I have had a
very pleasant morning so far. I responded to some work emails that had arrived
from the English overnight. They were not all that pleasant but they were easy.
They were a piece of cake.
They were
child's play.
I have also
had a good bike ride and I have taken my Saturday breakfast and coffee at the Spinellis
cafe. I have had a barrage of emails to and from my best mate Berty who lives
in Las Vegas. We liaise pretty much every day now. I wish we could do it in
person. I have said it before and I will say it again.
I miss him a
lot.
Berty told me that
he had spoken to his sister Angela this morning. She lives in a country town in
NSW and she is a nurse. Angela is like my little sister too. She is the
spitting image of her mum Shirley who is also like a Mum to me. I grew up with
the Reynolds family around me. We spent a lot of time at their house in
Merimbula which is a beautiful beach town. We had long, hot and wonderful
summers there for many years. These Summers are ingrained in my memories and the
memories of them are very precious to me.
They are very
precious indeed.
I will not
mention the fact that Angela took the virginity of my younger brother Richard.
She snatched it away when my little bro was only 15. Angela was 17 at the time
so she was an older woman.
She was a
cougar.
The event
happened at the bottom of the school oval in the primary school that was near
our house. It happened in a patch of long grass. It was a wonderful thirty or
so seconds for the both of them. I won't however mention this occurrence as it
might embarrass them.
I wouldn't
want that.
I remember
going back to the Reynolds family home when Berty and I were both about 17
years old. We were still at school. Berty's house was in suburban Melbourne.
Angela had been given a horse for her birthday. A real horse! It was tied up to
a lamp post out the front of their house when Berty and I arrived and Berty's
sister Angela was inside.
She was inside
the house - not the horse.
It surprised
both Berty and I to see this horse. We knew it was coming but we didn't expect
to see it out the front of the house. I remember with absolute clarity how
delighted and excited Berty was to see the horse. He ran up to this very big
beast and he untethered it then he jumped straight on to it's back and went
galloping down the street. It was a sight to behold and it was hysterical too.
I remember rolling around on the footpath with laughter. I was laughing so much
that my stomach hurt.
Those were the
days.
They really
were.
Berty and I
would spend many a weekend riding Angela's horse in the paddocks where it was
agisted. The horse was a bit of a wild one and it loved to jump over things. We
took turns riding it and never fell off.
It was very
good fun.
There have
been some great songs written about horses. Patti Smith's album Horses is an
old favourite of mine. At Berty and Dana's wedding they played the Daryl
Braithwaite song "Horses" for the wedding waltz. When I hear that
song on my iPod it reminds me of their wedding. Daryl used to be the lead
singer of a pretty lame band called 'Sherbet' and then he struck out on his own
and came of age.
He went
solo.
He sang:
"That's
the way it's gonna be little darlin. We'll be riding on the horses yeah. Way up
in the sky little darlin - and if you
fall I'll pick you up. I'll pick you up."
I read in the
paper this morning that the Singapore government are providing free entry to
all museums on the Island to it’s citizens and to Permanent Residents. They
will no longer have to pay the entrance fee. The government are also investing
an additional $94 million into the Arts over the next 5 years.
I like
this.
Singapore
needs a cultural injection.
The paper
reported that Acting Minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament yesterday that
Singapore's rapid development and social changes have made it, "difficult
to develop strong cultural anchors for our national identity"
He added that
as a result he believed that Singaporeans, "feel disoriented,
especially with the increase in population and new immigrants".
I find a
couple of things interesting here. "Acting" Minister Lawrence Wong?
Acting as in the Arts or in the temporary sense? It would be nice to think that
he is actually an actor however I think it is just a temporary position.
He is in a
fill-in role.
The
disorientation comment goes part of the way in explaining why Singaporeans
often walk around bumping into each other. I had no idea that it was national
identity related.
I thought it
was just a spatial awareness thing.
I
feel somewhat enlightened by this news.
No comments :
Post a Comment