I had a really cool idea today.
That's not entirely a rare occasion, even if I do say so myself. I had this one idea while I was on the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago; well, it wasn't so much an idea as a thought. I was thinking about Waltzing Matilda, and how it's the unofficial national anthem of our fine nation Australia. I realised I have a big problem with it. Now, I wasn't thinking the obvious thing, how it's about a suicidal sheep stealer. No, I suddenly realised my big issue was with the integrity of the narrator. See, the first line goes a little like this:
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
We know it well, in fact I challenge you to not start humming it in your head this very moment. My problem is with the third word there: jolly. As the narrative arc sets about its discourse it is quite evident that the protagonist is not at all jolly. Considering he's just squatting on someone elses property, he steals a sheep, keeps said sheep in a tucker bag, is apprehended by police, and finally escapes to a fatal end in the billabong jolly is about the last word I would use to describe this swagman. Maybe I wouldn't call him amphibious either, but you get the point.
Incidentally, I discovered today that the original poem goes like this:
Well, there once was a swagman camped in a billabong
There the swagman takes on a much more honest guise. I'm not so sure about camping in the billabong though. Especially in light of the whole drowning thing.
But I digress.
I had an idea today.
I thought I've done far too much of nothing in the last few days and ought to get some excercise. Unfortunately the temperature was spot on zero degrees today, and the wind chill was somewhere in the minus two hundreds. So it was to the basement dwelling excercise bike I went. I decided 15 minutes of some solid riding would be a good amount of time.
At the end of it all, as I lay prostrate on the floor, the words 'no pain, no gain' lost all meaning. I also managed to break the bike.
I might actually sleep tonight. That's all I've got for now.
May your coke be not diluted by the ice.
Sam <>< <>< ><> <>< <><
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2 comments:
Sam, you have way to much time on your hands!
I haven't done much either the past few days, was at the pollards for most of yesterday, didn't do any work and went and saw SAW 3 with Dan McLaren and Chris Cox last night, it was quite the intense extreme movie I thought it would be and I struggled to sleep well last night, may or may not have been the movie as I have struggled to sleep for almost a week.
Interesting facts about the Jolly swagman who camped in a billabong to mix up the original and the later version.
I'm about to do some work, well at least attempt I have realised working from home is indeed very difficult and I have to many temptations to draw me away from work, at least the cricket is over tomorrow.
Have a good one, Catch!
Hi Sam,
You have the most interesting way of stringing your words together. You are a cracker. Keep up the good work as I look forwarding to reading your blogg.
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