Beyond a joke.

You may remember me posting a picture of a willy wagtail that visits me often, flying in through a hatchway, scolding me for a few minutes, then flying off again to return in a few days for a repeat performance. OK, so we suspect he/she wants a hand out.

But yesterday, I heard his/her scolding voice as I walked onto the wharf and saw her/him perched on a trawler, clearly aiming his/her attention at me. Then, he /she followed me along, flitting from boat to boat, continuing his/her admonitions until I climbed aboard.

I made coffee and was just about to take a sip when lo and behold there she/he was in the saloon, perched on the Captain’s Chair, continuing the tirade!

That is him/her perched on my new beach towel draped over the chair, (keeping out the UV's).

I talked back to him/her assuring her/him that I was sorry if he/she thought I had offended him/her. He/she seemed to listen, then flitted off again, delivering a last blast from the companionway before disappearing!

Now, after due consideration, I have decided it is a she so no more he/she. Why?
The similarity of tone and persistence is too reminiscent of one of my wives who had, over the fifteen years of our marriage crafted nagging into an art form, not to be unconnected... I do believe it is her!

Now I will get all soppy and tell you, that although we separated for good reason, I did love her, cried at her funeral for lost opportunities and only a couple of days ago was reminded by 'My Hero' of happier times which erased some of the many regrets that visit my consciousness in the wee small hours.

End of an era.

It is with great regret I say farewell to a good and faithful servant.
Sounds like the start of a eulogy and it is.
What you see here is a 1989 model Atari Mega II computer.

This computer was the power behind twenty years of publishing and composing. It was fast and reliable and still is. Does anyone have a 22 year old PC still working? I don‘t.
Long before MS Windows, this ‘windows’ machine had the capability to handle up to seven open screens for dragging and dropping, cutting and pasting and its choice of ports was staggering.
The MIDI interface is built in, as is its many more ports to attach piano keyboards, drives, printers, phone line and more, so it was the fastest and easiest machine to use, much faster and more powerful than the Mac of its day.
A Seagate hard drive added in 1993 gave it even more punch and super fast loading of programs.
But since Atari decided to pull out of cmputer manufacturing, this remarkable machine has been starved of programs and can no longer do what I want.
So, with IXL about to move aboard with her stuff, everything not absolutely necessary must go and I cannot justify keeping my darling Atari aboard.
So, if anyone needs a vintage Atari loaded with programs that works as well as ever, you have about two weeks before she hits the recycle bin.
Boo Hoo!

Australia Day 2011.

Advance Austalia Fair-go!
(A tribute to Jimmy Little)










Into the bay the tall ships came.
Brave, desperate, driven.
God given arrogance
hidden behind social graces,
a veneer of civilisation.

Men, custodians of thirty, forty,
fifty thousand years of culture.
Older, wise, inclusive,
watched them come
to a land where none knew
coal and iron slept.

‘A land for a people,
A people for a land!’
It started then,
this short history
written by victors
as it always is.

While Biame’s people,
weakened by European pathogens,
misunderstood and dispossessed,
shot by Christians,
but destroyed ultimately by despair.

This must be the year
when 'The Apology',
wrought in guilt,
delivered in hope
should be judged.
Man to man,
woman to woman,
are we succeeding?
Are we embracing
our common humanity?

Now, using wealth gathered
from less fortunate men,
who make
from coal and iron
the transient artefacts
so desired;
we can pay for others to 'fix it',
if we want.

Or we can look into every eye
for unbidden feelings of love
and return it.

But, as in ‘The greatest love of all’,
It is our children who ‘lead the way’.
Raised in schools where
so many faces of races
have places,
our children already
live the agenda of inclusion;
Citizens of our Accidental Multicultural Society.

Dedicated with love and appreciation to Australian Aboriginal musician and activist Jimmy Little, an 'accidental bridge builder', and his feisty wife Marge, the ‘power behind the throne’.









Tall ships pic courtesy National Library.

Second bite

The Magpie Tales toothbrush came at a bad time. So much guilt. If I’d known I could live this long I would have taken better care of my teeth! This picture is of a foot pedal operated drill, similar to the one used by my first dentist who visited my school to see to the teeth of poorer students. See the notice explaining its use and imagine a dentist jigging around, pedalling energetically while trying to perform delicate caries removal in the small mouth of an eight year old. That was me. The eight year old, not the dentist!

In case you were wondering, he stuffed up and had to remove four teeth. Then he sent me back to class with a note that I should be sent home. What they all forgot was that our farm was four miles away and there was no transport, so in the heat of sunmer I walked home with a mouth full of bloody cotton wool. Mum was not happy. She hated me missing lessons!

Many many years later, only two years ago I lost my first permanent tooth, a very expensive root canalled/gold capped molar that had reached its use-by-date, and was offered a referral to a specialist who could do an implant for $5,000. Although I could have scraped it together, I put it off, knowing I could never afford a second one, and barring my prior demise, would finish up with one implant standing ‘like a tombstone in a ghost town!’

I digress to tell you that a four year old once told me, oh so seriously, that a cemetery is: ‘A place where dead people live.’ I assure you I did not laugh… not until later.

So with three teeth suddenly giving me merry hell, crunch time has arrived. Now there is no choice. Dentures it will be. So, I will talk to Dr Dan on Monday and arrange an end to the pain as soon as possible. Wish me luck and join me in thanking science for anaesthetic!

(Pic from Wiki)