http:\/\/www.youthweek.com<\/big><\/span><\/a><\/big><\/p>\nIt was my co-worker Michelle\u2019s baby; her swansong in fact as her husband had got a job researching physics at Imperial College London. This neatly buggered up my favourite piss taking of him:<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n“What do you say to a guy with a doctorate in<\/i> physics and a job?”<\/i><\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n“Burger and fries please!”<\/i><\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nPoor bloody Michelle, the Monday before the competition; her granny down in Melbourne goes and pops her clogs. Poor bloody me; the whole thing then falls in my lap.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nOn the Saturday, I thought I\u2019d get in here about 9.00am ish, set the stuff up, and wait for the punters to arrive. I got here at 8.45am to find a queue of them waiting. Eek\u2026<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nI gave them forms, set up a table, and sent my trusty assistant Vince Tatiyakorn, out to set up the barbie. Anyway, it all went off spiffingly, and great fun was had by all.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nLuckily Michelle got back in time to enjoy most of the day. Bethy had a go, and although both Lee-Anne and me thought her drawing was the best of the lot, I couldn\u2019t wangle one of the $100.00 prizes for me\u2026Sorry, her.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBethy working on her chalk art.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nWe got in the local press and on TV. This below is from the Canberra Times.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nChalking it up to<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nImagination as<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nArt hits the street<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBy Scott Hannaford<\/span><\/b><\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBELCONNEN’S young people gave the public a
\npiece of their mind yesterday when they took to
\nthe streets with chalk and imagination as part of<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nNational Youth Week.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nYoung people aged between eight and 25
\ndecorated the walkways around the Belconnen
\nlibrary with bold designs that captured the then
\nWhat’s good for your mind?<\/i><\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nThe chalk art competition was organised by the
\nBungee Youth Resilience program as part of the
\nBelconnen Community Services, and attracted 29
\nparticipants.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nSupport worker and competition organiser with
\nBungee Michelle O’Neill said there had been an
\nincredible amount of diversity in the designs but
\nwasn’t a surprise to see how good some of the art
\nwas.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n“Young people are very talented, it’s not really:<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nSuch a surprise,” she said.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nShe said the Bungee program was the only one
\nof its kind in the ACT to actively encourage a
\nmessage of preventing mental health problems in
\nyoung people.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nAmong the designs was a large brain with
\nconflicting thoughts and over the top the word
\n“Peace”. For others, good mental health meant
\nrelaxing and spending time with friends and
\nfamily.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nTaff Thomas, Bungee manager said the art<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nbenefited not only the young people
\nwho got to express their feelings about mental
\nhealth, but also other members of the public.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nFive winners: Tesse Leckenby, Reece Everist,
\nAlexandra Frith, Maddy Packard and Majella
\nBrown were awarded $100 each for their design.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nIt\u2019s autumn here now, and it\u2019s bloody lovely. Amazing sunsets ripped raw red into the sky. Cool misty mornings, warm, mild days. Be better if it was fucking flyable, but you can\u2019t have it all.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nThe funniest thing is, as we head into winter, I\u2019m finding odd that we aint heading into Xmas. Like really odd and disconcerting. I\u2019ve been here in two winters, and didn\u2019t find that odd, just seemed like a mild British summer. I had Xmas in the warm sun, didn\u2019t find that odd. But heading into winter with no Xmas on the horizon is striking me as very peculiar. Live and learn. Or just live in my case.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBut seeing as it\u2019s autumn Lee-Anne decided we should go pick wild mushrooms. We got up at a god awfully unearthly hour of 4.30 am, on a Saturday morning. We drove out of Canberra in the dark, but were crossing the southern tablelands as the sun came up. And to be quite frank, it was beautiful. It was worth getting up for that. On the way there we saw many packs of wallabies (think small hairy kangaroos) by the side of the road, and an eagle hovered above us for some way. We got to the place Lee-Anne knew, Araleun, and walked around for hours. Amazing place, a deep wooded valley, lovely spot to live. The place we were hunting around in was so riddled with wombat burrows it must have been like Swiss cheese underfoot. We did find a mushroom, just the one.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBloody animals. Bloody fucking animals. Bloody fucking pain in the arse cat and dog.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nFirst the cat. One night Lee-Anne says to me; “does Tiger look odd at all?” “No more than usual”<\/i> I replied. Got up the next day and he had a head and a half. Poor bugger had an abscess that had swollen his ugly mush up to a huge size. One trip to the vets, who booked a holiday in the Caribbean as soon as he clapped eyes on him, later, and we have a moggy with a half-shaved head, with two “drainage” pipes hanging out of it. Yucky.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nAfter the pipes came out, and getting his head sown up again, and a course of antibiotics (read $$$$ later), he\u2019s fine. We\u2019re skint, but he\u2019s fine.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nNow the pissing, fuckwitted, dog.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nDon\u2019t get me wrong, I love the bloody mutt, but there are times when I could happily kill him. Apart from pissing on the mother-in-laws curtains the other night, (if he\u2019s going to do it why can\u2019t he wait till she\u2019s not looking,) he\u2019s given me heart attacks of late.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nYou see he has this big blind spot. He doesn\u2019t realize that car are big heavy things that will carpet the road with him if he gets under one.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nThe other day Bethy and me took him for a walk. Just to make it interesting we took our bikes, well actually I took Lee-Anne\u2019s bike as mine had a puncture, that knackered me for a start. All went swimmingly, the dog trotted along in front of us, occasionally causing us to brake rapidly, and along we went. Great, I bloody loved it.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nWe came to the main road, no worries I thought, there\u2019s a nature strip along here, we\u2019ll use that. Most main roads in Canberra have a nature strip, a 40 foot wide strip of bushes, trees and rough ground, with the cycle path \/ pavement, on the inside edge. Along we go, happy as Larry. Until Barnum spots a magpie.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nBarnum hates magpies. We think one must have attacked him when he was young. They attack me, so he\u2019s easy meat I suppose. But he hates them with a vengeance. So he chases it \u2026 across four lanes of traffic.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nAnd back again.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nLuckily the traffic was light that day, so he\u2019s still alive. Also luckily I was so shocked by the whole thing I didn\u2019t beat him to death. I tried to though.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\nOne thing his total disregard for oncoming traffic is good for though, is the cycle nazi\u2019s.<\/big><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n