Monday, August 31, 2020

ABC FAILED TO REMOVE VIRGINS' FLAG

 In post-WWll  Darwin , there were many dire  shortages-building materials, electrical appliances , even vital supplies of  beer shipped in from interstate , women  and  flags .The patriotic ABC broadcasting  office lamented the fact that it did not have an Australian flag to fly above its premises . It applied to have the flag dangling from outside the hostel for single women in government  employment -Marrenah House-known as the Virgins' Retreat.   This rare  bulk store  of  females  was  invaded by  visiting  sailors off American  ships  when directed   there by naughty waterside workers.Peeping toms  were a problem  as well,one bloke claiming he was stumbling about  looking for a rare moth that only came out at night .The  ABC  was left naked  flag-wise , its request rejected.However, the flag disappeared soon after -probably souvenired by a Yank. 

Sunday, August 30, 2020

DUMP TRUMP PLEA FROM INCREASINGLY HOT AND POLLUTED BLUE PLANET

 

GOVERNOR FLEES OUTBREAK

 

Rare postcard depicting Lord Islington, fifteenth governor of New Zealand , leaving Wellington in 1910 after a suspected outbreak of typhoid, a quarantine flag flying over Government House. Artwork by leading political cartoonist Trevor Lloyd, from a unique  North Queensland  collection.  

DISHEVELLED ANGEL IN PORT

Even though incapacitated , our Shipping Reporter, the only one north of Lavender Bay,  arranged a member of his family to take this  shot of a bulk carrier with an unusual name ,Sea Angel, flying under the Marshall Islands flag, in  the port of Townsville , part of the Ghost Fleet which passes in and out with very little attention by the local media. Could be an interesting story behind its name? Once flying under the flag of India , It was in port during the  title fight and is now heading for  Korea .

ABRACADABRA VISTAS BY ABRA


 

Saturday, August 29, 2020

WENCHING , BOOZING AND CANOODLING POPULAR AT UNIVERSITIES

 

One of  our runners picked up a batch of  interesting    records including  bawdy  German university songs  at a Townsville  garage sale , a  cuckoo clock also on offer . In a discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on Australian universities, it was stated that there is little activity on campus , libraries  are terribly quiet , no whispering or canoodling going on . On being told this, Phillip Adams  of the ABC's Late Night Live  said he missed out  going to uni, but now might enrol  to major in canoodling . Would his pacemaker stand  the strain?  


SHIPPING REPORTER CROAKS

Believe it or not , our waterfont  roundsman   has been medically branded an amphibian , a frog !   The strange saga began when he again experienced extreme pain in his right leg , as if impaled  by the tusk   of a  narwhale , or attacked by enraged  Moby Dick  ,and  flown to Townsville University Hospital in an Italian helicopter . 

There he  moaned about the air conditioning  , demanded heaps of blankets , no doubt causing the prison laundry which services the hospital  to rock around the clock on a double shift, and was diagnosed   by   nursing  staff and  medicos as a"cold frog."When  he donned  a beanie at night a  nearby patient , who sleeps without blankets, called him in an Eskimo. Ha, ha. 

Under the influence of drugs , he vows and declares Frosty the Snowman  was standing by a rail of  his  bed  early one morning !!!!

On the  positive side, as his fame spreads as a  relative of celebrity frog   Kermit , a dateless , desperate and sight impaired princess  seeking Prince Charming  , visiting  the hospital, might  kiss him, probably  resulting  in an outbreak of warts on her  lips. 

 Despite the fact that that his  career    as  the  only shipping reporter north of  Gabo Island keeps him busy,he is seriously thinking of moonlighting as a MKR food writer, like the talented  frog , Gourmet George,who penned a lively tucker column for the Darwin Sun newspaper,named after the Hong Kong Sun, the  column title  inspired by  a  frog in the office  toilet  who tickled female staff  members   when they sat down , causing them to scream .