My Occasional Thought For The Day

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Finally today, I moved my second oldest and least working PC into my store room. It is a Compaq Pressario 2260, which I bought in March 1999. Now just two are in my habitation.

My oldest, in storage for many years, is an Amstrad. It actually has no hard drive, which many will find difficult to concieve of! The reasons for keeping it are firstly, that I have some writing on the old floppy disks, which I cannot access in any other way; and secondly, that a PC with no hard drive is a novelty nowadays!

Amadeus [Budgerigar] was "crying" earlier today; grieving for Ludwig. At 3.50pm the radio was playing slow melancholy music, and she was softly making a series of short sad sounds, whilst quickly opening and closing her eyes. She seemed to cheer shortly later. Then at 7.20pm she was quickly opening and closing her eyes whilst rocking backwards and forwards on her perch. The ABC TV News was on at the latter time. So when it ended at 7.30pm, I put on the radio, ABC FM, with the Metropolitan Opera's production of . She moved to the inside edge of her cage, closest to the radio, and has cheered up. It is right to grieve, but I do not want her becoming depressed.

The same thing repeated, bores your third party observers, however heartfelt or important it may be to the writer. Although I think of the late Ludwig van Budgie-Bird often, many times a day, I shall mention it here but rarely. I shall think of him always; as I still think of Andy Shriekbeak, an African Love Bird, who died on 16th December 2001.

Admitedly I prefer Parrots to People. The former wear their hearts on their wings. You would never get a Parrot behaving like Zimbabwe's bane, Robert Mugabe.

Co-incidence may seem unlikely, but if you have enough possibilities, they will innevitably occur. Friday afternoon I set off for 2MBS-FM in Saint Leonards, making it with less than ten minutes to spare; paid my subscription and left a letter. Walked across to Crows Nest shopping centre, partial scenic route, and just as I arrived at the Bus Stop for Cremorne, Helen K, with shopping, came out of Woolworths, which is immediately behind the Stop. It was a brief converstion, as a Bus soon arrived. At Cremorne I left a note for Louise [Vet.] about Wolfgang. I had planned an extra task, but enough is enough and I went home.

Yesterday afternoon at Woolworths in Pott Point, I purchased a plastic container, sealed with four blue clips, which, suprisingly, was the perfect casket for my lost friend, Ludwig van Budgie-Bird. Green paper, of the kind which crumples around precious objects, softly underneath him; the same kind of green paper, gently on top, covering his dignity. The lid clipped very tightly!

This afternoon I unclipped the lid briefly, to sprinkle lots of Franckincense & Myrrh resin on top of the covering paper. Then clipped at back. I have photographed the process. There is more to add. I need to take care with this. It is important.

If I had done everything which hindsight unerringly suggests, he may still have been alive today. However, the problem with his legs was degenerative, and currently, it is incurable.

It was sudden at the end. During the day there were a few things that he did differently, yet he is often in the habit of trying new ways, as his legs problem often irritates him.

I was writing on the PC, periodically checking on Ludwig. At 11.35pm there was a note of concern from Amadeus, his partner, who is in the immediate next cage. Ludwig was on the cage floor, and his legs were paralysed, although his eyes were alert. Quickly I picked him up and there was recognition from him. I put him back in his cage at 11.45pm, and quickly put on one of his favorite CDs, clicking through sections until the Mozart Arias sung by soprano Cyndia Seiden were playing. This was with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, directed by Paul Dyer. When I took him close to one of the speakers - the volume was very reasonable - he moved his head a few turns, ending with an ear on the sound and the opposite eye on me. This eye shined with pleasure. Just before midnight I put him back in his cage. I arranged his warming light close to him [40 watt pearl incandescent bulb], with a pill bottle cap of seed to his left & a pill bottle cap of water to his right. Carefully I lifted his body over the water to see if he wanted to drink, saying: "Ludwig, water?". He took four or five sips, possibly to please me. Likewise I offered him seed, but he was not interested. So I put him down with his head resting between the two caps. The light sheen in his eye told me he lived. I sensed he was still with me at midnight, then left him briefly. By 12.05am his eye was clearly lifeless. I was feeling too numb to react emotionally, having just been doing what I could think of, to make him as comfortable as I could.

I decided to leave him there through the night, with the warming light on. Several times I lay down, but there was no sleep for me. I miss him terribly. It may same strange to say, but he was so wise, with wonderful taste in music. It is absolutely true that Ludwig introduced me to Opera. What a Bird he was! What a Mind!

It is sensible to have looked at two old games of Adrian Oats, a 2008 opponent of mine, in back issues of the "Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly". But then, with his win over Patrick Cook in the 2006 Parker Memorial, I became intrigued by the line played of the Aljechin's Defence, Modern Flohr Variation [as opposed to the Old Beaten Earth Variation, I suppose!]. The Aljechin is something I once played, but no longer do!

Be that as it may, the active use of space with the black pieces by Grandmaster Alexander Baburin was instructive. Where everyone else seemed to lose, he won. Just a few moves different, but it made all the difference.

Birkenhead Point I had never actually been to before late this morning. Numerous times I had seen it as I crossed the Iron Cove Bridge on buses heading northwards. Most recently for Drummoyne, but last millenium further afield. Gladesville I first visited to play hockey; then later as a film extra in "Cosi".

The abiding memory today is of the Pet Shop, where the entrance sports a very large cage, holding many types of African Lovebirds, plus two Quail far below on the floor. One Lovebird with an orange face enjoyed an odd amusement. It repeatedly landed on the back of a Quail, getting a free ride. Usually it just stood on its back, but once it lay belly down, sideways across the rump of the Quail. The victim was not hurt in any way, but it was irritated.

The Pet Shop I discovered quite late, after having taken a wrong turn. Birkenhead Point is like that, lots of strange turnings on various levels. It is an old wharf of some kind, and its main modern purpose is discount shops. So things are cheap. Purchases: CD-DVD sets of Queensland & Tasmania National Parks; DVD Volume 2 of "The Invisible Man"; Long thick Indian Clove Incense sticks; an Espresso Coffee Maker. Respectively, ten, ten, ten, five & twenty-three Australian Dollars.

Doctor Who. To be precise, a meeting of the Australian Doctor Who Club [ADWC] at the Drummoyne Club. Special guest was David Banks, who was Cyber Leader on several stories, beginning with the famous Earthshock [Davidson Era]. I bought that DVD, which David Banks signed for me. I would have preferred his book on Cybermen, but it is out of print.

Also I bought a DVD of the 2003 ADWC Convention, which starred Janet Fielding, Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning & Dudley Simpson. The first three were Doctor Who Companions, whilst the last composed much of the early music for the classic series. To my surprise: [1] It was very entertaining, more than I thought it would be; [2] After half an hour or so, the first disc kept freezing, which is very frustrating.

Once more to the Opera House my friends. Sydney Symphony Orchestra [SSO]. The second half was the Eighth Symphony of Dimitri Shostokovich. Very long, very beautiful, but very melancholy! The first half was "Monh", a work with a Viola solo by George Lentz, who is a violinst with the SSO. It was a restrained, mystical work, which slowly wound forward, to end suddenly with a crescendo of brass & percussion. The soloist was Tabea Zimmerman. The conductor was her husband, Steven Sloane. Ah! Nepotism! In this case, it is alright.

This evening I played "Lobby Lloyde Plays With George Guitar". At first I thought: "This is not quite the endlessly insistent heavy rock music I remember". But it is very insistent! By the end of the CD I was feeling under assault, even the volume was more than reasonably moderate. Not for a while will I replay it, and when I do, perhaps only half the CD at one time.

Lobby Lloyde was an Australian virtuoso rock lead guitarist, who was at his greatest fame in the late 1960s and the 1970s. He died last year. He was not famed ffor subtlety.

Deciding that I had to get out early, I went to my local railway station, Kings Cross, deciding to take the first train, whether east or west. Thus I went to Bondi Junction. As I rose levels in the interchange, a 380 bus for Bondi Beach was loading, so there I went.

Once I lived in Bondi Beach suburb, in Beach Road, but nowhere near the actual sandy thingy. Yet this millenium I have rarely been there, and not for many months, despite having lived for several years in a nearby suburb.

Bondi has changed, but is still very much the same. The first wondrous view, as Bondi Road arcs around the headland down to the beach, is unaltered. The glorious art deco roofs persist, on houses, semis & units. The large concrete box of the Hakoah Club has not yet been demolished. The same Doctors, the same Kosher Butcher persist. But fairly new is this fad for cafs with the eating area half open to the pavement. I stopped at "Gertrude & Alices"; a caf & bookshop combined. The book I bought: Arthur Upfield's "The Mystery Of Swordfish Reef" for nine dollars. The coffee I bought: a flat white for three dollars.

The beachfront design has improved, but that 1987 plaque persists at a sculpture: "Mayor Carolyn Markham JP" in very large letters, but no mention of the sculptor's name. In front of it a smaller, later established 1988 bicentennial plaque does give her name, in small letters covered by sand.

Back from the beach, the steps rising from Forest Knoll Avenue are still there, marked with yellow paint in places, for repair. No real forest, but there are lines of magestic Australian Fig Trees along this street. Bondi Road, upon the ridge, is also still familiar, the traffic just as bad, while Kemeny's supermarket, one half alcohol, much of the rest a deli, still has that wonderful range of food & drink. I feasted the eyes, but only bought but a little repast!

The evening saw a concert performance: "The Pilgrim's Progress" by Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Richard Hickox conducted with the Opera & Ballet Orchestra. My legs were incresaingly sore as the performance prgressed, yet the music & singing was delightful.

Biting Birdies! Revenge of the wormed Budgies! Wolfgang had his drops applied after his beak was trimmed at the Cremorne Veterinary Hospital. His beak is undershot, so this has to be done, or he will not be able to eat eventually.

But I had to worm the other three at home, by applying one or two drops to their skin. The women are not used to being picked up. Valkyrie bit me very sharply, much more than Wolfgang, such that I yelled once, which is something I always tried to avoid. Then Amadeus hurt even more. I yelled again, just once, but then had to wait twenty seconds for her to let go, with the pain unabating until she chose so to do! She drew a spot of blood from the joint of my little finger. A new experience for me despite numerous bites inflicted previuosly! Then even Ludwig had to bite for all his worth, which hurt less, but still hurt!

On the quieter side of culture, I finished reading "Man Of Two Tribes" by Arthur Upfield. The description of the Nullabor Plain, with its despairing flatness, and its suprising hidden caverns in limestone areas, is quite astonishing. Also the two tribes are not what those are familiar with writing would not necessarily expect.

Daytime - Rock Music: Pink Floyd - "Meddle"; "Best Of David Bowie 1969/1974"; Yes - "Close To The Edge".

Evening - Classical Tradition Music: Richard Tognetti Quintet - "Tango Jam Volume 1"; Prokofiev - Orchestral Suites [various Orchestras].

Last year I bought at Abbeys Bookshop, in the Queen Victoria Building: Georges Simenon's "Maigret at l'homme du banc" [Aus $I6.95]. I had read the English translation of this, "Maigret and the Man On The Bench", borrowed from Sydney City Library. But I have searched in vain to buy the translation, until I realised that Penguin publishes this as "The Man on the Boulevarde" [Aus $12.95]. So after careful checking that this is is the same novel, I bought it at Kinokuniya bookshop in the Galleries Victoria.

As I cannot read French, I need the translation, to make some small headway. Why make the attempt? Georges Simenon wrote in French, and I have often been intrigued as to the variations in English of different translations.

The third day. Jesus rises from the dead. The empty tomb is found by Mary Magdalene and others. She was not a prostitute as the Vatican long insisted, but rather a woman from whom Jesus drove many dæmons. Most of them were future Mediæval & Renaissance Popes of the worst kind, I suspect. At Anglican Sunday School, I silently affixed the "Good" to this day. At the time I never understood the Rabbits, nor how the Rabbits related to the Eggs.

Mind you, I did as a "Young Adult", being thoroughly entrenched in iffy sources of comparitive religion. Later I graduated to the more systematic stuff, such as written by Joseph Campbell and Robert Graves.

At last I have copied my Classical et. al. MP3s from the computer to a CD-ROM. - It is not complex, nor an onerous task; just subject to a mental block. - My DVD player plays MP3s, but when I put the plastic round in this device, some MP3s played, and with quality sound, yet some were not recognised. I know not why. Thus is technology!

The "Good" in Good Friday always perplexed me at Anglican Sunday School. I knew that "Jesus died for our sins", but I still felt that affixing "Good" to the lunar calendar anniversary of his crucifixion, somehow ungenerous and wrong. It is a view I still hold.

On ABC1 TV, at 1.00pm on thursdays, I knew that "Pie In The Sky" had been repeated for much of last year. Eventually it stopped, then started again this year. Today I finally set the VCR, and it proved to be from the first season, much of which I have not seen. Today it was "Dead Right", which I am sure is new to me.

"Pie In The Sky" is from the 1990s. It stars Richard Griffiths as an English Police Detective Inspector, who starts a restaurant called you-know-what. It is in his wife's name, but he is the chef. At first I was indifferent, and this is how I missed much of the first season. Then I came to enjoy it. But eventually, I had seen the later seasons so often on television repeats, that I was fed up with it. Now I have come back it to its gentle ambience. The restaurant kitchen scenes are wonderful: a study in excellence. I now have the experience and peace of mind to appreciate them.

Finally I have located the prolongued Finch chattering from Les Hiddin's Bush Tucker Man. When the Budgies first heard it on television, Wolfgang went AWOL with noisy excitement, as that was the mysterious vocalisation that Valkyrie brought with her, when she arrived at my home. Clearly she had been brought up close by Finches. I recognised it as such, but the others knew it not. Wolfgang actually managed to imitate it convincingly, and sounded like a small flock of Finches, despite never having heard the original! Clever Birdie!

Now I have both Bush Tucker Man DVDs, and have found it is episode five "Gold Fever" in "Bush Tucker Man - Stories Of Survival". However, she does not use this vocalisation much any more, and so my thunder was rather lost on the Four Budgies Of The Apocalypse.

Early morning. Ludwig conned me, with the best of motives. I moved him from his cage to the travel cage. I was concerned about him climbing up the cage wall, while I was at work, as he is still weak. But he responded by repeatedly climbing up the walls of the travel cage. Once he fell on to the cage floor, on his back, but was unhurt. However, he rolled to his feet on the third attempt and began climbing again.

So, despite time constraints, I moved him back to his cage, arranging his seed, water and warm lamp, from one cage to the other. Once installed, Ludwig immediately sat on the floor, right under the desk lamp, and went to sleep.

Fair enough! His body may be weak & possibly failing, but his mind is as strong as ever!

For me, but more especially for them, and most of all for the recuperating patient: "Symphony Number Nine - The Choral Symphony" by Ludwig Van Beethoven; performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti; and adored by Ludwig van Budgie-Bird.

This morning I adjourned to Bondi Junction, ABC Shop, and I purchased for twenty dollars: "Cheese Slices, Volume One". This is the wonderful, with Will Stud waxing lyrically on location about cheese: the making, the cooking. Lovely stuff!

Sunday matinee at the Sydney Opera House. The Australian Chamber Orchestra [ACO] with Katie Noonan. Bridge Street was blocked by the police for some celebration, other than the Irish march. Like, it was unexpected, and while I was not too fussed about Katie, I decided to make a dash, and had to run almost the whole way to make it to the Opera House on time. The concert was alright! Certainly, the ACO played well, with one small glitch; and Ms Noonan does have a good voice, albeit not quite as good as she thinks.

For longish periods I have been re-introducing Ludwig to his own cage. He initially made two half-hearted attempts to climb, but I gently disuaded him, and he accepted this. However, he will be spending the night in the travel cage. On the Vet's advice, he has his own desk lamp with a 40 watt incandescent pearl globe, to keep him warm. He likes this, and it will probably become a permanent arrangement.

He had not been vocalising, but in the first significant sojourn in his old cage, he gave a call, which was longish, a single note which sounded happy with a plaintive edge. It seemed to indicate both joy and relief. After a few seconds he repeated this note; quickly followed by a quiet short "kak-kak-kak", then that original note again! The "kak-kak-kak" I think was recalling his losses of temper, pre-Vets, caused by the pain he suffered. This was an infection of the crop, which the antibiotics successfully treated.

Distraught! That is exactly how I felt, as it seemed unreal that Ludwig was dying. You cannot share six years with any creature who makes eye contact and not feel a strong bond.

Having made it home, as soon as I could, from work, I rang the Vets to be told they were worried about him. Much later I realised that they had already left a message on my answering machine, which I had not noticed in my hurry.

So I raced there, said that I was taking him home, but had to wait for the discharge procedure. When I saw him, he gave a little jump of surprise, clearly happy surprise, and immediately starting eating seed. And he kept on eating while I was given instructions by the Nurse on his antibiotic drops, and all the way home in the taxi!

The reason why, at the Vets, he had sat there and would not eat, was because he thought he had been abandoned.

At home, Amadeus was a bit suspicious. "Looks like the right Bird, but it's the wrong cage." Valkyrie was cautious. But Wolfgang, who has spent nearly six years trying to pick a fight with Ludwig - impossible as they have never shared the same space! - gave a noisy, prolongued and heartfelt welcome! Unrestrained joy! Much to my surprise!

Fo the moment Ludwig stays in the travel cage. But he is home. Ludwig lives!

Ludwig, I had decided the night before, was really ill. It was not old age. He was sick, and seemed in pain, causing him to lose his temper, which is very uncharacteristic for this gentle Bird! But I was surprised that he was kept in the Veterinary Hospital in Green Park [Dr Rosenwax]. In the taxi as we arrived there, he gave me a look which seemed to say: "I hope you know what you are doing!"

The Trials OFLudwig Van Budgie Bird.

They began late January, but on the 13th March 2008,
I finally swung into action, when Amaeus'concern
made me realise how critically ill he was.

You see, foolish-me thought he was just old!

... ...