters, the inauguration of the Melbourne Hospital, the National Museum and the Mechanics’ Institute. During the 1840s, the first Government offices were opened on Batman’s Hill, the Botanic Gardens site was reserved, the Melbourne Town Council was established and the first Elizabeth Street Post Office opened. La Trobe served as Administrator of Van Dieman’s Land [Tasmania] during 1846-47.  La Trobe gave assent to the Victorian act to establish the University of Melbourne in 1853, and in 1854 the Constitution Act was passed. Between 1851 and 1854, Government departments such as the PHG [Post Master General], the Goldfields Commission and the Police Force were created by La Trobe.  New towns appeared and the building of railways and telegraph lines began. The Supreme Court was established in 1852”.  And remembering, that 20 years previously, there was virtually no official settlement in the ‘eventual’ State of Victoria.

So you see that today’s little visit to La Trobe University was a bit of a reminder about facits of my state’s history – particularly of interest in Melbourne in the early 1850s, where my ancestor first arrived from Scotland,  settled himself into a new life of possibilities, married, and began the ‘dynasty’ that is ‘us’ now!!  Meanwhile, for Jodie, her little stint of fame came very early in the proceedings, being  the 13^th graduate up on the stage to receive her degree – not that that had any specific significance, simply the fact that her discipline of  the Business degrees was first to be called up – bit of an anti-climax for those of us of her family, as we then sat and watched for over an hour while all of today’s other recipients were called to the stage. A bit like Parliament with all the pomp, ceremony and rigid rules of procedures and formalities. I personally thought the ‘Occasional Address’ [which was given after the conferring of degrees because the speaker’s plane was late] was quite interesting, with a focus on the numbers of people who come through and influence our lives to different degrees and in different ways from immediate family groups, work colleagues and a whole host of others that we come into contact with throughout our lives – I think he suggested that about 1500 people is the average total of those, whom during the course of our lives, we develop some element of a personal connection of relationship with. I think the message was to learn from all those ‘relationships’ and ‘use’ them in the course of our lives, both in a personal and career sense.

Following all the procedures, we wisely decided to forego the ‘morning tea’ and it’s crowded conditions – instead, immediately commenced arrangements for the formal photographs [yet more money to hand over!!] – that was a move which saved us quite a deal of time [compared with the equivalent long wait at Susie’s graduation], a wait of just 15 minutes this occasion, with quite a good bit of attention from the photographer [a woman] to get those photos all just perfect. Pity there were so few of us, and Jodie had none of her siblings with her, but the resulting photos should be worth the effort [and likely cost!].

Shirley, Win and myself headed off, towards home, Jodie intended to follow later after she had arranged some photos with friends, and we would all meet up at a pasta restaurant in Sunbury for a celebratory lunch. In actual fact, Jodie reached Sunbury before us – and not just because she drove faster, but a stop on my part was necessary in order to allow the ladies to buy a coffee!!  Lunch which followed, was quite pleasant, although the risotto which I ordered, despite being a beautiful dish, was obviously not the kind of meal I should have been eating in the middle of the day –  I would ‘suffer’ into the night, and through to Friday, in one or two directions!!! I  realised afterwards I should have ordered something a little more ‘diabetes’ friendly, but on special occasions, one tends to throw caution to the wind!!!  Such is life, again!

Blues 2011 Update:  Yes, the Australian Football League [AFL] 2011 season began tonight, with what is becoming over recent years, the traditional opening season match –  my team, the Carlton Blues versus the Richmond Tigers. For the game, the Blues  named three new players in the 22 selected for the  round one match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground [MCG]. While one of the three, Jeremy Laidler, has played two AFL games, the other two, Nick Duigan and Ed Curnow, will be making their AFL debut in the season opener. Young Jodie, after her big university occasion, planned to go to the match with boyfriend, Ash, and did invite me to join them –  but I’m ashamed to admit, as a lifetime Blues supporter, that I turned the offer down – deciding that in view of the deteriorating weather that the MCG would be a very crowded, cold and breezy place tonight  –  at my age, I would find it much more comfortable watching from in front of my television set! A few years ago, I would not have hesitated at such a suggestion. Told Jodie I would happily join them later in the season

Anyway, just the one game tonight, to open the 2011 season.  By halftime, it looked as though the Blues were going to repeat the performance of the last two years in this equivalent game, and romp away with the match. But as can be seen by the quarter by quarter scores below, Richmond completely dominated the Blues in the 3^rd quarter kicking 6 goals to Nil. By that stage, I must admit I was feeling as though a loss was a real possibility, as Richmond seemed to get more on top as they took control of most aspects of the game, However, to my relief, Carlton fought back in that final quarter, to in the end, have a convincing win. It would not be long after the games’ conclusion, that I received a text message from Jodie, simply stating ‘You should have come’!!  True enough!  In front of a lower than expected crowd of  60,654, the Blues ran out winners by 24 points, not a great margin, but least a strong comeback. A nice start to the Blue’s year.

Carlton Blues:                     2.8.20      9.10.64       9.13.47      FINAL: 14.20.104

defeated

Richmond Tigers:               3.0.18      7.0.24        13.3.39       Final:      13.6.84

The other big ‘sporting’ occasion overnight, was the World Cup Quarter Final game between Australia and India. I actually felt the odds were on Australia losing this game, but watched the first part of the telecast [after the football] where the Australians were batting – pleasing to see captain Ricky Ponting score a 100 runs in that innings. Australia’s score of  6 wickets for 260 runs, was a reasonable total, yet I felt that against India, it would not be enough. At that point, I switched off the TV, and went to sleep.  Woke four hours later – to discover that India needed about 11 runs to win, with over 20 balls in which to get them, and plenty of wickets still available.  Well, I kept watching, not expecting any miracle turn arounds, and as the following report explains,  they didn’t happen!

‘Ricky Ponting’s spot in the Australian cricket team is safe for now but he was devastated on Thursday when they lost their World Cup quarter-final to India.  Ponting, 36, scored an inspirational 104 under immense pressure to guide the three-time defending champions to a total of 6-260.  The Indians were largely untroubled to reply with 5-261 with 14 deliveries to spare.  Yuvraj Singh, fresh from his 113 on Sunday in a Group B match against West Indies, hit an unbeaten 57 to win the man-of-the-match award and Suresh Raina was 34 not out.  Sachin Tendulkar (53) and Gautam Gambhir (50) also scored half-centuries for the home side. Ponting said Australia lost wickets at crucial times which limited their ability to push the scoring rate up and he also blamed his bowlers for poor execution.  But he added: “I think it’s premature to say it’s the end of an era for Australian cricket. “We were very competitive tonight. “We’re all pretty devastated to have finished where we did.”  Earlier, Ponting used all his experience to carve out his first hundred in international cricket for 13 months in a masterful display on a slow-paced pitch.  The veteran No.3 batsman was finally out in the 49th over, popping a catch off an attempted reverse sweep at 6-245.  Ponting hit seven fours and one six from 118 balls. It was his 30th one-day international hundred and fifth in World Cups.  Ponting has endured a lean summer, averaging only 16.14 in the Ashes and scoring 102 runs at 20.40 in the World Cup’s group stage. Meanwhile, David Hussey, recalled in place of all-rounder Steve Smith, hit a crucial unbeaten 38 from 26 deliveries after opener Brad Haddin made a hard-hitting 53.  The match was played  in front of 42,103 fans at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium.

 

The Liberal Party & Tony Abbott are continuing with their current anti carbon tax campaign, but a few days ago, temporarily turned their ‘attack’ away from Julia Gillard, to the former climate change minister, Penny Wong. This is what a release a few days ago had to say about Penny.

Labor is a mess. We all know Julia Gillard lied before the election when she said “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”. But did you know Labor’s former Climate Change Minister and current Finance Minister, Penny Wong, previously criticised the carbon tax they now want to impose on Australian families? In Senator Wong’s own words: “I have been very upfront about why I think a carbon tax isn’t the most sensible thing for Australia.” (Press Conference, 3 November 2009)   Here’s more of what Senator Wong has had to say about a carbon tax:

• “A carbon tax is not the silver bullet some people might think.” (Speech, CEDA State of the Nation Conference, 23 June 2010)

• “The introduction of a carbon price ahead of effective international action can lead to perverse incentives for such industries to relocate or source production offshore. There is no point in imposing a carbon price domestically which results in emissions and production transferring internationally for no environmental gain.” (Speech, Australian Industry Group, 6 February 2008)

• “A carbon tax or regulatory mechanism would take not allow Australia to take advantage of emerging international economic opportunities.” (Speech, Australian Business Economists Lunch, 20 February 2009)

• “A carbon tax does not guarantee emissions reductions.” (The Australian, 23 February 2009)

• “A carbon tax … is a recipe for abrupt and unpredictable changes, as the government would need to adjust the tax frequently to try to meet the emissions reduction target.” (The Australian, 23 February 2009)

• “A carbon tax is a less efficient way in the Australian Government’s view of dealing with this issue.” (Interview, ABC News Radio, 16 April 2010)

• “We know that you can’t have any environmental certainty with a carbon tax.” (Interview, Sky News, 30 April 2009)

At a time when Australians are already doing it tough, the Labor-Greens carbon tax will unnecessarily lift electricity, grocery and petrol prices and attack jobs in our key industries.  The Coalition knows there is a better way. Our direct action plan on climate change is economically responsible and won’t cost Australian jobs.

As the Opposition, I guess it’s easy enough to make broad statements such as the ‘Coalition knows there is a better way’  without feeling the necessity to go into too much detail about that ‘netter way’. While the Liberals do have a policy of sorts, as an alternative, I don’t think it is widely pushed around the electorate in general very much [fine for the recipients of Liberal emails, but then they are probably converted anyway, by being on the Liberal’s distribution list, as I am partially anyway] –  I think the reason this is, relates to the amount of time, effort and energy that  Tony Abbott and his chief  supporters put into the ‘attack and criticism’ of the government’s approach to the detriment of a much clearer and easily understood campaign on the ‘economically responsible alternatives, that the Liberals claim to have. I’m personally tired of the sniping, and name calling, and general attack mode that is constantly adopted – maybe that’s the nature of an Opposition ‘beast’, but I’m sick of it. I don’t want to be constantly reminded that the government approach is wrong  because ‘Julia Gillard’ lied before the election!. I think the public in general accept it as a given fact that politicians are ‘always breaking promises’ for one reason or another – let’s more on a little!!

Ina different competitive environment, the World Cup Cricket  is getting to the interesting stages, with the Quarter Final matches beginning today   –  in the first of these, a rather easy win for   Pakistan –   0 wicket  for 113, a  humiliating response to  the West Indies score of just  112. Australia plays India on Thursday.

 

I was delegated to attend a job related workshop today – up in Bendigo of all places [where Susan is]. Thought that would be a good opportunity in fact to catch up with my daughter, but it turned out not to be a good day – she had a full program of lectures, etc, which went into the evening, and while I’d already decided to have a break from my Tuesday night radio show, I didn’t really want to returning down the highway after dark!  I was a little disappointed at that outcome, but couldn’t be helped and didn’t press the issue. Another time!

With the Federal Government’s new Modern Awards system, in respect to wages and conditions for Australian workers due to officially come into force [for our ‘community organisations’ sector of the economy] from the 1^st July, this was a workshop aimed specifically at that sector –  a program for community organisations to provide information about the ‘modern award’ as well as details of the transitional arrangements from existing awards and conditions to the new award, and employer responsibilities  – the assumption being, that most of us present today were in fact, employers or payroll personnel responsible for an organisation’s obligations under the Award. Broadly speaking, because there are only three of us where I work, most of those provisions were not particularly relevant, but I have a ‘boss’ who has to know everything!!!  Most of these conditions seem to come under the umbrella of Julia Gillard’s ‘Fair Work Act’, which was Labor’s response to the so-called despised legislation introduced by the former Howard Liberal Government.

The presentation admittedly, was relatively interesting, though during the first half, I was beginning to feel a little concerned – being held in a reasonably modern church hall, but without any obvious air conditioning, I found it was becoming   oppressively hot in that room, and was certainly glad for the brief break after about an hour. Whether the information became more interesting and immediate relevance afterwards, or the room simply became cooler, I don’t know, but the ‘heat’ didn’t concern me so much from that point onwards.

Actually, I came away from that workshop grateful for a couple of things – I was getting out in a few months, and really wouldn’t have to worry too much about what appeared to be an enormous administrative complexity about the whole process, with transitional processes which I felt were way over the top, and placed an unnecessary burden on payroll and accounting people, particularly in larger community organisations. It would not really have been a problem where I am now, but in some of my earlier work places, it would have created major headaches to implement. The other grateful point related to that I was part of a very small organisation, where the changes shouldn’t create too much hazzle, apart from the need to work under the ;driving force’ of a woman who was so obsessed all the time with dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T’.  Another incentive to move on before the end of the year.

Apart from the ‘business’ side of the day, I generally enjoyed the drive to and from Bendigo, a trip of about 75 minutes for me, and my relatively relaxed style of driving. Made plans, as  I went along for a bit of ‘another’ family history research trip, later in the year in this direction.  Meanwhile, nice to have a full Tuesday evening at home, having relinquished my radio spot for the night, though I was pleased to hear that another presenter had filled in for me – always better to have a live program going to air in preference to the automatic broadcast.

Managed to do a little more reading of John Howard’s biography, which I have slowly being getting through over the past few months. When we hear discussions and debate about the recent war in Iraq [or the ‘invasion’ of Iraq as some refer to it], mention is often made of the criticism of the American for not finishing off Saddam Hussain during the first Gulf War, which had been precipitated by Iraq’s invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. –  the fact that the job was ‘unfinished’ In the chapter on ‘George Bush’, Howard refers to his relationship with former US General, Colin Powell, and on that subject of the Americans walking away from the first Gulf War, he had this to say.

“I asked him why the Coalition forces had not gone on to Baghdad in 1991 and finished off Saddam Hussein. My strongest recollection of his response was Powell saying that Coalition forces would have found it morally repugnant to pursue the Iraqi Army, which by then was so shattered and vulnerable that heavy losses would have been inflicted on a defenceless foe. It was a soldier’s explanation rather than the rationale of a politician. He sounded sincere”.  [p. 464 ‘The Howard Government’, pub 2010]  An interesting comment, and an ‘explanation’ I’d not heard before – usually the argument for the withdrawal is based on the fact that the UN resolution only permitted the ‘rescue’ of Kuwait, although such resolutions have not always been so strictly adhered to on other occasions as we have seen……………………..\

After another slow Monday morning into the city, at least things were relatively quiet and relaxed in the office environment, basically had the place to myself for a large part of the day, with my two associates out at various meetings, etc. That would have been me a few years ago, but these days in my declining employment years, I’m generally content to ‘defend the fort’ as they say, and not have to rush off here and there every second day.  Those times have passed!

Following on from the many concerts and shows that I attended last year,  it seems a little strange that here we are almost at the end of the third month of 2011, and only my first concert outing for the year took place tonight. Part of my regular subscription to the Australian String Quartet’s [ASQ] regular series of concerts which I’ve been attending for around five years now. As I’ve probably noted previously, the ASQ was established in 1985 and is officially the Quartet-in-Residence at the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide. They have had a major impact on the musical life of Australia, touring both nationally and internationally, and along the way, commissioning many works by leading Australian composers.

I was introduced to the present makeup of the Quartet by a friend I worked with, who gave me a ticket to one of their lunchtime concerts back in 1985 I think – at that stage, Sophie, Anne, Sally and Rachel performed as the Tankstream Quartet [which they had done since 2000]  but in 2006, the combination was officially appointed as the ASQ.  So that day, I took a couple of hours off work in the middle of the day, caught the tram into the city, and was quickly rather entranced by these four beautiful and talented young ladies during their short lunch time concert – in the Collins Street Baptist Church.  For the next two years, up until the time that the Melbourne Recital Centre [where I went tonight] was constructed, the ASQ did their four concerts a year at that Church. It was a beautiful old building, but as a member of an audience sitting on those typical old church pews in a building with little in the way of air conditioning  –  well, it was simply not a comfortable environment for really enjoying classical music. I recall one extremely hot February night [I think the temperature was still in the high 30s at 10pm that night] where the conditions were extremely uncomfortable for both audience and performers.  It was not surprising that the ASQ were just as excited as were their ‘fans’ when the move to the Recital Centre became a reality.

As part of my annual subscription – which incidentally, over the past two years has seen the annual series of concerts reduced to three concerts – I receive two bonus tickets, and have so far managed to find friends who were interested in using them, generally, as was the case tonight, for their first visit to a classical music concert.  Reactions have been mixed!  Tonight’s recipients were a couple from the radio station – an interesting pair, an Australian guy, around my age, and his Thai wife. This couple spend the Australian Summers and most of Autumn here in Victoria, while for the rest of the year [May to October]  they live in Thailand with her families. Although Jack was a bit of a classical music enthusiast, it was all rather new to Orr, who nevertheless, seemed happy enough with the evening when I was talking to them during the interval. As with all other occasions, these ‘bonus tickets’ are never in the same section as my seat, so I only get to see my ‘guests’ at interval or after the show [it was a little different when we were back at the old Church –  one’s ticket allowed you to sit wherever you wished, or what was available at that time. Over the years, most of my guests have been late in arriving, for one reason or another – Jack and Orr actually arrived before I did tonight!

I received a letter from the ASQ a couple of weeks ago advising that two of the longstanding members of the Quartet would be leaving at the end of this 2011 season. Violinist Sophie Rowell and violist Sally Boud will be leaving following the ensemble’s performances at the Huntington Estate Music Festival in November, with Anne Horton (violin) and Rachel Johnston (cello) to remain ASQ members. An international search to replace the two outgoing players is underway. Rowell, one of the most sought-after violinists in Australia, made the decision to leave in order to focus on a solo career. “I have enjoyed 12 wonderful years with the quartet, five of those as the ASQ. It’s been an absolutely amazing musical journey. While I am excited by the new opportunities that are to come for me personally, I am first and foremost looking forward to a fantastic year of incredible music throughout the 2011 ASQ season”, she said of her impending departure. She has had solo engagements with all Australia’s state orchestras and in 1999 was awarded Second Prize in the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg.   It is for family commitments and to spend more time with her two-year-old son Louis that Sally Boud bids farewell to her “ASQ family”. “The difficulties in combining motherhood with touring and travel mean that my musical career is set for new directions”, she said.  I recall Sally taking a couple of months off from the ASQ’s commitments late in 2009 to have her first baby – in fact, at the concert that she missed,  it was Sophie who announced before the performance that the baby had arrived, and mother and son were doing well –  that bit of news almost got as much applause as did the music which followed!

Tonight’s program!  Well, I always extra enjoyment when the ASQ four have a guest performer. Tonight, it was Shanghai born, internationally renowned Cellist, Li-Wei, who at the age of 13, moved to Australia, and later studied in London.  He actually received the Young Australian of the Year Award in 2002. He’s established a formidable reputation on the international concert scene, has performed with many great orchestras and other musical groups, and won a vast range of prizes in music. He joined the ASQ tonight in the performance of two quintets [ 2 violins, the viola and the two cellos], and according to comments by the ASQ girls, his joining them was a real honour! They had long hoped that he could find time in his incredibly busy schedule of performances and other like commitments, to a part of their 2011 concert series.  Boccherini’s String Quintet in C major began the program, and it was beautiful to hear the two cellos in particular, playing together. As often happen at these concerts, I usually arrive a little tired, and generally find myself struggling to stay awake during the first piece of music. So despite the beauty of this particular composition, it had the same affect, especially during the third of the movements, appropriately in these circumstances entitled ‘Grave’, the emotional heart of the performance which saw focus on specific instruments, or groups thereof,  from time to time. At times, quiet and relaxing – as I suggested, sometimes too relaxing!! The music, and myself came to life in the final movement with some brighter more exuberant phases, or as one reviewer described it ‘the joyful final Rondeau contains some enjoyably grungy textures and moments of almost Haydnish wit’.

The second quintet which featured Li-Wei, was Alexander Glazunov’s String Quintet in A Major. This was the longest composition of the night, in four movements, over about 30 minutes, and was in fact the last performance for the evening. This was outstanding a piece that at times reached the highest of possible emotional highs, music that you could imagine almost taking one’s breath away – at times so spectacularly quiet like a breeze slowly floating around the interior of the Melbourne Recital Centre with just the most ‘gentle’ of ‘musical rustles’ –  I was thankful that none in the audience coughed during those moments [as had happened on numerous occasions during the evening!]. Most of that happened in the third movement, described by those more musically expert than I, as ‘a beautiful elegy, featuring at first, the second cello, and concluding with seraphic harmonics’, a sharp contrast to the first two movements which had featured sudden tempo changes and bold contrasts of musical colour. This quintet ended with a rousing and almost frenzied passage following on from a series of reflective and lyrical episodes. Then suddenly it was all over.

The two compositions which fell in-between the quintets, included Adelaide’s Graeme Koehne’s String Quartet No. 2 [the ‘Shaker Dances’], presenting a very different style of music, almost of a folk nature, to the rest of the program. I felt Jack and Orr might find this piece a little bit more familiar than the other pieces.  The Shakers were a 19^th century American religious community whose life and music attracted many composed not the least of which came through Aaron Copeland’s ‘Appalachian Spring’. Graeme Koehne, composer in this instance, rote “The Shakers are remembered today for their cultural achievements; for their skill as craftsmen and designers: for the affecting directness of their poetry: and for their use of dance as a means of celebrating the union of physicality and spirituality. Music was central to their lives, melding with the directness of their poetry and the divine joyfulness of their dance. Simplicity of spirit [‘simple gifts’], life and art was the governing principle of Shaker culture. In every aspect, their culture reflects an idealism which sought to reject crass materialism, to instil dignity into human lives, and to restore harmony with nature. All in all, there is much in Shaker culture which deserves to be honoured, not just as nostalgic memory, but as a continuing spiritual and philosophical presence. My string quartet ‘Shaker Dances’ is inspired by this presence’.  I was similarly inspired, although I found this one a little too short, ending with the ‘Whistling Dance’.

Actually, my favourite piece of music tonight, was  Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Sharp. The three movements follow each other without a break, but the changes in colour and tempo could not be more pronounced. Seemed to be a lot of energy in the first movement, almost of a stuttering nature with the ‘plucking’ of the cello, and one violin, I think, from time to time. I loved the 2^nd movement, the Lento, quite short, but amongst the most beautiful pieces of music one could imagine – someone described this as a ‘bleak landscape’ –  it was at times a solo violin [though I find it difficult sometimes to distinguish between the violin and the viola, so I may have my instruments mixed up there!  Whatever, there were a few moments where one felt almost as though one was floating through space heaven the destination [as the music was indeed heavenly]. Then suddenly, up in the Dress Circle above me [where Jack & Orr were sitting], an enormous sneeze shattered the mood – and yet, almost as if on cue, that was the precise moment when Shostakovich’s composition moved without a break from the second to the third movement – an explosion of sound, as all four instruments suddenly broke from the spell of ‘heaven’, and as Gordon Kerry described it “Lasting as long as the two preceding [movements], it contains music of frank violence and ironic bitterness cast in that most formal mould, the fugue, which issues in a wan little waltz that peters out into silence”.  [and took most of the audience by surprise, not sure it had finished – more cautious then scattered applause that had wrongly broken out at the end of the first movement of Glazunov’s Quintet, later in the night – a definite no-no in classical music performances  – you do not applaud until the whole composition has concluded].  However, that second movement of Shostakovich’s music was the lasting impression I would go away with tonight.

Oddly, my peaceful drive home afterwards was interrupted in the middle of the city, by some-one from the church ringing me with a question about a matter of accounting! I shouldn’t have answered it – stopped the car, but was parked illegally, and uncomfortable about being there. However, we gave the appropriate response, making it clear I had time to talk further, as the caller probably would have been happy to have an extended conversation! Meanwhile, searching on the radio for some music appropriate to finish off the night, I actually tuned into our own station, where one of our foreign language programs was on air – music from India and the sub-continent, three hours of it, though I only listened whilst I was in the car on the drive from the city. A little disturbed that during 50 minutes or so, I heard no sponsor messages, another little point to follow up later!

With tonight’s concert, I missed most of Q & A this week – although as Christine noted on Face Book, there will always be another Q & A, but not another ‘Shaker Concert’!  True enough! I noticed a group of politicians on the panel tonight in the few minutes that I saw, and at that stage, most of the discussion seemed to be involved around the carbon tax!! A subject that is becoming a little boring!! Perhaps it is a good thing I missed most of the program!

Quite obviously, I’ve simply being ‘slack’, the days slipped past, and Bill forgot to sit down and keep his commitments up to date!  In actual fact, I probably was sitting down quite a deal of the time – have been working on the family history research and documentation with the aim being to spend as much time as possible over the next few months on that project! I seem to be doing a lot of updating of work done earlier, but as this ‘project’ has been ongoing since ‘Adam’ [the Biblical Adam] was around [or so it seems], constant revisions and reminders of just where I have got to are required J  Anyway, for this  ‘consolidated blog’ I think we shall remain fairly mundane orientated, rather than delve into anything too serious!

Thursday, the  17^th March was of course St Patrick’s Day –  driving along Brunswick Road this morning, and the return trip in the afternoon, the old ‘pub haunt’ of day’s gone past – now ‘Bridie O’Reilly’s’, corner Sydney Road & Brunswick Street, was as for each year at this time, well adorned with bunches of green balloons, and no doubt, like all of the Irish pubs around Melbourne, it would be a day of ‘Irish cheer/whisky/ etc!! Not much cheer for this writer however –  a long day, basically alone in the office most of the working hours, and there with little enthusiasm or desire – one’s mind constantly on all of those tasks I could be attending to on the home front! Mind you, as I have probably mentioned [or complained about, depending on how you look at it] previously in these pages, the event I do not  look forward to these days is the daily trip to and from home on the freeways and general roads, in the peak hour traffic. It is becoming quite a ‘depressing’ scenario each day, as I set out on those trips – the secret is to do so, with the determination to remain relaxed and calm at all times – but with some of the drivers on our roads these days, that is occasionally a ‘big ask’. I think the aspect that particularly narks me – apart from ‘tailgaters’ and people who merge into traffic incorrectly – is the fact that in 2011, everyone on the road seems to be constantly in a rush, people don’t want to be slowed down by traffic speed restrictions whatever the circumstances – to be made to slow down below what each driver wants to do is simply an ‘inconvenience’ – forget the safety or other aspects, ‘we’ simply do not like to be held up  –  so if the speed limit is 100 kph, and a driver is sitting on 97 kph, he/she is likely to be ‘abused’ in some fashion because they are forcing someone else to slow down!!  I think the medication I’m forced to take for blood pressure, works pretty well generally, but I would imagine that for these ten weekly trips on the roads, it is probably relatively ineffective!!

Enough of that – time for a World Cup Cricket update, and it is easy to notice in the course of the weekend, that the Australian team suffered it’s first loss in a World Cup Cricket match for some years – certainly the first loss under captain Ricky Ponting, who over the past season or two, apart from the brilliant individual scoring records, etc, he has built up, has been creating a few unwanted records along the way.  That, and his occasional ‘loss of temper’ when things don’t go his way – well, little snippets of his reputation, are I believe, getting damaged along the way. With three Ashes losses our of four series, one has to wonder how much longer he will remain as captain of the Australian team!  That loss means Australia will, end up playing  against  India [one of the tournament favourites] in a crucial Quarter Final match next Thursday. I can see the Aussies going out of the competition that day – and so ending their run of three World Cup victories in a row! I guess it is someone else’s turn!!!   Anyway, results for the past few days are:

Match 36: 17 March at Chennai: England 243 defeated West Indies 225;   Match 37: 18 March at Kolkata: Ireland 4 for 307 defeated Netherlands 306;    Match 38: 18 March at Mumbai: Sri Lanka 9 for 265 defeated New Zealand 9 for 153;   Match 39: 19 March  at Mirpur:  South Africa 8 for 284 defeated Bangladesh 78;    Match 40: 19 March at Colombo:  Pakistan 6 for 178 defeated AUSTRALIA 176;     Match 41: 20 March at Kolkata: Zimbabwe 6 for 308 defeated Kenya 147;     Match 42: 20 March  at Chennai: India 268 defeated West Indies 188..

As for Friday, I guess the highlight of that day was our evening visit to the local Bowling Club restaurant for  dinner with Shirley’s mother [Win Seipolt] who turned 90 years old last Tuesday. Good to see that ‘all’ of my kids made the effort to be there – in fact, I picked up Adam who had already apparently had a few drinks and wisely decided to leave his car behind. The new house he had recently moved into – well, it certainly looked like a ‘drinking abode’, although he suggested it was not as bad as it appeared!   Meanwhile must have arrived from Bendigo earlier than expected this afternoon – appeared to have been home a while, upon my arrival.  Apart from James, Adam, Susan [and Jimmy], Jodie [and Ash], Shirley, myself, and Win’s sister, Val [down from Queensland], the surprise visitors, as far as Win was concerned, was her granddaughter, Samantha [Shirley’s niece] and her young son & daughter who provided a regular source of ‘entertainment’ throughout the evening, much of it helped along by the ‘friendly’ [if at times slightly intoxicated] antics of my two sons, particularly James who had been a ‘family stirrer’ most of his life.  Much maturer these days, those at timers, such as tonight, old habits returned – certainly kept the two young kids amused, although Samantha had sensibly brought various activity items for them to occupied themselves with whilst the adults dined!  Actually, all in all, it was a pleasant evening – I indulged, with just the one beer that I enjoyed, and later, a quiet vodka and orange  – I reminded Win and Val, that it was one of their sisters-in-law [a Polish lady whose name temporarily escapes me] who  many years ago up in Canberra ‘introduced’ this writer to the ‘delights’ of  vodka  –  drinking it straight however, none of this mixed drinks stuff!  Mind you, I have NEVER drunk vodka straight since that day!  I ate sensibly tonight  –  a dish of fish with vegetables [in lieu of the chips] though none of us were impressed by the manner in which the potatoes had been cooked! Rare of me not to enjoy a potato!  More out of politeness than anything else, I did eat a piece of the ’90 years birthday cake’ which suddenly appeared out of the restaurant kitchen later in the evening  – Jodie’s organising of the evening, had not omitted to include the proverbial cake,  at which point, all present burst into the vocal acclamation of that familiar song – something with I imagine that a ‘community’ style of venue such as this would be well used to. Lots of family and other celebrations take place here all of the time!

I had planned to ensure that some ‘generational’ photos were taken tonight – the three generations of Win, Shirley, and our two daughter, Susan & Jodie – but soon discovered, too late, that the batteries needed replacing. Luckily, with numerous phone cameras present, the task would not be a problem, but Susie saved the night –  she had her decent camera with her [in the car] – the one she spent a couple of thousand dollars on two years ago, when she had that big win on the Melbourne Cup –   so I was able to ensure that the required photos were taken before the night ended.  In fact of course, my three generations was superceded – by a  fourth generation, with the presence of Samantha’s little girl, Loren

I had intended after dinner, to go up to the radio for a couple of hours, and give the listeners a bit of jazz for Friday night – but, having made no prior commitment to do so, gave it a miss – did some late night shopping before returning home. Susan, who presumably went back to Jimmy’s place, was home quite late, and then I think, up for quite a while. Don’t think that late night on top of a busy week of study up north did her much good, as we shall see.

Saturday morning in fact, I was greeted with a request for a favour  – could I please ring Big W,  and tell them Susan would not be in today – not feeling very well!! Depending on who is in charge of things on a particular day, such a message is fraught with danger – there are apparently a couple of supervisors who regard a casual worker who dares to suggest they are unwell, as committing some kind of major offence. I recall having a go at one such person on a previous occasion – this morning, thankfully, the response was friendly and  non-blaming!

This was the weekend of our annual Sunbury Festival [or SUNFEST as they call it now].  Our radio station, 3NRG, had a presence, in the form of a display stand, and I had previously planned to spend most of the day there – in fact,  was in or around the stand between 10am and 4pm. I had actually half suggested to my wife’s family last night, that when they completed their lunch today – Win’s son Barry & his son, were apparently visiting Sunbury today [in lieu of last night] to have lunch with the 90 year old – I’d not seen Barry for over 10 years or more, and had been a little disappointed they’d not turned up at the restaurant last night. So in mentioning that I would be ‘on duty’ all day at the Village Green, I more or less committed myself to staying there for most of the afternoon, in case they turned up. I knew that if I walked away for 20 minutes,  that is when they would arrive. In fact, Ruth turned up around lunchtime [husband Barry had called by earlier], and after a bit of a chat, had suggested we go and find a bite for lunch  – but because of the likelihood of family turning up, I had to decline that suggestion!  Needless to say, nobody from the family would call by all day!!  The best of intentions!\

Not to worry, I enjoyed the six hours in the middle of the Village Green –  quiet start, in terms of crowds, soon built up to quite crowded conditions in a day of beautiful Autumn weather, at times earlier, a little cool out of the sun, but I found that preferable to standing around all day in the hot sun  – admittedly, our  little setup was under cover, but on a really hot day, that’s not always an advantage. Various visitors to the 3NRG stand throughout the day including the two local councillors, and the local Labor  Party member, who had just managed to hold her State seat at the November elect6ions. We had intended to have an annual float in the Festival Parade, however that task had be cancelled at the last minute through a lack of volunteers. We also had a couple of members/presenters for reasons best known to themselves, ‘bypassed’ our little focus of the radio community!  Not really a great loss in most eyes, but nevertheless, a disappointing response!

It was an expensive day for your scribe in one way –  as part of Sunbury’s 175^th Celebrations this year – the town was first settled in 1836 –  a set of prints of four original paintings of the district had been commissioned –  paintings of two of the original homesteads [as built by those settlers] – Rupertswood Mansion, and the Emu Bottom homestead, a picture of  Sunbury’s original racecourse [no longer existent],  and a fourth, of the main building of the former Sunbury Mental Hospital up at Jackson’e Hill [where in fact, our radio station is located]. During the course of our day at the Festival today, an impromptu committee meeting was held [with most of the committee on site] and it was agreed we would purchase one of t5hose prints for the radio station, and as a demonstration of our support for the community organisation [cancer research, etc], that purchases  of the prints were going to support. Not surprisingly, the committee agreed that the hospital print was the most appropriate purchase by 3NRG. Now I myself, had been interested in buying one of these prints – in fact had hinted last night amongst the family that  such a purchase would make a nice birthday present for Dad later in the year!  In any case, I intended to buy one later on  –  but with the radio station making a purchase this morning, and the sales, and framed copies of each of the four prints on display, about 50 metres away – well, I decided, why wait, do it now, the cash might not be available later in the year!!  Each of the four prints had 175 copies available  – my choice was the Rupertswood Mansion, now a popular tourist spot in the heart of Sunbury, and the whole complex occupied by the Salesian College.  I discovered that not many purchases had been made as yet –  I was allocated No. 9 of 175.  For the rest of the day, I was keeping a close watch on my ‘paper’ acquisition, at the display stand – both with respect to it being damaged in some way, or ‘stolen’ though no one would really have known what it was anyway, rolled securely in brown paper!!

Home later this afternoon to find Susie apparently feeling a little better than this morning, although she didn’t go anywhere tonight – cooked her a roast meal, but she barely touched it, and most of her meal was still in the fridge, when she returned to Bendigo on Sunday evening.  How often does that happen, when ‘Dad’ attempts to go to a bit of extra effort for a meal?  Such is life.

Meanwhile, yours truly rather tired this Saturday night – I knew that sleep would not come easy or undisturbed – never does on a Saturday night prior to my early Sunday risings – and then when I discovered that there was a party going on across the road [my bedroom faces the street], I realised immediately we were not in for a good night. Surprisingly, the ‘thump, thump, thump’ of music echoing through the night air of the street seemed to end earlier than I’d anticipated, or perhaps, despite it, I went to sleep anyway, and when I did awake later on a couple of occasions, the street was quiet!  It is after a night like that – when we’re had a local party in progress, that I don’t mind ‘disturbing’ the neighbourhood with my 6am departure on Sunday morning – on those occasions, I sometimes wish [almost] that my vehicle was a little noisier than it actually is. In reality, I usually creep away from home, slowly and quietly, with the utmost respect for the neighbours!!

Sunday morning [ 20th March]: as suggested, ‘crept’ away from home in the car today, just after 6am for an extra early start at the radio. I thought I had better feature the Australian String Quartet this morning, in view of the fact that I’m going to see them perform tomorrow night!  I was back on air again this afternoon for just over two hours – mainly folk music this time, although I must admit that by the time I left, I was beginning to feel just a little weary of ‘radio’ related work this weekend! Almost 11 hours, in one way or another.

I also called in briefly at the local cricket ground this afternoon to get a bit of a feel for the local cricket final which was taking place, This was for the Sunbury B Grade team from the club that Adam plays with and is currently the Junior Vice President. He takes the role seriously from what I can gather, and I regularly see his pushing for the membership to support the teams, and their various matches and activities through Face Book. In fact, I think he played a couple of games with the B grade team earlier in the season, before playing out the season with one of the lower teams. There were a couple of Sunbury teams playing in the local cricket finals this weekend – in the major competition, the Sunbury United, who had been on top of their respective ladder all season, were up against the team from our northern neighbours, Riddell, while Adam’s team were playing against the next town further north on the road to Bendigo, named Woodend. At the time of writing, I don’t  think many of the matches had been completed, with an extra day available next Saturday [ a precaution against our unreliable weather over the past season]. Must chase up Adam for an update.

I was reading a story from the Uniting Churches’ ‘Crosslight Magazine’ a couple of days ago, and the writers were calling for action to be taken to  express deep concern that a woman from Pakistan, Ms Asia Bibi,  has been sentenced to death on accusations of blasphemy by a court that did not even hear her testimony. It’s often difficult to understand the basis of many of the beliefs and practices of other cultures and/or religions, but I think most societies would find this kind of story both disturbing, and distasteful. As reported in ‘Crosslight’  –  ‘Christian woman, Asia Bibi, aged 45, has been condemned to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. In November a Punjabi court found the mother of five guilty of insulting the prophet Mohammad after complaints from her neighbours and sentenced her to be hanged. Ms Bibi claims the accusations of blasphemy were made after she was told to bring water to fellow workers in a field. They declined to drink, saying that as a Christian she had contaminated it. They pressured her to convert to Islam, which she refused to do. She denies having made any blasphemous comments. Her accusers have refused to specify the alleged blasphemy. She is the first woman to be sentenced to hang under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. She has already been in prison for 17 months’.  When you read something like that, it makes you realise just how fortunate we are to have been brought up in the kind of environment that  frowns completely on such practices.

Certainly, not really a topic to inspire a cheerful frame of mind – should have saved that for another day, because I think this particular Sunday night was one of my lowest since Susie has being going up to Bendigo late on a Sunday. Admittedly, before she left I was feeling weary in body and mind,  but tonight I seemed  to ‘feel’ her departure more inwardly painful than usual –  the house simply felt empty, and quite lonely. I had plenty to occupy myself with, but found it difficult to really settle down to anything. I don’t think I could even be bothered reading! I think we shall put it down as a night best forgotten – did get onto some more ‘family history’ work at one stage. Certainly, the news continuing to come out of places such as Japan and Libya was bad enough to depress us all, and after watching ABC 24 News for an hour or so, I decided that I’d had enough of that also!!

On a brighter note, I enjoyed reading the following comment from eldest son, James, who resigned his fulltime job, to go back to university and seek a teaching qualification. Soon after he started, it seemed as though he was going to change his mind, and pull out, but the following remark as part of a broader online conversation he was having with some friends, inspired and reinvigorated my confidence in his attitude –  where he wrote:- ‘ Yeah you can do a 1 year diploma on top of previous studies, but i didn’t want to go straight into teaching without the right skills. I think it will be an awesome career, but I want to develop as many skills as I can, so I can be the best teacher I can be. Obviously I’d play a big part in children’s lives, so I want to do the best I can’. I found that a rather impressive reflection by James!

Overnight, Australia’s Casey Stoner got off to a great start in the 2011 MotoGP season, with a good win in the first championship race for the year.   Stoner (Repsol Honda) had a titanic tussle with his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in the first round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship to snatch 25 points on his debut ride with Repsol Honda. He still looks years younger t he actually is, but he is certainly proving to be a great competitor on the motor bikes.

 

Another Australian State goes to the elections in a couple of weeks  – New South Wales, which has had a Labor Government for a few years, goes to the polls on Saturday., 26^th March. The general view seems to be that Labor will be thrown out of office, and the Liberal Coalition will have an easy victory, resulting in another conservative government in the country, always a good thing from my point of view.

An interesting, if not disturbing factor about this election, is that former One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson [who a decade ago, tried to drag this nation into the depths of her levels of racism and hatred] is attempting a political comeback, having nominated for a New South Wales [NSW]\ Upper House seat. Of course, as Tonty Abbott reminded us, as an Australian citizen, she has every right to do so.  It’s a pity however, that she is trying to get back into some form of power position again – I thought we had thankfully seen the last of her since her last failed attempt at a parliamentary role!   When asked recently if Ms Hanson was a citizen  or a serial pest, Tony Abbott responded ‘That’s for people to make up their own mind’.  However, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has accused Ms Hanson of racism, and says that Lasbor would not support her comeback, nor direct preferences to her. She said recently “We absolutely condemn the sorts of racist and discriminatory policies which come from Ms Hanson and parties like One Nation.”

Pauline Hanson returns to the political spotlight just a year after she said she was moving to the UK because Australia was no longer the ‘land of opportunity’. A couple of years previously, after another failed bid to win a seat in the then Queensland election, she said that she was quitting politics for good. Apparently she has now moved to NSW where she needs to reside in order to be a candidate. Ms Hanson has counted claims that she is a racist by stating that she will be talking about the issues that are important to her and the people of NSW!  Which suggests to me that a ‘leopard can’t change it’s spots’  – we do not need her kind in our public lives distorting and manipulating the minds of those who are so willing to be led by the kind of  policies she tried to push into federal politics during the Howard years.

Meanwhile, another side of ‘public life’ if that’s what you want to call it,  gangland widow Judy Moran has been found guilty of murdering her brother-in-law Des Moran.  A Victorian jury last week,  took seven days to find Moran guilty of arranging the shooting murder of Des “Tuppence” Moran, who was gunned down at a suburban Ascot Vale deli on June 15, 2009.  It was alleged during her Supreme Court trial that Moran plotted with gunman Geoffrey Armour to kill Mr Moran and that she drove the getaway car to and from the murder scene. Des Moran had been a very public figure for many years, yet nevertheless his murder in a quiet suburban street a couple of years ago, came as a shock, as did the fact that Judy Moran, who ‘rushed’ to the murder scene soon afterwards in a state of  supposed anguish and distress, was involved in the murder.  I reported on that event at the time which was all part of a long sorry saga spreading over many years of gangland murders and crime here in Melbourne. Judy Moran had lost her husband and son, and other relatives in that spree of crime murders. She had pleaded not guilty to murder, maintaining she was visiting the grave of her slain son Mark on the morning of the killing and had no motive to harm Mr Moran.

 Obviously, her story didn’t tie up with the evidence so overwhelmingly against her, and she also obviously didn’t have much control over those who did the ‘job’ for her. In the trial, it was reported that   Crown witness Michael Farrugia testified that he was in the getaway car driven by Moran to and from the murder and that she was “in control”.  He alleged Moran congratulated Armour after the killing and told him and Farrugia she would “get rid of everything”.  Farrugia also said she threatened him to shut up or he would “cop the same”.  The prosecution had argued the murder case against Moran was overwhelming. It alleged she entered into a pact with Armour to kill Mr Moran and bought him a $75,000 car as a reward. Prosecutor Mark Rochford SC said Moran’s plan was motivated by an ongoing financial dispute she had with Mr Moran.  The jury also heard Moran believed Mr Moran was controlling millions of dollars she said was missing from business dealings involving her late husband Lewis Moran.

Busy evening – cooked myself a meal [steak& eggs tonight], then went out to a General meeting of the Family History Society – bit of a ‘working night’ as we try and get the organisation’s records and archive material into some kind of proper ‘library’ record which has been neglected for a while. Realised that I must make use of much of this material at some stage as I’m sure there are many items of relevance to my own family research. Though I must say, I was not really in the mood for a ‘working bee’  – in fact, feeling quite weary. These last few months ahead of me in my current fulltime employment, I think are going to feel like twice that period  –  enthusiasm for the role is declining rapidly, and add that to the daily traffic grind, ,I am, as I suggested to one of the other members tonight, counting the days!!  Actually, that person, whom I’m assuming is in her early 50s, was genuinely surprised when I told her I was close to retirement age!!  I guess that was a compliment of sorts – she thought I was her age!  Anyway, it was back home to an empty house at 10pm.

The last couple of World Cup Cricket matches have seen the following results. Match 35 was played yesterday, 15 March – South Africa 7 for 272 defeated Ireland 141.  Tonight [although I didn’t watch any of the match], Australia continued it’s unbeaten run in World Cup matches by defeating Canada.   Match 36: Australia 3 for 212 defeated Canada 211 – openers Shane Watson [94] and Brad Haddin [88] made most of the Aussie runs.

A significant birthday in the extended family today!  Shirley’s mother, Win [short for Winifred] was born on this day in 1921, which means she turns 90 years old today! [Come to think of it, my own father would have become 90 this year were he still alive]. Anyway, Win, her sister Val [who has made a surprise visit from Queensland], Shirley, and probably young Jodie [3 generations] are out celebrating at a meal tonight –  hopefully they will be back home by the time I call in after my radio show tonight – while a large component of the family  intend to go out for a more formal dinner celebration this Friday evening, when hopefully all of the immediate family will be present.

Well, after a couple of hours on the radio, where my following presenter didn’t turn up, yet again, I returned home later than usual, because as planned, called over at the ‘family’ home to greet the ‘birthday girl’. Apparently through the course of the day, Win had received quite a few visitors, and taken numerous phone calls, so the occasion was well from overlooked. I had a small gift for her, but was part of a general family gift which was going to be presented to her on Friday.  It was a pity that James or someone had not tuned her radio to ‘our’ station – during part of my show tonight, I played some tracks taken from my late mother’s collection of vinyl recordings, of a range of songs recorded by former Australian TV performers, some of whom were not specifically known for their limited singing careers, etc. My mother had been a great TV fan of many variety shows etc, of the 70s and 80s, and built up quite a collection of vinyl records often advertised as specials, and featuring many of the stars of such shows. I had ‘inherited’  most of Mum’s old records – not sure if that was by design, or I just happened to be there at the right time and was the family member most likely to be interested in her music. Added to my own large collection of old recordings, they make up quite a ‘weighty’ aspect of my belongings. Anyway, this short visit tonight enabled me to catch up with all who were now living at the family home – with Adam & Bec moving out recently, Shirley now had ‘her’ large rumpus room back, and I think was in the process of cleaning and renovating it. That room used to store my book collection, amongst other things – the inbuilt shelves [which we had constructed when we built the house] are still there, though in recent years, they have being used for more than just books!! Jodie and James [with his new dog] were present tonight, as was Shirley, and Win’s younger sister, Val, who had flown down from Queensland for the occasion. We all noticed the absence of Susan [up in Bendigo] who would normally have been very much a part of her Nan’s celebrations, though I gather she had been on the phone quite early this morning with birthday greetings! I notice her absence at home!  James, despite his ‘big poker’ win over the weekend, didn’t seem to have any more than usual available cash – his usual response at birthday times ‘I’ll get your present later’!! I was pleased to realise that he was at least ‘sticking on’ with his new year of studies – a couple of weeks ago, a few days into the course, it sounded as though he was going to work away from his course after just a few days, the whole thing obviously seemed too hard. I didn’t really get the opportunity to discuss it with him, but hopefully, he had given it some more thought, and at present, was continuing!  I was hoping that his ongoing success with poker competitions wasn’t going to become the dominant ‘other priority.  I noted an interesting comment to him, on Face Book from one of my kids’ cousins yesterday  – as part of the general discussion about Win’s age etc, Rosie raised the question as to ‘when are one of you lot [referring to her four cousins – my four children] going to turn your parents into grandparents?’  That comment, I noted was greeted with silence!!  But echoed my thoughts from time to time!  This ‘old softy’ would love a grand child to spoil 🙂

By the time this writer got back to his ‘home’ tonight, Susan’s cats were waiting at the front door to be fed!  I’m afraid they don’t get spoilt by me – they wait until I’m ready! Strangely enough, after having eaten one or ‘sweet’ things at Goonawarra, and earlier today, I really didn’t have an appetite though I should have done by that time of night.  Attempted to eat a light meal, did what task needed to be done [including attending to the ‘demands], eventually, of the two cats [mother and daughter], then simply ‘collapsed’ in front of the TV for half an hour and watched the latest ‘grim’ news coming out of Japan, together with further depressing depictions of the tsunami scenes, and the growing concerns about potential nuclear disasters occurring in the country. That issue continued to dominate much of the controversy, etc, and media coverage, and world wide had the potential for repercussions in terms of the future use of nuclear power for energy use, and the safety and security aspects associated with it’s use. Overnight reports such as the following, are doing little to lessen those kind of fears and concerns: –

“Japanese crews are battling to avert a nuclear disaster and say they may pour water from helicopters to stop fuel rods from being exposed to the air and releasing even more radioactivity. Radiation near the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 plant has reached levels harmful to health and was high overnight, officials said, advising thousands of people to stay indoors after two explosions and a fire at the facility Tuesday. Four of the six reactors at the crippled facility, 250 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, have now overheated and sparked explosions since Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out their cooling systems. The blasts at the seaside plant have shattered buildings housing the reactors but have apparently not penetrated the steel and concrete containers surrounding the fuel rods, reducing the risk of massive contamination”. Meanwhile, pictures like this scene of physical and personal devastation are going live with us for ever, I think: