What are the odds?

Having traipsed the continent last year saying "You always bump into people!", we met no one we knew.
So it is pleasing to hear that Sarah bumped into my godson Scott in Wien yesterday!

Dream a littler dream!

Those of you in the know may be surprised to learn that today I gave away my dream therapy. At least in the short term.
As I read back through the posts tagged "dream" (here) I warn myself that giving away therapy/introspection; is always tricky because it may be happening at a time when things are just hotting up. I don't think this is the case; but H, the therapist, is suspicious.
Part of my problem is that I always think I am having a watershed experience, or that I am about to ultimately clarify my thinking. Despite the fact that I have shifted a lot of stuff in dreams, maybe I am just shuffling deckchairs.
So I am taking a little time to step back.
Maybe I will see that the 'ultimate revelation' was there under my nose all the timeQ

Growing up

One daughter rang from the US to say "I think I am in New York. We were driving to the Mall" (one of her all time dreams) "and I said to the people 'Is this New York?'"
Not New York City but (maybe) Middletown New York State, not far from Milford Pennsylvania, which is not far from the back of beyond Camp Netimus, where she is working.
Her German sister meanwhile when she heard that K had driven on the Highway with a capital H screamed (by SMS) "And she has driven!"
Yes, driving on the highway ...I mean Highway...is an achievment
She said she had been to Dachau and it was fairly confronting to stand in the gas chamber.
I could only reply (via SMS) that was indeed so! And it was good to stand in a gas chamber!

Z is for

ZIMBABWE which is sad for all who knew the former glories of this region, their bounty and stability. And which shows the frailty of any political system. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

Grim Pickings

The hermeneutic of television is a fascinating thing. If one were, for example, to do research on how representative Sunday night viewing is of the breadth and depth of our culture, it would be quite interesting.
The ABC at 7.30 had the exquisite Wild China. I hope this will go down in the annals as one of the great documentaries. But I watched "Battle of the Choirs" on 7. What a great show. For those of us who love community music, it gives you real up. With 4 billion per cent more heart than Idol, there was both a real sense of competition and a powerful message about what is happening in real Australia. BUT...it's tear jerking stuff, it's really hard to compare one man's music with another's...
Of course being a man I had to channel flick, because Wayne Carey was on 60 Minutes. Now this was interesting, as 9 so threatened by Battle and Wild China that it had to play the 'titillation card'. Maybe!
Any way I ended up recording it. I do not know whether I will be able to stomach watching it. It seemed pretty stage-managed. Even the black mongoose himself....Ray Martin...seemed so enamoured of Carey that he didn't really manage to shake his arrogant persona (this was a far cry from the Denton interview...here...and one wonders if it was a corrective by Carey's media machine) The most laughable end to that interview was Carey declaring that he wanted to use this experience to become a 'counsellor'. I mean the man, while being media savvy, is as thick as a plank!
It gets worse because then the first of the two part series about Schapelle Corby......and it went on and on and on ...and I am still none the wiser.
I wrote some years ago about the (please explain) 'xenophobia' which was promoted in this case.
I was deeply disturbed when in Indonesia to erad an article by an Australian expat, the thesis basically being that the Indonesian legal system is corrupt to the nth degree.
Now, I guess, a case can be made for that. Gee our own system is so spotless!
But we have not so much allowed ourselves to hear the facts as to be appealed to as racists.
I was left unsure wehether this was what was happening here.
I don't want to have to watch episode 2 on Tuesday.
Compass had a deeply depressing but, it seemed to me, very important program about Torture (here)
Apart from all this, Hamish and Andy on the Rove show drank milkshakes and rode a roller coaster to see who would vomit first and the most.
Such was Sunday night.
Ah well I need to go and watch Wheel of Fortune!

Y is for

YOUTUBE which (in my lowly opinion) has rather changed the way politics is likely to happen any more

X is for

of course this is the point of the whole exercise. Because, other than in Greece there are few times when you actually have an X for a Senator.

W is for

WINSTON. Someone once said that true fame was when people knew you by your first name. I am sure you all know who Winston is.
I was always intrigued by how many venerated him for his wartime leadership, and yet he was voted out after the war. True Labour voters detested his arrogance.
Always bemused by little Johnnie's middle name. He is/was no Churchill!

Such consumers

k rang from the US this morning. She had 'accidentally' driven to the Mall and found herself in upstate NY. So she was ringing to tell us, she had said to someone "is this New York state" and they had looked at her as though she was odd.
More critically, she sighed, "We would fit in so well here!" when I asked why (I had already suggested "Because we are so fat?") she simply said "They are such consumers, and so are we."
What have we done to our children?

V is for

VICKIE who is one of the curiosities of SA politics, a member of a political dynasty. Her father Ted was Liberal wheeler and dealer, and she seems to me to typify what is really bad about the State Liberal party, a lack of clear vision and a tendency to only whine about their opponents.
Following the defeat of the Liberals on the floor following the 2002 election, Chapman attained the portfolios of Education and children's services. After the Liberals were soundly defeated in the 2006 election, Chapman was elected to the deputy leadership in an unexpected joint ticket with factional rival Iain Evans. Strong backing was received from moderate faction bosses: former Premier Dean Brown and federal Member for Sturt Christopher Pyne.
I would not wish to stand in front of her on a dark night.

U is for

UGANDA. To me this glorious country seems such a tragedy, typifying not only what is wrong with Africa but much of what is wrong with the world. When powerful men, lose their heads and then think they have the right to cause others to lose theirs also.
Amin was, perhaps, not a genius. But he was smarter than he was often given credit for (as indeed is Mugabe).
It is not just an African problem, when we lose the checks and balances then Uganda is waiting to happen

T is for

TOM PLAYFORD. Perhaps the second greatest South Australian Premier. At one time he was the longest serving Premier ever in the British Empire. A very good wikipedia article here
What impresses me about him is that although very much a conservative, he was also committed to the welfare of all. He did what he could to court Dunstan (who I would rate the greatest of the Premiers...but he is loathed almost as much as the suave PM who was loved by a few and despised by many more (here)
Despite his great social conscience, and his tireless working to see that South Australians would have work ... he still has a brand new road which runs right passed his house, with no other seeming reason for it!

Quacking like a duck

Some will be interested that two priests of the Church of England (in England) went through a blessing of their civil union at one of the great London churches (here) last weekend.
The event is, of course, worth reporting; though I am also interested in the reporting of the event.
The clever Rector who performed the service seemed well on top of the histrionics of various reporters who were trying to get him to say he was confronting the Archbishop of Canterbury, he was doing something naughty, or that this was actually a wedding.
He was very careful to say he was doing none of these things; a little too careful maybe.
Reporters didn't actually seem much interested in the morality of the event, but more in the scandal with which it might be associated. This caused the good Rector (not so good in some people's eyes) to declare..."Why has this all of a sudden become about me?"
Perhaps he thought it was the issue that was important. A bit naive really

S is for

Natasha STOTT-Despoja.. high flying adored, so young and so beautiful. Devilishly smart, well off out of it (in two weeks) but I am sure she will not manage to be quiet

Happy Birthday to

ME!
How can I be (sound of muffled age)?

R is for

Two Bobs!
ROBERT James Lee Hawke who at the time seemed like the battlers' battler, but in latter years has seemed more like the friend of the rich and famous. And/or
ROBERT Brown, leader of the Greens who is more left than the lefties and the only one who seems to talk Green sense. I once heard a respectable Tasmanian snigger about the fact that he had been 'strip searched' at an airport. Apparently it was OK because he is 'one of them', ie a prominent homosexual.

Q is for

QUESTION TIME, which is either what the Westminster system is all about or the biggest waste of time

Great ordination

More photos will follow...hot off the presses. Sandra 's ordination was a joyous occasion for all. She looked spectacular in the Great Coromandel Chasuble, which she helped to make

P is for

PAUL, perhaps the most loathed politician in recent history. Once styled (by himself?) Australia's greatest Treasurer, he was certainly a visionary PM.
His cult spawned one of the funniest theatre experiences I have enjoyed...Keating the Musical...about which I have blogged elsewhere. I think he will be more remembered , in the annals of history than he who succeeded him.

Win some, lose some

Made great time on our pilgrimage to Broken Hill today for the ordination of Sandra tomorrow.
But we also were stopped once inside NSW for speeding...and it was nasty. Either they are more on the ball or I am just getting stupid. Perhaps both.
It's cold in a different way, but looking foward to the great day s

O is for

"ORDER! ORDER!": The oft heard remark of the Speaker in the Parliament. It doesn't seem to have much effect.

That must be right....

Sarah reports that she just saw a man drink two litres of beer from a glass boot, and yesterday she ate Bratwurst and Brötchen; so as she rightly remarks...this must be Germany then.
Meanwhile K is now a qualified lifesaver and about to become a sailing instructor. (with high temperatures in the US...she is probably not minding the outdoor water activity so much)
Sandra is preparing for her ordination as a priest, and we are preparing to go to Broken Hill for that event.
Sophie is hectic with Joseph but has become fluey...and needs to take care

N is for

NORTHERN TERRITORY. The 'intervention' begun by the last government to address certain issues in remote aboriginals communities, is so complex that it is difficult to talk about intelligently.
On the one hand children in peril demand swift intervention for their protection, on the other so much 'intervention' smacks of patronising interference of the white fella knows best kind.
We still ahven't got this right after 200 years.

M is for

MENZIES who had retired from politics by the time I came to live in Australia (1967). I have always been at something of a loss to understand just what it was about him, other than his long governance, which so commended him to people.
He seems rather dull and unimaginative, intent on steering the ship on a steady course rather than braving the voyage to a new future. Maybe that's what people found attractive.
I don't think such sedate conservatism will suit us well in the future.

L is for

LEUNIG whose cartoons are too good for us. Sharply perceptive, deeply spiritual. Their simplicity so disarms the reader that we realise we are taken in by them, and then it is too late.

K is for

Kevin. The name of our most popular PM...but not for long I suspect. And the State's least popular Treasurer...Rudd and Foley Respectively

J is for

JEPARIT almost as famous as my father-in-law's birthplace. It's major claim to fame being the birthplace of Robert Gordon Menzies

Communing

I seem to have had a number of discussions this week which directly or indirectly have been about community.

I guess I function (or dysfunction maybe) in community so it is hardly surprising.

It is a bit strange in a world in which we can all live in each other's pockets, and be in almost constant contact with anyone telephonically...why would you want to phone people in the car or walking to the bus?....that we easily forget some community basics.

Like:

• community is not all plain sailing, and that we grow through conflict and disagreement as well as through hugs and kisses. In our consumerist mentality we forget that maybe we need to not just throw away our community when it doesn't seem to be working in the way we want.


• walking out of a community or a relationship when it gets difficult may deny us the opportunity of (as it were) moving to a deeper level. We throw away the very gift that is being offered just as the point where it is becoming valuable


• it is probably easier to walk out the second and third times, and gets easier as time goes on; and so the whole abandonment dynamic becomes an issue in itself. Instead of solving the problem it becomes the problem
  

This not a rationale for staying in abusive communities or relationships but a plea to give relationships a bit more attention

I is for

IAN Smith. In hushed tones our Bible Class leader discussed with us the UDI of Ian Smith (here), declaring Rhodesia free og the empire, enforced self-rule, and heaven knows what else.
Old LTC the Bible teacher was obviously deeply troubled. He could not combine, I think, the two thoughts of somoene not-thinking Whitehall was benevolent, and at the same time being a good economic thing, and also entrenching racism.
He was setting before us an ethical dilemma. I recognise this as being, possibly, the first time I relaised politics might matter.

The state of the world

I sometimes wonder about whether our perspective on world affairs is at all incisive. I mean how have we got ourselves into the sort of messes that we are presently faced with? Global warming, food shortages, an unending Middle East peace conflict, AIDS, the total exploitation of the poor to pander to the vagaries of the rich (that is another way of saying 'paying Philipinos 20c cents an hour to make sneakers that cost $200 to buy'). How can the Murray River die?
or am I just having a bad day?

H is for

HOWARD, like Gough, was hated and adored . I have written too much about him in the last two years so follow the Tag and here if you want to see it through.
Unlike Gough, I think he lacked imagination, was a political opportunist who saw his role as to stay in power and therefore was poll driven rather than ideal driven. History will give us a better perspective, but I am interested how he seems to have fallen almost completely out of public view. One cannot see him having the same sort of humanitarian profile as a Malcolm Fraser, for example; I just think he could (and should) have been so much better.

G is for

GOUGH (of course). Labor leaders are probably more loved and mroe hated than their Liberal counterparts.
None more so than Edward Gough Whitlam. My dear late friend Joyce Townend, a fervent Labor party supporter, would speak little of politics normally, but often of Gough. She, like many of us, thought him to eb a sort of saint. Though he was deeply flawed, profoundly arrogant and absolutely brilliant.
As it turned out, a fatal combination.

F is for

FRASER who actually became quite a good thing in the end. Perhaps we shoudl all experience being caught with our pants down!

The eagles have landed

The wonders of SMS can assure us that one child is going to bed in Frankfurt, and the other is taxi-ing down the runway in LA

All my little chicks

Well number two left yesterday for Singapore and thinks it is Wicked. And number one left today for LA (where the big jet engines roam).
I am amazed at how exhausted I feel just getting them out of the house. Looking forward to a quiet weekend!!

E is for

ELIZABETH II who needs to stop being the Queen of Australia

Put your left leg in!

In a curious acricle in the UK Daily Telegraph (here) a leaked report tells us that English Bishops think many, maybe most. clergy are not up to the job.
Well, I could have told them that! Most Bishops, in particular, aren't either!
One Bishop repotedly says of clergy “Truthfully, it is deeply depressing. Egotism rules. Contemporary worship is feeble, 'sweet’, and leads no one to the Majesty of God.”
Now I don't deny an elephant of truth, but that Bishop also needs a mirror.
Clergy are to be encouraged by the release of a book (God help us!) about preaching "with humnanity". Seems like a good idea, some of the advice:

In giving advice on learning to use the diaphragm consciously, it advises: "Go down on your hands and knees and pant, rapidly with short breaths."

It's partly right, you do need to get down on your knees to preach well, but panting is not the main thing you need to be focussing on!
Clergy are indeed not up to the 'job', the sooner Bishops (and others) stop thinking about it as 'a job' the better in my opinion....grrr!

D is for

DAVID Hicks who like the previous entry has also passed into seeming oblivion. And is probably quite glad of it.

Bizzaro Biblicum

The seven foods of Deuteronomy, Wheat, Barley, Raisins, Honey, Figs, Pomegranates, Olive Oil, are packed into this Bible Bar providing "nutrition God's way"

David, Samson and Moses rule over a jelly bean tube each

I find all this truly bizarre!(here)

C is for

PETER who is so slipping out of existence that when you Google him you get pictures of the ever-present Elvis Costello
instead