First bike. I received my first bike for my 5th Birthday. My birthday was in October so I didn't start school until I was aged 5. It was always anticipated that I would have to ride a bike to school. The nearest school – Meadow Creek - was 3 miles away. My parents milked cows so they did not want to have to drive me to school when it was milking time. I think I was keen to start school. The bike was sized 20 and was blue coloured. A Malvern Star. It was the smallest you could get. The sizes went up by 2’s. 20 – 22 – 24 – 26 – and if you were grown up you had a size 28. I presume this was the diameter of the front wheel in inches. I once saw a size 28 and it seemed gigantic. The bike was presented to me outside the chaff shed. My parents had hid it in there waiting for my actual birthday. I asked if I could get on it straight away. You don't know how to ride my mother said. I had seen older children ride their bikes and it didn't look too hard. You just hopped on and pushed the pedals. My father held the bike upright. I climbed on and put my feet on the pedals. I started pushing and off I went. My father had given me a bit of a push so I already had momentum. The pedals went round and I was upright on the bike. I pushed hard and speeded up. Suddenly I had put distance between me and my Mother and Father. I was going in a straight line directly for the telephone line. Turn around. Turn around they shouted. I didnt turn around. I just stopped and leant against the telephone pole. I thought – I should put my foot on the ground. So I did. I knew I knew how to ride a bike. I didnt have to be taught. I had seen others ride and I had taken it in. I rode the bike all that day. When I started school I rode my bike from the very first day. Conclusion This incident was replicated with my third child. He took to riding his bike with gusto. He learnt to ride in the morning and in the afternoon I saw him riding his bike on Station Street Ferntree Gully behind a car – and he was being followed by another car. I was worried but I knew I had done the same thing more or less. How could I be worried or chastise him. History was being repeated. A Fine Day in London. When I lived in London I cannot remember being unhappy. I went to sleep each night wondering what was going to happen tomorrow. Whatever happened I knew it would be good. I knew that something interesting would happen at work. I knew in the morning I would walk to Earls Court Station and take the District Line to Temple Station. I would stand in the underground and feel the wind on my face which announced a train was coming although you couldn't hear it. I would wonder how many other people on the station would be as excited as I was. Why didn't they smile with pleasure. Just being here is exciting I would think. I would read The Times on the way to work. I always felt reading The Times was extremely pleasurable. It was civilising. I felt The Times spoke directly to me. I more or less read it from cover to cover. This took all day. Morning and afternoon tea breaks. Lunchtime too. Coming home from work also. I shared a room with a car mechanic. We got on well. He worked somewhere in North London. The first thing he did when he came home each night was to try and wash off the oil stains on his hands and arms. He had no hot water where he worked. He was restoring an old car where he worked in his spare time. His boss let him do this after his normal work. Finally he bought the car home to show us. It was indeed old. I dont know what type it was. It appeared to be put together from parts of other cars and it probably was. He had hand painted it green but the previous colours showed thorough underneath. Each part of the car seemed to have a different colour. He didn't bring it home very often because it was not registered and he was afraid of being caught. But one night he said that he had to go past Kingsway the next morning so he could drive me to work. I said OK. The next day dawned and there was a slight hitch in that his lights were not working and we had to wait until it became fully light. This was in the middle of winter. But the day turned out to be one of those miracle days. One of those days you never anticipate in wintry England. It was a wonderful sunny day. Bright blue sky. Almost blinding sunlight. Steam rising from the leaves. Sunlight coming through the cracks in sunbeams. Sunshine reflecting off buildings. People walking with optimism. I did not mind being late for work. My friend did not want to drive down main roads as he did not want to get caught with an unregistered car. So he drove all the way to Kingsway down side streets. I don't think we saw a Main Road. My friend seemed to know exactly where to go. I had no idea where we were. I didn't mind. I was struck by how wonderful the day was. Driving along narrow streets seemingly full of people going to work. It was obviously cold but it was wonderfully sunny. The ride did not last long. We seemed to go from one side street to another side street and suddenly we were in Kingsway. All the way in wonderful sunshine. I was let out of the car. I walked a short way along Kingsway and then along The Strand and then I was at work. I knew these were wondrous times. When I left London he drove me to Heathrow and he still hadn't had his car registered. To get to Heathrow we had to drive along main roads but we didn't see any Police. Conclusion I don't think its possible to replicate these times. I feel the British have changed permanently. To the point where I don't recognize any of the Tory Party leadership candidates as even being English. Let alone Tories. They don't even remotely seem to be Tories. I myself felt British to my bootstraps. Now I think Theresa May will be judged to be the last British Prime Minister. Of course Mr Murdoch owns The Times and the paper reflects his prejudices. Its all very dispiriting to someone like me.
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China 2019
Saturday 1st June. Set off at 16.40 after watching Collingwood get beaten by 4 points by Fremantle. Collingwood should have won if they had allowed a goal that was kicked as the 1st quarter siren went and the ball was still in mid air. Later on in the game a shot was touched off the boot and the goal was allowed to Fremantle. Both teams played well. We should have tagged Fyffe. James drove us to the airport. We were there by 18.30. Alex was up for the weekend and he stayed home. Took us over an hour to get through customs and security. I used to love airports. I thought they were warm friendly places. Always something happening. Workers didnt seem to be workers. They were close to going somewhere. Always a semblance of feeling of being connected to somewhere else when I was there. I used to dream that someday I would fly off from Australia. Now I do fly off and its not the same. All airports have been made bigger for a start. The food has not improved. Understandably security has been arced up. To the point of where it has gone over the tipping line. Whether all the inconvenience and cost has had an impact on terrorism I do not know. I very much doubt it. Goods and Services are expensive. Many luxury brand stores in existence. All deserted. Do the airports pay for them to set up shop and make the airport seemingly more fashionable and exciting. We finally got onboard only to sit for over an hour until we were asked to leave the plane. Mechanical problems. Finally we left over 2 hours late with no chance of connecting with our flight to Chendu in Shanghai. As it was the flight was uneventful. One tiny baby on board that cried occasionally. Saw his mother preparing to breast feed him and he opened and shut both his hands in pleased anticipation of being fed. Just like Tom James and Alexander. We spied the obvious other Trip a Deal tourists on the flight. I must say some women take an inordinate amount of time in the toilet. Just stand outside waiting for them to come out. I would have sworn there was a female in the toilet – she pushed in front of Jenny - and after standing waiting for 15 minutes I informed the Stewardess. But when she investigated there was no one in the toilet. One of those mysterious and embarrassing moments. Because of the time delay we had two meals. Rice mixture and Noodle mixture. Noodles was better but not much good. I think airline food has deteriorated. Jenny was sick for most of the flight. I am personally considering not flying again. I dont think its worth it. She sits for most of the flight with a sick bag in front of her face. Groaning and crying. She stands outside the toilet heaving into a sick bag. Even as we were landing she was coughing up phlegm into the sick bag. As it was the landing was perfect. At Shanghai we had to change our flights which caused us some panic. We also had to collect our luggage which also caused panic as the luggage was not on the bag carousel that it was supposed to be on. We then spent all day in Shanghai Airport. Could not find a money changer inside the domestic terminal. The only ATM Machine would not work. Had a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Acceptable but not as good as Starbucks in Saigon. Chinese still like to take on board double the carry on luggage that Australians do. The airport does have a small Art Gallery. Some interesting paintings. One a collage of an old fashioned high rise. Very interesting idea. Both collage and painting over the collage and very heavily varnished. Looks an authentic work of Art. Other paintings also worthy of mention. I took photos. I did watch one memorable Chinese Film during the flight. There was nothing interesting on offer really except for this. I watched a bit of the new Mary Poppins film but it was really no good. Rubbish even. I listened to a lot of Mozart’s Piano Concerto’s. All 21. The impressive film was called Going Back to 1942. It was set during the famine in Henan Province. The film followed the fortunes of Chiang Kai Chek, the local administrator, the Army and its battle with the Japanese, grain hoarders, corrupt officials, the famine and its effects, and the refugees the famine produced. Very well produced. Must have cost a fortune to make. Looked authentic all the way through. Theodore White reporting for Time Magazine was woven into the plot and this showed his connections with both high government and lowly peasants. Some smiling American Military person after America came into the war. The same Theodore White who later published Whites Weekly and help end the Vietnam War. The film was honest about Chiang Kai Chek but somewhat sympathetic. Obviously used his words and quoted from speeches he had made at the time. Official figures for people killed in the famine was 1600 or so but in reality it was 16 Million or so. Whilst waiting all day in the Airport I did some reflection on Chinese women. What effect has the feminist revolution had on them. Looking at them in the airport I wonder what their motives are. I would say they are not trying to look sexual. They do however seem to accept that they hold up half the sky. How many women are in the National Peoples Congress. Not many if any I suspect. Are there any women in the government – not that I know of. But I do notice some things. I would say there are more flowing dresses than in Australia. One fashion is to wear a normal skirt above the knees but cover it with a voluminous outer skirt made of mosquito netting. These dresses are common. But overall less overtly masculine clothes. No tattoos. We did have a butch girl sitting next to us in the flight from Shanghai to Chendu and she wore masculine clothes. She spoke English pretty well and was a very nice person. Had been to Australia. Regaled us about the harsh working conditions of Chinese. Not many holidays for a start. I dont think she was typically female though. The Stewardesses were all very slight and some were tiny. Are there minimum weight standards so they can scoot up and down the aisle easily. What do they think though? Do Chinese women wake up in the morning with the expectations that they will someday rule the world? Have they entered into the agreement with the Chinese Government that they will take no interest in Politics and will leave all Political decisions to the Chinese Communist Party. Yes. Will they work hard and diligently all their lives. Yes. Will they take life seriously. Yes. Otherwise they are not much different than Australians. Men also. I always ask – how are you different to Chinese when I come across Australians saying disparaging things about China. Can we ever make any generalisations though. Probably not. I would have loved to come here in the 60’s and 70’s . Was it possible to make observations then or were they all too internal and intimidated. What with the Cultural Revolution and its consequences. Why was Mao such a gigantic figure. It is however possible to make some modern generalisations. The Chinese have progressed from bikes to cars in 30 years. The standard of car is higher than in Australia. But does everyone have one - I would probably think not. It will be interesting when they do. More freeways will be needed. There are already specified alternate days for cars only allowed. The new freeways are very well planned and well built. New housing for everyone appears to have been built in the last 30 years. So – new cars – new housing – new industries. Plus a new high speed rail complex. New buildings everywhere. Its obvious they are succeeding in what they are intending. When we left Pudong airport we flew over Shanghai City Centre. Very thick pollution. Dark in colour. Something like a real pea souper. Finally made it to the Hotel at 1AM Melbourne time. We have been on the road for more than 24 hours. Monday 3rd June Blood Pressure 141/82 Pulse 83 Alarm set for 7AM. Good nights sleep. Only woke once. Excellent breakfast. Carrot and Garlic Moss available. Never heard of this before. Had a selection of a lot. Proper coffee machine dispensing American Italian and French coffee. I had 2 cups of French. Today we went to the Panda research Facility. We then had lunch Sechual Style. We then went to a Shopping Mall. We then went to the Sechuan Opera. Most of the day was spent on the bus. The Bus Driver was very skillful in his driving. The traffic is not as close as Vietnam but still quite close. Mostly cars. Not a lot of bikes. Hardly any Motor Scooters. The Panda Research Facility was slightly disappointing. Not a lot of Pandas on display. Wrong time of year to visit. They are more winter creatures. Most of them were living inside their airconditioned quarters. Not that I wanted to see lots of Pandas. I had seen a Panda in London and even then I felt sorry for the single Panda. The pens did not look natural. Lots of concrete. Still the Pandas put on a good show for the public. Wrestling and playing – then resting etc. Having a snack of Bamboo. Large crowds. A fair number of children. Lots of bamboo growing. Not the type that Pandas eat though – this type is very good at cleaning the air. Lots of walking up and down hills to enclosures that had nothing showing. Signs apolagising for being shut. The Chinese crowd seemed to join in the walking happily. No obese people like in Benalla. Took more than an hour on the bus to get there. Interesting looking at Chendu on the way. Fair amount of air pollution. Chendu has 20 million but is still classed as a smaller city – class 2. Not up with Shanghai or Beijing. Large statue of Chaiman Mao in the main square. Did he ever come here I wonder. Stopped off for lunch on the way back to Chendu. Ate Sechuan style. Large table seating 8 people. Sechuan is cook it yourself. A number of side dishes. Flaming couldron in the middle. Take your side dish and cook it in the couldron. Couldron split in two – inner and outer. One for water and one for chilli liquid. Both bubbling with extreme heat. Everyone has their own bowl of different cold sauces which they got before they came to the table. You take the cooked meat etc out of the couldron and put it in your bowl of cold sauces for flavouring. Side dishes included fungus, duck, beef, meatballs, tofu, etc. Meal was quite good. Finally arrived back at Chendu city at approx 16.40. Finally got some Chinese moneyfrom an ATM. No money exchange though. Walked up and down the City Centre Mall. As usual lots of luxury goods shops. Lots of young people walking around. At one end of the Mall there were what appeared to be lifesize statues on a modern K Pop girl group, another of a young western man looking at his mobile phone and a statue of who I believe is Jane Fonda. I took a photo and asked our tour guide and even though she comes from Chendu she had never seen the statues. Is this an example of people leaving all interest in public affairs to the authorities. Cannot get google to ask. Google is apparently now banned in China. Another triumph for Mr Trump. After we had left the main shopping area we passed through a street eating area. We had dumplings and tandoori cooked nairn bread. Both excellent. We then went to the teahouse attached to the Sechuan Opera where we had Chinese Tea. Again excellent. I dont now how this deal originated but the tea was free. You sat at a table and a man our age came around and gave us a bowel with chinese tea flakes already in it. He then poured hot water into the bowel from a steaming kettle. We had to let the tea stew for a minute or 2. When we had finished he came around and topped up our bowels. It reminded me of Mao’s time. Or how China was portrayed in the 60’s and 70’s. Simple and pure. The Sechuan Opera was a bit over hyped. Not much comparison to Peking Opera. What it was really was was a variety show in native costume. The circuses who came to Moyhu in the 50’s had much the same acts. Jugglers. Balancing Acts. Fire spitting acts. Tumbling acts. Dance Acts. This show also had impressive shadow puppet acts and face changing acts. Never seen them before and dont know how they did it. The face changing acts are native to Sechuan apparently and were a mystery. Magic even. A performer comes out on stage dressed as a historic character and does a dance of sorts. During the dance his face changes mood. Suddenly. Dramatically. Magically. How does he do it. At the end some came into the audience and did the trick close up. The show was mainly accompanied by native instruments but also had pre recorded modern music. Female announcer in both Chinese and English. Back to the Hotel at 22.00 Slept reasonably well. Still no internet. No World Service. Tuesday 4th June Blood pressure 139/87 Pulse 86 Reasonable nights sleep. Still no BBC on the internet. But The Age is partially up to date. Brendon Bolton has been sacked. Had to be ready to leave at 8AM for the fast train. Very good breakfast again. I had American Coffee and I think it was a bit more bitter than the French I had yesterday. Chendu Station is reasonably impressive. Lots of people waiting for the train. Security check before you can get into the station. Bags through a scanner. Lesser security check before you are allowed on the platform. As far as I know China has not experienced an Islamic Terror attack. Is it because of the tight security. I would say not. Lots of people inside the Station as well as outside. Very modern looking station. Modern conveniences. On the way to the Station I tried to ascertain the number of electric cars on the road. It appeared that the majority did not have exhausts. Does this indicate an electric car. No doubt there are some. Didn't see any recharging stations. Fast train is comfortable but did not go overtly fast in the early stages. Going along at 190kph. Doesn't seem fast. Traveled through mountains with lots of tunnels. Very green vegetation. Lots of trees on the hills. Place looks very Chinese. Like a landscape painting until you glimpse a town in the distance with lots of high rises. Sometimes the high rises are close to the train line. For part of the way we followed an old narrow gauge line. Narrow valleys at the base of the hills intensively farmed. Lots of terraced paddocks. Both old and new housing attached to the farms. Who lives here. China is a big country and this is a long way from Beijing and Shanghai. Lots of rivers. Lots of new rail lines. Lots of new roads. They must get lots of rain in this area. Very lush vegetation. Saw some peasant activity attending to the fields but not much. Chinese hats on the people. Chinese garb – covered up bodies. In and out of tunnels a lot. Finally got to Yishang. Smaller city. Not as many people. Roads are not packed with cars. We are at the very West of Eastern China. Six and a half hours on the train. Not a spare seat. I expected to see more socialising by the Chinese but most sat in their seats quietly. Some looked at me with curiosity. I couldn't have any conversation. We went and ate in a Restaurant in Yishang with the sign out the front - Drunk Love my Family – in English. Large place inside with lots of corridors and small rooms. We were led to a room for ourselves. We had a set menu meal and thankfully no one refused to eat what was on offer. We then took a bus to the 3 Gorge Dam. Finally got to the boat. According to an ex naval person on the trip a ship is something that has boats. If this has lifeboats then this is a ship. I prefer to call it a boat as in we are all in the same boat. As it is not all people on the same trip are in the same boat. I always have trouble understanding the motives of Australians. The majority didn't want to slum it and opted to upgrade so we don't see them. They eat in what I presume is the 1st class dining area. They have waiter service. We have the buffet. They have the Captain in their dining room. They also have better cabins. Our cabin is small but adequate. Shower satisfactory. Had to go to a meeting in the Bar to see what was on offer for optional tours. Jenny had already paid for some. I really do not want on any excursions. What I wanted was to be on a boat that slowly sailed downstream and I could watch what was happening on shore. As it is we are going upstream and we are going to be tied up for 3 days and the boat will only travel at night. Wednesday 5th June Blood Pressure 142/88 Pulse 82 Slept in fits. Hard Bed. Breakfast very good. I sampled pretty well everything. Was allowed off the boat at 9.30 for a little walk around the town. Had to be back for instructions as to what the projected 3 Gorges Dam tour entailed by 10. The town looks completely new. Only a few years old. Not large. Steep hills slope up a long way from the water line. Houses built into the hills. Blue haze interferes with looking at anything. I think that the whole of China resembles a smoke making machine because there is what appears to be smoke everywhere. But it is not all smoke. I think some is climatic. Modern brick houses though - 2 or 3 stories. Maybe these are resettlement houses for people displaced by the Dam. People selling tourist souvenirs on the street. Street stalls selling fruit and vegetables. Large Police Station. Started raining heavily just as we were about to disembark for the 3 Gorges Bus Tour. Lightning on display. Wet feet before we got to the bus. Drove around the Dam – the bus slowed down so we could take photos. We finished up at the visitor centre but not before we had gone through Security. The Tour Guide explained that this is a project of the Central Government and is owned and controlled by the Central Government so they are very security conscious. There are approx 10k People maintaining the Dam. It has a large Lock for quite large ships to go through the Dam Wall. It has a large ship Lifter – something like a lift for boats - which isn't working at present. The Dam produces a prodigious amount of Electricity which apparently goes straight to the Beijing / Shanghai / Hong Kong region. That's why the government is so security conscious. We will go through the Lock tonight. It takes about 2 hours apparently. The lift takes half an hour. Rained pretty well up until it was time go go back to the boat. This was heavy rain too. You can see how this area is affected by floods. Part of the Dams function is to mitigate flood damage. Aftereffects of rain made the place look like a Chinese Landscape painting typical of Chinese. Lots of low white cloud covering the mountain tops. Green ridges sometimes peeking through the top of the cloud. Tour Guide pointed out that even though some of the old houses were primitive they all had TV dishes attached. We had a new Tour Guide – Coco. Reminded me of Lilli. Spoke like her. Looked like her. Smiled like her. Maybe Lilli could learn Chinese and become a tour guide for Chinese Tourists in Australia. We entered the lock as we were having our formal evening meal. Women wore dresses. Captain came and drank to our health. Lock is same as conventional lock on any canal in the UK but on a bigger scale. Multiple large ships in the Lock. It is filled up with water and the ship rises to the next level. Gate is opened to the next lock and the ships sail through. Gate is closed behind them and the procedure starts again. Had a sleep before tea. Deep sleep. Wednesday 6th June Blood Pressure 123/66 Pulse 90 My brothers birthday today. He will be 69. Will he ever forgive me. Do I deserve to be forgiven? Still no rice at breakfast. Maybe they don't eat rice in this area. Food is good. Very helpful young 20 years old waiter. Adam. I gave him my card and told him to visit me when he comes to Australia, Starting to get tired. But holding up fairly well. We left our boat and took a ferry up a tributary. Narrow Gorges. Two Jar People area. We had a new tour guide who was a 2 Jar person and had taught herself English. Saw some 2 thousand year old coffins buried in cracks in the walls of cliffs. How they got there no one knows. The terrain is pumice like and twisted all ways. Obviously subject to massive movement from either Earthquakes or tectonic plate movement. Grey coloured rock. Very tall steep hills. But covered in thick vegetation. New houses have been built to rehouse the inhabitants who used to live at the bottom of the valley. They moved over a million people to new locations when they built the dam. The area looks very Chinese. Went through relatively uninhabited areas. Terrain is not suited to human habitation. We saw some Rhesus Monkeys. A distinct lack of any bird life. Came back to our boat and we then sat and watched the world go by as we sailed up the Yankse. This is how I imagined the trip would be. Had and invigorating sleep after lunch. Rice was available for once. I have overindulged in food on every occasion. Don t seem to be suffering yet. We finished up the evening with a talent quest. No westerners took part. The crew did some dances etc. Some Chinese sang. Some children sang and played the piano. Normal dancing at the end. Nutbush. YMCA etc. Jenny indulged herself in dancing. Thursday 7th June Blood Pressure 134/80 Pulse 96 Slept relatively well. Ate less food than normal. I think I’m full up. Cake is on offer for breakfast. We think that they have put the cake out for the westerners but only the Chinese are eating it. And they are eating it with relish. Some have packed plates. We woke up already tied up at a small village. Schoolchildren came to school on ferries at 6AM. Saw a duck in the water. Walked up a long hill – a lot of steps – towards the town. Ran the gauntlet of the street traders. Jenny bought some saucers with Pandas on them. Some primitive art for sale. How they make a living is beyond me. Where is the Communism I ask. Saw the ducks again. One Muscovy and 4 White. All domestic. Possibly escaped from captivity. Quacking frequently. Hot day with haze in the air. Friday 8th June Blood Pressure 135/85 Pulse 84 Another day on the Yanksie. Walked up to some stalls. Jenny bought some ceramic dishes. At 2 in the afternoon we went to the Ghost Village. Lots of steps to get there. Ghosts for tourists really. Was mostly destroyed by the Red Guards during the Cultural revolution and rebuilt in the 90’s. Lots of Ghost Stories told by our local guide. Lots of statues. Old Town has been moved to the other side of the river. Only the Ghost Town this side. Beggars at the top of the stairs with physical disabilities. Looked like completely different ethnic group. I should have given them money but didn't. Saturday 9th June Blood Pressure 150/98 Pulse 82 Last breakfast on board. Had to walk a lot of steps to get the bus. Went to old Chongquing. Walked around. Had a tea ceremony. Were not many people in the area when we arrived but soon the area was packed. Lots of people out and about. Its a long weekend in China. We then went to the Train Station. Took the fast train to Xian. Very hilly terrain. Lots of tunnels. Country is Green. Very Green. Chinese Green. Our guide was not there to meet us. We had to wait 1 hour. Sunday 9th June Blood Pressure 152/86 Pulse 77 Normal Breakfast. Took coffee up to our room. Had a touch of diarrhea. This is slightly ironic as our new tour guide for Xian announced we would have no choice in selection of our lunch restaurant the next day as Australians always have diarrhea by this time and must be taken to where there is proper toilets. I think this was spoken partly in jest. I was skeptical at the time but turned out true. Reminded me of being on the ship to England when I had diarrhea for most of the way. The upside then was I lost a lot of weight. I hope I have the same upside this time as well. We went to a tourist place selling figurines of the Terracotta Soldiers as well as furniture, clothes, trinkets, carpets – lots of tourist stuff. People buy it. You can pay to have your own image put on a terracotta soldier. We didn't buy anything. But it did have proper toilets and I was grateful. Saw a bit of the countryside on the way. The rice has been recently harvested. Xian is a very big city. Old City Wall still intact. Has a Muslim Quarter. Looks well run. Big shops. Lots of luxury hotels. Even though it is an ancient city it was always set out on a grid system. A city of blocks. Saw the terracotta soldiers. Only about 10% have been dug up so far. Learnt that all soldiers have been broken up into bits by massive earthquakes. They have been in the ground since the time of christ. The area is earthquake bound. You can see this by the shape of the landscape which is twisted and turned – up and down – round and round – to the point where you can understand that everything in the ground will be busted into little bits. There has only ever been one more or less complete soldier taken out of the ground. They are reconstructed in the building from parts. There are no two soldiers alike. This was the first time that terracotta figures as opposed to live human beings were buried. From then on they only used figurines. Every Emperor started planning his tomb from the day he assumed power. When an Emperor died they stopped any further work on his tomb and buried him. The new Emperor then started work on his tomb. This particular Emperor who owns the Terracotta Soldiers is buried close by but the government has decreed that his tomb will not be opened for another 100 years. They might have finished with the Terracotta Soldiers by then. At lunch the conversation was as usual dominated by two ex tradies who claim to speak for all Australians saying that at some slaughterhouse up north you have to be Muslim to work there. His neighbor then said the government was spending a fortune somehwere out west where only aborigines would be able to work - same thing. Another person then went on to claim that in Melbourne you are not allowed to wish anyone Happy Christmas. This prompted the women next to me to say – I’d send them all back to where they came from if they don't like it here. This prompted me to lose my temper. I said to her – Why don't you leave. I am offended by racist jokes. I meant to say I am offended by Racist Statements. She replied lamely by saying she was second generation Australian. I didn't say another word. I have listened all week to ignorant statements. Massively ignorant as well. Why some men think that all Australians think alike and hold such ignorant views is beyond me. Why so many think they talk for all Australians is beyond me. I don't like it and feel I should speak up. But would it do any good. I wanted to say – I am offended by your racist statements. I am going to leave the table and you can continue your racist talk. I only ask how you would cope if you were forced to come and live here as a refugee. But of course I didn't. I’m a coward. We went to a very large store to eat. Went up and down the escalators. The store is very modern. Very well laid out. Better than Melbourne city or Knox City. China is surprising. I had a very nice coffee – so nice I had 2 – and Jenny had a bubble tea. I was handed a card with the English translation on it. We listened to a young girl practicing her karaoke. She had the background music on her phone which she plugged into the sound system. She was quite good. A young man helped us when ordering crepes. All very western. It could have been Chadstone. The girl sang in Chinese but the song sounded western. This confrontation with our fellow passengers completely extinguished any enjoyment I might have had in the trip. In the end there was no one on the trip I liked. Or would want to spend any time with in Australia. I felt they were all ignorant philistines. All were racist. And that is speaking lightly. I kept away from everyone as much as I could for the rest of the trip. I didn't speak to anyone. If I could have I would have gone home immediately without seeing any of them again. |
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