So what have we been up to since the old site shut down?

Well I suppose the biggest event recently was young Bethy becoming a teenager. Had to happen sometime I suppose, but by Christ it makes me feel old. We had a small family do for her, and between us we got her a new computer, computer desk and a few fripperies.

 Unfortunately, due to illness, Bethy wasn’t up to taking part in the Canberra basketball trials, so she’s not in the team this year. Never mind, there’s always next year.

 I took the mother in law to see India play Sri Lanka at Manuka oval, our city cricket pitch. Great match, though the Sri Lankan’s did dominate.

Images from the match in our gallery.

Despite there being a large contingent of Tamils, identifiable by their “Free Tamil” bright red t-shirts, and there being fierce rivalry, and of course political bloodshed, between the Sri Lankan’s and the Tamils, I’ve never been at a more fun game. The number of mates wearing opposite teams shirts, India’s and Sri Lanka’s, sat watching the match together was very heartening.

The Lankan and Indian totty on view was rather eye opening. But not as eye opening as the two guys dressed up, and wigged, to look like Ritchie Benaud, who were doing fake interviews with people in the crowd.

Funnily enough, and for a change, it only pissed down with rain during the interval.

 Great match and we got to see some of the Indian players who were to go on and demolish Aus in the series. Also it was Murilie’s last series, so I got to see him bowl before he retired.

 I was lucky enough to catch Leo Kottke at Canberra Theatre recently. Words cannot pay justice to his virtuosity, nor his ability as a raconteur.His playing, and I last saw him nearly thirty years ago, is still astonishing. The Lee-Anne, who hadn’t heard him, or heard of him even, before seeing him, was enthralled. Close your eyes and you’d be damned if you thought that one man could produce such rich melody and density of sound from a guitar, surely there must be another two people playing behind the curtain?

 

Katie Noonan and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.The divine Katie Noonan sings English songs from Dowland to The Beatles.

Program to be selected from songs by Radiohead, Massive Attack, Sting, David Bowie, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Nick Drake, Purcell, Britten, Holst and Tavener. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’. ELGAR Introduction and Allegro

Richard Tognetti Artistic Director/Lead Violin

Venue: Canberra Theatre

 

 

 

”Noonan’s lyrical singing captures the magic that exists when music illuminates text, bringing us joy, grief, pleasure and pain. Then, revel in the warmth and sweetness of the ACO strings in two stirring English masterpieces.”

 

Me, Bethy and Glenn also went to see the “Crusty Demons” at the local rugby ground. We nearly didn’t get there, as my car blew up a mile from the ground. We walked.

Marvellous stunt show. The “demons” are all professional stunt and acrobatic motorbike riders, and we were lucky enough to have front row seats. My god the buggers get high now. Looping the loop on a bike is now classed as a warm up. And getting off mid flight, while looping the loop, and then hanging off the rear mudguard, is standard fare.

One near fatality on the night, a guy attempting a double back-flip on a bike. His first attempt he crashed off the end of the ramp. After the paramedics sorted him out, he kicked the front wheel of his bike back into shape (!) and had another go. This attempt he landed square on the flat top of the ramp, from 65 feet in the air. Ambulanced away.

The other day my boss came up to me and said: “Taff, you’re allowed to build up 40 hours flex time you know?” (We get a day flex for every fortnight of shifts we work, which is rather nice.) “Aye”, I replied. “Well according to my logs, you’ve built up 75 hours.”

Suits me. We’ve got Janet and Howard from Sennen coming over in the next fortnight, and my two young relations (don’t ask, I haven’t a clue what relation they are to me,) coming over at the end of the month. So I’ll use a batch of flex time up, and not need to dig into my holiday allowance then.

Our old Ford bit the dust not so long back, and I was very sad about that. But I’m on the lookout for a new car, so that’s fun.

Pain…

For a while Lee-Anne has had difficulty getting to her gym classes, due to work commitments and transporting Bethy to basketball, scouts, athletics etc in the evenings. She’s missed it a great deal. So we came up with a cunning plan.For the last fortnight we’ve been getting up each day at 5.30 am, yes that’s 5.30 in the morning, and going to the gym by 6.00 am. We do an hour there, her in her class, me on the weights, and get back home in time to get Bethy ready for school.

But for a while now Lee-Anne has been telling me that I don’t do a full body work out, and that I neglect the exercises I don’t like, and that I do a little aerobics work apart from my 15 minutes on the bike for warm up and cool down. She’s right. I hate doing leg work, and don’t like doing sweaty puffy stuff, so I don’t. This is partially the reason I’m such an odd bloody shape. Oh, and the amount of walking I do guarantees I have no buttocks whatsoever, making me look like something out of an Esher cartoon.

So I finally relented, and went along to one of her pump classes one morning.

And I nearly fucking died.

The class was taken by a very fit woman of indeterminate age, who turned into Joseph Mengele whenever the music started. I exercised muscles I didn’t know I had, I sweated like a pig, and at the end I had to be helped down the stairs to get out. I spent half my time facing the wrong direction, shoving when I should have been pulling, dropping when I should have been lifting. My calves felt like someone had poured lava over them, and my triceps have seized up. At the end of the class I was shaking like Mohammad Ali playing buckaroo.

That morning at work I was thinking of taking a few Cogentin for my Parkinsonian tremor. People at work were casting aspersions as to me drinking habits. Wankers.

Anyway, I’ve been a few times now, and was just about getting the hang of it, when…

The other day a new bit of aerobic totty was taking the class. Our normal instructor is a rather chunky lass, who is all smiles and good cheer. This new one was a skinny little slip of a thing, who arrived five minutes late, with a “Morning everyone”, which sounded rather like “I got up late, I’ve not had a coffee and I’m going to make you buggers suffer for it.”

“Well she’s only a scrawny wisp of a thing,” I thought, “so this should be a doddle….

So ok, that’s the first of the news reports for the new site, I hope you enjoyed. Feed back welcomed on this “blogsite” or by e-mail.

(A signed limited edition print of one of my photographs to the first person from the UK or the US to e-mail me at fatbeetle@fatbeetle.com, with the title “no thanks you keep the bloody thing.”)