Christmas is coming.

[happy daze john in oz]

we have a number of stores here in Melbourne that have ben selling Christmas cards since the end of July. Some people still send them by land mail to europe and other places and they must be posted by end of September. But have also seen artificial trees in som eof the asian shops.

[Richard Quartermaine]

There are a lot of Asian Christians John so there is a market.
Richard

[Rodney Mills]

I've mentioned a number of times I lived part of the year in Australia. We would gladly leave our winters behind (in the Northern States) for Australia's summer.

We spent a couple of months helping out on our friends avocado and lychee farm in Childers, Queensland, picking and packing the fruit, pruning trees, etc., and we enjoyed many Christmases there. My friend Les was a curmudgeon, he loved Christmas but hated the idea of English style winter trimmings, along with the bleddy Poms winning the "occasional" cricket match. Anyway, he would send Joanie(his wife and our friendess) over into bush to chop down a true blue, dinkydie (sp.?), fair dinkum Ozzie native tree. He would then incongruously smother the tree with silver "icicles", fake snow, fairy lights, complete with a Santa on top. Out would come a large box of crackers which, after pulled, gave each a soppy paper hat to wear. "Tea" would be Roast Turkey, dressing, roast potatoes, peas, etc.. Dessert was mincemeat pie with hot rum sauce, plus fruitcake complements of the Childers Lions Club and hot tea...Excuse Me!.., but this was a pommie Christmas dinner! And it was at least 110 degrees f-- 36c.. Les hated the songs Jingle Bells and I'm dreaming of a white Cristmas, and greeting cards with winter scenes. He would decry the fact that cards would glorify the Northern Hemisphere, and why couldn't they get rid of them and sell real Ozzie ones, and in further disgust, take off one of his thongs (remember we are in Queensland) show the underneath and the tag showing where it was made--China, and say, "What sort of country are we? We can't even make a pair flip-flops"!

Our days of visiting Oz are gone and so is our mate Les, he passed away few years back. Both gone, but neither forgotten.

Good-on-yer, Rodney

[Keith at Tregenna]

He laid her on the table,
So white and clean and bare.

His forehead wet with beads of sweat,
He rubbed her here and there.

He touched her neck and then her breast,
And then he felt her thigh.

The slit was wet and all was set,
He gave a joyous cry.

The hole was wide -- he looked inside,
All was dark and murky.

He rubbed his hands and stretched out his arms,
...And then he stuffed the turkey.

[happy daze john in oz]

Rodney, Christmas in Oz is now very much a multi cultural event. Prawns on the beach, Christmas lunch at a reception centre. Traditional home Christmas day dinners are slowly slipping away. Christmas day in Melbourne at midday when the casino opens waiting to enter, Asians, senior citizens, and all manner of others. By 1300 hours the place is packed to the rafters and thye are falt out like lizards drinking loosing money. Odd place at time,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,me, I will be on a cruise ship somewhere.