The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 26 February - 11 March 2018
Mum gets an 80th birthday cake from granddaughter Maddison
February 26thIt's hard rubbish day on the mountain so all types of bric a brac roadside. So many people wading through it, which is good I guess if you really need something and are poor, the ultimate in recycling-we waste so much.. Saying that how many people just keep getting shit because they just add to their piles. More is less. That is so true.Hoping it doesn't rain though, all those piles of rubbish just become giant soaked messes. I pity the trucks picking up the water filled mattresses. I sign off on my chat for the Australian Music Vault. It's under the guise of "CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH" and on March 28th- Vic Arts Centre. Will have some ticket information towards the end of this diary. February 27thWe pick our 1000th Tomato today. Yes I have been counting, wanted to see if having this vegie patch is worth all the effort. The answer is YES.I drive to Office Works for some copying, photos and some bits and pieces for the office. I use their computer and notice todays F/16 diary has had around 800 visitors today. That is cool. getting close to our 500,000th. I enjoy the humans as they walk in and get excited by the items on the shelves . They are all shapes and sizes. Just as I'm people gazing an article arrives about short round overweight people being at a higher risk for heart attacks. It seems to change every few months, something new trying to kill us all. So if you are short and round and over weight, time for some exercise. February 28thCher arrives in Oz for the Mardi Gra party in Sydney. How amazing does she look for 71? The plastic surgeon certainly did a quality job on her. I like Cher, she is fun, I enjoy that she doesn't like Donald Chump and will happily say so. I spend half the day trying to get "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves" out of my head. I can't and it's driving me nuts. "..... I was born in the wagon of a travellin' show...."! Argh Cher you are killing me, but a nice way to go.March 1stOh no, Summer is technically over. We all know it isn't and will linger for a month or so. Very happy that we didn't have any fires on the mountain, that's always a relief for those of us who live in a national park. The vegies certainly have done well from this sunshine, though parts of Victoria are very dry from lack of rain. We all need a really good down pour. Mt weatherman keeps saying "rain on the way" but it never seems to arrive.Oh good grief another terrible moment for the Liberals. Michaelia Cash -Minister for Women making terrible comments about hard working women in the Australian parliament. What a tool she is and what's happening with that ridiculous hairdo of hers. Somewhere there is a hairdresser laughing his arse off that she paid good money for what looks like a pineapple of hair on her head. Such a silly goose. I'm studio bound for nearly all of today, some yap and chat as we call it. So Mark is the only one in the office all day. March 2ndWell the power was meant to be off today , for line work, but it never happened, so it was futile to swap all of our work over to other days. We left the mountain, grocery shopped, had lunch etc, expecting to come home to a powerless house and office. It's annoying work wise but we just deal with it. I know it is important work, all these upgrades.March 3rdTassie Election on, Labor do well, not a win but a 8+% swing to them. They have to be happy with that.I see Fizza Turnbull gave us a moralising speech, saying we need to create a betetr work place for women- and then the minister for women makes outrageous slurs against hard working women in Canberra, and to make it worse Turnbull makes excuses for Ms Cash. What a spineless tosser ol' Malcolm is. The clock is ticking his days are numbered. Mardi Gra is on in Sydney tonight, the 40th. The weather is perfect, and 600,000 line the streets in support. 12,500 people in the parade. Party on Sydney you gorgeous city. March 4thI do get a chance to catch up with Kimmy, Cassie, Daryl and the one and only Nigel Griggs. I meet them at Ricketts and then onto Brunch for some food. Nige spoils us and shouts the afternoon delights. A really fun day , great to see Kimbo again, it's been awhile. Nige passes on a B&W live stage shot of him and Neil for "possible use". Neils fang hole (that sounds rude) rather obvious in the shot.Mark and myself settle in and watch the 40th Mardi Gra on good ol' SBS. Cher has them all fainting at her feet. It's a great MardiGra this year, and less waffle and more "Gra". March 5thNo sleep last night, brain running round in circles in my head. Up before 5.00 for a shower, food and ready to go to the airport. Miss Banshee stays in bed till Mark arises hours later. Good kitty!The drive is ok, a bit of a blur. Was going to park in the one day car park but to hell with it and went with Qantas valet. I'm glad I am Jetstarring today as the lines for Qantas security check were massive. It would take an hour just to line up . Three people in the T4 line , nice and fast. No luggage just carry on - so I'm a happy chappy. Everyone looks sleepy. I'm in the seat 5A, have the hippy travel pillow Sis gave me years ago, so lean against the window for a cat nap. Rough over Sydney, storm clouds brewing. My car is ready, and I'm on the way home for Mums 80th. Put the radio on and it's mostly crap. I'm soon heading down the south coast, the great dividing range is covered in massive fog banks and it rains some. Go down Bulli Pass to see Sis but she is out, will see her later. Call into shops for flowers to give Mum.. I have these two HUGE helium balloons in the shape of 80. Buy a lemon tree for her to replace the dead one at home, it grows 2 different types of lemons, she'll like that. Mum answers the door and is so happy to see me. Laughs like a crazy person at the balloons. I'm at home for an hour and do some chores for her. Her lawn mowing people arrive, rather spunky dudes dear mother!!!! Always ok to window shop. I go get some fuel and call into Marks Mums place and give her some lovely flowers her son has bought. A quick chat and back home. We head to Spotlight for party hats & bric a brac. The parking machine is broken, so we leave a not on the windscreen -but the parking guy ignores it and leaves a parking fine-what a prick.. Ridiculous as the machine is broken and can't he/she read. I'll certainly fight this one. I'm obviously not the only one as a sign is on the machine now saying it's broken. I take a photo , always good to have proof. I head to the far corner of the yard and rip out the HUGE dead lemon tree , pure brute force. I pound it into smaller bits for her Green bin. Plant some flowers, cut back ivy, fix MIMs play set , Mums bird bath and the chore list is complete. I help Mum set the table for her little get together. We sit and talk for awhile which is nice. The Illawarra Mercury stuffs up Mums birthday advert, not once but twice. They really do suck. MIM runs to the door , more helium balloons and jumps into her Uncles arms and plants a big smacker on my cheek. Sis carries in some cool presents, she always gets an A for quality gift wrapping. It's awesome to see them. I love that my sister is one of my best friends. The day flies by and we have an early birthday dinner for Mum. She could have whatever she wanted so the food is varied. MIM carries in her birthday cake and helps Grandma blow out the candles. It's a really nice evening. Sis's husband arrives from work and we attempt to take some "family photo" which always ALWAYS ends in laughter and stupid faces, initiated by the 80 year old herself. It's soon time to leave and the weather is starting to get nasty. I'm now driving along the freeway and very few cars, total foggy conditions, so driving with my hazard lights on. Massive rainstorm has hit and parts of the freeway are under water. Not the best driving conditions. I arrive with a bit of time to spare, my flight delayed. I enjoy a wonderful coffee at Veloce, my favourite coffee place in the entire world. Who would of thought it would be at an airport. Try to sleep on the flight home but some loud mouth NZer guy in front , he's a pain in the arse. We finally touch down and I'm a bit fatigued. My car is at valet so that is nice, happy to be off for the final leg. I start counting the number of green lights on the way home, just to keep me awake. 80 yes EIGHTY green lights in a row. The only hiccup one red turning arrow but the main lights were Green (does that count). I just realised 80 green lights on my Mums 80th- SPOOKY! 80 green lights has to be some sort of record. Finally home, feeling fried, so good just to collapse into Marks strong arms and get a bit of a hug. I sleep well tonight. Happy 80th Mum. March 6thAfter the long day you'd think I'd sleep in but up at 8.00 and straight to the office. I hear from my contact at the Australian Music Vault. My fee is waivered and I agree to all the paper work, which is ok as some of our Frenz and family can get free tickets. Great for the fans who are my first priority. The public ticket cost is pretty much nothing anyway. They charge a token price to cover front of house, etc. So I am ok with that. Half the tickets are gone in 10 minutes. Still a handful of Public tickets left. So come on down, have a fun night at CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH and please come up and say " Hello" at the end of the night. I never get a chance to chat to fans, so this will be great for that.You can grab tickets here: https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2018/the-channel/amv-stories-of-australian-music March 7thLots of phone calls today, love that our favourite mates are coming along to my Arts Centre chat. Trudi, Fran, Nicole, Liz, Trudy, Toija, Marco, Laura, Stella etc, they all called to say we are coming to show support. That means SO much. I Am stoked. The Frenz and Hook mates are really excited by the night, so lets hope I don't let anyone down.Off to Brunch for Brunch. Just us but Louise and Mark spoil we two - and the food was really yummy. We work in the office on Neil Finn emails all afternoon. Still attempting to play catch up after my Monday escape to Wollongong. March 8thAmy asks me if I can make it to Joy FM, but sadly I'm sidetracked by other work commitments. She'll do fine, she's quite chatty and so far she has been easy to work with around the Vault public talk. I like radio , hate doing tv.We pick a further 500 tomatoes. The vegetable patch just keeps on giving and giving. I call our friend Hisako who loves Tomatoes and she leaves with a big container of them. She is impressed with the Halloween pumpkins, the golden orange orbs , now sitting among the decaying runners. Summer is over so the garden starts to fade. I see Dan Andrews moves up even further as Preferred Premier in the Polls . Dan the Man is at 41. The horrid Matthew Guy at 30. Guy would make a shit Premier of Victoria, lets hope he never gets in. If he is the best the Liberals can offer then god help us all. March 9thNeil has 2 nights at the Auckland Arts Centre with the Orchestra. We had such little fan feedback on these two shows- very strange. Usually my IN box is full of Emails.I head to JB at Chirnside and buy THOR- Ragnarok and we love it. A bit more humour in this one. Fantastic too that Led Zeppelin is played during the fight scenes. It works so well. Extra bonus is a 20% discount for the Justice League Bluray that is out in a few weeks time (thanks JB). The traffic driving home is nuts. So many angry people on the road, such stress victims. I'd hate to drive in this every day. By the time I'm heading back up the Tourist Rd I'm happily relaxed. Adding to this bliss I called into the Montrose Fisn N Chipery and grabbed dinner, so no cooking for this little black duck. I start on some multi vitamins, been a bit short of energy lately and they seem to do the trick . The SA election is coming up soon. Liberal "leader" Marshall is rather terrible too. Why do the Libs insist on weak leaders these days? Wonder if Labor will scrape across the line for a record number of terms in office? Maybe a case of Jay being "better the devil you know" . At least he has some vision around renewables instead of finite coal. March 10thI sleep really well, even Miss B doesn't get up too early.A really warm day so decide it would be good for her to have a bath. She looks at her red tub, says Meow and heads off. So bath time delayed for Miss Kitty, she's way too clever for us. Even the con of a fish bribe didn't work (and it usually does). I head to the office this fine Saturday and work for 4 hours. We are still playing catch up on Emails and other stuff. It will get done but a lot of fan activity this week , especially emails. I capture Banshee at dinner time and in the tub she goes. She has a couple of dreadlocks that I want gone, so she isn't as happy as she usually is around a wash. She soon settles into the tub, like she is visiting some Cat Day Spa. Of course her revenge is shaking herself all over yours truly. That leads to an evening of Mrs Slocombes "Wet Pussy" jokes from Mark. I cook Kofta for dinner with salad, got to use up all of those tomatoes. We do like our Indian food. We watch another episode of the wonderful SOUNDBREAKING documentary. It has some great artists on it, and great to see studio bits and bobs. Think it was the last thing George Martin did. March 11thUp fairly early and head to the office for a few hours. Playing the wonderful Bessie Smith while I work. I notice that her songs like "Electric Chair" were released the same year that our house was built (1927). I have visions of the original occupants playing Bessie Smith in the pool room, dancing about to her exceptional voice while drinking Frankenjacks.During the afternoon I picked the last of the blackberries and made some home made Blackberry Jam. Not much this year. We have been happily wolfing down blackberries for months , totally forgot to make some jam till now. That's it for another diary. Will see many of you at the Australian Music Vault "Can I have Your Autograph" session. Thanks again to those who are making the effort. Love and Peace PG |