Just as an aside, I was very nearly a Northern Territories Policeman. I was in Moçambique just as the war was drawing to a close and was driving at night through the bush and you know what it is like when you see something unexpected and it takes a while to register? Anyway, I reversed back and there was this Australian lad in the pissiest state I had ever seen a human being still able to stand. So I loaded him in and took him back to Maputo. God, his tale of woe. Since he’d been cleaned out of everything, I took him to the British Embassy and stumped up the cash to get him home etc. during which time we’d chatted and I had confessed that I was bloody tired and pissed off and that I would love to be going to Australia with him.
Soon after I keeled over with malaria and was sent to hospital in Jo’burg and then went on to Angola so it was a year before the letter from Oz caught up with me. In it was a postal order and the application forms for the NT Police. Turned out this kids Dad was a senator.
By then I was busy with another project but I can tell you this, with hindsight I wish I had signed the bloody forms and got on the plane.
Beautiful sunset. Mother nature has no bias whatsoever in longitude and latitude, and whether the site is an exotic haven, or a mundane back-yard lawn, when it comes to displaying her beauty for all to enjoy.
I've got to say, yours is a rather fascinating life and series of experiences, vastly different from so many others. Perhaps your life would have been far less interesting had you boarded that plane. The problem with life is you cannot test those theories in time and place, even with hindsight.
Excellent blog - I look forward to more of your writings. Good luck on all the hard work that lies ahead.
Please feel free to comment, good or bad. I will allow anything that isn't truly offensive to any other commentator. Me? You can slag me without mercy but try and be witty while you are about it.
Pretty - very scenic and peaceful!
ReplyDeleteBet there's nicer places in Oz.
ReplyDeleteJust as an aside, I was very nearly a Northern Territories Policeman. I was in Moçambique just as the war was drawing to a close and was driving at night through the bush and you know what it is like when you see something unexpected and it takes a while to register? Anyway, I reversed back and there was this Australian lad in the pissiest state I had ever seen a human being still able to stand. So I loaded him in and took him back to Maputo. God, his tale of woe. Since he’d been cleaned out of everything, I took him to the British Embassy and stumped up the cash to get him home etc. during which time we’d chatted and I had confessed that I was bloody tired and pissed off and that I would love to be going to Australia with him.
Soon after I keeled over with malaria and was sent to hospital in Jo’burg and then went on to Angola so it was a year before the letter from Oz caught up with me. In it was a postal order and the application forms for the NT Police. Turned out this kids Dad was a senator.
By then I was busy with another project but I can tell you this, with hindsight I wish I had signed the bloody forms and got on the plane.
Beautiful sunset. Mother nature has no bias whatsoever in longitude and latitude, and whether the site is an exotic haven, or a mundane back-yard lawn, when it comes to displaying her beauty for all to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI've got to say, yours is a rather fascinating life and series of experiences, vastly different from so many others. Perhaps your life would have been far less interesting had you boarded that plane. The problem with life is you cannot test those theories in time and place, even with hindsight.
Excellent blog - I look forward to more of your writings. Good luck on all the hard work that lies ahead.