I received an
email from my mate Bert overnight. It was enlightening and it was brilliant.
Berty filled me in on the Robber details - the Bank Robber who was married to
one of his crazy aunts. I am not going to repeat the whole story as I gave
details in my last article - or perhaps it was the article before. I have lost
track of time and motion a bit with the excitement and joy of being back in Oz
- and my work load - and the three hour time zone shift - and the sleep
deprivation that I am suffering. However catching up with old friends and
looking around here is giving me fodder as well. It is my new muse.
I feel a
compelling need to write stuff down.
So Bert
confirmed that the Bank Robber and his aunt did indeed win a big lottery. It
was a very big one that was more than three million dollars in fact. We don't
know how much he robbed from the bank but it would be safe to assume that it
was nowhere near that amount. They then invested the money through a very dodgy
ex football star. He apparently gave most of their winnings to an even dodgier
guy in Hong Kong who then invested all the money in himself and then he ran
away.
They never saw
him or their money again.
Berty told me
that the Bank Robber was electrocuted repairing a faulty washing machine a
couple of years later. It was fatal. He was shocked to death. I think that the
Bank Robber's life was full of great adventure. I think it was action packed.
Being shocked
to death seemed quite an appropriate way for him to go.
Factual
stories are so much better than fiction.
They really
are.
Whilst I am
writing this at an outdoor cafe at the Shangri La hotel a crazy man has
appeared in the vicinity. My hotel is in the Rocks area of Sydney and I am
drinking an icy cold chocolate milk shake that has been made from full cream
milk.
It is
delicious.
The Rocks area
of Sydney is historic and it is also very beautiful. It is the oldest part of
the city. White Australian and British history will record The Rocks as being
established in 1788 by the English. The English sent their convicts to
Australia because their own jails were so overcrowded that they had to store
surplus criminals in boats on the river Thames. England was awash with
convicts.
It still is.
Many of these
poor men and women were incarcerated and then sent to Australia for stealing
eggs and chickens. They stole eggs and chickens to feed themselves because they
were starving. The English penal and social justice and morality systems were
in peril.
They still
are.
The sentence
that was given to the English law breakers who were sent to Australia was
called 'Deportation'. For many it was considered to be a sentence worse than
death. It was considered to be a harsher penalty than execution. It was a long
way to be sent from England. It was down under and there was no coming back.
They didn't know then that Paradise and a mighty nation was being formed. They
had no idea that they were the beginning of it.
The Rocks area
was of course inhabited by Australians long before the English arrived. It was
inhabited by native Australians. The indigenous Gadigal people had lived there
for thousands of years but when the English arrived the Gadigal people were
pushed out.
Brutally.
Cruelly.
Unjustly.
The English
have a long history of invasion and occupancy. They called their invasions
'colonization' and they named their occupancies "The Commonwealth". The
Commonwealth still exists but it is not what it used to be. The English still
however invade the odd country and they try to occupy them. They do it now though
with the Americans - and to my great dismay and chagrin the Australians as well.
The Mabo
native title legal case in the 1980's in Australia was a landmark. The Supreme
Court ruled that an indigenous tribe in Western Australia could claim title for
the land that was taken from them. The land that was taken by the descendants
of the English settlers.
The Deportees.
The convicts.
The case was
petitioned by a man named Eddie Mabo. Native title I think excluded mineral
rights and it only applied to one tribe in Western Australia. It does not apply
to the Rocks or for the Gadigal people.
The crazy man in
the vicinity is a bit unkempt and he looks homeless. He is muttering to himself
and he is swatting at invisible things around his head. His eyes are wide but
they are empty and he is now walking around in circles. A couple of business
women are sitting at a table adjacent to me and they are looking a little
alarmed. I think they are French but they could be Belgian.
I heard them
talking.
I don't think
that the crazy man is dangerous but I am keeping an eye out anyway. I expect
hotel security will come and usher him away any minute. I tried to reassure the
French-or-possibly-Belgian business women who are looking alarmed by saying, "Don't
be alarmed. I don't think he is dangerous" but I don't think it has reassured them though.
They still
look alarmed.
I am wondering
now what is wrong with this poor man. How did he get this way? How did madness
overcome him? I am also asking myself what if he is in fact not crazy? Perhaps
he can actually see things that we cannot?
He may even be
partially slipping into another dimension.
Don't worry
Mum. Don't panic. I know that this is almost definitely not the case. However perhaps
we should not always dismiss such possibilities. Maybe we should try and think
out of the box every now and then and open up our minds to other options. We
should sometimes ponder the impossible.
I don't think
it would do anyone any harm.
I would
suggest this to the French-or-possibly-Belgian business women who are
sitting adjacent to me but I think it would only alarm them even more and I
wouldn't want that.
They seem
alarmed enough.
The French
will claim the word 'alarm' derives it's origins from an anglicised version of
the term "all alarme' which was a fourteenth century call to arms. It
was a call to arms with a bell. I wouldn't argue with the French on this. It
seems plausible and I couldn't be bothered arguing with the French. I only know
a few French people and none of them are particularly bright. The French that I
know are also quite arrogant and sultry and rude and arguing with them wouldn't
be much fun.
Here come the
security guys now. They are very well dressed in black suits and have walkie
talkie things in their hands. They are big strapping lads and they look all
business.
I hope they
are gentle with the crazy man and I am telling them that now in fact.
I
am saying, "Please be gentle with that guy. He isn't really bothering
anyone and I don't think he means any harm".
No comments :
Post a Comment