I noticed in the obituaries in the Herald Sun a few weeks ago that Linton Briggs died on the 28th of April. I was not overly surprised given that Linton was of old age.
I remember meeting Linton in May 1976 when I started my job as Apiary Inspector with the Dep't of Agriculture. In my second week, (the first week was spent at the Apicultural Research Unit in Scoresby where head of the Apiary Branch Don Langridge and his assistant Russell Goodman showed me how things worked and gave me some menial clerical chores) I went on the road with Senior Apiary Inspector Laurie Braybrook to Wangaratta which was to be my base for my district, the North-east third of Victoria.
On our way to Wangaratta, where a function had been organized that evening by the NE Apiarists Ass for beekeepers to meet their new Department man, Laurie thought it would be polite to call on Linton Briggs at Glenrowan on our way through. Linton was a past president of the NEAA and current president of the Victorian Apiarists Ass. It was late in the afternoon, Linton and his father Jack were finishing cutting up a tree limb that had fallen and damaged a fence on Linton's farm which was a base for his queen bee breeding operation and some cattle grazing. That was my first contact with Linton who was to become a great support to me over the next five years.
Laurie explained that Linton was "a rock". Someone who could be relied on for advice or assistance whatever problem I may have, and if necessary he could be trusted that the conversation if delicate would go no further. This was important for a young man going to a new job with regulatory responsibilities, working with men many far more senior in years. My predecessor had died a couple of years prior and the position was vacant in the interim. The warning was clear, there was a beekeeper or two in the district with a history of disputation with the Department.
That night at the function Linton gave a talk updating the gathering on VAA business and it was apparent he was an eloquent speaker, an intelligent man with a passion for the beekeeping industry and conservation of native flora. Over the next five years Laurie's assessment of Linton as "a rock" proved correct. I was on the phone to him many evenings. It must have driven his wife Helen crazy but she or Linton never showed any sign of exasperation, they were always welcoming and helpful. I wince a little thinking back at how I must have tested their patience during several periods of crisis in the industry such as plague locust spraying, European Foulbrood outbreak and border restrictions, threats to floral resources and conservation and pollination issues. I was a link man and Linton assisted and guided me, and taught me much. I was extremely fortunate.
I remember a month or so after starting the job attending the VAA conference in Bendigo. It ran for most of the week and at lunch one day at a pub I was with Don Langridge and a few NSW apiary officers who had come down, one of whom was the head of the NSW Apiary branch, Alan Clemson. Alan was extolling the virtues of Linton as a competent president and excellent speaker and asked "How old is Linton? I'd say about 45." I learned from a 'Notification - Linton Briggs AM' email from the VAA a few days after I noticed the death notice, that Linton would have been 46 at that conference as it said he was born on 22/April/1930, so he'd just turned 90 by six days when he succumbed to cancer. The notification was signed Helen and family.
Helen seemed a good bit younger than Linton and they had young kids. I think she was a school teacher who moved to the district for her work and they met to the good fortune of both. I wasn't the only industry person ringing Linton in the evenings, there were many, and I think he spent most evenings of his life on the phone.
Linton was a non drinker. His father Jack was the policeman at Glenrowan for many years. I think they lived in the police house with the lock up in the back yard. Linton saw a lot of violence and misery caused by alcohol as a kid so he never participated. Old Jack liked a drink. I can recall on a hot day being out with Linton and Jack checking nucs around the area. We pulled up outside a pub on the way home for some reason and Jack looked in at the blokes at the bar saying "Look at the lucky buggers" but Linton wouldn't stay for Jack to go in and have a beer.
I have been waiting patiently for the next issue of the monthly VAA Journal which will no doubt have a tribute to Linton. I received an email saying it would be sent electronically while this Covid thing was making life difficult. If it does I'll try to copy and paste the tribute into this post.
I have met few people in my time that have left such a strong imprint on me as Linton Briggs did. You could say I had huge respect and admiration for his dedication and integrity, and for his talents. This remains after he has passed, and in the short time since, my memory of him has aided me when things get a bit difficult. This is what good people do for us. They inspire us to be be better and stronger ourselves.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Sunday, May 03, 2020
A Weird Month
It's a month since I posted. You'd think with this virus lockdown bizzo I'd have had plenty of time to write in this blog. Somehow not so, it seems there are always more chores and problems than there's time to do or attend to them.
Nearly a month ago I stubbed the fourth and fifth toes on my right foot badly. Rammed it into the steel rod leg of a kitchen stool. We all know the excruciating pain that comes with that. It passes after a short time, but I was left with sore toes when walking for some days. You pretend it's not there and move on. A week to ten days later it became quite painful and swollen, making working difficult. I didn't think the toe had been broken so I was alarmed thinking my Rheumatoid arthritis had flared up, either as a result of the stubbing incident or by itself in some cruel sort of vendetta to destroy me. Bearing in mind I had dropped all my medication nearly a year ago, and been so happy that I was either cured or in remission. If it came back I'd be shattered.
It became so painful to put boots on or to walk that I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. Infection was the verdict. The skin between the toes must have split when I stubbed them, unknown to me, so I didn't put Betadine or Dettol on it. Bacteria must have got in. I've been on antibiotics for nearly twelve days now and all seems well. I saw the doctor last Friday, she cut away a lot of dead skin and gunky stuff, she cut me doing it causing bleeding, and I go see her again next Tuesday. I'm cleaning it each day and putting Betadine on it. I pulled some more dead stuff out from between the toes tonight. It's amazing the stuff that sort of grew in the wound, thick white skin, as I guess the body was trying to repair itself. It seems fine now, no pain, but the skin peeled off the foot where the swelling went down, and the new skin is soft and sensitive, especially as it got unbelievably itchy and I scratched too much. There had been an abscess in there.
While all this was going on I had some interesting times seeking some government assistance due to the collapse of the business resulting from the lockdown. When we came back from SA I looked into it and after much frustration trying to suss out what to do I managed get a Mygov account and link it to the ATO, and register an intention to claim with Centrelink and link it to the Tax office. An SMS from Centrelink on April 2 said "You have registered your intention to claim. You don't need to do anything more now, we will phone you."
That gave me some comfort that I may get some assistance in the form of helping me pay my casual staff ongoing, as I was intending anyway till I ran out of money. I did fear there'd be some obstacle and I wouldn't qualify but I had no option other than to continue and hope they would in fact contact me. On April 28 I got an SMS saying, "Your ability to claim expires 8 May, so you need to claim before this time." This spurred me to action rather than wait to be phoned. I first had to find out how to make a claim. This involved going through a maze on line, (trying to contact by phone the tax office, Centrelink, my accountant all unsuccessful, after many hours and a couple of days frustration).
Eventually I cracked it. I enrolled for Jobkeeper, for one staff only, sister Meredith, as she works far more hours than the other two. I saw that to get any help I had to to have paid her $750 per week through April, and my turnover must have dropped by 30% (it had dropped much more). I had paid her a little less than that so I went to the bank to get more money to give to her before the end of April. When I got the money out the teller gives a little slip of paper with the transaction and a balance. When I looked at the balance there was more there than I thought given that for weeks I had payed all normal outgoings and wages but money in had dropped right off.
Baffled by this I couldn't wait for my end of April bank statement to be available so I went on online banking that night and checked transactions and blow me down there was an inter bank credit on the 23 April, $10,000, ATO. So I'd been given $10,000 without my knowledge with no notification or advice. I presume it is to enable me to keep paying people which is what I'll do. I don't know if I should have enrolled for Jobkeeper, given I had been given this money. No doubt it'll all come out in the wash.
Besides all that it has been unbelievably wet, and cold. My main wholesale customer, the only buyer we have now really, besides one other florist who has come back, has suddenly started giving big orders for mixed posies and variegated pittosporum (he won't take anything else yet) so we've been working in the rain doing our best to give him what he wants. A pain in the arse, all of it. Don't know where it will end up. It's all new territory, yes, the world has changed.
Happily, tomorrow I'll be 4 calender months AF. I had cherry juice to accompany my roast beef tonight. Lib had red wine. She must have not wanted to finish her glass after dinner and tipped the empty dregs into my empty glass. I didn't know she had done this, and thinking I hadn't finished the cherry juice, I drank it down. Strewth! What a shock! It tasted vile. Seems my taste buds have altered in these four months. Next target 6 months.
Nearly a month ago I stubbed the fourth and fifth toes on my right foot badly. Rammed it into the steel rod leg of a kitchen stool. We all know the excruciating pain that comes with that. It passes after a short time, but I was left with sore toes when walking for some days. You pretend it's not there and move on. A week to ten days later it became quite painful and swollen, making working difficult. I didn't think the toe had been broken so I was alarmed thinking my Rheumatoid arthritis had flared up, either as a result of the stubbing incident or by itself in some cruel sort of vendetta to destroy me. Bearing in mind I had dropped all my medication nearly a year ago, and been so happy that I was either cured or in remission. If it came back I'd be shattered.
It became so painful to put boots on or to walk that I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. Infection was the verdict. The skin between the toes must have split when I stubbed them, unknown to me, so I didn't put Betadine or Dettol on it. Bacteria must have got in. I've been on antibiotics for nearly twelve days now and all seems well. I saw the doctor last Friday, she cut away a lot of dead skin and gunky stuff, she cut me doing it causing bleeding, and I go see her again next Tuesday. I'm cleaning it each day and putting Betadine on it. I pulled some more dead stuff out from between the toes tonight. It's amazing the stuff that sort of grew in the wound, thick white skin, as I guess the body was trying to repair itself. It seems fine now, no pain, but the skin peeled off the foot where the swelling went down, and the new skin is soft and sensitive, especially as it got unbelievably itchy and I scratched too much. There had been an abscess in there.
While all this was going on I had some interesting times seeking some government assistance due to the collapse of the business resulting from the lockdown. When we came back from SA I looked into it and after much frustration trying to suss out what to do I managed get a Mygov account and link it to the ATO, and register an intention to claim with Centrelink and link it to the Tax office. An SMS from Centrelink on April 2 said "You have registered your intention to claim. You don't need to do anything more now, we will phone you."
That gave me some comfort that I may get some assistance in the form of helping me pay my casual staff ongoing, as I was intending anyway till I ran out of money. I did fear there'd be some obstacle and I wouldn't qualify but I had no option other than to continue and hope they would in fact contact me. On April 28 I got an SMS saying, "Your ability to claim expires 8 May, so you need to claim before this time." This spurred me to action rather than wait to be phoned. I first had to find out how to make a claim. This involved going through a maze on line, (trying to contact by phone the tax office, Centrelink, my accountant all unsuccessful, after many hours and a couple of days frustration).
Eventually I cracked it. I enrolled for Jobkeeper, for one staff only, sister Meredith, as she works far more hours than the other two. I saw that to get any help I had to to have paid her $750 per week through April, and my turnover must have dropped by 30% (it had dropped much more). I had paid her a little less than that so I went to the bank to get more money to give to her before the end of April. When I got the money out the teller gives a little slip of paper with the transaction and a balance. When I looked at the balance there was more there than I thought given that for weeks I had payed all normal outgoings and wages but money in had dropped right off.
Baffled by this I couldn't wait for my end of April bank statement to be available so I went on online banking that night and checked transactions and blow me down there was an inter bank credit on the 23 April, $10,000, ATO. So I'd been given $10,000 without my knowledge with no notification or advice. I presume it is to enable me to keep paying people which is what I'll do. I don't know if I should have enrolled for Jobkeeper, given I had been given this money. No doubt it'll all come out in the wash.
Besides all that it has been unbelievably wet, and cold. My main wholesale customer, the only buyer we have now really, besides one other florist who has come back, has suddenly started giving big orders for mixed posies and variegated pittosporum (he won't take anything else yet) so we've been working in the rain doing our best to give him what he wants. A pain in the arse, all of it. Don't know where it will end up. It's all new territory, yes, the world has changed.
Happily, tomorrow I'll be 4 calender months AF. I had cherry juice to accompany my roast beef tonight. Lib had red wine. She must have not wanted to finish her glass after dinner and tipped the empty dregs into my empty glass. I didn't know she had done this, and thinking I hadn't finished the cherry juice, I drank it down. Strewth! What a shock! It tasted vile. Seems my taste buds have altered in these four months. Next target 6 months.
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