Well y'all will have to take pot luck on this page of ramblings, I didn't make notes this month (grrrr) so I've no idea what's going to pop into my tiny mind *S*

Those of you who frequent my Journal might have noticed I got bored with the last web set.... so made a new one, still using Diddls. Hey, he looks just like I feel... pooped!

Now... let's see... did anything interesting happen in my mundane life this month?????

Oh yes... got my car serviced. ".. so what! Big deal... can't she come up with something more interesting????" I hear you say. Well actually the service was OK but I was told I'd have to get at least 2 new tyres... OK... tomorrow.... (Of course I forgot all about them).

I'd just had the new garage finished the same week as the car service and I had to hire a fridge trolley for the weekend so I could move the old kitchen cupboards into it... and some other heavy stuff. THAT was MORE important than tyres!!! The guy managed to get it in my boot (trunk) and tie the lid down with a strap. I had to get it out of the boot (BY MYSELF) before picking up Jared from school. This thing weighed 10 TON!!! I struggled for 10 minutes before it was out. You know, there really are times when one needs a man around *S*

Came Saturday... had to go to Soccer first... EARLY!! Freezing!!! They played like a bunch of fairies! LOL!! Lost of course 3 -0!!! Picked up groceries on the way home after our ritual Saturday coffee. By the time Jason came to collect Jared it was 3pm! Naturally HE wouldn't offer to help! So once they left I moved everything except the old pantry... just couldn't balance it. Worn out... everything ached and I was sobbing.

Sunday, slept in till 9am.. had to roll out of bed... picked up the papers, had breakfast, waited and waited and waited for Jason to collect Jared. Jared decided to help me in the meantime and he did a great job. When his father finally turned up, told him I couldn't move the pantry... it fell on deaf ears. Why do we have kids anyway???? I thought it was so they could help out with stuff like this without being pressured ..LOL!! Lord, which mushroom did I come out from???? I finally nailed him (when he brought Jared back) into moving the sucker for me.

By Sunday night I looked and felt like the "Diddl" on the left of this page. So come Monday I left early with Jared for school and with (don't ask me how) the trolley in the boot so we could take that back first. NOW this is where the tyres come BACK into the picture. Fortunately I didn't have to go far with the trolley BECAUSE I could hear this "flap...flap... flap..." I thought S@&*!!.. what's that???? Then the penny dropped, like a lead balloon... a blasted FLAT and I'd driven all the way on the rim!!

Didn't someone tell me 4 days ago to get new tyres?!! Well, I couldn't stop on the main road so I drove into the hire place, ( why is it that you think it won't harm the rims as much if you drive gently???) played dumb and sorry for myself, looked like I was going to burst into tears ( I was ) and the guy kindly changed it for me. So, you see ... chivalry ain't quite dead yet. We still got Jared to school with lots of time to spare too. (He was disappointed...)

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Now, I suppose you all think Australia is totally inhumane as far as these refugees on the Norwegian freighter the Tampa are concerned. Well, for the first time since I can ever remember I am backing our Federal Government. Can you believe that?????

What you have to first understand is.... these 'refugees' are arriving by the boatload every few days, this is the 54th boat this year! I think there were 78 last year (according to the radio broadcasts about the situation). Now, it seems that over 4,800 of the 'refugees' last year were not actually refugees BUT illegal immigrants trying to come in the "back door". So far this year we have about the same amount of ILLEGALS in less boats and there are more on the way.

What you then have to understand is... this country (about the same size in area as the United States, which has a population of around 398 million) has a total population of approximately 20 million. In other words this entire area doesn't even have twice the population of New York (which I believe has 12 million citizens). A percentage (I'm not sure of the exact figures... but it doesn't matter) of this 20 million... are children, another percentage are senior citizens, then there's the unemployed (about 10%.. I believe), our homeless, those on the poverty line, and what is left is a percentage who are working taxpayers. who support all the others mentioned.

Australia's intake of refugees is the second largest in the world per capita. We take in 41 refugees per 1000 capita running second only to Canada who take in 45 per capita. I understand the figure per capita for the USA is in the vicinity of 12. SO I don't think we do too badly in the HUMANE stakes.

Consider this....

It costs us $100 per day per "refugee". Lets say we have 10,000 refugees... that's $1,000,000 per day or $365,000,000 per year! For a country that is only 10% Australian owned this is a HUGE hole in our finances. 90% of business in this country is foreign owned!! So the money doesn't stay here. We just plain CAN'T AFFORD THIS!!!

We had the Federal Minister of Police on the radio today advising that this PEOPLE SMUGGLING is a billion dollar industry! If it was heroine that was being smuggled the smugglers would have to ensure they had an outlet at this end to sell the heroin. BUT since it's people they are smuggling instead and up to now these people haven't been turned away they don't have to worry about what happens at this end. All they have to do is "deliver the goods" and they still have a billion dollar industry. He said we have to get the message across to these smugglers that we are not an easy mark any longer.

If they were all GENUINE refugees then this would be a different matter. If these people (not refugees) have a genuine case for leaving their country THEN they should apply for admittance into this country through legal channels for consideration. They can afford to pay thousands of dollars to the smugglers then they deserve the consequences and THEY ... NOT US....are making things tough for the GENUINE refugees...

Also the Tampa was on it's way to Indonesia when they picked up these people. The captain should have continued on his course! He was not in Australian waters. I believe he was threatened by the "boat people" and told to head for Christmas Island (Australian territory). I cannot blame him for that BUT he should have taken them to the nearest port, which would have been in Indonesia.

I don't think our reputation is smeared when you consider that Hong Kong jailed Vietnamese refugees for 10 years and then sent them back to Vietnam anyway. The United States, I believe, turned fire hoses on "boat people" from Cuba knocking them into the ocean.

We have to make a stand now to let these smugglers know that we won't be walked over any more. They're making money from these operations and we're losing money. Not only that, these people come here, and complain consistently about the conditions! They make demands and expect them fulfilled. They cause trouble. Weeks ago 42 of them escaped from one detention centre and have not yet been found. They are living in similar conditions we (my family) did as migrants when we came here 44 years ago. It wasn't so tough! The only difference is that they are fenced in... we weren't.

This government is talking about building more detention centres around the country to house these people. Give me a break! They wouldn't do that for OUR homeless, why do it for foreigners! When I talk about "detention centres" I'm not talking along the lines of a jail either! They are modern facilities with supposedly high security.

Lord, the government has even allowed some of them to live out in the community, have provided them with free homes, giving in to their demands.

What happened to the old adage "CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME"?

I'm not saying any more on the subject.

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I went to a book launch last week. Yes.... Jamie actually got out at night! Jason came over and babysat Jared even though he had to be at work at 3am the next morning. A friend had written a book a few years ago and with perseverance finally got it published. I believe it will end up a trilogy and there's rumours.. eventually a film.

What's so special about this book????? The author is illiterate!

His inability to read or write is through no fault of his own, it was due to illnesses as a child. It was predicted he'd be dead by the time he was 12!

My friends' name is Ken Hall and the book is titled "What Next You Bastard". My mother got to read it before a teacher helped him out with the grammar etc and long before a lady called Monika McFerran worked for 2 years with Ken on it. We got it in a foolscap binder all loose leaf and my mother couldn't put it down until she had finished it.

This is from a newspaper article....

"Ken Hall has one message: he is illiterate, not an idiot.

But because he cannot read or write has found himself on the outer most of his life.

He has had some remarkable jobs. He could build you a house. He could pull your car's motor apart and put it back together again and not have any spares left over. However, because he could not read or write, society did not want him.

The book is a gripping read. Once you start, it is hard to put it down because it is fun. Reading about his life is a scream. It reads like the script from a comedy and you would expect John Cleese or Rowan Atkinson to make an appearance any moment.

Ken Hall started life with a small problem: "I was born without tonsils or adenoids, which meant my body couldn't fight infections I kept getting. Every germ that came along I caught. But that was not all. Somewhere along the line I picked up a weak heart. It was nothing new for me to spray blood from my nostrils like a human sprinkler, or to keel over at the drop of a hat, all without warning."

His health deteriorated to a point where he was sent to a hospital, supposedly terminally ill. After a year in hospital the doctors reluctantly let him out with a warning to take it easy and look after himself. This was advice he somehow seemed to ignore.

But the illnesses had left their mark. As an eight year old he had died on the operating table. Although he was revived, the lack of oxygen to his brain had taken away his short term memory. That problem coupled with missing heaps of school, meant he could not read or write.

In Australia in the 1960s, work was seemingly easy to come by. But each time he got a job, no matter how good he was, someone would find out he couldn't read or write and he would be on his way. What is more remarkable is the humiliation and ridicule dished out once people found out. He writes about these instances, not to attract pity, but to highlight the way society deals with people with disabilities.

The worst experience in the book covers his experience at night school.

As an eager teenager he had a shot at gaining an apprenticeship as a wood machinist. To do that he had to finish school so enrolled in night school. At the end of the course he was asked to stand on his desk while the teacher, Mr Smart, read out the final results.

At the end Mr Smart turned to the class and in Ken's words:

"Class, I want you to meet Ken Hall." I stood as tall as I knew how, my chest puffed out and my head held up high. I knew I must have topped the class and felt prouder than I ever had in my whole life.... until I heard Mr Smart's speech to the class. "This is the world's only human baboon that you will ever know in your lifetime. His composition was the biggest heap of shit I have ever read. Did I say "read"? I can't even read it. His maths is a disgrace too - only 3 out of 50. And I want to say this to you Ken Hall: Don't ever show your face around my class again. Class dismissed."

It is a painful memory but gives a valuable insight into a man who just shrugged his shoulders and went looking for another job.

His only outlet was to wait for the moon to be high in the sky, walk outside, look up and ask: "What next you bastard?"

Ken wrote his story with the help of a voice-recognition computer program. He would speak and the computer would write down what it thought Ken had said. And although it was still rough when he sent it to publishers "They would send it back with booklets on spelling and grammar." he said. "But eventually one said it was good and I should contact Monika McFerran who could help me get it right. It took Monika two years to knock it into shape."

This is a wonderful, witty, remarkable book and if you ever get the opportunity, I recommend you buy it. I was published here in Brisbane by Hale & Ironmonger. NO, this is not a paid advertisement <grin>, it's just a wonderful story by a man who wouldn't let adversity stand in the way of his goal.

Well, shoot! How did I find so much to write about this month?????

I hope you found it interesting. Until next time......

Be kind to each other!

Hugs,

Jamie

"Life is a sum of all your choices"