Either Way I Lose, I Win

I'm about to take Lib's car up the street to the garage and fill it with fuel and check the oil and tyres as I do most Saturday mornings. On the way back I'll stop off and cast my vote at the booth at the primary school for the state election.

As a 'Green' voter, I can't win outright, I know that. If the Labour Gov't is thrown out, which I expect to happen, the Libs will govern. That's bad. The Wilderness Society in a survey of environmental groups came up with the following ratings for the respective policies of the major parties-

Labour 50%
Libs   15%
Greens 93%

On the other hand, if the Lib's win, the $10.3 million that Labour promised Puffing Billy probably won't happen. I'm not a PB fan; it's a noisy, polluting, self serving drain on the state's finances. I don't know why it is such a sacred cow. I don't mind it being preserved in the museum at Belgrave. Even run it up and down a few hundred metres now and again if you must.  The prime land the railway takes up could be put to a better use. How about a Flora and Fauna Corridor? A Nature Trail? A Heritage Trail? All with educational and tourism potential greater than PB's spouted tourism return, which I believe is grossly overstated. The $10.3 mill offer has got me seriously considering where to put my second preference.

It's a dilemna. Our sitting Labour member Tammy Lobato has been terrific. I'd hate see her go. She's a wonderful lady. It's a hard business. It won't be her fault if Labour loses.

Brumby is on the nose.

War and Peace

Lib and I went to the Leonard Cohen concert in Melbourne on the 13th November.

My friend Maria requested a report so I replied as follows-

'It was sensationally good. He's a master with words and timing, and he has a winning formula I've seen before in performance DVD's. As it obviously works he sticks to it, so it is now relaxed and well oiled. It took me a few songs to slip into the slow mesmerising rhythm, then I almost drifted asleep, but slowly my senses came sharper and sharper and the show kept getting better and better. Not only do I love the songs but he's a consumate performer. The musicians and girl singers were also wonderful and the chemistry within the group was magic. There were three standing ovations to end what was a memorable concert, surpassing my wildest expectations.

It may sound a little mushy but there was stage rapport that extended to the audience and enveloped it. I found it inspiring that so many people can feel the same thing at once. It seemed to convey a message of hope and togetherness and human goodness, as in one of his songs, 'There's a crack, where the light comes in.'"

I finished a book last week, 'Centennial' by James Michener, an epic historical novel in the Michener's style, of 1100 pages. I took three months to finish it, enjoying it thoroughly, and I'm in the mood. My new book is one I have been eying off on the shelf for some time.

'War and Peace' by Count Leo Nickelayevich Toltoy, is, I notice, 1400 pages, so it'll carry me well into the new year. So far I've only read the introduction by the translator. Two quotes immediately struck me in light of my comments to Maria regarding Leonard Cohen.

The Introduction starts with the quote, "There is no greatness where simplicity, goodness and truth are absent."

Towards the end, "In 1812 simplicity, goodness and truth overcame power, which ignored simplicity and was rooted in evil and falsity."

I think I'm going to enjoy Tolstoy's 'War and Peace'.

Mental Arithmetic

On the subject of Afghanistan, where my last two posts have focused, I've had a few figures going through the head. I understand we have 1500 soldiers currently there. I gather from my perusal of the ADF website the other day that our soldiers are each payed a tax free deployment bonus of $200 per day.

1500 X $200 = $300,000

That's $300,000, PER DAY, in bonus alone. That gives you some idea what this is costing the Australian taxpayer. I also discovered that while serving overseas a soldier's salary is tax free. Add to that transport and munitions, logistics and administration, and the mind starts to boggle. How many years have we been there now? I think it might be six. How many more years are we to be there? 5 to 10 I think, it was suggested in the 'debate'.

$300,000 X 365(days) X 10(years) = $1,095,000,000

That's nearly 1.1 billion dollars, in tax free bonuses alone, over a decade. I was always quite good at mental arithmetic, but if my calculations are flawed or facts incorrect I'd appreciate if someone would correct me.

It's almost unbelievable to this Aussie battler who hesitates before incurring the cost of a new pair of work boots.

Rain, Crap, and More Crap

It's raining steadily but gently, as it did most of last night. I had a burn off yesterday afternoon. I'd accumulated a mountain (or three) of dried out prunings. I try to use as much garden refuse as I can as mulch, that is the tops or smaller bits. The larger wood is kept for next winter's firewood, but there's still a lot of in between rubbish and weed that I burn in fire season tidy up. The rain started on cue to damp my fire so it didn't sear foliage on a nearby copper beech tree and a mock orange shrub, which I'll pick for blossom next week. The fantastic rain we've had this year has the garden luxuriating with blossom and new growth. The grass everwhere is lush and thick and trees that have struggled in the dry of the last several years are celebrating in the way of it, growing spectacularly.

The Afghanistan War Debate came and went, without me hearing much of it. I'm no more convinced our involvement is justified than before. The anti-terrorism line makes no sense to me. Too vague. History suggests that military invasion and oppression fuels fanatical resistance and terrorism. Why pour fuel on a fire? They say mastermind Bin Laden is in Pakistan now. Do we now invade there? I hear the Yanks are sending in drone bombers. What if he moves somewhere else? Iran?

What is known, is that Australia is to continue (indefinitely) its involvement in the occupation. The leaders of of our two major parties support it in the interests of global security and the fight against terrorism. I'll continue to feel shame and disappointment, as an Australian opposed to our involvement. I feel little sympathy for our soldiers killed. They are paid professionals employed by the Australian Government. They're well paid while overseas and happy to take the money as a matter of their own choice, aware there's a risk they could be killed or injured. I'm weary of this ultimate sacrifice crap. They take the odds and some lose.

This opinion may be distasteful to some. I feel a moral obligation to voice it nevertheless.

At Last

Lately I've been Commonwealth Gamed, Grand Finalled, now McKilloped. In between I've been Brumbied, as in fire alerted, and plague locussed. I've been Caulfield Cupped, and I'm soon to be Melbourne Cupped. I was Chilean minered. Is it any wonder I'm hype weary?

I heard the other day that a Buddhist objective is to detach emotionally from things that you have no control over. I'm not Buddhist, but it makes sense. This week will test me. I believe there's to be an Afghanistan war debate in parliament. It's several years late, but I'm all ears. I'll try to listen with an open mind. Up until now I haven't understood the need for our part in what is military occupation of another country. The stopping of terrorist training angle doesn't wash with me. Not so far. Bring it on.   

Greetings from Chamomile

Dear George,

Thanks for your recent postcards and news. Most people enjoy getting letters and postcards, especially from the other side of the world. Pictures of Bogota Colombia and Oaxaca Mexico in the mail just give that bit of excitement to the day. Also I enjoy reading a little snap of your life as a parish priest and religious ceremonies.

After four years away from Australia it must be a good feeling to be coming home soon. You said you were taking a trip to The Holy Land then returning to Peru on Oct 22 before leaving for Australia soon after. Elvie, Meredith and I hope you do get the chance to visit us at the farm, for the first time without Pat who remains dear in our hearts and will forever. We each have our fond memories of the wonderfully warm and witty lady. For mine, she had the knack of always making you feel you were important and everything seemed fine when with her, you could laugh at the world. And I felt the same when I was 10 years old through to 50 plus.


It's been some time since I wrote for which I apologize. A previous letter of yours has been on my desk for some months, left deliberately so I'd write but till now it hadn't happened. One way or another life has been hectic. Your letter concluded, "Life is full of change and adventure." That's for sure. Ours probably not as much as yours but our family business and the connection to nature and the elements provides plenty of challenge, interest and excitement. Change is rapid around us. Housing developments here in Gembrook, and new supermarket and shops in Emerald.


Most importantly, we're all well George. We look after each other. It has been a wet year in eastern Australia as I'm sure you've heard. About a month ago there was ten inches of rain in the mountains on one weekend which swelled all the rivers on the north side of the divide with subsequent good flows down the Murray and into Sth Aust., at last. Eildon went up 8% of it's capacity in one week and now is at almost 60%. I remember when we were in Peru our guide telling us that when Australia has a La Nina, Peru has an El Ninio (and vica verca) so I hope the Peruvian farmers are not suffering from an Andes drought. I know that can mean near starvation for some.

Looking forward to seeing you in the not too distant future, safe traveling and God bless,


Carey

PS  I'm writing this on my blog, as then tomorrow I can print on the other computer that has a printer connected, and send it hard copy. Also I can copy and paste onto hotmail and email to you. So it should reach you one way or another when you get back to Peru on the 22nd. Don't forget you have a warm invitation.   

Vanity?

It's been difficult for me to find time to blog for some time now and I've considered giving it up. One less thing to think about doing, is the temptation. I do wonder at my application in previous years, and my motivation. It isn't a vanity thing, as I've heard blogging described. At least no more than other things I do. There's a quote in the Bible, Hughesy told me, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." I must ask him where it is so I can check out the context. It seems more like a Shakespeare quote.

I started blogging for writing practice. It gives me pleasure, like a hobby. It satisfies a need  I didn't know I had, to write and record, and comment. So I'm sticking with it. I feel better already tonight having started a post even though I had no idea what I was going to write about. I forced myself. My companion is a cup of strong black coffee.

If anything there are more things than ever to write about. That could be my problem. Where do I start, what do I choose as topic? It's a little overwhelming. Things I might write about for some reason don't appeal. My involvement at the Emerald Museum and Nobelius Heritage Park took up much time in June, July and August, draining me thoroughly. I chose not to write about it, I needed to get away from it, as well as also not wanting to inflame or offend people who may read it, therefore further straining what has been a tenuous predicament. It's a bit touchy yet, in other words. For now let me say simply that I have been shocked at the devious bastardry that can exist.

Since our holiday I've been in work catch up mode, and a pernicious water leak at the farm took much time, energy and expense to locate and rectify. Our winter water bill was huge by comparison to a normal winter bill, after the autumn bill was up more than 100% on the previous year, despite good rain this year and hot dry weather last year. The leak was obviously getting worse and had to be found. After much digging and searching and talk with plumbers it was a water diviner who found it, close to the house. We couldn't believe our bad luck on discovering the burst pipe, the result of inferior copper being used in the original plumbing, shooting water straight into an old storm water drain which had not been in service for more than thirty years, the existence of which we did not remember. It took the water to the lower side of the house and well away to a place where we thought the water logging must be the result of the wet winter as we'd turned off the town water at an isolation valve well before there. There was no evidence of a wet spot anywhere near the leak.

The last two Saturdays we've had Ricky Ralph and Mon from Belgrave and Steve and Ann from across the road for Grand Final barbies which have been great days with fun and laughter. We all know who won the premiership. It's better not to speak of it, other than to say, as Rick said in his email tonight thanking us, "it don't amount to a hill of beans." He's right. I love the footy, but except for it being a good social lubricant bringing together people across generations and differing backgrounds, who wins is really is of little importance. Especially if you compare it to the issues raised on Q and A tonight, which I won't go into or I'll be up all night.

I'm off to bed or I'll be no good on the spade tomorrow. I have a lot of digging to do now that the weather has finally turned warmer. By weeks end I'd like to have in rocket, dill, coriander, Queen Anne's Lace, calendulas, cornflowers, to be followed a little later by zinnias and basil, and more of the former in staggered sowings. It's time to check the bees too. They're busy now, awakened from their slumber of the recent cold months, ready to go round again giving it all they've got.

A Great Australian Blight

Our holiday to Nth Queensland was a success. We arrived in Townsville on time, late on a Monday afternoon, picked up our hire car and followed the GPS to find our motel, the City Central. The lady in the hire car booth couldn't find a paper road map so she gave us a GPS, which normally would cost $10 per day, for no charge. I had declined the GPS with the charge, when ordering the car.

The motel was the cheapest I could find on the net but the room wasn't too bad. It was on the second story of about eight, but the windows wouldn't open so the air conditioning unit was required to escape feeling locked in a stuffy cell. Then we had to endure the whirring noise I so loathe with aircon. I reckon the the motel that night would have been lucky to have had 5% occupancy.

We went out for dinner. The streets were deserted and traffic sparse. We had a couple of pots in a pub sportsbar and watched 'Deal, No Deal' on a big screen. The restaurant was next door. We were two of six patrons and there were many of empty tables. By this time I'd twigged that Monday night is pretty quiet in Townsville.

We got to 'Percy Springs' the next day before lunch. I enjoyed the novelty of the GPS, having used one for the first time the previous day. It wasn't really necessary, we just had to find the road to Charters Towers, stay on it till we hit the town, keep straight till we passed Centenary Park then turn right on the road to Hughenden, go about 15 km then turn left on a dirt road signposted 'Percy Springs'. Another 15km through 3 gates, keep going till the road stopped at the house. Dave had given me directions on the phone before we left Gembrook. 'Percy Springs' didn't come up on the GPS anyway.

Dave was out doing something with cattle. Jodie, whom we'd not met before, greeted us warmly and showed us around the house and where we'd sleep. The house was the original Charters Towers fire station, built in the 1880's and sold to the owners of 'Percy Springs' in the 1970's. It was a timber building on tall stumps. The new owners built in the lower section to make it a two story house. In 2003 the two creeks, on either side of the house, dry usually except after rain, had a peak flood and four feet of water went through the lower section. The occupants moved out and didn't come back. When the current owners took over the house was derelict and home for a multitude of rat's, mice, bats and snakes. They didn't think it was habitable but when Dave and Jodie took the job as caretakers of the 28,000 acre property they started cleaning up. It is now bright and airy and freshly painted featuring much of the original timber inside. Three Pointcettia trees for shade and Dave's thriving new fruit trees give a lush tropical feel in the garden.

Dave, looking strong and healthy and a little more thick set than when I last saw him, came home on his quadbike for lunch of homemade sausages cooked over a Gidgee wood fire. Jodie's home made bread and salad was the perfect foil, rounded off by pumpkin cake.

There was no shortage of pumpkin, about 100 of varoius shapes, sizes and colours were sitting on an old tank stand at the back of the house. Dave explained over lunch that he grew six and half kms of pumkins and melons last season. Where he'd pushed over small trees with a tractor in order to build new fences, he later pushed the fallen scrub into mounds which contained a lot more top soil than otherwise would be in one place. After burning off the timber a lot of ash was left with the soil and into these mounds as he got about on the quad bike he planted melon and pumkin seeds, trying to anticipate the rainfall. It came last January and February and nearly all his seeds grew.

Dave admits he's got a bit a thing for growing pumpkins and melons, an eccentricity let's call it. He reckons the country around there could well be better suited for that purpose and fruit trees than raising cattle. He would have ended up with truckloads of them if the wild pigs hadn't eaten most of the melons and the cattle most of the pumkins when the owners wanted cattle moved in to where they were growing."What could I say?" he said. "It's their property and their cattle."

He still managed to harvest some 600 pumpkins. He took 250 in with him to the Jehovah's Kingdom Hall one week and gave them to the brothers and sisters of his faith. I'll think of Dave next summer out on his rounds spreading pumpkin and melon seeds.

After lunch Dave suggested we have a look at the river so with Dave leading on one quad bike and Lib and I following on another, off we went. They were 600cc Yamahas. It took about half an hour through the scrubby country on well worn tracks and through numerous gates and dry creek beds to reach the main rd to Hughenden which we crossed, shortly after coming to a creek with water in it. There was a car parked there and some people lying on the bank of a water hole. There were the ashes from fires and tin cans and rubbish lying around. Dave explained this was a popular picnic spot for people from ChartersTowers and said what a pity it was they had to leave their rubbish behind.

We crossed this creek carefully at a crossing through about a foot of water and came to a rocky place with a cliff on one side of a large waterhole about 200 metres long. We were still on 'Percy Springs'. This waterhole, probably permanently with water Dave said, filled up when the Burdekin River flooded and was very deep. We parked the bikes on solid rock on the other side to the cliff and walked around looking at the amazing rock formations and picking up interesting stones which were of a broad range of colours. I would imagine this would be a gemstone haven for enthusiasts. Alas, even here there were empty drink cans.

From there we went the Burdekin River and rode along the sand banks for some kms. The river was flowing probably 5-10 metres wide mostly, which you could see would stretch to hundreds of metres when flooding. Tee tree and redgums growing thirty feet above the water were bent almost horizontal by previous floods. It staggered the imagination, thinking of that massive amount of water that must tear along at flood time. Enough to fill Melbourne's reservoirs to capacity in a matter of days I'd suspect.

That evening we had roast venison, a buck Dave had shot somewhere not far away when a keen hunting mate had visited not long ago. We talked about the bower bird's nest we came across, with the collection of shells and bottle tops and silver paper at both the back and front entrances and in the bower itself, the red roos and grass wallabies we'd seen, the native orchids and plums, the ducks, cockies. There was more pumkin cake, and reminiscing.

We left for the trip back to Townsville and Magnetic Island the next day loaded up with bread, containers of frozen soup(beef and bean, and pumpkin) passionfruit, big yellow ones that lasted our whole week on the Island, and pumpkin cake. The visit to 'Percy Springs' will long be in our memory. Magnetic Island wasn't bad either.

So why 'The Great Australian Blight'.  I walked up to the town last Saturday morning, picking up more than a dozen empty aluminium drink cans on the way. It made me think of the cans and litteron the creek banks, river beds and waterholes I'd seen in Nth Qld. Shame on those disgusting people who throw litter from cars or leave it behind on road or riverside. It seems they exist all over the country.           

Flying North

The honey eaters and spinebills are busy in the stachyurus, the peewees are working in the mud along the roadside, the whipbirds are calling early, and we're hopping a jet today to take us to Townsville. A hire car will be waiting at the airport to take Lib and I to a motel and we'll drive tomorrow morning to 'Percy Springs' outside Charter's Towers to stay at our friend Dave Dickson's place, a cattle property he caretakes with his new wife Jodie whom we've not met before. Jodie is Canadian and shares Dave's Jehovah Witness faith.

On Wednesday we leave the hire care in Townsville and catch the ferry to Magnetic Is for a week of R+R in the warm tropics.

I had to post before we left and record that August has seen plenty of rain and cold, and the twenty year anniversary of my abstinence from cigarettes. Well done Carey.

Bye for now.

Ray of Sunshine

July sure was some month. The colonoscopy came and went. All clear, not even a polyp this time. The PSA test was all clear too. I asked the aneasthetist to record my BP before and during the procedure and it was fine. Lib took our BP machine to her doctor for checking against his, it's accurate, so my tests at home are valid.

That leaves only high cholesterol. I've made the decision to live with that without taking medication to lower it. I don't want to live my life running to the doctor every six months when I'm not ill, to get prescriptions and pop pills that may not be of any benefit to me, and may upset my liver function. I heard Scandinavian researchers on the health report show on Radio National say some time ago that people may be better off taking low dose aspirin available over the counter than embarking on lifetime statin drug usage. I bought a box of Solprin the other day, less than $4 it was for 96 tablets, which if taking a third of a tablet a day would last 9-10 months.

Within reason and on balance, I resist pressure to become obsessed with longevity. There's something sweet about life if you drink every day like a thirsty man, thinking it may be your last.

I had two trips to the dentist in July. My normal dentist charges like a wounded bull so I tried a bloke in Berwick. He seems excellent but has the same bovine characteristic.

The Emerald Museum soap opera took it up a notch to a new dramatic peak. Emails, phone calls and meetings embroiled me to the point of exhaustion, at a time when I've been busy at the farm and of course had BAS and end of financial year committments. I'm so far behind in farm maintenance work and home housekeeping it gets scary.

Just when you think the life raft you are clinging too is about to sink and you are about to scream out to everyone that they can go and get knotted, a ray of sunshine appears and the storm calms.

I was sitting outside the bakery last Sunday morning enjoying my curry pie and divvying up a sausage roll for the the dogs (last Sunday of the month ritual reward for man and dogs) when Micayla came by. Micayla is a delightful lady who lives near us and walks her young children and dogs up the street sometimes and we have a chat occasionally. She's a nurse who does shifts now and again at Lib's work. It was immediately obvious that the unborn baby that Micayla was carrying the last time I saw her was no longer contained in her abdomen. I knew the baby was due in July. She told me she'd had a healthy baby boy named Mathew about a week earlier. On her way out of the bakery she stopped again.

"What was the name of the other lady you told me about who was due in July."

"Lara", I answered.

"She must have had hers too, I saw her at the swimming pool last week, although I didn't talk to her."

I walk past Lara's house every morning and each time lately I wondered how she was and if she'd had the baby. (post 5 May). A couple of days later I was driving past Lara's house when I saw her at the car in the drive with a bundle in her arms. I hit brakes and reversed back. Lara walked up the drive carrying the baby.

"Boy or girl?" I called out.

"Girl. 'Lucy'."

By now Lara was close to the van and I could see her face had a beaming smile. Her older two children were boys and she was thrilled to have a girl. Her husband Adrian came up also and I congratulated them both.

I conclude that July was a great month with the arrival of Mathew and Lucy and my petty difficulties and tiredness pale to nothing by comparison.

In For A Service

I went to the doctor last week. I thought I should have the PSA blood test again as it's been two years since I had one. I don't have full knowledge but as I understand it the reading can be much higher than previously which means you have a problem. I'm talking prostate cancer. My follow up appt is next week when I find out the result.

Doctor also said I was a year overdue for another colonoscopy so I'm booked in for that next Tuesday, meaning next Monday is total food fast day allowing me clear soup or bonox only, and nothing at all, not even liquid, on the Tuesday before the procedure, which is scheduled for 10.45am. Also on the day before you have to eat pills and drink 'stuff' to open and empty the bowel. A hell of a lot of fun I don't think.

Doctor also asked why I hadn't been getting prescriptions for the cholesterol lowering medication and the tablet for high blood pressure that I'd been on. I told doc that at $70 per month and a trip to the doctor every six months for a prescription it was getting a bit expensive for someone like me who pays $2500 p.a for family health insurance and a medicare levy on my tax, so I decided to take my chances on the understanding that I was going to die one of these days anyway. I wasn't trying to be a smart alec but I think doc thought I was. She took my blood pressure which was high of course, it always is on her machine, and she included blood test for cholesterol level. I walked out with a prescription for a new combined cholesterol /BP medication for double the strength I need which I can break in half and take a half a pill each day, therefore further reducing the cost. It will now only cost me $16.50 per month. I haven't taken them yet as BP is OK when I test myself at home, and I'll wait to get the results of the cholesterol test in any case, which I find out at my next appt which is the day after the colonoscopy.

Doc said saving money on the medications wouldn't be of much use if I had a heart attack and died. She said for every 4 people who didn't take cholesterol medication who had a heart attack, if they had, one out of the four attacks would have been prevented. Maybe so, but thinking about it later I realized that's a misleading statistic. What about the twenty other with high chol. who didn't have a heart attack? So are we talking about one in four or one in twenty-four? In the meantime I've saved $1500 and three trips to the doctor since I stopped taking them. I don't want to sound foolhardy but I realize that my life could end on any given day in many different ways.

As they say in racing parlance, there's a lot of ways to lose your money.

My Heart Beats True

An email came last week from the MFC inviting members to write about why they barrack for the Demons or a facet of their affection for the club and players over time, something like that. It was a competition of some sort but I can't recall the prize or the e address it was supposed to be sent to as the email was deleted from the inbox and then from deleted items. The bad weather on the weekend gave me the opportunity to write a piece and I include it here. I like it. I sent it to the club to their general info address but I know not if it will get to the person coordinating the competition. I forgot to include my name, but I guess they have my return e address if they feel the need.

MY HEART BEATS TRUE


I was 12 years old in 1964 when my best mate Bubs and I somehow managed to get standing room tickets to the Grand Final. We caught the first train from Mt. Waverley and queued till the gates opened. Some people had camped overnight to get a good possy at the front, right up against the cyclone wire in the southern stand. We rushed in and started our long wait as the crowd built behind us to a frightening monster.

In the seating in front of the wire there were plenty of red and blue scarves, blankets on laps, steaming thermoses and picnic baskets. The standing room area was largely a Collingwood stronghold. We dared not leave our place at the front for any reason or we'd be unable to see. When Gabelich ran down the ground bouncing and fumbling the ball to kick a goal that put Collingwood in front late in the last quarter the monster, erupting with the most deafening roar I've ever heard, surged forward. Bubs and I thought we'd be crushed to death against the fence. I truly feared for my life.

When 'Froggy' Crompton snapped the famous goal that regained the lead, the monster behind became an angry seething mass wanting to fight itself, but there was no elbow room. Fear and tension gripped right to the end. I think it was Barry Bourke, moved from full forward to stack the backline in the dying seconds, who took a saving mark. The final siren brought euphoric relief, but in fear of the angry mob dispersing we remained at the wire fence for some time.

The twenty men in red and blue that day became my lifelong heroes. Barass left the next year, we were OK early in '65, till a showdown with Bubsy's team, the Bombers, who went on to win the flag. Little did I know, we wouldn't make the finals again till 1987. I kept following Hassa and his men. New champs came; Stan Alves, Gary Hardiman, Greg Wells and Robbie Flower were great footballers. ‘Tiger’ Ridley and ‘Skilts’ gave us hope in the seventies. Big Carl was...Big Carl, Barass came home. Gerrard Healy was a beauty who got away. The Northey class of '87 let us dream. Balmy and Danners had a crack. Garry, Todd, Big Jimmy, Schwarter, Neita, Stinga, Febes, Wizard, Robbo, Jimmy Mac, they went close. Shwarter's knees, Garry's back, Prymke’s back, merger drama, financial crisis, wooden spoons, Big Jim's cancer; a rocky road.

I caught up with Bubs recently after a 30 year gap. He’s on the Gold Coast. We're closing on sixty now. His Bombers have won five flags since '64, he reminded me. I hope Bails and the new generation of young guns can give my sons lifelong heroes like the gladiators of '64 did for me. Wife Libby was eight years old then. She says she and her sisters chanted in the streets of Wangaratta, "We won the war, in 1964."

Shortest Day

The previous two posts have been saved as drafts for some time till today. I put them up briefly when I wrote them but took them down quickly afterwards, waking up not happy about them. In fact I've been suffering a complete lack of confidence for some weeks. I think we all suffer from loss off self confidence at different times. In my case lately there's probably more than one reason and they are too personal for this forum.

But I'm back. My friend 'Blossom' helped snap me out of it with a thank you card she sent me a couple of days ago. I visited her back in April and planted a few salvias in her back garden. Her birthday was earlier this month and I was late sending a card and the customary quick pick. I also printed out some months of this blog and sent it with the card, as she likes to read my news and thoughts but doesn't have a computer. A few days after her birthday and obviously before she received my mail, her card came in the usual graceful handwriting thanking me for the salvias which she says are thriving and make her think of me every time she goes out. Then she wrote, "Where's my blog, Mr. Carey".

A small thing to most, but to me at that point it was just the tonic to restore some confidence in my writing efforts. I'm so happy to bring 'Bloss' a little pleasure. She's a long standing friend who recently had a second operation for bowel cancer. She lives by herself and has done it hard for nearly two decades now.

I add a piece of local news. The President of the Emerald Museum, Hamish Russell, has resigned as of yesterday's meeting. The committee will possibly go into voluntary (or involuntary) recess while the council "assists" with some solution. I mention this on the off chance committeeman KT who's in London for two months happens to check my blog. He may be looking for some local news. I would post in detail about the EMNHP and it's tribulations over the last couple of years but it would take an application I fear I can't manage now.

Police Corruption Victoria

On the radio news a week or two back, Chief Commissioner of Police Simon Overlander said that he underestimated the level of corruption in the Victoria Police when he joined as an Assistant Commissioner in 2004. This followed the recent dropping of murder charges against a drug squad detective who was alleged to have been implicated in the the execution style killing of a Crown witness and his wife. The witness was to testify that the detective was involved with him and and another policeman in the theft of drugs. The murder case was withdrawn after the natural death of a witness and the ill health of another.

Pretty strong stuff right here in our 'great state', as ex Premier Steve Bracks described it, after receiving his Queen's Birthday medal.

The Chief Commissioner's comments came as no surprise to me. He first joined the Australian Federal Police as young man, in 1984 I think.  A person close to me had been married to a member of the Victoria Police for some years by then. I was a frequent visitor to their house for a meal and a relaxed evening, particularly before I married in 1981. I saw many on and off duty police visit to sit by the blazing open fire in winter, and the the back yard barbecue in summer. Beer flowed, tongues loosened.

There were exceptions who showed discipline and didn't drink while on duty. These were few. I formed the general impression that many police officers saw the public purse as something to be milked while doing as little work as possible. A comparatively innocuous example was one who boasted he hung on to his morning bowel motion till he arrived at work. He loved being paid while doing it. He'd take an hour and read the paper. He'd knock off the station's toilet paper, saying that if he had to go at home, at least he'd use their toilet paper. It's better I don't relate more serious examples of dishonesty and flagrant disregard for the law. It was a long time ago. I'm unable to substantiate.

It tarnished the image I'd grown up with, that of a squeaky clean police force ranking up there with the best in the world. I watched the corruption scandals in Queensland and New South Wales unfold in the 1980's and 90's, still with some expectation that Victoria was above that. That's shattered now also, after the gangland wars, drug caches disappearing from police headquarters, the execution of witnesses, and a couple of whistle blowers.

There's a bitterness that creeps vinelike over me if I dwell too much on the negatives. Better that I move on and open my heart. Police, after all, are flawed human beings like the rest of us. There's greed and corruption in other areas of public service and commerce. Ethical battles go on all the time, all of us face them.

I wish Simon Overlander all the best in what must be the toughest job of all, but perhaps also the most important. There's something rotten in the state of Victoria, for sure, and it must rooted out.

We don't want it.

Greta Football Club Reunion/ Leigh Candy

Last month there was a back to Greta for the 30 year anniversary of the 1980 premiership. I did mention it but not in any detail. I've struggled to find time to blog recently.

One of my old teammates is a fellow blogger. The enigmatic Leigh Candy and I had instant reconnection and learned we have more in common than we realized previously. We both love to write and are both bloggers although Leigh hasn't posted since Feb 2009. That's a pity as he's talented in my opinion, as he was on the football field. He had the knack of coming up with something against the flow of the game just when we needed it.

Leigh wrote a piece about the reunion which he sent me as an attachment to an email. I'm hoping he starts blogging again. I put his reunion piece here on my blog, not because he says nice things about me, but it makes interesting reading and shows his talent.

REUNION

Late Saturday morning I leave Mansfield via Dead Horse Lane, then drive through the arched canopy of eucalypts on the gently winding road toward Swanpool, green sunlit undulations through the trunks striping the roadside. I zigzag my way to Greta via Molyullah.

The ovals at Swanpool and Tatong are vacant: both teams are away today. The Greta Football Club is at home to King Valley and already at half past noon a big crowd is in. The gatekeeper recognises me—“Leigh, isn’t it?”—and relieves me of $10 despite my special guest status as premiership player returning for a 30-year reunion. I don’t mind.

I park away from the fence where the dog can be tied to the back of the car and not bother passers-by. Outside the clubrooms I scan for faces, adding thirty years’ wear and tear, but don’t see any in the crowd swarming at the function-room entrance or queuing for pies and beer.

Someone says hello and I winkle his name out of a crevice in the memory-box. “Hello, Paul.” We watch the second quarter of the reserves game. I comment that I might still get a kick at this level and he tells me that the standard has declined since our time.

Greta isn’t a town; on maps it’s designated as location. The football oval is Greta, the ground surrounded by late autumn poplars and oaks.

“I don’t recall it being this beautiful thirty years ago,” I say.

“Rain,” Paul says. “Been a good season.” He’s on land 500 metres up the road opposite the Catholic church, which is for sale, despite Paul being one of eight O’Brien siblings, surely enough to keep a small country church afloat.

At half-time we enter the function room. Half a dozen familiar faces, three more O’Briens—Bill, Frannie and Gerard. There’s Pat McKenzie, the full-back who single-handedly kept us alive in the prelim final against Beechworth. And Tony Fisher, the team’s youngest member, who liked jumping on heads to pull in speccies. Maxy George is chomping gum, Barry Tanner is big Barry now, Bushy Dinning greyer than the grey he was 30 years ago.

A table is loaded with food but vegetarians needn’t bother. Although there are rolls stuffed with olives and sun-dried tomatoes, some part of a dead animal adorns every one. I nibble dry biscuits and cheese.

Everyone asks where I am now, what I’m doing. Each volunteers a memory of me, most forgotten by me: walking barefoot across the mid-winter ground to the changing sheds on game days; cogitating in a corner with a billowing pipe before the game; sitting on the footy in the centre circle while 35 blokes biffed each other on the wing.

The club president climbs on a bench and welcomes the 14 of us who’ve made it, and four survivors of the ’48 premiership team. He doesn’t introduce himself, utters some appropriate words of welcome, and excuses himself to prepare to play in the seniors.

Bushy Dinning mounts the bench. Like the current president, Bushy was a player while president in 1980. He presents each of us with a plaque engraved with an oval and the team in starting positions. I’m in a forward pocket surrounded by O’Briens.

Three of the team are deceased. The year after we won the flag Brains stuck his arse out of a speeding car window and unfortunately the rest of him followed. Keithy Rowan was killed in a more conventional car accident, and Mark Kelly drank himself to an unhappy death, according to Billy O’Brien, who works with the ambulance.

Bushy gives Lace, our coach, the 1980 grand final game ball, our faded autographs barely visible on the pigskin. I have no memory of signing that ball all those years ago, but I vividly remember the five times I kicked it through the major uprights at Moyhu that day.

Lace says he regrets not coming to more games, but can’t because it’s too painful not to be out on the paddock. Ditto me.

I catch Pat McKenzie and thank him for keeping us close enough to stage a monumental reversal in the prelim final when we came from eight goals down at the long interval to beat Beechworth and win our way to the grand final against Whorouly who beat us by a point in the second semi. Pat tells me I won the game with five second half goals. I tell him Gunna won the game because he got us back in it in the third term. Gunna hasn’t turned up yet.

We disperse and go out to watch the main game. The Greta boys are now the Blues, but today they wear the purple and gold we wore in 1980 in honour of the occasion. They get off to a flyer against an opponent that knocked off last year’s premiers a few weeks before. I circle the ground with the dog, taking photos. Gunna’s arrived when I get back to the clubrooms.

Thirty years ago I heard the pre-season thuds of boots on leather and walked up the road from the old farmhouse I’d moved to with a woman and our new baby. I asked if I could join in and ran a warm-up lap. Someone came alongside and said a bloke on the other side of the ground reckoned he knew me. Gunna Williams. Never heard of him, I said.

Gunna’s real name is Carey. We went to school together, but he was a year below me and we didn’t really know each other. I didn’t know he captained under-age A teams, didn’t remember that he got expelled. He says he was a troubled adolescent, dedicated to nothing.

The man in his late 20s was a great footballer—compact, robust, ruthlessly efficient, utterly understated. He was the club’s centreman, my preferred position, but I never played it better than Gunna. I don’t remember playing in any team or with any bloke like I enjoyed playing with Greta and Gunna.

He was an apiary inspector based in Wang and the week before the grand final I drove him over half of Victoria—his patch—to meet beekeepers and inspect their hives. He lost his licence and had to pay drivers so he could do his job. We talked bees and football and life. Now we chat during the second quarter and he tells me he goes to a writing group and has a blog—“Just something in me I like to do,” he says.

At half time I venture back into the almost empty function room and photograph the premiership flag, my name on the honour board as the best and fairest player of 1980, and the team photograph—blokes with masses of hair and porn-star moustaches.

Davy Kemp, quiet unassuming half-back flanker, comes in, says he wouldn’t mind a cup of tea. I could murder one too. There’s beer aplenty and any amount of canned fizzo and luminous energy drinks, but no cups of tea.

During the second half I concentrate on the game while my team-mates suck cans and no doubt the stories get better and better. Not being able to talk with drinkers has always been a shortcoming. That I could play the game better than most was the only thing that made it possible for an unclubbable bastard like me to be part of the club, but there are still limits.

Greta plays an attractive attacking game romps to a 21.21.147 to 6.6.42 victory. During the final quarter I buy a muffin for the journey home and write my current details on a piece of paper. As the siren sounds I slip it into Gunna’s shirt pocket—the paper, not the muffin—and quietly mosey off to the car. The sun will set in half an hour and I want that time to meander through the hills

The Puzzle

Well I've been off deck for a week, away at Lakes, but I've been working away at the puzzle that is Life on Earth. My last few posts, miserable attempts at short poetry, were the result of coin in the slot internet cafe which keyed in neatly with Maria's request to capture the moment each day in a few lines for a week. Nobody can say I'm not prepared to have a go, something which is improving as age advances, or dare I say as I mature like good wine.

We did some good work on the house. I crawled around the roof, hanging over the edge to sand, treat and patch the fascia board which was flaking its paint badly, exposing bare timber and minor rot, then going round again twice with two coats of fresh paint. Lib and Gord painted the bathroom and put up new towel rack and shower curtain rod to replace the rusty 40 year old ones.

I then uncovered some of the steel plates at the base of the poles that support much of the house, where they are bolted into concrete, and cleaned the others. Years of  corrosion from the salt air has done its damage. I sprayed these with Kill Rust Fishoilene. This may arrest or slow the process, especially if repeated annually. I felt better for having done something anyway.

Just when I was feeling good about the house I wandered over to the steel pylons that hold the treated pine logs of the retaining wall at the back, to find them rusted to paper thinness in places. This wall is about 12 to 15 feet high, (the house being on a steep hill which led to large excavation when it was built) and will no doubt begin to fall down in the not too distant future. I think it would be an engineer's job and an expensive one at that. It was too much for me to contemplate that day. I walked away trying to pretend I hadn't seen it. Lib and her sisters own the house, I'll nag them about having it looked at by a landscaper or engineer.

Life on Earth. There's always maintenance. We left the Lakes house better than we found it. Next time it'll be something else. We have to keep having a go. Perhaps that might be part of the answer to the puzzle. To try and leave everything better than when you found it, while you can. Then it's over to the next bloke.

* This I wrote Sunday and saved as a draft, as I had to rush off to be on roster at the museum. A bus load of visitors was booked and I had to give them a talk. It's been full on since we came home. Nice to be back on the walking route though. I picked a big bag of pine mushies this morning, cooked em up and had a big feed, and fridged the rest. Maybe they freeze alright cooked. We played golf at Lakes one day and Lib collected a hat full of field mushies which we had for lunch. Jod picked mushies at the farm and he and Marion ate them on Saturday night and became violently ill and rushed to hospital. Elvie had some too but didn't like the taste and threw much of them out but she was sick for several hours also. They were more domed than usual, but smelt like normal edibles and were nice and pink underneath with no yellowing when bruised. All part of the puzzle. Apparently there are thousands of unidentified species of fungi which may hold all manner of medical and pollution clean up miracles. 

Cunningham Arm

Ibis, duck, crane, mudflat
Jetstream high
deluxe cabins
satellite dishes
new cyclone wire fence

Lake Bunga

Fifty-eight swans gliding
breeze rippled lake
lone gull
dragon head tree stump
rearing overseer

Day 2

Galahs,lorikeets
Banksia cobs, Pitto berries
Australian flags, trimmed lawns
Criusers, Patrols, Pajeros
Boats, golf buggies

Lakes Entrance

Early bird call
clear eyed dogs
sharp eyes
steaming breath
Let's walk.