Author: ian

I sat up in bed until nine o’clock, as I studied the form of the runners in this year’s Melbourne Cup. “Gold And Black” was quoted as being the favourite at 4/1.

After breakfast I vacuumed the house, while Tiki washed the car. I listened to the third edition of Bob Rogers’ “Great Alternative” programme of music and song on 2KY. Lunch came and went and was followed by me assisting Tiki to polish the car.

We set out to walk to “Mum” and “Dad’s” by ten past two. I remained outside and immediately began the task of mowing every lawn on the property. This took one and a half hours to complete. Fortunately, there was a leaden overcast all day and a maximum of just twenty-one degrees Celsius.

“Mum” asked me to stand on the contents in the garbage tin while Tiki offered her support by holding my hand. I carried the bin which weighed the proverbial ton (or should I say tonne? now that Australia is metric) up to the front gates.

Once inside, I watched a part of the film, “Strategic Air Command”, from 1955, which features James Stewart and June Allyson. It is about B-47 and B-52 bombers and the men who fly them. We had watched it only last year in our rented home unit.

Tiki ordered sweet and sour sliced fish, and I, braised beef and cashews from the Fountain Inn. “Mum” only has a gas primus now that her old stove is at Wyangala Dam, and her new one is yet to be connected.

Half past five came and “Mum” and Wendy left to collect the takeaway meal. I took the opportunity to turn the dial to Channel Two to view the concluding stages of the C.B.A. Westlakes Classic from Adelaide. Bob Shearer, with a total for the tournament that equated to thirteen under par, collected the first prize of ten thousand dollars. He finished six strokes clear of the second placegetter, David Goode. Rob McNaughton finished in third position.

Tiki and I shared our Chinese meals, however, when she couldn’t consume all of hers, I finished it for her. “Mum” and Wendy chose to watch the premiere of the new Australian series, “Young Ramsey”, from half past six. It is about a young country veterinary surgeon, played by John Hargreaves, and the sheepdog he finds.

In the meantime, Tiki decided to fool about with my hair. She parted it down the centre as well as in several other directions, stopping between each new style to show “Mum” the end result.

We walked home by half past seven and are watching Part 2 of ‘Deadly Ringer’, which happens to be the final programme in the current series of “The Bionic Woman”. An hour later, Channel Seven screens the film, “The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing”, which was produced in 1973 and stars Burt “Gunsmoke”/”Hawk”/”Dan August” Reynolds and the English actress, Sarah Miles.

 

We arose at half past six. Tiki was in a cranky mood, but at least she acknowledged that she was! She believed that her period might be coming two weeks early. I washed my hair and, in spite of her mood, Tiki dried it for me as John Burles played Lloyd Price’s bonzer recording, “Personality”, on 2KY. Hearing it never fails to take me back to the school I attended and where I was living when it was atop the charts in 1959.

At lunchtime, I was shocked to learn that tomorrow’s trifecta at Flemington is to be held on the Yan Yean Stakes and not the Melbourne Cup. After work, I joked with Tiki that the runner, ‘Brallos’, must be a “tit” for the Cup. However, we weren’t laughing in West Botany Street when, once again, smoke began to emerge from the steering column of the ‘Galant’. Despite this, I continued to drive us home. I rang Tiki’s parents’ only to learn that there was no answer. We walked to the Miranda T.A.B. on Kiora Road and invested fifty-cents, each way, on five horses in tomorrow’s big race. They being: “Gold And Black”, “Salamander”, “Sir Serene”, “Major Till” and, of course, “Brallos”.

This time it was Tiki’s turn to ring her parents’ home. She had success in learning that her father had returned from Wyangala Dam and, therefore, we are going to take the car to him after dinner. Meanwhile, I am watching “The Big Match” on Channel Two. It features Watford, a club from England’s Fourth Division, of which rock star, Elton John, is the chairman, and its defeat of Newport by two goals to nil.

After “Willesee”, Tiki drove to her parents’. I held “Dad’s” mechanic’s light for a good hour while he removed the steering wheel, took apart the steering column and discovered that some of the grease, which he had placed on the blinkers’ mechanism, had been smouldering.

We joined the others and watched the last half of the premiere of the “The Last Man From Atlantis”, on Channel Seven, which, in total, had run for two hours.

The first day of spring has been cold, overcast and just plain miserable, with quite a deal of drizzle. Still, with an average of seven and a half hours of sunshine per day, winter was one of the sunniest on record!

This morning, the supermarkets in Miranda were overcrowded because of the dispute that involves industrial packers. Nonetheless, there were still many items on the shelves. I had the tin of five litres, that came with our new lawn-mower, filled, at a B.P. petrol station, with B.P. ‘Zoom’ at a cost of one dollar and eleven cents.

Once again I alternated between watching Channels Nine and Ten from noon. “The Mike Walsh Show”, on the former, had the slender Brian Bury, who had come up from Melbourne, as its guest host. Minus his shirt, he performed physical exercises and attempted to adopt muscular poses alongside strongman, Paul Graham.

I vacuumed the house, after Tiki had rung to see how I was, then scrubbed that area of soiled carpet, in the second bedroom, with warm water and detergent.

“The Saint” and “Right On” followed successively, and, from half past five, “Flashez”, presented by Ray Burgess and the irritant, Mike Meade. The by far superior “Country Road” was this evening hosted by Johnny Chester and featured Don Williams singing “You’re My Best Friend” and the Canadian Gordon Lightfoot, “Sundown”.

“Willesee” preceded “Sergio Mendez And Brazil ’77”, and, at eight o’clock, “Peach’s Australia” centres upon the history of German settlement in South Australia. “The Islands Of Tragedy”, at half past eight, is another documentary by the award-winning, underwater film-maker, Ben Cropp. This one focuses upon the plight of turtles off the north coast of Queensland.

 

We awoke at half past six and, once I had shaved, I hung out the washing in the drizzly rain. I drove to St. Peters and walked through fairly heavy rain to the railway station in Sydenham before boarding the train to Town Hall at half past nine.

At Diamond Traders, in Park Street, Tiki’s engagement and wedding rings were handed over to be polished, free of charge. A thoroughly charming, spectacled woman, who was probably in her late fifties, showed me an array of earrings for pierced ears. However, none was really a drop earring; the type I wanted to buy for Tiki’s birthday.

Therefore, the woman had Mr. Allison sketch for me a design. It was perfect!

A deposit of fifty dollars was left, with the balance of three hundred and fifty to be forthcoming when I collect the finished product on the seventeenth. The Shop, on Pitt Street, specialises in products by Adidas and it was there that I chose a pair of deep blue ‘Hurricane’ shoes at a cost of eighteen dollars and ninety-nine cents, to replace the faithful ‘Rome’, that I had purchased in 1971.

In David Jones’ store in Elizabeth Street, a woman of foreign descent assisted me in selecting a maroon handbag for Tiki from those marked as being on ‘special’. I wrote out a cheque to the sum of seven dollars and ninety-nine cents and left with the bag in my possession.

At a cafe by the M.L.C. Centre, Alfred “The Young Doctors” Sandor and Jill Perryman were having lunch in the company of a younger woman.

I collected Tiki’s rings from Diamond Traders, at half past twelve, and walked through the new St. Andrew’s Arcade, which is near to Town Hall Station, and listened to a woman with a guitar sing Bonnie Tyler’s current hit, “Lost In France”.

It continued to rain this afternoon. “Willesee”, “The Muppet Show” and “And Mother Makes Five” were followed, at half past eight, by Tiki’s boring choice of movie,”Paper Man”, from 1971. Dean Stockwell and Stefanie “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.”/”The Feather And Father Gang” Powers are among its cast.

Tiki stirred me as I wore my new shoes for the first time. Among her jibes were the nicknames of “Clown” and “Boots”. I even pulled my old pair of shoes out of the rubbish and wore them until she had apologised.

On this quite cold and partly cloudy day, I watched “Westwind To Hawaii” from eleven o’clock, followed by the remainder of Channel Seven’s “Sounds Unlimited”, hosted by Donnie Sutherland. Peter McCann was seen to sing his hit of the moment, “Do You Wanna Make Love”.

After “Cher” had screened from noon, we walked the two miles through Gymea and Miranda. “Primus” appeared at half past three. Today’s programme from this defunct series focused on sharks and featured the German actress, Eva Renzi. Half an hour later we watched the Australian educational series, “The Curiosity Show”, which is highly informative to both the young and the young at heart. It is hosted by Professor Rob Morrison and Dr. Deane Hutton.

During this programme I responded to a question that was asked of the viewer. Tiki, in noting that my answer was incorrect, volunteered: ‘You gave the wrong answer!’

“I’m not right all of the time.” I replied.

‘Were you wrong when you married me?’ she questioned.

“No, you were wrong when you married me!” I quipped, with a cheeky smile.

“Seven’s Big League”, this evening, covers this afternoon’s major semifinal, which was played between St. George and Parramatta. Ted Goodwin kicked a penalty goal right on half-time to give the ‘Dragons’ the lead by two points to nil. This lead was to be extended as the match progressed, which resulted in the more highly fancied side, Parramatta, being unexpectedly defeated by ten points to five. The win ensures the victor of a berth in the grand final, in a fortnight.

We watched a major part of the film, “The Log Of The Black Pearl”. Produced in 1975, it stars the veteran actor, Ralph “Follow That Man”/”The Eleventh Hour” Bellamy, Anne Archer and Glenn “It’s A Man’s World”/”Route 66″/”The Road West”/”Star Trek” Corbett.

 

I arose about midnight and watched Channel Nine’s replay of the highlights from this year’s United States Open, which was played at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. American Hubert Green won the event with a score, for the seventy-two holes, that was two under par. His compatriot, Lou Graham, finished in second place, just one stroke astern.

I returned to bed at twenty past one and barely stirred until Tiki woke me at ten to seven. We stayed in bed until nearly half past the hour, which was when we set out to walk to the newsagency at Miranda in order to purchase a Fathers’ Day card for “Dad”, in addition to a copy of “The Sun-Herald”. The newsagent remarked on how it appeared to be a lovely day, however, even as we walked home we could observe that the dark clouds to the south were coming ever nearer.

It began to teem before ten o’clock, only to fine up around noon. At one, on Channel Seven, we watched the film, “Hard Time For Princes”. It bears the copyright of 1964 and stars the English actress, Joan Collins and the Italian actor, Vittorio Gassman. We found it to be quite humorous!

Frank Hyde’s description of the minor semifinal began on 2SM from three o’clock. It involved the Eastern Suburbs ‘Roosters’ and the Balmain ‘Tigers’. The former was playing by far the better football and as I washed the dishes Frank was given to remark that Balmain was “…just not the side who beat Manly last weekend.” Eastern Suburbs went on to win the match by a commanding twenty-six points to two.

“Mum”,”Dad” and Wendy arrived just as the breeze was turning into an icy gale. Tiki presented her father with a small bottle of the liqueur, Grand Marnier — for which she had paid six dollars and thirty-one cents — and wished him a happy Fathers’ Day.

We all watched “Seven’s Big League” and its replay of this afternoon’s minor semifinal, with commentary by the former dual international, Rex Mossop. “The Bionic Woman” followed, at half past seven, on Channel Ten. Our three visitors departed as the graphic motion picture, “Badlands”, was commencing. This offering from 1973 features Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek and Warren Oates. It is about a young man whose mind snaps and he begins to shoot indiscriminately at those strangers with whom he comes in contact. We found its content stirred an abhorrence within us so overwhelming that we could not turn the television off soon enough.

It took me from a quarter past seven until a quarter to nine to wash last night’s dinner dishes. Although it was still a nippy seven degrees Celsius I hung out the washing to dry further, as it was sunny. In doing so I delightedly noted that the pink buds on the tree in the centre of our backyard are, indeed, those of the waratah.

I left at ten o’clock to walk to Miranda Fair. After having made a deposit at the local branch of my bank, I was informed that the balance of my account would have to be telephoned to me because the manager had locked himself in his office with the ‘balance sheets’ and wasn’t about to let anyone in.

At the dry cleaners, I handed over one dollar and fifty cents in exchange for the trousers I wore at our wedding. I returned home by five past eleven and watched a replay of the other night’s “David Jones’ Spring Fashion Awards”, compered by John Laws and featuring his third and present wife, Caroline. Designer, Trent Nathan, won the grand award.

It was twenty past two when someone from the bank rang, as promised, to tell me the balance of my account. At three o’clock, on Channel Seven, “The Saint”, centres upon a blind man who shoots company managers with his cane.

From five past four, after seeing a girl by the name of Blondie — she reminded me of Brigitte Bardot — sing “In The Flesh” on ‘Right On’, I walked, and even ran a little, to Tiki’s parents’ where I arrived just as she did, in her father’s red utility. We walked home together and, in doing so, took my tally for the day to five miles and that overall to four hundred and twenty-one.

Our viewing of “Flashez”, “The Big Match” and “Willesee” was followed by an elongated edition of “The Rockford Files” after which we adjourned to bed. Tiki disturbed me at midnight as she was in the process of preparing to visit our outside toilet and, unable to return to sleep, I watched Channel Nine’s screening of “Savage”, a film from 1972, which includes within its cast Martin “Mission Impossible”/”Space 1999” Landau and Barbara “Mission Impossible” Bain, who are husband and wife in real life, Michele Carey and Susan “Petrocelli” Howard.

 

 

It began to rain before midday and continued for a couple of hours. From half past two on Channel Seven I watched “Billy Liar”, which was followed at three o’clock by “The Saint” and, at four, by “Right On”. I departed on my second walk of the day during which it felt uncomfortably cold.

“Country Road”, at six o’clock, was hosted by the veteran Australian singer and songwriter, Slim Dusty. It included film of Kenny Rogers singing his recent hit, “Lucille”, and Jimmy Buffett performing his latest release, “Margaritaville”. Slim is probably known best for his smash hit of 1958, “A Pub With No Beer”, which reached No.1 in Australia and spent thirty weeks on the national pop chart. The single also received a warm reception in Britain where it peaked at No.3, in the first half of 1959. The song was composed by Gordon Parsons.

“Willesee” was followed by “The Dick Emery Show”, which Tiki watched while I washed the dishes. The pair of us opted for an early night and were asleep by a quarter past eight.

We awoke at half past six to an additional overcast and rainy day. It was eleven degrees Celsius, which was only four less than today’s maximum.

Bill Collins was a guest on “Jeanne’s Little Show” at half past one. He listed actors, Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston, as being nice blokes before he showed a brief interview he had conducted with singer and actress, Barbra Streisand, whose principal hobby is her garden.

In “The Saint”, a man plans to freeze Simon Templar’s body in a scientific experiment, which is aimed at the prolongation of life.

“Country Road”, hosted this evening by Reg Lindsay, includes footage of Ronnie Milsap, who was born blind, as he performs his hit of two years ago, “(I’d Be) A Legend In My Time”. Reg’s recording of John Stewart’s minor American hit of 1969, “Armstrong”, reached No.7, in Australia, in 1971.

“This Day Tonight”, at half past seven, is followed an hour later by the ordinary movie, “River Of Mystery”, which features Vic “Combat” Morrow, Edmond O’Brien, Claude “Movin’ On” Akins and Louise Sorel. The film, which was produced for television in 1971, is set in Brazil.