Where Am I?

Waking up in strange surroundings can be unsettling for a few moments till the brain clicks in and you realize that you are in fact on holiday in some location, or away visiting relatives, or even in hospital, as the case may be. I was prompted to think about this by a quote that was given to us at writing class recently -

"If you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are."

We were asked to write something using the quote as a starting point. I think the purpose was to examine our sense of place and identity, and consider how our place in the world defines who we are, what motivates us, and how we think and act.

Apart from these brief night time or early morning confusions on waking, I have never really been unaware of my whereabouts in the context of the world, and the good fortune I had to be born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, into a middle class family in the post WW2 baby boomer era.

For the first decade or so of my life I comfortably believed everything fed to me by my parents, at school as I saluted the flag and sang the national anthem, and marched back after assembly on the quadrangle into the classroom to the recorded music of Colonel Bogey.

But front of my mind as I contemplate this quote, is a day I woke up I had no idea where I was, even after thinking about it for a some time in the cold early dawn. Let me explain.

I think it was early 1968, January, so I would have been 15 years old, approaching 16. A couple of weeks earlier my parents were meddling in my bedroom and found a bottle full of cigarette buts sealed tightly with a lid, the aftermath of my late night last fags hanging my head out the window before retiring. This was the second time I had been caught out smoking in a short period, the first causing confrontation with my father, which left me bruised and battered and my father unscathed. My parents were serious wowsers, strongly opposed to tobacco and alcohol.

This second time dad told me I could leave home if didn't want to abide by his rules, saying plenty of young people left home and made good. I packed a bag and caught a train to Footscray station, walked to the Geelong Rd and started hitchhiking. I was headed to Torquay where I had friends camping at the beach town for the school holidays. I had no idea what I'd do after the holiday period, the only thing that mattered was the moment and the next day. 

I was there for some days with these school mates and another turned up, my mate RickyRalph, with whom I've had a close frienship continuing to the present. As it happened one evening we were all going the pictures but not unusually decided to get a bit liquored up first. There was a vacant block next to the timber building that served as a movie theatre, and somehow I didn't make it to the pictures after skulling a bottle of screwdriver, and flaking out in the vacant block. When my mates came back to get me I wasn't there.

In the morning I woke up with a terrible hangover. I was in a room with a timber floor and walls and nothing else that I recall. It was quite dark,there must have been a small window high up, but there was no way out of this small room. I was physically ill and desolate of spirit. Alone. Lost. No idea where I was. 

After sometime in this state of confusion I heard a noise outside, somebody was outside toying with the door, trying to open it.

"Mate, are you in there?" a familiar voice said. RickyRalph.

"Yes, I'm in here, where am I?"

"You're in the lock up, at the cop shop, I can't open the door, it has a lock."

Ralphie explained that the cops had been patrolling the picture theatre and found me paralytic.

Then there was a loud angry voice suddenly yelling.

"What the hell are you doing? Get out of here now or you'll end up in there with him." The resident cop had come out of the station and into the back yard where the lock up was.

"I'm just seeing if my mate's alright". 

"Get the hell out of here," yelled the cop, and he then cursed the the German Shepherd who was supposed to keep anyone out of the yard. "You useless bloody thing." Ralphie had no fear of dogs.

Sometime later I was taken into the police station and processed and released and went back to my mates' tent. Days later a letter came from from my father, addressed to the campground and the appropriate site. He apologized and said he'd like me to come home.

I was required to attend Children's Court in Geelong a month or two later to aswer the charge of Drunk and Disorderly. The cop reading the charge was a middle aged angry looking man who had come up to me outside the court beforehand.

"Don't you ever call a policeman a fucking bastard again."

After he'd finished his evidence the magistrate or JP said, "But what did he do?"

Cop- "When he was woken he was most abusive."

Magistrate- "He was asleep when you found him. I do not consider that disorderly conduct. Case dismissed." 

Thinking back now, it was during my adolescent fog that I began to question things. As years then decades passed I realized much of what I was fed as a youngster was, as the hit song went, "Ain't necessarily so."

Today I question everything. Going back to visit Mt.Waverley where I grew up everything has changed so much it feels like my childhood and youth never really happened, it was in some other realm. Our family home went long ago, replaced by modern apartments, as have been most of the houses.

Geographically I know very well where I am. The changes are rapid at Emerald where I work, and Gembrook where I live. I loathe going to Melbourne because of the traffic and congestion. Australia has changed so much. There are so many things I question and dislike about our nation and our society. Yes I know where I am, and who I am, but I no longer feel comfortable or "at home".











   

More Mt Waverley

Ricky Ralph came up to visit me last Saturday. He said he enjoyed reading my posts about Mt Waverley and was looking forward to reading more. Rick and I met in 1964 at Malvern Grammar, our first year of secondary school. We were in the same class but didn't become close friends until say 1966/67 by which time we had moved on to Caulfield Grammar, Malvern being its Junior school. What brought us together was probably that we didn't quite fit into the system very well and felt some resentment to the rigid discipline, especially as it was sometimes unfair and to be truthful quite absurd. Ralphie wants me to be brutally honest and tell all as it was. I don't know about that, that period of my life I find a little embarrassing looking back, say 15-20yo. At least he's given me the green light to write about him. Rick's parents moved to Mt Waverley in about 67/68 and by then we were best mates who spent nearly all our spare time together.

But first I have to finish the Mt Waverley Primary school story. In Grade 4 Mr Laub watched as me and Bill Genat kissed our girlfriends Janyne and Marilyn before they boarded their bus to home. Other kids were with Mr Laub and they tipped Bill and me off that he'd seen us kiss the girls and we'd be in strife. Next day he asked us to stay back and gave us a bit of a lecture that we were not to be doing that, his exact words I can't recall, but the gist of it was that we should leave that sort of thing till we were about 18. We would have been 9 yo so 18 seemed like never.

The next year I was in a different Grade 5 to Janyne, much to my disappointment. I had Mr Worthy (Bob), a good bloke whom I liked a lot. As he called the roll first day when he came to me, nearly last as I always was as it was alphabetical, he asked me did I have an older brother. When I said yes Joddy, who had been in Mr. Worthy's class two years earlier, he just stared at me. Meredith said when she went into Mr Worthy's class two years later, when he did the roll first day, he asked her did she have two older brothers and when she said yes he put his head on the desk and covered it with his hands. Mind you I was always quite well behaved and a good student at primary school. Mr Worthy did have occasion to give me the strap once, along with Graeme Burrowes and Chris Barker. He caught us teasing Gay Elliot, who had an unfortunate habit of bursting into tears in class and got the nickname 'Geeza'. Now Burrowes was a bit of a nutcase, he had the reputation of being the best tweedie fighter and challenged all comers. I don't claim that me and Chris were innocent but it was definitely Burrowes who was relentless in his taunting of Gay- "Geeza, Geeza, Geeza," until she'd burst into tears. This day at lunchtime Gay broke down and I don't remember if she dobbed us or Worthy caught us but after lunch we had to line up for the strap. Burrowes was first and he almost screamed with each cut. Chris next, winced and grimaced but was noiseless. Other kids in the class told me I got the hardest but I neither flinched or made a sound. I don't even know if it hurt, I think the brain just shut off. This was toward the end of the year and a few days later in a casual sort of moment me and a few others were near Mr Worthy's desk and I found him looking at me with a bit of a stare. When I looked back at him, holding eye contact for some seconds, he said, "I'm beginning to lose my fear of you now."

What he meant was he'd had Jod two years earlier and had been traumatized by the experience, and was expecting me to explode at some point, especially when he strapped me. I remember when Jod was in Bob Worthy's class a couple of years earlier there was an incident where Jod refused to do what he was asked, yelled expletives and bolted out of the class, climbed onto the roof of the toilets and into the pine trees and they couldn't get him down.

Grade five saw my love affair with Janyne come to an end. In seperate classes now (they probably did this on purpose) she seemed to be avoiding me at playtime and lunchtime. I went up to her one day, she was playing knuckles with her friends, sitting on the asphalt in a circle. I said to her "You said you wanted marry me when we grow up."

She replied, "Oh that was last year." It was over, but I did carry a torch for her for years, secretly.

By this time I was great mates with Graeme Forster, we were inseperable for five years or so. I had holidays with his family at Lorne and Torquay and we were always playing cricket, football, shuttlecock, or snooker or billiards, or riding bikes somewhere. His nickname was Bubs, because he had brothers 3 and 4 years older and the name had stuck from his early days.

We were in Terry Stabler's class in Grade 6, a fantastic year. Mr Stabler was English and very popular with his class. We spent time nearly everyday playing rounders. In the 1980's and 90's Mr Stabler used to come to our farm to buy honey. He lived in Berwick then. I thanked him for that happy year and commented on how relaxed and fun it was and asked him how he got away with letting us play rounders for much of the day. He said that class was not supposed to be his, all the bright well behaved kids were selected to give another teacher an easy time because they were recovering from an operation, or almost retired, something like that. It may have been Davo or Skippy himself, Mr Skipworth was the headmaster, a good old bloke, rotund, silver haired, always wearing a dark suit with braces. At the last minute it didn't happen and Terry Stabler got the gig. He said he really didn't have to do anything as all the kids were on top of the carriculum from early.

Football and cricket were a big deal in the last two years of primary school. In Grade 5 I played in the school footy team, Graeme did too, and we won the comp. The next year not so good. We played against Syndal, Glen Waverley, Chadstone, and later Pinewood, and maybe others that escape me. I had great success in cricket, bowling leg spin, copying Richie Benaud. I had figures of 7/10 in one match, 4/5 in another. Geoff Burston and I saved the day against Syndal in one match with a big partnership after a top order collapse. Geoff later was an accomplished bass guitarist in 'The Black Sorrows' who were quite famous for a time. Robert Rose cleaned me up one day though against Pinewood, carting my leggies all over the ground. He was the son of Bob Rose, Collingwood legend, and played cricket for Victoria in the 70's, and football for Collingwood and Footscray, .

That'll probably do for my Mt.Waverley PS  recollections. I have been good friends with Ian Sinclair who was in Jod's year for about the last fifty years, he lives in Whitehorse in the Yukon Canada. His brother Colin who was in my year and captain of the football team in our last year runs a fishing tackle shop in Adaminaby and takes people fly fishing. Graeme Strachan died in a helicopter crash in Qld. Graeme Forster last I heard was living on the Gold Coast. So was Janyne Wilcox. Other names such as John Weatherley, John Fitzgibbon, Steven Perry, Gary Royal, Bruce Warne, Alan Lightfoot, Philip Shine, Bill Edwards, twins Frank and John Gammon, Ross Walters, David Jewell, Tony Smith, Jimmy Slatter, Denis Chambers, Jeremy Hartley, Terry Thorrington, Gail Beaton, Pam McCauley, Pam Hope, Meg Ockendon, Marilyn Williams, Dianne Cunliffe, Dianne Edgelow, Robin Hudson, Linda Wallace come to mind, as would more if  I thought long enough. It's amazing what you do recall when you get immersed like this. I would be very curious to know what happened to all those kids I went through school with. A Mt.Waverley PS reunion from 1963 would be most interesting, but I don't think it possible. Too long ago and people would be dispersed all over Australia and the world.

Mt Waverley Primary School

Formal education started for me at Mt. Waverley primary school in 1957. That class was known to all as 'Bubs', but I suppose it was Preps officially, as it was when my kids went to school. The teacher was Mrs Longmuir if my memory serves me, a pleasant lady, dark hair. I recall very little of the year except that first day mum walked with me to school and after that I was supposed to go with Jod who had started two years earlier, but I think I went by myself after the first day, Jod didn't want to know his little brother.

I had been to kindergarten the previous year and remember little of this except I didn't like it. The kinder was new if I'm right, a cream brick building at the 11 oclock point of the oval in Sherwood drive. I don't think there was a kinda prior. Jod didn't go to one. A walkway connected Sherwood Drive and Virginia St past the kinda and the progress hall on the Stephenson's Rd corner with Virginia St (a timber building that was used for community meetings and children's club things. I went to a gymnast club thing there a couple of times, later it was used to store mountains of newspapers for a service club before it caught fire and burned down one day) I was a quiet kid and wasn't really into the stuff they wanted me to do at kinda (drawing and cutting paper up and mucking about with clag?}. This is vague recollection, but my strongest memory of kinder is they had a pet frog in an old wash trough in the yard and we were asked to catch flies and bring them as food for the frog. Mum found this amusing but I seriously spent a lot of time one weekend trying to catch flies. When I turned up to kinder with some in a jar, the only kid that did, it created laughter for the ladies at kinder. Not understanding, I was annoyed.

My clearest recall of Bubs was sitting on the floor, with Mrs Longmuir asking questions and putting up numbers and things like letters and words on the blackboard. I always had my hand up to answer the questions when often no others did. This seemed to irritate Mrs Longmuir, she said seeing I was so good with the answers I could go outside and play and sent me out. I didn't realize this was some sort of reward (if it was) and when I got outside I didn't know what to do by myself and just sat miserable on the steps of the class rooms. From memory these were temporary classrooms, three in a row, Bubs first one, then grade one, then grade 2. I wasn't so quick to show I knew all the answers after this.

Grade one the teacher was Mrs Bennett, a middle aged well dressed woman with blue rinse hair and often puffing on a fag in class. She was agreeable and friendly but had a stern side. My only memory of an incident in her class is that she took exception to me twiddling my finger through my hair at the front, She warned me that if I kept doing it she'd put a bobby pin in my hair to hold it down. It was an unconscious habit I couldn't control so she pinned my hair which caused much amusement to the boys as bobby pins were a girl thing. I copped a bit of flack at lunchtime. Grade 2 we had Mrs Nicholson, a large woman with grey hair who had a bad temper and she'd lose it if a kid annoyed her and thump the daylights out of their back with a brutal hand. At the end of grade 2 I got an award from the Education Dept or someone for 5 pounds for being equal top of the class with Howard Partridge.

Memory gets a bit better come 1960, Grade 3. My teacher was a lovely young lady Mrs Lambert. I think her first name was Diane but I may be wrong. She was tall with dark hair and very pretty. I already knew her. The previous year she was a grade 4 teacher and had Jod in her class. Now Jod was always a hopeless student, could grasp nothing, and was defiant to boot. Mrs Lambert tried her utmost to help him. She contacted our parents and offered to tutor Jod at her house. Mum said Ok she would come home from work and take Jod to Mrs Lambert's house but there was a problem as there were two younger ones. Mrs Lambert said bring them too she will give them something to do. So Jod, and sometimes Meredith and me, were dropped at Mrs Lambert's house in Blackburn Rd while she tried her best with Jod. The work she gave me was dead easy so when I had her as a teacher in grade 3 she knew I was well up to speed. Mrs L's husband was a policeman and he came home a couple of times while the tutoring was on and he was a nice man. I'm not sure really if this was after school or on weekends or school holidays, They didn't have kids, being a young couple getting established. I would love to contact them now, I did try to track Mrs L once but no luck. They may well have passed on anyway as I'm now 67 so they would be in their mid/late 80's.

By 1960 the school had grown. I think there were two grade 3's, both large classes. Mt. Waverley was a boom suburb with all the baby boomer generation needing schooling. In the 60's I think it became the largest primary school in the state for enrollment. Mt Waverley was changed from semi rural to totally urban in a short tome. Yet next door to the school we still had a market garden that used draft horses. We had to separate our rubbish from our lunch into food scraps or other as the food scraps went to the pigs the market gardener kept. Outside the grade three four classes some trees for shade with wooden seats beneath and a monkey bar, and a row of large pine trees stretching up to the northern boundary. Under these trees was a toilet block, very old and inadequate, no sewage, pans emptied by night cart, and a bit further up a shelter shed and at the end a maypole and maybe some other play equipment. I may be wrong with some of this detail as we are talking about 60 years ago, so if other ex students stumble on this blog post I apologize for errors. On one side of the pine trees was a sort of fine yellow gravel that extended to Park Lane, on which formal and non formal running races were held and the girls played softball. On the other side of the pine trees was an oval or more a level paddock (across to Marriot's farm where the draft horses often grazed), where boys kicked the footy in recess and lunchtime. There were cricket nets and concrete pitches there, maybe only in the last few years I was there. In front of the buildings on the east side were netball courts on Park Lane boundary. Assembly was held here. (Once a week?) We'd line up in our grades to the flag and the God Save the Queen then march in single file to our classrooms to Colonel Bogey music or some such.  I think maybe some parking for teachers cars too was on that boundary. I have enjoyed reminiscing about this as it has made me remember many pupils male and female that I haven't thought of in many years, too numerous to list.

In grade 3 I had my first love affair, with Janyne Wilcox. Her friend was Marilyn Ryan. My friend Bill Genat was in love with Marilyn.They both lived in East Oakleigh and I think just came to the school in that year. There was a shortage of schools for the burgeoning population which is why Mt Waverley had such a large enrolment. These girls came by bus I think with others of course. The love affair lasted a couple of years. I sometimes rode my bike to Janyne's house after school. I was in the same grade four class as Janyne with Mr Laub. We had graduated to the old original school building now and there were more than 60 kids in the class. No heating except for an open fire in extremely cold weather and it was the era of inkwells and nib pens still. Mr Laub was a good teacher, a small man, quietly spoken and well liked.

This post is going too long and will not be of much interest to people other than those from Mt. Waverley so I'll post this and finish my primary school story another time.

Neighbours

Our neighbours in Virginia St. Mt Waverley were a pretty stable lot in that most of them were there the whole time we were, although on one side first it was the Skilbecks, then the Jewells followed by the Dixons. On the other side I only remember the Hurley's who were still there when we left. Bob and June Hurley, parents of Jill and David were a quiet respectable family who were never anything but pleasant and helpful. Bob worked in the city I think in insurance and walked to the train daily in his suit carrying his brief case. Jill was in Meredith's year at school and David was a couple of years younger. As a young chap he did a fair bit of loud bawling in the back yard, for what reason we didn't know because we never heard conflict or other drama.

On the contrary we must have horrified them with our noise. Our place was a gathering point for local boys, friends of Jod and myself, and the activities were boisterous. This was probably because my mother worked so there was no parental supervision at our place after school or on Saturdays and school holidays. In addition, Lyle had a games room built on the back of the house in the early sixties and put a three quarter size billiard table in it which was like a magnet. Kids would come and go of their own accord. Some knew where the house key was and would let themselves in if no-one was home and play pool snooker or billiards. There was football and cricket in the back yard and the pines, yonnie fights, water fights and often loud music.

Some kids had air rifles as did Jod, and shooting sparrows and blackbirds, regarded as pests, was a popular past time. One time, Ray McLeod I think it was, was stalking a blackbird perched on the spouting of the Dixon's next door. Just as he aimed Mrs.Dixon spotted him from the lounge room window directly below where he was aiming. The shot missed the bird but hit the spout with a loud bang and she screamed and accused him of shooting at her. There was a big fuss over that and for a time air guns were banned at our house. There was always something or somebody being banned. After a window breakage football or cricket would be banned in the back yard for a while and we'd have to play in the pines or on Sherwood oval.

After the Jewell's left mid sixties, and they may well have done so because of us, the Dixon's, Les and Mrs and their son John moved in. The parents were elderly and Les had had a stroke and was severely restricted walking very slowly with a stick. Son John was a big man about 6 ft 5, a primary school teacher, who was quiet as a mouse and hardly ever spoke. He was not married, about 40 odd, would just say hello and comment on the weather. His only real interest seemed to be his car, he bought a Holden 186S  in 1966 and later a Monaro and washed them fastidiously. John never complained but Mrs Dixon did regularly, with good reason I'm sure. I got on alright with Mrs Dixon, now and again she'd get me doing odd jobs for her and she paid me. She did complain though about the incessant noise of ball hitting brick wall in our backyard. I'd throw it for hours and when it came back at me I'd face up with the cricket bat and practice shots. The heavy rubber guts ball was banned by my parents when the plaster started cracking in the lounge room. It was more Jod and his mates that upset Mrs Dixon. One time Alan Sealy rode his bike up and down our driveway calling out "Sherman" in a deep monotonous drawl for a couple of hours. Sherman was Jod's pet black rabbit that he stole from a burrow as a kitten and took it home as a pet. It turned savage as an adult much to the amusement of Jod's mates who often took up chanting Sherman's name. It drove Mrs Dixon nuts. Sherman, also driven nuts probably, escaped and lived happily as a feral for a few years.

As you went up Virginia St. there was the Cranat's, the Kayes, the Partridges, the Cantillons. There were twin Cantillon girls in Jod's year at school. They had an older brother who was killed in the 1980's Jod says when he lived at Wheelers Hill and while working under his car in his driveway and slipped off the jack. On the other side at the top were the Strachans. Graeme Strachan who later became famous as lead singer "Shirley" of 'Skyhooks' was in my year at school and one of my childhood playmates. He had three sisters all younger. His father Ron was a well regarded local builder and built our games room addition. I don't remember the names of the other families coming back down that side of the street until the last house next the church opposite us which was the Shackleton's. Greg Shackleton was one of the Balibo 5 killed in East Timor by the the Indonesian military in 1975.

Next to the Hurley's was the Wickam's who also had a daughter Coral in Meredith's year. Then on the corner with Park Lane was the Hoskins. Across Park Lane on our side was the Ford's. They had boys a bit older than Jod. Their house was one of the first built in the area perhaps 20 or more years before ours, in the style of of an old farm house. By the sixties the garden was overgrown and contained large poplar trees that were probably the parents of the suckers in the vacant block at the back of the pines.

Mr Ford shot himself. Jod said he heard the gunshot. Mrs Ford was alcoholic. She crashed the car into the baker's van and he had to have his legs amputated. Jod said he was in their garden with one of the Ford boys one day when he heard Mr Ford say to his wife inside the house, "You drunken pig." Before he suicided Mr Ford was big in banking, Jod thinks. I liked Mrs Ford, she'd walk down our street going home (no longer driving after the accident) and would say hello and have a chat. She was a tall stately woman if I recall, usually wearing a fur coat. The Ford's house and garden was a bit spooky, I rarely ventured in there exploring, but occasionally did with mates to look at the old concrete swimming pool which was deep and full to about a foot and a half from the top, but dirty. Graeme Strachan and Howard Partridge were in there one day after school when one of them (not sure which) fell in. The other panicked and ran off.  A man walking past heard the boy yelling for help and went and pulled him out.

The big Poplar trees in the Ford's place were glorious yellow in autumn. We had big flocks of starlings that would congregate in autumn, towards dusk, on the power lines, in the pines, in Ford's poplars, thousands of them. They'd fly up in mass do some acrobatics then resettle. As it got late they'd start up a hell of a noise then just before dark they'd take off and land somewhere else then be dead quiet. Jod said this was their ploy to fool predators like cats, luring them somewhere then at the last moving somewhere else.

The starlings would then one day be gone, migrated to Queensland for the winter so we believed.

The Pines

I talked to Jod about the horse eating Lyle's cabbages. He told me it was Billy Holman's horse 'Kim'. Bill was at school same year as Jod and was "a good bloke," I agree. Jod continued as memories came back.

"Bill was a bit of a hero for a while. A group of us was standing around my bird aviary in the back yard under the pines when we saw a big rat scurrying along the top of the fence. Without hesitation Bill pulled out his knife and threw it at the rat. In a total fluke it hit the rat fair in the guts and skewered it at some distance. It made Bill famous for a bit."

"What became of Bill, do you know?"

"He died, in the mid 60's. Got bucked off his horse and hit by a passing truck, in Waimerie Dve. But somebody told me that, I can't be sure it's right. It was later when I was in the railways. But I never saw Billy Holman again so it could be right."

The Pines were a great part of our childhood. A sort of local community playground, without play equipment, just the trees which were heavily branched enabling them to be easily climbed. You could move along through the trees hanging over other people's back yards or climb to a comfortable position close to the top and see the neighbourhood for many blocks, watch people walking to and from their homes or in cars, hanging out washing, gardening, or other activities they wouldn't do if they knew they were watched. (They were actually cypress trees I realized when I was more learned about trees but to us then they were always called The Pines)

For some of the neighbours it was irritating to have kids in the trees above watching them. Jod particularly liked to annoy Eric Jewell next door. When he was in his backyard splitting wood Jod would climb along above him and shake branches and the dried needles would shower down on Eric and get down his shirt. He'd curse and yell at Jod to piss off, Jod refusing, as he knew the not agile Eric could not climb up and catch him. Eric complained to our parents but Jod always claimed he didn't do it on purpose, Mr Jewell just came out and split wood under where he was climbing.

At different times the pines hosted our knife throwing, the trunks being good targets as we imitated the western movies, sword fighting with home made wooden swords a la Robin Hood, shanghais were big for a while, digging underground hideouts (this was banned after one filled with water after big rain and nearly drowned Meredith when she slipped in) and most of all in my case, a place to kick the footy with my mates. As kids it was long enough that our best efforts would not go over the fence, it being much bigger than the back yard. On weekends sometimes we'd go through the pines to kick the footy on Sherwood oval with dad. Lyle could kick the ball a mile we thought, so he liked the oval, and I think showing off. On the way back he'd always impress us by kicking the ball from inside the pines right over the top into our back yard. Sometimes he didn't make it and the ball would wedge somewhere high in the trees and one of us would have to climb to get it. As I got older say about16, I tried to kick the ball over and found it was quite easy, but to us as young kids Dad was like superman sending the ball spiraling over the pines. Sometimes it'd smash into the roof of the house and mum would go crook. I think he liked to annoy her. They often argued on Sundays in particular, sometimes it was quite heated and Lyle would jump in his car and rev it to blazes and drive off for an hour two.

The Pines were full of bird life. Maggies, mudlarks, ravens, currawongs as well as blackbirds sparrows, thrushes, starlings. Jod was a full on birder all his childhood, as were many of his mates. They had egg collections and roamed the various bush areas in the district, competing with their collections and always on the look out for nests of the rarer varieties. Jod sometimes took fledgings from the nest and raised them as pets at home. He had magpies, a mudlark, and a raven and a currawong at different times. His raven would sit on his shoulder as he rode to school on his bike and then fly home when he got there. These pets stayed around for a year or so and then disappeared. The mudlark came back now and again for a few years as friendly as ever.

A memory of the pines was seeing a young local ride in one Sunday morning carrying a bottle of beer. Sitting on his bike lent against a tree trunk he uncapped the bottle and slowly drank it with rests between swigs. I was in the the back yard with Lyle who watched him from the fence and said to him "Having a sly grog are you?"

It was Mick Longeno, who was a year or so older than me. He must have knocked off the beer from somewhere as he was well under age. He answered Lyle, "That's right," and continued drinking at his own pace. Sadly Mick was killed in a car accident a year or so later, along with Mark Fenton. They were in the back seat of an early Holden turning right into Bales St. from Waverley Road late on a Saturday night when a speeding Mercedes crashed straight into the back. The two in front of the car survived the impact and escaped the resulting inferno but the rear passengers had no chance.

Another memory of the pines is watching Steve Edglow climb to the very top of one tree and hold the leader with one arm and then lean out so it bent over, and grab the leader of the next tree with his other arm and stay there in suspension all the while laughing like a maniac while we expected him to fall at any minute. Steve was a daredevil, a bit mad really. He was in Jod's year at school. His brother Graeme, a year older than me, was a nice kid and we knocked about together for a year or so. A sister Dianne was in my year at school and there was another girl Trixie in Meredith's year. They were always quite poor as Mrs Edglow was a single mum. Steve joined the army after he left school and was a cook there for 9 years. He went to Vietnam. He left the army and did many things and would have an interesting life story. Last we heard he lived on a yacht and sailed all over Australia and Asia, but Jod can shed no light on what became of him. Jod tracked down Graeme some years ago but he said Steve had fallen out with his family and they hadn't heard from him in years. Jod says he thinks the yacht probably sank in a cyclone taking Steve with it.

A Sense of Place

I read a book recently titled 'A Man's Got to have a Hobby' by William McInnes which Gord gave me for Christmas. It tells of the author's early experiences as a child in suburban Brisbane in the 60's and 70's and the influence of his parents with their quirky traits that some might see as eccentric. It tells of local characters and changes to the suburb with the rampaging "appropriate development" as William goes back as an adult to visit his parents at Christmas and other reasons.

It sparked memories of my childhood in Mt Waverley and the vibrant daily activities in our family home, similarly humourous to those of William McInnes, although I tell of a time 10 years earlier, that is the 50's and 60's. Automatic cars were a rarity, some families had no car, milk was delivered by horse and cart, bread came to the front door, so did the doctor if you were unwell, and until the early sixties when sewage came the night man collected the toilet pan once a week from the outside dunny.

Much of this is vague to me, my memory is not good, sometimes I think that might be a good thing. Far better at recall are my sister Meredith, two years younger than me, and brother Jod two years older, who, despite more than 50 years of high alcohol consumption has a memory like a steel trap and recalls every detail of any event or neighbourhood description. I've since given the book to Meredith to read and I hope she'll tell me things she recalls if it sparks her memory like it did mine.

When telling her about the book when I was about half way through, I said I couldn't remember Dad growing vegies in the back yard. She said yes he did, quite passionately for a time. He was very upset when one day someone left the back gate open and a horse that was kept sometimes in the reserve behind our house which we called "the pines" came into our backyard and ate all Lyle's cabbages.

The Pines were not pines actually, they were cypress trees, closely planted around the perimeter of the rectangular reserve of about half an acre. This land was enclosed by houses whose back fences were the typical 6 ft timber paling variety. It had an opening in one corner (fenced closed when the horse was there, but we could still get through a gap between a cypress trunk and the timber fence) giving access to and from Sherwood Rd which at that point had an oval in the middle before it narrowed to one to take it to Stephenson's Rd at the east end and again at the west end going to and intersecting with Park Lane.

In the early days there was a vacant block at the west end of the "Pines" reserve. This we called "the Suckers" as it was inundated by poplar suckers, but not so as to restrict our access and we went to school this way, out our back gate, through the "pines" and the "suckers' and onto Park Lane to our school, Mt.Waverley Primary 3034, about five minutes walk from home.

Sherwood Rd and Park Lane and the lower part of our street, Virginia St, Beverley Grove and a few others, were built using concrete in the 1930's, before there were any houses.  They were the start of a failed Glen Alvie Country Club style development that was to involve the golf course (now Riversdale) and tennis courts and clubhouses. The reserve behind our house was set aside as a little park. The depression put paid to the development and building did not start in earnest till the early 1950's. My family moved there in 1951 I think, and I was born in 1952 and came home from hospital to the red brick house which was one of only a few in Virginia St at that time. I'm told that before the Methodist church was built opposite from our house you could see the trains coming into the station and Lyle used to walk across the paddocks to catch the train to work.

Speaking of quirky eccentric families, ours could be seen as such, but there was no shortage of odd behaviour in the neighbourhood by both children and adults. My father and brother were often involved. It was a time when old fashioned ideals such as those of my grandparents collided with  radical change and new technology. I think my parents, and their children, were victims of the collision.
 

Dawn Splendour

Pip woke me for the second time this morning at about 6.45am. The earlier was about 4.30am, too early for me to go outside to the shed in total darkness to feed her so after letting her out for a pee and a thirst quench for me as well I went back to bed.

Second time up the sun was rising in the east and the sky was lit in stunning rose pink brightness behind the tree silhouettes. I stood on the deck absorbing this beauty for ten minutes, the birds singing their joy; blackbirds, kookaburras, magpies, and others I can't say I could identify. It was perfectly still, and not cold, I checked the thermometer, it said 9C. The peace and beauty of this early morning will stay in my memory, possibly forever.

I realized that no matter the result of yesterday's federal election, the sun rises, the birds sing, and just like after every other election I've experienced, life goes on pretty much exactly the same. The previous night I'd gone to Maria's house to watch the count unfold, fully expecting a Labour victory. There, in the company of Maria, poet John, Isabella and Cathy, all Labour supporters, Gord and I watched in almost total disbelief as the figures revealed the return of the Coalition.

So nothing changes. The rich will get richer, the poor poorer. Environment degradation to continue.

I'm just so glad to be able to enjoy the the peace and quiet of the morning, at age 67. I'm hoping I will  live to see the next election projected to be in 2022, meaning I'd be seventy years old. A nice target. I'm fortunate in good health and I'm confident the target achievable. Hopefully there'll be many more beautiful sunrises and days enjoying the natural world.

Politics is a human construct. My good mate RR has voted informal for decades and refuses to get involved. Perhaps he's right. I regret I didn't put some on the Libs at the 6 to 1 the bookies were offering, I thought about it but decided it would be throwing money away, they had Labour at 1.12 for a dollar, a sure thing I thought.

Ralphie tipped 9

Yes, RR, behind me by 2 in the tipping comp, had a full board this week, caught up on me by one. Good thing I had $5 on his tips and collected $159. Never thought I'd be barracking for Hawthorn but there I was biting my nails.

Good Friday

Late last Thursday, the day before Good Friday, I was picking bay foliage in Gembrook, for the reason that if I got some of my picking done before Friday then I would have a few days relatively free to work at home before customers came on Monday to pick up their orders. These customers usually come Saturdays but had put it forward to Monday due to many of their customers being closed over Easter. I was so looking forward to catching up on house and garden duties at home.

It didn't work out. I had been to the farm on the Thursday, I can't remember what I did and it matters not, but I came home early, after catching up with young Sam, a uni student, who does some casual work on his days off uni. I had to get back early as Lib needed someone to go with her to the optometrist in Pakenham. She'd been having some trouble with her vision, dark shadows, and when making the 3pm appt with the opto he said to bring someone who could drive her home as he would put drops in her eyes so he could examine better, these drops would give her blurry vision for a couple of hours.

I got home with little time to spare but Gord said he'd go with Lib so I went picking after a cuppa and was away a couple of hours. They were back when I returned so before putting my bunches in water I went in to see how Lib got on.

"Not good," she said. "He thinks I might have a detached or torn retina. He says I should go to Emergency at the Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne tomorrow as it can be serious if not attended to and lead to blindness."

"Bugger," I replied. My heart sank immediately, but I thought oh well I have till Monday to fill the orders. "Well we'll leave pretty early if we can."

I went outside to get the foliage into buckets and Gord came out with the phone and handed it to me. It was my good friend Pat MacKenzie from Warrnambool who said he was in Melbourne and would like to come up and see us tomorrow. I explained Lib's eye situation and we exchanged mobile numbers and I said I'd ring him when we got to the hospital, maybe we can meet up in Melbourne. It was toward midday when we got there and after letting Lib out at Emergency and finding car parking I rang Pat's mobile. He and Carmel were across the road in a cafe so they came over and we all sat in Emergency waiting room catching up on news in between interviews with the desk clerk and nursing staff. After about an hour they took Lib in for examination and it was not long before they called me in. Lib's retina was detached and she was operated on that afternoon and admitted as a private patient. Therefore I would not have to wait around for hours till Lib could leave, and I would not have to have her back there at 8am when the surgeon would come to check her.

So I went with Pat and Carmel back to the cafe. They bought me lunch and I'm so grateful that they were there, not just for renewing aquaintance, but because their attendance lifted me (and Lib) out of our tension and anxiety. A difficult and depressing day had a silver lining and it was as if fate or my guardian angel had arranged them to be there for us. They are truly special people.

The cafe we were in must have been under a hospital. A big tall bloke came in pushing a new born in a small hospital pram thing with a perspex/plastic cover. I recognized him as Mark Jamar who played some years at Melbourne then at Essendon. I had a chat to him and wished him well. He said he now had two sons, hopefully one will be a father son selection at Melbourne, and now another for Essendon.

I picked Lib up on the Saturday. We had lunch on the way home and found a 24hr chemist to get the cortisone drops she must put in her eye 4 times a day for two weeks. She can't see out of the crook eye (which looks sunken back), just blur, which can last for 2-7 weeks. The poor girl is miserable and can't do much. We have to go back to the hospital on Friday for a follow up Drs appt. Touch wood all will be well. I'm doing my picking tomorrow for Saturday, early as Friday will be a wipe out workwise.

Poor Lib sure has had a pummeling this last twelve months.

What a Weekend

The weather for the weekend was perfect. Mild, sunny, still, autumn at its best.

I'm pleased to say the two new queens I introduced last Thursday week were accepted and they are laying well. A beautiful thing to see. The colony at Leanne's place which has been difficult to handle for a long time were docile and content on Saturday when I checked. Amazing really, because the bees are still all the progeny of the old queen, but the new introduced queen seems to have worked a spell over them. Her newly laid brood will not be born for a couple of weeks but the hive seems already transformed from savage to calm.

New Queens

We returned from our blissful holiday in Adelaide last Thursday week. It looked like no rain had fallen during our ten day holiday, so dry and parched was the landscape. Fortunately our friend Sandy had done a good job watering our pots and small vegie garden while we were away and I had watered the young plants in the garden before we left and there were no losses.

First day back Friday 29 March was warm to hot with a fair wind, most unpleasant as I worked reluctantly. I ordered two queen bees from a breeder in Qld, thinking that if I could autumn requeen two hives that were poor all season then next season may bring better result. The forecast was not good for the weekend. The breeder said he'd send the queens on Monday and they'd probably arrive Wednesday, by which time I thought the weather would have to have improved. Saturday 30th turned cold and it rained all day pretty much, just the excuse I needed to have some rest. There was 30- 50 ml of rain in the district, still waiting for friend Glen to tell me how much fell here on this side of Gembrook.

Sunday I was on roster duty in the museum. It was very quiet. I enjoyed Beryl's company.

Come Wednesday, full of expectation that the queen bees would arrive, excitedly I went up to the post office. No queens at 10.30am, mail clearance finishing time. It was a pleasant day, mild sunny morning. They told me the queens may come about lunchtime, the post van picked up and sometimes brought more parcels. What do I do? I decided to find the old queens in the hives and kill them, thinking that even if the queens did not come for a day or two it would be alright, at least I'd be able to put them in the queenless hives quickly even if the weather was not ideal.

I found the queen quickly in the hive at our place and pinched her head off, something I do not enjoy, but necessary. The other hive at my friend Leanne's place was more challenging. I couldn't find her. This hive had been savage and difficult for some time and I confess to not being well practised or skilled at finding queens. It's something, like many things, that if you are doing it often you get good at it, but that was not the case for me. Compounding the difficulty, clouds had blocked the sun, the bees were so hungry, the hive dry with no nectar coming in, so the bees were quick to anger, and if you don't find the queen quickly with combs all around the open hive robber bees are on the scene. It took strength of mind to continue. I decided to shake all the bees from the combs into an empty box above a queen excluder above some brood and smoke them down hoping I'd then find the queen who would be stuck above the excluder. Whether this would have worked or not I don't know, because as I picked up the lid covered with bees, the last thing to shake, I spied her hiding in the corner.

By this time the hive was highly agitated and robbers were rampant. I was equally agitated and greatly relieved at finding her majesty, the dark mother of this angry colony. This time the head was pinched with relish.

Back to the post office I learned the queens had in fact arrived, but I took them home and inserted them the next day into the the two now queenless hives, giving the them a day to quieten down and adjust to being queenless. The candy in the queen cage escape takes a day or so for the bees to remove, by which time the queen and her escorts have acquired the scent of the hive so that they are accepted by the colony and not killed as aliens. I will check the hives when the weather is good in a week or so and I will be overjoyed if the introduction of the new queens has been successful and they are rearing new brood.

Each night I go to bed and think with some satisfaction that I have done it, what I had planned to do for some months. I'll let you know if I was successful.

March 5..Edgy

Pip woke me at 4.45am, as she often does around then or soon after, presumably she wants to do her toilet thing. I don't hesitate to get up, the dog has never peed inside in my recollection and nor do I want such happening. Besides I'm ready for a pee myslf so outside we go.

Mind you I'm a bit dopey as I put on gumboots at the back door and walk to the shed to put out Pip's breakfast, prepared the night before. Usually by the time I have done this and my wee, she is there hungry and into breakfast. Not so this morning. I stood and waited in the early grey light, whistled, listened and waited. There's often traffic on the main road at that hour, you can hear the cars coming from a long distance away and I sympathise with these poor buggers that have to be travelling at that time to work who knows where. Sometimes I can hear Pip moving about in the crunchy dry leaves on the ground.

I had to wait a couple of minutes till she turned up, then she just stood and looked at her food with no interest in eating it. Now this is not all that unusual for her. She sometimes goes off her food for a day or so, wants to go in and out of the house a lot, and we figure she has a mild digestive problem which soon passes. But today it worried me, I'm a bit toey after the snake bite thing just a couple of weeks back. Could it be possible that she'd bitten again in the couple of minutes that she'd been out in the garden toileting? I believe snakes do hunt at night and the way March is going nothing would surprise me. I was not about to ring Tom the vet at 5am unless there was more dramatic obvious reason so I went back inside to bed and Pip went to hers in the office. But she didn't stay there. I could hear her nails as she walked up and down the wooden steps. Up again I put a lead on her and we went outside. She had no inclination to do anything but stand sit at my feet. As I patted her she quivered a bit. My anxiety was not eased.

We went back inside. I put her compression jacket on. Maybe she was unsettled by atmospheric factors that she senses well before we hear thunder. There were storms forecast for today. She went up to our bed and lay there which she does usually after I have got up the second time to start my day proper. She likes to sleep where I sleep when I'm not there. I put books or such what on my pillow so she's on the doona not the sheets.

It is now 7.30am I have been doing some things on the computer since 6. She has come out a couple of times but I just checked and she's lying curled looking peaceful. I would think I can forget the 2nd snakebite possibility. Surely symptoms would have developed had that been so? Am I becoming a bit of a nervous wreck? No, not quite, but yes, I'm edgy.

I stayed home yesterday due to the blocked pipe drama. A plumber came about 5pm and put his screw worm jigger thing through the pipe and touch wood that is also now behind me.

Now I'm worried that that an airB+B I've prepaid for a future holiday is a scam. I told RR about it on Saturday and he told me of his experience last year of booking and paying an airBB in Darwin to go to a wedding, only to find the owner cancelled him the day prior. This bloke had done this many times and multiple booked his place and pocketed the money with the customers left with nowhere to stay. RR said he would never do AirBB again, after this incident when he then had to pay through the nose for scarce availability accomm for multiple people for multiple nights.

I think my nervousness about this was not helped by an incident yesterday. I went up to the top our drive to put a sign up so the plumber could find us easily. I have an old cast iron kettle that sits on a tree stump near the top of the drive. I use this to rest the sign on in the street when I know someone is coming. The plumber rang and said he was delayed so I went up the street to shop and as I drove out I saw that someone had knocked off the kettle and the sign was lying flat on the ground. This in our little dead end street. I'd only put it out about half an hour earlier. And there's been press about looters working in these fire areas where people who have evacuated have been robbed.

Yes I'm edgy.

Mad March

We may be only four days in but the indications are dreadful. On Friday 1 Mar, it was about 40C. I worked hard picking much foliage in the heat. At about 2.30pm a thunderstorm pronounced itself with great vigour while I was home bunching and having a cup of tea after busily picking and before going to the farm.

Pip went nuts with the thunder, It was strange, there didn't seem to be any clouds. I later looked, there was some moving away but it was violent thunder. Ten minutes or so later the fire sirens went off and I could smell smoke so I knew lightning had started a fire reasonably close by. I knew from the sirens they were onto it, but I took Pip with me when I left for the farm just in case.

In any case that dry storm was what started the Bunyip State Park fires which have raged since then. Helicopters have been flying over our house at regular intervals for three days, presumably some dropping water on the fire and others assessing. I have felt quite safe, despite the unnerving sight of billowing smoke to the east. We are on the western edge of all that bush, and the prevailing breeze has been away from us. Just the same we've been anxious, as anybody would be.

Now today, yesterday actually as I'm up past midnight, the shit hit the fan. Rickyralph visited this morning, all good, me relaxing after Friday heat and Satuday repeat. Still 38-40C. Then I went to the can, flushed it, bowl filled to brim before slowly emptying. Hello I thought to myself, a problem. I was prompted by this to clean the grease trap as a starting point, knowing it was overdue. It did not improve the situation so I went under the house to an inspection point in the pipe to the septic tank. The main pipe from the toilets was leaking, meaning it was full and held some pressure, there was a blockage somewhere. I took the cap of the inspection point, predictably shit and water and paper spewed out which I was expecting having gone down this track a couple of decades ago. I put the cap back on and tried the toilet but no change, just gurgling and slow release of water. So obviously blockage was other side of the inspection point, between it and septic tank, and now probably an air lock to boot. I knew there was another inspection point top side of the septic tank so I started to dig and after some careful digging so as not to damage the pipe I found it. No amount of putting hose up pipe, or down the other way from the point under the house (yes I took the cap of again and more stuff spewed out, by this time it was quite muddy and shitty under there) would clear the blockage so I gave up, slashed a couple of sherrys and thought well it looks like I'll have to find a plumber tomorrow.

I went inside and had a bath and then a roast dinner of chicken. Gord had a bath late at night, pulled the plug, then realized the water from the bath was going back into the shower then overflowing onto the floor. Lots of towels by me cleaning up. Then, Gord called out, he'd gone up to the other bathroom, to find sullage flooding into the shower, this brown in colour and stinking and obviously full of faeces.

I was almost out of my tree by now. You can imagine the clean up, bearing in mind that the pipes are regurging and we can't use the bathrooms or toilets. Pardon my bad language, no I will restrain, FMD.

I'll try to find a plumber tomorrow. If this is an indicator of a mad March to follow Freaky February God help me.

Freaky February

Monday18 Feb our little dog Pip was bitten by a snake. We didn't see this event. I was home, no orders to pick, oddly, so I was catching up on bookwork and waiting for Gord to come home from his dentist app. When he did come home, about 1pm, I heard him say, "There's something wrong with Pip."

Lib was on the deck reading a book, and I was inside at the computer. I went out to find Pip panting, salivating and quivering. Her whole body was tensed, she was greatly distressed. I took her straight up the street to the vet. Fortunately a lady vet Belinda was in attendance, she said straight away, "This looks like a snakebite." I had thought maybe Pip had eaten some snail pellets I had put out on some broccolli seedlings the day before.

There was no way of knowing until the result of patholoy blood test came the next day if in fact it was snake bite, by which time it would be too late, she would have died. I gave them permission to administer antivenin, which they promptly did.  When I enquired later by phone I was told she had an amazingly quick response to the injection and was doing well, but would need to be kept for a couple of days to monitor progress. How lucky were we, firstly that we were right there, secondly that there was a vet in attendance two minutes away, and thirdly that they had the antivenin on hand which I believe is not always the case.

Beautiful little Pip has survived and it seems fully recovered.

But February amazed for many things. Reknowned horse trainer Darren Weir was suspended for three years. Over a decade I had watched his career explode to be Victoria's most successful and perhaps Australia's leading trainer. Then suddenly gone.

February also saw Cardinal Bill Pell found guilty of sex crimes against minors and jailed. What can I say about that, given my position of not knowing the truth? But the jury found him guilty, that I do know. And there's anecdotal evidence going back two decades before these crimes were alleged, that Pell as a senior in the Ballarat diocese, covered up similar criminal activity by paedophile priests in northern and western Victoria for many years. Thes priests were ultimately found guilty also, the evidence eventually overwhelming.

The floods in North Qld apparently wiped out the cattle industry. I have listened to the appeals for the Australian government to assist in its rebuilding. I have serious doubt as to the validity of this. When I visited my mate Dave Dickson at a property west of Charters Towers some years ago where he worked on a cattle station as a property caretaker. He said to me me then, "I don't know why they raise and farm cattle here, it's not good for cattle, they struggle and it's hard. But fruit trees grow so well, and with plentiful bore water you can grow almost anything." He loved his garden and his plantation was a veritable oasis. So my thought is, Why would you rebuild the cattle industry there when history has shown that it will be destroyed again by flood?

Now despite the above mentioned surprises of February, of greater alarm to me is the front page of the Pakenham Gazette of mid Feb. Officially, due to EPA restrictions, Cardinia Council has no way of dealing with our recyclable rubbish and it's all going to landfill now. I'm disgusted. All our efforts to diligently sort our refuse, in my case to the extent of collecting all plasic bottletops and putting them in a plastic container till it's full, likewise with metal tops into tin cans, seem to have been useless. how pathetic is this? Our managers, planners and governments have been and are appallingly negligent. It defies my understanding. My thought is- if it can't be recycled, reused, or biodegraded easily, its manufacture should be banned. No exceptions, ifs, buts or maybes. Banned. Outlawed. at present we are trashing the planet to the detriment of those to follow.

What about the massive fish kill in the Darling River?

Freaky February.
,

Love

He watches from his studio. She walks in the garden she loves, looking, bending, weeding, scratching. He thinks. I still love her, just like when we were teenagers so many years ago, I love her the same. He told me.

He watches again, another day. She feeds the birds on the deck in front of their kitchen. The kitchen looks out over the valley. The valley they saw forty years ago when looking to buy. It reminded them of their village in England where they grew up.

"We'll take it," they said, even before they had seen inside the house.

He watches from the kitchen, this other day. She trips and falls as she puts seed in the feeder. Her head hits the timber rail. He rushes to her, lying on the deck. She is dead, her neck broken.

He told me. "I was watching her. She fell. In an instant she was dead, my beautiful wife, the love of my life. Gone. There with me, then gone, in an instant."

Hot January

As one who works outside I can assure you January was a hot month. Indeed I saw this morning that Climate Council states that January was the hottest on record. Very little rain too, 15ml here in Gembrook, and half that was in a storm very late in the month after a prolonged heatwave, so it really was ineffective.

January also saw our 38th wedding anniversary. Also a visit from our friend Ian Sinclair who stayed six days. He arrived in Aus from Yukon Province in Canada and spent the first couple of weeks in Canberra and Adaminaby where his brother Col lives. It was about -20C when he left the Yukon and the daily max when he was here ranged from 35-45C. He loved our garden and its birdlife but was dismayed at the noise during the day from motor bikes and trucks, which he said had escalated enormously in the three years since he was last here. After he left, the next morning he rang from Mt Terrible to let me know he was there, one of our old haunts. He said the road had been much improved, and had been diverted here and there to cut out the bad bits, which were still obvious. He said he was amazed that 45 years ago we made it up there in our two wheel drive vehicles. When he reached the top there were five vehicles there with workmen installing solar panels for the mobile phone tower. Therefore he had reception and could ring. Back in the old days the fire watcher camped up there in an old cabin for three months, supplies coming up weekly. He loved our visits, broke the monotony, and the grog we brought. Mind you he was most diligent in his tower during the day, but loved our company at night.

At the moment the floods around Townsville are dominating the news. Record rainfall over a week or more and still going. The news vision is sad to watch when you think of the thousands of people and properties devastated. And since, hundreds of thousands of drowned cattle in NW Qld.

The annual threat of bushfires is with us in the south and with several weeks of predicted hot weather ahead all hell could break loose on any day with a strong wind to fan the numerous continuing fires that are currently burning but not running wild or uncontrolled. The bush is tinder dry.

January saw the beginning of the end for horse trainer Darren Weir. As a (very much mug) punter this was astounding. I have watched from a distance as Weir grew from a small country trainer to the biggest in Australia with record winning numbers.The caravan rolls on.

The Australian Tennis open came and went with the usual mountain of publicity. A few weeks prior all the news bulletins and sport shows were full of reporting on tennis tournaments to jog us into gear.
Then the barrage of publicity for the Open and the flagellating appraisals of the "player's favourite tournament", almost nauseating. I admit I watched some, in particular that young Greek guy who knocked out Federer and followed it up till he was blitzed by the poise and power of Nadal in the semifinal. Then, I watched the the final expecting an epic, only to see the Joker blitz Nadal in straight sets, almost without a whimper from the previously supreme Nadal. I think it was mind domination as well as tennis ability.

Not a word about tennis since in the media. Now it's all politics and AFLW. We are driven by the media. All I know for sure is that out of the blue today it rained, don't know how much till Glen tells me, my gauge broke off the post. Rickyralph came up for a visit, he is well. It was a beautiful restful day of rain after several brutal weeks of heat and hard work. Last week was huge as florist customers stocked up for Valentine's Day. Got knocked up. Tired, rested today. Family day tomorrow, Pascoe Vale at Lib's niece's place with Lib's sisters and theirs, in lieu of Christmas getogether that didn't. 

One Hundred Years

If my mother-in-law Molly was still alive she would have had her one hundredth birthday today. She died some years ago, 2011 I think. Reflecting on this I realized that I'm 66 and two thirds years old about right now. That's two thirds of one hundred. I won't make a hundred most likely but it makes me acutely aware that a hundred years really is so little time in history. I first met Molly forty years ago in 1979 so she would have been 60 years old, six younger than I am now. I went round to meet Lib's parents as we had made arrangements for a trip to the US and Canada and I felt it appropriate. Lib and I married less than two years later. As time passed I developed a strong affection for Moll and Bill. Bill died September 2000.

I'm reading Peter Fitzsimons book 'Victory at Villers Bretonneux' in which he details this important stage of WW1. My grandfather Walter Edgar Wilson, mum's father, was there as a member of the 57th Battalion. This took place a little over one hundred years ago, in 1918. At this time 100 years ago Ed, as he was known, was in England still and returned to Australia some time later in 1919.

When Fitzsimons describes the scene in the French countryside where literally millions of men lined up at close quarters intent on destroying each their opposition, of early aircraft with machine guns crossing into enemy territory to shoot all the horses they could find to prevent the enemy using them to move artillery as attacks were mounted, of poison gas shells that burnt men's lungs out if they didn't get their masks on quickly, it leaves me with horror and amazement. My mind boggles when I think of the advances in aircraft and armaments in the following 100 years. The war to end all wars certainly did not.

When I was a young boy we lived in Virginia Street Mt Waverley. It was a gravel road and there were paddocks between our house and the railway station which my father used to walk or run across to catch the train to work. The primary school had a market garden next door that still used draught horses. This sixty years ago, in my lifetime, about the time grandfather Edgar or Poppa Wilson as we called him, died of a heart attack, on the day he closed his grocer shop in Glen Iris for the last time, finally retiring. He didn't make it home and crashed his truck through someone's front fence as he had the attack ot the wheel.

His widow Annie, our 'Nanna Wilson', lived at Emerald with my parents for 23 years from 1972 before dying in a nursing home in 1996, aged 99.

Pardon me sharing my thoughts of the day, but as I approach old age there's more to reflect on, and somehow everything just seems so bizarre and amazing.

So Long 2018

What a year. A bit of a pig really, with Lib's cancer and treatment, but as I said to my niece Annie's husband Brett 20 years ago as he contemplated going into self employment, and which he reminded me of on Christmas Day, "Don't expect it to be beer and skittles all the time."

Brett has been successful in business, window tinting cars. He's a one man band in the cut throat car/ after sales business, but by doing it well and being brave, reliable and determined he has prospered. He left school early and went out and had a go, doing a number of jobs before finding a tinter boss who taught him the skills. Good luck to him.

Christmas Day was good, lunch enjoyed at the farm, and the evening meal of roast turkey at home, Lib, me, Gord and Rob. Gord put on his Vincent Price Dr Phibes movie which was most amusing.

Boxing Day was restful, I went to the farm after picking elderflowers in the creek in Emerald for the herb people, then did half an hour or so of whippering long grass and then watering young stuff. It was warm to hot, Christmas Boxing Day and the next couple mid 30'sC.

Morning of the 27th I rang Jax Tyres in Bayswater, where Gord got new tyres recently, to get a  price to compare with two I had got in Emerald and Monbulk just before Christmas, having noticed a front tyre had scrubbed out badly on the Kangoo. They had a special on, 4 tyres for the price of 3, which came out with alignment and balancing at $60 below the Emerald price and $200 below the Monbulk price. They could do me that afternoon so with no customers of my own to have to pick for I got the job done and shopped at the FTG Aldi on the way home,watering again at the farm as it was quite hot still.

Friday I enjoyed a lovely quiet morning at home then did a little bit of sowing at the farm, dill coriander and calendulas, then watered, and tied up tomatoes. I don't know what happened to my earlier efforts to grow dill and cori in the spring. They came up strongly, along with some allissym, then progressively yellowed off and disappeared. It was not for lack of water. I figured there was some virus or something in the soil, perhaps introduced by bought straw mulch I had put there previously. All my garlic died off too, just rotted. Never have I seen that before. Sure I have failure growing things from seed now and again, but always there's explanation such they dried out or weeds beat me or slugs and snails, but this was weird. They got to about an inch high then just stopped, yellowing and diminishing till gone completely. I have sowed in the same place again but as of Friday nothing had yet shot. We had light rain Saturday night, now it's getting hot again I think I can rely on Jod to water till I go back which may be tomorrow.

It has been the best break from work at this time of the year that I can remember. Our main wholesaler has said he's not coming till Wednesday and only wants a small amount, and the herb people are not coming till Wednesday too. Other customers are taking a longer break so it has been blissfully restful, allowing me to catch up on some whippering, weeding and cutting back at home, but leisurely at comfort zone pace. I've sowed some broccolli and silverbeet seed hopeful for planting out seedling late Jan early Feb. Good fun stuff.

I didn't take my methotrexate medication last week, so that I could indulge in wine and other good cheer between Christmas and today, which I have most enjoyed. Back to good habits today, no grog till Friday night, but I'm tempted to stay off the medication and see how I go with just the weekly injection.

Good news is the painful back I have been suffering for the past month has eased. On Saturday night I was hot in bed and fitfully dreaming I think lying with my right leg outside the bed. I semi woke up with the early morning cooling and lifted my leg back into the bed to get under the sheet. As I did I was aware of a big clunk in my lower back towards the left hip which was where most of the pain had been. Since then I have improved dramatically. Maybe the exercises I was doing and Gord's massaging loosened things up and the semi sleep manoevre did the trick. I'm still being careful as it's still a bit tender and I aim to keep up the exercises people have suggested.

Happy New Year to you. I bought a thunder jacket for Pip in preparation for the fireworks, and a cat box to lock her in if necessary, as she likes to hide. The thunder jacket had a bit of a workout on the weekend and it seemed to work but it was not big thunder.

Christmas Eve

Well I made it. It's Christmas Day in under an hour. I've limped to the line, a crook back this last couple of weeks, quite painful when it started, slowly recovering over a week or so, now bad again.

Today I tidied up here and there, visited three good friends, Dulcie, Amanda, and Lindy and Ian, giving them honey and chocolate or wine. Dulcie has sold her unit in Gembrook and probably will be leaving, she's looking for rental accom somewhere this side of Melbourne and she will need it by mid Feb when she has to vacate. I will miss her but will keep in touch and no doubt I'll visit her. Amanda is having Christmas with her parents in Melbourne, also her sisters and one of her daughters. Her other daughter is overseas, Prague now. Lindy and Ian are going to Melbourne, to lunch with Lindy's mum Faye, who is now in her nineties and also a long standing friend, at a restaurant. These friends have been helpful and encouraging to me in different ways, during a difficult year. Them and many others who I have not visited today or lately but I'm fortunate with my friends, that I have many, and that they are such good people.

Tomorrow is for family. Again I'm fortunate. Good family. We'll lunch at the farm with Elvie, Meredith, Roger, Jod, Annie and Brett and their three kids. Ella and Evie are growing so fast, doing so well in secondary school, and Toby making good progress at primary school. Rosie, Mat and young Grace will not be there, they are with Mat's family this year.

Then it's home here for Christmas dinner, just the four of us. Nice. Robbie's friend Hao isn't coming, he's Chinese origin and doesn't do Christmas, and I think he feels he'd be intruding. No so, he's most welcome, but I understand how he feels.

Lib's sisters and their kids are doing their Christmas thing independently of us, in Portarlington Bairnsdale and lakes Entrance. I remember fondly the days when we Chritsmassed with the Meeks Bells and Currans but as time goes on kids grow up and have new family connections and so it is.

I did a bit of whipper snipping at the farm and at home today and feel happy that I did, crook back and all. Funny thing is the whippering didn't worry the back, it's bending low that's worst, like putting boots on.

Twelve minutes to Christmas Day. Must be off, dose up on ibuprofen and hit the sack.

Felize Navidad!

Pre Christmas Update

In today's mail there was a card from my good friend Nicky Bridges. It contained some Bridges family news as it does every year and Nicky finished off saying that I hadn't put up a post for several weeks so she hopes all is OK. She added she still enjoys reading the blog.

Sorry Nick that I have let the blogging slip lately. The last couple of months has been a bit blurry. I have been very busy at work. October Nov and Dec is our peak season. Spring blossom and beech foliage mainly, but many other smaller requests also pop up for things like variegated pitto, ivy, geranium, rosemary and lately spruce and holly, and with the grass and weed growth and odd jobs round the traps I am too tired at night to do blogging justice. Many has the day been in this period when I have intended to post but after a bath and dinner and a bit of TV I'm too tired to do justice.

Tonight, spurred by Nicky, I have dosed up with coffee and I'm having a go. Yes a tumultuous six weeks or so it has been since my egg idiosyncracy was revealed. There was news I could have told at that time but omitted to. There was a memorial morning tea held in honour of my friend Jane Tilley on a Saturday morning in October at John's Hill lookout on the west side of Emerald. It was a beautiful setting with views to the north to Warburton Ranges, east to Gembrook, and south to Western Prt Bay. It was lovely to meet some of Jane's relatives and friends and hear of their great admiration for this wonderful lady. So glad I attended, given that Big John only told me about it in a phone message the previous evening. It was fully catered and well organized, and apparently John used to take Jane up there now and again on their way back from doctor's visits etc. She loved it for its peace and scenic splendour.

We nearly lobbed on Nicky and John's door step last weekend. We went to Wangaratta Saturday to visit our friend's Owen and Diane M and had a nice stay. Sunday morning the plan was to visit John and Nick on the way home at Claremont then go through the old haunt Greta to pick up the main road home. Alas, after visiting the cemetery to see the memorials to Lib's parents and some other friend's who are buried there, and then going to Glenrowan to see Oand D's son Patrick's house, the time had got away and we went on home. Little Pip who was being babysat in Gembrook had done an escape trick in the thunderstorm and although I knew she was now safe I wanted to get home asap. Sorry Nick, we'll catch you next time.

The weekend before I hurt my back on a gardening job, digging out and removing big old agapanthus. On the Sunday night spasms developed, making in hard to get up out of a chair or car seat. Consequently the next week was difficult doing my picking but with the help of anti inflammatories and careful management and prayers to God I got through. It still grabs here and there and putting on socks and boots is hard but thank goodness it didn't deteriorate and there has been slow improvement, I'm almost moving normally.

During November we had a new oven, gas cook top and range hood installed, all working well. We have been blessed with good rain. About 150mm November, another 25 mm early December, and early this morning it teemed, I have not yet learned how much we had, my friend Glen will let me know. It has been so fortunate that I have not had to run around watering the things I have planted autumn winter and spring.

Gotta go now, tiredness winning out. Lib is well but easily fatigued and spirit down a bit, all natural considering the onslaught she has endured. They did warn that these side effects may take months to pass. She has been cleared not to see her radiologist for twelve months.

Merry Christmas to my friends. May you have peace, joy, love and good health.

Lib's hair is growing back. I had to send a photo to Police, trying to organize police check (every three years) online. Driving me nuts, been sending ID stuff every night, not there yet. Have to photograph documents and upload to submission. Bit hard for this old fellow. They rejected earlier one because she blinked.

Idiosyncracy

Lib said this morning when I asked what would you like for breakfast, "Bacon and eggs". This was like music to my ears. I just love bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Most mornings I have two eggs for breakfast, fried slowly and served with something else, often leftovers from the previous night, or maybe a lamb chop or two, or a sausage, or corn and tomatoes, and always onions, love onions, and they are so good for the ticker.

Digressing, for those readers who know me well and read this blog to keep up with the family progress, Lib has finished her radiotherapy. She's fit and well and confident, as she heads into the next phase, tablet hormone treatment.

But the thing is, I use egg rings, I like them nice and tidy. But, it is art. I strive to have perfect eggs. You must well grease the rings, they need to to be well heated, low heat, before cracking and dropping the eggs into the rings. This in itself is a skillfull thing. Drop the white in slowly so it congeals around the base of the ring, therefore not leaking out as happens if it is dropped too quickly. Then, drop the yolk. I try to get the yolk exactly in the middle, so ideally there is a perfect circle with the yolk, a perfect circle in itself, in the middle. I add cayenne pepper to the yolk, an artistic flair and healthy additive. The egg rings have to be removed at just the rught time, before the whole is too cooked, and the artform becomes damaged. Also if left too long the egg white sticks to the ring and is difficult to remove.

This ritual I follow nearly daily when I have my eggs for breakfast. Truth is, maybe once in a hundred I get it right on. Usually the yolk is slightly off centre, the ring leaks a little, and sticks too much. It really can be so frustratingly defiant of all my precise attention.

Never mind, the eggs are alwas enjoyed greatly.

Something in the Air

There is definitely, something in the air. I can feel it, I can see what it does, but what is it? I know not. I think it is something astrological.

Back to that in a minute. The song 'Something in the Air' by Thunderclapp Newman was a No 1 hit in 1969. To hear it now, or even think of it, stirs emotions in me that come from deep in my psych from my 17yo adolescent trauma. It was a song about change, revolution and inspiration. I think of trips to Lorne  and district with RR, sleeping in the car, drinking beer by a fire in cold weather, hiking, climbing waterfalls, and enjoying the new found freedoms we had reached. Yes it was a revolution for us.

I think of driving on a Saturday out to Preston early in 1972. It was early in the football season. My team Ormond Church of Christ was playing Preston Methodists in the Sth East Suburban Churches Football League. Preston had been allowed into the comp that year, I know not why, Preston is a northern suburb. They and a couple of other clubs had been kicked out of the league they were in the previous year because of brawling. This day we and Preston were undefeated and we tripped out to their homeground not quite knowing how we'd go. I gave a lift to a bloke named Mick Hughes, a new player for us, a rangy half back flanker with long legs and hair, a good footballer, he'd played a couple of seasons at Mordialloc in the VFA. Mick was a uni student and 'Something in the Air' was played on the radio. After it he talked all the way about the coming revolution. I wonder what became of Mick, he was a hell of a nice bloke. That particular day we were in great form and and we blitzed them. Their coach afterwards came in to the visitors rooms and said what a wake up call they'd had, they thought they should have entered our comp in a higher grade and thought D grade would be a pushover for them. We played them again later that year on our home ground, and in the second semi and Grand Final. Unfortunately they beat us in all.

Today I picked ten bunches of snowball viburnum flowers and ten bunches of white dogwood blossom at our house and some lilac. The size, fullness and beauty of the blossom was amazing, even to me who is used to such pleasures. I picked also some bay foliage (it's starting to shoot it's new growth so after about 9 months picking bay I'll be stopping now till January when it's finished the growth spurt and has firmed up) and some green beech (which shot a couple of weeks ago and is still too soft yet but I picked some in hope it stands up as the bloody rosellas always eat that particular tree for some reason before it's firm enough for me).

As I unloaded at the farm, looking around at all the lovely blossom and foliage I said to Meredith just how good everything is this year. She said yes, it's weird, but blossom is full and lovely, and leaves are lush and large, when really we haven't had enough rain for this to be so. September was dry, and last March set records for heat and dry. And the months in between weren't great, drier than usual in aggregate.

She said, "You may think this is crazy, but I think it has something to do with that huge moon we had earlier in the year. It's something that won't happen again for so many years."

My response was, "Could it be? I tell you what, I've never seen Mars and Venus so bright in all my life, and I watched them and two other planets (Pluto and Jupiter?) all in line across the sky many times, shining strong and bright. Driving home in winter Mars seemed huge in the east, and alighting at home I looked to the west an Venus shone lke a beaut, the other two making a line. The night sky has been exhilerating."

I have never known the sweet pittosporum to flower so profusely and the scent to be so strong. It has been intoxicating for weeks when I go out the back door. And the hills to the east are dotted with white blossom on the silvertop trees and when I checked the bees Monday they had shaken off last season's malaise and were gathering honey.

So I don't know what but there's something in the air. There's so much we don't know and I have a feeling that life on earth is intricately connected with everything else and the cosmos, far moreso than we will ever understand. Plants, fish, birds, elepants, buffaloes, beavers, cats, dogs, primates, insects, fungi, reptiles..everything..rivers, mountains, oceans...all connected to the earth and sun and moon and stars. Every leaf is a little solar energy receptor absorbing carbon and pumping out oxygen. It's hard to get your head around. And if you were to dig straight down a couple of kilometres you'd get very hot and soon thereafter hit molten rock. Bizarre!

There's something in the air now, on our level. I feel it. A revolution in how we live, produce energy. "Call out the instigators, because there's something in the air, and you know that it's right, because the revolution's here."

   

Here We Go Again

The oak trees in Gembrook's main street are beautiful to behold with their bright green new leaves. It's hugely pleasant to step outdoors and smell the magnificent perfume of the sweet pittosporum trees in our yard. If I needed reminding spring is in full swing I have been. I've been busy picking forget-me-not flowers by the bunch, the beech trees are ready to shoot their new leaves, the dogwood flowers are emerging and the lilac and snowball blossom is about to break. Yes, exciting it is, but I also know that combined with the grass and weed growth it means solid work for me till Christmas, when the customers take a bit of a break, and I'll get a breather.

It has been an eventful week or two since my last post. Monday morning last week as I took Pip outside for a wee and breakfast I could hear the CFA siren. I barely registered it thinking maybe an early commuter had had an accident and went back to bed. In my semi doze I heard a helicopter buzzing in the not too distance and I thought it was an ambo helicopter taking a victim to hospital. But it didn't stop. It went on and on.

"What's with that bloody helicopter?" I said to Lib when she stirred.

"Must be an accident," she said. "Didn't you hear the siren."

"Yes, but why doesn't it land, and then take off again, instead of just flying around. Maybe it's the cops looking for a crim on the run."

The buzzing kept up and I eventually got up and in my custom turned on the radio. The news told me the Gembrook pub was on fire and that explained the constant helicopter noise - a TV news crew.

The fire had a good hold on the building before the brigades got there and they had a hard job putting it out. The roof caved in. The local paper said yesterday there are no suspicious circumstances and apparently the fire started in a drier in the laundry due to a clogged lint filter.

On Thursday of last week about lunchtime I had a message on the answer phone from Big John. asking me to ring him on his mobile. As soon as heard it was from Big John I knew why he was ringing. My friend Jane Tilley, his neighbour, had died that morning. I had been half expecting such call for some time. Jane had been in out out of hospital over quite a period following successive falls at home. I'm so glad Gord and I visited her a couple of weeks earlier. She was in good spirits but very frail. I'll miss her greatly. Everyday since I drive past her road and think of her. She was a dear lady and a great friend for more than 30 years. She was I think 90 or 91, and may her beautiful soul rest in peace.

Saturday was Grand Final Day. The Friday was a public holiday. I picked FGMN's in Gembrook Bushland Park, as I have frequently lately, but it was not as pleasant as the solitude of the forest normally because trail bikes in the not too distance buzzed non stop their particularly irritating fluctuating noise like ten thousand mosquitos. Saturday I went to Ralphie's for lunch. Monica and he put on a lovely spread of salmon and salad, lovely, hit the spot. We watched the game and Rick and I were quite enthralled at the tightness of the contest and happy with an Eagle victory, but both teams deserve congratulations for putting on such a great show. Lib and Gord did not come with me. They were at Lakes Entrance. Lib was feeling much better after her last chemo episode and took the opportunity to go there before starting her radiotherapy as she did today, which will continue every day Mon- Fri for 3 weeks plus one day, 16 sessions in all. they came back Monday, fit and refreshed and ready for the new challenge.

Sunday was nice weather wise and I was home by myself working in the garden. The noise from motor bikes going up and down Launching Place road was horrendous, and there was plenty of hooting from the Puffing Billy whistle. I don't know what it is about human beings that makes them want to make so much noise. As I watched the Grand Final and all the hoo hah and carry on there was so much noise. I don't bother going to AFL football anymore at all, largely because of the traffic getting there and all the noise from the PA and the adds and music on the the big screen. Can't handle it. (Not to mention the loud and uncouth behaviour of the fans, I could go on and on about that).

Then on Sunday I saw a clip on TV of Jimmy Barnes performing at the GF. I didn't hear it but you could see him screaming into the microphone by his face contortion and I imagined the loud music booming in competition to his voice and believe me you'd have to pay me big money to go and watch that. What on earth is the matter with humans? I think mental illness is rife in our society. I reckon 50-80% of the population are mad to some degree, probably because they are bombarded with noise and crap.

With that in mind, and Lib's cancer and treatment, Jane's death, and the death of Lib's cousin Sheilah earlier in September  (cancer aged 64), I make a conscious decision to withdraw from society as much as possible, especially excessive noise and politics, and begin a life as recluse as I can be, while still functioning usefully for my select people with whom I choose to remain in association. And to seek solitude and silence, where I can delight in the wonder and beauty of the natural world.

The rest of it can go to buggery.

The Roller Coaster Update

Last week was a horror, starting with Lib going to hospital in the ambulance in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It seems that what happened is Lib was given an injection the day after the chemo treatment the previous Wednesday to lessen the risk of infection due to low white blood cell count, which is what occurred after the previous chemo. This injection causes white blood cells to enter the bloodstream from the bone marrow as I understand it. In Lib's case, this caused the extreme pain. When she went into hospital her neutrophills were down but not as low as last time. The next day they had shot up to way above normal levels. She came home last Friday and is much improved but still sore and generally not well, but functioning and managing. Hopefully she will improve from here, but with this chemo business it can be slow for some.

On a happier note, the Demons rolled the Hawks Friday night. Then, I had a good day Saturday when I drove brother Jod to Brunswick so he could attend a 100th birthday party. Some weeks earlier I'd said I might be able to drive him, he was looking for a driver as he didn't have the confidence to drive there himself. I had thought it might key in with Lib to visit her niece and baby who are out that way. Lib was not up to going anywhere, just wanting to rest, but she was happy enough to be left at home so I could take Jod. After all it's not every day you are invited to a 100th birthday party and I thought it'd be a shame if he missed it.

We were half an hour late as we were held up by three separate car accidents before we got half way to Melbourne, but it didn't matter. The lady turning 100 was Florence Howlett, the wife of Jack, one of Jod's old drivers when he was a fireman in the Victorian Railways. Jack died about 7 years ago but Jod has kept in touch with Flo. She was an absolute delight and it was a great pleasure to meet her and her family. Her children are around Jod's and my age, the youngest Chris is 65. Of course there were many nephews and nieces and grandchildren and great grandchildren and it was a fabulous event to be included in. I had gone along semi reluctantly and just doing Jod a good turn (if you can't do your brother a favour now and again what's the guts of you) but ended up really enjoying a memorable day and meeting so many good folk. The food was great, the speeches were too, and Flo is as bright as a button. Jod and all the invited guests got a lovely little book with the family history and photographs on leaving. Jod will cherish it and the memory of the day.

A Long Day

I visited Lib in hospital this afternoon about 5pm. She had just been tranferred from Casey Public hospital to St. John of God private across the road. Her severe pain had eased after earlier being sedated and sleeping. The blood tests showed her kidneys were OK, the ultrasound didn't show up any reason for the attack of brutal pain, and she is now back on the antibiotic drip till her neutrophills go up again.

So we're none the wiser really Lib is going to ask them to do a scan while she is there, because the oncologist said she was going to get a scan after the chemo, and Lib thought getting it done now will save her another trip down there. Anyway we hope the oncologist sees her tomorrow and maybe there'll be answers.

How long she's there, again, we don't know. It depends on the neutrophill level. Touch wood all the real bad stuff is behind us now.

Got to go to bed, hardly had any sleep last night.

The Longest Hour

Not half an hour ago an ambulance took Lib to hospital. She had a bad day yesterday, pain in the lower back and feeling lousy. When I got home from work she said that was the worst she'd felt through all the chemo. Her last chemo dose was last Wednesday.

Still she cooked dinner and ate and watched TV before going to bed early about 9 oclock. I went to bed a couple of hours later, creeping in so as not to wake her. I don't think she was asleep but I lay as still as I could so as not to disturb her by tossing and turning or scratching.

I had trouble getting to sleep myself, and sort of dozed or half slept after a while until Lib turned the light on about 1.30am and rummaged around as she took some medication. She said she had severe pain in the kidney region, intense and throbbing. She was trying to rub her back, and I tried also to give her some relief by massaging but nothing helped. She was grimacing and sighing and almost calling out in pain. I suggested that I take her to hospital such was the state of our alarm. She said no she didn't think she could sit in the car. I said perhaps I should call the ambulance, she said no, the pain might ease as the painkillers worked.

It didn't. It seemed to worsen. She was in agony. About 2am I rang 000 and went through the questionaire process. They said a crew was on the way and told me to ring back if there was any change. By 2.45am no ambulance. Lib's agony continued through all this time. Every few minutes I walked to the top of the drive with a torch to signal the ambulance as it came up the street, then went back to Lib. I rang 000 again, told them I had rang over 40 minutes ago and no show yet. They told me to ring again if there was any change.

About 3.10am as I was coming back from the top of the drive I eventually heard a vehicle in the distance and went back up. I got the driver to back down. It was a tight squeeze, it was a big rig.
They came in and asked Lib a lot of questions and gave her an injection for the pain which they said may or may not work. They told me they'd take her to Casey and left at about 3.45. She was still in great pain. The ambo said it may be kidney or gall stones and unrelated to the cancer and chemo, then again it maybe the chemo.

I made a cup of coffee and write as I'm too agitated to sleep. I'll try to lie down for a few hours then ring the hospital when they've had a chance to find out what the hell. I just hope that the injection worked and Lib's pain eased.

That hour and ten minutes waiting for the ambulance was the longest 70 minutes of my life.