I've been to Paris and old London town, but no matter how far...........

.......I now call this retirement complex "home"!!!

"I must not complain", my late father's 'mantra': "There are people much worse of than 'me'!"

"Stormy weather" -- "As the grey clouds gathered." "Like the drumming of an army!" "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!" "From my backyard."

"Sailors' breeches'" - my former mother-in-law added this expression to my vocabulary. 

I LIKE it!!!!  

********

Maroubra Bay High School ex-students, please got to: mbhs59.ning.com to see this information, re the 7th March, 2009 reunion, for all, properly!!

So register now - $125 p.p., : Electronic transfer (internet) to: Account name: * Helaine Solomon & Karol Brodaty * BSB No. 112-879 * Account Number: 465496456 (Your) receipt reference: Years attended and (both) names. (Reference example:, 59-63 "Louisa Katofski-Morton" i.e., first year-last year / first name / married name - previous name.) All M.B.H.S. ex-students, meet up again, March 7th, 2009 from 12.00 noon to 5.00 pm, in the Shannon Room, Australian Jockey Club, Randwick. MAP/location. The number attending must be limited to 500. Record of your payment is kept by the committee, electronically, after payment via the method described above. However, in addition, please record the fact that you've registered that way, in the EVENTS section,("rsvp"), at mbhs59.ning.com, as well, please!

	Reminder: The number attending must be limited to 500. Do register now!. The 2003 reunion was great! An impression here!
John Fredericks, taught us French. Freddo, the Frog was what students called him. A kind man, as I recall.	Please DO add any news about what you're doing and any memorabilia that didn't make it to the 2003 reunion. Jo M. (Ozcloggie)
	ADD YOUR PHOTO to your profile, at mbhs59.ning.com, please. It helps to make for a great-looking badge to spread around the internet and round-up all the ex-MBHSers, where-ever they are!
ADD your story: WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW. What you did THEN! ....to your BLOG,, on your PAGE, Once again, I shall collect pictures (via mbhs59.ning.com) to display, at the reunion. Help me collect them via this site or email, please.

Some great perspectives on the Dutch and their surroundings.

Dr Klaas Woldring, president of the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, which is based in Smithfield, NSW, reported back, on a most interesting evening, Monday, 11 June, 2008.

He wrote:

Electric cars are here already.

Last night the Dutch Australian community groups had the great pleasure to listen to guest speaker Mr. Roy Leembruggen,in the Chatswood RSL.

Veteran Leembruggen, a third generation Dutch migrant, was in the news recently as the engineer who designed Sydney's revlutionary first double decker trains. While the first part of the talk was about the great advantages of double decker trains the second part was even more interesting.

It sketched the development of no less than 26 types of electric cars, buses and trolley buses, here in Sydney, and revealed the massive environmental advantages of such transport. Apart from the buses he also provided graphic design evidence of the Townmobil, for four or six persons, which leaves all petrol driven vehicles for dead in view of the rapidly increasingly petrol prices.

Has Mr. Rudd availed himself of the Leembruggen electric car designs?

If he wants promote Green cars the answer is right here.

If the current lead batteries are going to be replaced by superior types, providing twice the capacity for the same weight and cost, a strong likelihood, the future of electric transport is beyond question.
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Would have been good to hear Mr Leembruggen speak.

Is Bondi Beach, any more beautiful than, say, Manly, or North Wollongong, or Nobbys, or any of the others?
Is there a difference between the people who live on the Manly side of the harbour, and those who live on the Bondi side?
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You’d think I’d be biased towards Bondi but I have always taken my task of reporting on what I saw and was shown, during that competition seriously and no matter how beautiful Bondi Beach might be, the people who had nominated Manly Beach that year, had pulled out all stops!
.....
Read on......here.....

Jo (Ozcloggie)

Yes! That IS oil paint he's been sniffing!


Remi (my kitten and I, are into painting and we like telling the world about it, through: RedBubble
Please take a lookHERE!

< ... Gallery26, Milsons Point, Sydney. ... ... I found it to be a really friendly place, so very much in a lovely part of Sydney. Not that Alfred Street was quiet, or serene. There were preparations going on for the New Years Eve celebrations. It was sunny and close to hot, outside. An interesting perspective on Sydney Harbour. The signs to Luna Park, bringing back memories. The gallery a very light, in two senses of the word, exhibitions pace. ... I was impressed by the variety of work, on display. Surely the paintings that I, OzCloggie (Jo) display, on RedBubble show that I'm thoroughly enjoying painting in a style that has more to do with Impressionism than with providing the world with new ways of looking at things, but I appreciate the talent and skill, gone into the art on display, in Gallery26! ... Go look! .

As a member of the RedBubble website, I'm so pleased to see this gallery opened. Ozcloggie - MrJoop

Wabe Roskam schreef hier:


"Multicultureel?
Bestaat multiculturalisme? "We zijn een multicultureel land", zei de minister-president van dit land na de rellen tussen verschillende culturen. Maar wat zegt dat? Multicultureel betekent niet meer dan veelzijdigheid van culturen. Cultuurtolerantie zou misschien een veel beter en toepasselijker woord zijn. Het feit dat we hier multiculturaliteit hebben staat vast. Maar het zegt niet dat we daar dan ook goed mee omgaan. " .............

Dit onderwerp kwam ook weer op tafel gedurende een vergadering van de Federatie van Nederlandse Verenigingen, in Nieuw Zuid Wales.

Van mij mag multiculturisme hier blijven bestaan, want....... ik heb een Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies ( Multicultural Education) van de University of New England (Armidale, NSW).

Het zou dus gek zijn als ik kwalificaties had in iets dat niet (meer) zou bestaan.

Wabe Roskam gaf een definitie van multiculturisme. Maar gedurende een z.g., 'residential', op UNE, begon iemand een lezing met een lijst van definities van multiculturisme die ZEER lang was.

In de jaren 70 hoorde ik aardig wat keren dat er WEER een nieuwe beschrijving was uitgevonden, voor onze situatie hier maar multiculturisme schijnt toch de beschrijving te zijn die blijft hangen.

Ik heb nooit in de 'invisible Dutch' hier willen geloven. Het voorbeeld, dat ik zo graag aanhaal, is hoe gemakkelijk het was om de immigranten uit Nederland hier kwaad te maken toen het er ongeveer 30 jaar terug op ging lijken dat KLM niet meer direkt tussen Sydney en Amsterdam mocht vliegen.

Ik werd in 1962 Australier (Zat op de kweekschool. Wilde onderwijzer worden. Dan MOEST je Australier worden.). Een paar jaar geleden ontdekte ik dat ik ook nog Nederlander mocht zijn, omdat ik in 1962 nog niet meerderjarig (21) was.

En dat vind ik best goed. Ik BEN een OZCLOGGIE. Daar is niets aan te doen. Mijn dochter en zoon vinden het interesant dat zij een 'Nederlandse' vader en een Australische (Engels/Iers achtergrond) hebben. Momenteel hebben zij toevallig, allebei een vriend(in) van Italiaanse afkomst.

Dat is toch multicultureel?