Issue Number 57
(March 2001)
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Issue Number 57 |
Letters |
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Lloyd Penney I am always amazed at how some places (like Barcaldine) can be a small town or village, and still sustain six or more bars. Can that many people put that much beer away? I guess they can. They must be British fans... {Towns like that serve a huge area of countryside, so there can be a lot more customers than live in the town. Most of the pubs were empty, or nearly so, when we visited. I suspect they survive by renting rooms to tourists and itinerant workers, more than by selling beer, but I'm only guessing—Jean} It also made me wonder about Brampton, where I used to live. When we moved there in 1993, it had a population of 185,000, and somehow kept ten strip joints in business. Both those numbers have now doubled. I've seen a TV programme on great train rides around the world, and one of them was on a train in Queensland, a long trip that ended at a sheep station (can't remember the name), not far from the Gulf of Carpentaria. I've been across Canada on the train several times, and will happily go to conventions by train when I can. {That was either the Gulflander —the one we rode—or the Savannahlander, which goes slightly more inland but in the same general area.—Jean} Now I know exactly where Craig Hilton got to...I'm sure I can speak for many when I say that I miss Craig's anthropomorphic cartoons and Rats of the Underworld drawings. {Now that Craig's year in Doomadgee is finished, and he's back in civilization for awhile, perhaps he'll have more time for cartooning. We hope so, too!—Jean} When you mentioned your stay in Georgetown, you used an unfamiliar word, fossick. I decided to have a quick look in my Canadian Webster's, doubting that I'd find anything, but there it was. Did you find any gold around the tailings area? I'd think that any hopeful fossickers would be completely disappointed by now, with gold findings being nearly non-existent. (Fossick might be a good zine title...) {We didn't bother fossicking on this trip. Many places that rent fossicking equipment to tourists also "salt" the area with small amounts of gold or gemstones so everybody has a good chance of finding something. They don't hide the fact that they're doing this. Serious fossickers go to non-tourist areas and know enough to find odd bits on their own. Considering the size of some of these areas, and the relatively small number of fossickers, there often is quite a bit of scrap gold and gems around, not enough to be economically mined, but enough for a hobbyist jeweller, for example.—Jean I remember you had laser eye surgery...on the news yesterday, a government agency in the US issued a warning against laser eye surgery. Apparently, the advertising for the laser treatment fails to warn again its hazards, such as possible blindness, loss of ability to focus and loss of night vision. I think you avoided all that. {The place where I had my laser surgery spent a lot of time telling me about the possible hazards, and the fact that my chances of perfect vision—given my exceptionally poor eyesight—were approximately zero. The advertising for most places doesn't mention the problems, but I think most do tell you before you sign the release form. Of course, many people don't listen, or hear only what they want to.—Jean} Richard J. Faulder I enjoyed the trip diary. Many of the locality names I was familiar with as being associated with Mouse Spider specimens in the Queensland Museum, but it was nice to be able to put flesh on the bones of the name. Who'da thought that Craig and Julia Hilton would end up in a place like Doomadgee, so far from Perth. Your preference for a more-or-less civilised shower and toilet I can definitely sympathise with. Lyn McConchie... The flue for my old wood-fired oven is too wide for anything to nest in. Unfortunately there is a hive of bees in the chimney for the (unused) oil heater. Pamela Boal I do hope you are planning a motorhome trip in another part of Australia. Your report is fascinating. I particularly like the photographs and the fact that when you mentioned a road train in the text you gave us a photograph of the object that might have been a puzzle to us foreigners. Thank you for the reviews. I tend to be leery of books given the amount of hype that the Harry Potter books received here but when the grandchildren practically ostracise one for not having read Harry Potter, needs must. I was pleasantly surprised. I feel that J.K. Rowling really understands the emotions of children. She supplies characters children can identify with and situations that every child feels familiar with, where they are in the wrong but know that circumstances are to blame rather than themselves. I also feel her books are very well paced the setting is clear without holding the action up with long descriptive passages. Wouldn't the answer to Lyn's flue top be a cowling? The type that have a rounded slatted body that revolves either from the heat rising from the fire or the wind blowing. The movement stops the slats getting gunged up as a static piece of netting does. Mind if she had fitted a cowling we would not have had yet another of her highly entertaining accounts. Adrienne Losin This year, 2000, has been a mixed bag of good and bad. Good for my artwork, but bad for my health. My artistic coup was to be selected to do a picture destined for an overseas exhibition, celebrating Australia's Olympic involvement. This 20-artist exhibition was initially destined for the Australian Embassy in London, but ended up at three different galleries and is still on display, four months later. Most art shows run for ten days. The supreme compliment has been paid by London's Commonwealth Institute art gallery. The C.I. has purchased the collection in its entirety for its permanent collection. Unfortunately, the costs of sending my art overseas, exhibiting costs, etc mean that although my picture has been sold, I'm still very much out of pocket. Worth it, however, for the experience. Healthwise, I've discovered several more severe allergies, but by avoiding wheat, corn and potatoes, and getting regular physiotherapy, going to the Mornington heated pool and spa, I'm able to keep well enough to do some artwork, volunteer art teaching, and helping look after an elderly relative. During 2000 I'd been a volunteer art teacher to the mentally handicapped and physically disabled. I enjoyed it, and they enjoyed me, but the facility is poorly managed and some distance from home. It began to cost me more and more to do that volunteer work and was difficult to get everything else done, so in 2001 I'm unlikely to be volunteering again. I also heard from... lots of other people, mainly trading zines.
Home | Contents issue 57 | Diary notes | Jean's book notes | Ellie's book reviews | Lyn's Farming Daze | Letters Brought to you by: Jean Weber Page last updated 29 March 2002 |