Doing my evening thing and watching the TV in the background as I try to write something profound. I am always about to go inside, after The Chase, the first half of the News and an episode of American Pickers, when a movie comes on that I’ve seen a thousand times…. but, can’t help but watch it one more time: tonight it was ROBO-COP.
I initially thought it was the original ‘old classic’ with the great line “Dead or alive you’re coming with me….” then I realised it was a modern remake; so, even a better reason to stay up and watch it, in the shed, with a beer.
….. and, I smiled…. and, as the movie started, I thought, wrote and felt the words below:
“I thought of an old mate from the Police, Bill. We walked the beat in the 1980’s, we were in the Police Pistol Club together and each year would go away to the Australian Police and Services National Pistol Titles…. we had a fine time!? He was eventually poached from the Police back into the Airforce where he began his career of service. We all laughed as he was an officer and mostly as young coppers we didn’t have much to do with the officers other than to get yelled at. We kept in touch, as you try to do and had a few catch ups over the years and pretended it was the 1980’s again; Bill could always make us laugh and mostly when he dumped a 318 Valiant motor in a Jaguar!
We laughed a lot at Robo-Cop when it came out; and in fact all the great, now terrible movies of the 80’s, which we stole lines from and used them at work, not unlike the Brooklyn 99 classic comebacks and sayings.
I smiled when the new Robo-Cop came on, I smiled with all the above memories and got a beer from the fridge.
For a moment, I thought of calling Bill and wondered if like me, his mobile number had not changed for 20 years.
Then, in that same instance, as those who know, will know; I remember he died a few years ago from cancer.
So, I stood up, and I wrote his name on my fridge in the shed, with the other names, under the title “Say their names often”…..
He shuffled from this mortal coil this morning after a stroke that hit him like a freight train.
I will miss him: as will our little Riverland bunch of mates, including Lynchy, who I had a chat with yesterday.
Ross was a rare man of character.
He loved life: He loved and adored his family as they did him: Dad, Poppy and mate. He loved his friends: as they loved him because he was always there for them. He loved his wife of many years: and held her in his heart always. He loved Kerry a recent companion of such a short time; who they made each other happy.
….he just loved life Fishing Dancing Working for others…..
Some, even me, can not always remember what Ross did for us: ……. but, we will always remember the way he made us feel.
I don’t know if Ross was a man who believed in a higher power like me, but I know we both thought religion was more hypocritical than us: ……. I also know if he had an appointment at the Pearly Gates for 11:00 am he would reschedule for 11:03 am…..
I don’t know much, but, I do know one thing….
Ross will always be here in our memories, in times, even many years in the future, when we laugh and turn to share it with him; and remember that he is not there anymore; and laugh again, because that is what he would want.
To all of us, to family, life long friend, new friends such as me, and mostly his great loves in life; we know we are lucky.
For, if you have know Ross for a lifetime, or a fleeting friend or work colleague, or just passing him with a helo in the street; we all wish we had met him earlier, so we could have known him longer: – having his counsel – his humour – his friendship, and love – and that one extra beer – that one last laugh – that one last fishing trip – that one last dance – that one last shake of that big strong hand – that one last soft touch that he gave so freely to everyone
And, we did; in that last one time, we did that one last thing with him: I am not sad because I won’t do them again, okay, a little sad, but, I am glad I got to do them at all.
I am a sad, but I am blessed, grateful and humbled that I knew Ross….
…..and, I hear him muttering from heaven “Bullshit” in his quiet tone: and it makes me smile.
Well, I am in Bali for a month where I seem to get a lot of writing done. When I have travelled here with Jo her in the past, she always used to say it was nice to see ‘Bali Ian’ arrive.
So, I am feeling the vibe already after a couple of days and have promised a few posts about Bali drivers etc, but thought I should put ‘The Jab’ series to bed, so to speak – then I wouldn’t like to speak about it at all, ever again.
I am due for my 3rd vaccination injection. So, I thought I’d best be as informed as I can about that. Not that most of the information is contradictory or changing constantly but, through using my own brain and experience and what I thought wasn’t a bad education throughout my life.
An analogy immediately came to mind about having the ‘insurance’ of the multiple vaccinations to protect me – I likened it to car insurance…..
But before that, it is important to know that I got my second vaccination and was lucky to not have any side effects, only one, and thankfully that was not a sore arm.
The only side effect was that four weeks later I got COVID19 – again, lucky, pretty mild and was negative and up an running a week.
The initiatives of the vaccination making companies: I think they are called Big-Pharma is to be admired in connection with the Government strategies and spending to keep us all safe and ensure we are customers for life (see The Jab – Part 2).
The initiative (only an analogy at this time in a design matrix to ensure interoperability and flowing synergy with bipartisant agreements and economic partnership; all in a green washed inclusive way ….) is to sell to the Government and the hardworking battlers of Australia, for the rich to enact, in partnership with our wonderful democratic and capitalist society; and introduce;
Free Car Insurance for All
The government will ensure everyone’s car insurance is for free.
The Government throughout Australia, at Federal and State Level, through a joint courcas, and meeting, and public announcements, and changing mandates, will provide free car insurance for all.
This of course this will not be a compulsory scheme as you will have a choice.
Unfortunately all insurance companies in Australia will not be able to insure you directly. Traditionally they have found it difficult to get timely payment so the Government will take over this job for them, and you won’t have to worry about paying those pesky bills – talk about leadership!
The wonderful state of emergency powers will be invoked until the introduction of legislation that will include all overseas insurance agencies and insurance agencies that have not been peer reviewed or approved by the World Associated National Knowledge (WANK) division of the United Nations (Security Council Members Only – except Russia).
In the event that you choose not to be part of the Commonwealth Only National (CON) scheme you can of course not drive a car; I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put the rest of us a risk.
The Government will of course recoup insurance costs through temporary taxes in line with the Emergency Services Levi.
Finally, should you experience any vehicle collision which may result in minor damage, or on going injury or death the CON has factored in the designated responsibility falling through appropriate legal precedent to the driver and/or their family/community and any such person who may not have insurance.
All compensation, repair, death, injury payouts or another matters associated with the CON will enable all funds to be withdrawn to the respective insurer and redistributed to the general revenue stream of lost Government funds.
The Insured (dare we call the the Aussie-Battler supporting the country) may wish to have repairs conducted by a Government and Insurance company partnered no-fault unauthorised Crash Repair Approved Person (CRAP) at their own expense.
Dead people will be ineligible to re-enter the scheme. Should a person have driven a car, ever, and become a fatality it will be recorded as a CON crash for statistical recording, unaccessible to the public.
So, this is my last word on ‘The Jab’. There will be no part three blog post and there will be part three going into my arm.
If you think I am irresponsible, tell me why we locked down the entire country when we were getting 400ish cases a day and now we are getting thousands and I am writing this sitting by a pool in Bali.
Well here goes…. ….. and this is a long read….. sorry!
I haven’t had my second vaccination yet (I will not use the advertising slogan “The Jab” although I did use it in the heading of this post – hypocrisy is still one of my strong points?), however I am all booking in later this month and will be getting it.
…. someone said to me the other day, all that is happening in the world today seems a bit like a bad plot in a B Grade science fiction movie… ?
As I said in Part 1, I love movies; I also love reality TV; well not in its entirety, okay not at all, I just love ‘Survivor’. But, truely can Reality TV be anything other than real; real people put in real made up situations trying to be real? I blame the Kardashians and Paris Hilton who are real famous for being, well, real famous. And, then there is living in the real world….
In the real world, the weird real world of today, I have spent a lot of time thinking about stuff. I think about stuff I know, and then there is the stuff that I think I know; and what I see. Then I try and put this all in the perspective of my years of deducing conclusions that fit all the facts.
I tell young Detectives do all you can to try and prove the ‘offender’ innocent and when you can’t, well logically, they did it….
So, in my ‘analysis of The Jab’ I first had to get rid of some of the ‘innocent’ or unprovable theories.
… bearing this in mind, I told a ‘flat earther’ friend of mine the other day that I don’t believe the world is flat as there is more evidence that it is a sphere floating in space and a force we can’t explain called gravity keeps us all from falling off (that sounds just as silly when you write it down); But, I listened to them as their arguments were interesting. I did finish our conversation by saying, if a giant spaceship landed tomorrow and the occupants of that ship came out and said ‘Oh, by the way, you have been living on a flat earth under a big dome’ I’d walk out to the fridge in the shed, get a beer, have a sit down and say ‘fair enough’ – this doesn’t seem probable, but….?
So back to my ‘innocent’ and unprovable theories, they all seem to be flawed on two grounds.
Firstly they seem statistically unlikely, and secondly they do not have a logical purpose behind them.
Before I go on (and I believe me I am going on….!) I am going to do my best to not say ‘your should or you shouldn’t’. Religion is so full of people starting sentences with ‘you should’ and/or ‘you shouldn’t and that when for me it is not talk to the hand it is talk to the back of my head as I am walking away. So, I will do my best not to do this to you. Always remember that when religion is working for the rich, it’s fine; but, not for the poor. See, I’m not the only one with a monopoly on hypocrisy.
Back to the Detectives ‘investigationing’ (a great non-word) I started by just letting all the ‘facts’ be a mist of genuine ‘unknownness’. In the end, after asking a few very basic questions of myself, the answer seemed really simple, not sinister, just really, really sad.
I considered two main questions below which led me to the answer (and it is not 42! – that was the question remember!)
Question 1 – The Media
What of the Media (the Merchants of Misery). As said before it is probably the first time they have so obviously been in support of the Government and any of their plans. I also relates to the fact that their job has become easier; we can’t attack them for manipulation because we are all victims who prove so easily and eager to step into the experience they provide; fake, proven or otherwise it is the spectacle, the modern arena for us the slave gladiators willingly taking part; and we are sold the myth that we think we are just sitting in the stands.
Question 2 – The big Question: Why?
Well, it depends on how you are looking at this pandemic; as this view will make the question very simple or very complicated. The greatest question which answers itself about all conspiracy theories in that for most of them to be true, the extent of the conspiracy would have to be so big, what could I do about it anyway… another time to walk to the fridge get a beer, sit down and say ‘fair enough I didn’t expect that?’.
We mostly live in a democratic world, but that doesn’t really matter. Even in a democracy we really can do whatever we wish so long as we do what ‘they’ (the infamous ‘they’!) tell us to do. Remember all our ‘rulers’ democratic or not rely on our consent to rule.
Controlling the consent of ‘robots’ is easy when we have a futile fear of everything and are focused on the superficial joys of consuming, immediate gratification and the Kardashians.
The question as to ‘why’ is simple. Does it help the rich or does it help the general population? From this question you know the ‘why’ straight away and virtually what’s going to happen next.
Well, surprise we are now allowed to have freedoms that we started off with before and thought nothing of. Perhaps we are being giving something called the ‘Privilege of Greatness’ were the ‘powers to be’ rely on the supreme pleasure and gratefulness of the population on receiving small concessions so as the bigger issues are forgotten in the celebration and joy of the insubstantial gift. Viva La ‘Freedom Day’!
…. And through this smokey, misty, fact finding and intuitional detection process, it dawn on me…
The vaccines are probably safe(ish) as much as polio, rubella etc etc were/are safe in their interestingly statistically verified safeness. A sad statistic is that vaccines, even the bad ones have never hurt or killed more people than the countries that have been torn apart, the generations of hurt, guilt, regret, pain and death, that resulted from our smallest wars. So, many wars, our World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan; ….. the war on drugs ….. the war on terror ….. the war on traffic fatalities ….. the war on corruption ….. the war on COVID19
Fun Fact: COVID19 is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus strain just like AIDS in the disease caused by the HIV Virus. Go figure this silly medical stuff?
After all, our emergency services and defence services personnel are always on the front line of these ‘wars’. It is never the generals, it’s the civilians who authorise and organise these wars who ultimately commit the worst war crimes in history.
All that has happened in this ‘Why’, has ‘political support’. Political support is a wonderful phrase as it almost always means the Governments bipartisan support from the rich and big business. Climate change for example (I think that’s a ‘war’ too) is now big business, so everything is being ‘green washed’ because that’s where the money is.
However, this is just the pilot in a really great apocalypse movie (although low on budget and special effects.
All good apocalypse movies have a sequel in the making when released. If ‘Rick’ can go from trying to steal a mates girlfriend (Love Actually) to being the reason we all hope the Zombie kill him (The Walking Dead), then anything is possible in the sequal.
I believe the why and the solution is not revolution but evolution; I can hardly wait for ‘The Jab Part 3’!!!
Really – this guy is only 0.69 !!!!
(I had actually finished the draft of this post and thought leaving it on the above ‘cliff hanger’ was like watching ‘Highway Patrol’ when the blood alcohol metre is spinning in the corner and then they go for a commercial break – then I realise how much I hated that so I can’t do it to anyone else….)
I finished my draft on the evening of the 12/11/21…. and upon realising the date was a palindrome like ‘race car’ and hannah’ and ‘glenelg’ and my favourite and applicable to this post:
“no sir panic is a basic in prison”
The words of Plato filled my head: “All in all, nothing human is worth taking very seriously, nevertheless…..”
I recommend before the sequel to keep the status quo by:
keep consuming
pay your fines and surrender you right of having ‘your day in court’ – even to just say sorry or give a good reason or to ask for a bit of leniency
watch cats on vacuum cleaners and the Kardashians and their clones
buy on line and never price compare unless it is online
watch the Media (the Merchants of Misery) even though you don’t believe them…. much.
and most of all, be afraid; in the most prosperous, safest, longest life expectancy and peaceful time in human history, ever; you just remain afraid
Remember the above strategies have ‘political support’ which is best statistically summarised by this wonderful survey in the US, which had 98% of the population supporting universal health care – this was not considered ‘political support’ so universal health care was abandoned by government – well they had to, there was no support?. Remember, we are most in danger when we have jumped out of the way of a speeding car, willingly or not, of most likely being run over by another car.
So, we will fight ‘the war on COVID19’ for as a government and us as the willing mob we all live for the sake of combatting an enemy, therefore as that is our purpose, it is in the best interests of everyone to keep the enemy alive to fulfil our purpose.
So, what, best interest?
Best interest is big business, the super rich and the implementation of the ‘three laws of robotics’ as designed by the science fiction writer Issac Asimov (by the way old Issac just came up with three robot laws and a few good books, whereas another science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard came up with an entire religion!):
First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Now the Why is revealed.
We have become customers for life, obeying the three laws as all good robots do.
Not truely sinister, but COVID19 (forgot all the conspiracies) has provided the opportunity for the greatest marketing, sales and future binding contracted arrangements with consumers. We, the 80-90% of the population, are now consumers of our COVID19 vaccinations, and boosters for life. We should be proud that we are part of the greatest demonstration of consumer led capitalism in the history of man, ever!
Protests in the streets, even with the best of intentions of the ‘choice argument’ will fail…. Long rambling blogs will fail……. Litigation will fail…….
I, along with 80-90% of the rest of the world have sealed deal and signed the ‘customer for life contract’.
…. and then I thought I had written enough…. and had a sleep and made the mistake of watching the News and not just publishing this post…..
13/11/21 (no palindrome – that day is gone…)
They say a week in politics or the news cycle is a long time. Well, I should have published/posted this the morning and then I wouldn’t have watched the news tonight!?
Countries with similar (or better) vaccination rates to us are going back into locked down – when the Netherlands do something like this I pay attention – they seem like reasonable people and secretly own half the world.
I hit myself in the face in front of the mirror ‘Fight Club’ style, as I again fell for the trap of attempting to use logic to solve and illogical problem.
I remembered even ‘customers for life’ need to be entertained to keep that ‘brand loyalty’…. always waiting for the new and improved models, which will have great new versions and the ever expectation and excitement of impending war.
My brain exploded with an aneurysm a few years ago…. My wife left me…
I worked hard around home, I went to the doctor, I got some pills, I wrote a lot of letters; and I took the pills and drank myself asleep and awake. And, my ‘Band of Brothers’ saved me and sent me to the looney bin.
I had this little stint in Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in the Rural and Remote Ward which is for all us country bumpkins. I learned many lessons in the two weeks there; one was gratefulness and the other humility (historically not my strong point!).
Many visited me there to help me on my way, true friends and true family. An old mate looked after me for awhile and then I came home. We had built it as our home and called it ‘Pelan-Pelan’ which is Indonesian word for ‘slowly’. I came home, sad.
I met an old Riverland mate and he took me to the ‘Peppertree Shack’. You won’t find it on the internet as it was a shack under a peppertree, built by a bloke, for other blokes to come; have a free meal and some fellowship with other good men, some doing it hard, some recovering, and some extending a hand; some Christian, some not; all at home in ‘the shack’, all brothers in the shack. It burned down a few years ago, but buildings don’t make groups like this (It helps, but….?) and it moved to a hall in town.
These old mates, many the friends of my Mum and Dad; 15 years younger than them, and now 15 years older than me. I went to Church with them, and actually went to a lot of churches around town. I liked the singing?!! And, like Dad, I dosed sometimes and smoked out the back.
I met people which reinforced my gratitude. I met a lady called Jackie who was moving to Adelaide and asked me to look out for her son, Lucan.
Lucan came around and we made stuff in the shed. The one wheel bicycle trailer, the kids ‘little red wagons’, we fixed stuff and Lucan came up with an entire ‘course’ about doing nothing, and we told stories. (Click here for: one wheel bicycle trailer video – one of our favourite projects).
So, Lucan and I hung out in the shed; people dropped in and said hello, made stuff and we made stuff for them and other people. We said anyone who makes something in the shed, even just the once is a ‘member’ of ‘Shed Squad’. We had not Committee, we meet on Mondays and Bob joined us, then Alex joined us, then Steve joined us and ‘old mate Sleepy’ occasionally drops in. We still make stuff, for ourselves, each other and other people. We sit around a bit, have coffee and have lunch and sometimes start late and knock off early.
We volunteer, doing stuff for nothing and occasionally making a few bucks to buy more sandpaper, paint, tools and all the supplies you keep using and losing in the shed.
We had some interpersonal challenges but we had NO RULES.
Shed Squad still has no rules, we have values…
We don’t have committees, meetings, agendas, minutes, someone in charge or anyone as our boss…
We have no documentation, unless you count rough plans drawn on recycled cardboard from boxes…
We have values.
We volunteer and we help people out, including, and mostly, each other and ourselves.
I wrote Part 1 on the heading of this post because I am hoping to share some of our latest projects and a few failures – which we never complain about as most materials we use are recycled, repurposed or something free that came our way by generous people. We say if its a failure in wood – it’s firewood; if it a failure in metal – it’s scrap!
Looking forward to Part 2 myself – often we never know what’s going to happen at Shed Squad.
I found an old ‘muse’ I had been writing in the shed some time ago and I decided to share….. it is about my Uncle Allen, my Mum’s Brother….
My Uncle Allen wasn’t a great man; he was a good man to me who will mostly be forgotten; and remembered for the questionable things he did.
I remember him now that I am older, 60 years now for me, and I don’t think he made that?
And, I remember him as I sit in my shed drinking, with a full ashtray; which was so often the appearance of his kitchen table, which he always seemed to be siting at, doing just that.
I have no doubt he shared my thoughts of ‘how did it all come to this?’
I think of him often; I miss him a lot.
He was always good to me; I think Dad and he liked each other a lot and probably on occassion looked after each other, in their way.
I think Uncle Allen missed his Dad Harold, a lot, as Harold died when Mum and he were young, and was a bit lost by it; as was my Dad in his way, about his beginnings.
I remember being young and going to see my Uncle Allen just before he died in the RAH. I was nervous, until the moment I walked into the room; we both knew it was the last time we would see each other; he made a difference in me and that was perhaps worth it, to his mate, my Dad.
My Mum, loved her brother unconditionally; which you had to do a bit with Uncle Allen; but, because my Mum did, I knew he was a man that had a good heart, I trusted him and loved him too.
I saw the best in my Uncle Allen and he saw the best in me.
I suppose things could have been different for both of us. I learned from him that your lot is not so bad.
I still miss him; he was a scallywag just like me and my Dad.
Well, that was my ‘muse’ from the shed a few months ago. I found a few old photos and thought I would share.
I have a lot of photos and was lucky my Mum kept a lot of those little old black and white ones which I have since scanned into the computer.
An old mate, Bob Kearney, once said to me “People will often never remember what you did, but they will always remember the way you made them feel”.
For all his faults my Uncle Allen made me feel I could always be better than what I was.
My daughter Jackie introduced me to this little ritual for starting my day – I have a memory somewhere that I may have shared this before?
I have a little extra ‘S’ on the end where I have another moment of silence (read meditation) at the end to sort of bring it all together. For me the ‘little rituals’ in life are things to be savoured and enjoyed (although the exercise bit is sometimes a bit hard as you get older).
I try not to get on my phone first thing in the morning, however I do my exercise sometimes by a Youtube video (I try to do Yoga which often turns into ‘Fartga’ in those bend over bits….), I then read my ‘daily quotes’ on an APP, then my daily readings on an APP, then meditate to a program on my Calm APP, which I also use to share my daily ‘grateful’ list….
… maybe this is what technology is all about; not filling our lives but allowing us to be fulfilled – it seems to be working for me.
I love this little S.A.V.E.R.S ritual; you have just helped me fulfil the ‘scribing’ part of my day – thanks.
I’ve written a few post over the last few months about ‘my trek’ or ‘our trek’ which to many make as much sense as Star Trek. I wrote about ‘instructions’ for my trek which I hope were helpful, but upon reading them again I see that they are about as comprehensible as the ‘how to vote’ cards that are handed out at election booths.
I think they all want us to vote above the line by making voting below the line about as easy as solving a Rubic’s cube with all the sides the same colour; perhaps that is really the reason – the puzzle is solved before we start?
Anyway ‘My Trek’ is continuing and I have looked back and this is probably part three?
I think it is about time to seek some more points on my map; or as the Navman tells me, insert a ‘waypoint’. I am drawing my map as I see the ground. Which for the most part defeats the purpose of a map unless you are Captain Cook going somewhere for the first time in a cartographers capacity.
Most of the time I feel like Burke and Wills arriving at the dig tree a day or two late.
I must digress. And in that digression I wrote a muse which I will load up somewhere else as I already understand your attention is waining…. link here to my muse “Satisfied”.
I’m back: My trek. I found an important part of trekking is that some days I travel alone. I suppose we all are, but there has to be some connection with others, otherwise what is the point of trekking anywhere.
Still, my destination is unclear, perhaps unimportant, but it is still hidden behind a smoky mist of today, yesterday and the idea that tomorrow is not set; and in reality a total mystery. I suppose travelling to an unknown destination that you know you have to get to is about faith; yeah, that old chestnut; the belief without evidence (much like the story without facts in the majority of Media Reports – so at least I am not alone in that theological quandary).
I really have nothing new to report on my map making. There seems to be more box canyons than I thought, more areas to mark ‘there be dragons’ and landmarks that turn out to be mirages.
Trekking after all is a lot about discovery. Even walking the same old tracks there is always something new to notice, that was missed when you walked that way a hundred times before.
I broke so many of my rules tonight about watching TV.
I watched the News without appropriately suspending my belief in everything they said?
I then watched a small segment on the creditable ‘news commentary’ show, The Project
I did the above sober
The Media, as I have so fondly called them in the past “The Merchants of Misery” are demonstrating their complete involvement in a world that does not exist, as are our professionally appointed most popular people in charge, our politicians.
I want to rave, but know the average internet exploror only has a few moments before the next Tic-Toc is due with another person dancing badly…. so:
I am watching the Merchants of Misery, accompanied by condescending politically staged medical professionals reciting rhetoric of equally confusing renditions – with people nodding their heads in the background, of incomprehensible lockdowns and red, blue, green and something else areas, being enforced with massive fines in NSW, and travel restrictions and exceptions that allow …..” stuff” and prevent other “stuff” ….. as we open our borders to Victoria…. as the most popular person in South Australia, no qualifications required, The Premier in charge, tells us all to go out in Rundle Street and have a party…..
I couldn’t make this shit up.
I have brought myself to tears of laughter, with a mate, ‘voice overing’ the News bulletin, which, I think would make a great You-Tube channel, but, I not have not bought myself to do it…. as I check in, comply, live in the country and have 100 days of food. I’m okay.
Have a good time in Rundle Street on the piss with Steve Marshall.
I hope this post “The Media” is the beginning of a planned continuation of their abuse and lasts longer than the first session of most Netflix series we are sucked into.
The 21st April just gone, was the day 26 years ago, that Dad shuffled from this mortal coil; I wrote the following and thought I’d posted it, but…..?
A few years ago I wrote about Dad on Father’s Dad and read it this morning; the sentiments remain the same although 6 years have passed – click here to read it.
I woke this morning to a lovely message from my dearest cousin Fiona saying she couldn’t believe it had been all these years…. me neither. I chatted to my sister Cheryl this morning and we both commented that often things still happen in our lives where for that moment we think “Can’t wait to tell Mum/Dad”… before the realisation hits as it has so many times; I have got to the stage that when this happens, I often laugh out loud and savour the moment of remembering our dear Mum and Dad.
Dad was ‘a character’. He laughed easily, forgave quickly and was generous to a fault – but, I have learned that there was no fault in it.
Things I have learned of late is that stories are everything. Our legacy is not left in monuments, plaques, awards or accolades, but in the moments we made someone feel just that little better because of something we did. Most people will not remember what you did, but, they will always remember the way you made them feel.
My Dad’s legacy is that he made people feel better, worthwhile and cared about. This legacy continues as each of us that knew him have the privilege of passing on that feeling; we just have to choose to do it each time we can, as Dad did.
I was often frustrated by Dad’s generosity and forgiveness. It takes a lifetime to understand what is truely worthwhile and although Dad’s life was cut short he did live that lifetime of being who he was. So, I thought I’d just write a few stories about Dad that I have told many times but never written down; if you know these stories and they sound different to the one I told you, know I also have Dad’s flair for poetic license!
I was once driving home from Adelaide and I saw our old Holden passing me going the opposite direction packed to the gunnels, inside and on the roof rack. When I got home I asked Dad if he had sold the Holden and he said yes. ‘A real nice local bloke, he gave me $50.00 deposit and is paying the rest off, each pay day. He was doing it a bit hard.” I told him what I had seen and he just shrugged his shoulders – we never saw the car again and he never saw another cent. Funny part is, I know, he didn’t really mind.
Dad build the quarry up at Loch Luna on Sugarloaf Hill. He slogged building it, mostly by hand and ingenuity with not two cents to rub together. I still travel there today and remember the old fashioned clutch driven ‘steam shovel’ that all us kids loved. Dad had a big offer for the quarry when he was going to retire – in those days it would have set Mum and Dad up for a nice retirement. Dad however had a young fella working for him who he thought needed a break so vendor financed the quarry to him, on a handshake, for a 5th of the money Dad had been offered. Dad saw one $5,000 payment and that was it…. again he never saw another sent.
When I was younger I was frustrated by these, and many other stories. As I have grown older and had time to look back, and perhaps experience more life, I have no frustration, just pride.
I try to live my life, and have for some time, on ‘my mantras’ – I used to say “I will be” before each one, but realised that was just another excuse not to do them until everything was right, and everything is never just right – I now say ‘I am’ because it is who I am, and strive for, each moment:
I am peaceful, I am patient, I am grateful, I am forgiving, I am kind, I don’t judge….
I have just come to the realisation, in writing this, that I say these words daily, yet, Dad lived them daily. If asked he probably couldn’t or wouldn’t have put them into words: he was just Dad, Lindsay, Uncle Lindz… he was just a down to earth, humble, generous bloke who had a laugh along the way…. and lived his mantras.
I have striven all my life to not be ‘poor’ like Mum and Dad; I wanted money, fame, power and all the fancy trappings. I wanted to be rich. Again, another, all of my life realisation: Mum and Dad, were never poor; they were some of the riches people I have ever known, in words that I don’t even have.
Dad was not a religious man, but he often accompanied Mum to Church (we all know he slept most of the time and mumbled the hymns!) ….. he was always one of the first to volunteer to cook the barbecue or ferry people around in the back of his truck.
I am not a ‘religious’ man either, I believe God and I are mates, as I believe Dad had that same sort of relationship too – no pomp, no pious bullshit, acts not words and mostly a heart of gold which looked after the other guy first. I spend a little time each morning reading something positive; today the universe brought me one just for Dad.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
My Dad, was a character, but more than that, he was a man of character.
We were lucky that Dad and Mum chose Chris, Cheryl and I.
PS: One final story. When they opened the new Berri Council library, Dad was asked to attend as the Citizen of the Year. So, the first thing he does when he walks in the brand new library is light up one of his Viscount Red cigarettes and proceed to smoke throughout the entire building and flick the ash into the palm of his other hand. The looks on the faces of the Council members and Library staff who were giving him the tour was gold!! – Dad didn’t notice….!?
