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I had a bit of a diversion on the way to the office today – finding an auto service prepared to undertake a simple tyre repair at short notice. Our organisation’s regular auto place didn’t have time, so I was forced to go back to the bulk ‘K Mart Auto’ style store. Like myself on Friday, an initial perusal of the offending tyre, didn’t really reveal what had caused the ‘deflation’ problem. I left it with them anyway, to be collected later that afternoon. A few minor trips associated with the job planned during the day, but nothing of any great distance – generally not a wise move to drive around without a spare tyre!

Incidentally, after a very warm, humid and uncomfortable tonight, I had awoken this morning to discover that it was raining steadily outside, and in fact, continued that way for the whole of my drive this morning.  That left me with some concern for Susie, who was driving back up to Bendigo again today – searching out accommodation for her year [or 8 months] of planned post graduate study at the La Trobe University up in that city. While she had a friend travelling with her today,  it was a pity that once again, she would have to do the trip in poor weather – although, as I drove south, the weather behind me, and to the north, seemed to be improving, as indeed it did. Anyway, all I could do, was hope the trip went off without mishap, and didn’t really try and contact her through the day.

In fact, it was a rather busy day at the office – first committee meeting for the year, with all except one member present. Unlike a couple of years ago, I was generally not required at these meetings any more. Under Jackie’s guidance, the membership executive itself, was looking after that side of things, such as minute taking, etc. I guess when that change first took place, that I was a little bit ‘put out’, particularly as the committee meetings these days are far less confrontational and as argumentative as they used to be – the role would be a bit more peaceful, less stressful now!  However, it did give me the opportunity to get on with other things while such meetings were in progress, even though it meant being responsible for most aspects of the ‘catering’ side of things in lieu of. How things have changed since the days if senior financial management roles with the municipal councils I once worked for – but then, the current job role had been my choice, a chance to wind down to a large degree in my last years of fulltime employment, even if that meant that some of my ‘responsibilities’ were of the basic office management type of 40 years earlier!!!

One of the books I purchased a few weeks ago from ‘\Christmas present’ vouchers was a book by a lady named Stephanie Dowrick, called ‘Seeking the Sacred – Transforming our view of ourselves and one another’. Not normally of the genre of book I would read [I’ve begun it, but have not got very far into it as yet]. I still wonder why I purchased it – was it simply the impressive orange patterned pages about a subject which seems to have been summed up in a few paragraphs in those early pages?  I’m certainly not suggesting that there won’t be some useful material \ in the book, but as this point, I’m wondering just how much can be said on the subject! Nevertheless, there are some interesting points made, just how many times will they be repeated throughout the subsequent sections?  The first section of the book, for eg, is on the topic of ‘Reverence’, and there is an interesting paragraph on p. 37, which reads as follows.

“Making the world sacred – or, more precisely, ’making our view of the world sacred’ and acting accordingly – certainly cannot be left to governments, corporations or major institutions, even religious ones. Religious institutions are themselves far too deeply implicated in the problems to relieve them effectively. This is a quiet but passionate revolution that can only be achieved by individuals – in the company of one an other. It means thinking as well as perceiving with reverence and often with humility. It means thinking inclusively, taking for granted that what is most important to us is also important to others” In simple terms, is she suggesting ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’?  Seems practical enough! Even statements like that leave me with the thought that ;just our ‘real to life’ is this book going to come over as?  Or is it just another ‘pie in the sky’ or utopia visions of how one writer likes to see things? Well, I will give it a fair go, but not until I’ve finished reading Bryce Courtney’s latest novel [another Christmas present] – ‘The Fortune Cookie’. I must admit that at present, that is retaining my interest and desire to keep reading at a much higher level than Ms Dowrick’s writings!!

Meanwhile, the following three sayings came via an email, just recently – thought I’d finish this entry, with them here. The latter came from Elenor Roosavelt, perhaps the others did also, not sure!

• Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it.
• A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after a success.
• Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present. [Elenor Roosavelt].

As Victoria’s huge ‘inland sea’ continues to move downstream , emergency workers in Victoria’s north this weekend,  are turning their attention to the town of Swan Hill as floodwaters in the area flow into the Murray River. Hopes rest on a large permanent levee to stand between Swan Hill’s population of around 10,000 and the coming deluge. While hopes are favourable that a large permanent levee that has been constructed over recent years [much of it at the instigation of a local farmer] will protect most of the 10,000 population in Swan Hill, it will do little to help those in the surrounding farming areas, and smaller settlements between the bigger population centres. In fact, I have felt over the last week or so, with all of the publicity being centred upon the many Victorian towns that have faced the onslaught of the Victorian floodwaters,  those thousands of hectares of land, much of it farming land, in between the towns has for all intents and purposes, been forgotten. Subsequent reports of huge stock losses, thousands of acres of crops, stone fruits, etc, destroyed, have brought this home quite severely, and of course the personal plight that my former brother-in-law up near Kerang faced during the week, made the situation of those lower populated areas, so much more realistic. Sitting back here in the ‘dry’ part of the state, on a day where temperatures got up into the 30s in what was one of the most uncomfortable days this summer, it’s so hard to picture the full extend of the losses and financial suffering that is coming out of the Victorian floods. And that is not forgetting the catastrophic floods and consequences that occurred up in Queensland, and the city of Brisbane itself, just a week ago.  Even today, the after affects of the tsunami style flood that occurred west of Brisbane, are yielding their grim results – with reports this weekend of the findings of human remains in the areas hit by the flash flooding on January 12^th. There are in fact a number of people still missing from that day, and many feel that they will never be found!

Meanwhile, on the home front, as is the case each second Sunday, I had the two shows on the radio today – as usual lately, the early morning program was difficult to initially get motivated for, although once on the road, that motivation would quickly return, and the pleasure of sharing my music equally as quickly change any ‘tired’ moods that might have begun the morning. By late afternoon, the day had become extremely warm, humid and unpleasant, so it was perhaps a relief to get back into the air conditioned studio for a few hours [not that the conditions in the house were particularly uncomfortable, although we were in for a very warm night, followed by a thundering change!]. Anyway, this afternoon, I decided to acknowledge Australia Day a few days early [that was Wednesday]\, with a program of strictly Australian traditional music in the main [a few modern folk songs added at various intervals]. For almost three hours, I played a selection of popular Australian ‘folk’ songs and tunes from the last 100 years or so, together with a number of  known traditional Australian shearing songs, recorded some 40/50 years ago by ‘folk’ singer, the [Rev] Gary Shearston. These were taken from a vinyl recording put together by Shearston under the title ‘The Springtime It Brings On The Shearing’, with his singing accompanied by some wonderful playing on the harmonica, and banjo and guitar.

The notes taken from the recording were obviously written some 35 years ago, but provide an interesting insight into the origins of the tracks theron, most of which I would play throughout the afternoon. Here’s an indication of where the songs came from.

“The first recording Gary Shearston made was called ‘Folk Songs and Ballads of Australia’. Most of the songs on it really are old [Australian] bush folk songs. But later he became best known as a singer of new songs, which are not really folk songs, though they are written in folk-song style. Songs, for example, by writers like the Americans Bob Dylan and Peter Seegar, or the Scotsman Ewan McColl; and songs that he wrote himself.

But a while back he decided that the most important thing for him to do, just then, and for some time to come, was to learn more about authentic folk songs; and especially about the folk songs of the bush; and above all about the way that the old bush singers sang the bush folk songs.

So he sat down to listen carefully to every field recording of traditional bush singers that he could lay his hands on. He has listened to recordings of the best of our traditional singers, especially Sally Sloane and Simon McDonald, over and over again. He has also being listening very carefully to the recordings of bush songs made by A.L.Lloyd: a pommy [Englishman] no less! But Lloyd began learning bush songs during the nine years  he spent working as a station hand in western New South Wales, before he wen t back to England to become a distinguished folk-song singer and scholar

This collection of shearer’s songs is the first result of all this. Wherever possible, Gary Shearston has learnt the version of the song which he uses from a recording or tape, rather than from print. Many he learnt from the singing of A.L.Lloyd, some from field recordings, made by the Folk Lore Society of Victoria; one from an old shearer, ‘Duke Tritton’, with whom he sang many times at folk-song concerts.”

Let’s have a look at just one song – this will certainly be familiar to Australian readers, and perhaps may have been heard at some stage overseas – called ‘Click Go the Shears’. In this ‘story’, Henry Lawson [one of our most famous Australian poets] tells how the gold diggers, during his boyhood days  [circa 1860s] used to sing a song by the popular American composer, Henry C Work, which went as follows

RING THE BELL, WATCHMAN
(Henry Clay Work 1865)

High in the belfry the old sexton stands
Grasping the rope with his thin bony hands
Fix’d is his gaze as by some magic spell
Till he hears the distant murmur
Ring, ring the bell

Chorus
Ring the bell, watchman! ring! ring! ring!
Yes, yes! the good news is now on the wing.
Yes, yes! they come and with tiding to tell
Glorious and blessed tidings. Ring, ring the bell!

Baring his long silver locks to the breeze
First for a moment he drops on his knees
Then with a vigor that few could excel
Answers he the welcome bidding
Ring, ring the bell

Hear! from the hilltop, the first signal gun
Thunders the word that some great deed is done
Hear! thro’ the valley the long echoes swell
Ever and anon repeating
Ring, ring the bell

Bonfires are blazing and rockets ascend
No meagre triumph such tokens portend
Shout! shout! my brothers for “all, all is well!”
‘Tis the universal chorus
Ring, ring the bell

Some shearer borrowed Work’s tune, and some ideas from his words, and created ‘Click Go the Shears’. The collectors he found a lot of old shearers who knew the song. Versions do not differ very much, but in this version  – which comes from A.L.Lloyd – the words are almost the same as those that Banjo Paterson printed in ‘Old Bush Songs’ long before Lloyd arrived in the Riverina.  The popular version is printed below of our ‘Click Go the Shears’

Click go the Shears

Out on the board the old shearer stands
Grasping his shears in his long bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied “joe”
Glory if he gets her, won’t he make the ringer go

Chorus
Click go the shears boys, click, click, click
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow
And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied “joe”

In the middle of the floor in his cane-bottomed chair
Is the boss of the board, with eyes everywhere
Notes well each fleece as it comes to the screen
Paying strict attention if it’s taken off clean

The colonial-experience man he is there, of course
With his shiny leggin’s just got off his horse
Casting round his eye like a real connoisseur
Whistling the old tune “I’m the Perfect Lure”

The tar-boy is there awaiting in demand
With his blackened tar-pot and his tarry hand
Sees one old sheep with a cut upon its back
Here’s what he’s waiting for “Tar here Jack!”

Shearing is all over and we’ve all got our cheques
Roll up your swag for we’re off on the tracks
The first pub we come to it’s there we’ll have a spree
And everyone that comes along it’s, “Come and drink with me!”

Down by the bar the old shearer stands
Grasping his glass in his thin bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a green-painted keg
Glory he’ll get down on it ere he stirs a peg

There we leave him standing, shouting for all hands
Whilst all around him every shouter stands
His eyes are on the cask which is now lowering fast
He works hard he drinks hard and goes to hell at last

You take off the belly-wool clean out the crutch
Go up the neck for the rules they are such
You clean round the horns first shoulder go down
One blow up the back and you then turn around

Click, click, that’s how the shears go
Click, click, so awfully quick
You pull out a sheep he’ll give a kick
And still hear your shears going click, click, click

A couple of explanations  –  the ‘bare-bellied yeo’ and ‘blue-bellied yeo’ refers to a ewe, an English dialect word for ewe, with little wool on it’s belly;  snagger  – is an unskilled shearer who leaves ‘snags’ of wool on the sheep; ‘as it comes off the screen’  – meaning as it comes off the table at which the fleeces are classed into different grades;  ‘the colonial experience man’  – refers to the English gentleman, getting some experience of life in ‘the colonies’, by working for a time on a station; an object of both derision and resentment on the part of the shearers; ‘you can take off the belly wool’  – this saying  gives an account of the order in which the shearer was expected to remove the wool; and finally, ‘shouting for all hands’  –  means to buy drinks for everyone in the bar [at the pub].

Gary Shearston didn’t dominate the program, which also included a number of instrumental and vocal versions of a broad range of popular Australian folk music, not just of the ‘shearing’ variety;. Amongst other things, I also slipped in a few tracks of ;non-Australian’ music but which was performed by a very popular ‘semi jazz/popular music’ band here in Australia of the 70s and 80s – the Daly Wilson Big Band, very much an Aussie group of performers, whom I had the pleasure of seeing perform at the Albert Hall in East Melbourne towards the end of the 1970s. I don’t think I can recall up until then, music at such a high volume as was presented at that particular performance, although you soon adjusted to it!. Towards the end of the show, I also played portion of a performance by Dame Edna Everage, from a show ‘she’ did at the Globe Theatre in London, on the 8^th July, 1976 – this was a performance I had copied from a vinyl recording, but unfortunately, the version I was playing this afternoon didn’t quite get to the end of the track, the CD decided to play up on me. One of Barry Humphrey’s other ‘characters’, Sir Les Patterson [cultural attaché to London] I also had on this CD but had decided not to play it –  in 2011, much of the dialogue that Les Patterson carries on with, would today be considered extremely racist, and prejudicial against certain classes in many ways. Although admittedly, when one looks at the content of many of the ‘so-called’ comedy acts in our annual comedy festivals, and many TV comedy programs, I’m not that sure that I needed to have worried too much.

Earlier this afternoon, the Tour Down Under cycling race finished over in Adelaide., the final stage [6] over a distance of 90 kilometres – 20 laps of a specific course through a part of the capital. It turned out to be quite an exciting finish, with a number of potential winners. Was interesting trying to work out the various team tactics as they tried to get their preferred rider into to the right position to take the final stage placings, and hopefully decide the overall winner in the competition. I’m afraid I don’t clearly understand many of the tactics used in professional cycling, if I have a query of that nature, the question has to be addressed to my brother, who presumably was stationed somewhere near the finishing line as I watched the conclusion on the TV.  Anyway, today’s winner was Ben Swift [Australia], from Ben Henderson, and Michael Goss of Australia in 3^rd position. It seemed as though we had about 60 cyclists all coming over the line, virtually at the same moment! It also seems that the configuration of those placings, meant that the overnight leader, Australia’s Cameron Myer kept that lead, and was declared the overall winner of the Tour Down Under.  Michael Goss was 2^nd, and Ben Swift finished in 3^rd position. As for the other main Australian competitors, the two riders whom Robert managed to get into a photograph with the other night finished the overall race in 28^th position [Robbie McEwan, had one day wearing the leader’s jersey] and 50^th [Stuart O’Grady]. In what was supposedly his last major professional cycling race, Lance Armstrong finished in 67^th position of the 129 cyclists who completed the race [130 started, a great outcome].

Meanwhile, on the cricket scene, Australia after it’s disastrous Test Ashes Series against England, seems to have found better form in the One Day International series of the best of seven games, against the English team. While the makeup of this team is a little different to the test team, and also without Test captain Ricky Ponting, still recovering from his broken finger, and ODI captain Michael Clarke continues to be out of form, they seem to be performing much better – today saw the third of the seven scheduled 50 over matches, in which Australia has won all three of the matches. I had noticed that my cricket friend in the UK had been fairly ‘quiet’ over the past week or two, but give her credit, she did acknowledge today’s win, on Facebook, in a message to me!  An interesting quotation was mentioned by one of the cricket commentators at one stage during this match  – a saying that could be applied to all walks of life  –  it was the ‘TCUP’ advice  –  ‘Think Clearly Under Pressure’.

I had the opportunity to watch another ‘advert free’ movie on the ABC tonight –  another Australian film featuring the Indigenous communities, called Bran Nue Dae [literally Brand new day]. It was actually a film version of a 1990 Indigenous musical produced over in Western Australia. Our regular ‘Age’ film critic, Jim Schembri [who admits later in the article that he didn’t like the film] writes that it ‘deserves to be celebrated, indeed, the film’s celebratory tone, catchy tunes and emphasise on self-mocking comedy is widely credited for its game-changing success, the thinking being that audiences found it a refreshing change from the depressing, maudlin mood often stapled to any story about Aborigines’.  I tended to agree with that, although like the critic, I found it hard at times to warm to the movie either – perhaps it was my conservative nature finding it hard to laugh along with the characters in the various send up aspects of the film. I also decided that I prefer to see Geoffrey Rush in a more serious role, than that of the caricature style priest he plays in this film. Apart from Geoffrey Rush, the film starred current pop idol, Jessica Mauboy [as Rosie, the girl our hero, Willie is in love with], Willie played by a young Rocky McKenzie, along with Missy Higgins [ passing hippy], Magda Szubanski [as a gun-toting, petrol pumping harlot], Deborah Mailman [as a Kimberley floozie], Ernie Dingo as Willie’s irascible Uncle Tadpole, and  Australian blues and country singer, Dan Sultan, who plays the role of a rock star competing for Rosie’s Affections. I’ve played Dan Sultan’s music on the radio a few times, but had never seen him act before [may not again, either – think he should stick to singing].

Anyway, whilst glad I got the opportunity to see the movie,  I felt thankful afterwards that I’d not paid the price of a movie ticket, because I think I might have felt that I didn’t get my money’s worth, despite the fact that the film has generally been highly received. I think my problem is that I don’t like what I perceive to be a serious subject – in case, the non-Indigenous prejudice of the 1950s era towards the Aboriginal population been treated in such a carefree and light-hearted manner. Apart from that, it was good entertainment,, and as another critic noted [Emily Dunn] ‘The story stretches the boundaries of credulity, even for a comical musical, but this made up for in the joy and exuberance heard in classic chorus-line tunes’ such as ‘There is nothing I would rather be, than to be an Aborigine’  The music was infectious, and in many ways, a pleasant enough way to finish the weekend.

A mixed day of cloudy periods and brilliant sunshine. Lots of tasks required out in the yard, but seemed to get bogged down with other matters, the ‘paperwork boy’ they call me!  Also still feeling a little annoyed at an incident with my car, which occurred soon after I reached Sunbury from the city [thankfully not earlier I guess] –  suddenly had a puncture in my rear right tyre. Had not noticed anything on the drive out, at generally the maximum speeds, but all of a sudden, felt something go, stopped in the supermarket carpark and found a completely flat tyre, down to the rim! I didn’t have much luck getting the tyre off myself –  tighten the nuts up with damn machines and then expect ordinary mortals such as myself to reverse the work of a machine!  Anyway, I decided not to fight with it – the wheel was rather dirty and black, and a continued struggle was likely to change the look of everything I was wearing!! Called the RACV – our State roadside service organisation. The response is usually pretty good around Sunbury, and a service van is generally with you within about 20 minutes!!!   Not last night!  Two hours later!!! Apparently a couple of ‘out of the ordinary situations’ had arisen in the district which caused the unusual delay! By the time a mechanic arrived, I was wishing, and cursing the fact, that I’d not ‘fought’ a little more with that tyre!  The situation did give me a chance to have a chat with young Jodie – thinking I might me waiting even longer, I had called her up, with the purpose of asking her to take home the fresh and frozen food items, I’d been silly enough to buy ‘before’ calling the service people. As it turned out, she arrived the same time as they did!

Anyway, my slight ‘annoyance’ on Saturday was the fact that I could not get the tyre repaired until Monday – thankfully, not trips of any significance planned this weekend, so at least I didn’t have to go far, with a flat tyre in the car boot!

I did manage to  finally have a bit of a look at the Tour Down Under [over in South Australia] which is in fact the first major international bike race for the year. I didn’t realise until today that it has been going on in Australia since the late 1990s, perhaps it’s prestige has only just begun to be noticed over the past two or three years, with the influx of  international riders, and of course, in particular, people like Lance Armstrong. Now, following yesterday’s stage of the race, there was a new overall leader.  West Australian Cameron Myer, aged 23,was the new leader after sprinting home at the end of yesterday’s 124 km Stage 4 of the race, into Strathalbyn.  The former leader, Matthew Goss, and also Robbie McEwan, are overall 3^rd and 4^th in the classifications after the 4 stages. Today, in Stage 5,  the cyclists travel 131 kms between  McLaren Vale and Willungra, which includes quite a severe hill section  at Willungra. This section includes a partial beach front ride, with the cyclists looking out towards the great Southern Ocean, though I doubt that many of them would really be enjoying the ocean scenery! I’m also wondering whether my brother, Robert, gets to ride over that area with the amateur tour party he is riding with? Haven’t heard from Robert for a couple of days, so I’m not sure what progress he has been making.

Anyway, jumping ahead, today’s stage was won by Francisco Ventoso [Spain] from the Australian riders, Michael Matthews and Matthew Goss. That left Cameron Myer still wearing the overall Leaders’ Jersey, followed by Goss in 2^nd place, and Matthews in 4^th. Tomorrow would be the 5^th and final stage of the Tour Down Under.

Tonight, I had been looking forward to the night session at the Australian Open Tennis, with two Australians competing [the last two Aussies in the singles’ competitions]. Samantha Stosur was expected to win her game, but while nobody expected young teenage star Bernard Tomic to have any real hope of defeating Rafael Nadal, we did hope he would make a bit of a game of it!! Well for a start, disappointment with our Sam!  Seemed to be played reasonable well in the First Set against a very talented and determined opponent, then all of a sudden, the set was over, and she was coming from behind. Actually still expected her to get up and win from that point onwards, and while Sam claimed afterwards that she felt she was playing quite well, the 2^nd set did not give that appearance, and she was basically crushed by a very good up and coming player, who managed to win all of the points that really mattered. In the end, the score line was not flattering for our girl – Petra Kvitoca of the Czech Republic defeated Samantha Stosur [Australia] 7/6, 6/3.

 Next game up was the much anticipated mismatch  between No. 1 in the World, and No. 199. This little media report summed it up.   ‘Grand slam tyro Bernard Tomic delivered hope to depressed Australian tennis fans with a heartening display against the world’s premier player at Melbourne Park on Saturday night. Tomic made all-conquering top seed Rafael Nadal sweat for two-and-a-half hours at Rod Laver Arena before the Spaniard safely progressed to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a sapping 6-2 7-5 6-3 victory over the teenage wildcard Despite 198 rankings spots separating the two combatants, Tomic had Nadal under immense pressure at 4-0 down in the second set as the 18-year-old upstart briefly threatened to pull off the biggest upset in grand slam history’. Of course, it wasn’t to be, but Tomic’s effort meant the match lasted well in excess of an hour longer than most had anticipated it would.  And for this viewer, yet another late Saturday night prior to an early Sunday morning!

Tonight, up in Tamworth, New South Wales [NSW], the annual  Country Music Awards were held – this is an annual event at this time each January, but because of the floods in parts of northern NSW, it had at one stage been feared that the event might have to be cancelled. However, the organisers had no such intention. Reports from the night’s activities at Tamworth, revealed that singer, Kasey Chambers  dominated country music’s night of nights, taking home four Golden Guitars including Female Artist of the Year. She also won Single of the Year and APRA Song of the Year for Little Bird, from her 2010 album of the same name at the awards ceremony on Saturday night. This is song I have already a few times on my radio shows, and after this win tonight, I was determined to do so again tomorrow afternoon.  The song was written about the trouble she had breaking into the industry before she skyrocketed to fame with her hit single Not Pretty Enough from the 2001 album Barricades and Brickwalls. Her fourth award from seven nominations was for Love Like A Hurricane with Kevin Bennett in the Vocal Collaboration of the Year category. The haul puts Chambers’s Golden Guitar total at 12.  ARIA Award-winning country artist Graeme Connors took out the title of Male Artist of the Year for the track A Good Life.  The other big winner of the night was Jimmy Little who joined the ranks of Slim Dusty in winning the Lifetime Achievement Award, his first Golden Guitar after six decades in the business. Admitted to the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1999, Little has more than 30 albums and has been a regular at the Tamworth Country Music Festival since its inception 39 years ago. Little said it was an honour to receive the award ahead of his concert in Tamworth on Sunday, which is likely to be his last. “I have been performing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for years and to receive this award on the eve of possibly my final live performance here is such a great honour,” he said.

Back to Bill’s ‘world of sport’ briefly. in a match that I didn’t see [because there is no free to air coverage], the Australian ‘Socceroos’ played their quarterfinal Asian Cup match  against the reigning title holders, Iraq,  in the early hours of Sunday morning. I would read the next day that Australian champion soccer player   Harry Kewell’s last-gasp extra-time header fired the Socceroos into the Asian Cup semi-finals, sealing a 1-0 win in a thrilling clash with Iraq at the Al Sadd Stadium in Doha. Kewell struck in the 118th minute with the match looking certain to be decided on penalties after Australia were unable to convert their dominance against a gallant Iraq. The Galatasaray star nodded home a brilliant Matt McKay cross to secure a deserved victory and avenge Australia’s 3-1 loss to Iraq in the group stages of the 2007 tournament.  The Socceroos will now face Uzbekistan in Tuesday’s (Wednesday morning AEDT) semi-final at Khalifa Stadium for a spot in next weekend’s final against either Japan or South Korea. “Qualifying for the semi final is definitely a great achievement,” Socceroos coach Holger Osieck said.  “Looking at the game itself, although it went into extra time during the regular 90 minutes, I think we had more of the game, we played solidly in defence, we had a good structure, we played up, we had good chances.” “… If I am not mistaken Iraq probably only had one great opportunity, the rest came from half chances and I think that we should have done our job in 90 minutes and Iraq came on very strong in extra time.”  Japan face South Korea in Tuesday’s other semi-final after South Korea also prevailed in extra time on their quarter-final, 1-0 over Iran.

Thanks to a work associate, I came recently across an extract from an article written by Albert Ellis, an American psychologist, who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and was considered by many to be the second most influential psychotherapist in history. Ellis had numerous published contributions within the various fields associated with all aspects of psychology and it’s adjuncts, and REBT was just one such ‘creation, which was originally simply called rational therapy –  both a psychotherapeutic system of theory and practices, and a school of thought. I took it home to show Susan, as it seemed to be related to her areas of study over recent years. One area referred to in this REBT was a list of  ‘12 Irrational Ideas That Cause and Sustain Neurosis’, and that formed the basis of the extract that was given to me. Upon reading the contents,  it occurred to me, that rather that simply being a highly technical and medically inspired set of ideas, they were in fact highly practical everyday realistic [if you like] theories of the ways in which we so often think and react to situations that form a part of our daily lives.

For those looking for a definition of neurosis – well, according to our Australian Macquarie Dictionary ‘Neurosis is a relatively mild mental illness in which feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts and physical complaints without objective evidence of disease, in various patterns, dominate the personality. With this kind of definition in mind, here are the ’12 Ideas’ that Ellis considered were a causation factor in sustaining such neurotic states of mind (taken from The Essence of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, by Albert Ellis, Ph.D. Revised, May 1994.)

1. The idea that it is a dire necessity for adults to be loved by significant others for almost everything they do — instead of their concentrating on their own self-respect, on winning approval for practical purposes, and on loving rather than on being loved.

2. The idea that certain acts are awful or wicked, and that people who perform such acts should be severely damned — instead of the idea that certain acts are self-defeating or antisocial, and that people who perform such acts are behaving stupidly, ignorantly, or neurotically, and would be better helped to change. People’s poor behaviours do not make them rotten individuals.

3. The idea that it is horrible when things are not the way we like them to be — instead of the idea that it is too bad, that we would better try to change or control bad conditions so that they become more satisfactory, and, if that is not possible, we had better temporarily accept and gracefully lump their existence.

4. The idea that human misery is invariably externally caused and is forced on us by outside people and events — instead of the idea that neurosis is largely caused by the view that we take of unfortunate conditions.

5. The idea that if something is or may be dangerous or fearsome we should be terribly upset and endlessly obsess about it — instead of the idea that one would better frankly face it and render it non-dangerous and, when that is not possible, accept the inevitable.

6. The idea that it is easier to avoid than to face life difficulties and self-responsibilities — instead of the idea that the so-called easy way is usually much harder in the long run.

7. The idea that we absolutely need something other or stronger or greater than ourself on which to rely — instead of the idea that it is better to take the risks of thinking and acting less dependently.

8. The idea that we should be thoroughly competent, intelligent, and achieving in all possible respects — instead of the idea that we would better do rather than always need to do well and accept ourself as a quite imperfect creature, who has general human limitations and specific fallibilities.

9. The idea that because something once strongly affected our life, it should indefinitely affect it — instead of the idea that we can learn from our past experiences but not be overly-attached to or prejudiced by them.

10. The idea that we must have certain and perfect control over things — instead of the idea that the world is full of probability and chance and that we can still enjoy life despite this

11. The idea that human happiness can be achieved by inertia and inaction — instead of the idea that we tend to  be happiest when we are vitally absorbed in creative pursuits, or when we are devoting ourselves to people or projects outside ourselves.

12. The idea that we have virtually no control over our emotions and that we cannot help feeling disturbed about things — instead of the idea that we have real control over our destructive emotions if we choose to work at changing the musturbatory hypotheses which we often employ to create them.

One simplified breakdown of all of this was illustrated where Ellis talked about the three main irrational beliefs of people, viz:-

1.  “I must be outstandingly competent, or I am worthless.”
2.  “Others must treat me considerately, or they are absolutely rotten.”
3.  “The world should always give me happiness, or I will die.”

Ellis has come to emphasize more and more the importance of what he calls “unconditional self-acceptance.”  He says that, in REBT, no one is damned, no matter how awful their actions, and we should accept ourselves for what we are rather than for what we have achieved.  One approach he mentions is to convince the client of the intrinsic value of him or herself as a human being.  Just being alive provides you with value.   He notes that most theories make a great deal out of self-esteem and ego-strength and similar concepts.  We are naturally evaluating creatures, and that is fine.  But we go from evaluating our traits and our actions to evaluating this vague holistic entity called “self.”  How can we do this?  And what good does it do?  Only harm, he believes.    There are, he says, legitimate reasons for promoting one’s self or ego:  We want to stay alive and be healthy, we want to enjoy life, and so on.  But there are far more ways in which promoting the self or ego does harm, as exemplified by these irrational beliefs:

I am special or I am damned.
I must be loved or cared for.
I must be immortal.
I am either good or bad.
I must prove myself.
I must have everything that I want.

He believes very strongly that self-evaluation leads to depression and repression, and avoidance of change.  The best thing for human health is that we should stop evaluating ourselves altogether!  And so it continues, but I won’t go any further in this ‘forum’ –  I just felt that the main principles behind Ellis’s theories were very interesting, and as I said above, practical or realistic. No doubt there are plenty of experts in the fields of psychology who would probably ‘draw swords’ with the Ellis theories, while I can’t argue on a ‘scientific’ basis, one way or the other – they were simply a set of ideas I felt was worth noting in my ongoing blog or diary of things and events that interest your ‘personal essayist’ from time to time. Comments welcome.

Meanwhile, it’s a warm Friday here, but with yet another change on the way, as the Victorian floods continue to move down stream to more little towns that get in the way of the waters. Over 70 main communities have now been affected, and we should not overlook the hundreds of farming communities and more isolated settlements etc, between the main towns, which are also ‘victims’ of the ongoing flood surge. As someone described it yesterday, the Victorian flood is onlike the tsunami style surges that occurred in parts of south east Queensland last week – but more in the style of a slowly creeping inland sea taking everything before it, but creating the same degree of personal and business havoc, destruction and loss that occurred up north! While in Brisbane today, the inner city suburbs and CBD are again apprehensive at the arrival of a ‘King Tide’ round about midday!! Everyone is very nervous, particularly those areas where last week’s floods have not completely receded or areas where major cleanups are complete or underway!

Australia’s last three singles survivors took to the courts in the continuation of second round  matches of the Australian Open today. Jelena Dokic’s defeat last night  left fifth seed Samantha Stosur and wildcard entrants Alicia Molik and Bernard Tomic to fly the flag for the host nation at Melbourne Park. Molik will meet Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova, while Tomic is set to take on 31st-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez during the day session. Stosur, who scored a commanding 6-1 6-1 victory over American wildcard recipient Lauren Davis in the first round, meets Russian world No.61 Vera Dushevina in the opening match of the night session on Rod Laver Arena, and I would be planning my evening activities to be sure I saw that game – though perhaps, Sam might have more chance of winning were I ‘not’ watching!!

Anyway, I watched her match this evening regardless, and she won – at last I have an Australian player to keep watching, well at least one more game. In fact there are two – Bernard Tomic won his match in three sets, but unfortunately, Alicia was no match for her opponent. Today’s Australian results saw Samantha Stosur [Aust] defeated Vera Dushevina [Russia] 6/3,6/2;  Bernard Tomic {aust] defeated Feliciano Lopez 7/6,7/6,6/3 and Alicia Molik [Aust] lost to Nadia Petrova [Russia] 6/4,6/1.  After his match, Tomic insisted that he could upstage history-chasing top seed Rafael Nadal [his 3^rd Round opponent] on Saturday night. Despite the fact that no Australian man in almost a decade has defeated a World No. 1. Tomic believes anything is possible.  Mmmmm, not this time I don’t think, Bernard.

A couple of comments from Brisbane relatives today, a kind of sympathetic return for my concerns about the Queensland floods last week. Jill [sister] noted that  ‘sorry to hear and see Victoria in such a mess. Between Australia and overseas, with their floods and landslides, you begin to wonder what the world is coming to’ [that was a reference to the extremely tragic floods and subsequent landslides which have occurred in Brazil over recent days, with quite heavy loss of ,life, and much destruction.  Meanwhile, from my Uncle Merv [with whom, together with his wife, I enjoyed a pleasant lunch in the heart of Brisbane, back in October when I was up there], wrote back in response to my latest enquiry about their welfare – living in the inner Brisbane suburb of St Lucia, he had told me previously  that their home was safe from floodwaters as they were on higher ground. However, St Lucia was one of the Brisbane suburbs heavily hit by last Thursdays inundation of Brisbane, so I had wondered whether his optimism had been misguided?  Merv wrote that “No, we escaped all ill effects from the floods and only had a 4 day blackout [of the power] which was bad enough but absolutely nothing compared to the flood victims’ problems”.  Merv went on to say that “We want to express our regrets for the problems you are all experiencing in Victoria with your flood problems and trust you will receive all the help you need”.

I mentioned a week or so ago, that daughter Susan gave me for Christmas, the two outstanding Wilbur Smith books that I had not read. I finished ‘Warloch’ just before the end of the Christmas/New Year break, and last night before I went off to sleep, completed the second of those novels, ‘The Quest’.  This story was in fact the sequel to Smith’s Egyptian series – consisting of River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warloch, and basically continued the story of the Warloch named Taita, described as being ‘wise in the lore of the ancient gods and a master of  the magic and the supernatural’.  As I indicated with the earlier novel, while I found that the reading of this novel meant that as usual with a Wilbur Smith novel, it was very difficult to want to put the book down, that aspect of magic and the supernatural was probably the main aspect of the book[s] that I didn’t enjoy as much as other aspects of the storyline. I just felt there was too much ‘magic’.  That all may well be believable for others, but I find it less so, than the normal historical fiction aspect of moist of his novels which don’t rely over much on supernatural forces.  The book was published in April 2007, so on this occasion, I was a little slower than normal in getting hold of the book.

In brief précis form, the main theme of this novel relates to the situation where Egypt  is struck by a series of terrible plagues that cripple the kingdom, and then the ultimate disaster follows. The Nile fails. The waters that nourish and sustain the land dry up. Something catastrophic is taking place in the distant and totally unexplored depths of Africa, from where the mighty river springs. In desperation the Pharoah sends for Taita, the only man who might be able to win through to the source of the Nile and discover the cause of all their woes. None of them can have any idea of what a terrible enemy lies in ambush for the Warlock in those mysterious lands at the end of their world.  Meanwhile, one of the editors [Hazel Orme] at MacMillan publishers had this to say about ‘The Quest’.

‘What a spell-binding, magical (in more ways than one!) story this is! I was swept into Taita’s quest from the first page and onwards through your vividly evoked African landscapes – the papyrus swamps, the tsetse fly belt, the barren landscapes of the Red Stones and, perhaps best of all, the glorious Cloud Gardens that are rotten at the core – to the thrilling confrontation with Eos. “There are many splendid battle scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was gripped by all that went on in the sanatorium, which seemed, also, to carry a neat comment about the price of today’s medical research. Taita himself is a mesmerizing character and Eos, the witch, his perfect foil – her beauty contrasting sharply with the horrors for which she is responsible. Incomparable storytelling from the master – as ever, your host of readers will be absorbed in and delighted by this novel, as I was.’

Well yes, I was, certainly keen to read the book through to it’s end, but as usual, I found the extent of violence, and the descriptions of man’s inhumanity to man, occasionally quite disturbing – though having now read all of the 30+ novels that Wilbur Smith has written, I should either be used to that aspect of his writing by now, or in fact, stopped reading them!  I’ve done neither!  I am well warned also  –  on the back jacket cover of this novel, that expert writer of violence and the supernatural, Stephen King, writes simply that ‘Wilbur Smith’s swashbuckling novels of Africa – the bodices rip and the blood flows. You can get lost in them and misplaced all of August’. Looking at it in that manner, it seems that I have misplaced the three weeks since Christmas!

I wonder how many more novels this author can produce?  He will be 78 this year!  Well, there is at least one more on the drawing board, in fact it may be very close to being available by the publishers –  called ‘Those In Peril’, due for release in 2011.  I shall enquire.

Meanwhile, last night, I commented to my brother, Robert, over in South Australia with the cyclists, that his photo with Robbie McEwan, was beginning to increase in value [with McEwan the Tour leader after Stage 2].  His brief response to me today noted that he had ‘Met Robbie again last night, as we had drinks with the Radio Shack team [minus Lance Armstrong]. Got a good shot of Cavendish today, trailing the field covered in bandages [he had a bad crash 4km from the finish yesterday].  As for my Rob’s own riding with the touring team he is over there with, he noted that ‘he was going well. ‘Maintaining my status, i.e, the rest of the group want me drug tested!!’   At 62 years old, he is probably the oldest rider in his group, but knowing Rob from his training regime, etc, he would be keeping well up with the rest of them. In the meantime, the real race, the Tour Down Under, completed Stage 3 of the race today, and there was another change in the overall leadership. This featured a King of the Mountain stage and a sprint, over a total distance of 129 kilometres. The winner was Australia’s Michael Mathews, from last year’s Tour leader, Andre Greipel, with Matthew Goss of Australia in 3^rd place. That placing was enough to give Goss back the overall leadership position.

Incidentally, the 20^th January is a significant date – back in 1973, that was the day on which I was married. While that marriage is no longer an issue, one of the many memorable occasions about the wedding, which was held down in Ballarat [a city notoriously referred to as the coldest place in Australia – totally wrong of course] where the temperatures that Saturday afternoon were in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, probably closer to 40C, and those conditions were accentuated by the fact that the reception centre [a building in the middle of Lydiard Street, Ballarat, close to the Art Gallery from memory] had no proper air conditioning in those days! I do recall a bit of a ‘dispute’ between one or two guests and the staff of the establishment over whether the curtains in the place should remain shut, or be opened [to let in some air] – that ‘debate’ involving curtains being opened, then shut consecutively, went on for some minutes. I actually can’t recall which ‘side’ got the upper hand in the end.  Merv [referred to above] together with wife Margaret and two of their four sons drove over from Whyalla, in South Australia for that wedding – I recall the boys arriving at the church in shorts and thongs!! Again, I can’t recall if they came to the reception, but I believe Merv may have been one of the ‘combatants’ in the curtain saga, along with Shirley’s father, Louis, who had earlier in the proceedings had an argument regarding the time taken for photographs – I think our wedding guests might have justifiably become a bit peeved at the time they’d had to wait between the church service and the beginning of the reception, understandable in view of the climate of the day. Did we go up to the Botanic Gardens for those photos?   My memory seems to be deteriorating on many aspects of certain occasions.



The relations [on my wife’s side] who are currently affected by the floods in northern Victoria, are apparently not doing too bad, despite the dramatic affects on many families and businesses. The farm, south of Kerang [which town by tonight was completely cut off and surrounded by water, with all exit/entry roads closed] was pretty wet, with a lot of water on the property. However, Barry had managed to find a slightly higher piece of land to which he had moved his livestock too, while he engaged in a fair amount of drainage and digging works, as he attempted to keep the water away, from presumably the house, and other important features of the property. Meanwhile, his nursing wife, Lois,  was ‘stranded’ in the town of Boort, while his son, was further up the water line in Swan Hill, which hasn’t yet been largely affected by the flood waters. Interestingly, much of the northern/central districts and towns that have been the worst affected by Victoria’s floods, are where the Kirk ancestors established their homes, and coach building businesses in the latter part of the 1800’s, and having visited them all at different times, I am broadly familiar with them.  It is very flat country for the most part, another reason why these places are so susceptible when ‘too much’ water suddenly makes an appearance!  Overall, as of late tonight, there are 62 towns in Victoria which have suffered in some form or other, from  the current flood crisis, covering much of the north central and western regions of the State.

I had to take my lawnmower in for a service today – a bit annoyed to be told it might be a week or two before I could have it back!!  My lawns were already in need of some attention, and I always feel a little guilty when any aspect of the front of my property is looking untidy. Normally, by the middle of January, there would be much in the way of lawn growth to be concerned about, but with our unseasonally wet  summer, growth has been quite persistent!!!

Now from Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under  –  today’s race of 146 kms, between Tailem Bend and Mannum in South Australia, was marred by some bad crashes near the end of the stage, which saw, amongst other riders, the English champion, Mark Cavendish virtually relegated to the rear of the field, overall, and also led to the loss of the lead to yesterday’s winner, Matt Goss. Australian cycling legend, Robbie McEwan now leads the Santos Down Under after finishing second today.  Stage 2 result was – 1. Ben Swift. 2. Robbie McEwan. 3. Graeme Brown. Lance Armstrong came in 42^nd, and Stuart O’Grady, in 49^th position. McEwan and O’Grady were the two cyclists that my brother brother, scored photographs with on Sunday night, and certainly in respect to McEwan, that photo is growing in value and prestige, as each day goes past.  As mentioned, Robbie McEwan now wears the Leader’s Jersey, followed by Mathew Goss and Ben Swift. O’Grady is 33^rd, Lance Armstrong, 60^th and Mark Cavendish 130^th of the remaining 133 competitors.

Meanwhile, my jinxing of our Australian tennis players continues! Every time I make a point of sitting down to watch one of our Australian players compete in the Australian Open Tennis Championships, they seem to manage to lose! Tonight was no exception.  My favourite Aussie ‘import’ player, was on centre court in a Round 2 match. The following description explains the outcome.  Australian Jelena Dokic’s attempt to again use the Australian Open to regenerate her career fell flat as she tumbled to a straight sets defeat to Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova on Wednesday night. The unseeded Zahlavova Strycova won the second round clash 7-6 (7-3) 6-1, to set up a third round meeting with China’s Li Na, a semi-finalist in Melbourne last year.  Dokic, whose ranking has slumped to No.137, played the sort of tennis in the first set that provided hope she might again defy that lowly status, as she did two years ago, with a surprise run to the quarter-finals. But, after the Czech world No.63 took a see-sawing first set in a tiebreaker, she raced away with the second, completing it in just 24 minutes to ensure there would be no fairytale for the Australian wildcard entrant this time.  It was a bit of a disappointing slump in the second half of the game, though I must admit, I would have been surprised if she had won, in view of her poor form over recent months.  I think Jelena was the only Australian to play in a Singles game today.

Feeling a little frustrated at present. The Taxation Office has asked me to confirm some figures that I’d included [or actually, not included, they claim] on a tax return of 2 years ago. I believe I have done all that was required at the time, however I’m having trouble finding the paperwork that relates to the year in question!! Have all material for years preceding, and last year, but can’t find my copy of the period queried.  Is really annoying, as I am generally very precise in keeping and maintaining records of that sort!!  A hasty search tonight did not reveal what I was looking for – looks like time this weekend is going to have to be allocated to a thorough search!  Other things I would rather be doing!

After watching so much of the media reports about Australia’s floods. I decided that last night, another movie on the ABC channel [with no commercials] was called for. The ABC’s current program of Australian movies continued with a 2008 film called ‘The Black Balloon. – an Australian/British AFI award-winning drama and comedy feature film

Quite a pleasant little film, though at times a bit disturbing, it dealt with the semi-autobiographical story by Elissa Down, and starring Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette and Gemma Ward.. Story of a young man’s coming of age [Rhys Wakefield as Thomas Mollison] and the examination of his relationship with his older autistic brother [Luke Ford, as Charlie]. Thomas wants the life of a normal teenager but it appears to him that his severely autistic brother means that dream is nigh impossible.

As I watched this film, it became obvious just how difficult a family situation would be, not just for the parents concerned but any siblings of the autistic child. Whilst in the main, the family was able to maintain a calmness about their responses to most of the antics of Charlie, occasionally frustrations would boil over when communication with Charlie became extra difficult in trying to persuade him to a particular course of action. The gist of the story was based in particular on the affect of such frustrations on Thomas. I came across various previews of the movie, some far less flattering than others. A good description was the Black Balloon courses with a first hand feel for languorous Aussie summers [most of it seems to take place during a period of warm days], the shifting scales of love and hate in sibling relationships, and the earned wit that helps families cope with difficult situations.

In summary form, Thomas and his family move to a new home where he starts at a new school. All he wants to do is to fit in, but when his pregnant mother has to take things easy, he is put in charge of his autistic older brother, Charlie. Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend, Jackie, then faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes pent-up frustrations towards his brother to pour out. A deeply personal film for writer/director Elissa Down [who had two austistic siblings herself] The Black Balloon is a gentle yet unflinching look at a family strained by the pressures of caring for an autistic teenager. At his new school, Thomas meets Jackie Masters (Gemma Ward). When Thomas and Charlie’s pregnant mother Maggie (Toni Collette) is confined to bed rest, Thomas must take additional responsibility for his brother, at the likely cost of his developing relationship with Jackie. One had to admire Luke Ford’s part in the film. As indicated, the storyline is focused on the ways in which Thomas [who has an ongoing role in the Channel 7 soapie ‘Home and Away’] is affected by his brother, but as another writer commented, the performance that stands out is Ford in the role of Charlie, who  maintains the many physical and behavioural traits common to autism throughout every scene and is entirely convincing in his role.

I found the following to be a useful précis and review of the film , which may attract other viewers to have a look at the movie – a look at the themes and preoccupations of the movie

‘Many teenagers are embarrassed by their parents and family, but Thomas has the additional embarrassment of having an older brother that behaves like a toddler, complete with star reward chart and a monkey ears cap which acts as his security blanket. An early scene has Charlie, dressed in his monkey ears cap, underpants and sports shoes, escaping through the front door, which has been left carelessly unlocked. Viewers will both laugh and cringe with embarrassment as Thomas, barefoot and dressed in his pyjama boxer shorts, chases Charlie through the streets near their home. The complex nature of relationships within a family where one member has a severe disability is highlighted brilliantly as Thomas tries to reconcile his affection for his brother with the frustration his behaviour causes, the hurt of constantly being overlooked as Charlie’s needs come first and the guilt of hating his brother at times and wishing that he was normal. Thomas’ father, Simon (Erik Thomson), plays a less significant role than his mother Maggie (Toni Collette) whose strength, love and commitment holds the family together. As the movie reaches its climax, viewers will find themselves sharing Thomas’ anguish, feeling sympathy for Maggie as she tries to balance the demands of providing for the physical and emotional needs of both of her sons, and feeling compassion for Charlie, whose problems and issues are not of his own choosing. The lack of compassion shown by some of the neighbours and the mocking attitude of Thomas’ classmates will leave modern audiences frustrated. It can only be hoped that modern society would have a less critical and more supportive and informed attitude’. After watching the movie, I wandered in fact whether today’s society would be any more compassionate – there is a scene at a check out supermarket counter, where Charlie throws a tantrum, and his father ‘loses it’ in attempting to restrain his son. Most of the other customers just stood around, said nothing, though probably in a state of shock at what was happening.  I’m thinking that today, someone might just step in, and object to the manner in which Charlie was virtually dragged from the store by his father.

Overall, a film worth having a look at, if only to bring an awareness of the extreme difficulties, and sacrifices that members of some families make in caring for or accepting an autistic child as one of the family.

The Australian Open Tennis Championships began today in Melbourne, and for a change, hopes are high for at least a couple of Australian good performances, but I think I will wait a day or two before making any predictions.  Sat down briefly tonight to watch Australia’s Jamila Groth play her 1^st round game against the tall Belgium girl Wickmayer. A tough 3 set match, which didn’t quite go the way of our girl in the end. The Belgian won the match 6/3, 2/6, 6/4. Our girl was brave in defeat, but the tears of disappointment were not far away. Earlier, the little Aussie hero of 2 years ago, Jelena Dokic had won her way through to the second round – I think from memory, she had to qualify to get into the tournament.  The Australian results for Day One  saw only one  win from just four competitors, and were as follows:

Womens’ Singles:  E Rodina [Russia]defeated Olivia Rogowska [Australia] 6/3,6/1;  Yanina Wickmayer [Belgium] defeated Jamila Groth {Australia] 6/3,2/6,6/4; Jelena Dokic [Australia] defeated Z Ondraskova [Czech] 6/3,6/2.   Mens Singles: Ivan Ljubcic [Croatia] defeated Peter Luczak [Australia] 6/3,6/3,7/6.

A number of Victorian towns were expecting to be hit by flood peaks tonight. One of those areas was Horsham, in the wheat belt of the state’s west. One of my recent regular family history contacts comes from Horsham, and in response to my enquiry earlier this morning as to have she was faring with the advancing floodwaters, her response came back headed ‘High and Dry’.  Ann wrote:\ re flood. I’m okay as I live about 3kms from the river, on the other side of the railway line. This is often referred to, by those who think they’re better, as the wrong side of the tracks. Believe me, the wrong side happens to be the right side at the moment. The water is really rising, just like the good old days that I remember well. Quite spectacular, if your property is safe. I think the highway is cut through Horsham as the water has come up, blocks from the river, in a water course. The aquatic centre is surrounded, and the end on the main street blocked off. At the weir it’s an amazing sight, the water is the same height on the river side and down side of the weir and there’s usually about a 10ft drop there. I have friends who have sand bagged their houses and one friend has brought the contents of his deep freeze to me in case the power goes off there  with the water, and I have another friend’s car parked in my yard. The river hasn’t peaked yet, so who knows what will happen. I can’t understand why some people built where they did, as why believe what you’re told that there’ll never be another flood. Of course when the waters pass through Horsham, it’s Dimboola and Jeparit’s turn. There is talk that the bridge will be closed, which will cut Horsham in two. Up to 500 homes could be affected.

On  another sporting front. The Australian equivalent of the Tour de France commences in South Australia [SA] tomorrow – in view of the water conditions of the eastern states, the organisers of the Tour Down Under [TDU] are probably very thankful that the bike race is over in South Australia – the cyclists might have a bit of trouble getting around the course anywhere else at present. Many of the top  cyclists [including Lance Armstrong in what is supposedly his last professional ride] are competing this year.  My cycling brother, Robert from Sydney, will be over in SA also, as he has been in France on a number of occasions while the Tour de France was in progress. And as on those occasions, Robert is taking part in an 8 day ride with the TREK cycling organisation that coincides with the TDU. I haven’t ask him for any reports, but I do hope to hear from him at some stage during the rides. He expects it to be ‘good fun’ and a ‘little hard work’. On Sunday night, he attended a function with his TREK organisation, and managed to get some a couple of photos taken with Australian cyclists Robbie McEwan and Stuart O’Grady.

A strange weekend here in Australia, with floods continuing to dominate most aspects of the media, but more crucially, the lives of thousands of Australian families, and businesses. No state on the eastern side of the continent has estate the consequences of extreme rainfall, and the floods that have followed it. Reports such as the following, which appeared in the Washington post of all places, paints a grim picture as the weekend comes to an end.

‘Australia’s flooding crisis headed south Monday into Victoria state, where record floods were predicted for several rural communities facing rivers swollen from heavy upstream rains.  Officials expected floodwaters to drown out highways and isolate dozens of towns in the north eastern part of the state in some of the worst flooding there in a century’. [Meanwhile] ‘Flooding has also spread from Queensland into New South Wales, where nearly 7,000 people are reliant on airdrops of food and other supplies after being isolated by floodwaters’.

 Up in Queensland, and Brisbane, where I guess you could say it all  started,  we had the amazing sight over the weekend of thousands of people queuing up for buses, etc, to be taken to the main flood affected areas of the city, where they became volunteers – helping in most cases, people they had never met before, to clear their homes of damaged furniture and other possessions, clearing out gardens, back yards, driveways, etc, of the tons of debris, mud and other material, that had been left behind by last week’s flood waters, After a bit of confusion on Saturday, things became much more organised by Sunday – huge piles of rubbish been placed on streets to be picked up by as convoy of dump trucks, or any vehicle that could transfer the ‘flood’ rubbish to makeshift rubbish  dumps, which were in turn eventually cleared and removed to official landfill sites.  It was all a brilliant example of  a massive community effort  –  I guess in the smaller towns and communities that had been affected by the Queensland floods, you would expect this kind of community people response to the needs of others affected by such a disaster. But in Australia’s third largest city  –  well it came as more of a surprise, a kind of mass response where people of all ages came from every direction of the compass simply to ‘help’ those who had suffered from the week’s events.   Some of the individual situations depicted by the media had quite an affect on this viewer.

The death toll, in the meatime,  from the Queensland floods is now 18 dead, with the discovery of a woman’s body in the rubble of a home near Grantham, and the body of a middle-aged man found in a pile of flood debris near Lockyer and Gatton Creeks, between Helidon and Withcott. 14 people are still officially missing. The search for more dead bodies in the stinking mud and debris in the Lockyer Valley [to the west of Brisbane] has now been extended and will continue for several more days. Many soldiers are searching on both banks of the deep and dangerous Gatton Creek, where waters are still flowing fast after the flood tsunami last week.

At the same time, it was disturbing to realise the extent of damage that had been inflicted on such a large part of inner suburban and the CBD area of Brisbane. While homes and businesses are likely to be a much longer repair issue, it was noted the determination of the government authorities to get the streets and roads cleaned up and cleared of the metres of mud and debris as quickly as possible – the aim being to open the streets, get the traffic flows moving again, and generally where at all possible, allow citizens the opportunity to get back to work as soon as possible. 

Down here in Victoria however, over this weekend, and extending through from Friday, ‘Victoria’s flood devastation was reaching a peak, with by tonight [Sunday] some 45 towns throughout the state having being affected by some degree of flooding. In some of our country towns such as Horsham, Charlton [my ancestral town], Rochester, etc, the floods or potential flooding was being described in terms of  one in a 200 year flood event, or the worst recorded in modern history for parts of the state, and as I write this, there are a number of towns in the north and the west of the state still to potentially face the worst of it. Most of the major rivers in those parts of the State, are overflowing in capacity, and continually threatening towns downstream.  In many ways, the affects overall, have not been as severe as what happened up in Brisbane, but I think that as far as any resident down here whose home or business has been flooded this weekend, that would be small comfort, Meanwhile, it is anticipated that many more towns could be affected in the days ahead by the extreme rainfall that has battered the state, and many of those towns have already endured two other floods over the past five months.  No drought at all that the drought of the past decade has broken, but for many farmers who were close to breaking point before the rains started to come, the ruination of crops through these floods  –  the prevention of sowing, and of the planting of a new season crop – one shudders to think where such people can turn to now!

A couple of reports from the Age newspaper give some indication of the seriousness of the current situation:-

Echuca and Horsham are set to be hit by their worst floods in 100 years as Victoria deals with unprecedented conditions.  The swollen Campaspe River could flood up to 100 Echuca properties when it peaks tonight Hundreds of businesses and homes could be flooded in Horsham on Monday and Tuesday when the Wimmera River near the town peaks at midday on Monday. New emergency alerts were issued to two other north-west towns today, with Culgoa residents given an evacuation order, while a flood warning was issued for Quambatook.  Around Victoria, more than 3500 people have fled their homes, 43 towns have been affected and more than 1400 properties have been flooded. From the air, parts of north-central Victoria resembled massive inland lakes today.

State Emergency Service (SES) operations director Trevor White said the flood event was one of Victoria’s biggest since records began.  “In some of our river systems, we are seeing unprecedented stream rises, the bureau hydrologists are working in close liaison with catchment management authorities at the local level,” he told reporters. “The situation is quite dynamic … as the modelling continues and we continue to monitor stream rises as it moves downstream of the current peak flows some of those figures will be adjusted.”  On Sunday Premier Ted Baillieu visited Echuca and flood-ravaged Carisbrook, where he said essential services must be fixed in the town, including its sewerage system.  “Clearly these floods are causing significant grief around Victoria and arguably this flood event is one of the biggest in Victoria’s history,” he told reporters.

Ironically, for most of this weekend, the sun has been shining, and it has become quite warm, but obviously the waters that have built up over recent days, are still on the move, hence the fear of further towns ‘down river’ still in the line of danger.  The weather allowed me to get out into my garden for a few hours on both days, though I would be disappointed on both occasions that I didn’t get a fraction of what I had intended, completed. The heat of the day, in both instances,  and the undeniable truth, that I simply can’t spend a full day in the garden, as in past years [certainly not with the nature of maintenance work I currently have on hand] is proving to be a bit of a hindrance.  I would be surprised if we get the same degree of rainfall over the next 6 weeks or so as the first half of summer has brought us – one must anticipate a few weeks of typically hot Summer weather from this point onwards!  Certainly, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting drier weather in the affected flood regions this week.

Moving away from the flood concerns, I finally caught up with my travelling son – he returned from London on Monday night, but I’d not had the opportunity to catch up with him since then.  He was back at work now [as a baker] and called in to see me briefly on Saturday morning, before he travelled down the highway for a game of cricket with the local team –while his visit to England, Scotland and Paris had been relatively brief, and limited in where he was able to go. I was pleased to hear that he was keen to return at some future time. The cricketing mate he went over to Europe with, was in fact still on the continent somewhere –he obviously had more funding behind him [and perhaps time available] to be able to extend his trip.

Thinking of cricket, I noticed that the Australian and English Women’s cricket teams were currently engaged in a 20/20 cricket series here in Australia at present. The ABC actually telecast the third of those games [best of five] today, and while I’m not really a fan of the 20/20form of cricket, a had a look at part of the match – it’s not often that our women cricketers get much media coverage, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to watch a bit of it, in-between periods out in the back garden.   It seems that the English are also quite dominant at present on the women’s side of the game, having already won the first two games of the series, albeit narrowly. Today was no exception, with the same outcome, although our girls had a bit of a chance near the finish.  That result meant England won the series!  Better news with the Men’s team –  after a disastrous Summer so far, in all games against England [losing both the Ashes series, and the recent two match 20/20 competition [which I took little note of], today in Melbourne, saw the first of the One Day international games between the two countries, and in a high scoring match, Australia for a change, on recent performances, came out on top!!  A world-class score of 161 runs by Shane Watson, helped Australia to a 6 wicket victory over the English  –  my internet cricket loving friend over in the UK has been ‘very noisy’ of late, with her ‘advice’ about the poor performing Australian team – I wonder if I will hear from her tonight!! Final scores – England: 294. Australia: 4 for 297

Meanwhile, the Australian men’s soccer team, competing in the Asian Cup finals, played their second game over the weekend, and achieved a 1-1 draw with South Korea. A better result might have been hoped for, as they now have to avoid losing to Bahrain later this week, if they wish to progress further in this competition!

While the crisis up in Queensland continues, and in many areas, the big longterm clean up commences, and the economical and personal costs are assessed, for us down here in Victoria, our attention has been directed to our own State. Heavy rain throughout the state, from yesterday and overnight, and continuing throughout today, has generated Victoria’s own flood crisis.

In central and western Victoria, small towns are being evacuated as flood waters approach, rivers and dams are overflowing, country roads [and city roads here in Melbourne] are being closed, and  evacuation relief centres are being set up in various locations near the major areas of concern.  I have a personal concern today – my daughter, Susan, had to drive north today, to Bendigo, in order to enrol, etc, for her new university program, and her younger sister, Jodie went alongforthe ride, for which I was grateful. So far, the highway they need to return on, is one of the few highways or roads in that direction which has not yet been cut off.  However, monitoring the radio reports, I’ve heard advice from the police that people should avoid using the Calder Highway between Bendigo and Sunbury, or at least drive with extreme caution  – huge potholes are developing in parts of the road, making driving rather hazardous, where vehicles generally travel at between 110-120 kilometres per hour!@  I’ve warned the girls of that danger, but certainly won’t advise Susie to try a different route in view of the number of roads that are cut off, and/or under water.  So I guess I am watching the time pass, and waiting to hear from Susie when she gets back to Sunbury. Not a good day to have to do a trip of that nature! A recent report indicated that more than 350 people have been evacuated from their homes as torrential rain falls over western Victoria. The State Emergency Service (SES) has issued evacuation warnings for Halls Gap, Beaufort, Great Western, Charlton and Glenorchy.  Meanwhile, the Loddon, Campaspe, Avoca and Wimmera rivers are on major flood warnings. An SES spokeswoman said about 365 people had been evacuated from their homes and taken to relief centres across the state, with more evacuations likely. Around 100 of those were evacuated in Halls Gap and moved to shelter in Stawell as 85mm of rain hit the region overnight.  In Charlton, about 2000 phone and text messages have been sent to residents advising them to go to the relief centre at the local sports stadium. Much of Victoria has experienced heavy rain in recent days. Over the next two to three hours, 20-30mm of rain was expected to fall on the Campaspe River, affecting townships along it.  About 20mm of rain was also expected to fall in the areas of Kerang and Charlton, the spokeswoman said.   Meanwhile the city of Ballarat has been hit hard with flash floods, etc, and I’m certainly glad I am not out in any of those areas at present. I still need to get back to Sunbury from my workplace – there are no major reports roads between here and there, but I’m expecting the traffic to be chaotic!! Not looking forward to that drive!

 This scribe will not be here for a few days – computer is out of action at home, and I don’t expect to have access to it for the next few days. Hopefully, by then, the weather everywhere will be much improved 🙂