Cablog

The Best

Multimedia at its best, honouring one of its best.

Vale Matt Price.

Da Man

Check out my short video of a super hero - A Man and His Tools.

Cruel

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a cabbie killed in the workplace, my second such event in 16 months. Last years service for Youbert Hormozi was the result of manslaughter, or reckless indifference to a life. Yesterday’s funeral came after a cold-blooded murder...

Winners

Last night I took a rare Saturday night off work and attended the annual Sydney Swans/Collingwood footy match at Olympic Stadium. It was a chance to see how the passengers relax and also to catch the mighty Magpies.

Anyone who follows the AFL knows that Collingwood supporters are not only extremely passionate but the most caring, gracious and friendly people one could meet. So it was delightful to share their jubilation over crushing the hopeless Swans and their dodgy supporters.

At the end of the game my brother received a text message from a mate, a mad Swans fan. Her one-word message was unambiguous; ‘c...s’. After which a dejected Swans supporter farewelled a Magpies fan with a sneering suggestion involving a star Magpie’s mother. Choice.

A few weeks ago I collected a bloke from the Swans/Essendon fixture at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Upon inadvertently revealing that I followed the mighty Pies, he exploded, "How could you !? Have you ever been to Collingwood ? It’s full of drug dealers, thugs, prostitutes, felons, welfare cheats...they’re all criminals!"

Of course I forgave his outrageous lies; as a long-suffering Melbourne supporter he was just being vindictive. Winners are grinners. (images enlarge)

UPDATE : Supporters clueless

UPDATE 2 : I’m ashamed to report that post-game, a nephew was involved in an unseemly altercation with a completely innocent and harmless Magpies supporter. As this nephew already had 'form', he will be severely counselled at the next family BBQ.

Johnson Beharry

Regular readers may recall my previous encounter carrying participants in Reserve Forces Day in Sydney. This lead to contact by an organiser who has recently advised of a special guest for Reserve Forces Day, July 2007. He is Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, a young UK recipient of the Victoria Cross for actions in south east Iraq.

Beharry, 27, who was twice injured saving colleagues under enemy fire, is the first recipient of the UK's highest valour award since the Falklands War. A book on Beharry’s life is called Bare Foot Soldier covering his journey from Grenada to Buckingham Palace.

Reserve Forces Day are seeking funds to sponsor Beharry’s visit and need immediate donation pledges to secure air tickets, totalling around $5000. Anyone wishing to contribute to Beharry’s visit can contact Reserve Forces Day secretary, Ron Richards at patronrich@bigpond.com.

Johnson Beharry, humble hero, "...I think my job is based on helping other people".

Reservist

About 20 years ago my life had reached a crossroads and I was looking for some extra interests. One weekend I wandered into the Army Reserves barracks at Randwick and made casual inquires to their survey and mapping branch...

Lest We Forget

They lay their sprigs of lantana before the Rock of Remembrance remembering how lantana lined Kokoda's winding track and leaned over those who fell beneath its fronds to fare forever far beyond Kokoda.

Then they come out into the brightness of their promised day, seeing afresh the free Australia those ragged bloody heroes helped to pay for with their lives - their last and lasting gift.

Peter Brune - Those Ragged Bloody Heroes

Olive

Just found this newish blog, The Life of Riley starring a NSW Central Coast woman aged 107. It looks amazing and just the tonic for something different on a lazy Sunday. Here's Olive's first post, enjoy...

Good Morning everyone. My name is Olive Riley. I live in Australia near Sydney. I was born in Broken Hill on Oct. 20th 1899. Broken Hill is a mining town, far away in the centre of Australia. My Friend, Mike, has arranged this blog for me. He is doing the typing and I am telling the stories. He thinks it’s a good idea to tell what’s going on. He already made a film about me a few years back and people liked that, so they might like this blog too, he says. We’ll see...

We'll see..? Olive already has a huge readership, is ranked in the top one percentile of world blogs and is soon to appear on TV. After only thirteen posts the girl's a blog star.

Icons

Recently I suggested that Sydney's famous Girl on the Wall could be used as an iconic emblem on the Harbour Bridge one New Year. However after plenty of mucking around in photoshop I've come to the conclusion she's just too skinny for the job. Maybe a Mandy Vanstone type would fit the bill, a big girl for a big bridge. I'd like to see that.

Shamed

Last night was a disaster at the busiest time of the year. Upon commencing work I was unable to log-on to the radio network, a goldmine of work early on Saturday evenings.

I phoned the radio room supervisor who confirmed the network was operational and my radio status was clear. All he could suggest was I visit the radio repair facility at Alexandria, the network headquarters. This is the last thing cabbies need during a peak work period, especially out in the western suburbs. In short I was furious. Finally after two patchy hours of street hails I turned off my Vacant light and headed to Alexandria...

Continue reading "Shamed" »