And Then There Was

With one kid always comes the other. They were like twins when they were small, but now as teenagers tend to squabble a bit. I guess like a lot of parents I'm a bit taken aback to suddenly be the father of teenagers, a 13 year old girl and 14 year old boy. An entirely different prospect to being the parent of doting children. My musical taste is considered so far backward as to be a public embarrassment. Any attempt to control the car radio is futile. This is Henrietta. She has just finshed Year Seven at Saint Scholastica's. She wants to be a doctor. You have to get very good marks to be a doctor, I keep telling her, but she seems determined enough.

Except she just got a D in English, which has surprised everybody as she loves reading and always has her head in a book, unlike her brother. He point blank refuses to read fiction. I read stories to them every night when they were younger, but it didn't seem to make any difference. There was always the excitement of Harry Potter. And when they were younger, the three trolls that lived under a bridge.

Both kids are up in Moree for Christmas and sound like they're having a good time; although it's very hot. Sydney is very quiet; you can leave the front door open and there's no sound of traffic. Apart from drunken arguments in the early hours of the morning the locals are quiet. Most shops are shut. All that violence; the dramatic scenes; and the anglos copped a fair bit of the blame as the commentariat went into a heightened fit of self-flagellation. There was poor behaviour on both sides, the rampaging gangs, the smashed cars. The lovies came out in force but the lovies weren't going to solve this one. We still remained shocked, on edge; trying to sweep things under the carpet because no one knew what to make of it all. All those wonderful myths about Ausrtralia being a successful multi-cultural country just went flying out the window, like a lot of pseudo-religions created by bureaucracies and elites who did nothing but pour scorn on the general population.

My old mate Colin is down overnight and plans are in full swing to head to Streaky Bay in South Australia the minute my last shift is over.

Reading Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds, a sweeping sci-fi epic full of genetically and mechanically enhanced humans and magnificent scenes in Chasm City, the poisonous yellow boil of the planet outside the canopy. Have to be at Myers very early in the morning to do a story on the post-Christmas sales. You have to get that initial rush. A subject not dear to my heart. We are thinking of setting up a small publishing company through the Dads On The Air program. There's only one way forward; up and out. Expansion. Intellectual depth. The gravitas of the book form. Studying a Microsoft Word course. Ceaseless plans to do a million things, instead he smokes too many cigarettes and drinks too much coffee and just can't wait for the year to be over, to return to a purified, blessed state.

BEACHWATCH: 26/12/2005.

Adelaide Advertiser:

FEARS of violence at Sydney's Cronulla beach did not eventuate yesterday as a heavy police presence kept any trouble-makers at bay. But beachgoer numbers were down, despite the perfect weather for families to head there for Christmas Day. The beach and nearby streets were the setting for violent mobs brawling in racist clashes on December 11.
While all was quiet, locals said people were still to afraid to return..

ABC:

Tourism Australia says travel warnings advising tourists not to visit Sydney beaches have had no noticeable effect on the industry.
The Cronulla riots have prompted Britain, Canada and Indonesia to issue the advisories, which warn of the possibility of racist violence.