SUMMERTIME 2

 

 

Sonnet by William Shakespeare :

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

THOU ART MORE LOVELY AND MORE TEMPERATE:

 

 Copyright Acerules

Except, it's not May here. Summer in Southern Australia is from November until the end of February. It's hot, usually drier, sometimes drought, dusty, sometimes humid, but not very , in the south. There are flies, mosquitoes, but not usually cockroaches. Spiders spin their lace to trap the unwary night walker in the gardens, or across the footpaths, ask any early morning newspaper deliverer. 

Chickens and ducks are laying unless it's obscenely hot. Fleas can be a problem for pets. At night there's often the sound of quiet conversation on porches and on backyard patios, with curlicues of cigarette smoke coming from beer gardens of the pubs. Some yards have loud and obscene language , the clinking of beer bottles in wheelie bins and intrusive loud volume of classic rock standards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE PRINTABLE VINTAGE FLOWERS 2017 CALENDAR ON THIS BLOG:

free calendar blog

GIVING US THE CUTS

When I was at primary school, in the 1970 s, physical punishment for bad behaviour was still officially allowed. This was called "getting the cuts" . A smack or smacks to the palm of the hand or bottom, with a ruler or feather duster handle. Mr Sleeman used to take the naughty boys outside and give them that, I was told. I'm told he only pretended with the girls, and hit the wall instead. I only saw red marks, no "cuts" to the skin. The boys would pretend they had not been crying.  I was never called out. Mr Sleeman told me to be a writer. He taught me for two years.

Fast forward decades, and I'm told Mr Sleeman reported child sexual abuse by clergy in a parish where he was Principal, and lost his job over it. In 2016 he was vindicated at The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse. More about that in the safe link at the bottom of this page. How do I feel about Mr Sleeman? He was a good teacher for me. He was also a product of his time in the 1970s. I think we learned the 3 Rs (reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic), better than kids do today. However physical punishment is now no longer allowed in schools in my state.

From Wikipedia:

State	Government schools	Non-government schools
Victoria	Banned in 1983.[46]	Banned in 2006.
Queensland[47]	Banned in 1994.[48]	Not banned.[49]
New South Wales[50]	First banned in 1987.[46][51][52] Ban repealed in 1989.[53] Banned again in 1995.[54][55]	Banned in 1997.[54]
Tasmania[56]	Banned in 1999.[57][58]	Banned in 1999.[57]
Australian Capital Territory[59]	Banned in 1988.[60][61]	Banned in 1997.
Northern Territory[62]	Not banned, but contrary to Education Department policy.[63]	Banned in 2009.
South Australia	Banned in 1991.	Not banned.
Western Australia	Banned in 1999.[64] Effectively abolished by Education Department policy in 1987.[65]	Banned in 2015.[66][67]

Getting back to The Cuts. The Government here, right now, wants to cut benefits to ordinary Australians and the poor. At the same time they are wanting to give tax cuts to wealthy corporations. 

 

Sign here at this safe site if you want to stop the cuts to the poor:

stop the cuts link

Mr Sleeman and the Royal Commission :

mr Sleeman in "The Age" link