No, Dinah has not been consulting the ouija board, or messing with hallucinogenic nasties. To explain…
For many years my friend H. and I have conducted a running joke on the subject of tax returns. It is, I think most of you who are not number-nerds will agree, a thoroughly detestable subject and needs the application of liberal doses of humour (and vast quantities of chocolate and wine!) if we are to master the wretched returns. (I’m lucky – I have A Man who does these things!)
H. is the same dear friend who, long ago, introduced me to “The Meaning of Liff.” Our conversations are always peppered with quotes from Adams and Lloyd, one being “swanibost.”*
The Man had spent most of one Saturday, years ago, sitting on the deck, dealing with Inland Revenue nonsense. Plied, of course, with regular cups of tea and vittles. When he finally did stretch his poor, numb legs, he left the briefcase open… Josh always did like to get into things!
I mounted the photo on one of those sticky-back postcards and sent it, with a suitably Liff-ish message, to H.
The negative was long ago lost so when a parcel arrived the other day and this card was inside…well, it was a pretty emotional moment. But it was a happy, silly memory, too.
Also in the parcel from H. was this…
Hand-crafted from a piece of Huon Pine, this is a “collapsible castle.” The turrets all push down and it appears to be simply a block of wood. And I wish you could smell the wonderful pine-y scent!
While the castle is made from old-milled timber (gathering of Huon timber is strictly regulated these days), not all forests or, indeed, individual trees, are accorded that respect.
Yes, I do get a bee in my bonnet on the subject of wholesale decimation of tropical rainforests. Yes, I do understand that many people see this as a legitimate livelihood. No, I do not have all the “right” answers.
But when selfish, greedy, ignorant rich people do things like this in the name of vanity…
Then a whole damn’ hive is let loose.
This is what a chain- saw-and-chipper gang did to some eucalypts and cedars on the hill behind our house (next to the one which led to our flooding episodes, so imagine the run-off now that there are no stabilising trees!) a couple of days ago.
Why? For a glimpse of the largest body of water on our planet. A glimpse!
There it is! What? You can’t see it properly? Oh dear, you’ll just have to do the 10 or 15 minutes walk to the beach. (Or, more likely, drive your SUV!)
The (very small) block of land was sold for somewhere in the region of $100,000. 00 and the building covenants on this estate require houses in similar style, which come in at around the half-million $ mark.
Yes, people, lil ol’ Dinah is living cheek-by-jowl with the filthy rich! Of course, most of the birds and animals that also lived here will now die. But hey! Rich Git will have an ocean glimpse!
This cedar, viewed from our back gate, across our neighbour’s garden, is all that’s left. I suspect because it is on another parcel of land.
*Oh, alright…for those who do not have the book…swanibost: completely shagged out after a hard day of having income tax explained to you.
And now…a request for assistance from you techno-savvy bloggers. How do I “rule a line through” a word/phrase without losing it? In my real world, I do this all the time[I would, for instance, rule a line through "all the time" then, beside it, write "sometimes."] I am sure it is something so easy I’ll look a proper charlie, but I NEED TO KNOW! (I bet Ziggi knows. And Dave. And ISLTV. Oh! I’ve just seen the very thing at FN’s place! C’mon, guys…help a little old lady.Please? I’ll give you my gingercake recipe.
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