Here is another of those articles I started writing and never posted (first written in November 2018! Wow!) In this case I think I got pissed off reading something about long since deceased children’s author Enid Blyton. It was to do with more censorship of her books or characters. I really don’t recall exactly. Anyway only last week we have seen another similar thing happening with that old kids favourite Dr. Seuss. He too has fallen foul of the cancel culture idiots. And guess what? I am really pissed off about it.

First here is the original post I wrote about Enid Blyton…

Books, Old and New…

I have recently started reading Enid Blyton to Dani. For those who do not know, Enid Blyton was a prolific children’s writer from the mid 1920s through to her passing away in 1968. Known by just about everyone in the UK and probably most of the English speaking world.

I had recently found a couple of classic Blyton books in a second hand shop. Part of the same series of stories; ‘The Enchanted Wood’ (written in 1939) and ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ (written in 1943). Both penned before Dani’s nanna was even born. I started with The Magic Faraway Tree. Now obviously ‘The Enchanted Wood’ was the first in this series so I should have started with that one. But before any of you Enid Blyton fans out there jump all over me there is a valid reason: (In typical Blyton style) To my complete astonishment I simply couldn’t find The Enchanted Wood.

The works of Enid Blyton have come in for a lot of scrutiny at the hands of the politically correct brigade since I first read them when I was a young boy.  They were written in a different time when political correctness meant something more like a politician actually doing the job they were elected to do (if it meant anything at all). The books are littered with phrases like “how queer!”, “very peculiar” and with children named Dick and Fanny (common names back then of course).

Newer issues of the same Enchanted Wood books have the names changed to Rick and Franny. Crazy stuff, especially when you consider that the Dick of Enid Blyton’s most famous series of stories – The Famous Five – remains a Dick (so to speak). So why have they changed the boy’s name in the Enchanted Wood series? There really is no sensible explanation.

The works of Blyton have come under attack several times over the years. From the Golliwogs in her Noddy stories to harmless old fashioned character names. The reality is that Blyton’s books are pure innocence and no harm or offence could possibly have been intended. I just wish people would leave these things alone. Sadly not much chance of that these days. This is the world my boy is growing up in.

Now for Dr. Seuss.

Last week the works of that classic children’s stories Theodore Seuss Geisel – aka Dr. Seuss – came in for criticism by the cancel culture lot. Yes, the writer of books such as The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham and many other whacky works of literature loved by young and old alike.

One Example…

McElligot’s Pool? Personally I have never heard of it. But what the hell can anyone find offensive about an Eskimo standing outside an igloo in a kid’s book? Don’t those dumb, ice dwelling, seal smelling, penguin eating scumbags build igloos any more? Oops! Well, there’s the proof. Those Dr. Seuss books that I did read must have had a really bad effect on me…. (That was a bit of sarcasm by the way.)

In case you are interested here is the McElligot’s Pool book read out in a video I found on YouTube…  Maybe you can see it before it is “taken down”…

McElligot’s Pool by Dr. Seuss. The “offensive” bit is about 4:30 in.

Here is another one. Dr. Seuss’s first book apparently, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. Viewer Warning: disgusting, vile and horrendous levels of racism. Nah, only joking. Totally inoffensive.

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss

Whatever next?

But seriously. Where will this bullshit end? I think I know the answer to that one. I read it in the same newspaper editorial comment in fact. It stated that only five years ago Michelle Obama, wife of then President of the USA Barak Obama, made a big deal of Dr. Seuss and how his books were great for children. The president himself was also a vocal fan of the Doc’s work. Now, only five years on, the new president Joe Biden is keeping his head down while Dr. Seuss is getting slaughtered by the PC/woke brigade. The point being that anything can change so radically in such a short space of time. The editorial suggested that maybe even Obama will be cancelled by these lunatics in the near future.

Interesting isn’t it? Let’s hope these fools end up disappearing up their own arseholes and cancelling themselves in the process.

I wrote this post ten months ago in May of 2020 but for some reason never posted it. I took the same walk today and so I have added a few photos and comment at the end of this original post. Even though last May we were supposedly in the grip of a lockdown (not that there ever has been one really here), it was definitely more crowded than it was today. Very odd, especially considering today the weather was perfect.

Anyway here is the original post…

The weather took a surprising turn for the better today (Weds) so I went for a lunchtime walk to Bronte Beach.

Bronte Gully

The gully is a 3.5 hectare area of natural beauty containing lush native vegetation. The gully leads down steep slopes from Bronte Road and Murray Road to a flat grass park then onto Bronte beach. The area is an green oasis between the urban area and the beach. There are many similar areas of natural parkland all over the Sydney area.

Within 15 minutes (at my pace) of leaving the house I was here at the waterfall.

Bronte Beach & Baths

It takes a few minutes to walk down the gully and onto the open park of grass that lies in front of the beach. Bronte beach is smaller than its neighbour Bondi but definitely less crowded.

The Bronte baths ocean pool is only 30 metres but again it is less crowded than its more well known 50 metre neighbour, Bondi Icebergs pool. What’s more Bronte Baths is free. When open that is. Like most things at the moment this baths was closed. We have managed to swim in this one though not long after we first arrived in Sydney.

The beach was open for surfers and swimmers only. There were plenty of them too. Like any normal day before this virus started closing things. There were some larger than normal waves today also. Almost 3 metres tall. Which made watching the surfers a bit more interesting.

A very pleasant walk to a nice spot.

10 months later…

I took the same walk today. The beach and rock pool were both officially open (as they have been for some time now) but the area was much less crowded. There were far fewer surfers in the water also. Quite odd really.

Waves break over the pool wall.

No trip to Lightning Ridge is compete without a visit to the opal fields of Grawin. This is real outback opal mining country. Probably how Lightning Ridge itself would have been in the early days. Look it up on the map, it really is out there on its own…

The Ridge to Grawin

The Grawin opal fields lies about 30km as the crow flies from Lightning Ridge more or less south-west. But it still takes almost an hour to get there as there is no direct road. Heading south on the main road out of The Ridge there is a small road just past Stanley the Emu. This brings you to the small village of Cumborah. From there you head north for about 17km then take a left turn onto unsealed roads for Grawin. Not only are the roads unsealed from this point they are also quite rough in places. It is manageable in a 2 wheel drive vehicle but low profile cars are likely to take a beating.

Grawin opal fields is a genuine example of a living, working pioneer town. It appears more a collection of homes and mines with the odd service industry. But it is still home to enough people with that frontier spirit that built countries like Australia. There is a petrol station and shop as well as several pubs. All built by the miners who have come and gone over the years, or have stayed on.

There is even a nine hole golf course – of sorts.

Orange Car Door Tour

Remember the coloured car door tours set up around Lightning Ridge? If not read the posts on  The Ridge here,  here and here….Well the area around Grawin is that fifth car door tour – the Orange doors.

We stopped in the famous Club in the Scrub for a light refreshment while Dani bought an ‘opal’ ring for his cousin Susana. (Which reminds me, where did we put that?).

There are two other pubs in the Grawin fields. One is called The Sheepyard Inn, jokingly referred to as ‘the best baaaaa in the outback’. The third is the even more humorously named Glengarry Hilton. But who is to say that others won’t pop up in the near future. These are classic outback pubs. Great places with great characters and all built by the pioneering miners. I am not saying that I could live in such a place but I would certainly go back in an instant. All of them offer accommodation and hearty meals. as well as cold liquid refreshment.

Outback Pubs

This is classic outback. Frontier stuff. I have read about the first community buildings that different nationalities erect when they settle down to make a new town. It goes something like this: The first thing Americans build is a school, while the English always built a shop first. In this part of the world I guess the first focal point for the community to be built is a pub.

The road back to Lighting Ridge was the same, via Cumborah. There is nothing worth stopping for in Cumborah. Not even a pub as far as I could tell. Yet in this part of the world there are many similar tiny towns that do have the classic outback pub. The most famous one is perhaps the Carinda Hotel which was used by David Bowie to film the video for his 1983 hit ‘Let’s Dance’.
Check out that pub in the music video on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbD_kBJc_gI

We would go on to see quite a few interesting outback pubs over these school holidays.

Yesterday – 1st of March – was the first day of Autumn in the Australian way of doing seasons. That is to say that summer is officially over down-under. Not that you would have noticed. The past two days have probably been the best two consecutive days since New Year’s Day. Less rain at least. It has been a particularly wet “summer”.

Swimming Carnival

Today as the school swimming carnival so just like last year the school went to Drummoyne Olympic size outdoor pool. Was that a year ago? Wow! You can read about that one here… Actually, that reminds me; I need to write a book review of Shane Gould’s autobiography. I read it last Easter (ugh!)- ages ago.

Anyway, here is a light-hearted look at this year’s swimming gala… Sorry, carnival.

Covid versus Swimming

This year was different. No parents (or grandparents, whatever) were allowed in to the viewing area. Covid for crying out loud. Agh!!!! Pathetic I know. There were hundreds of kids packed under the shaded area with teachers too. Social distancing (for what it’s worth) would have been easy (despite it being impossible with the kids) for any parents, as there was plenty of space elsewhere. Ah well…

Not to be put off I went over to Drummoyne and found that several parents were pitched up at a fence overlooking the pool, almost under the main road bridge. I got there too late for the freestyle events (front crawl in old money) but I did manage to see Dani swim the backstroke and breast stroke. In the end I got to watch from a decent vantage point and had a good natter with one of the parents who had recently moved to Sydney from Bathurst.

Had the swimming lessons paid off? Well yes. Not just for Dani but for all the kids actually. Certainly all the ones who struggled a little last year had also been having lessons. One-to-one in some cases. So things were not much different this year…

Results…

He came in last in the backstroke but only just. There was very little in it really for all of the racers. In fact due to the amount of zig-zagging he did I think we could claim a moral victory. He could even claim some sort of new record as he covered almost twice the distance of some of his fellow competitors. Well done Dani hahaa…

Next was the breast stroke. Again he finished last but there was stiff competition for that spot from two other kids, each determined to seize the ‘wooden spoon’. In reality Dani came third last – or fourth out of six, which sounds better eh? The reason was that the other two slower swimmers both cheated. The second last kid did so by pulling himself along the lane dividing floats for the final 20 metres or so. I say “cheated” but actually he was probably only saving his own life. Nothing wrong with that I suppose. Basic self preservation. The third last finisher  used the freestyle leg kick to get himself to the end. Under proper rules they would have both been disqualified. But only a grumpy old dad who has just seen his boy cheated into last place would be bitter enough to raise such minor infringements eh? Don’t look at me!

That said, Dani would have finished a lot stronger if he had not spent so much time watching those other two. Still, a proud old dad then left the scene. Dani had said that he didn’t want to do the butterfly this year. He confirmed later that he hadn’t splashed out a butterfly stroke. Almost a shame. That was by far the funniest race last year.

And the one I missed…

Just before I arrived he swam the freestyle (aka front crawl in old money). He says he finished third out of eight which is quite impressive. And I believe him. His freestyle swimming really seems to have come on this year. Bloody typical I should miss it.

 

Denzel is back. In his first film since 2018! The Little Things is in cinemas here in Australia and it is a very welcome return for Mr. Washington.

The last film he starred in was The Equalizer 2, a fairly good action movie where he played an ex-agent turned vigilante (more or less). In this latest movie Washington plays deputy sheriff Joe Deacon.

Movie Plot

Deacon seems to be avoiding his past, when he was a highly respected detective in Los Angeles. But when he visits his old stomping ground to collect evidence (pertaining to a case in his new jurisdiction) he becomes intrigued by the similarities of recent murders to an old unsolved case he had investigated.

The film has two other main characters. One is detective Jimmy Baxter played by Rami Malek – famous for looking like Freddie Mercury (and indeed playing him in Bohemian Rhapsody). At first I was unconvinced by Malek and thought the role didn’t suit him. But he seemed to grow into the role and got better as the film went on.

The main suspect is a Charles Manson-like loner called Albert Sparma, excellently played by Jared Leto.

Deacon is haunted by his past and there are subtle flashbacks to a time when he worked for the same department as Jimmy Baxter. Meanwhile Baxter is the new college kid on the block trying to make a name for himself. The two team up after Baxter finds out who Deacon is. Baxter has heard a lot about Deacon and asks him to accompany him to a crime scene, hoping he may spot something.

Baxter is investigating a serial killer whose latest crime resembles an old case that Deacon worked on – a case that still haunts him. Whatever happened in the past cost Deacon his marriage, a heart attack and his (apparent) demotion. Deacon sees similarities in the recent killings with an old case he worked and wants to help. He is advised not to get involved so takes some vacation time in order to make his own enquiries. This leads him to Sparma who works for a local repair store close to several of the murders.

The cautious and cunning Sparma is soon onto Deacon and a classic game of cat and mouse ensues. Soon, Deacon convinces Baxter that Sparma is their man. But desperate to get the required evidence the duo effectively end up stalking their suspect.

Spoiler Alert

It is hard to say much about the movie without giving too much away. The ending reminded me of that 1990s movie Seven. There were definitely some similarities.

The latest girl to disappear is described as wearing a big red “barrette” (which I did not know is a type of hair clip) and this makes an appearance right at the end. But with a clever little twist.

Deacon has been through the trauma of overworking a case and can see that Baxter is in danger of sliding down the same path. His constant warnings go unheeded however leading to the final outcome.

Critique

The earlier comparison to Seven was referring to the ending but could equally apply to the two main detective characters and even the main suspect. That said any comparisons are a little unfair as this movie has a good story of its own. I also made the Manson comparison which is not unknown for bad guys in this type of story. When you see the movie you will not be able to shake that one out of your head – and for that I apologise. It does not detract from Leto’s performance however.

The reason for Deacon’s apparent demotion from detective to local sheriff’s office is kept under wraps until near the end so the suspense and anticipation remains throughout.

This is a decent movie with a good performance that we have come to expect from Denzel Washington. There is an average performance by Malik and a very convincing performance by Leto. Overall I would give this movie 3.5 stars (out of 5).

It is a dark crime thriller (film noir?) that manages to keep you on the edge of your seat for the most part. Worth watching.