Happy Birthday to Me

Other than having to get up and go to work at 5.30 on a cold dark and stormy morning I had an excellent birthday yesterday.

True, not one of the several hundred passengers I picked up wished me a happy birthday, despite it being only a year since my last one, and on that occasion I wore a large "50" badge to signify the event. Never mind. My family all remembered (well nearly all but we won't quibble!)

With Spike now living here, Big Sister having returned from her visit (clean up mission) to Queensland and Mum having come down from the cold at Tatong there were plenty of family members to celebrate with when I got home.

A beautiful roast lamb dinner was prepared, followed by my favourite dessert, chocolate mousse, and a cake without candles with Spike substituting a lighter hovering above it.

I got what I asked for, a book about Geelong's third premiership.

And a surprise from The Heir and Favourite Daughter, a dinner in Melbourne with John Harms, he of The Footy Almanac fame, as guest speaker.

And, by fortuitous circumstance, I got something I've always wanted: a trailer! Spotted on a shopping centre noticeboard, I rang the owner/seller, checked it out on the way home from work, discovered it was excellent in every way, and was able to haggle $50 off the asking price of $300. Brilliant AND a bargain :)

We finished the night off brain-storming 51 one things about me (!) memories, stories, observations etc. A most enjoyable reminiscence.

To Perth & back

I'm home again in Ocean Grove after the whirlwind trip to Perth.

I had a great time seeing a heap of people and the "mission" to bring Spike home went very well.

All 6 of the Holt Press family were together under the one roof on Sunday night. 

Thankfully, having arrived home after 1.00am, I had arranged a shift swap and started work at 1.00pm Monday and not 5.52am as originally rostered!

Here's a few pics from the trip.

 Sally Callum & Warren

 The Claremont Share House!!!!!!

 Big Bruce

 The Busso Vets footy team in the wet at Subi

Catching up with Patesy

Back in WA

It's been a busy 36 hours. I finished work at 10 on Wed night, drove to Melbourne and stayed the night at The Heir's apartment then flew out of Melb for Perth at 6.30 Thurs morning.
Alex picked me up from the airport and helped me collect boxes and gear before dropping me at Claremont.
The last 2 days have been spent packing up and preparing Spike and The Heirs gear in preparation for shipping to Vic. On Sunday Spike and I will fly back to Melb and the whole Holt Press family will be reunited again and living in Victoria. We are naturally pleased and excited at the prospect.
Also squeezed into the last day and a half has been:
Watching St Nick and my former teammates from the Busselton vets footy team playing Mandurah in the curtain raiser at Subi before the Eagles game last night. It was great to see the boys and catch up with a couple of mates.
Last night Letchy, Hugh, Broady and I convened the Breakfast Club and had a great night of talking laughing eating and praying at Broady's place. Our meetings are necessarily irregular these days but always good value. Phil was not there but the big news is that he and his family are returning from Afghanistan shortly to resume life in WA.
I spent this morning hanging out with Letchy before picking up a small truck from Bruce & Paula's neighbour and heading back to Claremont to finish the packing and getting all the boy's gear to the freight company.
Tonight I am staying at Sally & Warren's and we've had an excellent time catching up on one another's news.
It's good to be back in WA for a few days, not because of the place but because of the people. I've loved seeing a number of friends and there are more to see tomorrow night at the mid-season draft BBQ at St Steve's.

Many Happy Returns

There's been lots of family oriented stuff happening lately. Mrs Holt Press has returned from her trip to WA where she got to see lots of friends from Busselton and Perth, as well as seeing Spike. He is working part time and slowly making preparations to move over here, something we're all looking forward to.

Pop,Vicki, Mum and I went to Shepparton on Thursday for lunch with family and friends to celebrate Auntie Merle's birthday. I took the train, just managing to get on board at Broadmeadows station. Auntie Merle seemed to really enjoy the day and it was good to see a couple of old family friends.

The birthday theme continued yesterday with a joint celebration lunch for Pop, 76 and The Heir, 25.

Our eldest child is quarter of a century old!!!!!

The food was ordinary but the company was good with plenty of laughs and reminiscences.

Vicki and Pop are setting off for Queensland tomorrow, it's been great to have them here on and off for the last couple of weeks. Favourite daughter has moved back home for a while to help her regain her health as she's been a bit crook. She gets allergies and things and the cat and dog at the hippy house in Barwon Heads seem to have triggered this last episode.

Sport Boy has missed a couple of days school too but when he's not sick he eats like a horse, literally, grazing continually! Despite eating us out of house and home he has not put on an ounce of weight. He has however shot up about 6 inches in the last few months and now stands taller than his mother.

I've picked up a minor cold so was glad to have today off. It's back to work in the dark tomorrow though, starting at 11 past 6! 

Tottenham !

Mum returned from Europe bearing gifts. I was mightily impressed with mine.

After the disappointment of the Champions League Final and Chelsea's tinny victory denying Spurs entry to next year's UCL it gave me some cheer.

Comings and Goings in the Family

Mrs Holt Press has gone to WA for a week's holiday and is enjoying catching up with friends in Busselton at the moment. She'll head up to Perth mid-week to see more people up there and in fact the timing of her visit is excellent as there is a reunion for Joondalup Church of Christ, which we attended for sevral years, next weekend. Life gets pretty intense for Mrs HP with the ever increasing amount of time and energy required to help look after her Dad, on top of keeping the family and household running so I'm glad she's been able to have this break, even though it's only short.

The house is not empty though.

Pop has come down from Queensland for a visit and will be around another couple of weeks, long enough to celebrate Auntie Merle's birthday on the 24th and his own, his 76th, on the 28th of May.

Vicki has arrived back from South Australia having just about completed all required business associated with her settlement and impending relocation to Leopold where she is building a new house and future.

And Mum has returned from her two month trip to Europe with her friend Mona, staying in Greece, Italy and France and is with us for the next few days before returning to Tatong.

The other good news is that Spike, our one child still remaining in WA has decided to move over to Victoria following the end of the relationship that was keeping him on that side of the country. He has got a job for a few weeks in order to get some money together and get himself ready before making the big move. Hopefully Mrs HP will be able to help him with a bit of that while sh'e there this week.

See the Bombers Fly Up!

Further to my recent post "Louie Louie" regarding selling football cards on ebay, my sales have gone from strength to strength.
In the last two weeks I have sold three cards featuring old (obscure even) Essendon players for the following prices (remembering that the whole lot of footy cards, footy records and assorted other cards cost me a total of $50 and that the starting price for each of these particular cards was $15).
Reg Burgess: shot up from $20 to $76.95 in the final 10 seconds of bidding.
John Gill: similarly rose from $20 to $78 in the last 10 seconds.
Fred Gallagher: Final price, $88 (I was having a nap at the time it finished so not sure of the rapidity of the ascending bids but naturally enough I was delighted with the outcome when I awoke!)
 I will progressively sell most of the other cards and records over the next few months but without question the diamond in the rough has been these 1950s Coles Cards.
In total I have made a bit over $1100 just from the sale of this one set of old footy cards already!!
The good news is I still have about 20 cards left to sell including a few famous names such as Charlie Sutton, Ted Whitten, Bob Davis and John Coleman which I expect to fetch handsome prices.

The bloke who bought this Fred Gallagher card sent me a message that he requires just two more cards to have the complete set and one of them is a Coleman card!

On the Buses

As a bus driver I see some strange things. I see a lot of bad drivers and quite a few unusual passengers although unlike many of my colleagues, I don’t subscribe to the view that 

“This would be a great job if it weren’t for the passengers”!!

I’m smart enough to recognize this simple truth of public transport:

Passengers = customers = a bus service = my job

And the converse truth, equally as important:

No Passengers = No customers = No bus service = No job.

I see a LOT of car drivers talking on mobile phones as I drive around the city but last week I saw something new; a truck driver driving with two mobile phones, one in each hand!!!

On the #11 to Corio we go via West Geelong, past West Oval, home of former VFA team Geelong West whom I used to go and watch some Sunday afternoons as a kid in the early 70s. The #11 then deviates via North Shore where the timetable instructs us to sit for about 15 minutes before continuing on our journey. While this time is handy for reading the paper or going to the dunny it is frustrating for the passengers to sit idling idly for no apparent reason.

We wait at the first stop in Seabeach Pde. The next stop is, at an absolute maximum, 150m further up the street. However, the farcical nature of this enforced layover is made comic by the following behaviour which I have personally experienced 4 times, the most recent of which was last week.

After the obligatory 15 minute wait I took off and immediately the bell rang signalling a passenger’s request to get off at the next stop!!  They had endured a 15 minute wait on the bus to travel a distance they could have walked, back and forth, a dozen times whilst waiting!

Before you make excuses for them on the basis of ignorance, anybody who has ever caught the #11 knows about the stopover and even if they’re a first-timer, there are a few tell-tale signs like the driver putting the hand-brake on, going for a walk, taking out a newspaper, having a short nap etc to indicate we are going to be stationary for a while!

It’s as much as I can do sometimes not to burst out laughing when the bell rings but, it’s the passengers’ prerogative to get on and off when and where they choose, my job is just to drive the bus!

There is another regular passenger who cops a fair bit of criticism from other drivers. I think she has some mental health problems and admittedly her behaviour can b a little odd at times and this can stir up some drivers. I have made an effort to get to know her a little bit and be courteous and hospitable and we are on a first name basis. She did surprise me this week though when upon boarding my bus she asked if she had to pay a fare because she had “stepped on a piece of foam that morning”. To the best of my memory fare exclusions only cover certain disabilities and age categories; I don’t recall the stepping on of foam as qualifying for free travel so I made her pay the fare!

Recent News

My thoughts were with my good mate Phil and his family yesterday afternoon following the recent death of his mother, Joy. The funeral was held in Perth on Saturday and I really wish I could have been there. Phil's dad, Malcolm, died just over a year ago. I didn't know them very well at all but I am feeling for my mate in his grief and sadness. It is a reminder too that my own parents are getting older and whether we like it or not, closer to the end of their lives. Confronting mortality will be a new experience when the time comes.

(Don't worry Pop, I'm not expecting you to go any time soon, but it is a reminder all the same.)

For the first time since we moved back to Victoria I wasn't able to go to the footy to watch Geelong today. Another driver did a shift for me a few months ago so I could go to my nephew's wedding and today he needed the day off to go to a Christening. I couldn't refuse, even though I hated missing the footy. I spent a somewhat tense and nervous afternoon driving passengers around Geelong with my eyes on the road and my ears on the radio. After a close and scrappy tussle the Cats emerged with a 10 point win. Not altogether convincing but a win is a win.

Spike has only been back in Perth for a week but it seems like things have changed significantly for him and there is a good chance he too may soon make a "permanent" move to this side of the country. We would love that. It was great to have him here for a few weeks and we'd love to have all the family back closer together.

I was stirred out of my slothful existence on Saturday morning with the return of local football and the resumption of my second job: Footy umpire. I umpired two games at Ocean Grove, the 16's v Bell Park and the 18's v Geelong Amateur with my co-umpy, a girl called Jess. I was pretty sore and tired by the end but buoyed by unsolicited feedback from two different people, both from the losing team, that we had done a great job. They had gone out of their way to come and tell us how well we'd done so I felt pretty chuffed. The combination of some forced exercise and a little extra income make it worthwhile.

Mrs Holt Press is taking a well earned break next month and going back to WA for a short visit. She's looking forward to catching up with friends and family in Perth and Busselton for a week while I mind the fort and supervise domestic operations. (Note to self, get number for Domino's).

The ebay enterprise is still going strong, I sold another 5 footy cards today for a total of $110!

I have a 5.31 start in the morning, my first really early shift for several weeks so I'm not complaining but I do need to go to bed so the 4.30 alarm won't be too horrendous.

Louie Louie

I like football. 

(I know this comes as no surprise; I am just setting the context for the rest of the post)

As I said, I like football. Playing it. Watching it. Talking about it! And not just the game, I like the culture, the history, the books and stories, the souvenirs and memorabilia etc.

I collect sports badges with a particular interest in footy badges and most especially Geelong FC badges. In a fire, they would be the first thing I'd grab!!

I also collect sports and footy books, most of which I've bought in op shops, garage sales, swap meets etc. My library contains over 300 volumes at present.

Ebay is both a blessing and a trap when it comes to collecting. I've had to modify and curtail my hunting and gathering tendencies to suit a limited budget. I've managed to get some great badges and books but recently I got a fantastic bargain, in more ways than one.

It started when I won a lot of 20 assorted football books for the meagre sum of $2.47!!

Books are a bit heavy to post so I arranged to pick them up the next time I was in Melbourne.

While I was there the bloke mentioned that he had some other footy stuff if I was interested.

Naturally I was and he brought out a box of Footy Records (Match programs for the uninitiated).

They dated back to 1974 and included a large number of finals and Grand Final records.

While these are not my specific area of interest I recognized they were of interest and some value. He then produced a shoe box full of old footy cards, cricket cards and basketball cards.

We haggled over a price and settled on $50 for the lot. It was more than I really wanted to spend but he was very keen to get rid of them and I was pretty confident they were worth more than that.

I enjoyed looking through them and sorting them out when I got home.

Amongst the footy cards, which were mostly the old Scanlens/Stimorol gum variety, was a set I didn't immediately recognize. A little investigation on ebay soon revealed that they were released by Coles in the early 1950's, putting them at about 60 years old. I was now very interested, especially as they were in very good condition. There were 4-5 players from each of the original 12 VFL teams and included a few very famous names such as Bob Davis, Bob Rose, Roy Wright, Charlie Sutton, Bill Hutchinson and the legendary John Coleman.

I listed 4 North Melbourne cards on ebay to see if they would sell and sure enough they did, partly because I priced them at $5 each. It turns out that was under-valuing them. Significantly.

I have since listed and sold 23 of them at a starting price of $15 each. The final prices have ranged from $15-25. The best result though came for a card featuring Louie the Lip, Lou Richards from Collingwood. He was a premiership captain at the Magpies but is best remembered for his time on World of Sport, League Teams with Jack Dyer and Bob Davis and as a channel 7 commentator.

Imagine my delight when the auction closed and Louie sold for $51.50!!

Little Louie had recouped my entire outlay in just one sale!!

I have two different John Coleman cards and I am expecting them to fetch the highest prices of the lot. 

I won't be surprised if they push up to $100 each. That's what I'm hoping.

So far I have sold just over $400 worth of the Coles footy cards and I still have about 30 left to list.

Then there are the footy records to sell.

And the other footy cards.

I am feeling very pleased with myself and my $50 investment I must say!!

Cats V Hawks According to The Heir

Regular readers will know I'm a BIG fan of, and occasional contributor to The Footy Almanac.
The Heir shares my feelings, for footy, for the Cats and for the Almanac.
This is his version of events of the game on Easter Monday.
A pretty decent effort if I do say so myself.
Check it out.

Wow! What a Day! What a Game!

Warning!!

Nothing but football ahead (with small traces of family/nuts).

Vicki had promised to take Shannon's boys to the footy on Easter Monday but sadly they were refused permission at the last minute. Some power plays at work and typically, the kids are the innocent victims. So Vicki drove down from Tatong/Shepparton with a basket of snacks and goodies and no kids to eat them.

(Until she got to the MCG that is and her little brother and nephew availed themselves of said treats.)

The Heir and I took the early footy train up from South Geelong. He scrambled off at Southern Cross to drop his gear home and grab some warm clothes, the weather having taken a decidedly wintery turn. 

I got off at Richmond and was greeted by a hail storm on my way to the G.

Task #1 was to pick up our family membership cards from the deluged Geelong marquee.

Task #2 was try and get some decent seats in the Great Southern Stand.

Having accomplished these I settled in for the long wait till game time and the arrival of the others.

The Heir arrived about half an hour later but a phone call from Vicki confirmed my fears that they had closed the MCG carpark, a sneaky trick they pull without notice whenever wet weather arrives! Because of her poor health/chronic pain I knew Vicki wouldn't be able to manage a long walk back from a city carpark so I said I'd go and park the car somewhere while she went in to the game. Good fortune smiled upon us in the form of a sympathetic car park attendant who granted us special entry after I explained the circumstances. We ended up parking within 100m of the ground and managed to get in and up to our seats by half way through the first quarter. By then Stevie J had kicked two goals and the Cats were 6 points up against the Hawks. I was pleased. We often start slowly against Hawthorn and play catch up for the rest of the day.

The game was an absolute RIPPER, a see-sawing affair with both sides having dominant periods before the other side fought back. Early in the third quarter Hawthorn had broken 21 points clear and it looked like the tipsters were going to be right, they were going to beat us for the first time since the 2008 Grand Final.

(On the strength of Darlow's conviction that we were going to win I had gone against the trend and tipped the Cats. A tip in faith more than confidence although our record against Hawthorn did give me cause for hope).

When Hawthorn kicked their 5th goal on the trot I told The Heir I was "a little worried". His grim expression suggested he agreed, and Vicki confessed later that she expected to lose the whole day.

The Cats fought back to level the scores and we all took heart. Geelong's resilience, fighting toughness and never-give-in attitude were in evidence yet again.

Sparked back into action the Hawks kicked the next three goals and at the final change were 18 points in front.

I told The Heir I was "a little worried".

Joel Selwood's head was swathed in bandagesfrom a cut in the first quarter but he just fought harder and even another, accidental, whack to the head early in the last couldn't stop him. Yes he looked wobbly for a minute or two, but after a brief visit to the bench he was right back in the fray.

Jimmy Bartel did what Jimmy Bartel does. Heroically. He kicked the first goal of the last quarter, which was being played in driving rain and swirling winds by the way, and was in everything forward and back.

And then there was Tom. Tommy Hawkins. The Tomahawk. He was magnificent and monumental. He took 12 marks, 5 contested inside 50, had 22 possessions and kicked three goals to be best on ground. His Grand Final form had been a preview not a climax it seems.

The JPod chimed in with 3 great goals in the last quarter and 5 for the game, the last of which put us in front by 3 points with 6 minutes left.

An epic arm wrestle followed as both teams attacked ferociously and defended grimly.

Buddy Franklin twice tried to drick (dribble kick) goals running into the 50 and twice failed to score. Breust missed a set shot from 20m out. The Cats were hanging on. Just.

Then the pivotal moment came. Franklin soccered the ball across the goal face to Osborne who had merely to toe-poke it through to grab back the lead. Instead he picked it up. Andrew Mackie, who had been 10 metres behind him somehow made up the ground, laid a tackle, forced Osborne to drop the ball and then scrambled it through to concede a behind.

We stood and cheered, and stared, and shook our heads in disbelief, wonder and admiration.

Mackie is prone to turning the ball over but in that instant he saved the game and the Cats held on for an incredible two point victory.

We sang the song at the tops of our voices. 

We yelled and cheered and hugged and laughed in a wild and joyful celebration of yet another miraculous Cat's victory.

It was a long slow drive back to Geelong through the rain and the traffic but we were warmed by an inner glow that has still not diminished.

Resurrection Sunday

This seems like an appropriate day to revive this poor neglected blog.
I've had people contacting me to see if I'm OK because of my lack of blogging, it's nice to know people care, and that my humble little blog still holds a place in the heart of the blogosphere...

I have been hampered by a lack of motivation and a period of feeling "down". My moods vary according to a wide range of factors and influences and when I'm struggling the blog is one of the first things to suffer.
I have begun to feel a bit better and brighter the last couple of weeks. And now that the footy season has started there's a little more to look forward to :)

I'm not promising a return to daily posts or any sort of high frequency blogging, but I can say that HoltPress is not dead yet and on Easter Sunday, if Jesus can conquer the grave, I can breathe some life back into this old blog.

Following  The Heir's move to Melbourne in Feb, we have been further blessed by the arrival of Spike in March, albeit just for a visit and not the permanent move we had anticipated and looked forward to. His plans have altered due to the interference of Cupid and his famous love-stirring arrows!! Spike has met a girl called Bree and they want to be together, which is fair enough, even though we'd rather he/they were over our side of the country.
They are talking about a serious long-term relationship if you know what I mean. There's no specific plan or time-frame at present but who knows what may happen over the next few months or year?
He is heading back to WA on Friday and going back to his old job at the child care centre which he loves, and where he in turn is much-loved. Bree is moving up to Perth as well, from Busselton.
Meanwhile it has been great to have him here and especially good to have all four of the HoltPress offspring together for a few weeks. Spike has been hanging out at Favourite Daughter's place , "The Hippy House", in Barwon Heads a lot of the time. The Heir is down from Melbourne for Easter so we've had plenty of meals and laughs as a family the last couple of days.

Sport Boy got crook a few weeks ago and missed a fair bit of school but thankfully he's been much better for the last week and enjoying having his big brothers and sister around. His health improved  at the same time as the school holidays, purely coincidental I'm sure...

In the search for a cure Mrs HoltPress took Sport Boy for some blood tests, which in the end ruled out Glandular Fever,  but unfortunately for him the nurse forgot to do one of the tests at the clinic. She generously offered to come round to the house to do the said test. On the bright side, she brought him jelly beans!

I swapped a shift  and worked on Good Friday instead so I'd be free to go to the footy tomorrow arvo: Geelong v Hawthorn at the MCG. Along with the Heir, my big sister Vicki will be coming, along with three of my little sister Shannon's boys, who have never been to a footy game before. We're very much looking forward to it, even though everyone seems to think the Hawks will finally beat us, for the first time since the 2008 Grand Final. I'm not so sure...

 This poster advertised an Easter event run by the Student Christian Union at Deakin Uni and I thought it was especially clever.

Mrs Holt Press and my Mum on a walk along the bluff at Barwon Heads, the night before Mum took off on a trip to Greece, Italy and France with here friend Mona. Lucky girls!

Regular readers will know that I am a pedant when it comes to correct use of the English language. I'm always on the look out for wrongly spelt signs, wrongly pronounced words etc. This one caught my eye at the Belmont Hotel in High St. Can you C the problem?
NB. What's driving me MAD at the moment is the extreme frequency of the "word" 'goverment' in the media and its close cousins 'govament' and 'govment' (Yes Mr Rabbit I'm talking about you!).
The word is GOVERNMENT, there are two Ns and both should be pronounced!

 How awesome is this sculpture, which can be found at a very cool and quirky business in North Geelong called Iron and Gum Trees (I think). It is made of old railway spikes welded together. Brilliant. I drive past it in the bus when doing the number 11 and it always brings a smile to my face.
(Click on picture to get a better look)

The Holt Press boys also at the bluff. How I love them and how proud I am of them!
In the words of one of my favourite artists, John Lennon: "Beautiful Boys"

The Heir Has Arrived

Our eldest child, The Heir, has moved from Perth to Victoria. He arrived early Monday morning and was picked up at the airport by Favourite Daughter. She is pretty happy to have her big brother on the scene, so much so that for the second night in a row they have gone to melbourne to see live bands. Last night it was Death Cab for Cutie, tonight, Matt Corby.

That just leaves Spike remaining in WA. He will be joining us on the 17th of March, but only for three months instead of the permanent move we were anticipating. The reason? He has fallen in love and doesn't want to move away from his girlfriend. Fair enough. We'll just have to make the most of the three months we have him for.

There is a veritable gathering of the clan back to our ancestral home happening at the moment.

Further to my Mum relocating to the little town of Tatong in northern Victoria following the sale of her house in Bridgetown, my sister Vicki has also begun her relocation. Having left Wudinna in South Australia, her home for the last 30 years, Vicki is looking for a house to buy in Victoria. Most likely somewhere in the Geelong area which suits me just fine! We looked at a few houses with her over the weekend. She hasn't found the right one yet but she's getting closer.

Now if we could only dislodge our renegade father from his northern abode and lure him south again ...

I'm a dreamer, I live in hope.

Black Caviar Makes History, Again

If you didn't know, I'm a sports nut. There's not many sports I don't like and a good sports story or event is sure to attract me. Thus it was that I found myself at Caulfield Racecourse this afternoon to watch the world's best racehorse, Black Caviar, win its 18th race, from 18 starts. (Not just my opinion. Black Caviar was rated the world's best by the international committee who decide these things!! Probably not as voted by her peers though.) The world record is 19 wins in a row I believe, held by Zenyatta, in the USA and the way the Aussie champ won today, racing over 1400m for the first time, I think that record is about to be equalled, passed and left trailing in the dust. BC won with effortless ease. There were over 20,000 people there to watch it, courtesy of the Victorian Racing Club who made it free admission for the day. I'm not a real racing fan. Like most Aussies I really only get interested  when the Melbourne Cup comes around each November, but this horse is something special and I was glad I was there to see it creating history this afternoon.

That's her in the mounting yard before the race by the way, wearing number 8. I had a pretty good view of the finish line but had to follow the race on the big screens because of the huge crowd.

A little late but here's a pic of Chris and I at the Australian Open Tennis at Hisense Arena. We had a great day.

The trip to Tatong was a great success. Here's Mum and Lorna just before we left for home. Lorna wasn't too well on the second day and was still a little off-colour when the photo was taken. Considering she's 84  she did very well and Mum was very pleased to see her and Allan. They have been friends for nearly 50 years I think.

On the way home we took a detour to Shepparton to visit Auntie Merle who despite a recent lengthy stay in hospital was quite bright and cheery while we were there. Her warning to Lorna to watch the step came a split second too late and Lorna was lucky to stumble rather than tumble her way into the loungeroom.

 We spent a day in Benalla and looked at a few houses with Vicki who is working out where she wants to live. Benalla appeals because it's close to Mum and Shannon but she's also considering Geelong, which is close to us, and the Cats!

We didn't stay very long, partly so we didn't tire Auntie Merle out, partly because she had an appointment to go to, and partly because we were also catching up with my younger sister Shannon and her three boys, Eli, Isaac and Samuel. The girls stayed on the farm with Neil. It was good to see her, especially given that a few days earlier she was involved in a serious crash. She pulled out of the farm gate into the path of an on-coming truck ! It hit her from behind and rolled Shannon's car. Amazingly she suffered no serious injuries, mostly a bump to the head which resulted in bruising of the brain. We are very grateful for her survival and that none of the kids were in the car with her.

Sadly Eli is a Hawthorn fan but despite this I invited him to come down to Melbourne and I would take him to the footy when the Hawks play the Cats. He's never been to a live game so hopefully we can get it organized.

Surprises

I've got two days off so I've borrowed a trailer from Chris next door and come up to Mum's place at Tatong.
Tatong?
You know Tatong!
Minute speck on the map 29 km east of Benalla, up a steep winding dirt road!
Benalla?
Northern Victoria, 2 hours from Melbourne on the Hume Hwy.
Yeah, that Tatong.

You know I like to maximise the use of my time so as well as visiting Mum in her new home I'm also picking up The Heir and Spike's stuff that was shipped over here with Mum's stuff when she moved from WA. Rumour has it the boys will be here in Feb and March respectively though healthy scepticism is entirely forgivable...they were originally coming for Christmas, then for new year, then for late Januuary, then mid- February, etc, etc!
If and when they arrive they'll need their gear, thus the trailer.

As a surprise I arranged to bring Allan and Lorna, lifelong friends of Mum and Dad up with me. They were delighted for the invitation and were waiting at the door when I arrived after finishing work last night.

As a surprise to me, Vicki rang a few days ago and said she'd like to come too and could I pick her up from the airport on the way through. Of course I was rapt at that news and adjusted my plans accordingly. Vicki flew in at 7.35 and we collected her from Tullamarine abot 9.00, having used copious wads of paper towelling to cushion the tow ball and trailer hitch from rattling when we drove above 90kmh.

Mum was expecting me but had no idea about the three surprise guests and we staggered our entrance upon arrival, me first, Vicki a couple of minutes later and Allan and Lorna shortly after. It worked a treat and Mum was overjoyed to see everyone. One minor hitch was a surprise at our expense: Mum's friend Mona was still here. We all thought she was leaving yesterday to return to Bridgetown. The only issue being the extra squeeze on beds and sleeping arrangements but we managed to sort it out and everyone had a place to sleep.

It was quite a long drive after a 13 hour work day but Lorna kept us all entertained and alert, though even she started to flag as midnight approached.

Mum's place is lovely and situated on the side of a hill with beautiful views in every direction. We drove up the final steep road in the dark which was probably a good thing for Lorna's nerves.

We'll get a better look shortly when we take Mona into Benalla to catch her train to Melbourne.

On the Bus

It's 7.00 o'clock on a Tuesday night and I'm at work.

I pull up at a bus stop.

A young girl and guy are waiting it seems.

But as she goes to board the bus he stops her.

Physically.

She looks confused and says "Let me get on the bus"

He refuses her request.

For a moment I think they're mucking around but the look on her face and the tone of his voice suggest otherwise.

She tries repeatedly to get on the bus and he stops her every time.

Holding her.

Blocking her.

Pushing her back against a fence.

Constraining her with desperate whiny pleas. "Stay here. Stay with me. Don't get on the bus. etc" and all the while physically preventing her getting on the bus.

She looks at me and apologizes and again says "Let me get on the bus, I want to go".

It's my last run of the day.

I've got one passenger on board.

I'm due at a driver changeover in 8 minutes.

But I'm not going anywhere.

I get out of my seat and say to the guy, "Mate, you need to let her go so she can get on the bus".

%#@$ off! is his predictable reply.

I repeat myself but I already know he's not listening and is not going to comply.

I think back a few months to a similar scenario in town where I instinctively intervened to stop a violent incident and copped a punch in the face for my efforts. As blood poured from my nose I had watched the boy proceed to hit, kick and drag his female companion up the street. I called the police and reported it the next day, providing pictures of my assailant but surprise surprise the police said there was nothing they could do without independent witnesses!

I look at the boy in this incident.

He's smaller than me. Weedy. No obvious weapons.

I consider my options.

I could drag him off her, I'm confident I am big enough and strong enough to overpower him but...

Then what?

Does he stand meekly by while his girlfriend and I get on the bus and I drive her away?

Unlikely.

More likely he gets on the bus too and suddenly my problems are multiplied, or he kicks and bashes the bus and inflicts damage on it and us.

I keep a safe distance and tell him I'm going to call the police.

He says he doesn't care and I believe him.

I call 000.

Police please, to ____________ Rd & ____________ St

The operator asks the standard questions and tells me police have been notified.

The wait for reinforcements begins as the stand-off continues.

I could get on the bus and drive away trusting the police will turn up and sort it out but...

I'm sure this is a bad situation that has the potential to get much worse.

I wait.

I apologize to my passenger and he is understanding.

Over the next twenty minutes the girl tries in vain to convince her "boyfriend" to let her go and he continues to hold her "prisoner", all the while pushing, dragging and attempting to carry her around the corner and up the street.

My changeover long since missed I monitor the situation and look up and down the street hoping the cops will arrive soon. I've been there 45 minutes.

To compound the situation my radio breaks down. I can't let anyone know where I am or what's happening.

The next bus arrives. I get my passenger onto it and use its radio to contact my changeover driver. He has wisely decided to start his run some time earlier.

I continue to wait.

The girl continues to seek her freedom.

The boy continues to keep her captive.

I call 000 again and request more urgent attention. 

This time I speak to the police directly.

They ask the same questions, get the same details and give the same assurance: 

"We'll be there as soon as possible"

I'm not confident but I wait and look and hope, all the while keeping an eye on the situation.

I've decided that if it escalates I will physically interevene but so long as nothing changes for the worse I will wait for the police to come and deal with it.

Finally they arrive.

The boy lets her go and she walks away as the police get out of the car.

Two officers.

One speaks to each while I watch and listen.

The older officer talks to the girl and seems pretty competent.

The younger cop talks to the boy and takes a friendly "light-hearted" approach.

I'm not impressed but say nothing.

After a couple of minutes I talk to the older cop and describe the events of the last hour.

He then speaks to the boy and quickly makes a judgement.

"I don't like him, he's a smart arse".

I presume their strategy is "go softly, avoid an arrest, sort it out peacefully, get them on their, separate, ways."

Plan A is for the girl to get on my bus and depart but then the boy says he's gonna get on the bus too and the cops say they can't stop him so they  opt for plan B, they will take the girl in the squad car.

I return to the bus and as I drive away cop some predictable abuse from the boy, now standing on the footpath, on his own. He's not happy but he should be grateful, it could have been a lot worse!

The Giants Won the Superbowl!

I managed to maintain a media blackout, a 5.30 am start at work and an appointment after work in order to watch the Superbowl without knowing the result. And to make it sweeter, the New york Giants won!

21

17

 MVP and winning Quarterback, Eli Manning

Chris' Night at the Australian Open

My friend Chris splurged on a package deal for the tennis and has been to the 1/4 finals, semi-finals and is right now at the men's final.  Rafael Nadal is fighting hard to stay in the match as I write.

Chris sent me a couple of emails that so captured the mood and excitement of her experience of the match between Novak Djokavic and Andy Murray in the semi-final that I asked her permission to re-post them on my blog.

Here they are:

Wow
What a battle and the crowd was amazing, lots of singing all night, at the end everyone cheered novak, poms and serbs alike, everyone walked out of the arena with a smile on their face, even andy. That was special, very special.novak was gone for all money in the third, appeared to be exhausted, then he came back  the final set was extraordinary, people jumping out of their seats after every point, poms singing serbs singing then an almighty eruption and a very long standing ovation. Even Julia and the First Bloke stayed in the arena. The serbs all gathered outside and sang all the way to the Gee carpark. Then this fabulous drumming outfit were in the tunnel between Rod Laver and the Gee, what a night, never been to such an event where everyone was just in awe. Fancy Rod Laver himself being there. Noval just so gracious and humble in victory. As bruce would say......we saw something s..p...e...c...i..a..l
Melbourne can sure turn it on., got home about 2.30
You'd sell your family jewels to have an experience like that.
What am i going to do today??????

Obviously the excitement had not worn off by the following morning...

Hi there

I had a night I'll remember for a very long time last night at Rod Laver Arena, mens semi, 5 hrs 10 mns Scotland andy murray vs novak jokovich from serbia. Amazing game, 2 warriors incredibly hot night, felt like broome, fabulous crowd, lots of singing, a really good feel about it. Best game i've seen and best atmosphere, the noise was deafening between every point. Both men collapsed into each others arms a the end and kind of held each other up. I was surrounded by poms, serbs, russians, malaysians, everyone talking to each other in little bits of english, i sat beside a lovely lady from Russia and er husband, here for the tennis, just fabulous. Julia and the First Bloke were there. At the end we all just stood and roared, no one moved for ages, including Julia as the warriors had their big hug. I followed a big bunch of Serbs back to the Gee carpark and they sang all the way, flags waving, lots of blokes in tartan skirts ( they look very nice too)

Then to top it all off there was a fabulous drumming band outside the Gee playing up a storm at 2 oclock in the morning..........just imagine that happening in Perth....not likely, there'd be some sort of law against it for sure!! It was just one of those magic nights, worth mortgaging the house for

Everyone's Home Again

My week off is racing by, only 3 days till I go back to work, with a week of early starts to look forward to: think 5.30!

I picked Mrs Holt Press and Sport Boy up from the airport on Wednesday night, having spent the day at the tennis in Melbourne. I missed out on seeing Roger Federer but made up for it by getting in to see Bernard Tomic win his 2nd round game. 

They (Mrs HP and SB) are happy to be home and I'm happy to have them back.

Last night Sport Boy and I went back to Melbourne for our first taste of Twenty 20 cricket in the Big Bash League. We missed a train and as the next one would get us to Melbourne 40 minutes late we decided to drive. Bad decision! Not only was the traffic extra heavy with both cricket and tennis happening but the MCG in their "wisdom" closed the car park at Jolimont despite there being plenty of available space. A frustrated lap of the block followed by a diversion to Burnley ensued before we caught a train back to Richmond! We therefore arrived in time only to see the last two overs of the first innings! Despite the irritation we enjoyed the game which moved along at a rapid pace, punctuated with music, fireworks, shooting flames and crowd involvement. 

After the cricket we raced across the road to Melbourne Park to catch the last of the tennis on the big screen in the garden area. Lleyton Hewitt was playing Andy Roddick.Just when I managed to get a couple of tickets to Rod Laver Arena from some departing patrons  Roddick retired hurt and the match was over! Good to see the Aussie win but disappointing not to be inside to see it played out.

Have I mentioned before how much I like living close to Melbourne?

By the time we caught a train back to Burnley, retrieved the car, found our way through Port Melbourne to the West Gate Bridge and got on the road we didn't get home to Ocean Grove until about 1am; next time we'll take the train even if it means being late!