Shhhhh!

[Zondrae]

Now now girls..

If you check, I did say on the cheek. I'm not about to spoil my reputation at this stage of life.

[croc]

So it is that I have a tad of the ‘Oirish’ in me bejaysus so it is; along with der German und der Viking vot iz makink up der bloody lines ob der croc, bejaysus so it is, so it is… to be sure.

Bob Pacy… Thanks old mate, but don’t worry too much about my sleep pattern, it doesn’t exist.

Maureen… I had a good day. I even allowed my self the absolute indulgence of having lunch at the pub. I ate the head barman.

Bill… The only way to keep the devil out mate is to be worse than the bloody devil; that way he won’t want to come anywhere near you, and the good lord doesn’t want the devil’s cast orfs round his campfire so no buggar ‘calls you home’… and you live forever. By the way… the head barman made lovely eating.

Joeleene…
You put me in mind of an avian bird… A Mopoke perhaps… very big eyes and a very small brain. Seek the advice of Glenny. Good luck.

Maureen…
Did you say ‘crocs or ‘crooks’… I look forward to the day they replace the head barman down the pub.

Dave Smith…
‘… lay in the garden’… this party’s getting rough and if you’ll just hand me my pants back I’ll bugger orf home.
Cheers old mate.

To enhance a little on my ‘cleaning up the swamps out west’… to some degree that is right. I saw the floods on t/v just the same as a lot more folk did. It is easy enough to feel ‘armchair’ sympathy with those poor buggars, but it takes more than that to put back to ‘normal’ what nature made very much a mess; in fact it is not much less than devastation in some places, and pretty much devastation in others.

The full magnitude of a flooded regional town can not be assessed on a t/v screen. In order to see the 360 degree picture you have to be there with the smell of mud and raw sewage in your nostrils, and witness the absolute shock horror of seeing people wandering around with no home to go to… houses orf the stumps and up to the windowsills in mud, and the strewn rubbish for literally miles around. I packed all the tools into my caravan and set out west to help all or any, and wound up in Condamine.

I have no intention of getting into any debate about state politics, region council ‘rulings’, defence assistance or the distribution of money… but this I will say; I saw an awful lot of ‘mismanagement’ on behalf of ‘authority’ and to some greater extent, I saw a lot of waste. While the town locals who knew ‘the scene’ did what they could, some groups and organisations did what they thought was best, and it turned out to be an expensive mistake. All in all the town of Condamine is now able to stand at last on it’s own feet again, albeit that in a good few cases people are still homeless and sleeping in tents while the ‘powers that be’ take a long time to come to short decisions. One 84 yr old woman is still in a caravan, after her house was washed clean orf the stumps and still lies on an angle greater than I would care to sleep on, still full of mud with all her possessions covered inside. The council will not condemn it, for if they did they would have to build her a new home, and the insurers will not pay up because she was ‘low set’… and a contractor offered her a quote to raise the place 1.8 mtrs… $35,ooo. A month ago that woman was in a comfortable position … now she is in trauma.

My assistance went on strength and brutality… I cleaned up blocks with the chainsaw and the snig chains, and made repeated trips to take rubbish to the tip after the council declared that there would be no more collections made after the first of Feb. EH??? …are those poor buggars supposed to eat the rubbish or something; not only does it now smell and attract vermin, which it surely did…we had a plague of mice… but how long does a mother have to sit and watch all her children’s clothes and toys stand in a rotting heap on the kerbside. And why is it that the town water pumps are not running to capacity, and further why is it that we can’t yet drink town water, and even worse why is it that if we can’t drink the bloody stuff, why is it that we can’t use it for gurneying the mud orf stuff at least… but no, Condo went on level six water restrictions and we all drank bottled water at some massive expense. Glenny came up in the last week of my stay and together we dragged out logs and folded towels, and on our last night there, Glenny gave a concert for them, and one bloke said to me at the breakfast the next morning… ‘Who’s that sheila there, she was on stage last night telling jokes and she’s bloody alright mate…’

Food hampers were distributed by the hundreds, but again it was of only a small value. The food hampers needed to contain staple foods like sugar, flour, cooking oil, tea and coffee, tins of food and perhaps a packet of lollies for kids and a few biscuits for morning smoko. They contained heaps of noodles, packets of pasta and so many jars of pasta pastes and microwave meals for one that they became of little value to those who needed more than that. How does a woman cook a meal for a family of four out of a packet of pasta and a microwave meal for one.

The devastation to the town united the town. All were now on an even footing and they stood by each other in their times of need doing for each other whatever they could. The strength of the town’s morale was tremendous.
I met and made friends with some wonderful people who I can never forget, and to be sure to be sure I have always got a few tea stops whenever I am in Condamine again. I am now in Theodore doing much the same for the folk who need assistance there. Bless them all and bless the resolve of the flooded communities.

Bill Williams… old mate… buggar the flaming technology. Cat’s whisker radio is the way to go; bring back the hand operated egg beater and the waffle irons for the home made sangers. You can get five miles to a nose-bag of oats for the horse and cart… need I say more Bill…
Go well mate.

Zondrae… I’ll meet you round the back of the bike sheds… tell no buggar.

Dave Smith… you have it in one mate.

Irene… Thanks for the good wishes … see you round the back of the virtual bike sheds.

I am home with Glenny at present; we have a new bathroom suite to put in and it’s all been painted out, then the Merc has to have new suspension bushes all round, if not new suspension, because the roads out west are bloody near undrivable at times. I wonder how much has been earmarked for the rebuilding of the infrastructure… no… I refuse to be drawn into cynicism. (How much the CBD will get when some small prov town wants it’s water supply put right…)

Rest well my friends and I’ll write to the site again… soon.

Go well all…
…croc

[william williams]

May peace be with you mate. And my only wish is that I had wealth to go with my health and I would stand and work beside you and Glenny

best regards William George Williams

[Dave Smith]

Goodonya Croc.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Not all Angels come dressed in white - you are a good man croc

[Zondrae]

And good morning croc.

(I won't call you an Angel - too presumtuous.) I have never experienced a flood. (Thank God) but I know what mud smells and feels like. The closest I have come is being isolated, but not inundated.
As for the bike shed.. well riding a bike (to me) is like swimming - I don't. Therefore I steer clear of the bikeshed too. I labour under the handicap of an unbringing in which I was repeatedly told that almost everything that was fun was "not ladylike". Unfortunately my mother failed in her efforts to "make a lady" of me. I often regret the fun I have missed.. but then if she had been different, I would be too, and I think I'm ok.

croc, if you believe in an after life, you are scoring points that count, if you don't, you are still scoring points in the eyes of your fellow travellers. Another thing my mum told us about was an old Irish idea that everyone has a crown waiting for them in heaven and every good deed will put one more gem in the crown. If this fanciful idea is true, you'll sparkle.