Last Chance

There are only two performances of "It Runs in the Family" left, tonight and tomorrow night. It's been fun but I won't be sorry when the season ends, it has taken a lot of time and energy. On the plus side, the audiences have been rapturous and uproarious. Last night they laughed so much we had to slow down our lines so they wouldn't miss things! If you're local I do encourage you to come and have a look, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Things are cranking up on the work front with just over a week until Country Week. Finalising numbers, bookings, orders, transport arrangements, T-shirts, hire cars and meals etc. Favourite Daughter is going to provide all the lunches for the team while we're in Perth, that's 107 lunches a day for 5 days. She's a little stressed getting the orders and quantities sorted out but I'm confident she'll do a great job and we'll all be well fed.

I've been training a new driver to do my school bus run while I'm away in Perth. He is getting the hang of it. No-one taught me the run or the process when I first started so he's got a head-start on me.

I've been to the physio this morning for some treatment on my calf which flared up after I started footy umpiring. The physio has recommended I take a week's break and with a bit more treatment should be right to take up the whistle next weekend.

Not sure if you've heard about this but the World Cup has started and Australia got thumped by Germany in their first game. We shouldn't be surprised, Germany are on of the true powers of world soccer, but Aussie expectations were inordinately high before the game. Perhaps a little more realism will help us find our true place in the scheme of things. We could possibly win against Ghana and or Serbia but the chances are more likely that we'll get knocked out in the first stage.

I'd love to see England win the World Cup. If not them Spain. But most of all I just want it to be someone new and different, and definitely not Brazil, Germany or Italy!!

Chances are though it will be one of these three dominant nations who will hold the trophy up at the end!

Anyone know how to fix dodgy car doors? We bought the cheap Commodore on behalf of the Heir on the weekend but the driver's door won't open from the outside and clambering over and around the seat to open it from the back door is a pain in the bum! I'm summoning up the strength to dismantle the door and see if I can fix it! Wish me luck! For an $800 car it's OK. Not fancy but so long as it runs reliably for a year or two it will have done its job. Meanwhile I'm continuing to ride the scooter to work and around town. I can rug up against the cold but the rain is a pain and the wet roads make me a little nervous. I filled it up this morning; it cost me $4.89 so it certainly has its upside!

Moments of Stress. Moments of Bliss. Wed to Mon.

There's been too much going on to give you the full story so here it is in point form.

Wed 7:30pm Final dress rehearsal of the play. Goes ok but still needs work.

Wed 10.30 Drive to Augusta in order to drive Augusta school run Thurs AM.

Wed 11.30pm Discover another driver asleep (snoring) in only bed at Augusta depot. Curse mis-commiunication that lead to this predicament.

Wed 11.45 Drive to Caravan Park and ring doorbell hopefully. Discover they don't have on-site vans. Gary takes pity on me and offers me the bed in the lounge room. Embarrassed but grateful to have somewhere other than the car or the back seat of the bus to sleep.

Thurs 6.00am Crawl out of bed, shower and go to bus depot.

Thurs 6.40 Start to worry at inability to get bus started. Call Busselton depot. Get Doug's number, he'll know what I need to do. He does. Reconnect battery isolator. Bus starts but now I'm running late.

Thurs 7.15 Depart Augusta, pick up anxious students enroute to Busselton. Curse Dennings bus, a horror to drive. A gearbox from the abyss and the turning circle of the Queen Mary. Decide not to do Augusta school run again unless they get a new bus.

Thurs 3.00pm Do return run to Augusta. Arrive 5.00 Put bus in shed, get in car, go back to bus and collect gate keys, get in car drive to gate, go back to bus shed and find phone, get in car, lock gate, stop at petrol station to fill car. Ring supervisor to ask for PIN number for fuel card. Commit PIN to memory.

Thurs 6.30 Arrive home. Pick up Spike. Drive to theatre for opening night. Remember most of my lines. Audience warm. Cast happy.

Thurs 11.30ish to bed.

Fri 7.00 Up and off to drive regular school bus run. Remember to take footy fixtures for kid's tipping comp.

Fri 9.30-2.30 Drive town services, Geographe 9.30, Broadwater 10.00 Dunsborough 11.00 Geographe 12.45 Broadwater 1.15.

Fri 3.00 Take school kids home. Tell them I've made special arrangements with the govt. and they don't have to go to school on Monday. Two kids laugh, thirty groan.

Fri 7.00 Arrive at theatre for Friday night performance of "It Runs in the Family". It goes well, we're starting to gel.

Fri 10.30pm Drive to Augusta. Arrive at depot 11.30. Nobody else in my bed. 

Sat 5.20am. Get up, discover there are no towels. Decide not to have shower. Depart in the dark. Pick up 3 passengers in Augusta. A dozen more in Margaret River. Make decent time and connect with 7.40 Perth bus in Busselton.

Sat 8.00am Ignore the call of garage sales. Go home and sleep for a few hours.

Sat 11.40 Drive bus to Augusta. Most passengers get off at Margaret River.

Sat 1.00 pm Buy lunch at Augusta bakery, eat in the car overlooking Flinders Bay while listening to footy on radio. Mistake reef break for whale breach. Go to pub and watch the Dockers lose to the Crows.

Sat 4.00pm Drive bus to Busselton. Pick up lots of unticketed passengers at Margaret River. One apologises. I say "Good to have you on board, better than driving bus empty" She responds, "You're the nicest bus driver I've ever had". Smile. Realise that welcoming attitude and hospitality are easy to give and greatly appreciated (and perhaps sadly lacking?)

Sat 5.30pm Ultra quick turn-around for final journey of the day back to Augusta. Lots of passengers. Most going to MR. Drop last two passengers at Caves Rd so take short cut to depot. Discover forgotten passenger as I turn into last street before depot. She assures me it's OK she lives "just over there".

Sat 6.45pm Jump in car. Check I have everything. Check again. Lock gates and drive sedately back to Busselton for 7.30 performance. Arrive in time (I don't go on stage until half an hour into act 1.) Get changed. Get distracted listening to the football as West Coast play above themselves and cause minor concern before Cats prevail. Miss cue for first appearance on stage! Run on stage and act with heightened pulse rate. Miss some lines. Lead actor a tad annoyed.

Sat 10.00pm Play ends. Go home. Get changed. Discover my wallet is missing. Hunt high and low for it. Ride scooter back to theatre. It's not there. Go home again, Discover wallet buried beneath pile of stuff on the bed.

Sat 10.30 start shift in taxi.

Sat 10.40 Pick up first passengers, head for Broadwater.

Sat 10.45 Get pulled over by police. Start to sweat. May have been going a little fast.

Cops point out one headlight not working. No ticket. Breathe BIG sigh of relief and continue to Broadwater.

Sat 11.00 -1.30 Very quiet in cab. Become very tired. Decide to pull over for power nap rather than falling asleep at the wheel. Pull into bush off Marine Tce. 

Sun 1.40 am Bog taxi in sand. 

Sun 1.45am Attempt to dig taxi out. Fail. Make second attempt. Fail again. Realise cab is buried up to the chassis.

Sun 2.00am Give up. Lock cab. Walk back to shed. Pick up scooter. Ride home. Plan to dig cab out in the morning.

Sun 2.30am Go to bed.

Sun 10.00 Get up, wake up The Heir. Go to church at the pub. Enlist help of Oscar and his 4WD. Oscar pulls cab out at third attempt. Take cab back to shed, boss cool about it.

Sun arvo, recover, doze in front of footy on telly.

Sun night. Get decent night's sleep.

Mon. Public holiday (in WA) Borrow maxi taxi and take family out for lunch at Woody Nook winery and to look at MR Cow Parade art exhibition. Stop on way home to look at 87 Commodore for The Heir. "Runs Awesome" according to ad. Actually runs ok. Decide to buy it at haggled price of $800. Lovely day with the family.

It Runs in the Family, Opening Night

The play opened tonight to a packed house and raucous laughter throughout the show. Despite a few mistakes and missed lines it went very well and both Spike and I enjoyed ourselves. The crowd were certainly into it and their enjoyment was obvious not just from the laughter but the warm applause at the final curtain.

I managed not to fluff any of my lines which was a relief. Spike is one of the comic stars of the play and did a great job. With first night nerves out of the way hopefully we can iron out the glitches and put on a really polished performance over the next three weekends.

Tickets are only $12 from Callows which is pretty good value for a night of live entertainment. Let me know if you're coming. It's on Thurs Fri and Sat nights and there's a Sun matinee this weekend and next.

It Runs in the Family

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for the play. Tomorrow night is opening night.

Monday's rehearsal was the best so far so perhaps we'll be ready by the time we open.

I play the role of Sgt Connolly in this Ray Cooney comedy. Spike plays the role of Les, a young man looking for his father, a doctor at St Andrew's hospital.

I'm a bit anxious about it. I've struggled to remember my lines and to get the timing right of my scenes.

There are 12 performances scheduled over the next three weekends, Thurs, Fri & Sat nights and a Sun matinee. If I'd realised how big the commitment was going to be I'd have reconsidered my involvement! 

Anyway, we're nearly there now. Hopefully the effort will be worth it and the audiences will enjoy the show.

The end of the week is going to be busy. After tonight's rehearsal I have to drive down to Augusta ready for tomorrow morning's early bus run. Thurs night the play opens. Friday there's the regular school run and town service driving and the play in the evening.

Saturday I'm doing the full day of Augusta bus runs, the play and a taxi shift! 

Sunday there's a matinee performance.

Thank heavens Monday is a public holiday, I suspect I'll be sleeping all day!

Mrs Holt Press returned to work tonight, delivering pizzas for Eagle Boys. It's been great to have her home and not just because of the domestic workload! We went to the movies yesterday to see an excellent Australian film called "Beneath Hill 60", a WWI drama. 

Cornerstone had a good win on Saturday, 5-2 against GMAS although Sport Boy couldn't play as he'd been sick and away from school for a couple of days.

And of course the Cats had another good win over Melbourne to extend their winning run and set new records in the process.

I am getting around on a scooter at the moment having "swapped" my car for The Heir's scooter on a trial basis. The car is more practical for him to get to work and uni up in Perth and apart from the cold, and no doubt soon wet weather the scooter works well for me down here. I had to go to the Salvos today to buy a pair of gloves though!

She's Back

My wife is home. All's good with the world.

Tonight's Gonna be a Good Good Night

The car is packed, I'm on my way.

Mrs Holt Press arrives home in just over two hours. 

The Heir is picking her up from the airport and I'll see her at Bruce's 60th party shortly after that. Yeehaa!

Overheard in a service station tonight

"Yeah she had to go home, her psychotic nerve was playing up"!!

She'll Be Back

Mrs Holt Press is coming home! On Saturday. She's been away for three weeks already so I know everyone will be glad when she gets back. I think Favourite Daughter has had about enough of being the only woman in the house! Her Dad's condition has improved a bit the last couple of days, partly because of the involvement of a different doctor. Mrs HP is none too impressed with the hospital or the regular doctor which has been frustrating for her and her Dad.

Footy umpiring went well on Sunday except that I tweaked my calf muscle again. The game was at Donnybrook against Harvey-Brunswick. It was nice to receive compliments and handshakes from several players as we came off the ground rather than criticism and abuse! I felt satisfied with my performance although there are always times when doubt and uncertainty creep in, especially when players start having a go at you. "Did I miss something? Did I get that decision wrong? Was I really born out of wedlock?!!"

The Cornerstone Giants lost the soccer 4-2 to the Redbacks on Saturday, the only bright spot being that Sport Boy scored a very good goal. I'm questioning in my mind whether I should continue coaching the team, whether I have anything useful to give them or if they'd benefit from a change of face and style? 

Rehearsals for the play were frustrating tonight, I'm struggling to remember my lines and that is impacting on the rest of the cast. I sense a bit of annoyance amongst some of them. I can't pull out, we open in a week and a half, but I don't want to undermine the performance either. Spike was encouraging on the way home and offered to help me learn my lines which should help. He's doing well with his part and should get plenty of laughs.

Giants and Cats

Saturday morning in Busso and it's wet and cold and Sport Boy's soccer game starts in an hour and a half. Winter's not here yet but it's coming. I'm always happy to see it raining but I don't envy the kids running around in the wet when it's cold. I'm sure they won't mind and I know Sport Boy is looking forward to the game.
He and a couple of other kids were invited to play up a division in the U15s team who were short this morning but I said no, I don't want him being tired, or worse, injured for our game. Hopefully the other parents took the same view of it and we'll have a fit and healthy team come game time.

The Giants play the Redbacks today.

I loved watching the footy last night, the Cats were too good for the Magpies in the top of the ladder battle. It's always good to beat Collingwood but all the more so in such a big game which was played in front of 88,000+ people, the biggest home and away crowd ever for a Geelong game. Unbeaten in their last 5 games and kicking big scores gave Collingwood hopein the lead-up but the Cats are a class above again and re-affirmed their status as premiership favourites. Another interesting stat from last night, Geelong have won their last 16 quarters of football in a row, over 4 games, which has never been done before in VFL/AFL history. Suggestions that the Cats would lack the hunger necessary to win another premiership seem short-sighted or hopeful! And they're not even at full strength, with Corey, Ottens and Rooke all out injured. Along with the rest of the football world I'm loving  the emergence of 28 year old rookie James Podsiadly, "JPod" in the Cat's forwardline.

Domesticity

Carolyn is still away. Her Dad is improving slowly but had a bad day yesterday. She was going to go over to visit Ray at Bruny Island for a couple of days then head home on Tuesday but the uncertainty of her Dad's day to day status has put those plans on hold. We soldier on in her absence.

Favourite Daughter has bailed to Perth for a couple of days, it's Claire's birthday.

That means we're down to three blokes in the house, pray for us!

Domestic responsibility confronts me at every turn.

I am becoming more closely acquainted with the washing machine and more aware of the vagaries of the weather, "Oh no, it's raining and I haven't brought the washing in!!"

I swept the kitchen floor yesterday because it was getting harder to dodge the food scraps and debris.

I haven't yet resorted to getting the vacuum cleaner out but it's probably just a matter of time.

I've got a couple of extra day's work coming up, including a spot as track announcer at the Inter-school athletics carnival tomorrow, a job I used to do for "free" when I worked at the school. Nice to know my "talents" are still in demand!

I didn't go to umpire training running last night so I could be here for Sport Boy, dinner duty etc. I did get to Scrabble Club later though and racked up a few wins. Some of the Scrabblers are going to come and see me in the play in a couple of weeks.

The performance dates for "It Runs in the Family" at the Weld Theatre in Busselton are June 3,4,5,6,10,11,12,13,17,18,19,and 20 in case you feel like coming along! The Sunday shows are matinees.

The sad part of that is that I have to miss going to the footy with Chris to see the Cats play West Coast on June 5! And there are Thursday night shows which will cut across volleyball! Talk about suffering for my art!

3 Big Games

The Cats smashed the Lions at the Gabba tonight.

Chelsea won the FA Cup, beating Portsmouth 1-0 in the final at Wembley and in doing so also won the coveted League and Cup Double in the same season.

Both notable achievements for sure, but not as noteworthy as the 7-1 victory recorded by the Cornerstone Giants over the Dunsborough Raiders this afternoon. The kids were in great form, vastly better than last week's patchy performance and played really good soccer. Jacob scored 4 goals and Sport Boy had a really good game, as did everyone in the team.

Mum is here for the night. Spike is working as a roadie at the Moving the Groove concert in Bunbury and SportBoy is sleeping over at Ben A's place. I enjoyed a night off watching the Cats and the Cup Final with Mum before umpiring at Donnybrook tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday Headlines

Mrs Holt Press is still away over east. Her Dad is doing OK, the rehab is going slowly but she is enjoying being there and being around her Victorian family.

Sport Boy has been selected in a Regional statewide soccer team to travel to Singapore in October. Standby for news about "Send Sport Boy to Singapore" fund raising events!!

The Cornerstone Giants started their season with a 1-1 draw against a much improved St Joseph's on Saturday; in fact St Joe's really deserved to win and but for the heroics of Ben A in goal they would have. Training is this afternoon; we need to work on a few things before this week's game!

Favourite Daughter is covering for her Mum admirably on the home front and continuing to work on her Kombi, making it a cool home on wheels. She's driving for Eagle Boy's 3-4 nights a week and seems to enjoy it.

Spike and I are fully into rehearsals for the play coming up in June, "It Runs in the Family". He's working part time at the bakery. He had a bad headache which lasted for 3-4 days but seems to have shaken it off now.

I umpired, and survived, my first game of footy on Sunday down at Margaret River. Made a couple of dubious calls (according to the spectators and players!) byt generally enjoyed it. Even managed to drag myself back to training last night and not pull up as sore as the week before! I've got a game in Donnybrook this Sunday.

Work is happening steadily in preparation for Country Week in late June. It will get busier as the event draws closer. Getting all the kids lunch, dinner and T-shirt orders sorted out is the first big task, hopefully by next week. Favourite Daughter is going to do the lunch catering for me, 140 lunches a day, that will keep her busy.

I'm leading the Bus 9 Footy Tipping comp and generally the bus run is going well. Trying to get the kids to tone down their bad language is my main challenge. I'm driving town services tomorrow. Also hoping to swap my Sat taxi shift for a Fri shift because Mum is coming over to stay for the night, and because the Cats are playing the Lions on Sat night. It's been three weeks since their last game on free to air tv so I'd like to see this one!

I received a very welcome surprise gift in the post this week. Incoming packages usually contain badges I've bought on ebay but this one contained a Geelong Cats cap sent to me by Birchy who found it at the MCG after the Carlton game a few weeks ago. Although he rudely suggested it may have been thrown away in disgust after the Cat's very poor showing I still appreciated it and that he was thinking of me! I love roaming the MCG after games seeing what I can find! Footy Records, caps, scarves, umbrellas, cushions, money! I've found them all! Thanks for scavenging in my honour Birchy!

Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur and the Spurs Go Marching On!

What a great day to be a Spurs fan! For the first time in their history, Tottenham have qualified for the European Champions League. They achieved it by beating Manchester City last night (3.00am our time) 1-0 at Manchester thus ensuring they will finish no lower than fourth and therefore earn the coveted final place in the Champion's League.

I Couldn't watch the game live so I avoided the news this morning in order to be able to watch the replay at Dave's place. Sport Boy had looked up the result on the net but did a very good job of not giving anything away this morning before school.

Peter Crouch scored the vital goal that sent Spurs fans around the world into raptures. Apart from being the most prestigious club competition in the world, qualification also virtually guarantees a club a 50 million pound pay-out, which in turn strengthens their position in the transfer market and gives them a better chance of securing world class players and of course with world class players clubs improve their chances of playing in the Champions League! Unlike in Australian Rules footy which by way of the draft and the salary cap is egalitarian and "fair", in soccer the rich usually get richer and the poor stay poor. That's part of the delight in Spurs' qualification ahead of Manchester City: City were taken over about a year ago by some of the richest men in the world and received a massive injection of funds with which to buy players. They were widely fancied to push into Europe and perhaps even challenge for the league title. For Spurs to beat them to it is a great achievement. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Spurs on tv next season because SBS give considerable coverage to the Champions League.

Come on you Spurs.

NB. In a quirk of fate, Spurs played Manchester City in another hugely significant game, one of the greatest FA Cup Finals of all time, in 1981, winning a replay 3-2 thanks to an incredible goal by Argentinian Ricardo Villa, a game I will never forget and which was largely responsible for motivating me to go to London the following year when Spurs again made the FA Cup Final against Queens Park Rangers. That in turn lead to me living overseas for 2 1/2 years  from 1982-1984, one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

I accidentally became a Tottenham fan when I was 11 years old. I was at my mate Anthony's place, the soccer was on TV and Tottenham were playing Woverhampton Wanderers. Anthony told me he barracked for Wolves so I said I'd go for Spurs and it stuck! So much so that it's been a lifelong love affair. When I went to England I followed Tottenham all over the country, in fact I went to every Spurs game home and away for two seasons bar one when I missed the train. Not only did I see them win the FA Cup in 82 but also the UEFA Cup in 1984 in a dramatic two legged final against Anderlecht of Belgium that went to a penalty shoot-out. Spurs keeper Tony Parks was the hero, saving two penalties to win the trophy for Tottenham.

Another great day to be a Spurs fan!!

Hope you enjoyed all these Spurs reminiscences Ian!!!!

Orange Maggot

Remember I mentioned I was thinking of getting back into football umpiring? 

I'm not sure if that was a smart move.

I rang the bloke in charge, Greg, and he duly signed me up and even rostered me on to umpire a game this Sunday down at Margaret River. Fair enough. They obviously need umps and I'm available (although it will be at the same time as the BIG Game between the Cats and the Swans is on! I guess we all have to make sacrifices!)

Greg then invited me to come to training, in Bunbury, Tuesday evening.

So I dutifully rocked up, never having been to umpire training before. 

What would it entail?

Discussing the rules of football?

Working out how to interpret situations?

Decision making?

Strategic placement so as to be in the best position to umpire a game?

Proper signals and calls?

All of the above?

None of the above!!
There was a lot of running.
In fact there was nothing but running!

It was all running!

Short running.

Long running.

Paced running.

Sprint running.

Sideways and backwards running.

Hill running.

Running running running!
I guess they prefer fit umpires to ones who understand the game and can make good decisions!

Guess who is feeling a little stiff and sore this morning?

Guess who tried to put in one last big effort in the final 60 metre sprint in a set of 10?

And guess who felt a sharp pain in his right calf at the 40 metre mark? A tweak of some sort, not a full blown pulled muscle but still an uncomfortable pain!

I had paced myself throughout the session, content to sit at the back of the pack and finish last in each exercise, a distant last usually such as in the 1.2km run. I even sat out a couple of sprints to catch my breath and contemplate my future. But having manfully persevered through the first nine 60m sprints I figured I could put in one last big effort to finish off.

That's where I was wrong!

I'm now limping a little. I iced it up last night. I was fine driving the bus this morning.

But will I be able to run around and umpire my first game on Sunday?

We'll have to wait and see!

NB. I did get a set of umpiring gear including black shorts, orange socks, wrist bands, umpires association shirt and jacket, all very nice. The only thing they didn't have was the orange shirt I'm supposed to wear. Similar to the background of this post.  They said a white one will do.

Carolyn's Dad

Over the last couple of weeks Carolyn's Dad, Alan, has had some serious health problems which resulted in him having a hip replacement this week. As you know, Mary, his partner for 60 plus years died in February leaving him lonely and alone.  Without Mary beside him to help and support him it is an increasingly difficult and frustrating position he finds himself in.

So, at my urging and her own inclination, Carolyn has left for Perth today and flies to Melbourne tomorrow to go and be with him. Hopefully her presence will encourage and revitalise him and help him to recover his strength. We don't know what the future will look like so at this stage she's gone on a one way ticket and will play it by ear as to how long she stays. Her brothers Charles Trevor and Ray are all doing there part in caring for their Dad as well and I know it is a great comfort to Carolyn to be close to her brothers during this difficult period.

That leaves me holding the fort in Busso with the able assistance of Lieutenant Favourite Daughter and Corporal Spike to manage day to day affairs and the supervision of Private Sport Boy!

I drove my first coach service to Augusta and back yesterday and all went fairly well. The driving is the easy part, managing the paperwork and the timetable is the challenging part. I will end up doing Augusta runs on a weekend every few weeks probably. Organising my time in order to fit them around coaching Sport Boy's soccer team, taxi driving and possibly some football umpiring which I'm interested in taking up again. I used to umpire in Perth before we moved to Busso. A bloke from volleyball was talking to me about his umpiring last week and gave me the number of another bloke to ring about it. Hopefully I'll make it to a training run in Bunbury on Tuesday night and potentially could umpire my first game as early as next week!

Throw in rehearsals twice a week for the up-coming play with Spike, the regular school bus driving and preparing for Country Week at the end of June and life is getting busy.

 In the past I would have been more than happy about that and thrived on the hectic activity but I find myslef not quite so excited about being busy all the time. They are all things I have some control over so if it proves too tiring or unpleasant I'll cut back andsimplify life again. The delicate balance of trying to earn a living to pay the bills and support the family and maintain a happy and healthy lifestyle with sufficient time to look after myself and my own well-being is the challenge. Obviously I'm not alone, everyone faces similar challenges, but I'm changing a bit and don't want to fall back into unhealthy patterns of behaviour, thinking or relationships.

Sports Update:

The Cats bounced back as expected this afternoon to thump the hapless Tigers and last night Spurs beat Bolton 1-0 to mainatain their hold on 4th position in the Premier League.

They have another crunch game on Wednesday night against their nearest rivals for the remaining European Champion's League place, Manchester City. It will be a very tense affair.

I had the pleasure of picking up Ian and Carolyn last night in the cab, they being the Hojos from my blogroll and fellow Busselton bloggers. It was the first time I'd seen Ian since Spurs' fantastic victory over Arsenal a couple of weeks ago and I took delight in recounting the game and the wonder goal to Ian who of course has the misfortune of being an Arsenal fan!

The Western Derby has just started so I'm about to settle back and watch the Dockers belt the Eagles (hopefully!).

Tables Turned

There was a strange feeling in the Holt Press house tonight. In a significant role reversal, I was at home, watching the footy instead of driving a taxi while Mrs Holt Press was behind the wheel of the Eagle-Boys-Mobile delivering pizzas to the hungry hordes of Busselton. She and Favourite Daughter are both doing pizza delivery and both seem to enjoy it. There's an on-going contest to see who gets the most tips.

Sometime you should ask FD about her recent experience of delivering a stray garlic bread! We were in stitches as she recounted the details.

All night I was regretting that I had tipped StKilda to beat the Bulldogs, until the last 5 minutes that is! After trailing all night and kicking a paltry 4 goals for the first 90 minutes of the game, the Saints stormed home to kick three in the last 5 mins and pinch the game! The Bulldogs players and fans were understandably gutted. I would not have wanted to face Rodney Eade after the game!

Favourite Daughter and I had fun this afternoon with some artistic expression. We installed the second of what I hope will end up being a large number of decorated trees, this time with old cds and dvds. You may remember the bottle tree that Sport Boy and I decorated a few months ago. I have a vision for a whole series of trees around Busso becoming living canvasses. Today's tree is on the bus route that I drive the kids to school along every day so I'm looking forward to their reaction when they see it. I'm also hoping to get hold of a longer ladder and extended this particular "work of art" further vertically.

Sinister April Fool's Day Prank

This news story confirms that most people don't read the details of on-line contracts, terms and agreements.
I'll be paying closer attention in future!

Fun and Games for Profit

In the second week of the Easter school holidays Sport Boy went to Country Camp, a training and development camp for talented soccer players held at Christchurch Grammar. This is him on the first day, awaiting instructions. I wasn't too impressed with their organisational abilities and lack of communication. With a hundred kids and their parents standing around no-one took any form of leadership or provided any communication about what to do or what was to happen. Maybe the kids were just supposed to intuitively know what to do, or pick up instructions by osmosis? I don't know.

My faith was given another shake the following day when I dropped in on the camp around dinner time to find Sport Boy with a plate full of non gluten-free food! SB (and Favourite Daughter and Mrs Holt Press) are all gluten intolerant and the consequences can be quite unpleasant if they eat food with gluten in it). Sport Boy missed a week of school recently for that very reason. So despite our clear communication on his medical form the camp had not provided any special diet for him! I questioned the cook who pled ignorance but assured me that from then on they would have healthy alternatives for him at meal times!

Just as well I had called in. I was on my way home to Perth and very nearly didn't stop, in fact I turned around and went back in order to do so. Considering we paid a significant amount of money in order for him to go on the camp it was not very satisfactory. On the upside, at the end of the camp Sport Boy was selected as one of the reserve squad for a team who will go to Singapore for a tournament later this year. He may not get to go but it was a great effort and commendation on his part to be picked. 

Soccer season starts next week, although his team, which I coach, the Cornerstone Giants, have a bye in the first round. We started training this week and I was impressed with the application and attitude of the kids. We've lost a few players and gained 4 new ones and they look like they'll be quite useful.

On Monday I ran a team building training day for the office staff from the high school. Here you can see them working on some problem solving games that help with teamwork and communication.l They all seemed to enjoy the day and when I dropped in to the school a couple of days later several of them thanked me and said how good a way it had been to start the term. 

On Wednesday I ran an overnight leadership camp for the student councillors and house captains down at the Venison Farm campsite near Margaret River. It's a fantastic venue that I have used a number of times before and it is perfect for the style of camp I was running. I did a lot of team building games, ice breakers, cooperation games, initiative problem solving exercises, trust games and challenges as well as sessions on public speaking, goal setting and communication skills. We packed a lot into the 21 hours we had available!

These are the sort of programs I've been running for many years, at the schools I worked at and for groups such as Rotary on RYLA and Rypen camps etc. It is nice to be able to take it the next step and use them in the process of working for myself and developing my own "small business". The kids had a great time which is the best affirmation of my work but it's rewarding to now being remunerated for it as well.

I'm getting more bus driving shifts now which brings in regular income, along with my taxi driving. On Tuesday I'm doing some training for the inter-town coach service to Augusta and on Thursday I commence a regular day of town service driving.

In between this is when I hope to keep expanding my contract work for the high school and eventually other schools and groups as well. I'll find out this week whether I've been successful in my application for some funding to run the Behind the White Crosses project this year.

And I'm already under way in my next contract for the school, managing and organising Country Week for them. Again, this was something I did in my role as chaplain so there is a natural progression in me doing it as an outside contractor especially as I'm able to build on my existing experience and networks from the last few years. 

I'm driving town service buses tomorrow which unfortunately means I won't be home to watch the footy and see Geelong play Carlton. I'll be glued to the trannie on the dashboard of the bus though. There have been three upsets in the footy already this weekend so I'm hoping the Cats will be on guard against it happening to them.

Back to School

School's back so I'm back too, on the school bus. After two weeks off I needed to reprogram my brain, I almost made two wrong turns today, lucky the kids were on the ball and let me know in time!

Spike and I had rehearsals last night and tonight; the play is starting to take shape. My part is pretty small. Spike has more to say than me and brings a good dose of humour to his part.

Rehearsals finished early enough tonight for me to make it to scrabble club for the last game which turned out to be a cliff hanger against Sue which I finally won by 7 points.

Tomorrow I'm running a leadership training camp for the student councillors and house captains down at Venison Farm in Margaret River. It's the sort of camp I ran many times as a chaplain but this time I'm doing it on contract and working for myself. I'll be away for the night. Hopefully the kids on the bus will behave for my fill-in.

I ran a team-building workshop for the admin and office staff at the school yesterday which went pretty well. My first forays into contract work have been enjoyable and successful, all I need to do now is build up a bigger client base and establish a reputation for providing good services to my customers.

The only negative at the moment is that I hurt my back a few days ago, I'm not sure how. It really hampered my movement and it is still sore though a lot better than it was. It will prevent me from playing volleyball in the opening game of the season on Thursday night though.

Come on You Spurs, Go Cats

Saturday: 10 hours of bus driving follwed by 11 hours of taxi driving with half an hour in between!

Not surprisingly I was pretty tired by the end of it!

Today the Sparrows came over for lunch. A sunday arvo barbie with good friends, it doesn't get much better than that.

Sport Update
There was great news overnight. Tottenham continued their brilliant form by beating league leaders Chelsea 2-1.

When I knew Spurs had to play Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in consecutive games I was understandably pessimistic. They are the top three teams in the league after all.
Beating Arsenal was fantastic, beating Chelsea too was incredible.
I can't imagine how I'll feel if we beat Man U as well!

And this arvo Geelong pulverised Port Adelaide just for some icing on the cake.
James Podsiadly, 28 year old rookie playing his second game for the Cats kicked 5 goals.

Worth Staying Up For!

   I stayed up very late last night to watch the crucial game between Spurs and deadly rivals Arsenal. Spurs needed to win to keep their chances of qualifying for the European Champions League (top 4 in the Premier League). Arsenal needed to win to maintain their chance of winning the league title.

The problem was that Spurs haven't beaten the Gooners in the league for 11 years!!!!

There've been a couple of notable Cup victories and a few dramatic draws, like coming back three times last season to draw 4-4!

There was also the disappointment of being knocked out of the Cup by Portsmouth on Sunday to overcome.

The odds and history seemed against a Spurs victory.

Throw into the mix a 19 year old kid making his debut in front of a packed house at White Hart Lane in one of the biggest games of the season, Danny Rose.

Would he be over-awed?

Could Tottenham win?

Watch this and marvel at one of the greatest goals ever scored, anywhere, by anybody!

Seriously, I'm not exaggerating, this is a stunning goal and it set Spurs on the road to a famous victory.

Come on you Spurs!

My Address at the Memorial Opening on Saturday

I wonder if we realise how truly blessed we are?

We live in Australia, not just one of the best countries in the world but also one of the safest.

We enjoy a lifestyle virtually unmatched by any other nation on earth.

At least in part because we have a continent all to ourselves and don’t share a border with any other country we enjoy great security and safety.

We may be guilty of taking these things for granted, of not truly appreciating just how well off we are.

Further to that, we live in Busselton, a quiet little seaside town, a jewel on the beautiful coastline of the near perfect south west of Western Australia.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say there are few better places to live anywhere on the planet.

But twice in the last few years, Busselton’s heart has been broken by events in other parts of the world.

There is a huge gap between the world’s rich and poor, the haves and have-nots, and this has served to reinforce the differences and inequalities between peoples and nations.

The world is greatly troubled, conflict is widespread and many resort to acts of violence, destruction and murder as weapons of terror.

While we live in peace, many other countries suffer at the hands of terrorism, war and violence on a daily basis.

In desperate circumstances, corrupt and evil forces can and do seduce the weak, the unwary and the gullible.

Some have come to believe the lies; that murder and terrorism can enable them to achieve their aims.

Fuelled by ignorance mistrust and hatred, religious fanaticism has manipulated desperate people into committing heinous acts of evil and terror.

Carol and Brendan are just two of hundreds who were killed maimed or injured in Bali and countless other places.

Beautiful Busselton suffered doubly and many of you here experienced a pain too unimaginable to contemplate or describe.

How do we respond to these awful events?

What can we do?

We have cried many tears and mourned our dead. The pain has diminished but slightly.

We have only our memories to hold on to, to enjoy, to draw comfort from.

Now we have a place. A special place. A place dedicated to the memory of Carol and Brendan. A place conceived, designed and constructed by their family and friends as a tribute to their lives and their memory.

Here on our beautiful coast we have a place we can come, to remember, to contemplate, to pray. I hope that this will be a place of peace and friendship and honour and even celebration.

But, I believe we have to do more.

I don’t believe we can just hunker down in our safe refuge and ignore the problems of the world.

In possibly the greatest message ever preached, the sermon on the mount, Jesus said something I believe to be completely applicable to us today.

“Blessed are the peacemakers”.

Let me elaborate on that simple statement.

Jesus didn’t say “blessed are the peacekeepers” but rather the peacemakers.

We are familiar with peacekeepers in the modern world, armed soldiers sent to places of conflict to keep warring parties at bay. Their role, though vital to safety and security, is only to impose peace through superior force. It does not produce lasting peace because it does not resolve the root causes of the problems that lead to conflict in the first place.

I believe we need peacemakers.

In fact I believe we need to be peacemakers ourselves.

That means we need to actively, consistently and persistently work towards making peace.

Where there is conflict we need to work for peace, whether that be in places of war or in our school or workplace or in our own homes. To make peace requires hard work. To make peace requires us to listen, and understand and empathise with both sides and to promote reconciliation, restitution and forgiveness.

It’s not easy to make peace but ultimately when we do the impact is greater and longer lasting. We personally can’t resolve the conflict that leads to terrorism but we can work to learn about other people, to see inside their worlds and to look for ways to cooperate, co-exist and work together. We can choose a path dedicated to living at peace with others.

I’d like to think that Carol and Brendan’s memories would be honoured by such actions of peace making on our part.

Prayer

Catching Up and Catching my Breath

It's been busy the last few days. Here's why.

Friday I had the brakes fixed on my car. That metal on metal sound was becoming annoying. Mrs Holt Press did the dropping off and picking up because I was driving a bus all day doing the town service (long shift, 10 hours)  runs. ie. four trips to Dunsborough, one to Geographe and 1 1/2 to Broadwater. In the arvo Jeff rang to ask if I wanted to cover a shift for someone in the taxi that night. Yes. Thankfully it was a 9pm start and early finish (by early I mean 2:15, as opposed to 4.00am). As taxi shifts go it was quite good, not too many ferals and reasonably busy, those being the two critical criteria for a good night in the cab. A couple of drive-throughs at McDonalds with some friendly rather than obnoxious customers, that sort of thing. Maccas is open 24 hours now but only for drive through after midnight so the pub crowd with the munchies have to hire a taxi to get their fix of fast food. Quarter Pounders seem to be the most popular.

Saturday morning I was up early (8.00 rather than 12, a typical post cab rising time) because there was a trundle bed for sale at a garage sale in Abbey. Mrs HP had mentioned she'd like one a couple of weeks ago. With the high number of sleepovers and house guests the kids entertain it would be more convenient than the mattress on the floor routine. The trundle was not exactly as I envisaged it, ie. white metal and "girlie" looking but this was no time to be fussy, trundle beds don't come up very often besides which the two mattresses were in good condition. 

Feigning casual interest I asked how much they wanted for it. 

"$150" 

Hmmm, a bit more than I wanted to pay. 

Of course, as you well know I am a committed haggler. 

After a couple of thoughtful minutes I asked "would you take a hundred?" as my opening bid. 

""Yeah". 

That was easier than I expected! Nice!

And they even offered to deliver it once we worked out it wouldn't fit in the back of my car, even with nice new brakes.

Of course I didn't just drive past the 4-5 other garage sales I saw on the way back but apart from a few cheap dvds I didn't buy anything else.

I was by then under a little bit of time pressure as I was due at the foreshore at 10.00am for the official opening of a memorial built in honour of Carol and Brendan, the two Busselton people killed in the two Bali bombings. Their family and friends, along with Rotary worked hard to create the memorial which is perfect in my opinion. I was invited to speak at the opening. The list of speakers read as follows:

Lawrie Walter, Rotary Club President

Troy Buswell, local member and state treasurer

Barry House, local upper house member

Ian Stubbs, Shire President

and me! Introduced erroneously as "Reverend Marcus Holt"

I gave a reflection and concluded with a prayer. I'll post a copy of my message seperately.

Several people thanked or complimented me for my words when we moved on to The Equinox cafe for refreshments. 

It was nice to be asked to be involved seeing as I am no longer the chaplain at the high school. 

Saturday afternoon I did the short town service shift in the bus (5 hours) then straight into the cab for another 10 hours of taxi driving on

Saturday night. I was pretty stuffed by about 2.00am and on the way back from a trip out to the sticks had to pull over and sleep for a couple of hours or I would not have gotten home safely. I had already done a long run down to Rosa Brook, south of Margaret River to drop some kids off at what looked like being a pretty wild party. Some one was throwing handfuls of stones at the cab while I was turning around. Tempted as I was to get out and "sort them out", I decided to drive on and leave them to their drunken stupidity.

I'd seen a sign saying Busselton 50km on the way so decided to take this "short cut" back to town! Hmmm!

Might reconsider that decision next time.

There were no further signs, just a succession of intersections, cross roads, T-junctions and dirt roads to choose from. I made it as far as a T-junction on North Jindong Rd which sounded familiar but by then I'd lost my bearings and with the southern cross seemingly directly overhead couldn't work out which way was north so I did what any intrepid explorer would do, I rang Spike on my mobile and asked him to google some directions for me!

Sadly that didn't work out easily as his interpretation of google maps left something to be desired. Just then a light appeared and I waved down a young bloke in a ute. 

"Are you lost?"

Yep.

"Follow me, I'll get yo to Vasse"

Great, thanks.

To my dismay he turned down what I would have considered to be the third of the three options available!

But, within a couple of minutes I was on Kaloorup Rd and headed back to familiar territory.

The fare by the way had cost them $122, $36 of which was taken up with driving into town so they could buy booze at the bottle shop. The drink of choice? Two warm bottles of Chardonnay for $5 each!! Very classy!

I crawled into bed at about 5.30 only to be up again 5 hours later so we could drive up to Perth on 

Sunday morning

for the footy. Geelong v Fremantle at Subi. We being the whole family minus Spike who somehow skipped the football gene and thus is definitely the black sheep of the Holt Press family!

Enroute we dropped off a trailer loaded with a BBQ and a mattress at The Heir's place in Munster (seriously!). I bought a Barbie at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago so passed on our old (but still good) one to The Heir. That's what Heirs are for after all.We'd been planning to park 'n ride and take the train to the footy but time was running out so we ended up driving all the way in and parking at my favourite secret parking spot, behind St Barnabus' church. A few other people have discovered my secret but I managed to squeeze in.

We met The Heir at the game, and what a game it was, a real thriller, 14 lead changes I think!

The Cats played great but the Dockers played just that little bit better and got up by 7 points in a thriller.

I was not disheartened. Geelong were by no means disgraced and in the circumstances had nearly pulled off a great win against the odds. It was a "coming of age" game for Freo and represents their best start to a season ever! (Pitiful that 3 wins in a row is their best ever start but let's not be churlish!)

We had texts and messages from various Freo fans scattered around the ground and I caught up with Big Brother the accountant and Julie, a former colleague and fellow Cat fan at half time.

Despite the loss I had fun stirring up the big crowd of Freo fans inching their way through the subway tunnel at West Leederville, inviting them to join me in singing "We are Geelong, the greatest team of all"!

Predictably I was booed and howled down along with plenty of laughs before the "Freo Freo" chant drowned me out!

We had dinner at Hans Cafe in Subi, (beautiful fish curry Mmmm!) followed by ice cream at Il Gelato before I was dropped off at the Chatteau d'Taffrail and the rest of the family headed for home.

I stayed up in Perth because I had  a job to do on 

Monday

driving a bus back to Busselton. It had been being serviced at a place in Kewdale and as I was already going to be in Perth it was convenient for me to pick it up and drive it home. Which I did. Uneventfully.

Monday night I had rehearsals for the play, "It Runs in the Family", in which I am playing the police sergeant

and Spike is playing an 18 year old punk!

Sport Update: There was another disappointing result on Sunday night. Tottenham, despite being hot favourites, were knocked out of the FA Cup, losing the semi-final to lowly Portsmouth who are not only bankrupt but also destined to be relegated from the Premier League. I couldn't watch the game but followed it closely on the internet and had a growing sense of foreboding that it wasn't going to be Spurs' day as chance after chance went begging before Pompey snatched the lead in extra time! Rats. The Champion's League spot we so covet is also under threat having been overtaken by Manchester City following the loss to Sunderland last week and the run from hell starting this week with successive games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United which will no doubt decide our fate!

Post Easter Wrap Up

The Easter Art exhibition experiment was a flop. Wrong place, no people. Despite the fact there were thousands of tourists in town for the weekend, none of them came to see my art, it was too far away from the action and the pedestrian traffic areas of town. Oh well, it was an attempt worth trying and something I've learnt a few clear lessons from. The main one being that old real estate adage, "Location, location, location!" On the positive side, of the 20 odd people who did come in, one of them bought one small painting. Sadly the price paid will only cover half of the cost of hiring the display stands from the local school!

There was another lady who expressed interest in a picture but tried to beat my price down by a hundred dollars then asked if she could lay-by it! Not sure if we'll end up doing a deal or not!

It's school holidays which means no school bus driving which means no income! I've got a couple of days of town service driving which will bring in a little bit and a couple of jobs to do for the school in the first week of term.

I have put in a submission for some funding for the Behind the White Crosses project, I'm not confident about it  but I'm hopeful that if not through this source then through some other funding body I may be able to get some money in order to run the program this year. I'll find out the result on the 28th. Fingers crossed.

Mrs Holt Press is in Perth tonight, having gone on a "rescue mission" to get Favourite Daughter home. FD injured her foot a few days ago and is having trouble driving. Toni drove the Kombi to Perth but FD can't drive it back so Mrs HP has gone up to drive it for her. There were further dramas this afternoon that required several phone calls and some problem solving skills on my part to sort out. I think everything is OK now. They'll be home tomorrow, after a visit to the myopractor in Bunbury enroute, hopefully he'll help get FD's foot working properly again.

Sport Boy is staying at Ben A's tonight, no doubt having a wonderful time and going to bed very late!

He is going on a special soccer camp next week,"Country Camp" designed for talented soccer players from around the state. He's understandably excited about it. The soccer season starts in a couple of weeks which means I'll be pulling out the coaches clipboard again and trying to instil some skills and strategies into the Cornerstone Giants in the U13 comp.

Spike and I have something in common: we've both got parts in an upcoming play being staged in Busselton. I showed him the ad for auditions in the local paper a couple of weeks ago and he went along, scoring the part of a teenage boy with punk tendencies (typecasting!). A follow up ad said they were still looking for a couple of males to fill remaining roles so with Spike's approval I went along to rehearsals and will be playing the part of a police sargeant! It's an English comedy set in a hospital. Hopefully it will be fun for us and the audience.

Geelong had another good, come from behind victory on the weekend to beat Hawthorn by 9 points. We're all going to the footy in Perth on Sunday to see the Cats play the Dockers who are undefeated, to everyon'e surprise, and playing very well. With Scarlett and Mooney out and the game being played at Subiaco I won't be surprised if Freo win! Not that I'm writing off the Cats and nor will I be surprised if we win, but it will be a tough challenge. Geelong barely got up last season when Matthew Pavlich had a shot at the end of the game that would have won the game for Freo and missed! We may not be so lucky this time round.

Easter Art

I've got one day left to get my Easter Art Exhibition ready! Wish me luck!

I've got the use of this building in exchange for painting three rooms inside. So far I've got half of one room done!! I suspect it will be a long night!

I'm picking up some display stands from the local Catholic college shortly which should make hanging a little easier.

It used to be a vet hospital so as an art space it's a little unusual but there are lots of rooms, good parking and access and it's situated on the main road so I hope my signs will attract some of the passing holiday crowd in town for Easter.

Favourite Daughter and Spike have returned from Perth and Sport Boy is back from his camp so the house is full again. School holidays start tomorrow which means no school bus run for two weeks (no pay either!) but I am doing a couple of days of town shifts during the break. Let's hope I sell some art!!!