Author: ian

When stumps were drawn, early this morning (A.E.S.T.) Australia was 7-247. Doug Walters’ 88 represents his highest score in a Test on English soil. Of those batsman dismissed, Greg Chappell scored 44 and Rod Marsh, thirty-six.

I thought that the prices had been adjusted at The Nut Bar, inside the main entrance to Miranda Fair, but when I realised that they had not I was moved to comment that the price of cashews there was twice that of elsewhere. This drew a heated response from the woman behind the counter as she informed me that she only worked there and, therefore, had no control over the prices that were charged.

And whilst on the subject of charging! This evening’s edition of “Last Of The Wild”, from six o’clock, is about the elephant. Channel Two screened recorded highlights of the first day’s play in the Second Test, from eight o’clock. This was followed, at half past eight, by its coverage of the second day’s play, live, from Old Trafford, in Manchester. Australia was dismissed for 297 and England was 2-24, in reply, when I turned in, at ten minutes to midnight.

We were awoken, at 7.00 a.m., by a bird which bore the call of a wolf-whistler. I turned on the radio and learned that England had fought back from being 2-23 to be 3-206 at stumps. Derek Randall had compiled seventy-nine while Bob Woolmer remains undefeated on eighty-two.

At noon we watched a programme in the series, “Cher”, on Channel Seven. It was followed, at one o’clock, by another documentary in the series, “Survival”. This one is about the rare birds in the English county of Norfolk. At ten minutes to two and also on Channel Seven, Malcolm T. Elliott, situated in the studio in Sydney, introduced today’s live coverage of the Australian Rules match from Melbourne between Essendon and the competition’s leader, Collingwood. The ‘Bombers’ led for a time, only to be overhauled prior to the final siren.

“Grey Affair” won the Doomben Cup, in Brisbane, this afternoon and paid $5.05 and $1.40 on the N.S.W. T.A.B. New South Wales defeated Great Britain by thirty-five points to five, in rugby league’s match of the day, which was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The score at half-time had already been twenty-one points to two.

“Plant Eaters”, a documentary that is narrated by the actor, Vincent Price, screens from half past six. It is followed by “King Solomon’s Mines”, a film that bears the copyright of 1950 and includes the English pairing of Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr.

I watched the Second Test, live, on Channel Nine. Bob Woolmer and the lanky Tony Greg were thrashing the bowling. The Australians — wicketkeeper, Rodney Marsh, in particular — obviously felt, as I did, that Greig had edged a delivery from Jeff Thomson and been caught behind, but the umpire did not see it that way. When I retired to bed, at a quarter to eleven, England was 3-288, with Woolmer, 137 not out and Greig, also undefeated, on seventy-six.

Australia is struggling in the Second Test, with England 9-436 at stumps — a lead of 139 runs.

Fallen needle-like leaves from the palm, at the front of the house, became tightly entwined around the lawn-mower’s blade shaft. Sensing my frustration and annoyance, Tiki came to my aid with a sharp knife.

While Tiki painted the doors of a cupboard ‘Tusk Ivory’, I gave the walls of the bathroom their second coat of the same. We only just had enough paint to finish both jobs. Later, she dusted and placed clothes in draws.

In the afternoon, during the washing of our 1973 Chrysler ‘Galant’, we realised that water had entered the vehicle via a leaky, rubber seal in the rear door on the driver’s side. The only plus from today, thus far, has been the gloriously sunny weather, which delivered a maximum of eighteen degrees Celsius.

Tiki, from four o’clock, watched the picture, “Slaves Of Babylon” (1952), which features Richard Conte. Ninety minutes later, “Ask The Leyland Brothers” covers travelling across the Nullarbor Plain aboard the Indian-Pacific train, which traverses the longest straight length of railway line in the world; and the tranquillising of deer, from a helicopter, in New Zealand.

Channel Two’s edited replay of this afternoon’s clash between Canterbury-Bankstown and Manly-Warringah follows. Played at the former’s home ground, Belmore Oval, Canterbury held a slender advantage of three points to two at half-time. Although Manly moved to a lead of seven points to three, it was receiving little ball from the scrums and it was, therefore, of no surprise when the opposition prevailed by twelve points to seven. Today’s loss means that Manly-Warringah is now in fifth position on the competition’s ladder, with twenty points; three ahead of Canterbury-Bankstown.

Channel Two’s news is followed — as it has been for years — by “Weekend Magazine”, which includes an item on the train, ‘The Gulflander’, which runs between Normanton and Croydon in the far north of Queensland. “Test Cricket Highlights” came next, at half past the hour, but by eight I had turned the dial to Channel Nine and the latter half of “Hawaii Five-O”.

In Adelaide, the Australian ‘Socceroos’ defeated Hong Kong by three goals to nil in a preliminary match of the World Cup.

As we had been about to eat lunch I had enquired of Tiki, “Is this pumpkin butternut?”

“Kent”, she concisely replied.

“As in Clark?”, I volunteered.

“That’s right.”

“Does that mean that when I eat it, I’ll be able to fly and jump off tall buildings?”

“Yes. But before you do the latter let me know, so that I can have the garbage bin in position.”

 

A repetition of “Holiday” is viewed, from 6.00 p.m., on Channel Two. It conveys the viewer to Surfers Paradise and Hayman Island before embarking on a journey by raft near New Zealand’s largest lake, Lake Taupo.

After “Willesee” and the “Dick Emery Show” we watched the final programme in the current series of “In The Wild”, with Harry Butler. This evening’s edition is the conclusion to the trilogy on Barrow Island, which is located just off Australia’s north-west coast.

The commencement of the fourth day’s play in the Second Test was beamed live from Old Trafford, in Manchester, from half past eight. Australia required seven balls to claim the last English wicket. Nevertheless, England’s score of 437, in its first innings, means that it now has a lead of 140 runs.

Australia’s pursuit of these has proven to be a disastrous one. Rick McCosker was dismissed when playing an undisciplined hook, before a run had been scored. His fellow opener, Ian Davis, was dismissed in a similar fashion when the score was on thirty-one. Craig Serjeant contributed eight and the tall, lanky Tony Greig trapped Doug Walters leg before wicket in the last over before lunch, after the right-handed batsman had scored but ten.

Thankfully, Greg Chappell has batted exceedingly well and at lunch Australia is 4-92, of which Chappell has scored fifty-two.

I awoke at 2.00 a.m. and turned on my trannie just before the majestic Greg Chappell took his score from ninety-eight to one hundred and two by straight driving a no-ball from Bob Willis to the boundary. Kerry O’Keeffe was the other batsman at the crease and Australia’s total was then 7-188. When I awoke for a second time, at half past six, I was made aware that Australia had been dismissed for a meagre 218 of which Chappell had compiled 112 and David Hookes twenty-eight. O’Keeffe had remained not out on twenty-four. England, at stumps, was eight without loss, which means it requires just seventy-one runs to win when play resumes tonight.

This evening, “Last of The Wild” transports the viewer to Switzerland to observe marmots. “Willesee”, at 7.00, is followed by another programme from the comedy, “Good Times” and from eight o’clock, on Channel Two, we watched “Test Cricket Highlights” which has the lively instrumental, “Soul-Limbo”, as its musical theme. “Soul-Limbo” was a hit, in 1968, for the multi-racial group, Booker T. and The M.G.’s.

Channel Seven’s resident movie buff, Bill Collins, introduces “Lock Up Your Daughters”, from half past eight. The film, which bears the copyright of 1969, stars Canadian actor, Christopher Plummer and the English pairing of Susannah York and Glynis Johns.

On this pleasant sunny morning, “Behind The News”, presented by Barry Eaton, screens from ten o’clock on the A.B.C.’s Channel Two. Topics for review include uranium, Pakistan, the Australian animated feature film, “Dot And The Kangaroo”, as well as the revolution within Melburnian schools where healthier, more nutritious foods are being sold at tuckshops.

Two men arrived to install a telephone at our house. They informed me that they were unable to install a wall phone neatly because of the plaster walls and subsequently we have been left with a customary one, in the colour ivory, in a corner of the lounge room.

Tiki and I left on foot at twenty past four so that I might cover my diurnal six kilometres. Two teenage boys were riding a home-made minibike near Camellia Garden. Its engine sounded like that of a lawn-mower. During our inward leg Tiki told me of how, earlier today, a lady had accidently dropped her baby on to the asphalt near the bridge at the rear of this same garden.

This evening’s edition of “Last Of The Wild” is entitled ‘The Shark’. Sharks do not age nor are they open to disease or infection. We viewed the motion picture, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, which was produced in 1965 and features a plethora of stars, two of whom are Charlton Heston and Jose Ferrer.

A David Humphreys appears on the thirteenth page of today’s copy of “The Sun” newspaper along with the renewals to five drivers’ licences, which were sent to him through the post. One of the renewals pertains to him.

England won the Second Test by nine wickets when it scored the remaining runs required for victory. The only wicket to fall was that of its captain, Mike Brearley, who scored forty-four.

The highly controversial Sir John Kerr resigned today from the position of Governor-General. As Australia’s representative of Queen Elizabeth II, it was he who dismissed the Labor Government of Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, on the 11th of November, in 1975.

Towards the end of a bitterly cold and windy day, in Sydney, we watched “Las Vegas Entertainment Awards”, from half past seven, which featured Barbara “How To Marry A Millionaire”/”I Dream Of Jeannie” Eden and singer, Wayne Newton, amongst others. “Policewoman” occupies the following hour. In this evening’s offering, a young man dresses as a female in order to murder middle-aged women.

Yesterday, Tiki received a telex message which stated that her parents had decided to bypass Fiji and, therefore, would be flying directly home from San Francisco, with their arrival in Sydney now scheduled for twenty-five past six this morning. Having learned of this fact, I had busily set to and mowed their extensive lawns and generally tidied the grounds until after the street lights came on.

We awoke to the alarm at 5.00 a.m., but in my stupor I pushed down upon the knob that is the top of the aerial on my transistor radio and momentarily could not fathom why the alarm continued to ring. It was an icy six degrees Celsius when Tiki drove to the airport, arriving at twenty-five minutes to seven.

Qantas’s flight, QF4, from San Francisco had landed early, at six o’clock, a fact we had already been made aware of by listening to 2KY. We waited for the pair to emerge from customs and while singer, Kamahl, did, the couple we were waiting to greet, did not. Finally, at eight o’clock, I approached a counter that belonged to the airline and was informed that not only had they not been booked to fly on this morning’s flight, their names were not present on the manifest for tomorrow’s either!

This afternoon, on this extremely cold day, Tiki expressed to me that the telex had not been worded clearly and that her parents were not actually departing from San Francisco until today and, therefore, should now arrive in Sydney at twenty-five past six on Sunday morning.

At seven o’clock, much of this evening’s edition of “Willesee” is devoted to an interview conducted with Sir Zelman Cowen. Sir Zelman, who is of the Jewish faith, is Australia’s new Governor-General. The series, “Doctor At Sea”, follows and, at eight o’clock, tonight’s serving of another British comedy, “Mother Makes Five” ensues. We watched about half of the film, “The Great Waltz”. It centres upon the younger of the two Austrian composers who each bore the name of Johann Strauss. Horst Buchholz, Nigel Patrick and Rossano Brazzi are listed amongst the film’s cast.

Today marks that on which a punter must have a minimum of fifty cents in order to place a bet with the N.S.W. T.A.B. The twenty-five cent win and place unit is no more!

An electrical sandwich toaster bearing the trademark of the company, Breville, cost us thirty-four dollars and ninety-five cents at Nock and Kirby’s store, in Miranda Fair. I paid sixteen dollars for a size nine-and-a-half pair of Bata ‘Strides’ shoes, at Myer.

The late actor and comedian, Freddie Prinz, is a guest on the series, “Cher”, which screens between noon and one o’clock, on Channel Seven. Last January, he shot himself at the age of just twenty-two.

The temperature in Sydney reached a maximum of nineteen degrees Celsius. This is three degrees above the seasonal average for the middle of winter. In these conditions, the Balmain ‘Tigers’ defeated the Penrith ‘Panthers’ by twenty-five points to fifteen.

We observed, from half past six, the documentary, “The Family Who Lives With Elephants”. It is narrated by the actor, David Niven. “Baa Baa Black Sheep” follows, an hour later, and prior to us retiring for the night, we are watching the last half of this evening’s edition of “4 Corners”, which is comparing policing in Australia with that in England and the United States. This perennial, investigative series has been screened weekly, on the ABC’s Channel Two, since the programme’s inception in 1961.