The Bloke Exceeds Himself

Well I definitely have the best bloke in the world. Gary came home from the huge funeral, decked out in his formal fire & rescue outfit, and told me about the service at the shire hall. It was packed, almost all aboriginal people. Old Bomber was a mainstay of the town, a hardworking and highly respected man. But when the minister finished his bit and asked if any friends or family would like to get up and speak, not a single person stood up.

So Gary got up, went to the microphone on the stage, and made a simple speech about Bomber's contributions to the town, how much he would be missed, and then held up a fire & rescue volunteer shirt he'd brought for the family, describing how Bomber used to joke with him at the pub about how he could get one of the shirts without having to go and fight fires. He had people in tears. "I was shaking!" said Gaz. "I kind of wanted to say something about how Bomber didn't care about black or white, how he took pride in just being a good bloke, but I didn't know how it would go down, being one of the few white guys in the hall."  "It sounds to me like you got it across perfectly," I said. Instead of everyone breaking into a fight, which was what everyone expected, they all gathered around Gary shaking his hand, thanking him.

I understand the situation he was in, and I was really knocked out by the courage he showed, and the example he set for everyone there. I've been telling him all day how proud I am of him!

The police have been up and down the streets all day, rounding up drunks and breaking up fights; it's pretty quiet at the moment, thank goodness. After the funeral we went out to the tip TWICE and got a heap of really good wood, plus some old tin ceiling panels that someone had thrown out from an abandoned homestead - they're all rusty and amazing looking, a bit of outback art.

Then we went out to check on old George Bell's place - Gary hadn't seen it before, and I wasn't sure what he would think. He LOVES it. "Well, what do you want to do?" I asked. "Move in. Now." said Gary. So at the moment the idea is (if it's all a straight up deal with the property sale) that I'll buy the place and Gary will buy & set up the solar & wind power, genny and do all that side of things. We had a quick animal bargaining discussion next to one of the gidgie trees; I agreed to forgo alpacas in exchange for having a pig or two. "No camels!" said Gaz. "Just a small one, a little cute fluffy baby--" "NO." "Okay. Pigs it is."

Hurry up and come home from Perth so we can throw you out George!