Reminders ot times past

Oh boy, I had all but forgotten this blog page and its a few years ago when I was last here. Social media became the flavour of the month and brought to light a number of people who I have had no contact with for up to forty years in some cases.

Oh the usual nonsense goes on with those around me. Fun and games, and you never know who is going to pop up and from where. then the stories really start coming out. I have been accused of stirring grey matter between ears because I mentioned events that happened decades ago.

One case in point was a bomb blast at the Hotel Tasmania a week after a group that I was with attended a cabaret there with Liv Maessen as the guest  vocalist. I was told that she was there the night when the bomb exploded outside the Hotel. It certainly sent a parking meter through the window of the Chinese Restaurant next door.
Live Maessen you can see her biography on Wikipedia, but there is more to her story than is available there. She was one of Australia's darlings who rose to stardom during the period when radio stations banned playing pop records from overseas. This led to a number of Australians making their names during that period.
Maessen just faded from view and littler nothing has been heard of her since. She had a distinctive silky contralto voice that raised goose bumps on you and we had the pleasure of her company between her onstage performances that night.
For a few of her songs click on the links below. Hopefully all will work.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch…
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
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https://www.youtube.com/watch…
Poetry also produced a plethora of comments from some of the most unexpected places. Friends in New Mexico commented, then their friends hoped on the wagon. The poems I threw up from School days included.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Inch Cape Rock, Sands of Dee, The Lady of Shallot, The Man from Snowy River, Clancy of the overflow, The Ride of Paul Revere (based of American history), then out of all of this a poem about early American Base ball.

In the meantime I still operate as a tourism information officer with the Burnie Information Centre at the Makers' Workshop which has now passed into the hands of the University of Tasmania. So there we are in the middle of a seat of learning like a "Pimple on a pumpkin." or a "Shag on a Rock". not sure that we will be there all that long. I can see the University edging us out the door at some stage.

So there we have it. For better or worse still on deck and smiling.

"Easy Rider" an older man's fantasy?

What a beaut piece of machinery!


When I think about all the VW's that passed through my hands and garage at home back in the 1970's, the more I think about it, the more I now realise that I wasted a lot of resources like body parts.


A few years ago while holidaying in Victoria we went to some little town north west of melbourne to a Sunday market when a trike rolled in and parked. It was almost identical to the one pictured. The gentleman that owned it explained that he had built it himself using the inside shell of a VW Beetle rear half of the body. Additionally, the engine, transmission, and suspension incorporating part of the floor pan up to where the gear lever and hand brake were usually mounted. From there on it was up to the owners discretion as to the mounting of the front fork assembly to steer the completed vehicle.


The one above has a big bore motor, I believe to be close to 2000cc with electronic ignition and fuel injection. The exhaust system is what I know as from years ago as Dual Cannon, ie, two sets of extractors, one for each bank of cylinders on the flat four cylinder motor. Boy, does that engine sound healthy.


The rear seating will accommodate three passengers in comfort and cruise all day at a reasonable speed up to 110kph, but then who wants to tear around with one of these. Slow and easy and you would still arrive safely belted in.


One thing that has changed in latter years is the requirement now to hold a motor cycle license. Previously, a normal car license was all that was required, but that was a bit of lost revenue for the government, and the cost of obtaining a motor cycle license is away out of this old goat's range anyway. Then the additional cost of helmets, and the trike as well.


DAMN! IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, BUT AT LEAST I CAN DREAM.


I normally don't promote people's business ventures, but in this case I'll make an exception. The owner Tom Stafford is obviously at the helm, and his partner Leanne is the lady on the left of the image. Who the other two people are, well they may well be other passengers belonging to other trikes from around the North West of Tasmania.


These tours are now a feature of the Cruise Ship season here in Burnie and are slowly being accepted as a part of the "scenery".


For those of you who after reading this blog page feel inclined towards a wind and sun in your face, have suitable clothing like slacks or jeans for the ladies, as dresses and skirts are a liability or distraction to on coming traffic, helmets are supplied by the owner.

Tour contact details as follows.
After hours. (03) 6425 3119.
Mobile: 0428 504 794
Tour email: deviltrikes@gmail.com
Address; 78 Gawler Road, Ulverstone, Tasmania. 7315

What's on offer: Tamar River Winery tours, Tours of the wild North West Coastline, Tarkine Aventres and Coastal Cruises.
Arrive in style to your Wedding, Birthday, or Leavers function.

Devil Trike Tours can cater to just about any event on your social or event calendar.

Just what is happening to our beloved country?

Poems come and go, then another one arrives on the scene that makes you sit back and wonder. Dorathea Mackeller wrote the classis Australian Poem "My Country" aka "A sunburnt Country". The shame of it is that our children of today have never heard of it, or if they have, they have paid scant regard to the meaning of it.
This then brings the second Poem below "A sun Burnt Country" and spells out what is happening right under our noses. Read it and then consider where we are today and what you are going to do about it.

"My Country"
byDorothea Mackellar(1885 - 1968)

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless againThe drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackeller



MOVE OVER DOROTHEA MACKELLAR.

When the shearing sheds are silent and the stock camps fallen quiet
When the gidgee coals no longer glow across the outback night
And the bush is forced to hang a sign, 'gone broke and won't be back'
And spirits fear to find a way beyond the beaten track

When harvesters stand derelict upon the wind swept plains
And brave hearts pin their hopes no more on chance of loving rains
When a hundred outback settlements are ghost towns overnight
When we've lost the drive and heart we had to once more see us right

When 'Pioneer' means a stereo and 'Digger' some backhoe
And the 'Outback' is behind the house, there's nowhere else to go
And 'Anzac' is a biscuit brand and probably foreign owned
And education really means brainwashed and neatly cloned

When you have to bake a loaf of bread to make a decent crust
And our heritage once enshrined in gold is crumbling to dust
And old folk pay their camping fees on land for which they fought
And fishing is a great escape; this is until you're caught

When you see our kids with yankee caps and resentment in their eyes
And the soaring crime and hopeless hearts is no longer a surprise
When the name of RM Williams is a yuppie clothing brand
Not a product of our heritage that grew off our land

When offering a hand makes people think you'll amputate
And two dogs meeting in the street is what you call a 'Mate'
When 'Political Correctness' has replaced all common sense
When you're forced to see it their way, there's no sitting on the fence

Yes one day you might find yourself an outcast in this land
Perhaps your heart will tell you then, I should have made a stand'
Just go and ask the farmers that should remove all doubt
Then join the swelling ranks who say, don't sell Australia out'

Author unknown

Now we have to sit and wait for the 2013 Australian Federal elections to take place. We still have a Labor Govenment led by a left wing supported Prime Minister who has been labelled by the electorate as not "being their choice" of prime minister.
I honestly can't say that this government will be re-elected in 2013. But who has the opposition Liberals got to offer as a viable choice for Prime Minister? They are thin on the top to say the least.
This comment posted: 11:35 AEST, 28th February, 2012

The joys of Meet and Greet

It has been quite sometime since I added to this page or pages and I decided that after the second chance meeting with a fellow Lions Club member from a Cruise ship that arrived here in Burnie this morning, I should make comment.
Thank you to Lion President Brendan Doyle from West Kirby, Wirral, United Kingdom for asking the question in the Makers' Workshop this morning and finding me on site. We had less than five minutes conversation, but it was long enough to swap business cards and email addresses.
When I arrived home I was determined to find out just where Lion Brendan and his good lady actually lived. West Kirby is a peninsular that is on the south side of the River Dee and so close to the border of Wales, its not funny. The River Dee reminded me of a poem that I learnt as a school boy a few years ago titled "The Sands of Dee" by Charles Kingsley. Oh Mary, go call the cattle home . . . . . . . . . across the sands of Dee."
So one could say that yet another friendship has presented itself that hopefully will be on going.
Bon Voyage Brendan and Margaret, and a safe return to your home in West Kirby.
Lion John C Medwin. City of Burnie Lions Club, District 201T1 Australia.


The Sands of Dee
Charles Kingsley. 1819–1875

'O MARY, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.'

The western wind was wild and dark with foam,
And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o'er and o'er the sand,

And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.

'O is it weed, or fish, or floating hair—
A tress of golden hair,
A drownèd maiden's hair,
Above the nets at sea?'

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes of Dee.
They row'd her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea.
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.

Just for Jennifer.

How to overcome a health issue

Angina Pectoris

No matter how healthy we think we are, there is always something lurking around the corner waiting to pounce. When I stop to think about what happened to me I realised that this wasn't me just getting older, this was a progressive thing that had been sneaking up on me for at least three years, possibly more and I just got used to it.

Angioplasty: The proceedure.

A thin soft tube called a catherter is used for cardiac catherterization and angioplasty proceedures. The doctor inserts the catherter into a blood vessel in the groin as per the image, wrist, or above the elbow. The doctor carefully guides the catherter through the blood vessels into the corany arteries of the heart all the while using an X-Ray screen to watch the movement of the catherter in the blood vessels. The catherter in my case carried a collapsed stent which had a balloon inside of it. When in the correct position it was inflated to lock each of the stents in place. The ballon is then deflated and the catherter withdrawn from the blood vessel. Pressure is then applies to the blood vessel openning to seal it. After a period of time this is removed usually from four to six hours dependant on the entry point. The high light of the recovery process is the need to consume a minimum of two litres of water to flush the radioisotopes from the kidneys all within two hours. Think about it, and what happens when the need to pass water while on the broad of your back. I have to admit it was the cause of a lot of humour in the recovery ward at the time and unable to hold your own.

Now honestly, who needs enemies when you "friends" like this.

August this year didn't bode well for your's truly. You have a birthday with a difference, one I don't want a repeat of, caught on a wet miserable afternoon rushing to get to the car at the other end of town in pouring rain, sudden chest pain and shortness of breath. Traffic lights RED! Soaked to the skin and still at least 150metres to go across an intersection then helter-skelter for the car park. The pain still persisted and out of breath so another stop in the hope it would pass.

Eventually I reached the car and found that my mobile phone was at home and I needed help. All I could do was sit and wait in the hope that what ever the problem was would pass though temporarily so I could get home.

When I eventually arrived home, Joan took one look at me and asked the obvious question. "Are you alright?" after a few moments she was convinced I needed a Dr. and ASAP. Now have you ever tried to see a Doctor at a minutes notice? It just doesn't happen. First it was a 14 day wait, then it was the following Wednesday. Not good enough. The next morning our youngest daughter hit the phone and I had an appointment that afternoon, so the wheels started turning.

X-Rays, ECG's, EKG's, blood tests, Consultant Physician, stress test, and finally off to the Launceston General Hostiptal Cath-Lab for an Angiogram, then a second stress test, hence the cartoon making its appearance. (Thanks Davo.) It was one stress test I never want to be repeated as I thought I was a gonner. Three minutes thirty seconds after starting I was flat on the floor and requiring revival. Diagnosed with Angina Pectoris. A better result than a heart attack, the heart had suffered no damage so I was lucky. I must say that it was the most uncomfortable 125km trip home I have ever experienced.

Within days I was back for the Angioplasty ( insertion of stents ) for two 98% blocked arteries via incissions in the wrist, a departure from entry via the groin which I had been prepped for twice and wasn't required. (I think the nurses were just getting in some practice at my expense.) The recovery time being at least two hours less, and certainly much less trauma involved, and certainly bruising wasn't an issue.

At this point I want to make it clear to those who may have to follow me down this path. It is no big deal for either the angiogram, or the resulting angioplasty. You are fully conscious with only a local anaesthetic administerd, a small prick at any of the entry points. There is no sensation of the catherter passing through the blood vessels as there are no nerve recepters attached to them. What you may have afterwards is a sensation that there is something foreign in the chest cavity, you will soon ingore that as a part of life.

So here I was barely able to crawl into the Day Surgery admissions at 0830hrs, and by 1645hrs litterally ran out of the hospital like a startled gazelle.

When I think back on it, my father had the same problem in 1970. He was stuck with taking angernine tablets under his tongue plus assorted medication. This sort of cardiac intervention wasn't considered an option forty years ago. He managed to survive a further twelve years putting up with the discomfort if he over exerted himself and that was all too often.

So what is the message in all of this.

(1) If you find yourself in a similar situation, get an ambulance pronto. I was lucky, some one else may not be. Dial 000, (Australia wide) immediately, or your countries emergency number.

(2) Always involve your partner when visiting the doctor of consultants. Two pair of ears are better than one and means that if one missed a point the other picked it up.

(3) Accept good advice from your doctor, consultant physician, and cardiac specialists. It may not be what you want to hear, but you are a long time dead if you don't.

(4) Don't be afraid to share your experiences with others, you may just save their lives and above all be supportive, as you had been by others before your treatment.

I could mention so many names of the doctors, nurses, and people who offered valuable advice, and support, in the weeks and days prior to entry to hospital. To them goes my heart felt thanks.

God bless you all.

Bet you never knew this.

PENGUINS:

Did you ever wonder why there are never any dead penguins on the ice cap in Antartica - where do they go?

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird that lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life. If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice cap, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough to be rolled into and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle and "sing".

"Freeze a jolly good fellow!"

"Freeze a jolly good fellow!"

Then they kick him in the ice hole.

You really didn't believe that I knew anything about penguins, did you?

Now you never let the truth stand in the way of a good story I say.

Its so easy to fool young, and old people alike.

Cruise ship season 2010 - 2011

Monday 21st September 2010:
Well we are off to a flying start to the new season of Cruise ship visits to Burnie with the first being the Dawn Princess seen above on the horizon at dawn 6:00am Australian EST. believed to be carrying in excess of 2000 passengers and 700 plus crew.
The City and its volunteers were ready, willing, and able to accommodate them all with information on what to do during their 8 hour stay.
Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions bringing in the ship became impossible and she went out to sea to continue her trip to Hobart at 8:00am.
Regretabley, it was Burnie's lost opportunity.