Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
There's been a lot of disparaging talk about my calf, Gillian. So I've decided to end the speculation by displaying the calf, viz:
It is not, as some have unkindly remarked, a fatted calf.
I'm intrigued by yet more discussion fo a single Australiasian market. There was apparently some high-powered meeting in Sydney recently to discuss this, and the possibility of a single Australasian currency.
So I've done some thinking, and come up with this:
It's a Kozzie, a combination of the Kiwi and Australian currency. Naturally, it's in the shape of a cozzie, which will fit nicely into most wallets, or serve as a pair of briefs in a pinch. Ministers of finance would have to be very careful shaving value off this beauty!
All this is to say i don't feel like being serious, but I will be. I've been very annoyed by the coverage of Anzac Day, which in NZ at least appears to be the most sacred day on the calendar. Fair play to those who went and risked their lives, and all that. But it's not a religion. We don't need to venerate these people. By and large they got paid, and many volunteered. Anzac day these days is cruising awfully close to glorification of war. And the crowning hypocrisy was when Hayley Westenra was invited to sing at a dawn 'service' (note the religious wording) in Christchurch, and a number of onlookers complained that her performance of the national anthem 'distracted from the solemnity of the moment.'
Yup, definitely a religion. We have our first schism over liturgy already!
You're really suggesting a currency that proudly proclaims 'Australia'? It needs to say "Invented by Russell Kirkpatrick" on the back, so your fellow New Zealanders don't accuse us of trying to take over the world again. Mind you, if you let us rule, we'll let you call us 'West Islanders.' Most of us will, anyhow. Taswegians/Phillip Islanders/King Islanders/Kangaroo Islanders and Thursday Islanders/Torres Strait and other islanders will no doubt insist on being called things like 'South of West Islanders' and 'Nor-Nor-West Islanders and 'Very very West Islanders' and 'So-far-Nor-West-and-North-that-NZ-North-and-South-are-irrelevant-and-besides-we're-Melanesian Islanders.'
I agree with you to a certain extent about ANZAC day, it is a bit the same over here. Fortunately we have the whole 2-up and drinking to excess bit to bring us back to earth a little. At my son's school on Tuesday, they had a 'service' but the speakers had a strong emphasis on war being a 'bad' thing and something to be avoided if possible but endured where it can't be avoided (this is a primary school).
Jo, why is Troy playing forward defensive strokes in the background?
I notice that, far from being buried in my blog, the photo of my calf graces the front page of my website. A horrid thing for new visitors to see. I'll have to shift it ...
I am in a state of torpor from those early nineteenth century recipes. I'm not even thinking about the cricket.
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