Despite there being so much dreadful you know where…
February blog stats
2024 was pretty good for February. Last year boomed because the series on the Voice Referendum began that month, attracting a lot of like-minded friends.
Yesterday’s adventures in The Gong — a very hot day
As this from West Wollongong 3.30 that afternoon, or thereabouts, does not quite indicate. I can’t actually tell you the temperature in West Wollongong as there is no official measure, the nearest weather station being several kilometres away and nearer the sea.
On the way home from The Gong earlier I dropped into BWS in Burelli Street and grabbed a couple of bargains, a fact I recorded on Facebook with a note saying the electronic notice board outside the Little Flower Church in West Wollongong was at around 1 pm showing 30C as the temperature. Clearly not an infallible pronouncement, despite being a Catholic Church, but to this 80-year-old crossing Mount Keira Road it certainly felt true!
That Riverside Landing Shiraz is a nice one, especially at $5.00. The FB post generated a quite bizarre thread, which I subsequently hid, impugning my integrity because I had seemingly endorsed the Catholic interpretation of the temperature, and furthermore had in the past been guilty of misrepresenting the temperature in West Wollongong. I do plead guilty to having on occasion confused the forecast temperatures on the BOM app with the actual. But then it seems the reality is no-one ever knows the temperature in West Wollongong, as I said above. Unless of course they have a home thermometer — if they are sure they can trust it….
I guess the implication had been that if I “lied” about the temperature in West Wollongong then how could I be trusted on Palestine or Gaza? You work that out…. I thought I was writing a light-hearted post about my shopping!
Meanwhile the Bistro at City Diggers was buzzing at lunchtime.
That baby was taking everything in! I don’t think I have ever seen a baby so clearly scoping the world around! Only 80 years younger than me… I wonder what the world will be like when that baby is 80! Here am I looking at someone who may well be alive in the 22nd century! Now that really should make us all think!
No, I did not have barramundi. I opted for a smaller meal and the duck spring rolls were just right.
On the way to Diggers I had gone to Wollongong City Library to return some slightly overdue books and pick up new ones to read over the next three weeks. Random picks that turn out to be good ones. More on them later, Inshallah.
Following a meeting at the Clifton Hotel, a well-known gathering place for Kooris in Redfern in the 1960s & 70s, the Koorie United committee proposed holding a statewide Knockout competition. Prior to this there had been many town-based knockout football and basketball competitions. However, the establishment of the Knockout set out with some different objectives. Bob Morgan says:
Our concept at the time was to also have a game where people who had difficulty breaking into the big time would be on show. They could put their skills on show and the talent scouts would come and check them out.
The Knockout was formed with a view to providing a stage for the many talented Aboriginal footballers playing at the time who had been overlooked by the talent scouts. Although there were some notable exceptions, like Bruce (La Pa) Stewart playing on the wing for Easts and field goal specialist, Eric Simms, with South Sydney, Aboriginal footballers experienced difficulty breaking into the big time. It was thought the Knockout would provide a chance for Aboriginal footballers to get noticed, where for reasons of racism and lack of country-based recruitment they were overlooked. There was also some talk of entering an all-Aboriginal side in the National Rugby League competition. But the instigation of the Knockout was intended to be far more than sporting competition, as original committee member Bob Morgan said:
The Knockout was never simply about football, it was about family, it was about community, it was getting people to come together and enjoy and celebrate things rather than win the competition football.
#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful - for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
All abandoned: Chernobyl / Pripyat, Nara Dreamland, Anti-Zombie Fortress, Japanese Sex Museum - and many, many more! Plus: North Korea Special - 2 trips, 16 days / 14 nights! As seen on CNN...
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