More or Les (was Bloody Plurals)

[mkenuk]

Yorkshiremen?
Soft southerners!
Now up on Tyneside in the real north of England.......!

 

(only joking, of course.
My daughter studied at Sheffield University - you don't get anywhere more 'Yorkshire' than Sheffield - and I always found it a friendly, welcoming  place).


 

[Les303]

Penny ,

Even though it was only a few sentences , it still brought a lump to my throat.
What a brave woman you are to have endured such a marriage.
There is absolutely no circumstance or excuse ( including mental illness ) which makes it ok for a man to assault a woman & I am so sorry that you had to go through that.
I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you  ( I presume with a young child ) to pluck up enough courage to actually leave him.
And how terribly sad that you eventually find your true soul mate , only to have him , so cruelly , taken from you after such a very short time together.
I am sure that you normally do anyway but next time you see your daughter just make sure that give her an extra hard & extra long hug.

Respectfully Les

Oops , almost forgot to add this link that I found for Backyard Ashes , it is only a trailer but also includes bloopers & the making of the film which will give you a pretty good indication of the type of film that is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfLn-duACkM

[Ozzyjack]

I was deeply concerned about what happened to that cow.

Les, if the cow had been seriously injured or worse, I would have heard.  What I imagine happened was that the horse swerved at the last minute and merely sideswiped the cow otherwise the horse would have been injured.  I was riding bareback and would have continued in a straight line straight over the cow.  The horse was caught to be taken home.  The cow would have been part of a herd left to roam free in the town by a farmer whose land was totally below flood level.  it would have got back with its mates and told them about this crazy kid who had come out of nowhere and disturbed its grazing ... or something like that.

[Ozzyjack]

In January 1960, I went for an interview with the New South Wales Public Service.  If I was to get to university, I needed a scholarship because there was no way my parents could afford the fees let alone living expenses.  It was a shambles.  There were 5 interviewers (including a couple of professors) with me stuck in the middle having questions fired at me.  After a short while I realised it was hopeless and I thanked them for their time and walked out.  One of the group, who I now suspect was the personnel officer setting up the interviews, came after me and said he noticed I had good maths passes and I should be aware the Commonwealth had advertised for Statistics Cadets.
I didn’t even know what statistics was, but I went around to the Commonwealth recruiting office and filled in the necessary forms.  The clerk there told me applications had closed the previous week, but they hadn’t got a great response and he thought he could get me an interview.  I went back to Hinton believing my visit to Sydney had been a complete waste of time.

In mid-February, I got a call to come to Sydney for an interview.  This one was entirely different.  The first segment consisted of all the candidates sitting around a table discussing issues coordinated by one interviewer.  A couple of the candidates were from Sydney prestigious private school who spoke poshly and with great confidence.  Then there was a private interview with the interviewer and the only question I can remember was whether I was a great reader and what type of books I read.  I answered that I was an avid reader of Westerns.  The interviewer replied that he didn’t mind a good Western.  I went home thinking the process was a lot fairer than the State interview, but I had no chance against those other bright candidates.

A week later, I got a letter saying that if I wanted to accept a cadetship, I should respond immediately and that a warrant would be sent to pay for my train trip to Canberra.  The cadetship would cover University fees and a living allowance would be paid at the rate of a base grade clerk – which was slightly greater than what an adult farm hand could earn in Hinton.  I didn’t need more than two seconds to decide.

And so it was that on the 29 February 1960, I was on a train bound for Canberra with the 3 other successful New South Wales candidates -none of whom came from a prestigious private school.  I still wonder whether they all withdrew from the process or if not, what the selection criteria were.

The rest of 1960 can be summarised succinctly.  I was a front row in the premiership under-18 University Rugby team and played as an emergency reserve in first grade several times.  The rest of my endeavours were less successful.  Instead of committing to studies I spent my living allowance on beer, unsuccessfully chasing females and the rest I wasted.  I failed 3 out of 4 subjects and was kicked off the cadetship.  I had a bond to serve out and so I went to work as a real base grade clerk in the Employment Branch in February 1961.  I was told it would look bad if I were promoted to earn more than the Cadets that were still studying and so I stayed in this Branch until 1964 when my fortunes changed.

[Les303]

" Instead of committing to studies I spent my living allowance on beer, unsuccessfully chasing females and the rest I wasted."

A man after my own heart.

[Hobbit]

Thanks so much Les & Jack for your very kind words.  Means a great deal.
Jack I laughed at your joke so I think that humour obviously travels well from one side of the globe to the other.  My Mum wasn't a Codebreaker!  She left home in 1939 at the age of 17 to join the Women's Land Army & worked on a farm.  My Dad was in the army & was evacuated from Dunkirk. My Mums brother was in the navy on the North Atlantic convoys.  My Dad's brother-in-law was at Montecassino.  Thankfully all survived the war.  There was a story told to me by my cousin that his Dad left Italy after Montecassino with some important papers & was despatched to London.  He stopped at a camp near the French coast as he needed fuel.  He asked the guard on the gate to fetch his CO & apparently round the corner came my Dad! My Grandfather was in the Home Guard in a small village in Buckinghamshire.  My Godfather, who was a child at the time, told me that it was just like Dad's Army   Sorry I've no idea if you get that over in Oz.  It probably wouldn't travel very well.
Jack am so glad the cow survived!
Please both of your continue your stories..
Pen

[Hobbit]

Thanks for the clip Les.  Backyard Ashes sounds right up my street.  I did look on Netflix but couldn't find it.  I'm going to explore Amazon & see if I can track down a DVD. Pen

[Ozzyjack]

Dad's Army   Sorry I've no idea if you get that over in Oz. 

Pen, I've seen every episode twice, some more.   

[2dognight]

  Happy and joyous Christmas to you all

  Carol

   

[Ozzyjack]

On the workfront in 1964, I believed that the restriction on my promotion in the organisation was unfair so I applied for a job in another department. I went well in interview and expected to get the job. I got called into our Personnel section and was told they had decided to promote me (coincidentally?) to the level I had applied for in the other department.  It also involved a transfer to a section working on a primitive computer, an ICT 555.   I didn’t know what a computer was and initially floundered at trying to program it but after a few months found I was quite good at it. It was limited to a maximum of 150 program steps and each step was executed by inserting a wire into holes in a plugboard.  Each hole performed an action. Data input/output was on punched cards.

On the personal front, I was living in a hostel which had regimented dining arrangements. If it was Thursday, you knew steak was on the menu. Times for meals were limited and if you were late you missed out. You were allocated a table which you were expected to sit at for each meal. Consequently, you saw a lot of your table mates.   I was with 3 other blokes at my table and we had just about exhausted every respectable avenue of conversation and even the bawdy stuff was getting boring.  I was talking to a rather shy academic over coffee in the communal lounge after dinner one evening when he confided that he was a trifle embarrassed being at a table with 3 very attractive young women. My reaction was “geez, mate, ya gotta be joking, I’ll swap you”.  You can see I was quite articulate in those days. He reluctantly agreed.  I felt guilty because he would be totally incompatible with my yobbo mates but I was looking forward to a change.

I tried to get to every meal and flirted outrageously with each of the women.  I had the feeling that 2 of the women liked the attention but one didn’t. She made it clear my behaviour was gauche and unimpressive.  Her name was June. June was(is) a mentally strong, competitive woman who doesn’t shy away from a challenge. I think she decided she could turn me into a reasonable and acceptable human being. We were engaged in March, 1964.  My parents thought their prayers had been answered but not all parties were so positive. Her parents were opposed because I was nominally Catholic and they were fervently Protestant. Her friends told her she was taking on a lost cause and “it won’t last”.   June won’t be told she can’t achieve something by anyone(especially me) and we were married in January, 1965.  So far it has lasted 53 years and she still has a long way to go to get me to achieve the standard she would like.

[2dognight]

Ozzyjack and ozzyjune

That was a lovely post   great photo

Brought tears to my eyes

Carol

[Ozzyjack]

In 1965, I was selected for a programmer-in- training course.  From memory, this involved 20 weeks of full time class work and 20 weeks of closely supervised practical work.  We learnt different program languages, basic computer hardware and architecture, and systems analysis and design and if we passed, were guaranteed an automatic promotion at the end.  This time I was motivated and passed.  1966 involved a lot of travel around State offices chasing computer time and because of this and the fact we had discovered golf, I decided to retire from Rugby.  In fact, although I never stopped loving playing Rugby, I hated training on Canberra's cold winter nights.  I can still remember the feeling of ice forming in your lungs as the forwards plodded up and down the paddock providing training for the backs.  This decision was reinforced by the birth of our son in 1968.  Our daughter was born in 1972.
   
In 1973, I was outposted to a user area to work closely with them to build systems.  I had a falling out with my computer managers because I believed they were giving wrong advice to the users.  The result was that when I was offered a transfer out of the Computer Branch to the Corporate Services Branch, I took it.  The rest of my career in the ABS was in corporate services areas mostly in Canberra but included several relieving short periods in State offices.

In 1989, I transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs to work on Industrial Relations.  The major challenge was to look after the people aspects of transferring the Repatriation Hospitals from Commonwealth /to State Government control and if that couldn't be achieved to convince private enterprise to take them over.  Union cooperation was essential to a smooth transition and this could only be achieved if they were convinced that their members were being looked after.  In late 1993, this had been accomplished and the unit was largely disbanded.  I then had 3 years in the Melbourne Office Corporate Services Branch and 4 years in the similar unit in the Sydney Office.

In 2000, there was a major push to downsize corporate services units and I was made an offer to retire that was too good to refuse.  June was by then in a senior position in the State office of another Commonwealth Department and worked on for a couple of years while I played golf almost every day.  When she retired we moved to the Southern Highlands in 2004.  This placed us within 2 hours of both friends in Sydney and our kids (no matter how old they are, they are always our kids) who were both in Canberra at that stage.  In 2009, we discovered Chihuahua and became Ozzyjack and Ozzyjune.

Life has been kind to us.


I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all forum members the very best over the holiday season, however you perceive it to be, and the very best for the new year.

[Les303]

it was just like Dad's Army  Sorry I've no idea if you get that over in Oz.  It probably wouldn't travel very well.
Pen

Dad's Army did travel well , it had good ratings here & even after the series finished they continued to play repeats for years & I can guarantee that my mother ( who absolutely loved that show ) never missed a single episode.

It reminds me of the time that we had to attend yet another of those boring but mandatory courses for " safety in the work place "
There were probably about 12 employees that lethargically shuffled into the classroom for this particular session all braced for a very long & tedious lecture.

However we were pleasantly surprised when after a brief introduction to the course , the presenter announced that we would now
watch a short video.

The presenter in the video was none other than Arthur Lowe.
Arthur began in a very stern tone emphasising the importance of safety in the workplace.
The video then cuts to a series of absolutely ridiculous workplace scenarios , starring Arthur whose comedic brilliance shone through & had the entire room roaring in laughter.
I think that the " silly " video did much more to make employees seriously think about safety in the workplace than any boring lecture would have.

Arthur Lowe was a very fine actor & comedian. ( He played the role of Captain Mainwaring in the Dad's Army series. )

[Les303]

Life has been kind to us.

Jack ,

You are a very lucky man.
Thank you ( & June , for giving permission ) for telling us a bit about yourself.
I particularly enjoyed that wonderful wedding photo although I do have to say that while I thought that the groom did look a bit ordinary , the bride was absolutely beautiful.

Merry Christmas mate.

[mkenuk]

Thanks for the clip Les.  Backyard Ashes sounds right up my street.  I did look on Netflix but couldn't find it.  I'm going to explore Amazon & see if I can track down a DVD. Pen

Yes, it's an excellent film. Possibly the best Aussie comedy I've seen since 'Muriel's Wedding' a few years ago.

Not for one minute would I suggest that you should try to download anything illegally, but it is available on the 'P-r-te B-y' bittorrent website!