The Joy of Work

We human beings are privileged to have many joys available to us in our spans of life.....I feel that one of the most lasting, satisfying and genuine joys is that of work. However one of the most important conditions  of this statement is that it must be work you like , it must be creative, and it must embrace one`s full activities...

 

We`re all born with certain talents and happiness in work will follow the using of them fully. Watch little children and realise their great glee glows because they`re doing a maximum of things they can do......eyes, ears, toes, legs and tongues are boisterously busy every waking moment.....

 

Diseases that usually arrive later in life like alcholism, laziness, obesity, sensuality etc. only serve to make folk happy while they`re indulging.....the rest of the time they`re bothered with bouts of depression, restlessness, self-disgust, restlessness, doubts, despair and blatant boredom...

 

Those happy most of the time are so because they have their necessary work and where someone is fortunate to find his right work it then becomes the same to him as play is to a child. Life`s extremely pleasant when it`s functioning normally.....every faculty we have begs to be used.......the brain needs to think, to plan, to organise, to project, to imagine, to reason, to compare, to reflect, to decide.....

 

When the brain has no real business  with which to be concerned we tend to load it with artificial activities such as nauseating novels, dreary DVD`s, vile or violent videos. The it`s probable that the people who are amusing their brains are nowhere as happy as those using them.

 

Our marvellous muscles demand energetic exercise - when we forget that, they regularly remind us with  rheumatism, arthritis,biliousness and gout. Every organ - the stomach, intestines, liver, heart, lungs - all insist on regular employment. If any are not employed to their full capacity, like the unions of old, they`ll go on strike when refused employment. The eye, the ear, every nerve and tendon must have work, The soul needs work - we must have someone to love, something to suffer,  something we we have to challenge and overcome.

 

A perfect hell would be.......... somewhere where every sense would subside, every appetite be gorged.....joy is a function of ardent activity - unfortunately denied to many miserable millions who, through no fault of their own, suffer every day the monotony and misery of unsatisfying work.....

 

I can`t remember from where I first got the gist of this but reckon it`s almost spot on......

 

Many and dramatically diverse are the opinons of others concerning work...........you may find some of the following quotations quite questionable......

 

"Every man`s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself (Samuel Butler ) 1835 - 1902 

"Work is the grand cure of all the maladies that ever beset mankind" (Author unknown 1886)

"The working class  can kiss my arse " (Australian Labor Movement (traditional folk saying)    

 

 

 

 

                               `till next time - 10-14 days                        '

 

 

 

 

Nifty Noosa Nostalgia

I`ll never forget the thrill I got when Boba (my wife Marge) agreed to a suggestion of mine about a holiday in Queensland...Marge was a very contented lady - quite happy to stay home, she had just retired after we sold her Croydon boutique Jolee. For quite some time  as either she or I had never been further north than Brisbane,  I`d been saying we should have a look around the Sunshine Coast.

 

After a most pleasant uneventful couple of days we arrived in Nifty Noosa and were both extremely enchanted - soon finding a delightful apartment at Sunshine Beach just 5 minutes drive from the heart of the town, coincidentally right opposite the home of Bob Ansett who I hadn`t seen for about 50 years when I was Assistant Accountant for his father,   Reg Ansett (later Sir Reg)

 

After a few days, we happened to hear that an apartment was for sale on the next floor up which we immediately  inspected - a really roomy high-ceilinged 21sq penthouse with timber-panelled walls, originally built by a master-builder for his own use ,about the same size as our Ardoch apartment. It was now owned by a Brisbane corporation who used it for executive staff holidays and we quickly decided it was for us, being on the second floor of an 8 unit complex called Wainui with magnificent views right opposite the Pacific Ocean, just a few minutes` stroll to the beach.

 

This was the start of many valued visits over a  3 - 4 year period....when we were in Melbourne it was rented to casual, carefully-chosen tenants. Marge used to invest many happy hours on the sprawling sundeck embroidering rugs for all her grandchildren while I read to her, continuing a practice carried out all our lives together and I`d draw large landscapes for future joint -   embroidering & painting,or I enjoyed fishing from 4 am till 8am, occasionally bringing home a big fat bream after checking out the beaches in  - our little yellow Mini Moke "Boba 11" or my motor-boat "Boba 111" where you`ll see me proudly standing next to her just after I`d bought her and passed my licence test...... we were called the oldest teenagers in Noosa....

 

However I`m now paying for my happy hours standing in the ocean surf fishing by my necessary constant visits to skin specialists. One morning I forgot to lock the front door at 4am and when I returned we discovered we`d had an unwelcome univited visitor who took about $850 in cash and uninsured jewellrey...we were most grateful she didn`t awaken....

 

Nifty Noosa was extremely popular with 2 or 3 grandchildren who flew upon their own for school holidays - we`d meet them at Maroochydore Airport, about a half-hour`s drive away...we made some wonderful friends there many of whom we`re still in touch....

 

About 18 months ago my niece Geri Lazarus and husband Greg had just bought an apartment in lovely Little Cove and they kindly invited me up for a few days while they were considering plans for refurbishement and Geri & I soon flew up -  with Greg following a little later. The siting of this sprawling apartment is truly superb - very high up, naturally nestled among tall trees full of twittering beautiful birds, who, in fact we had to "Shoo" away from the sundeck where I`m initially penning these few lines on the sunny Sunday morning of our return to Melbourne.

 

We`d only arrived on Wednesday night but by the time we left, after 3 full days I`d been fortunate to catch up with 10-11 friends, rapidly exchanging highlights of the 12 years we`d been away. One lady, now 73 originally from Horsham in NW Victoria... ( we`d known her for 58 years )was a junior salesgirl Marge had employed  in her first boutique...another lady from Croydon now living in Noosa told us every time she visited us Marge was busy knitting or embroidering........

 

Another friend told me his 15 year old granddaughter wanted to know if I still did "Magic" - a game I started with my own children 60 odd years ago - hiding a little treasure, then pretending to blow away a burnt match which "disappeared" as I guided the child by saying "warmer" or "colder etc. till the hidden treasure was found. And then I had the most pleasant surprise of being reminded by quite a few fiends of their appreciation of my paintings of old sailing ships on tiny seachests I`d given them but completely forgotten........`

 

 

                                  `till next time

Meeting GreatGrandchild No.9

I arrived at Flinders St Station 20 minutes after my tram ride from home in time to catch a train earlier than had been arranged with Grandson John meaning I`d be at Rosanna about 40 minutes earlier as this train travelled express to Clifton Hill. I was pleased that on reaching Rosanna I remembered the way to walk as I`d only travelled by train once before - a few years ago..

 

Just before turning into his street, quite a long one, with Yuki & John`s home right at the end,I realised with a clammy clutch of fear - that if they came to meet me as a surprise, I might miss them as car access to the station the way I was walking was not possible!  If this occurred they could be waiting for me for nearly an hour while I was waiting at their front door, so I instinctively increased my  pleasurable pace and walked about 100m more and then suddenly saw John walk towards his car....he turned and saw me waving furiously and shouting and immediately waved back and walked up to meet me with his usual infectious happy smile rapily allaying all my fears.

 

We soon went inside and I got my first glimpse of Leo Naori (Japanese for rain - there was light rain when he arrived in the garden...), then after hugs with Yuki and 22 month-old Clancy, I had my first long cuddle.........meeting a new member of the family is always very special, as I`ve found with all children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren...... From the first time I cuddled my 65 year old son Peter I felt that "this what immortality is all about' and I`ve been fortunate to have experienced that 26 times.........

 

Then John rang Virgil in the city and on his way home, just 5 minutes away he collected me for a quick cuddle with Julie and Alkira, greatgrandchild No.8, who intially said "No, no!" when I opened my arms to her - it was virtually our first meeting since I`d flown to celebrate her safe arrival her in Oslo when she was born, I was now, after all a virtual stranger however she was smart enough to change her mind when I introduced her to a little teddy bear in a tiny dress I`d brought with me...........

 

Virgil and Julie were most fortunate to have their compact roomy little home awaiting them after it was found by the family prior to their departure from Norway. After a most enjoyablei little afternoon tea, as the time was now 4.15 Virgil took me to the Station for my return trip home making use of the time to get busy with my pen and pad I carry everywhere so as not to waste a second of my limited time on earth......

 

                             `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days.....

 

 

Yalcowinna Richmond, the Mansion home of bachelor William Highett.

In 1906 the Bethesda Hospital was opened with 50 beds as an intermediate hospital.  I first saw the light of day there, in 1919 ,when a donation of Six Thousand Pounds by Sir Aaron Danks allowed the Methodist Church to buy Yalcowinna, a mansion property on one and a half acres of gardens on Richmond Hill. Epworth Hospital was opened there on 27th February 1920 with 25 beds and a staff of 5.

 

Recently I found myself back in Erin St receiving positive proficient physiotherapy at the magnificent mansion "Elim" (originally called ) where I was warmly welcomed by receptionists Ann and Loretta and soon introduced to the first of about a doze machines, instruments etc. by Sean....that first visit caused me to write the CEO asking her to express my personal appreciation to Sean for his sensitive conscientious caring..........that letter was followed by another later in the week expressing my similar reactions  to Chris & Libby`s valued assistance in the workouts and later supplying me with information needed when I told them I was extremely impressed by the admirable architecture and wanted to write a blog about it and Epworth Rehabilitation Centre.

 

The mansion was built in 1867 by William Highett who was born in Weymouth in the county of Dorset England in 1807, the son pf Joseph Highett and his wife Elizabeth (nee Harding). He travelled to Victoria with his brother John, arriving in Hobart Town in February 1830. With a combined capital of 507 pounds and highly respected testimonials they were granted 500 acres of land at Georgetown, later buying extensive land holdings at Launceston and Campbell Town which were managed by brother John.

 

Two years after his arrival in Van Diemen`s Land William was appointed accountant of the Launceston branch of the Van Diemen`s Land Bank. In  January 1835 he joined the Tarmar Bank Co. as cashier remaining there until he accepted the position of manager of the Union Bank of Australia in Melbourne in 1838 which had taken over the Tarmar Bank Co. in Launceston that same year.

 

The Union Bank in Melbourne operated from a single storey  brick building on the corner of Queen St and Flinders Lane but with the growth of business a second storey  was added the next year. With continuing success the bank bought land at 30 pounds a foot on the south-east corner of Collins & Queen Sts. There in 1842 Donovan & Crosbie erected an impressive new bank building constructrd entirely of stone designed by George MacLagan.

 

Later that year Highett travelled to England and while there resigned from the bank and later rejoined the Union Bank as a local director remaining in the position for a number of years, becoming deeply involved with the growth of business and commercial development in Melbourne and was one of the founders and directors of the Bank of Victoria in Collins St.

 

A bachelor all his life, he decided to build a Mansion home at 29 Erin St Richmond on gardens of 1 1/2 acres naming it "Yalcowinna" - later changed to "Elim". It was described in a newspaper advertisement as a palatial palace built with artistic skill where no expense was spared with its appointments". The ground floor contained a dining room 28 X 16 ft,a ballroom 45 X 23 ft, lavatory 14 x 8 ft, breakfast room 16 x 14 ft, one bedroom16 x 14 ft. and 2 servants` rooms.

 

The first floor had a drawing room 24 x 16ft and 5 bedrooms of varying sizes. The outbuildings  comprised a four-stall stable, three loose boxes, two coachhouses, a man`s room a hayloft and wood and coalsheds. All these buildings were

'very tastefully laid out" including a lawn tennis court and an asphalt tennis court - 100 x 20ft in size.

 

A special feature was a huge magnificent coloured leadlight window forming a beautiful background to the upper and lower section of the home above a unique  wide sweeping staircase. The ceilings were 15 and 20ft high daintily decorated with carved & moulded rosettes.........

 

 

                              `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days

 

The Marge & Harry Greenberg Story - First Meeting

Seeing today is the 15th May, I guess it`s time to reveal the really remarkable story - the genuinely greatest story of my life - that is the background of my momentous meeting with my marvellous Marge (Rostker). Although most of my fabulous family know parts of it I thought it time to put it on revered record for my 13 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.........

also any more gorgeous great grandchildren who may come along...............

 

Mid-way through my teens, about 16 I think, I started to look for a wife - that is, being perfectly confident I could satisfactorily handle a professional or commercial career ( I was then studying accountancy and working with a Chartered Accountant) I decided I`d look for some girl with whom I could successfully share the rest of my life..........I didn`t want to waste time and from then,after every date (I had many) I would carefully analyse how I felt about the girl and very rarely took the same girl out more than once or twice, naturally not telling anyone else.

 

I vividly remember thinking I needed to marry a Jewish girl. Sometime in June 1939 I was glancing through some newspapers and suddenly saw a head and shoulders photo of a girl with dark sparkling eyes and cute upturned nose I found extremely attractive.....this was on the Saturday of the King or Queens Birthday weekend. When my younger brother Joe, then 15, walked into the room I said "See that girl? I`m going  to marry her..." (I was then 20) Jo replied "she`s pretty - you`re mad! who is she?" I said I don`t know, then read the column and told him she was Margery Rostker, 18, Queen of Music, one of a group of girls raising money for a charity.

 

I was then at home with the flu - the only time in my life I`d suffered from it ...there was only one Rostker in the phone book  and I immediately rang her explaining I`d had quite a bit of experience raising money  on committees in similar appeals (as a member of the YMCA). A long talk  revealed I knew at least 3 of her friends - one a boy I was  with at Elwood Central School, and another boy whose uncle had married my aunt and this boy`s cousin, so I suggested she check-up on me and I`d ring her later. When I rang a couple of days later on the holiday Monday she confirmed what I`d told her and I immediately asked her to come to the Victory Film Cinema (now the National Theatre) in Melbourne.

 

I   borrowed Dad`s car, a 1937 Chevrolet on that wet night and proceeded to her home at 4 Elwood St Brighton and as I was waiting for the front door open I suddenly whipped off my specs and put them in my pocket - thinking I look better without glasses which, at that time were not the fashion accessory they often are now. The door was opened by a little girl about 10-12, Marge`s sister Paula who ushered me into the lounge she introduced herself and asked " Did you know Marge had 4 false teeth?" 

After I answered in the negative I met Marge and her mother and after a few formal preliminaries we left.

 

It was still raining fairly heavily and, as my vision was definitely improved with glasses, after opening the car door for her I walked round the back and popped them on and got in......she then said, "Excuse me, are you the same chap I met a minute ago?" We both had a good laugh........ I can`t remember what films we saw but afterwards we went upsairs on the corner of Acland and Barkly Strets now occupied by Coles ..Marge noticed a few of her boyfriends came in soon keeping an eye on us...

 

Walking back to the car I asked her whether she`d like to talk for a while? She agreed saying "Not for too long though" We then drove to a parking area opposite the then Elwood Life Saving Club ( now, I understand a well-known restaurant) known for obvious reasons as "Tail Light Alley", and it`s still called that for I read a reference to it in a local paper recently - anyway that was where we had our first kisses & cuddles........

 

I don`t know what time we arrived home but before this I was absolutelly positive she was the right girl for me after my 4-year search and she accepted my proposal....she hadn`t been out with many boys on their own,  - groups of boys and girls used to visit her home where she had 3 sisters. We immediately became secretly engaged and I bought her a gold chain bracelet on the catch of which was engraved a heart displaying 'M" & "H" which around to the bottom her wrist when necessary............

 

After about 6 months we told her parents, waited another six months to become formally engaged, that`s when she had the portrait taken wearing a backless dress to

which my Russian objected - on to which straps were eventually painted! We then married 12 months later on 15th May 1941. For a while we lived with Marge`s mother Sara and her three sisters - her father had country shops and came home intermittent her younger sister Mary was a shy, pretty girl and sometimes before coming to bed I`d gently knock on her door and whisper "Are you awake - move over.......you should have heard the scream!

 

Robert Burton (1577 - 1640) an English clergyman and writer said "No chord, nor cable can so forcibly bind or hold so fast, as love can do, with a twined thread"

 

 

                                 `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days

Simple Ordinary Things

When I was in hospital recently, celebrating my 89th birthday, I realised that for nearly 30 years I`d been privileged to be able to appreciate the simple ordinary things .....Before my retiremt at 59, from working for the always necessary dollar, like everyone else, my thoughts were focussed on my wife Marge, on our work and caring for our family. But then I began to think about the simple ordinary things of life.

 

 Things like food, drink, warmth, family love, family celebrations, sunshine, rain. Things like the first hot steaming cup of coffee in the morning, relaxing in the sunshine when it arrives to duly disperse the chilly, foggy mornings of winter; before that, the avidly absorbing, gentle changes of colur of the leaves at a ofutumn; Like sitting down to a delectable dinner in front  of an open fire and afterwards precisely penning together selections of wonderful (occasionally wise ) words.....

 

Simple things like the dramatic diversity of the sometimes sparkling shapes and captivating colours of fragrant flowers and the tempting taste of the first nectarines of the season; like enjoying a drink with a favoured old friend; like conversation around the dinner table, sometimes funny, sometimes deep and touching; sometimes stimulatinmg and infinitely inspiring. I think these thoughts come to one more easily with the onset of ageing.... I am aware I seem to be taking more time, doing things more slowly, counting my blessings more, often really listening to what people are saying and discussing their problems with those obviously seeking some help.

 

I discussed these ideas with an old friend not long ago and strangely enough he had found himself thinking along the same lines. In his own words, "I feel like someone who`s been told I`ve got 6 months to live - like a blind person who can suddenly see!" I suppose it`s something about hope, the eternal spirit you discover in all good people and in all simple and good happenings....

 

Have you ever experienced the exquisite satisfaction you get when you suddenly get an infuriating itch high up on  your back and the only way you can remove it it is with the help of a long-handled wire hair-brush -  and the rapturous relief felt when you`re in a strange locality and the need for a toilet becomes an urgency.............and you suddenly find one!

 

And at the end of the day, the welcoming warmth of the electric blanket if you sleep alone and if you don`t sleep alone - after pumping up the pillow and pulling up the covers, you put your arm around your loved one and then s -l -o-w -l -y slip into a sound sleep.........these are a few simple ordinary things!

 

 

                               `till next time, in about 7 - 10 days...

 

Wartime Memories

Marge and Harry and a little friend, 1942

 

I`m definitely becoming aware that my memory is shortening with the lengthening of my years....the Second World War years, 1939 - 1945 sure are a long way back and to me certainly seem so.......After conscription for 21 year-olds soon after the start I was drafted to Mt. Martha for a 3 month camp and duly medically examined and I can vividly remember a story going around  the tents at the time about a group of blokes who were a little illiterate and had two doctors examining them at once -  peering one in each earhole, and if they saw each other, they were drafted into the Military Police - having "nothing between the ears..."

 

Those three months were quite an emotive experience for me a true young "city-slicker" sleeping on a prim straw palliasse - close contact with 5 strangers in a tiny tent, being woken by a raucous blaring bugle before dawn, lining-up with a tin plate for meals, picking out khaki pants & tops and unmderwear from huge piles of dumped clothes, long monotonous marches, dreary drill etc,

 

We were issued with one leave-pass a fortnight (if my memory serves me correct) when I was able to catch up with my fiance Marge and my family. I really enjoyed my time in the Army and not very long afterwards, having given the idea much thought and family discussion I volunteered to go overseas with the AIF. However after another medical test my 90% blindness in my left eye soon stopped that idea.

 

I was working then as an audit clerk with Myer....price control had not been long introduced and stores & shops etc. were not allowed above a margin fixed by the government. It was my job to investigate all departments, interviewing staff etc. When, coincidentally I had to confront my old headmaster from Melbourne High School who, retired, was working there part-time. I remembered he had a face that looked as thought it had been carved out of granite with a manner to match.....I didn`t want to face him and soon changed places with another chap in my department.

 

Those were the food and clothing ration books and coupons as a result of government control of manufacturing and purchasing - the only way to deal with severe shortages of manpower and resources...Later on, in early December 1941, Marge and I, my Mum and Dad, Freda and Ken left Melbourne   to enter into a business partnership with my Uncle David Diamond, mum`s eldest brother who was operating a secondhand furniture shop in Lismore, northern New South Wales, after travelling against many folk escaping south from a possible invasion threat.........

 

We were holidaying in Ballina over Xmas when my father suddenly became ill and died in Lismore hospital just 46 years old of a brain tumour of and / or aneurismwhich prompted our immediate return to Melbourne and my eventual return to the Pay Corps of the Australian Army in Swanston St opposit  the Museum where I spent the rest of the war...........

 

The only battle in which I was engaged was "The Battle of Swanston St" in which I was daily engaged trying to get a seat on overcrowded trams....to keep fit, once a week we had to march around the  city streets with a break at Treasury Gardens for drill etc. They needed a Band to lead the troops and had great difficulty in getting a Drum Major to lead it. I volunteered, was immediately issued with a whistle and a long baton which I quickly learned to twist & turn in the proscribed manner....

 

Every now and then , when I considered it right,I would blow my whistle for the band to play and when I considered it right blow it again for them to stop, to give them a break.

When we reached the Gardens, the Band discreetly indulged in the practice of "spine-bashing" (lying on our backs etc.) while the troops indulged in various drills.My work was clerical because of my accountancy experience and I had the pleasure of talking with many famous Australians when collecting pay while on leave....

 

Once a week the Commanding Colonel carefully inspected long rows of desks with paper, pen & books all on the right corner in proper regimental order!(Typical Army.....)

 

VP day, August 15, when Japan surrendered, I was in a city Drill Hal having had drops in my eyes for a test and told to wait in a room till called. I was the only one there and I suddenly heard loud shouting, screaming and the honking of car horns....I came out of the room - the whole place was deserted and the doors were locked but after a while I found a wayout through a window and joined the mad mobs celebrating the end of the war and I had to ask someone to tell me what number tram to get as I couldn`t see prop-erly.....

 

 

                                 `till next time - in about 7 - 10 days