Category: General Musings

Went fishing with the lads a couple of weeks ago. Chartered the boat out of Southport for a full days fishing. The boat cost $140 each but worth it – the crew were pleasant, switched on and we caught mobs of fish. When we eventually got back to port I found a $120 parking ticket on my windscreen. We had parked, like sheep I guess, where everybody else parked but didn’t read the bit that mentioned ‘vehicles with boat trailer only‘.

Ah well, such is life.

On the drive back I dropped in at my son’s place (new baby – couldn’t go fishing) and gave him some of the catch. As I reversed out of his driveway the new fangled mirrors on the RR angled down so I could see the curb, but I would rather have seen the shiny new BMW parked on the other side of the street.

I didn’t, or I was overtired or….s..c..r..a..p..e. The price of fish is escalating!

I got the bill yesterday – $690 for bad driving plus the $140 boat charter plus the $120 ticket = $950!

Less $60 from my passenger (half of the parking ticket- thanks George!) – comes to $890 for the day
Ten kilo of fish caught at best = $89 a kilo.

Ah well, such is life.

Hope I didn’t run through a speed camera on the way home – that would make me cranky.

This story from todays Courier Mail (no link) Just a couple of suburbs from where I live in Brisbane a 41 year old woman was jogging to work on Monday morning when a bandanna clad man stepped out from behind a tree and threatened he with a knife. She punched him on the jaw and heard it crack whereupon he fled holding said jaw. She continued jogging to work, albeit at a greater speed, and the police are looking for a 20 year old male, 175 cm tall with a surprised look on his face The woman was the daughter of a boxer and a former self-defence instructor. Several years ago my daughter was likewise accosted by a villain as she ended her shift in the ICU unit at Brisbane General Hospital. When she approached her car a guy threatened he with a pistol and grabbed for her handbag. “It was an Armani Dad and he wasn’t going to get it”, she later told me. She grabbed he bag back, gave him two short sweet words of advice and shoved him away. You might be thinking ‘foolhardy woman…pistol and all” but daughter had spent time in the Army Special Reserves during her Uni days and knows a real pistol when she sees one. It was a fake pistol and he wasn’t a real man. Posted as an encouragement to woman to fight back if circumstances allow.

BRISBANE could be facing its coldest June day for more 90 years today as winter winds continue to lash Queensland. Winds of 75 km/hr on Moreton Bay and as I went for a drive to the shops the car dash says 10 deg outside. The winds are filling up the pool with leaves and other rubbish and blowing everything that isn’t nailed down around the yard. The dogs started barking at trees blowing in the wind so we are inside the office with the heater on. I only have one question….where’s the bloody rain?

KEITH Payne didn’t have much time to think before taking the action which earned him the Victoria Cross in 1969, but he thought long before selling it.

On Monday the Vietnam War veteran, one of Australia’s last two surviving VC recipients, sold his cross for an undisclosed amount to Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum.

Keith gets financial security for his extended family and the buyer gets a draw card for his museum

“It was a hard call to make but I felt the time was right,” the 74-year-old former professional soldier said yesterday.

The buyer and curator, Mr John Meyers started the museum when he sold his share in a sawmill and hardware business.

“Keith’s medals will really help put Maryborough on the tourism map,” he said.

I know them both and wish them well.

I’m off to Tasmania tomorrow morning for a two week drive around the island in a Britz Mobile Home. In the meantime check out the articles on the left under “The UN” and “Apocoholics Anonymous”. Both state my postition more knowlegeably than I can; particularly Apocoholics Anonymous (lifted from Tramtown) that supports my theory of Global Warming being the latest gospel in the Church of the Latter Day Alarmists.

Well worth the read.

Any readers from Tasmania who have a yearning to beat me over the head for my conservative views look for the big grey haired bloke in a Britz with petite brunette in the copilot seat but be very carefull, she’s Irish and attacks anyone who disrupts her orderly life, including me.

My plan is to arrive in Hobart, recover from Virgin Blues cattle seats, pick up the vehicle and then make a plan. Any tips or local knowledge welcomed.

Land Rovers four millionth vehicle is scheduled to roll off the production line next week. A special ceremony will be held to mark the occasion with actress and wildlife patron Joanna Lumley accepting the Discovery 3 on behalf of the Born Free Foundation. It is estimated that two thirds of these vehicles are still in use and three of them reside at my place. A Range Rover, a Discovery and a 1966 Series IIA. On Sunday I’m off to Longreach for a week of country living helping with the local boys college as they learn all about cattle and the judging ring. I’m taking the Range Rover – it’s just easier to kill the 1100 kms out to Longreach.

Lachlan James Gillett arrived yesterday at 2.00pm wieghing in at 3.7k. I showed him a list of his predecessors stretching back six generations in Australia but his mother suggested he couldn’t read yet….

I’ll show him again next week…should understand by then!

Mother, Father, Lachlan and Grandparents all doing well although Grandmother is a bit overwhelmed.

There’s nothing in the video and song that doesn’t apply to my tour with Recce Pl 7RAR. My ‘Frankies’ were Shorty G , ‘Bull’ M , Alan T (KIA), ‘General’ P(KIA) , Ken B and Ted M – all lost legs or were killed by mines. Others killed or wounded were Bob B , Dave A , Maurie C, Taffy C, Peter D, Darrel G, Ray G, Pat K, Bill K, Jim K, ‘Blue N, Kerry R, Neil R (KIA), Phil R, John T, Dick W and Dennis W.

23`killed or wounded from a run-on side of 31. I have removed the surnames of the guys as there are some weirdos visit this site. Not unlike their older mates who phoned up parents of our killed and told them their sons deserved to die.

I will march with some of these guys tomorrow and remember others and then like always, get on with life the day after.

As an aside, one of the guys from the platoon has been called back in. I’m as jealous as hell as he has been promised a tour to Iraq and Afghanistan but he is well under 60 and I’m just over.

Watch the video and remember the days when what you did had an impact or if you weren’t with us, just watch and think kindly of us. The guys absent tomorrow answered the call of the bugle and upheld the reputation of the Regiment and no one could ask or give more.

Lest we Forget

I have been asked by the local boys college to play the bagpipes at their ANZAC Day memorial service and in accepting the task I mentioned I would play the Flowers of the Forest as the lament when the boys and others are laying wreaths. In my acceptance email I touched on the history of the tune. I have played it at various events over the years and there is a good chance that if a piper is present wherever you are on ANZAC Day you will hear the tune. The tune has an ancient history but it is generally accepted that it was written and set to music to commemorate the terrible slaughter of the Scots at Flodden Field in 1513 where 10,000 men, a third or more of the Scottish army, were killed. There were few prisoners.. The history of the tune has, like all things Scottish, some arguement as to it’s exact origins.

According to The Scots Musical Museum there is a fragment of an old ballad in the Skene Manuscript titled The flowres of the Forrest, and an air so titled appeared in Oswald’s collection and several others. However, the old ballad did not survive, and later three versions were written.

The earliest version was this one, by Mrs. Cockburn. According to the Museum, a man known to Mrs. Cockburn heard a shepherd playing a flute. Fascinated by the air, he learned it was The Flowers of the Forest. He committed the air to memory and communicated it to Mrs. Cockburn. She recognized the tune and knew some lines of the old ballad. He prevailed upon her to write new words.

Jane (Jean) Elliot (1727-1805) also wrote the poem The Flowers of the Forest A Lament for Flodden. She published it anonymously circa 1755. It was, at the time, thought to be an ancient surviving ballad. However, Burns suspected it was an imitation, and Burns, Ramsay and Sir Walter Scott eventually discovered who wrote the song.

Another version, beginning “Adieu ye streams that smoothly glide,” was written by Mrs. John Hunter.

The Battle of Flodden Field took place in 1513. Because of the alliance between Scotland and France, James IV attacked England when Henry VIII invaded France. The Battle of Flodden was a disaster for the Scots, with estimates of Scottish losses numbering as high as ten thousand. Numerous nobles were killed in the battle, including King James.

I have never thought of the Jocks as diplomats. They call their main national instrument the War Pipes for God sake. While Bach and Beethoven stir the heart, bagpipes stir the soul and kilted men have struck fear in the hearts of their enemies as they attack with pipers leading the charge. For centuries there has existed a pavlovian response to the sound of the pipes as men of many nations have heard them and looked around nervously for a path of retreat. As well, their broad Scottish accent leaves little room for diplomacy – people simply don’t understand what they are saying. In the late fifties my family left the farm and headed for town. Dad’s WW2 service had been too demanding and he couldn’t handle work anymore. We moved into a Housing Commission house at Albany WA and in due course a carpenter turned up to repair the damage left by the previous tenant. He was a Jock dour by nature and face… he was simply put, a picture of fear. Dad and he spoke at some length and as I listened I couldn’t understand what the Jock was saying. When he left I asked Dad, “What did he say?” He replied, sotto voice (just in case he was still within hearing) “I don’t know” We eventually worked out that he was starting up a Pipes and Drum band in Albany and I looked like a likely piper. For seven or eight years I learnt the bagpipes under this man and never really understand his accent but really didn’t have to….he spoke eloquently with his fingers on the chanter. In Vietnam, whenever we lost a soldier, the Battalion piper played the Flowers of the Forest and once when he played at FSPB Anne, on the edge of the jungle, I wondered what the Viet Cong made of the sound. He made a obvious target but he was never shot at…maybe Charlie had heard of the war pipes and didn’t want to mess with anyone associated with them. The ‘Flowers’ of the tune were the 10,000 Scots. I couldn’t find a rendition of the tune by Australians so this will have to do [youtube]vW9M5wYHh2w [/youtube]

Now that Sunrise have decided that forcing a ‘Daylight Saving Scheme” at Long Tan is a bad idea they have opted for the only other possibly controversial ANZAC Day service – Currumbin Beach. They are recording the Dawn Service and then the Powderfinger Concert to be held at 8:00 am following the Dawn Service. I know both Ken Workman, the Pesident of the Gold Beach RSL and Doug Formby,the State President of the RSL and have no great problems with their quote in the article however I do have some general reservations. To me, ANZAC Day is my Holy Day of Obligation. I wear my fathers medals as well as my own as a mark of respect to him and his generation and I also carry the memories of my friends who didn’t come home or who did and succumbed to wounds or to whom the burden of life became too much. I am more Agnostic than Christian but I would never expect any one to contemplate holding rock concerts, or for that matter, major sporting events on Christmas Day or Good Friday yet ANZAC DAY is open day for marketers. I don’t think any non-related public event should be scheduled before the end of the March and I personnaly will not watch any match or event on the day. I’m most probably in the minority here but that’s how I feel and being the conservative I am I’m not about to change.