Ageism versus Youth
Recently watched Punk Rockers series PISTOLS, and was interested to hear them taking on the world in the early 70s. Interestingly as young teenagers they referred to old people not accepting their music and being dinosaurs , are now themselves pensioners. Admittedly I was of the same opinion as a teenager but on reflection I wish I had envisioned what the future held for we potential “oldies” and how we could make it better. Through the generations I and my peers never gave much on how to plan our retirements ( hindsight is a wonderful thought) .The NOW generation are probably of the same opinion as I was back in those now far off days. Old age is a privilege and I am grateful to be in this “state” as a lot of my immediate family and some great friends are no longer with us .Yes I miss them very much and IF a time machine is invented I will revisit a lot of my past earthly adventures .A favourite song of mine in the 60.s by the group The Who featured a line “Hope I die before I get Old ” (Song My Generation) and the lead singer would be in his late 70s! Some of my “now” ageing friends are confined to wheelchairs and the greatly use of walking aids and tales of falling over ,unable to get back up without assistance.SO message for you young uns ? beware hopefully you will reach seniority. Moral is…don,t wait for age to creep up unexpectedly, plan for the future .Stay Safe
Sad Times for Renters
This past few days a rental came up on my Face Book,so I decided to register and go and have a look . I arrived at my dedicated time slot and there were literally dozens of people having a look see .It was advertised as a one bedroomed premises with shower and toilet. On arrival the quoted car space was a small patch of grass and a fair walk down a darkened passage to the “house”
Inside was a single room with a small half dividing wall and that was it !! SO the lounge,kitchen,bedroom were in one small area and just hidden away a toilet and shower (at least it was private)
The back exterior was extremely small impossible to be utilized for any outdoor activity .If a proverbial cat was swung there it would be definitely be brain damaged ! .The air con machine outside has seen better times, I actually felt sorry for the estate agent whose job was to lease it
For this property ( incidentally tagged onto a main house that are affectionately named “Granny Flats” not for my granny tho )..Rent is an incredible $260 weekly with a $1100 bond deposit !!
Australia is a massive island and I m sure the Govt could spend money on building buildings for young people, retirees and charge a nominal rent . Rentals are at a premium and therefore command silly rental prices at the moment
One redemption feature about the premises is it is only minutes away from the railway station !!
I am well past the “one foot in the grave” stage ,so comon Gvt,why does everything have to be about money?
Me ? think I will buy a tent !!!
This Blog dedicated to Nowhere Boy 2009
Just watched a movie on John Lennons pre fame life and the camera work was so good it stirred a lot of my youthful early days. His radio was probably a Bakelite cased model ( I had one wih lots of live bulbs inside) the wiring was probably pre plastic and outer protective “skin” was like a old fashioned bandage ( material) Mine was connected to the ceiling light outlet and I listened to it under my blankets ! (no idea why I,m still alive !! Teddy boys were the fashion of the day, drainpipe jeans with turn ups.Jackets woth velvet collars.brothel creepers (suede shoes with around 1 ” soles ! and of course lime green socks ( not the same pair,but I still wear them today !! later on in life we got to wear very pointed Italian winkle pickers ) Hair was fashioned with Brylcreme using a comb that was very greasy !! But so what? we looked great (lol)
Story was around the late 50,s .Buddy Holly was back ground music and Lennon apparently tried to imitate him .Buddy was and still is my all time musical hero and sadly he never made the 1960 ,s.My home town Blackpool was instrumental in this movie and the North Pier jutting out into the Irish Sea was instantly recognizable !! and also part of my child hood playground. Characters (holiday makers) wearing Kiss Me Quick Cowboys hats were very popular and also an open invitation ( ahemm) Donkeys giving rides ( me and my younger brother used to run them for their owners)
Skiffle groups were very popular,instrumens used were a Tea Chest with a broom handle stuck in the and ONE string that was plucked for sound.I used to support a good late friend of mine who played and he is sadly missed .Smoking in the school bike sheds was p[popular coz in those days smoking didnt kill !!
Summer village type Gala,s were fantastic fun and put together in some country side field.Getting home from scchool and lighting the coal fire on very wintry days,being able to buy bundles of kindle wood from the local corner shop and there was always snow in Jan.Feb doesnt seem like that now
Cigarettes 100p a packet,beer not much dearer but the at just 15 my first work pay was 2 pound 10 shillings !! Short telephone numbers,deck chairs and Tape Recorders ! hoping no one walks in the room as I taped music of the Radio.
So much to remember,didnt have much money BUT we were happy and most of all we had FUN !! Would have written more but its currently 42C in my non conditioned office !!! Happy New Year to you all
Australian Housing & Land & Employment & Made in Australia
Been having a look around Perth Centre and so sad to see people sleeping in doorways, and at the moment the weather is the worst I have experienced in 4o years !! So much wind and rain! Must be Global warming ? although currently it is freeeezing !! Australia is currently witnessing massive rent hikes, housing prices have gone balmy, people who cannot afford rent or they are being snapped up because of a huge demand and shortages,rents are at a record high etc are resorting to living in their cars and some have children.What I don,t understand is why the government doesn’t build more, this Island has so much land to spare .An Aboriginal M.P who is no longer with us suggested a pipeline is brought down to Perth from the top of Western Australian where the water catchment area is apparently 3 times as large as Sydney harbour and I believe has been said it can actually be seen from space it is so BIG ! I am fortunate enough to have stayed up in that area and the Ord River is amazing !! Billions have been spent and lost on this horrible disease that has affected the world and yet when it comes to peoples basic welfare there is no money to be found. New towns can be built anywhere in the massive space we have here (3 times the size of Europe) water from the Ord dam would supply the new towns quite easily . Money shouldn’t be a problem, employ people out of work,build factories BIGGER than those in China .I have shopped around for different items from clothes ware to pots and pans to fridges and freezers ALL made in China with it being very difficult to buy Australian made wares,we have the space. So C,mon Aussie C,mon ,think positive, think future
Wokism,no,no,no
Enough is enough ! Parkin is the latest to be labelled racist !! That is (was) part of my growing up especially around the beginning of November. That particular cake treat is synonymous with the burning of Guido(Guy) Fawkes on on the 5th of that wonderful month. Mums/Mams (not moms!) would bake these delights and hand them round at our local bonfires (yes all races,creed,religions ate the delicacy )Almost daily on British radio I am classed as a “white privileged” person and I object to that very strongly! I am one of 7 kids who lived life as a kid from 1945 and we certainly weren,t rich! I wore jeans with holes that identified me as “poor” yet today those same jeans would have made me fashionable. Cardboard was placed in shoes that had holes in the souls,wellington boots (wellybobs) were worn to school on very hot days. Pocket monety we earnt by doing paper rounds,carrying holidaymakers luggage Mam worked at least 2 jobs to keep us fed,warm and occasionally well clothed, My peers ( mates) parents were Mr or Mrs and single lady teachers were miss and male teachers Sir. As kids we would offer seats to seniors as a standard issue. “Stick and Stones may break my Bones,but they will never hurt me” was often used ( of course they did!) My friends of the day went to either Catholic or Protestant schools BUT after school we were FRIENDS. Late 50 and early 60s Immigrants from all over the world started a new life in Britain and to this day I have wonderful pals of different denominations/colour ethnicity and I can never recall racial arguments mentioned ( because quite simply there weren’t any) My youngest daughter has an Aboriginal as her godfather because he was my good friend. I blame the press for stirring the racism card. 3 English footballers were called out because on their $600.000 weekly earnings they missed penalties and YES i called them out also not because of colour or creed BUT because they missed penalties !! Never mind they were able to console themselves by jetting off to the Sun ,while I have to stay isolated here in Australia with a son in London currently suffering the horrible disease that has virtually affected ALL human life. SO come on everyone live this wonderful life together as we are only here the once ( sorry I,m an atheist) Work to helping the poorest countries and making life livable for poor souls living in so called Third Word Countries.no one man/woman should be worth Billions
Buddy Holley and Me
Music has always played a huge part in my life and after watching the stage performance of Buddy my mind was hurled back to 1959 and that was my last full year at school. Saturday mornings we would always go round to a friend of ours and listen to music before heading off into town for future adventures in the local store (British Home Stores) The winters in those days were freezing as winters were BUT always seemed to be snow around and we were 13 yr old teenagers on the discovery of life. We were having a giggle at one of our gang who was eating a huge pile of toast ( he reckoned his manhood was,nt getting any bigger,and some well meaning adult told him eating lots of toast would solve this problem !! and this was an actual happening) Buddy Holly was my all time song hero ,just as he is today.Being at a daft age we were all laughing and having fun as there no bloody iPhones in those days and we actually spoke to each other ! The current song playing was interrupted by the awful announcement in February 1959 that Buddy Holly had been killed in a plane crash along with The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens consequently I was shattered by this tragic news ( my bakelite radio with the very large bulbs inside was a big feature in my life and to keep the noise down I listened to the music of the day under my blankets even tho the power was supplied by the ceiling light! )That horrible death was probably one of the first big upsets in my life,now 62 years later the memory of that day is still strong in my mind. I have no doubt that if Buddy had survived he would have ousted Elvis from his top spot.The full stage show can be seen on Youtube and well worth a visit.Finally when the movie The Buddy Holly Story came out I took my family go and see it, and as Bobby said “Rock on Tommy”
My proper religion…Cricket
I’ve just watched an Australian movie called Howzat about the origins of one day cricket beginnings in the late 70s organised by Kerry Packer. Football ( soccer to others ) to me was a great sport when I was a mere spectator in those far of days in the 60,s when the game was more passionate and played with pride.Todays footballers are such Prima Dona,s who writhe in false agony when touched by an opposition player. The movie displayed how much I love Cricket,when my kids were young uns we would watch international games at out local riverside Park that always had a Village atmosphere and players were always available to sign autographs.Crowd involvement is always good humoured and most of all FUN ! One day games especially the 20/20 are exciting and swashbuckling displays of bat versus ball are aplenty.Huge games especially the England v Australia matches ( known as the Ashes) are hugely popular and play could last over a period of 5 days.Families attend these matches and are deemed very safe and crowd friendly.When I attained Australian Citizen and at the inauguration I was asked to support the Australian Cricket teams and of course I did but with my fingers firmly crossed behind my back ! Cricket Season is but a few weeks away and to drive past playing fields abound with young players from the age of 5 to Senior levels is a joy to behold.Ladies have their own professional and amateur teams and are very watchable.I miss the days when my young fella grew up playing at different levels and having fun,maybe today’s footballers should be encouraged to go and watch a game of Cricket and they may just learn a thing or 2 .Roll on those lazy hazy days of Summer and lots of glorious Cricket
Life now and Then
I have just watched a lovely film as seen through the eyes of a young lad at the beginning of world war 2 . He was originally bound for Australia but his mother withdrew the move in a lovely showing of love and not wanting her family to be disbanded. Children saw houses being bombed and yet used the destroyed buildings as their playground of course the consequence of death never entered their minds ( I too thought we were indestructible at their age !) Young girls aged 15 were leaving school ( as did I at just 15 yrs and 2 weeks old) and had boyfriends.The young girls of the day were inventive with their dress styles and wouild even draw lines down the back of their legs to look “cool” ( a word not used in the looking good sense of today) Camaraderie amongst neighbours was great and all people affected by the bombings supported each other in a very caring fashion and all and I mean everyone was patriotic to the core (Something that seems lacking these Pandemic days) I was born in 1945 and the war was almost over,but those early days were among the best of my life,no TV,phones and street games were common due to hardly any cars parked on the roads! I am so glad I lived through those early years when young life was just plain and simply for fun.A good fun part in the movie was all the school kids thanking Adolf as they turned up for school only to find it had been burnt to the ground by the German bombers ! .Depicted in the film was families having Sunday dinner together and sat around the radio listening to entertaining programmes.I could go on for ages BUT I am happy with the memories of my fantastic youth,Peace to you all
Community Radio in Oz
I was listening to the radio station I trained at earlier today in Queensland (FraserCoast fm 107.5) and my mind went back to those early days of the Millenium. Training was funny and my co learner Paul is now Manager of the Station. Our educator Pat was inspirational and occasionally prodded me with an imaginary sharp stick to keep me on track.I had shows over numerous time slots and occasionally did a FOREIGN music show that my German friend Jutta let me do ! Gawd knows why because I can hardly speak English myself!! This show is still going and very popular around the world,it also gave me a chance to research music from around the globe and consequently fell in love with some of the music .My pronunciation of certain songs wasn,t the best,however Jutta asked me several times to cover her show (Such Fun) The Station had plenty of friendly announcers ( sadly NOT all were friendly or helpful,but never a bother to me ) and most volunteered to attend fun raising events,with Bunnings Sausage Sizzle being one of the main stay fund raisers,I also had laughs with members of the public. My own shows consisted of music mainly from the 60/70/80s with the occasional up to date song. Community events are regularly read out and people ringing in for requests was going well.I,m a believer that Community radio is very popular with the senior population. All genres are covered by this station with music played from the early 20s to present date.Country is very popular,requests shows are very popular.Having traveled extensively around Australia I have visited a few radio stations that invariably use the same format with success (so I was informed) Sadly FraserCoast Radio is in Queensland and I absolutely loved that Station but can easily be reached via the Internet. I have worked in W.A at a station and after a while it did ok in the charts having reached number one on the radio charts a couple of times.After a couple of years the style of broadcasting has changed and my style was no longer used during weekdays leaving me no choice but to resign.I am a great believer in that Community Radio goes out to Seniors more than the younger generation although Weekend programmes are really good with some excellent presenters. My time is now taken up with being the Vice President of the Joondalup Probus Club and becoming quite adept at organizing Pub Style quizzes and also currently organizing a BINGO session (that I am really looking forward to doing) SO good people there really is life after retirement
These oh so different times
Last Saturday I was fortunate enough for my family to take me to see a movie and a meal. The area is full of eateries that were well patronized , bars and were full of people enjoying their leisure time. Meals at various places were also very reasonably priced .I am at an age where i don’t give a toss about what food is good or bad for me so I opted for the very fattening, deliciously tasting humble hamburger with chips ( What’s fries?) Entertainment was provided by a not too bad singer/guitarist doing his very best to make people happy .Speakers are placed in all the venues enabling all customers to enjoy the music (I did) The Cinema complex is awesome and I was very impressed with the way the seating is placed to comply with the horrid virus that has spread worldwide i.e. the seating is individualized with adequate spacing between seating with lots of leg room,the movie wasn’t too bad altho I think my youngest grandson was a tad scared of the all conquering King Kong and Godzilla ! Having lots of family over in the UK I am very aware of the different ways of life is now happening between my 2 countries and hopefully everything will return to normal once more in the very near future.This year is not looking good for my what was once regular visit to my home town Blackpool in the UK ,BUT, fingers crossed for 2022 and will probably be my last visit there as sadly my advancing age is not slowing down! Strange how as a young bloke weekends took what seemed a lifetime to arrive,now come around in the blink (seemingly) of an eye Stay safe and stick by the rules,get the jab and hopefully a brighter future is just around the corner
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 