A Mouseketeer Has Gone.

 

A member of the original Micky Mouse Club "Mouseketeers" - and the subject of many a young teenage boy's day-dreams - Annette Funicello passed away on the 8th. of April 2013, succumbing at age 70 to complications brought on by her long battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Apart from being a Mouseketeer, Annette will also be forever associated with Frankie Avalon (pictured together above) and her appearance and singing in "Beach Party" movies.
(At today's date Frankie Avalon is 72 and living in the USA).

Annette had several Top Twenty hits in the 1960s, including "Tall Paul", "O Dio Mio" and "Pineapple Princess".

A lovely girl who, as she grew up and went from childhood to young-adulthood to senior-citizen, never lost her charms.

One of my teenage crushes has slipped away.

Baroness Thatcher

I remember well her determination to restore the Union Jack to the Falklands and I sat riveted to the screen each night when the news came on, eager to see the latest update, yet fearing the worst for the British forces.
Her "Rejoice"! is now an historical quote, and rightly so, as the outcome did a huge amount to restore self-confidence and pride in the majority of British people.

Not for her the namby-pamby approach.
"Maggie" was as subtle as a bull in a china shop, but everyone knew where they stood.
She was Churchillian.

R.I.P Baroness Thatcher.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Why has the Canberra Times (masthead shown above) dropped the use of the words "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow" when reporting on matters and events?

I've noticed that this practice has been in operation for some time. I find it annoying and, in some cases, confusing.

For example - I will buy a newspaper this morning (Wednesday 3rd. April 2013) and when reading through it I will notice the following peculiarities:-

• Reports relating to something which occurred yesterday will say "Tuesday" instead of "yesterday".
• Items concerning something which will be happening tomorrow will say "Thursday" in lieu of "tomorrow".
• Most annoying of all, however, is that the newspaper does not refer to "today" when informing us of a matter relating to this very day of issue but they will say "Wednesday"!

This third practice caused confusion yesterday - yes, Canberra Times, YESTERDAY, not "Tuesday" - to whit:-

The paper had an item regarding the closing of the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery.

The report stated that it was closing on "Tuesday" yet the paper in which the article was printed was Tuesday's (2nd. April) edition.

So which "Tuesday" was one to conclude that the exhibition was closing?

Next Tuesday (9th. April) would have been the natural assumption. After all, if it was closing on Tuesday 2nd. then surely the term "today" would have been used, would it not?

But no - we now have a newspaper which has removed the three basic words relating to the passage of time and which have been in use for centuries.

Why?



After 6 Months of Retirement.........

I couldn't believe it when I looked at the calendar a couple of days ago and realised that in another week or so's time I will have been out of the workforce for six months.

The time has flown and the reason is that I am one of those very fortunate people who have a multitude of interests and hobbies - so many that I don't have the time to subscribe to them all.
Not for one minute have I been bored and the days just seem to flow from one into the next so fast that I sometimes have trouble keeping up.

My radio program on the local community FM radio station (Valley FM 89.5) occupies six hours each week and that isn't including the time I spend researching and preparing music and associated "stuff" for each broadcast.

A couple of days each week is spent in the yard and garden, carrying out the normal maintenance as well as a few projects that have been undertaken during this past summer.
The first was the creation of an enclosure for my wife's three Chinese Silkie chooks.
A pre-fab coop was bought, in "flat-pack" format, and when it arrived from Brisbane I assembled it.
Then I built a picket fence & gate between the end of one side of the garage and the back fence (seen in the photo below), which was painted after completion.

The other major job was the demolition and filling-in of the fishpond, which had been a feature of the garden in the backyard for many years but which had just become a maintenance chore, particularly the surrounding garden. It also hindered the access to the Photinea hedge for trimming.

So the pond went and was filled in with rubble and then two trailer-loads of crushed blue metal and is now in the last stage of work, with paving slabs having been laid (the photo below shows the preparatory work for the slab base).

I am just needing to get a load of garden soil to surround the paved area, which will then be home to the barbecue. 

During the very hot weather that we experienced here in Canberra over January I hibernated into the cool of the air-conditioning and continued - in a somewhat random manner - working on my life's story that I have been writing for the past few months.
This continues to be an interesting project but one that I only do when the mood strikes me rather than as a regular exercise on a fixed itinerary.

I have coffee with old workmates on a regular basis - catching up and keeping in touch.
One such friendship goes back to 1998, when I worked for a company associated with the production and publishing of digital information for the legal profession.

I've joined the Canberra branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society and in the cooler months I want to become involved with helping them out in a voluntary capacity.
Before moving to Canberra in 1984 I had joined the Zig-Zag Railway near Lithgow but never had a chance to become involved as we upped roots and moved down here.
I have always maintained an interest in all things train-related, so am looking forward to helping out when I can.

Then there is my return to painting figurines, which was a prime hobby way back in the late 1970s - early-1980s.
I have had a resurgence of interest but, like my memoirs, only do so when the mood strikes rather than as a regular commitment.
If you have to do something to a timetable then it doesn't remain a pleasure, it becomes a chore and one might as well be back in the regular workforce, having to work for a living!

To all the above I can add reading, computing (browsing, emailing, playing simulations, researching music tracks), catching up with the occasional rented DVD movie, letter-writing (on my 1970s IBM Selectric typewriter) and domestic chores and each day is full, from around six-thirty AM until I conk out around eleven PM.

How did I ever find the time for even half of these activities when I was working?!!

Lee Child sells out to the movie industry.

For many years one of my favourite authors has been Lee Child; his many novels featuring the character Jack Reacher have always been very enjoyable - as many millions of other readers have discovered.

One of the greatest things about reading is that we each establish a picture in our minds of the characters in a work of fiction and, when the central character is defined over time as to his/her size, weight, features, manner and so forth we each imagine exactly what that character is like.
Each of us has our own "picture" of that make-believe person.

I had long admired Child for not selling out to the movie industry and looked forward to the next Jack Reacher adventure with eagerness.

Not any more.
Lee Child has betrayed my imagination. He has sold out and I am contemptuous of him for doing so.
It's not as if he needs the money - he's certainly not poverty-stricken.

I could not believe it when I heard that (a) a "Jack Reacher" movie is being released and (b) Tom Cruise has been cast as the titular character!
TOM CRUISE?!!!

I never had a mental image of any particular actor as Jack Reacher - none at all. But if I had then Tom Cruise would not have even made the initial list, let alone a final interview.
Why?
Well, here is a summation of Reacher's physical attributes as gleaned from the various stories (courtesy Wikipedia):-

• Reacher is 6' 5" tall (1.96m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 210 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong but is not a good runner.

Tom Cruise is 5'-7".
He does not have a 50" chest and certainly doesn't weigh between 210 and 250 pounds.
Jack Reacher is NOT Tom Cruise.

But now, when you Google "Jack Reacher" or "Lee Child", the majority of the images which appear are of Tom Cruise.

I will never be able to read a Jack Reacher novel again without seeing Cruise in my mind's eye and that is not only disheartening but also ridiculous.

No thanks to you, Mr. Child.

My grand-daughter at 100

She is six years old and in her last few weeks of kindergarten.
Her class was given a blank sheet of paper with the words "When I am 100 years old I will look like this!" at the top and then each child was asked draw a self portrait of themselves projected some 95 or so years into the future.

This was my grand-daughter's masterpiece..............

(Click on it to enlarge to full-size)

I thought the glasses were significant; a child automatically assumes that old people wear glasses. (Well, I do and so does my wife).
I was also impressed by the fact that she retains her natural teeth - obviously dental science will improve in leaps and bounds (and maybe the cost will reduce, too.)

I will keep this work of art and bequeath it to her so that when I'm gone and she has grown to adulthood she will have a reminder of her crystal ball-gazing in 2012.

Hello, Rosie.

I mentioned back at the end of April that I came home from work to find our cat, Normie, in distress and that his condition was irrecoverable.
That was a rather upsetting time and it took several weeks to accept that he was no longer part of our daily life after ten or more years.

Time has a way of easing the pain and we did get another cat - from the RSPCA - and she has now become ensconsed into our life, just as Normie did (and also our dog that preceded him).

Rosie, a spotted tabby, is the new member of the household and is now about a year old.
She is a very affectionate little thing and, like her predecessor, has taken to following me around the place and if I'm sitting here working at the computer, she jumps up into the space between me and the back of the chair, where she is quite happy to stay until I want to lean back!

So, this update is simply to introduce Rosie, whom I have dubbed "Red Rose Speedway" due to her love of racing up and down the hallway when in high spirits.

Rosie and grand-daughter Matilda

Jottings on recent happenings.

GOODBYE MONARO, HELLO JAZZ.
I have now been a retiree for almost three months, having departed the workforce on August 24th..
Over the past few weeks several changes have occurred in my lifestyle, not the least of which was saying "goodbye" to the Holden Monaro CV8Z that I had owned for just over twelve months.
After driving around Canberra and seeing Premium 98 fuel disappearing out the exhaust at the rate of 16.8 litres per 100 kilometres, I came to the realisation that this could not continue.

So just after filling up with the liquid gold a month ago I drove straight to the local Honda dealer and did a deal on a brand new, optioned-up Honda Jazz VTi 5-speed manual.
The reason for my choice was quite simply that, back in February of this year I had spent a week driving my sister's Jazz and was most impressed by it.
So when thinking of a replacement for the Monaro I had no hesitation in opting for the Jazz.
I've never been a "car shopper". I'll decide what I want from personal experiences and specifications.
Apart from the versatility of the Jazz (5-door and a multitude of rear-seat configurations) the fuel economy also was a major player.

Taking a break at Black Springs, on the return run to Canberra

Only this weekend I took the Jazz on its first long run out of Canberra, when I drove up to the Blue Mountains.
Since taking delivery of the car (19th. October) I had been getting between 6.3 and 6.6 L/100Km around the suburban streets of my hometown.
On the highway run to and from Leura the consumption averaged 5.6 L/100Km.
And this is Regular 91 fuel, not the more expensive 98.
To say that I am delighted with the cost savings would be an understatement.
I am equally delighted with the car overall; it was a joy to drive on that trip. I went up to the 'Mountains via the freeways and returned through Oberon, Taralga and Goulburn and the car was just a pleasure.

CATALINA PARK, KATOOMBA.
Many years ago, back around 1964/65/66, I and a friend used to catch the train from Sydney (I think we boarded it at Strathfield) to Katoomba to attend the motor-race meetings at Catalina Park circuit, literally in the heart of the capital of the Blue Mountains.

This was in the hey-day of its operation, when the stars of the motor-racing brigade would be in attendance, such as the likes of Norm Beechey, Leo and Pete Geoghegan, Bob Jane, Frank Matich, Ron Thorpe, John Harvey, Peter Manton, Brian Foley....et al.
Catalina was a top little (about 1.3 miles) circuit and very exciting racing was usually the order of the day.

When I was at Leura this week just gone I had the opportunity to revisit the circuit with a couple of old friends. We walked a full lap of the now overgrown and dilapidated facility, unused for its intended purpose for several decades.
But it was a most nostalgic moment and brought back many good memories as we reminisced for an hour or so.

The link above goes to a site that provides some excellent information and photographs but I provide a couple below that I took during my first visit after 40+ years.

Probably the most poignant item - the sign advising the permanent closure

Faint signs of the original "Craven A" sign-writing at "Craven A Corner"

Baby-Boomer Radio now has a blog

I have created a separate blog for the show and it can be found here:-

BABY BOOMER RADIO

Returning to broadcasting

UPDATE 14-October-2012
On-air sessions: Mondays 0900 - 1200 and Fridays 1400 - 1700

Back between December 2002 and January 2006 I had a two-hour radio show with local Community Radio station Valley FM 89.5.
The show centred on music from the 1960s, although the edges were fuzzy and included stuff from the 1940s, 1950s and 1970s. "Easy Listening" music also formed a part, as did old BBC radio shows such as "Hancock's Half-hour", "Round The Horne", "Take It From Here" and "The Goon Show".

I received a lot of enjoyment from doing my thing and I know, from what feedback I had, that others also enjoyed hearing the type of music that we listened to every day as teenagers and young adults back in the 1960s.

In 2006 I re-entered the conventional "nine-to-five" workforce and dropped the show which at that time was being aired between 3:00 and 5:00 PM.

Just recently I retired after 48 years as a full-time employee and had the opportunity and desire to return to Valley FM and resurrect what I was presenting six years ago.
With over 200 LPs and a similar number of CDs, the contents of many of which I have converted to MP3s, the resources are capable of providing "Baby Boomer" material for some time to come, and that is the name I've chosen for this current foray into community radio.

We were very fortunate to have been born in what became known as the "Baby-Boom" period, the era usually considered to be between 1943 and 1960, coined by author Landon Jones in his book Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation.
This is an era in which music (amongst other things like fashions and social mores) changed dramatically, in both who was creating it and who was listening to it.
And it was sparked by the invention and mass production of a tiny electronic device - the transistor.

Until radios became portable - and that was only possible with the introduction of transistors, printed circuit boards and small batteries - music was heard on large mantle or console radios or played on gramophones/radiograms - furniture pieces - utilising large 78 rpm bakelite records.
So it was the adults who were not only the producers of popular music (large bands and orchestras with vocalists) but also the buyers of the records and the devices on which they were played.

The transistor changed all that because music became portable (and cheaper) at the same time as younger performers started doing their thing. They go hand-in-hand.
With music now being targeted at the younger generation, who could now listen to it on their transistor radios and play the new smaller and lighter 45rpm records on their portable record players, the Baby-Boomers determined the future of the music industry.
Once a young man by the name of Bill Haley came up with "Shake, Rattle & Roll" (1954) and then "Rock Around The Clock" (1955), popular music and radio became a whole new ball game and our parents coined the term "generation gap"!

We Baby-Boomers can feel very proud of our status.
We have had a profound effect on music and what started over 50 years ago is the basis for popular music today. Wonderful songs and arrangements were composed and written back in those fabulous 1960s and they continue to provide pleasure to our generation.
I like to think that when I am in a nursing home, instead of singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", we will be having sing-songs which include "It's Been A Hard Day's Night"!

My new show - now dubbed "The Baby-Boomer Show" - commenced yesterday, going to air between 9:00 and 12:00 midday, which will be the timeslot until the end of the month, when it will probably start an hour or so later.
I will update this information when that occurs.

Internet streaming is currently being tested by the station management.
Once it becomes established then no matter where you are located, if interested you will be able to listen to the programmes on your home or laptop computer via the internet - both of which, incidentally, were invented by baby-boomers.