The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 1 January - 13 January 2019
It was a fun snap way back in 1990, but a bit too real in 2019. (Photo by PG)
January 1stHappy New Year!Not a lot of sleep last night, dreaded coca cola and JD , always keeps me awake. "Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head , found my way downstairs and drank a cup". !!! It all seems very much the same today, only slightly different. A bit domestic; did 2 lots of washing, toasted sandwiches for lunch and picked the first batch of Tomatoes from the vegetable garden. I combed my hair only because I was singing the song & thought I should. I ventured to the office, as some 'stuff' still lingers (and will for a month or so) , I addressed some mailers etc and a quick reply to some emails before the account closes. The Enz-CH facebook pages will take a few weeks before they officially close so people can still explore them to their hearts content. It's a bright and sunny day, I have a little hop in my step , even a little jump when I took the recycle to the bin. I am contemplating going to Nigels and delivering Belles chocolates to him and getting a few things signed. Call Merelyn twice to try and catch her on her birthday but they are out at the Art gallery. Hopefully our card arrived. You never know this time of year as Aussie Post seems to have so many holidays. Mr Griggs is home so I make the drive. My car is very low on fuel but Nige thinks there is a petrol station at Monbulk which is half way. Turns out there isn't, so I pull over and thankfully decided to take my 1/2 full lawn mower fuel can- so I add that tiny bit to the tank and it gets me to Nigels part of the mountain. It's good to catch up and happy birthday to his cat , who is also part Maine Coon like Banshee, and same age too-14. Today feels just a bit different, only because it's all sitting on my mind. Watch Season 3 of 'Falling Skies'- which we do love. (Thanks Marky). January 2ndBanshee awake early wanting some food so I found it hard to get back to sleep.Mark reminds me that Dr Who is on tonight, which is strange not having the traditional Boxing Day episode in Oz. He's up in the house today and making me lunch, so that is rather special. Ok that was really nice, I am going to employ him as my private cook! I drive to Montrose and post some mail , still some bits and pieces to do , a few cds on the way etc. Mark is plotting our trip to the Rolling Stones Exhibit in Sydney. He sounds so excited, what a great present, well for both of us. Hmmm thought the Dr Who episode was a bit average tonight, too much 'happy families' and not enough Dalek! Don't get me wrong I LOVE the new Dr but always want a bit more edge. January 3rdSleep well last night, Miss Banshee not after a meal at 3.00 like the night before. Plus the house was nice and cool. Dreams as trippy as always.Trying to stay focused on the 'big picture' in my head and by sheer will alone force it to become reality. I have a coffee at Montage and Mary & John drop by as well. Pete's in late and tells me i am "frisky', and I am today. Maybe it's the second coffee. Home to the office and it's warming up outside, tomorrow a hot one, over 40 here. Thinking of putting the shade cloths over the vegie garden. I have been raking up leaves and disposing of them, in case there are any fires on the mountain. I clear the post office and grab the last few Christmas cards. Put them up with the others for the afternoon, they come down tonight. All gone for another year. I love it when people send us cards. Also two amazing parcels, one from Di T. and the other from Wendy C. Speechless. Am useless, never quite know what to say. January 4thA Hot day. Look after the wild animals and Miss Banshee (well she is wild most of the time too).Some fans keep emailing my 'this closes on new years" email account. My fault as I went into the account and replied , well to some. After 11,000 emails I am enjoying the break. meanwhile "It's all over now baby blue" is playing on the radio. A flock of sulphur crested cockatoos arrive and line up on the decking table to take turns sipping water. I love watching them wobble along with their knock knee'd procession. January 5thI'm adding some art images into my lap tops iphoto area, and one catches my friend Josie's eye. "Miss Kittys Big Day @ The Chapel Of The Five Fish". I try to explain the origins of this one and it just sounds so freaky. I like that someone loves a piece of art, especially recycled art.Start going through the mountain of photo albums, our life is certainly captured on film. This will take forever but I think it's worth it. Mark looks at them, and all these stories and moments come rushing back. Writer Jeff Jenkins calls , and originally i was avoiding the 'big chat' about my departure, just thought subtle might be good. But i guess after 38+ years it is 'something' so happily had a chat. Plus I like Jeff Jenkins, he's one of the good blokes, so happily had a chin wag and he can use pretty much whatever he likes. i think one segment will appear in Jeffs column in the February edition of The Music newspaper. I'm honoured. I have one of my famous 'bath chats" with Laura tonight. Soaking, Suds and the phone. One has to laugh. January 6thThat idiot QLD Senator attends some extreme right rally. I mean c'mon, nazi tattoo's, salutes, etc and he fails to condemn such vile slime balls and criminals. Still what do you expect from a senator that received 19 votes! I'm glad all sides of politics are for once banding together to say how absolutely f*cked he is. Decent people do not support such arseholes. Really it IS that simple.I chat to a few musicians today. Andy White is home again so catching up soon. He mentioned about fans at his show saying I'd waved goodbye to it all. People certainly are talking. January 7thThe last lawn area is finally mowed. It took me forever. I kept stopping, having a break going back., Four times, mostly because it is a hot Summers day here. It's brilliant having 2 acres but a lot of work.January 8thHessie would of turned 60 today. I have such a visual of him in my head, put up a few posts. One saying "there is a dent in our hearts that not even an aussie panel beater could remove". I have the best phone call with Kevin from Largest Living Things. We love Kev, always time for him, hopefully catching up very very soon. Lots of laughs, he gets us.Breakfast at Montage and Rosemaree calls by. So nice to sit and chat. I love how people at this cafe hate mobile phones being used. My lap top seems to be ok ,maybe because it's mostly for work, but phones, people just hate. One of the reasons we adore Montage. Chat to Neil, which is good. Lots of agreement, a few fans desperately tying to cling on and I dare say their own agendas. Maybe they've taken 'Don't Dream It's Over' to heart but you know what guys, it is. Close the book, the final chapter has been written. Hire car booked, so much cheaper then the christmas holiday time period. Like 80% cheaper! Sydney here we come. Still enjoying "Falling Skies" on Bluray, not many episodes left. Loved every season. Watched '50 years of the Internet" on National Geo channel. Some fascinating footage. January 9thAt Montage today and we catch up with our very good friend Karen. She's a good egg, we went to pay and she had already done it, shouted us both breakfast. 'For all the times you paid for mine at East St Kilda'. See kindness is rewarded . Thanks Kaz.I keep missing Llody's calls. He leaves this rather excellent message around our retirement. One of our favourite crew guys. Mark is attempting some smaller yard projects today, and I am in the office for a few hours. I do a few hours every day, a few last minute bits and pieces that take time. Waiting on some mailer boxes too from Aussie Post. The Post Office we go to, used a lot over Christmas and Australian Post always so slow to restock. (Grumble Grumble). The vegie patch is enjoying all this sunshine and last night a drop of rain, & I finally picking some larger size Tomatoes this weekend. Marks wish of bigger tomatoes. Smaller cherry ones are so much easier to grow up here on the mountain. Today I peeped at the Magnetic Island place, still a siren song, and I must lean to be patient. It kills me, the world can turn so slowly at times. Largest Living Things "My Time Is Now" playing while i'm looking, love the jam in the demo. So many excellent tunes by LLT. mark hands over a demo cdr of their stuff, and some I'd forgotten. I play LLT more then Crowded House or Split Enz in 2019. Miss Banshee is slowly braving it after being attacked by that stupid fucking Bengal cat, a vicious shit , let run lose around the streets because it's owns are slack. Killing chickens etc. Thankfully a few well thrown lemons up it's bum hole seems to of told it to go elsewhere. Hate irresponsible cat owners-they deserve a lemon up the arse too. So B heads out three times today, I'm close by (with a very big bag of lemons). No sign of the nasty cat. It dares not show it's face. January 10thGreat to see that the second season of Star Trek Discovery launches on January 17th. The rather awesome Anson Mount as Captain Chris Pike on the Enterprise. Bring it on!I'm scanning up some more photos of bands we've seen live as teenagers at Wollongong. One of them Scandal. Fronted by Stuart Kerrison. Imagine my surprise whilst reading Jimmy Barnes "Working Class Boy" book (Thanks Sis) , where Jimmy states that his very first band had Stuart as lead singer. Small world. Quite a few memories come crashing back, of the night at Wollongong in Tony Salvadors Monaro, chasing Scandal for an interview and a photos for 10,000 Voltz. Funny, file under 'the things we did"! I'm hanging out with Mary and Brenda at Montage, am feeling the love when they shout me food and coffee. Thanks girls, and what a fun afternoon it has been. I love watching the passing parade. I head into the post office but their cd mailer boxes haven't arrived yet. In 2 days they tell me. Australia Post take so long to get back into it after the Christmas mailing period. I know I keep grumbling on about them but they are such a useless company. Ross drops into Montage and has saved the house next to hers form being burgled. Good work girl. I see that 2018 was the third hottest year on record. It certainly felt like it. January 11thWe really enjoy "Mollys Game"-cool movie. No not about Molly Meldrum or Ecstasy but Molly Bloom, the young woman who ran very high stake poker games with celebrities and got busted. Jessica Chastain is excellent. Worth checking out.Craig Mclaughlin is charged in the Victorian court. It makes the front page news everywhere. I am scanning hundreds of photos today and one is a set up snap, many years ago of Craig being 'arrested' by 2 real cops. Life imitates Art moment? Great that the hospital at Sale has 2200 solar panels on it's roof. The biggest installation on any hospital in the country. Good work Victoria's Government. January 12thI've been taking Blackmores Muscle Magnesium powder for a week now. No leg cramps, sleeping really well. Plus Woolworths had it for 50% off. So a bargain.Mark and myself head out for a saturday breakfast. Giles & Fen are in town and want to catch up with us , so that will be fun. We leave it up to them as to what time. Andy Whites back from a successful European tour so he'll hopefully swing on by. A fun gathering and thanks for the amazing presents. Still at a loss if they were christmas, birthday, early birthday or "just because". This was fun. Thanks guys. xxx I raid the vegie patch for tomatoes, basil and lettuce. It's all so fresh and crisp. January 13thA really decent sleep & a certain Miss Kitty sleeps in too. Sunny sunny days on the mountain , and determined to get an hour of weeding done , while I have the vibe. The blackberries keep trying to sneakily return but I pluck them out.I've decided to stop accepting 'friends' on my facebook account. 1500 is heaps, so just 22 more and then No No No. We are in the office late afternoon, shredding old paperwork and stuff that really isn't important, it's just like Nixon (not really). Kalo-gate! I'm keeping cool bits and extras aside, and of course the Archives will not be touched. That stays and continues to grow. It feels slightly strange, but I guess that is normal, two weeks after my 'retirement' has started. C'mon you know I'd never really retire, maybe i need to invent a new term for what our existence now is. ! It still feels like the right decision has been made. ! The wheels are turning. Be Happy! xPG |