The Middle-Aged Spectator

In October 2012 I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. By mid-November the tumour had been removed along with much my oesophagus and part of my stomach. Due to the nature of the tumour I did not have to endure any chemotherapy or radiotherapy. I am aware of four other men, all married, three of them with children, who were diagnosed with other cancers around the same time – between a year before and a year after. Brain tumours, liver and bowel cancers. All of them are dead. I can’t help but wonder when I cross paths with their wives, and for one of them it’s every few days at least, that when they look at me they think, ‘Lucky bastard. Why couldn’t it have been my man?’   Now, none of them has ever said anything remotely like that, and all have been as friendly and as pleasant as you would expect long term friends or acquaintances to be, but I think it. Every time. Now, I’m not losing sleep over this, and I don’t think I require any sort of therapy, but it gnaws a...

Again. The first visit by the MAS and his wife was last year, and we went back this time for a birthday party, and a short holiday. We like Bali. We like the crowded streets and the shopping. We like the range of food and the cheap beer. We like the weather and feeling so relaxed away from the hubbub of ‘normal’ life. But most of all, the Balinese people are welcoming, friendly, easy to get along with, and it seems, happy. Of course, with the amount of money that visitors are pouring into their economy it’s not surprising, and that leads me to worry about the colonialist or imperialist nature of being an Australian holidaying in a south-east Asian nation such as Indonesia. I have seen visitors exploiting the local situation, but I figure those people who treat locals rudely or in a mean-spirited way probably do the same thing at home. So I justify myself by being pleasant; being grateful; by doing my best to ask questions and engage in some conversation; by showing an interest in ...

Let’s begin by making clear that the MAS does not have any knowledge (apart from what has been made public through the media) of the charges Cardinal Pell faces with regard to child abuse. For many years the MAS was a Pell-apologist, and the reader will see why below, but in recent times that position has changed somewhat. Growing up in a Catholic family the MAS lived in St Alipius’ Parish, Ballarat East, from the beginning of his secondary schooling, and acted as an altar server to Father Pell in the early 1970s. At that time there were a number of priests living in the Ballarat East presbytery, and this is one fact often missed in the media coverage of the events that took place there around that time. Fr Pell was very much a junior priest then, despite his imposing physical size and intellect. Monsignor MacMahon was the Parish Priest, and also living there during that time were Fr O’Connell, Fr O’Toole, and Fr Gerald Ridsdale, who most readers of this will recognise as the ...

Late in August, the Middle Aged Spectator took the opportunity to see his AFL team play their last home game of the season. It has been a difficult season, with the Gold Coast Suns again cruelled by injury, and clearly some internal discontent, which you can be sure more will be heard about during the off-season. But, as a member, and a lover of the sport of Australian Football, off we went. Before this goes any further, a disclaimer. The MAS is a life-longer follower of Australian Football, and the AFL competition in particular. The MAS has never liked the Essendon Football Club. Its supporters are arrogant loudmouths, and after the disgrace that the club brought to the sport and the competition in general through their “Whatever it takes” failed supplement/drug program, feelings towards the club are not improved. That said, some of the MAS’s favourite players are at Essendon: Joe Daniher, David Zaharakis, Dyson Heppell and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (or ‘Tipper’ as the Essendon...

The MAS was intrigued by this news story on the Australian ABC's website a couple of weeks ago., and decided to take a day trip to visit. This day trip was a 700km round trip - but worth it. Thallon is one of those tiny towns that pop up every now and again along the highways or railways of rural Australia. To give some idea of how remote this place is (and how big the State of Queensland is) Thallon is about 530km west of the state capital, Brisbane, and even then it's only about one-third of the way across the state from the ocean. So, a long way from nowhere, and not a lot of people there, the last time I had heard Thallon mentioned was during a flood. The town, on the Moonie River had been been flooded in both 2010 and 2011. Now, we hear that the railway has ceased passenger and freight services - just bulk grain transport is available nowadays. So what does a town do to put itself back on the map? Well, what have they got to show off? Not much, just some bloody b...

  No, not ‘High School Musical’, but a musical performed by a group of 12-17 year olds. In this case, the show was ‘Rock of Ages 101 High School Edition’. And, more than being at the show, the MAS was an insider, as a guitarist in the band. Since auditions were conducted in February, the MAS had been involved in rehearsals twice a week (and sometimes more) with the enthusiastic and talented young people in the cast, and with the production crew, other band members and directors. Ultimately, the MAS’s role was simply to learn the music and play it. That was a little bit of a problem. The MAS is not a confident or in any way a professional musician, really only getting the instrument out of its case every second year for one of these productions. But, with plenty of practice, some advice from other (far more talented) band members, and much personal admonishment, the job was completed satisfactorily. ‘Rock of Ages’, which has been a mainstream musical on Broadway, is ...

The town in which the MAS lives has an excellent pathway running alongside a creek for about 2km. A walk up one side and returning along the other makes for a very pleasant start to the day. The creek environs are home to a surprising array of birds, lizards, flying foxes and the occasional hare and fox. It could be supposed that there’s much that the MAS’s eyes have not seen, too. The MAS started walking some years ago for health reasons. But then stopped because: 1.        Recover from major surgery 2.        Magpies swooping in springtime 3.        Too cold and dark in winter 4.        Too hard 5.        More fun drinking coffee in bed While working in an educational institution, one of the tasks the MAS undertook was to find supply teachers to replace staff members on short notice due to illness etc. This would ...