A Catholic Wedding.

I was at a wedding recently and was not only impressed by the ceremony but also by the multicultured nature of the ceremony. The groom was originally from Uruguay, the bride from Australia and I believe her family were from Wales. The priests were from Vietnam and Ghana as perhaps can be seen from the small photograph. Small here because of confidentiality! I read some prayers and as you might know I am originally from Ireland. I was aided my a lecturer who was originally from (in his words) Persia. I think in modern terms he was from Iran. At the reception they had relatives from England, friends from Thailand ( I pretended I was from T'ireland .... well it was quite a few toasts later!) I love meeting people from other countries especially when we all get on so well. Yes the Thai people DID have an Irish sense of humo(u)r OR they were very patient listeners. As the song goes "I am, your are, we are AUSTRALIANS.

A Strange Gig

When I was told a few days before the actual gig to sing a few songs other than my usual Irish repertoire, I did not realise the audience was going to be different. They all had Huntington's disease.

Huntington's Disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that causes certain nerve cells in the brain to waste away. As a result, a sufferer may experience uncontrolled movements, emotional disturbances and mental deterioration.
More information and support is available from
Australian Huntington's Disease Association (NSW) Inc. [Australian Huntington's Disease Association (NSW) Inc.].

Of course it turned out to be a good concert for all of us. They accepted my "new" songs about Barack Obama being Irish, " oh Lord it's so hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way", "Underneath a Scotsman Kilt" and an appalling song namely "If my nose was running money I'd blow it all on you".
I overcame some apprehension to play five songs with a backing I had recorded on the keyboard. "Grandma's Feather bed", "Hotel California", "Brown-Eyed Girl", a Beatles Medley and "Would You Like to Swing on a Star". I included two original songs about the Bali Bombing and 9/11 and ended with an average version of "King of the Road". I think they enjoyed it! One or two were even able to catch on to the rhythms. I am not sure whether they wanted encores or not but I did three (as the careers turned up late and it seemed the right thing to do).

If you are a little bit down, remember ALL the parts of you that are going well.

Victorian Fire Disaster Feb 2009

Twenty five years ago I was doing a gig in Sydney when the house next to the pub went up in flames. The speed of the fire, the sound of the flames and the immense heat generated was most terrifying. Nothing to what is happening in Victoria at present. To lose your life in this way could not be described accurately. To lose your possessions or be burned must be truly horrific. Over one hundred people have been killed; much worse than the Bali Bombs. (see my blog a few below "Closer to Home". We have to do more than give the survivors our sympathy. We will all have to act to help them.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1878114,00.html

Remembering items.

As I was leaving the tennis club yesterday, I had trouble with all the things I had to remember. When my Grannie was alive 50 years ago, she had two things she did not like to forget. Her glasses and her walking stick in that order! That number has increased significantly over the years. Besides the obvious items like sneakers, racquet, racquet cover, clothes, towel etc. you now have to remember keys, mobile phone, ipod, wallet, card holder, sun glasses, water bottle, sun screen lotion, hair brush and in my case my photographic equipment. As I am the web master for the club, I need the camera nearly every time I go there. Murphy's Law is quite applicable here. If I forget to bring it; sure enough someone or something demands a picture. My daughter turned up yesterday with a $900 mobile complete with some sort of bluetooth box for the car. (My phone was $90 and it performs many more functions than I require). I wonder what you can do with a $900 phone? Perhaps send an f mail to Outer Mongolia. I can only look foward with amazement and anticipation for the gadgets of 2020.

Fireworks to Food

I wonder how many of you out there agree with me when I say I cannot quite see the value of spending thousands of dollars on fireworks when we could spend it on something more useful like food. We have Australia Day here on Jan 26th ( see old blog from last year below). All the capital cities have very large firework displays which lasts about twenty minutes. Of course it may be seen by some to be quite spectacular and I suppose lots of the kids enjoy it but I think we could use this money more wisely on other things. Perhaps each city in turn could have a different show and donate the money to a better cause. Maybe I am just being naive on this point but most of these shows look very similar to me and once I had experienced one show, I was more than happy not to repeat the event.

Many of my friends do not give generously to charities any longer as they believe ( rightly or wrongly) that their donations do not go to the right people.

But surely a government could sort this one out. Has our society changed that much or were we always like this?

Sport in Australia

Now that the Australia Tennis Open is running in Melbourne, I thought it appropriate to state how lucky we are in Australia when we consider sport. Last year I was able to play tennis three times a week at a beautiful club near the sea. http://www.northbeachtennisclub.com.au/

I was also lucky enough to play golf at another great club. http://www.wgc.net.au/security/login.msp

A few years ago I played both soccer and basketball. The facilities were top notch at both the venues.

Of course Australia is a very large island which gives us a great variety of beaches.

The temperature today (Jan 21st ) is a pleasant 30 degrees C which occasionally becomes a little uncomfortable when it reaches 40 C. So as Australia Day approaches (Jan 26th) it is time to reflect on just how fortunate we all are in this splendid island with its superb facilities.

Tune of Song:"Closer to Home"

The video below is a shortened form ( verse 2 only) of a song I wrote after the Bali bombing in 2002. I blogged this before (see older blogs 4 pages below 21st Nov 2007) but Lettie asked me for the tune and this was the easiest way to go.

If you are interested in more details you might like to look at the following site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,811178,00.html