The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 26 September - 9 October 2022
 "PG selfie taken on the top rung of the ladder- Kalorama Pool Room". Not too bad for an old fart. |
September 26thA bit of a rush this morning as Trudi arrives in 45 minutes to take us to lunch. I manage to close the door on my hand and almost forgot that I have a batch of wild flowers for her, so a quick wrapping job. My mind is elsewhere.We were going to go to Ranges but decided upon Olinda Cafe, seeing how we used their car park. It ended up being a good choice, Marky was happy & coffee good. Delicious hamburgers for lunch and excellent company. We are spoit. Thanks T. xxx The afternoon, I finished the manuscript for my friends Neil Finn book. I also sent him a few of my photos, just in case. I'll go through the manuscript again in case we missed stuff, as always Marky has been brilliant, he picks the mistakes, so easily. I reward him by making his favourite curry chicken puff roles from the Indian cook book. Plus the last of the Turkish bread for a dip. After a week away , I'm heading back to the charity tomorrow, a week of crappy weather coming up so it will be difficult to climb out of bed in the morning. I'd like to think my efforts do help people, otherwise i wouldn't be doing this. It's good to volunteer around such things. I email Neil (Finn) to say thank you for a favour he did for me. I'm not even sure where Neil is at the moment, and sent our well wishes to Elroy too, hope he is recovering. It's nice that my (ex) boss still makes contact and vice versa. September 27thI am getting into this terrible habit of waking up early, today was no exception. 1hr 20 mins before my alarm ... tried to go back to sleep, tried to force dream about flying saucers, dinosaurs and time travel but no luck. Thought maybe a wank but that's just asking for trouble, I'd probably fall into a 36 hours deep sleep, so no no no. I will be a good boy. Eventually I stumble out and it's a wet grey day. I get ready for the charity, a shower, some grain and a hayfever tablet as the mountain is covered in wattle.Lachie has my coffee ready at his van, it tastes extra nice this morning, he is such a champ. The boss drags me into her office, which is ok, I happily tell her what i think too , gets it all out into the open. I want my work place to be happy, otherwise what's the point. All is ok, well I think. Not going to over think this. It becomes a strange day but I manage to catch up on all the books, cds, dvds. The late afternoon is good, we all get stuck into it and accomplish a lot. If we are allowed to just do our jobs we get it done. I love working with these girls. I even work back, just to help out. I know Marky is at home working on the "Skyhooks 1979" pieces for YouTube. Another fan piece, he is so good to me, i know he would avoid using my dodgy 8mm footage. Just a tiny bit that we filmed at 3 Skyhooks homes. Bongo at Walsh street Sth Yarra, he was building a record rack for his shop Hipper Records, and suddenly does a rather cool guitar solo with the hammer. Skyhooks lead singer Tony Williams with his dog at the time, he will really kill me, but hidden in the background of the Tony footage could be a really young very cute Marky! I am so going to pay for letting this knowledge creep out into diary land! There is also a few seconds of Skyhooks songwriter and bassist Gregory John Macainsh. It's out front of his old Hampton house, i think we just did a little interview. The sound is rough as hell, from our $15 tape recorder. I mean come in we were kids form Wollongong. It's a Skyhooks rarity called "Yeah Howard"- about Howard Hughes. Anyway check it out, a bit of fun, a bit of a fascinating period for an iconic Aussie band. Mark G is a God- he keeps on polishing my musical turds and somehow makes them kind of cool. We both are still fans, we do these things for fans, plenty more coming up , well hopefully. Enjoy. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERqFuj0TYHY I have a late night in the office, some PR around "Skyhooks 1979" , plus one of our infamous long phone chats with Mr DDR. As always so much laughter, just great. A nice evening. September 28thI slept in a tiny bit. Grey skies over Melbourne again, the return of crappy weather.The Red Beast glides it's way through the mist to Olinda. A pie and a coffee await me. I sit outside and just watch the weather, almost a meditation moment. Mum calls and talks about her toenail clipper person. She makes me laugh. Old ladies, toes, nails, back aches and everything else. I will never be an old lady. I will never be old. I want loads of money so i can have staff and harvest their body parts! HA! "Skyhooks 1979" has now had 300 views and rising, it's great so many people support this, sometimes simply because it is "us" I'm sure. Whatever the reason, thanks, people checking out these little projects is wonderful. A lovely email from Skyhooks (and the Angels and Rose Tattoo's) Bob Spencer who loved the clip, so that made our afternoon. The rain stops so some exercise, a walk down to our post office box, for me all exercise is good. The kick boxing bag got a work out the other day, i do have some rhythm around boxing, "good leg work" I have been told. Punch punch, shuffle kick, punch. Play that funky music white boy Home and I check the numbers on You Tube, past 500 now for "Skyhooks 1979" . Skyhooks guitarist Bob Spencer, pens a really nice post on Mark and myself on his page, so sweet. September 29thUp early so i can get to Bunnings at 7.00 am. Only a handful of cars in the car park, I sit for a minute and sip Lachies fine morning coffee. It's kind of nice being in Bunnings with no people. I buy a box of lightglobes and a six pack of tomato plants as I plan to work on the vegetable garden this weekend.The charity has a few positive moments today. I head out onto the floor with a trolly of items for the cd area. This voice goes "Hi Sexy". I turn around and there she is, my mate Lou from the SES. She was so fantastic at the Kalorama disaster so it was an absolute delight to see her. Her and a friend were looking for retro dresses to wear to a party. We talked for awhile, that's one of the positives of the Kalorama disaster- we made a lot of new friends. I see Matthew Guy was busted telling a fib around his $8 billion for regional health, it turns out it isn't even half of that amount. Not good. A lovely post from Skyhooks Tony Williams on my facebook page. Such a good bloke, we loved that line up of Skyhooks. They played some mighty shows. September 30th.The woman of Iran are amazing, so brave in their protest over the death of Mahda Amini at the hands of the vile "morality police". The world will not stand for such shit Iran, change will come.I spend the morning chatting to two really nice blokes from Yarra Ranges Council. They are a part of the "Draft Nature Plan" and i gave them a few suggestions, which I was surprised, they wrote down. I also scored a free "Shop Locally" grocery bag. We watch the Foo Fighters "Studio 666" , took it for what it was, a bit of fun. Dave's so funny. Our "Skyhooks 1979" on YouTube has now hit 1000 views- so cool- thanks everyone. Good on you Marky. We are enjoying "The Cleaning Lady" tv show, excellent cast. The afternoon we work the vegetable patch , get about 1/3 done and I even put in a few tomato plants, it's probably a bit too early but what the hell, I had them so taking a chance. October 1st.Welcome to Rocktober! I so miss all those amazing Rocktober free concerts in the seventies put on by radio stations 2SM and 3XY. Incredible shows, huge crowds and free.I have another chat with guitarist Bob Spencer. Always good to talk to Bobby, he's only a few years older than us. I'm glad someone is. HA! We are trying to work out the venue and date where Midnight Oil supported Skyhooks and I don't mean the Noosa Aussie Hop reunion gig. I also have a bit of a laugh down the phone with our friend Mary. We are trying to catch up with her in a week or two which will be fun. I make a Pizza for dinner, not too bad, I do make a pretty good crust, we like ours thin and need to keep an eye on it in that hell blazing oven of ours. October 2ndWatched "Jackass Forever", those guys are so fucked, we loved it. Please do not try this at home! You just know so many people probably would!The weather is slowly improving, some nice days for Victoria. Meanwhile NSW, the weather is appalling. I worry about Mum with her limited eyesight and the dull grey days seem to get her down. Some days I phone her several times just to check in and so she can have a chat. October 3rdOur friend seems happy with the numerous corrections for his Neil Finn book. I like that there were things in the book that I was unaware of. Hopefully we'll know more closer to it's release.I say "Yes" to a 45 minute phone survey. I figure it keeps someone employed, I was happy to do it. The girl on the other end of the phone was really nice so that helped. A public holiday in NSW but MIM is sick, a tummy bug so that is a bummer. We all fuss when she is ill, we want her super happy every minute of her life. Yes our family is not remotely realistic. The Koori Knockout, aboriginal rugby league game is on at Bombaderry near Nowra in NSW. It's the 50th anniversary and they get thousands of people turning up. With all the rain it's going to be muddy on the field. October 4thI wake at 6.45, look at the clock and tell myself to go back to sleep. I suddenly remember I said yes to lending the charity a helping hand today. So jump out of bed, get in the shower, turn about a few times, a quick shave and out the door. Thankfully Lachie and his S39 coffee van are on Bayswater rd so a small coffee from him.The charity was good today, it all felt normal, which was great, I clear all the items, fill up my areas in the store. We must of sold a hell of a lot of books as I restocked 3 trolleys worth. I did feel like a pack mule a few times, lots of lifting . Some people with nice comments which made my day. Home and Marky has been turning some of the soil in the vegetable patch. Rain is on the way so I am so happy that we have this done. I put large glass jars over the tomato plants so they wont be damaged and it will keep them warm. I'm trying to grab back control of my life, hard to explain so I won't. Just baby steps but hoping it helps settle things down a bit. Just before sunset I head out to the big vegie patch and continue turning the soil. Sometimes something "earthy" like this is mentally good for you. I continue till the final big in section A is done. I ache a tiny bit but it's good, the smell of freshly turned soil resonating in my nostrils. While waiting in the car for the boss to turn up I scrawl "Be full of happiness today. It's a good way to live your life". A late night drive off mountain for fuel and something takeaway. No cars at all on the road, I kind of like that "end of the world" feeling where humans have vanished. Humans are way overrated anyway, the world should belong to Goats! October 5thI slept well last night, ok we went to bed around 2.30 am so after the yard work my body probably was happy to curl up in my warm bed.So I headed to Olinda but PO Box first. Our adorable niece MIM sent a Halloween parcel for both of us. She paid for the things inside out of her own money-so cute. One of mine was a witches cauldron mug, by sheer chance my coffee cup from the Olinda bakery fits snuggly inside, so it's my new coffee cup holder. Taz at the bakery loves it. Some people come up and say "hello" while I sit at the parklet. Grey skies about to open up so not here very long. I watch them put up the "Halloween on the Green" sign in front of the vets. All money raised helps local schools and community groups in our area. It's on October 30th at Ferny Creek. Think we might volunteer to help them. Home again and give Marky his present. We head off to Woolworths as they have their big orange Halloween pumpkins in so I need to buy one before they run out. I hear from Neil (Finn), around a video that Sean Donnelly made, he was part of the Pajama Club. We call in to Pinchapoo and see Kate, hand over some hotel shampoo's etc . She is amazing and so pretty. Love her passion. October 6thI'm looking at early pictures of KISS and think we might go as Gene and Paul this Halloween. No idea why, do we need a reason, it's Halloween.Work on a surprise party with Gale at the charity. It works. It is so hard to have a surprise party at such a place but we sidetrack Nicole totally. A really fun afternoon and the food was great. I'm not sulking just trying to claw back my life. A bit more sanity would be a good thing. Mark is my rock. I have to admit, overall I love my life, I am very fortunate, I do appreciate that. Flash flooding alerts issued for Woodend and Maryborough, but by morning thankfully they are down graded. I was about to tell Dean to fill the DDR car up with fuel but we are not needed. Lynda Mc's burgers for dinner. Yum. October 7thA free pie at the bakery and a rather awesome vanilla slice. Tahlia makes my coffee , she rocks. We all have alaugh, I'm sure they think I'm this crazy wacky guy from kalorama. Quick hide, here he comes.I work in the office most of the day and some yard mowing in the afternoon. A small break in the weather and sunshine. October 8thI catch up with Dr Troy , he is home for a few days. We zoom across to Monbulk on his motorbike and it feels fantastic. The weather is nice. When you are doubling on a bike you get to smell the person more. Yes that does sound weird, he always smells so good. It is great to see him, his tales of the Ukraine and Afghanistan. A really decent bloke, the only problem is, he is too handsome. He just ignores it but it drives me nuts. Continually seeing people checking him out and both sexes too. I get why, but it is so bloody strange. Anyway a nice moment.We call into Olinda bakery and swamped by locals: Brian, Peter, Veronica, Kate, Charles, James, Paige. Everyone is out today and very chatty, it must be the weather. I bake an apple pie for dinner late evening. It was delicious. Marky wolf's it down. October 9thBad news around Troys uncle, feel sad for him. He is quick to act so probably saved his life.Lots of water falling around Gundagai. I'm in contact with the "Gundagai Floods" facebook page, so please if you are on Sheepbook give some of their posts a "like". They do a great job for the community, keeping people informed. Mark and myself spend the afternoon on ladders giving the pool room roof a clean. We do this every 5 years, and it is a huge effort but worth it. A favourite part of the house. I mess my hair up under my cap and take a selfie on top of the ladder. It's an interesting photo, I don't look too bad for my age. Finally a photo I am happy with. Trust me that is rare. I take my "Book of Shadows" with me to Olinda and go through it and write up a few things while I'm sitting having a coffee. It's a cool book, the cover is made from very ancient wood and hand bound. No one flinches an eye lid as they walk past, I'm sure they all saw this majestic relic...the book I mean, not me. OK i AM a majestic relic, we all know that. HA! I receive a nice message from the Gundagai Floods people so that made my evening. A few sunny days coming up but after that several days of heavy rain coming their way. The weather is insane here at the moment, Spring has gone off on holidays, all I want are a few warm days. Is that too much to ask? So that is it, the year zooms by again. Hope you are all happy and loving life. Big thanks to Deb for her amazing efforts getting the diary updated every fortnight. [editor's note: sorry I'm always late, but at least I'm reliably late :)] Regards Peter |