Bushrangers: Heros or thugs?

The likes of Ned Kelly and Ben Hall have captured the Australian imagination and become the focus of our folklore and mythology. They are often portrayed as victims of authoritarian oppression and champions of the downtrodden.

But what would we think if we could look ahead, maybe a century and a half into the future, and see today’s car thieves, home invaders, armed robbers and murderers being celebrated as national heroes?

Channel Seven is currently running the Wild Boys series which has been described as a “boys own” adventure. It portrays a police force headed by a ruthless leader who is not averse to breaking the law himself to make sure his idea of order is upheld. The heroes are a group of lovable larrikins whose only failing is their regular practice of holding travellers at gunpoint to relieve them of their valuables.

The series plays up the romanticised picture of the bushranger as loveable rogue that has made heroes of some of the most ruthless criminals in our history. Even the term “bushranger creates a more romantic image than words that more accurately describe their lives and criminal pursuits.

How would you picture a group of men who break into your home and hold you hostage for hours, making threats of violence, demanding to be fed and then taking as many of your possessions as they can carry? Would you find it excusable if they came from a disadvantaged family or had been given a raw deal by the authorities? I’m sure not!
-----------------------------

Recently I have read two new books dealing with the subject of Bushrangers. My brief reviews can be found here:

http://out-shadows.blogspot.com/2011/10/captain-thunderbolt-and-his-lady-by.html

http://out-shadows.blogspot.com/2011/10/bushrangers-australias-greatest-self.html

Just call me the bird whisperer!

A bit of excitement in the office this morning, a swallow made its way through a series of doors and entered the office. It flew around for several minutes, avoiding all attempts to guide it back the way it came. Eventually I was able to corner it near a window and use my jacket as a net. I took it outside and released it.

My office is attached to a large workshop building. Swallows nest and roost up near the roof. The workshop is closed up each evening and the creaking of the large roller doors alerts the swallows that its time to return. The closing of the doors is always accompanied by a squadron of returning birds, swooping between the bottom of the door and the floor. Likewise, each morning when the doors are opened, the birds will leave their roosting site and swoop out for the day.

All is not lost if the doors close before they get through. There is a gap at the corner of the door where it doesn’t quite meet the floor. Any late birds land on the ground, scurry through and fly off again.

Broken News

They’ve recently discovered that Ned Kelly had a skeleton but he kept it buried at Pentridge prison in Melbourne instead of in his closet.
DNA tests proved this – but I don’t think they’ve been able to prove he had a skull of his own. Someone else’s may have been substituted.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ned-kellys-remains-found-20110901-1jmqi.html

Ned could have turned to art instead of crime but there were no government art grants at the time so he couldn’t exchange a $20,000 grant for uncirculated notes to be displayed under Perspex and given a price tag of up to $25,000.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/cash-artwork-sells-for-21350/story-fn9d3avm-1226126777761

More paintings

Here are two more of my paintings. Gloria has now joined me in this new creative outlet. Two of her paintings follow mine. The blue one at the end is a work in progress.

Mine:






And Gloria's:

Painting the Bible

I’ve taken up a new artistic pursuit: PAINTING.

I was encouraged to do this by a friend who has been painting for years. He paints Bible text on canvas with acrylic paint.

He also introduced me to a NZ artist Colin McCahon who painted many art works based on bible texts. One of his most significant works being Victory Over Death 2, a gift to the National Gallery Australia from the New Zealand Government.

I saw the painting almost by accident on a recent trip to the NGA and it was the most powerful artwork I’ve seen. Since that first viewing I’ve made a second visit to the gallery solely to see that one painting.

My own work is still in the practice stage, with many frustrations and disappointments. I’m trying to come to terms with both paint and canvas and at times I struggle. It should be easy to write text with paint – but its not. Here are some of my paintings so far – remember it is early days yet. Hopefully with practice I’ll improve.

Broken Body Shed Blood



In the Beginning


Way Truth Life.


Word of God



See here for details and images relating to Victory Over Death 2.

http://nga.gov.au/McCahon/1.cfm

http://www.mccahon.co.nz/cm001502

Too Technically Minded For the Common Good

I work with some very technically-savvy men. Personally I have less mechanical aptitude than the neighbours cat (who was recently able to extricate a mouse from a trap without leaving any scattered mouse parts).

So why is it that I seem to be the only one to successfully replace the paper towels in the men’s room?

It’s not that others won’t do it – they make an attempt, but their technical knowhow seems to get in the way. They make it much more complicated than it needs to be and they find ways of threading the paper through imaginative obstacle courses. This tightens the movement of the paper, and when the hands are wet – as they usually are when there’s a need for towel – the paper breaks off in small soggy pieces.

They don’t seem to understand the concept of following the path of least resistance: the most straight forward path that allows the paper to unroll smoothly and freely.

So there’s an advantage to my technical ignorance. I can do what makes sense rather than try to find new ways of challenging the laws of physics

Conspiracy!!!

I received an email today claiming that the current e coli outbreak in Europe is the result of a purposely manufactured, resistant strain of e coli. An attached article stated:

“virtually no one is talking about how e coli could have magically become resistant to eight different classes of antibiotic drugs and then suddenly appeared in the food supply.”

And asks the question:

“So how, exactly, does a bacterial strain come into existence that’s resistant to over a dozen antibiotics in eight different drug classes?”

Well that the first statement is not exactly the truth and the question can be easily answered.

I read an article on the weekend about the rise in bacteria in food caused by the "recycling" of human waste as fertilizer (supposedly treated to be made safe). It also pointed out the presence of antibiotics in the human waste which has passed through the digestive tracts of countless thousands of people. Therefore we have e coli being exposed to a great variety of antibiotics and gaining resistance over time.

The waste is used for food crops; the resistant e coli infects the food and thereafter the eaters.

No conspiracy needed just stupidity, carelessness and greed.

In Defense of Food

Here is a brief excerpt from an excellent book I’ve been reading:

People eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets. Scientists can argue all they want about the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whichever it is, the solution to the problem would appear to remain very much the same: Stop eating a Western diet.

In truth the chief value of any and all theories of nutrition, apart from satisfying our curiosity about how things work, is not to the eater so much as it is to the food industry and the medical community. The food industry needs theories so it can better redesign specific processed foods; a new theory means a new line of products, allowing the industry to go on tweaking the western diet instead of making any more radical changes to its business model. For industry it’s obviously preferable to have a scientific rationale for further processing foods – whether by lowering the fat or carbs or by boosting omega-3s or fortifying them with antioxidants and probiotics – than to entertain seriously the proposition that processed foods of any kind are a big part of the problem.

(In Defense of Food, an eater’s manifesto, by Michael Pollan.)

For more information see:

http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/

A Break in Beechworth

I may have done things differently if I’d visited Beechworth several years ago. Would I have chosen THAT town for my tree-change instead of the town I now call home?

Gloria and I recently stayed in Beechworth for a few days, living in a cottage that was over 150 years old. We both loved the town. It had historical character, with many of its old buildings in the main street retained. And it had natural beauty, set alongside stunning bushland with waterfalls and exposed rock visible from parts of the town.

Our first day started with some disappointment. We set out to explore and found most of the town was closed – the majority of businesses didn’t open until 10.00am. And one of the cafes we had hoped to try was on the market, and not currently trading. The weather was also unpredictable. It rained, the sun came out, and it rained again, making us change our plans to try a couple of guided walks run by the tourist information office.

It took us a few hours to get our bearings but the more we saw of the town, the more we started to enjoy the place. Highlights of our short holiday include visits to the Beechworth Honey Experience and The Potters Beechworth .

We made a few visits to each. The honey shop not only sold Beechworth Honey products, it had a very interesting video tour about their business, bee keeping, honey and the importance of bees. The series of short videos was very well presented and has made me want to find out more about the role bees play in maintaining the security of food supplies.

My interest in Beechworth Pottery started weeks ago when I bought two “One Tree Hill Pottery” vases from an antique shop. I wanted to find out more about the makers and an internet search introduced me to The Potters Beechworth which is run by the makers of One Tree Hill pottery. We spent a lot of time in their shop admiring their work and added some pieces to our small collection.

Another highlight of the town was its Farmer’s market. We were driving out of town on the way home when Gloria remembered we’d earlier seen the market being advertised. We turned around and drove back to the church where the market was being held. It left our local market for dead.

There was a good number and variety of stalls selling fruit and veggies, organic meat, preserves, olive oil, wines, art work and plants and attracted a lot of shoppers, contrasting significantly with our local farmers market which now has few stalls and few shoppers.

The atmosphere of the Beechworth market was enhanced by its location in the church grounds (ours is held in a public car park) and the ringing of the church bells definitely added to the experience.

Our holiday was not limited to time in Beechworth. We spent one day driving to neighbouring towns. My main plan was to visit Glenrowan, site of Ned Kelly’s failed stand against the authorities, but we managed to also fit in the antique shops of Chiltern, Rutherglen, and Benalla.

Glenrowan was a disappointment being mostly tourist shops exploiting the story of Ned Kelly. Two of them had their own museums dedicated to Kelly, but after seeing what was on offer I wasn’t prepared to pay the few dollars admission. Maybe it would have been worth the price, but I’ll never know.

We had been to the town about 20 years ago and had fond memories of being welcomed by a bearded man shouting “Howdy peoples!” while he handed out pikelets with cream and jam to arrivals parking in front of his café. That generosity led to us entering to have pumpkin soup and damper for lunch. Of course, after all this time the man was no longer there.

A couple of doors down the road is an animatronics show about Ned Kelly’s shootout with the police. Said to have cost millions to create, this is perhaps the most worthwhile attraction the town has on offer. It is a partly interactive experience using the same kind of technology of several Disneyland rides. We tried it during our earlier visit to the town and Gloria found it quite frightening, so we didn’t go in this time.

For me the highlight of Glenrowan was finally seeing the actual site where Kelly and his gang met their end. The location of Ann Jones’ Glenrowan Inn, where the gang were cornered by police, is now an empty block. It is signposted and has some naive sculptures of the Kelly gang beside it, but not much more to see: not even signs of a recent archaeological dig featured on an ABC TV documentary hosted by Tony Robinson of Time Team fame.

Around the area of the siege site are sign-posts and more naïve sculptures, giving details of various incidents associated with the Kelly shootout: including the police position and where Kelly was captured. Without these I would have found the visit to the town a waste of time.

It’s not a place I’m planning to visit again, having already seen the best of what the town has to offer (the animatronics show and the siege site). For someone who has never been to the town, a short detour from the Hume Freeway may be worth it for those experiences, but for myself, I’ve now seen enough.

There is still a lot of Beechworth and the surrounding area that we haven’t seen. We didn’t get to take the guided walks to find out about places of historical significance associated with the gold rush and the Kelly story. Those are things we’d like to try next time.

Until we have the opportunity to return, I’m sure we’ll continue to wonder whether Beechworth would have been a better choice when we moved from Sydney. But I suppose the differences between a short term holiday and a lifetime home are significant. At least we have discovered a very pleasant town suitable for an occasional escape from reality whenever we can take a break away from home.

Going Solar. Some not so sunny concerns!

The solar panel people came around to give a quote and apart from the required financial outlay I’m not really any wiser about the whole thing.

I have a basic idea of the system. The panels on the roof will generate electricity which will be directed into the public supply grid and we will receive credit for the amount of energy generated. We are then charged for whatever power we use ourselves. If we use more than we generate we pay. If we generate more than we use we are paid.

Beyond that we are at the mercy of the panel supplier/installer. It seems most panels have a 25 year guarantee. But should there be problems in 10 or 20 years time – who do we contact? What if the supplier is no longer in business? How many businesses like this are still around after 20-25 years? While the guarantee gives the impression of security, they are dependant upon there being someone still around to honour it.

The current system also works under certain legal conditions established by the Government. Those conditions last until 2017. What comes after that? Will the whole thing be overturned, nullifying the benefit of having the panels? Maybe that’s not too important – supposedly the panels will pay for themselves within three or four years and anything after that will be a bonus.

At the moment I feel a bit pressured. There is a deadline to face. The generous rebates will be reduced in July. The installation will be more expensive after that date. Clearly I should have considered doing this earlier, when I’d have more time to weigh up the pros and cons of different suppliers.


image:
Solar Panels by Vera Kratochvil

Going Solar - hopefully!

We’re having our place assessed for solar panels today. Hopefully we’ll get a reasonable quote and be able to make the most of the Government rebates.

It’s taken too long for us to get around to considering the panels. This was mostly through ignorance. While the rebates have been available for some time (and have now unfortunately been reduced) for some reason I hadn’t even thought of getting them installed until recently.

When I first heard of people lobbying the Government for solar panel rebates, I thought they were referring to solar water heaters and not the generation of electricity so I didn’t see the need to take further interest.

Unfortunately my technical ignorance makes me susceptible to being exploited if the installers are lacking integrity, so I’m feeling uneasy about the whole thing. The recent situation with roofing insulation showed there are too many inexperienced and/or unscrupulous people around willing to take advantage of both homeowners and Government generosity.


Solar Panel by Petr Kratochvil

I Would Love to Keep Chooks, But…

One of the approaches to gardening that I find most appealing is permaculture. It seems to make total sense. Why work against the natural processes when you can be more productive working with them? At least in theory! I’ve never tried it so don’t know whether it would work for me. If there are any shortcomings with permaculture I would be the one to find them.

I’ve done a little reading on the topic to see whether I could use permaculture principles for my own garden, but have found that it seems more applicable to larger properties.
Yes I know how some people have transformed their ¼ acre blocks into permaculture paradises (see here http://www.happyearth.com.au/ ) but they didn’t have MY block to work with.

Unfortunately there are a couple of vital aspects of a permaculture property that I would find troublesome. One is installing some kind of a pond (Gloria even objects to having water in the bird bath, fearing its mosquito breeding potential). And the other is keeping chooks.

I would love to keep chooks but… and there are several reasons I hesitate…

1) Where would I put them?

2) I’d have to build a suitable enclosure and my DIY skills have never successfully stretched that far

3) The responsibility of keeping something alive! Its one thing to kill a lettuce through careless neglect, but an animal is something else.

4) Their potential to attract pests and vermin, which in turn have the potential to attract snakes.

5) We regularly go away for the weekend to visit family – how long can they (the chooks not the family) be left unattended while we are away?

6) We are not allowed to keep livestock on our block (a legal aspect of the property contract that we weren’t aware of until before purchasing the house) – which may or may not extend to poultry.

7) How would they cope with the frosts and -6 degree temperatures that we regularly get over winter? (And frosts can extend from mid autumn to late spring).

8) How would the neighbouring dogs react (we’re surrounded by them).

I’m sure a couple of chickens could provide many benefits, eggs, manure, pest control… but would those benefits outweigh the problems?


photo: Hen by Darren Hanlon

Time to Rethink

I think I saw the DVD Food Inc at the right time, when I was reconsidering what to do with my backyard. The film has reinvigorated my desire to turn it into something much more productive.

It is now almost 5 years since I started the garden and my approach has always been uncoordinated. I hoped something worthwhile would evolve as I tried a bit of this and a bit of that. My hopes haven't been very fruitful.

When we moved from out flat in Sydney I had three things in mind for our first garden. I wanted natives (especially Grevilleas), I wanted Roses, and I wanted to grow my own veggies.

I now have a promising native garden growing in the front of the house as well as a variety of Grevilleas near the fence at the back. Some of them weren’t placed very wisely and have grown much larger than I made allowance for, but at least they provide thick cover for birds and attract a variety of honey eaters.

Roses have been more of a struggle. They don’t cope too well with the weather extremes. We get a wonderful show of flowers for a week or so in spring and then they get knocked about by the heat, the rain or the wind. They have been a disappointment but I don’t want to give up on them.

The vegetable garden has given mixed results. At times we don’t seem to have enough room to grow what we want – and at other times we struggle to make use of the space we’ve got. We’ve also had a lot of failures; some things just don’t want to perform well.

Along with all of this I’ve tried to add a few flowering plants. While a few pockets of this ornamental part of the garden have been pleasing, we have far too many areas that haven’t worked.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the latest veggie season hadn’t been the best. At least the failures have given me the chance to clear up the veggie beds and start over again.

At the moment I have a bed of zucchinis, squash and pumpkins that are coming to their end. It will be ready for re-use in a few weeks.

The other three main beds were empty up to last weekend. One I have planted with garlic, taking up most of the room I had intended for onions. Another I plan to use for broccoli, which are the only brassicas that I’ve successfully grown.

The third has become a dumping ground for grass cuttings, leafy weeds and other organic material, along with an application of manure and blood and bone. I have now thickly sown broad beans on the top of it all and have covered the beans with some cheap potting mix. This third bed has become a no-dig project. When the beans have grown sufficiently I’ll either cut them down and mix them in, or I’ll flatten them and pile biscuits of straw on top.

Meanwhile I will be looking at the rest of the garden and thinking of how to reorganise it, to give more room for other edibles.

Food Inc.

On the weekend I watched the DVD Food Inc. This film looks at the way a few multi-nationals are increasing their control over food. It is essential viewing for anyone who has concern about the things they eat.

GM foods, cattle feedlots, the exploitation of farmers – are some of the topics examined. One of the more disturbing aspects is how these huge companies are able to use the legal system to strengthen their control – much of the time because they have the financial means to keep law suits going until their opposition is unable to defend themselves against charges.

One of the more shocking revelations is that it has been made more or less illegal for a farmer to save his own seed for future crops because most crops have been infected with patented, genetically modified material.

If a company pollutes a waterway that affects users down stream who is held accountable? Are the downstream users blamed? Are they made to pay the legal consequences of the acts of a company unable to prevent polluting agents from entering the waterways?

But if a multinational can’t prevent the spread of pollen from its genetically modified crops – if it can’t prevent the entry of its genetic material into neighbouring crops – guess who is made responsible? Clue: it is not the multi-national. The farmer pays the penalty, being unable to use any tainted seed because it contains patented genetic material that he didn’t want, didn’t ask for and would not have willingly introduced to his crop.

This is certainly one of those must-see films for anyone concerned about their food, where it comes from and who controls what food is available.

Surely next season HAS to be better!

We’ve just had the worst vegetable season since our move to the country almost five years ago. It’s the first time we haven’t needed to give away a surplus of zucchinis. We’ve barely had enough to keep ourselves going, even with the addition of three plants of button squash filling the shortfall.

Our butternut pumpkins have also been very disappointing. We’ll be lucky to get 10 pumpkins this year. In previous years we’ve always exceeded 50.

Tomatoes have never been much of a success at our place, so even the poor crop we got was a slight improvement, but it ought to have been much better. Gloria pulled up the last couple of plants yesterday.
And our corn was possibly left too late before being picked – it was very dry despite having more than ample water with the record summer rains.

Our main successes have been onions (even though they were down on previous years), garlic, beans (lazy housewife and purple king are still pickable) and several cucumbers (the most we’ve grown so far).

I now have three empty veggie beds. One has been enriched with homemade compost and several bags of cow manure. On another I’ve been throwing prunings and grass clippings. I’ll top that with straw when I get around to buying a bale or two and hopefully will make it into a decent no-dig garden. The future of the third bed is still to be decided.
The only bed still in use has the last of the zucchini, squash and pumpkins. With frosts not too far away the productivity of that bed is also close to an end. So soon I’ll have a totally blank canvas to start all over again.

Bella Hardy, Songs Lost and Stolen

I received a Bella Hardy newsletter this morning about the release of a new album. Her first two CDs are among my favourites and I’ve been hoping this new one would be coming out soon.

The release date is in mid April and I’ve pre-ordered my copy. The first two were originally available through her personal website but I’ve had to order this one through Amazon. It seems like she is no longer handling her own album sales, which is hopefully a sign of increasing success.

I’ll miss the more personal approach of buying directly from her – such as being able to have the CD autographed, but the important thing is the opportunity for her music to become more accessible.

When I first heard about the new album my initial response was concern.
The title of the CD “Songs Lost and Stolen” made me think that the songs for her album had literally been “lost and stolen”. It wouldn’t have been the first time that a musician’s work had been lost to a thief.

For more information visit:

bellahardy.com

A single from the album has been released (her first) and can be heard here:

single

see my previous article:

bella-hardy

Online GST Campaign.

There is a bit of a protest going on in Australia, with some major retailers demanding online goods purchased from overseas be subjected to GST like locally sourced goods.

But where do most of the retailers source the stock that they sell to the public?

From overseas!

DO THEY expect to pay GST on their imported goods too?

Recently I bought books from an AUSTRALIAN based online book shop. The books they delivered came from overseas and were GST exempt. One book I wanted to order would cost me $55 plus deliver of $6.00.

I have since ordered the SAME book directly from an overseas supplier for $23.00 and free delivery.

Charge me 10% GST for all I care - it would only add $2.30 to the cost instead of $38.00 more from the local supplier!

(The local supplier is part of one of the major book chains found in most Australian shopping centres.)

Christmas Gift?

Today, to an increasing degree the emphasis of Christmas is shifting away from ancient events in Bethlehem and many complain that Christmas is becoming more and more commercialised. And when the decorations come out in department stores at least three months before Christmas few could argue.


Some Christians proclaim we should "Put the Christ back into Christmas". Others point to the fact that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday appropriated by the church and never really had any connection to Jesus.

I have recently heard preachers talking about the valuable gift that God gave at Christmas in the form of His Son. They refer to a well-known verse in the gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

Who could deny the value of such a gift given by the Creator of everything, the gift of His Son, the giver of eternal life?
But is it right to associate that gift with Christmas? Is it right to make a comparison with that gift and the presents we exchange with friends and family?

Was God’s gift, written about by John, the baby in a manger with no crib for a bed? Was the gift the baby Jesus, meek and mild?

Or did God’s gift come much later? About 30 years later. When Jesus, a grown man died a cruel death on behalf of mankind?

Is there any irony in the acceptability of a helpless baby that allows even non-believers to sing about His birth for a few days each year? Have those non-believers bothered to think about the words they sing?*

Why is it that similar singing is absent from the other significant time on the religious calendar? Why aren’t the “Easter” hymns so well known?

Could it be that a beaten and bleeding man nailed to a cross isn’t as appealing as a cute baby surrounded by cuddly animals?

Jesus suffering and dying for our sins, the brutality of the crucifixion, the sheer ugliness of torn flesh and shed blood - well it's just not acceptable is it?
It's too confronting.
A baby receiving birthday presents from kings and visits from angels and shepherds - all of the peace and goodwill messages… THAT is much nicer and unchallenging.
But move that baby on to adulthood and look at the end purpose of His life and the world doesn't want to know. They'll celebrate His birth with songs of praise - but His death?

Don’t even think about it. Just pass the chocolate eggs.

____________________




*Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"


Illustrating photo from here:

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=4807&picture=nativity-scene

Christmas Gifts and Emotions

Christmas is a time that brings about conflicting emotions. It is a reminder of a lost childhood and separation from loved ones. This separation from my wider family (Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and cousins) started with our move to Australia. Over the years we compensated by spending Christmas with friends who were in the same position.

In more recent years separation from family has taken a different form. My childhood was spent within walking distance of most family members. Back then all generations lived in the same or neighbouring villages. Today, even my immediate family are widespread. My daughter has lived on the Australian west coast for five years. My parents and sister live on the east coast.

Gloria and I live four hours inland from my parents and Gloria’s parents are a further four hours inland from us. I try not to think of the distance to my daughter.

The days of family gatherings are over and choices have to be made when times like Christmas come around. This year we have decided to spend Christmas at home after alternating between our parents for the last few years.

While I’m looking forward to a quieter and less hectic Christmas, both of us will miss spending that time with our families.

The part of Christmas I’ve never enjoyed is gift shopping.
I was always a last minute shopper and most years I’d be rushing around on Christmas Eve trying to find the perfect presents I should have thought about weeks before. This last minute shopping rush was not only stressful, it defeated the point of giving a gift. Rather than finding something I knew would be appreciated, the gift became something obligatory, but unwanted gifts are more likely to inspire disappointment, even embarrassment, rather than gratitude.

Fortunately I’ve avoided that Christmas Eve panic for many years now. I’ve been much more organised and often start buying gifts early in the year, putting them aside for when they are needed. Gifts for parents tend to be books (for mum who reads a lot) and wine (for dad but not because he drinks a lot). I also add items of local produce in a hamper – things I know they will use. It is pointless to buy impractical things to fill up their shelves and cupboards. Like many elderly people they are thinking more about downsizing and reducing their possessions rather than adding to them.

My daughter is the easy one. While I would love to be more imaginative and be able to help her to establish her own home, distance and delivery costs makes the sending of material gifts impractical. I now send her money.

The only person whose gifts need considerable thought is Gloria. It is logistically difficult to shop for her. Unless I can find something suitable in our small town, I have to find something during a shopping trip to Canberra, and since we go together surprising her is difficult. (She of course has the same problem shopping for me).

This year I have discovered internet shopping. While this makes it easier to find a variety of things she’ll like – their delivery at home, while I’m not there, can spoil the surprise a little. This year I bought her some art glass. While she knows she is getting glass she doesn’t know what it will be like. For me, the excitement of Christmas this year will come when she receives it.

I’ve seen it.
It’s stunning.
She’s going to love it.

Christmas Lost

Christmas has never been the same for me since I moved from England to Australia at the beginning of the 70s. I was 13 when my family paid the token ten pounds to travel half way around the world to start a new life.

Until then Christmas had been a big family occasion spreading over the 25th and 26th December and shifting between two homes.

Christmas day was always spent at our house with members of my mum’s family coming over for dinner, and then on Boxing Day we would walk to my Dad’s parents and spend the whole day there.

It is the second of these days that stands out in my memory with so much ritual and family tradition surrounding it.

The day started with a visit to my Grandparents’ neighbours to borrow a large dining table. It came in pieces which were assembled in the lounge room, taking up almost all of the room. It was a huge table and all of it was needed for all of the family and friends that were there every year.

A large traditional Christmas dinner was served shortly after midday, turkey with vegetables followed by Christmas pudding.

After dinner we would all sit around the table playing cards for pennies. My Grandparents collected them for months to share among the children while the adults provided their own. The game was called “Newmarket” but I’ve forgotten how it was played. It was the one time of the year when there was any “serious gambling” in my family.

Late in the afternoon we would have our Christmas “tea” – I don’t remember what food was on offer apart from trifle and Christmas cake.

After tea the snowman would be brought out. This was a hollow container (shaped like a snowman) filled with small presents labelled with numbers. The snowman’s hat was opened and we each drew a number out of it and were given the corresponding present which were mostly cheap toys that would keep the children amused for a while.

Early in the evening most of the adults would walk to the nearest pub for an hour or two and the children would be left in the care of our Grandparents. While our parents were away I’d often lose my remaining pennies to my cousin. We’d toss the pennies against the wall and the person closest to the wall would win the rest of the pennies thrown in the game.

One year an older child tried to demonstrate “levitation”. One of us lay on the floor surrounded by the other children and after a repeated incantation we were supposed to be able to lift the prone child into the air using only one finger each. The incantation was something quite spooky, mentioning death and evil spirits. The attempt failed when a noise from an empty room scared us into abandoning the “game”. My grandad found out what we had been doing and warned us against doing anything like it again.

All of that came to an end in 1970. It was our last Christmas in England. For the first time in my life Christmas day was not spent at my house. My dad had to work and we went to my Aunt’s place for dinner and we had to walk there in the snow.

The following year we were in Australia and spent Christmas with some new friends, also recent migrants far from their family. We heard later that the Boxing Day dinner went ahead at my Grandparents but my Grandma was so upset about our absence that the family Boxing Day tradition was stopped altogether.