Where I live IV

Where I live.

The people voted in Rudd (or Blair, or Obama). It assuages their consciences. They’ve voted in the right people and given up plastic bags. What more could be expected of them?

When you point out to them that these people are only ‘this much different’ from the others – and here I am holding thumb and forefinger so close together you can’t see the space between – they argue with you ‘but they are different’.

The point of living in a democracy is that we have politicians of our choice. So, it turns out that we want politicians who don’t do any of the things we pay lip service to the importance of. Here in Australia, not least, the environment. We are happy to have a Labor government that, to all intents and purposes (and this is meant literally), is exactly the same as the Liberal government.

Where I live.

There are two ways of dealing with these facts. One group who voted for Rudd is completely apologetic – in this current climate, what can he do? The other group comforts itself with a sense of having been betrayed. These people are all liars one way or another. A child of two could tell exactly what Rudd and his cohorts were like prior to the election that brought them into office. Where I live they have appeased themselves with the idea there is a difference. Never mind it is a meaningless one.

Where I live.

Voting in Labor was done by self-serving people who wanted to feel good without worrying about the real consequences. We live in a democracy, we actually have the power to have big goals and to get what we want. It is our duty to make politicians behave. We put them there. What they are doing is by definition what we want them to do. So, we have this hypocritical Labor Govt in power now and WE put it there. In full knowledge. I think we should do much better than that. I’m ashamed not of the politicians, but of the people who voted them in and were content to know EXACTLY what would happen even though they all pretended they didn’t. Either that or they are all shamefully ignorant.

Where I live III

Where I live.

People are nice where I live. And they think everybody should have nice lives. People in Sudanese refugee camps? They should have internet cafes and good latte and – nice things.

Where I live. The people need something to believe in. Now that it isn’t acceptable to believe in God anymore, some of them believe in personal trainers, crystals and shopping. But some of them need something a bit more profound that that. They are Buddhist.

‘Well, we’ve a bit Buddhist, really. You might have noticed? The prayer thingies up on the porch? It’s very convenient on the whole. There isn’t much you have to do. You can’t do wrong, really. And you can keep your own hours with Buddhism. We just do a bit of believing when we really need to, or we’ve got the time. Jacky does it on her non-Yoga nights. You should try it.’

Where I live.

Where I live II

Where I live.

The people where I live had to find some way of caring for the environment. They still needed their UAVs, and it was just too hard to part with their trips to environmentally threatened parts of the world. We are the good people. We are the people most deserving to be the last people to see Antarctica.

Ah, they thought, as they came up with a viable idea. We could give up plastic bags.

Thus was born the idea of demonising plastic bags. We will make them look SO bad, that giving them up will be an important act of environmental responsibility.

Let's make plastic bags evil

We have done our bit. It wasn’t so hard, was it?

(Cartoon from Prospect)

Where I live part I

Beautiful little piece of land locked between park and beach. A population of well-heeled professionals who think everybody should have a nice life, not just them. What a generous thought.

Where I live.

Where I live all the neighbours have chopped down their trees, cemented their back gardens and lawns to make extensions. Home entertainment centres have been created to house the oversized TV. Maybe a spa where something green used to be.

All these people think the public park – Albert Park – is SO important. They chop down their own green but jealously guard the park.

That’s what the people are like where I live.

The Battle for Troy at the Stork theatre

My brother Bernard put his finger on what was wrong with this reading. One of the actors acted. I’ve never thought to articulate this before, but it is quite a different matter to read a part than to act it. Probably you have to be a reader to appreciate this and coming from a family who read out loud as part of growing up, this should have been obvious to me.

How lucky are we in Melbourne to have the Red Dwarf hologram, Jane Montgomery Griffiths, now resident here? She read, read fabulously and to be honest I would have been content for her to do the whole lot.

As usual for The Stork, and deservedly so, the performance was packed out. Even though it missed the mark for us, it was still well worthy of seeing. In fact both Bernard and I came home planning to pull out our Homers. Enough said…