Well here we are in 2012 and I'm
getting vertigo.
This Yuletide has been tragic with the
death of Ian Mattingly, husband of Ros, Denise's sister.
Ian was only 49 and the father of five
children. It was totally unexpected and happened in 1 week.
Our hearts go out to Ros and her
wonderful children, Alice, Megan, Michael, Clare and Jack.
Wagga Cathedral was packed to the max
with people standing en masse at the sides of the altar and at the
rear of the church. Four priests officiated including Archbishop
Carrol, a cousin of Ian's and Monsignor Frank Marriott, Monsignor
Lane from Corowa and Wagga's Father Paddy Sykes. Father Paddy made
the ceremony as light as such a sad occasion can be with amusing
comments on Ian's larrikin leanings and sporting propensities –
football is a winter sport, Cricket a summer sport but betting knows
no seasonal boundaries. Ian's cousin gave an excellent eulogy –
picture a young Ian galloping full tilt around the house while loudly
calling the race. The rainfall container placed beneath the eaves is
the sort of thing anyone might do...
Ian had a finely tuned sense of
irreverent humour. The irony of such a magnificent send off would
have provided great mirth for this man who, to my knowledge, had not
a religious or spiritual bone in his body. He would have appreciated
it. Vale Ian.
Our heartfelt thanks must go to
Monsignor Frank Marriot who has selflessly officiated at family
weddings and funerals, often involving long journeys and breaks away
from his own heavy schedule.
Life never ceases to amaze with its
twists and turns. Always expect the unexpected. Our son Jamie was
attacked in Krakow, Poland at 2:00am by skinheads who jumped from a
car, and put the boot in. He lost one tooth and his front teeth were
misaligned. He managed to flag down a police car and was taken to
Casualty. It could have been much worse, he could have suffered brain
damage.
As he philosophically put it, it was
random, pointless, but could have been anywhere. He'd travelled
across the USA, South America and Europe. We have had a similar
stupid attack here in Canberra, one recently upon an Irish tourist, a
tragedy which did result in brain damage. Yet Canberra is a
relatively peaceful city. There are elements of idiocy anywhere. The
irony is that he went to Poland to visit the Nazi concentration camp
at Auschwitz, a place of remembrance of those murdered by a system
built upon the evil proposition of a mutant. A system which cultivated and licenced brutality and murder not only by the dregs, the worst
elements of humanity, but by common soldiers, promulgated through
fear and silence.
We were also saddened this year by the
death of Kathy Snashall, wife of my cousin Glenn. It was another
sudden death and we were fortunate to have spent a lovely evening
with them during our trip to London earlier in the year.
Christmas
Christmas was spent in Melbourne at
Cara and Greg's home in Box Hill with Greg's parents Erika and Brad.
It was wonderful to catch up with our children, their spouses and
grand children, each one beautiful and unique. The Christmas eve
seafood was excellent as was Christmas Day's roast salmon, roast
turkey and roast pork on the barbecue. Accompaniments were also fab.
There was lively discussion and music, as you might expect at a family Christmas. Photos are on Picasa.
When in Melbourne a visit to second
hand bookshops and CD shops is a must. This visit I was pleased to
discover a number of bargains including, from the $2 bin at The
Searchers, Collingwood, The New Gothic, a compilation of gothic short
stories by Patrick McGrath and Bradford Morrow and essays by Judith
Wright called Because I Was Invited and The House of The Mosque by
Kador Abdolah. I also bought a biography of D.H. Lawrence by John
Worthen, almost new for $8.
My best reads of
2011 were
Disgrace by J.M.Coetze
Lovesong by Alex Miller
Conditions of Faith by Alex Miller
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A brave
woman speaks out against a medieval culture. Let's hope Islam can
modernise, divest its crippling, inhumane doctrines.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Background to Afghanistan, the plot overly contrived but
none the less entertaining.
Speaking With the Devil by various
authors. Short stories edited by Nick Hornby. Risky and some
hilarious.
Romulus My Father by Raimond
Gaita Autobiography with great depth and passion. The troubled
relationship between father, mother and son as each comes to terms
with their new country and each other. Also wonderful prose. I must
see the film.
No Surrender by Johnny Rogan. A
biography of Van Morrison. Rogan dislikes The Man, yet appreciates
aspects of his art. Morrison has said he'd like to do a book on
Rogan... A good read but I have doubts about Rogan's taste and
honesty, he skewed the book to his own agenda.
The biggest disappointment this year
was Parrott and Olivier in America by Peter Carey. I've always
admired Carey's writing – True History of the Kelly Gang,
Illywacker, Jack Maggs and Oscar and Lucinda are all fabulous. My
Life As A Fake was also enjoyable. The prose here is up to his usual
standard but the plot for me was too artificial. Ok others liked it, critics among them, and maybe I expected too much, but I read half and had to abandon ship.
Should I have persevered?
CD Bargains found
over Christmas
Finally I bought The Doors' 2007
remastered re-release of The Soft Parade with the extra tracks. Must
admit I had heard a few tracks but never the whole thing – it had
such a poor reputation. Well the reputation is warranted by
comparison to their other fine albums, and in fact all of the other
albums are worthy additions to any collection despite what critic
Dave Marsh wrote in the second edition of Rolling Stone Rock and Roll
Guide. Yes The Soft Parade was misguided. However, there are a handful of
good tracks which, had they been issued as an EP would have enhanced
the group's reputation, these being Touch Me, Shaman's Blues, Easy
Ride, Wild Child, Runnin Blue and from the additional tracks Version
2 of Whiskey Mystics and Men. OK, a 6 track EP but good material.
Best Music for 2011
The Best of Van Morrison Vol 3, a
double Cd was selling new for $10 at JB Hi Fi and could not be
ignored. There are a number of live tracks, re-mixes and
collaborations to make it special. I expected a number of indifferent
tracks but surprisingly most tracks are well chosen (by Van) and
quality material with about six being excellent – Ancient Highway,
Raincheck, Blue and Green, Shenandoah (with The Cjhieftains), Help Me
(with Junior Wells), Lonely avenue/ 4 O'Clock in the Morning (w.
Jimmy Witherspoon) and Early In the Morning (with B B King).
The Hendrix family finally released a
remixed and reconfigured Hendrix In The West, originally released as
a posthumous collection of superb live performances. This version has
added three tracks and replaced Little Wing and Voodoo Chile (Slight
Return). In my opinion this is a stronger
compilation, but of course there are
moaners on Amazon. I had to place a review.
Sony's Original Album Series are
excellent value in that they contain a box set of five albums which
sells for $20 at JB Hi Fi. I purchased Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett
and Los Lobos. I have reviewed the Wilson Pickett set on Amazon which
is excellent apart from the reprocessed stereo on the Wicked Pickett
album.
Our U3A short story group is growing stronger, 2011 had about 15 members and this year should have 20. Paul Humphries generously organised a publication of our output with two stories from each person. It is wonderful to see the variety of styles and this grass roots talent displayed in print.
