Hi, to begin with I will talk about the past, by which I mean the past that I have experienced, not that one that you may have experienced. I have experienced no end of life, as I have been alive for about 81 years, so I have experienced war, several of them, and peace, many more of them, happily. I have lived in about 10 different countries, and have enjoyed life incredibly, so far!
One thing I have learnt in all of this living, there is no such thing as “my country, right or wrong”. All countries are the same, and all people all over the world are the same, occupied with raising their kids, and possibly doing their work…. So all such things as Flags, and Nationalities are a waste of space.
I have lived, so far, in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia (twice), and England, so I reckon that I speak from experience.
All I want to say, is that I firmly believe that all life is the same, and such things as nationalities are absurd, and National Anthems are totally idiotic – apart from ones that are good, musically. Most are pompous and silly songs praising a land, which is identical to another land. And a waste of space. I have two flags at home, one the Angolan Flag, and the other is the Chinese one… Not because I love those two countries but because I enjoyed living there, and had fun living in those two countries…. I also enjoyed my time in Holland, France, England, Australia, Singapore and all the other countries I have lived in – basically I have enjoyed my life and whichever country I was living in at the time. All of them!
Anyhow, that is my view of the world, accept it or not, who cares………….
Here you will find a number of images that will appeal to you – at least, I hope so!
They are a collection of strange and weird images that should spark a creative stream in you……. Gathered from the internet from a number of places, these photos should spark a creative spark in you…. Well, at least they did for me.
So, here are these photos, and I hope that you will be able to use them in some way.
Strange men on street……
Strange man.
What a HUGE beard, and I know what I am talking about…. I have a beard.
Strange young man
What can I say about this?
Anyway, here are a collection of very strange images for you to play with.
For a long time, in my past, I made models as a freelancer for museums and occasionally for architects – though I didn’t like working for architects, as they were always in a hurry for the model, and not in a hurry to pay!
In total I worked for about 20 years making models, and enjoyed myself really well. In that time I made all sorts of models, including a Lego one! I really enjoyed myself with that, and I had real pleasure buying the lego to make it… Especially the face of a kid while I was doing that…. He was so jealous!
It was a model of how a windmill worked, as a sawmill, sadly I don’t have any photos of it, as it was an exceptional model – but I remember it with affection.
I do however, have other photos from that time, some of which I will bung into this blog, so you can see them., mostly models I made for Natuurmonumenten, who were an organisation that were busy with nature reserves and visitor’s centres, who I made many models for.
So, here are these………
I also made models for zoos, especially one that showed the uses- and misuses – of the Amazon basin. It had rain, flowing rivers, trucks driving along its roads and so on…. It was a really lively model. I will post some photos of it here…….
I also made an interactive model of a convoy for the scheepsvaart museum (nautical museum in Amsterdam), which had all manner of special effects built into it – it was controlled by an Amiga 500!
Other than that, I simply made models for all manner of organisations, which I will show you (with loads of photos…….)
A couple of years ago, my son contacted a guy who had a huge collection of tanks and armoured cars, and similar war-like machines, and arranged for me to spend a day there…… It was my birthday present!
So, we all went there, just south of Brisbane, and had a really good day with tanks and similar….
To start with, we explored the vehicles he had in a shed…. A vast number of military types of machines, ranging from motorbikes through to tanks and armoured personnel carriers, it was amazing such a collection!
To give you an idea of the scope of this collection!Us sitting happily in a troop carrierUs in a troop carrierMe overwhelmed by all of these tanks!My two grandsons happily sitting in a military jeepJake, My son, admiring an armoured car!Jake, being overwhelmed by a tankAn obvious point!Us admiring a bren gun carrierAnd to finish it off….. a real tank ride!!!!! We are in the turret, my grandkids and me.
All in all, a real day to remember, and that will certainly be the case!! I was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of the tanks and other armoured vehicles and the fact that my son found that collection of armoured vehicles for us to visit. And that we got to ride in a real tank!!!! Such a treat! A real day to remember.
I used to work in the Roundhouse in London, way back in the ’60’s of the last century (boy that makes me sound ancient!!!), and upon arriving in Brisbane I found work as a volunteer at the Brisbane Roundhouse, as an usher, rather than as a Production Manager (which was what I did at the Roundhouse in London (see other posts in this blog and my other blog, https://28061942.blogspot.com/).
It was amazing being back in another Roundhouse, and it was a great relief not to have the responsibility of being in charge, as I had been all my life – in the various things I did in my life – but simply just to turn up for work at the beginning of my shift, and then to stay until the end of my shift…… Easy really.
And not to have to rebuild the theatre when a new show came in, as we did in the London Roundhouse, simply think if it was in the round, or in a classical theatre thrust configuration. Actually, we ushers didn’t bother about that, we simply found it when we had our first shift – Stage hands built the scenery and configured the theatre each time…. We simply turned up and discovered what was what.
What was amazing about La Boite was that it was an experimental theatre, so shows that we put on there were more or less experimental, some more than others. Also, they held the annual Student Theatre shows there, which were interesting, but not necessarily good…… Student theatre is a big thing in Australian universities and much encouraged, but not necessarily good.
I worked in La Boite for about 6 years, and saw many interesting shows there, and then one day, we were all invited to a show, and we were fired! It seemed that they were in difficulties over the insurance which had to be paid for us all and so they had decided to get shot of us all……… Sad, but realistic.
Since I wrote the first part of this post, I have rather reduced my involvement in all such festivals….. We were all fired one day from La Boite, sadly….. Apparently it was a matter of insurance – It was cheaper to pay people than volunteers. Odd………..
So, I no longer work at La Boite, I have also given up working at the French Festival, as I felt that it was too commercial for volunteers to be involved in. It was a mess of commercial companies all trying to sell their (French) products.
The Science Festival I have also given up, as I was bored with it.
But the Writers Festival is still on! I love it, and I love working with it. Last year and this year I worked in the Aboriginal Room, so lots of Torres Straights and Aboriginal people were present… Mildly depressing as they have been treated dreadfully by the white people here, but still intriguing.
While we were living in Beijing, our son approached us with the suggestion that we should build a house with him in Australia – where he was living at the time with his – then- wife. We had intended to retire to France where we could afford to buy a house, in rural France of course.
Our house, as it was actually built!
But we had realised that should he settle in Australia, and we would then be unable to see him apart from brief visits every so aften – we anticipated that our pensions wouldnt allow us to really visit him in Oz. So this seemed like a really good suggestion.
So we made a change in our plans, so no more rural France, but rural Australia instead.
Somehow we couldn’t get our heads around the idea of planning the house, or where it might go. We knew that it would be outside Brisbane, as our son and his wife had settled down there and made a start in getting life organised there. But we knew that it wouldn’t be inside Brisbane, but in one of the country villages that were all around Brisbane.
My son and his wife settled on Samford as a start, we of course, had no idea about this, and felt that one village was as good as another.
The planning phase was gone into in our last period in Beijing, and our first phase of our work in the Philippines, which to be honest we were not too involved in. But happily Jake and Caroline (his wife) were more than happy to busy themselves with. So they rented themselves a house in Fig Tree Pocket (an unlikely named suburb of Brisbane) and lived there happily while they tried to buy a property outside Samford.
This proved to be rather hard, as all the flat properties were much more than we could afford, so it was a case of buying an almost verticle chunk of land. Which they finally did, on top of a hill about half way between Samford village and a place called Dayboro.
This property was part of a Nature Corridor, which meant that we wouldn’t be able to clear all the trees as they were protected for koalas – which was fine with us. So all the tree felling was restricted to the actual site of the house, plus about 20 meters all around the house.
So, that was a commitment……. We had a chunk of Australia to our names, and we now had to think of the house, what sort it would be, and how it would be built.
So, a kit house seemed like a good plan to us all, so we found a place near Sydney that made such kits, and our son and Caroline went ahead and ordered a long single room wide house. We would have the section to the East and they would have the section to the West, a much bigger section, as they were already breeding and needed room for a number of kids.
In another installement I will descibe the whole dreadful experience of building a house, anywhere, not just in Australia………….
Well, I have been silent for ages, chiefly because of Covid to be honest – Having been repeatedly in lock-down I haven’t really felt like writing anything much, as you may have noticed! But now I have come out of the other side of the whole sorry mess, and feel the creative urge again, so I shall write a post to celebrate “coming out of the other side” as one does!
So, what shall I write about? That is the burning question of the moment! And to which I shall have to spend some time contemplating so I shall stop writing just now and go and have a beer in the hope that Inspiration Will Strike.
Well on the point of National Anthems, both good and bad, I have recently heard what has to be the most amazing song that should be Australia’s National Anthem, rather than the dreary dirge that is actually Australia’s Anthem.
The words of this song, recognise that Australians come from all over the world, and also, in the first verse, recognise that the aboriginese were here first, a long time ago!!!
All the verses deal with one group of people who are Australians now, and also recognises in the chorus that Australians are made up of loads of nationalities – in the words of the song:-
“We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice I am, you are, we are Australian”
This beautifully sums up how Australia is now, an amazing mix of races and nationalities, the whole world is represented in Australian culture now – even if a lot of British descendents feel that this is all wrong – rascists in other words. Like everywhere in the world, Australia has it share of rascists, sadly. But Australia is an amazing mix of nationalities, Asians, European, African, South Americans and so on.
Each verse of this song recognises a group who have created the Australia that now exists, from the infamous Ned Kelly through to Aboriginese via farmers and so on…. All the groups who have created the Australia we know today.
So, here are the words of this wonderful song, which definetly should be the Australian National Anthem, I shall bung the real one in later so that you can see how banal and dull it is.
‘I am Australian’ Song Lyrics
I came from the dream-time From the dusty red-soil plains I am the ancient heart The keeper of the flame I stood upon the rocky shores I watched the tall ships come For forty thousand years I’ve been The first Australian
I’m the daughter of a digger Who sought the mother lode The girl became a woman On the long and dusty road I’m a child of the Depression I saw the good times come I’m a bushie, I’m a battler I am Australian
We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice I am, you are, we are Australian
I’m a teller of stories I’m a singer of songs I am Albert Namatjira And I paint the ghostly gums I’m Clancy on his horse I’m Ned Kelly on the run I’m the one who waltzed Matilda
I am Australian We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice I am, you are, we are Australian
We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice I am, you are, we are Australian I am, you are, we are Australian
And now here are a couple of versions of this song, the first one being a version sung in one of the aboriginal language………
And now the version sung by the Seekers, who wrote this amazing song.
And now, to show you what I mean about the current Australian National , Anthem, here is the “real thing”. This is to show you how awful the “real” thing is…………..
The Chinese have much the same approach to queuing as the French, they line up obediently until the bus arrives, or the door opens, or whatever it is they are waiting in line for, and then it is suddenly survival of the fittest, and the whole point of queuing becomes lost in a struggle to the death.
Well, everyday I had to catch a bus to get to the place where the school’s bus picked me up and the daily experience of this “queuing” was a deeply depressing experience for me as a Good Englishman. It led to my actually punching a couple of guys on one memorable occasion, not something I am prone to do by any means, but on this day I hauled off and really clobbered a couple of guys.
The situation was that the bus had arrived, and as normal, all hell broke out and everyone did their darnedest to get onto the bus, but this time there was a mother and her small kid also trying to get onto the bus, and the kid was forced off the bus whilst his mother managed to get on the bus, and I saw that the kid had no chance of getting onto the bus, nor his mum a chance to get off the bus to join him. So I tried to help the kid get back onto the bus, but a couple of young men wouldn’t make way for this to happen and simply trampled the kid into the ground, literally! So I tried to make them aware of what was happening to the kid, but they didn’t give a damn and carried on trying to clamber over the kid to get in the bus. So I felt that this was not tolerable, and simply hauled off and gave them both a good punch in the face, and made it obvious that I was prepared to go even further. They were both really surprised at my actions, and I simply grabbed both of them by their collars and yanked them off the bus, and then stood in the entrance of the bus making it obvious that I would clobber anyone who tried to get into the bus until the kid had managed to get on the bus and joined his mum. Which he did, whereupon I simply went to my seat and let anyone on who wanted to get on…….. Curiously enough, there was no reaction to my hitting those two guys, every one simply got onto the bus and that was that.
On another occasion in the bus to work, there had been a horrible earthquake in the south of the country, and the government announced that there would be a 2 minute silence for the victims of the earthquake, and to my amazement all traffic suddenly stopped, including my bus, everyone went silent and the two minute silence was observed. An amazing experience.
Another odd thing about public buses in Beijing, and probably in all cites, was the fact that all the busses had colour TVs in them, several of the things hanging from the ceiling, all tuned to the main news channel, so one could see the news on one’s way to work. Quite fun really.
Ah, memories, memories….. I had a really good time (generally) whilst living in Beijing. I suspect I shall write more about the oddities of living in Beijing soon…
Between about 2006 and 2009 we lived and worked in Beijing, Lotty in one International School (Beijing City International School) and I in the Western Academy Beijing (WAB). I was employed as what they called their Production Engineer, which effectively was the equivalent of what I used to do at the Roundhouse in London, in other words, I functioned as their Production Manager, being responsible for the sound and lighting crew of the school. As we had something like 7 venues to deal with, and as they tended to start each morning at about 8 am and finish some time in the evening – with rock concerts, classical concerts, film shows or whatever, we tended to work for about 70 hours a week.
I had a number of Chinese guys working with me, so I found it relatively easy to learn Mandarin (the Chinese dialect spoken in Beijing, and thus the official language of China), except that it is a tonal language, and the tone used can change the meaning of a word totally – for example, the word “Mar”, can mean the following:- Horse, Wife, Arrow and who knows what more? So if you happen to get the tone wrong, you could be saying something like, “I shot my wife at a straw target”, or “I would like to introduce you to my arrow”. When the Chinese use their tones, it is very subtle, and hardly noticeable, but for us Long Noses (Western foreigners) it is extremely tricky! Which makes a language that on the face of it is very simple and logical, incredibly hard to use properly, so I spent my entire time making that sort of mistake – oh well……
While we were living there, the number of cars increased exponentially. When we got there, most people still used bicycles, but by the time we left, every week another 10 000 cars were registered in Beijing alone! This, of course, caused huge traffic jams, sometimes they were up to 100 km long!!!!
Also, the Chinese hadn’t grown up with cars, the way we in the west had done, so they did the most extraordinary things when in cars, or even when simply crossing the road. For example, when driving on a motorway, if they happened to miss their turning, they were perfectly happy to turn around, and drive against the other traffic until they got to their turning, and then leave the motorway. I have seen the crew of a police car happily having a picnic on the hard shoulder of a motor way, and I have also seen a shepherd happily putting his herd of sheep across a motorway – altogether extraordinary!
Also, in all the cities, the two opposing lanes of the roads have large, and very secure, fences on them, to stop people crossing the road anywhere but at the places intended for them to cross – this because people tended to simply wander across the roads anywhere they happened to be – the results of many, many years of only bikes on the roads.
Another hang-over from the days of no cars (for the ordinary people), when an official is being driven somewhere, they have a total right of way, so all other vehicles have to give way to them and their hugely important passenger(s), and the military have even more right of way than the politicians – so if you happen to be driving in Beijing, watch out for large cars with special number plates, they have, and will take, an absolute right of way!
In another post, I shall dwell on yet more curiosities of life in Beijing – a city that I truly enjoyed living in.
OZTHOUGHTS 