The Classifieds: A colourful new world

(This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia).

THE doomsday brigade, chanting that newspapers are out of fashion in an internet-savvy world, has a shuttered existence, peering through computer screens into a brave new world and becoming blind to other blossoming beauty.
Just glance around the bright, modern and interesting information package surrounding this column. If you look for opportunities of any sort, the next may be here, whether in a blaze of colours and images – courtesy of the high-tech press at the Fairfax Media Ormiston plant – or simply through one word in small print.
The Classifieds represents a wide range of interests, not only offering a marketplace but creating a special community of sellers, buyers, dedicated readers and browsers.
Yes, folks, you just read a derivative of that 'b' word, 'browse' – straight from the media 'old guard' of publishing on paper.

THE concept of the "browse" did not come from Bill Gates or any other computer techno, or geek, call them what you like.
Many generations have delighted in browsing through their local papers. The way of life existed long before the internet explosion of Windows 95 and will continue probably until the Second Coming (not the name of the next operating system).
The 'onliners' claimed "browse" but no one sought my permission. I can get over the affront with 'one-liners' because the marvellous community of classified advertising in my local paper has never looked better.
My talks with buyers, sellers, employers and service providers indicate strong satisfaction with the results from their notices.

OUR consultants are available to look at instances where the desired outcome has not been achieved, working through relevant factors such as position, pricing, categorisation and general presentation to suggest an action plan to sell or get a message "out there".
You may want to target browsers. The Classifieds' Find Us First page is always a great browse.

FIND Us First 'Accommodation' just put me in touch with Wendy Gardner, proprietor of the Bay Retreat Motel, Redland Bay.
Wendy says a lot of the motel's clientele comes from the local market for family/guest accommodation on special occasions such as weddings and 21st birthdays.
She says the pace of trade is picking up after seasonal factors and the general economic shock. It was interesting to hear the motel hosts a lot of New Zealanders shopping for Redland property.
But Wendy's most important message: "It is amazing how many of the people who come here immediately ask for the local paper."
Well, that's my browse for this week. Thanks for joining me in this marvellous community.

Transplant patient leads gym class

(This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia.)

A SPECIAL class is under way at a Victoria Point gymnasium. Newly qualified instructor Amy Dakin celebrated her 24th birthday by conducting her first fitness group at One Life Health and Fitness Centre.
Amy soon had another special occasion. Monday, July 27, 2009, was the anniversary of her double kidney transplant at Princess Alexandra Hospital.
The past four years since the 15-hour-long transplant operation have been tough for Amy, who studied nursing for three years but had to seek a different career because the immuno-suppressant drugs that stop her body rejecting her new kidneys make her vulnerable to catching infections.

“EVERY time I went out looking after sick people I ended up very ill,” Amy says. “The last time, I almost lost my life.
“It started like the flu but then all of a sudden spread through my body and I almost lost my transplanted kidneys.
“I was in hospital for 12 weeks.”
Two years after the transplant, Amy needed a second operation to remove her native kidneys, which were causing infection in the new ones.
But, after suffering neurogenic bladder disorder and reflux since she was eight years old – with four years on dialysis and several heart attacks linked to the kidney condition -- Amy has taken all the knocks in her stride.
“It has been a bit of a struggle,” she says. “But I guess it just makes you stronger.”
She says she developed a strong interest in fitness over the years and formerly has instructed in bellydancing at One Life.

NOW, she sees all the threads coming together, with her assistant nursing qualification and her new Certificate III in fitness playing complementary roles.
She has kept her most up-to-date medical text books but offered the rest of her collection – including medical encyclopedias – free through the Classifieds.
About 15 callers responded to the ad.
Amy says she lived all her life in the Brisbane suburbs, mainly Coorparoo, before moving to the Redlands about four years ago.
She is excited about qualifying as a group fitness instructor using pre-choreographed techniques for strength and endurance training, and she is really enjoying life.
“Even when I was sick I tried to keep driving myself into sport,” she says. “Now I feel healthy enough to do it.”

(Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times).

'Rare breed' farms in Redland City

Image from the Microsoft collection.

A 'RARE breed' featured in bold type when Jim White posted a notice wanting to buy cattle.
The headline reflected Jim's pride in his long heritage of agricultural production. It said, “Local Farmer”.
In our modern bayside city where the fertile soils now grow houses on former farmland, the tag represents one of an 'endangered species'.
The latest government headcount found fewer than 500 Redlanders who admitted to working in agriculture, forestry or fishing. The figure was about half that of the mid-1990s.
Jim, who celebrated his 80th birthday last Friday, has farmed in the Redlands for the past 30 years but his heritage comes through generations in the English district of Cambridge where his dad and grandad ploughed the low-lying Fenlands near the town of Wisbech.

THE eldest in a family of 12 children, Jim knew the austerity of the Great Depression, the suffering of World War II and the gloom of the immediate post-war era, when opportunities for young men were few.
At age 19, he moved to escape the UK and gained sponsorship from a English migrant to work on a farm near Colac, Victoria.
He borrowed five shillings from a cabinmate on the voyage. On an excursion to Perth after his ship stopped at Fremantle, Jim was amazed at retail shelves of chocolates and lollies.
“I had never seen anything like that – we were still on rations in England,” he says.
“I got off the boat (in Melbourne) in the morning and I was milking cows that afternoon.”
Jim saved a deposit on his own patch and ran dairy cattle in the western districts. He also farmed in South Australia before coming to Queensland in 1978.For many years, he entertained South East Queensland children with a range of baby animals in Jim White's Mobile Family Farm.

QUOTING the phrase, “too proud to beg, too honest to steal”, he says he has lived through three farming phases – dairy, sheep and finally beef cattle.
In the Redlands he has farmed at Thornlands and Redland Bay, where he says he has just regained possession of his land after renting it out for a year to horticultural producers.
His ad sought calves to raise while he works to reinstate his paddocks to his high standards of property management.
Jim is determined to keep working the land.
“I don't want to go into a rest home – I wouldn't last long,” he says. “It wouldn't suit someone like me. I've got to keep working and doing things.”
Jim's lively mind focuses on wider issues of agricultural production; he recently spoke on talkback radio about hygienic standards on the fields producing fruit and vegetables.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Classified advertising: Colourful snapshot of cultures

THE time has come for some serious talk, and I'm not referring to our tax returns as we scramble to gather up all those crumbled receipts and download the e-tax files or check the Classifieds' tax agent listings.
They say two things are inevitable but even death and taxes must come second and third to another certainty - that is, classified advertising will touch everyone's life at some stage.
The marvellous community of classified advertising in local papers has been around for many generations and as it adapts to changing social trends it will still be with us far into the future. Nowadays, the Classifieds are a colourful snapshot of a glorious mix of cultures and interests that once reflected in a 'grey sea' of small type.

SOME years ago, when I began thinking about what classified advertising had meant to me I realised its profound significance in typical Australian family life. It wasn't unusual for our family to start the day with Dad, having already read the local paper, announcing at the breakfast table that someone we knew had died, or been engaged or married. Of course, Mum and Dad marked the arrival of all us kids in our local paper's classies - and when the years passed, all the engagements and marriages featured too. They also taught us to check the Public Notices for important information - maybe a road closure - and Dad would always advertise his business dates at holiday periods.

WHEN a teenager, I found my first guitar and car through the classifieds. At times over the years I relied on the rental columns to keep a roof over my head and when I was able to afford a mortgage I found my own home through a classified ad. My own kids resorted to the Pets column to find a dog that became very important in our family life. All this proves that the Classifieds represent much more than an assortment of sellers and buyers.

THE classies really can help you understand your world. A check on the Positions Vacant listings is always worthwhile, whether or not you are looking for work; if you're in business you can get a good idea, through the job notices, of what's happening in the local economy. But if you haven't window shopped through the classies for bargains you haven't experienced one of the greatest free entertainments.

AND, without the Garage Sale listings in the Times, Saturday in the Redlands would not be the fantastic day it is. Set your alarm for daybreak and join the treasure hunt. Maybe, we'll meet there tomorrow.

This column appeared in The Redland Times on Friday, July 17, 2009.

How airline 'heavies' fought smoke ban

Image from http://www.dustie.com/

TIMES have changed and the air has cleared somewhat since a young and enthusiastic Bob Possingham slapped on the Brylcreem, shined his shoes, ironed his suit and headed into the Melbourne CBD for an important meeting with some corporate heavies.
Bob recalls the executives were scornful of the proposal he laid on the Australian National Airlines (ANA) table that day in the early 1960s.
He suggested the airline, which later became Ansett, ban smoking on some flights for the sake of all the non-smokers.
"They said they couldn't do that because all the passengers would fly with TAA," Bob says.

ALMOST three decades later, Bob gained some satisfaction when smoking was banned on aircraft, and now - almost two more decades on - he is still working hard against smoking, but focuses on helping, not fighting, smokers.
Bob is the co-ordinator of the Quit Smoking (QS) program, which runs at the Redland Hospital and with sponsorship of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
He says about 500 Redland people have taken the program during the past 10 years; the most recent follow-up survey showed about 70 per cent had stayed 'off the smokes'.

BOB, now a church chaplain, was a youth director with a health portfolio when, all those years ago, he became a QS champion.
He has never smoked in respect to his belief in "caring for our bodies" and responsibility to "keep them healthy and well".
But he says the program is not religious. It comprises a series of lectures on psychological and medical issues associated with smoking.

DOCTORS who support the program include obstetrician Paul Truscott, his daughter Dr Rebecca Dunn, who has a specialty in eight control, and Dr Denton Wade, who helps the smokers learn about addiction, Bob says.
"Quit Smoking has no dependency on drugs to help people stop," Bob says. "It deals with lifestyle. It is important to understand the triggers for the addiction to nicotine.
"There may be emotional and psychological factors, or other triggers such as certain foods."
Bob could smile briefly at the Classie Corner report last week about the lost carton of cigarettes and the "smoker who lost, or the loser who smoked".
But he says he does not look down on smokers. "I can only say I feel sorry for them," he says. "I know the struggles they go through, wanting badly to give up but being unable."
Quit Smoking will run at Redland Hospital from July 19 to 23 in four 90-minute sessions.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Tale of loser who smoked

Image from http://www.dustie.com/

EVERYONE has been talking about the record Lotto draw but another prize waited for a claimant this week in the Redlands.

The local prize is quite a few million bucks short of the big national booty but worth having, nevertheless - if you are one of that "dying breed" of nicotine addicts.

A carton of cigarettes that a shopper found in Koala Park Point Shopping Centre three weeks ago have featured in the Classifieds Lost & Found.

The finder, Victoria Point resident Margaret Sullivan, was puzzled only one caller tried to claim the carton.

Some members of her family have smoked so she knows "it would have to be worth a bit of money".

MARGARET's husband, John, answered a call from a man who said, "You've got my cigarettes - I want them back", but then hung up when John asked him to state the brand.

Still with hope of finding the rightful owner, Margaret does not want to give away too many details of the find on Saturday, June 13.

"I tracked the shop that sold them by the colour of the bag and left it with them but no one has inquired," Margaret said.

"I also left my name and number in the shopping centre office."

THE way social thinking has developed on the smoking habit it is unclear whether this yarn is about a smoker who lost or a loser who smoked, or maybe just needed a smoke. In any case, the loss of a carton was probably a good time to give up.

ISSUE an SOS through the Classifieds and you'll have a good chance of a rescue. Last week's call by vision-impaired angler John Gallon, of Birkdale, for a fishing buddy trolled up some hopefuls including Peter Lawrence, Gary Wheeler and Rod Johnson.

John likes to get out on the bay in his fibreglass boat but Rod said he had his own boat and occasionally needs partners.

Rod cited a website that allows anglers to hook up with likeminded people - which leads to a subject close to my heart.

Give me the marvellous community of Classified advertising in the local paper - any day. Your local paper carries the respect and trust that have built up over many generations.

You can easily have direct contact with the people involved in it and you can get results.

John previously advertised for a fishing buddy in 2006, so he had three years of value from that "posting" in The Redland Times Classifieds.

The "Classies" have a maternity hospital, a mortuary, everything between, and an associated website, http://www.redland.yourguide.com.au/

Thanks for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

Skipper calls for pilot

Image from http://www.internetclipart.com/

IT's nearly three years since Birkdale retired carpenter John Gallon dropped into Classie Corner for a chat.
Back then, John, with health problems, was looking for a fishing buddy, someone to help him get out on the bay in his 22ft (6.7m) fibreglass boat.
His troll through the Classifieds in 2006 caught a line of interested fisherfolk who, along with other mates, have supported his fishing instincts over the past few years.
Gradually, the support dropped off, and John called in with an SOS, saying he had not been out in the boat for seven months and was desperate.

AFTER formerly citing lung problems from contact with asbestos nearly 50 years ago as his main barrier to solo outings, John has now revealed another of life's kicks in the guts.
"I am sight impaired through macular degeneration," he said. "I am half blind and I can't see the buoys and beacons. If I went out by myself it would be suicide."
He said the boat had a big hard top for shade - as well as crabpots -and storm covers, allowing comfortable outings whether for a day or even overnight. John said he could still bait his own hook, cast and unhook any catches. His last victim had been a little whiting late last spring.
However, he still 'dines out' on the big squire he caught a few years ago, saying it just fitted in a "two-gallon bucket", with the volume reference meaning nine litres and not a play on his name.
He gleefully told how he caught a one-metre-long wobbegong shark in a dilly net.

JOHN, 66, said his lung condition, dating from a short stint working with asbestos in the 1960s, was not as debilitating as his sight problem.
"I have what's called 'wet macular', and apparently they can operate to clear it," he said. "I will have to get some tests to find out what they can do."
John said, seemingly with a straight face, he could only request that people with sight handicaps do not apply to become his new fishing buddy.

THE bay region's big fishing community can make a quick and easy check on the weekend tide times. Every Friday, The Redland Times' Boats & Marine Classifieds feature a three-day tide chart, with the important note of variations at locations from Wellington Point to Dunwich and south to Canaipa Point. Boats for sale last week ranged from a 10ft tinnie to a $35,000 cruiser.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Widow mourns man of many talents

Image: The Commodore 64 computer (courtesy wikipedia), which introduced computing to homes around the world and started Goldon Oliphant on a path that earned him the tag, "real computer whiz".

AFTER a busy decade buying, renovating and selling houses in preparation for retirement, Gordon and Carole Oliphant planned their move to Macleay Island as their last.
The couple had a tortuous introduction to island life after the bank closed two minutes before their solicitor arrived for the settlement.
But after a flurry of faxes and approval from the owner to move in, the Oliphants and their beloved pooches – two Maltese-Shiatsu crosses and a faithful 14-year-old Labrador – unloaded at their new home on High Central Road.
About three hours later on that night of April 28 – less than one month before his 62nd birthday – Gordon, who had a respiratory condition, called for his medication, but his breathing difficulties worsened quickly.

THE tragedy of his sudden death reflected in the notice that Carole placed in the Classifieds to thank property agents Trevor and Helen Ehrlich, of Raine & Horne Macleay Island, for their help in "getting me settled".
"Trevor arranged for me to borrow a fridge and organised John from Motivated Maintenance Man to mow the lawn, put up a temporary fence and help deliver the fridge," Carole said this week.
"Even though this was a sad day it was made less complicated and [the support] gave me time to grieve for my loss. I can’t put in words the appreciation I owe these people for their help."

WHEN Carole and Gordon met in the late 1980s, she was working at Royal Brisbane Hospital and Gordon, despite his trade as a fitter and turner, was building fibreglass boats.
Gordon was already much experienced on computers after starting with a Commodore 64 in the 1980s. The couple ran a business using his imaging skills to present funeral and wedding packages.
In the late 1990s they opted for a new life in renovation and bought and sold in South East Queensland between Hervey Bay and the NSW border, and Gordon forged ahead with his multi-media computer work.
"It was a bit of a family joke – every time we sold Gordon would upgrade his equipment," Carole said.
"He was a real computer whiz, absolutely great. I have 200 DVDs -- all the back-up disks he used. He put a tribute to the BeeGees on Youtube."

BOATING and fishing were also among Gordon’s interests. Carole had to cancel his order for a 17ft Dominator, which would have set him up to fully enjoy the island lifestyle.
Carole and Gordon created a big family, bringing together a total of seven children from previous marriages. Eleven grandchildren are now part of the fold.
The family plans to gather at Tangalooma on Gordon’s birthday next May 23 to spread his ashes in Moreton Bay.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Chauffeur recalls brush with famous 'Bazza'

Image from www.thekingsheadearlscourt.co.uk/

ONE truism can fend off the gloom in any economic depression. Opportunities will keep arising, no matter how bad things get generally.
Those with courage and commitment to put ideas into practice can increase their chances of not only surviving tough times but also building their wealth.
For some in service industries, this may mean identifying a need, then meeting it with the right ‘vehicle’.
That seven-letter word with multiple meanings is close to the heart of Macleay Islander Stan Lewis, who is probably best known as ‘the man with the limos’ because of the many years he drove his former Ford LTD and Holden Statemen for Hughes Limousines.

WHILE gloom and doom have been on many minds, Stan’s latest venture, BAY-AIR, made its debut in a bright and eye-catching blue and gold classified notice, promising "good service, good rates".
He says the launch follows many requests over the years for airport transfers; his 13-seat Toyota Commuter and 11-seat Ford Transit aim to take the pain out of airport trips for Redland City residents.
A bus-rail airport trip from Redland Bay can take as long as three hours but he can get there in 45 to 60 minutes by road, depending on the traffic, and for small groups the service is cheaper than public transport, he says.
Stan, 54, certainly has engine oil in his blood. He grew up in Arncliffe, Sydney, as the son of a transport operator (also Stan) with 30 trucks – "and he parked them all in our yard".
The son did an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic but then decided to follow in his dad’s wheel tracks and devote his life to driving and transport.

STAN spent about a decade as a subcontracted courier with TNT in Sydney and Canberra before he moved to Macleay in 1995.
He still delivers ‘found luggage’ for Hughes although he has stayed out of the limo sector since his last Statesman reached its industry use-by age of six years.
The day he met actor-singer Barry Crocker has been a highlight of Stan’s many years behind a steering wheel. Crocker starred in the 1972 film, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie.
Stan says he took Crocker to the airport after a Brisbane concert about 10 years ago.

"I TOLD him how, when the film came out, I was working in the King’s Head in Earl’s Court (the London pub that featured in the film)," Stan says.
"I told him he had some great songs, like I’ve Got a Sheila Called Sheila and Chundering in the Old Pacific Sea.
"When I dropped him at the Ansett counter, he turned and sang Chundering in the Old Pacific Sea."
Stan undoubtedly has a lot more stories, including many from his eight years backpacking overseas, to share with airport passengers.
Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media/Rural Press newspaper servicing Queensland’s newest city on the shores of Moreton Bay.

Grey Army on the march

A CULTURAL shift in recent years has put a bit of colour back in the cheeks of a big chunk of the population.
Now, hair dye sales could suffer because in some ways it’s becoming cool to "go gray".
Authorities seemed to take ages to wake up to the wealth of experience that older workers could offer.
A decade or so ago any 30-something worker might have cringed and checked their superannuation payout date at the first appearance of a grey hair (on the head, I mean).
But in recent years, a procession of labour market and social commentators has extolled the virtues of recycling mature workers from the metaphorical scrapheap of retirement and semi-retirement and into the workforce.

JAN D’Arcy could watch the trend with a smug smile. She long ago recognised the reliability and skill of older people and in 1997 became one of the first franchisees of the referral agency The Grey Army.
With area including the Redlands, Jan has assembled a battalion of "tradies", including builders, carpenters, tilers, painters, gardeners, plumbers, drainers, electricians, general handymen, pest controllers, roofers and domestic and commercial cleaners.
She says one of the rewards of her agency work has been the steady stream of thank-you calls and letters from satisfied customers – proving that grey is good because the jobs get done and well.
This week, however, a Thorneside client called to praise a house-painting crew, including some younger members, for their helpful and cheerful attitudes.
Jan makes it clear she still believes the younger generations can do a good job but she says The Grey Army’s soldiers are generally aged over 40 and qualified in their fields.
She ensures all her listed workers – offering services from lawnmowing to house extensions – have a customer focus.
Many have been on her books since day one.

SHE has enjoyed watching the excitement of some as they have returned to their beloved trades late in life – and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences.
Jan was thrilled when a carpenter who had migrated from New Zealand but did not for some years want the hassle of big jobs finally gained his Queensland builder’s licence, thanks to his work with The Grey Army.
"He qualified because he had been working with a registered builder, who gave him the reference he needed," she says.
With superannuation investments falling in the global economic gloom, The Grey Army may enlist new soliders but Jan says she will keep her focus on getting the right person for the job and keeping the customer satisfied.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

Cup of concrete toasts memory of dad's one-liners

THE awesome sense of humor of the late Glenn Prior, of Thornlands, overflowed into the "In Memoriam" notice his family placed to mark the first anniversary of his death.
"We’ve all had our cup of concrete but we all still miss you heaps," the notice proclaimed.
Brendon, one of Glenn’s two sons, said the reference to concrete stemmed from one of his dad’s favourite sayings.
"Dad was full of one-liners like ‘busy as a one-legged tap dancer’ or whatever – they just came out to suit the situation," Brendon said.
"But his favourite was to offer any whingers a cup of concrete and he had an add-on that we weren’t game to put in the paper."
The five words in the ‘add-on’ must remain a family secret but Glenn Prior obviously didn’t tolerate any bull….

BRENDON, 38, said his dad had been born at Monto and had grown up at Maryborough and Toowoomba, serving an apprenticeship as a panel beater, spending about a decade in the Royal Australian Air Force and finally settling for a new career in the finance industry.
In 1974, the Priors were in Darwin when Cyclone Tracy hit.
The family – Glenn, his wife Pat, their sons Brendon and Lee, their daughter Karen and all the extended family -- settled in Thornlands from 2000 on returning Queensland after more than a decade in Sydney.
Glenn Prior, who was a grandfather of six, had been most recently known as an LJ Hooker Financial Services franchise owner, Brendon said.
Brendon followed in father’s financial footsteps and is now the State manager of the Westpac Broker Unit.
The diagnosis of cancer in April 2007 might have been linked with Glenn’s ingestion of arsenic during his RAAF service in Vietnam and Cambodia, the son said.

"HE had a particular type of cancer caused by arsenic -- we don’t know for sure but apparently there was arsenic in benzene that was in the water supply (during Glenn’s overseas service)," Brendon said.
Pat said her husband had wanted only two things after the grim diagnosis -- to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and the next Anzac Day.
Glenn died at home on April 27, 2008, only weeks from his 58th birthday on May 18. Brendon said the mourners were "10 deep’ during his dad’s Mount Cotton funeral service last year.
"We were best mates and I was just so proud to be his son," Brendon said.

THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

Heart beats like hammer for new career

WHEN Trent Cowan left Wellington Point High School a decade ago, he was delighted to gain a plumbing apprenticeship and the future looked rosy.
Three years later, however, the firm ran into financial difficulties and put off its workers.
The out-of-work apprentice had a "safety net" for such an emergency. "My dad (Rob Cowan) owns Metro Tiles at Capalaba and always needs workers so I was able to work with him," Trent says.
Trent gained a lot of satisfaction from not only the sales side of the business but also laying tiles from time to time.
Add the security of a regular income and a happy team and Trent says he did not need to think about any other work prospects for quite a while.

TRENT has surfed for many years so has spent much of his free time in the waves on Straddie or the Gold Coast. Fishing is another love, so Trent has often been out on Moreton Bay or offshore. His best recent catch was a 5kg, 80cm snapper, which he hooked late last year off the east side of Green Island.
As Trent reached his mid-20s, he began to think seriously about his future.
After his long association with the building industry he decided to seek a career in carpentry and obtained work experience with a builder who offered to take him on but then suffered a downturn and could not go ahead with the plan.
That’s why a "hardworking and reliable" 26-year-old with his own tools is again working as a tile specialist and has advertised for a carpentry apprenticeship.

HE wants to be able to finish a job and say "I built that". Apart from the promise of such pride in achievement, carpentry will take him outdoors and to various sites, rather than having him "stuck inside all day", he says.
He has been living at Manly but says he is about to move back to the Redlands, where he was "born and bred" and which he loves because of its "leafy environment" and sense of community.
A Redland City job would be ideal but Trent says he will travel to get that apprenticeship.
He is disappointed no one has called with an offer. Despite his ad appearing in the Positions Wanted section, he received several calls from applicants seeking an apprenticeship – which is a puzzle as the ad was crystal clear.

TRENT certainly hasn’t given up hope. "I’ll just keep on trying I guess," he says. "I’m willing to do an unpaid trial for a month so maybe that will help."

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

Hallelujah Chorus underscores job search

Image of George Frideric Handel from wikipedia.

THE need to organise early has been evident in the four-line notice Debra Kuss posted in the Classifieds’ Car Pooling column.
Debra was looking for someone who drives from her home suburb of Wellington Point to Sheldon each day and offered to share fuel costs.
She placed the ad immediately after applying for a job at Sheldon. Her application was unsuccessful; she no longer needs the lift.
Her job search continues.

THE proactive transport call undoubtedly stems from Debra’s keen organisational abilities as an administrator.
Since 2001, she has worked in the public sector, with the Local Government, Sport and Recreation Department and the Crime and Misconduct Commission, and is now keen to gain a position in the not-for-profit sector, perhaps with a charity.
"I previously had experience in agency and ‘temping’ work with a lot of short-term appointments so I can hit the ground running," she says.

DEBRA, a mother of three, is already involved in the helping sector. She works with her husband, Gordon, on the music program and other administrative duties at Southgate Community Church, where he is the associate pastor.
She also sings and plays piano, keyboards and bass guitar at the Southgate church, which is on Mt Petrie Road, Mackenzie, and has a congregation of about 60.
The church has a worship team of six to eight providing the core of its musical program.
Debra’s musical interests extend further to her membership of Brisbane Community Choir, for which she also assists on administrative duties.

HER passion for church music blossomed about 30 years ago.
"I played with recorder bands and things like that as a child and I started teaching myself the organ when I was 10," she says.
"I was later involved with the ministry team from bible college and our choir toured for a month from Melbourne to Mackay.
"That was quite an experience."
Debra also has credits conducting church music for churches including Logan Wesleyan.

WATCH for her next transport notice because her job applications are still going out.
Maybe the driver will be able to turn off the radio and simply let Debra sing.
Coming up to Easter she has one piece of music on her mind – the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. It’s Debra’s favourite.
The stirring and triumphant strains are a certainty for Southgate this Easter.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

Dogs may howl, cats may meow as pals retire

THANK heavens dogs and cats don’t read. The Redlands would have suffered a chorus of howling and meowing if the canine and feline communities had caught up with the recent public notice announcing the closure of Woofers Kennels and Cattery, Victoria Point.
About 4000 dogs and hundreds of cats of all shapes and sizes have been guests at the Worthing Road kennels that Ray and Cherry Norris opened in 1994.

AFTER 15 years in a "24/7" business, the couple has decided to claim their lives back from those two branches of the animal kingdom.
"It’s like running a farm but someone must be on the property all the time," Cherry says.
"We can’t go out anywhere together. We can’t attend parties or barbecues.
"It’s very tiring and after so many years I’m just about burnt out.
"We want to give some time to the family. We have decided at this moment to close our doors and retire but we will retain the (business) licence and maybe down the track we’ll assess the future."

CHERRY and Ray migrated to Australia in 1981 from the north-west England industrial city of Barrow-in-Furness.
They were escaping a gloomy time in England. "The cold war was bubbling along and there was the possibility the US and Russia would shoot themselves to bits over England; there was economic doom and gloom, with strikes and sackings all the time," Cherry says.
"We came out on holiday to stay with Ray’s brother, who lived at Capalaba. We liked it here and organised our migration."
She says Ray, then a bricklayer, is still very proud of becoming a licensed builder in Queensland while the couple lived at Cleveland.
The decision to open the kennels followed their purchase of the Victoria Point acreage property when Ray began suffering from "bricklayer’s back".
The home-based business was wonderful at first and although the demands have become too much she still loves "all types of animals".

CHERRY’s vast experience with dogs has given her an insight into pet ownership.
She says anyone wanting a dog should consider small- to medium-sized shorthaired breeds with upright ears.
"For practicality in this day and age, these types of dogs generally will have fewer health problems and are easier to look after," she says.
"The pointy ears are less susceptible to infection and the short hair means they don’t get tangled up in grass seeds, for instance.
‘Ticks are easier to find."
The Norrises, who will close the business on April 30, have issued "a very big thank you to past and present clients for their valued support".

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.

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White-dressed lady watches chairs float out door

Image: Historical picture of the old courthouse that is now a restaurant and function centre. See www.courthouserestaurant.com.au.

MANY thousands of important bottoms have graced the 120 dining chairs that became available in the Classifieds thanks to a "freshening up" at one of Redland City’s premier restaurants.
With new chairs in place, the update at The Old Courthouse Restaurant was almost complete, according to owners Mary and Ross Gibb.
The old chairs, which date from the 1970s, were part of the package when the couple bought the restaurant in March, 1998, Mary says.
The timber chairs have done their job well but they needed continual maintenance after their decades of hard work.
During the reign of the Gidds in the colonial courthouse, the restaurant trade has built up to hundreds of diners, Mary says.

THIS year is appropriate for an update – it is the 20th anniversary of Cleveland cuisine’s introduction to the couple.
In 1988, Mary moved from Melbourne and Ross came from Scotland. From 1989 to ’98, they operated Beaches Restaurant.
Mary believes almost a decade’s experience at Beaches gave her and Ross the management skills to make the Courthouse so successful.
"Beaches was a BYO and that means you must do everything right because you cannot have the benefit of liquor sales," she says.
"We had the basics right."

IN cuisine, that means a traditional style with a European influence and Australian fresh produce, Mary says.
The food style immedately fitted well with the restaurant setting in a courthouse that a district landowner and publican, Francis Bigges, built in 1853.
Mary recalls a rush on function bookings that set the stage for subsequent years. "In my first six months here I had 100 bookings for wedding receptions," she says.
"The venue has always been beautiful – it’s the perfect location for special occasions."

ABOUT that time, Mary had a special visitor who did not need a chair.
"We had been told the courthouse had a resident ghost, Elizabeth, Francis Bigges’ wife," Mary says.
"One day I was on the phone to a friend and she floated past me. She had short dark hair and a long white dress.
"She floated across and through the wall after she seemed to give a nod of approval. It was like she showed me her acceptance of what we were doing."
Mary says she has not seen the ghost again but "I feel her and know she’s there – there’s no mischief or anything like that".

ELIZABETH may have given a silent sigh as the chairs went out the door at $20 each to about 20 buyers.
Mary wonders what the white-dressed lady would think of the restaurant’s changes, which presented some challenges, such as incorporating new equipment without threatening the old-world feel of an historic building.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

All aboard the bus to Fluville!

AS the sun sets on a glorious summer beside beautiful Moreton Bay, the bugs come out to play.
Not mosquitoes and midges -- other bugs fly around this time of year.
We can’t see some tiny organisms that proliferate every autumn but we can hear and feel their presence.
Hear: When coughing and sneezing interrupt pleasant conversations bubbling away on the shopper and commuter buses.
Feel: When someone just behind you lets go with a not-so-waterwise shower from an uncovered eruption of phlegm.

FLU fear can give anyone a bad start to the day. Must you hold your breath until other lungs vacuum up the virus-charged spray?
"The virus that causes influenza is mainly spread from person-to-person by virus-containing droplets produced during coughing or sneezing," Queensland Health says.
"The droplets can be spread up to a metre through the air and enter the body through the nose and mouth.
"A person can also catch influenza if they shake hands with an infected person or touch a contaminated surface such as a door knob or telephone, and then touch their nose or mouth."
The "metre" seems an understatement, according to a television documentary a few years back – a special camera caught a "free and easy sneeze" blasting its microscopic cargo high and wide. On that evidence, the fallout could go at least half a bus length.

ANOTHER observation from the autumn buses: Someone coughs or sneezes into their hand then grabs the same rail you would use to get to the door without falling over. Your trip ends like surfing on Straddie and, when you just get to the door, the bus lurches into your stop. You instinctively grab the last rail near the door and think of all the mucous-drenched hands that have grabbed it that day.
Then, even though you’re half starved, you can’t buy a pie until you find somewhere to wash your hand(s).
Hell, life’s tough in the flu season. I think we should all just stay home. But hang on, someone cares.
Even in the dying days of summer Victoria Point Surgery advertised its flu vaccine clinic. Maybe I can get to work, after all.

FOR the record, QH advises: "Don’t spread it around! If you get symptoms of influenza: stay at home until you are better; cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze with a tissue and dispose of it;
wash your hands with soap and water after coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose, and before touching other people or objects that others might touch."
That means the flu inflicted, not the flu free, should do the surfing down the bus aisle.

Thanks for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Redland City, Queensland – on the shores of beautiful Moreton Bay.

Drawing comes first, says Raby Bay artist

Image: A Friend’s Pet, pastel, by Graham Josefski from rabybaygalleries.

TWO of Queensland’s most celebrated modern traditionalist painters received a mention in the Redlands this week as an artist talked about his grounding in the disciplines of art.
Mervyn Moriarty and Les McDonaugh were mentors of Graham Josefki, who has lived in Raby Bay since 1988.
Since Graham retired about two years ago he has had more time to pursue his lifelong interest in art. He was the primary-school pupil whose work always featured the teacher’s star. When recovering from an appendectomy, he sketched his mother, sitting beside his hospital bed.

DURING his "day jobs" (which artists inevitably need), the Bundberg-born son of a wool presser and a shearers’ cook always exercised his skills with draftsmanship, colour and tone on subjects, including "the bush and the Australian gum trees".
When he worked as a banker in Central Queensland, he studied painting by correspondence.
Paint of the oil and watercolour types ran through Graham Josefki’s veins as he moved from banking to real estate sales and eventually to home building.
Along the way, while working in finance and real estate, he took more painting courses and expressed his love of the Australian bush on paper and canvas.
Graham came under the guidance of McDonaugh, whose influence fostered his attraction to "the brilliant, vibrant colours of this very direct medium (pastels)".

McDONAUGH, an Australian Pastel Society founding member, was an important part of the Redlands’ art heritage, Graham says, adding that the acclaimed pastel prince lived his twilight years on Karragarra Island, and his death about three years ago was a sad loss to the international art community.
The other key mentor, Moriarty, who held the title as Queensland’s flying artist, imparted a message that rings true over not just decades but centuries.
"People, adults as well as children, often have great enthusiasm for applying the colours without realising that the skills of drawing go hand in hand with that," Graham says.
This is the motivation behind Graham’s advertisements in our Training & Tuition column. His children’s drawing lessons tap into the great heritage of draftsmanship that is the hallmark of the best art.

FOLLOW-UP: The Birkdale bromeliad brigade, under the leadership of its chief, Inge Drake, raised $880 last Saturday for Victorian fire relief, with dozens of pots of the intriguing plants heading out the gate at her Bayford Street home. Inge was pressing on with the appeal and we’ll have a further update in weeks to come.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Flowers bloom in ashes

Image: The World War II destruction in Berlin – from wikipedia.

THE stark scenes of devastation in the Victorian bushfires have brought tears to Inge Drake’s eyes as, safe and sound in her Birkdale home, she has watched the television reports.
"I feel so sorry for all those poor people who have lost so much," Inge says. "I can understand how they must feel."
Images of charred remains of thousands of houses have rekindled Inge’s memories of the bombing of Berlin during World War II.
In 1943, Inge Krull was seven years old. Her dad, Kurt, was a German army engineer and in the Russian campaign. She lived with her younger brother Dieter and their mum, Auguste, in the family home.
"One day we went to the movies and when we came back there was no house, just a great big hole – it was monstrous," Inge says. "I remember being sorry that I had lost my teddy bear."

THE trio found refuge in Berlin with Kurt’s father but Inge contracted scarlet fever. She was in hospital when her mum took Dieter to East Prussia, where they were to live with Auguste’s parents. Inge says she spent six terrifying weeks alone, with hospitals evacuated as bombing raids targeted them.
On her discharge, she waited for hours on a seat in a long vacant corridor, wondering in the silence if her mum would manage to come back to pick her up.
Finally, a small figure appeared in the distance. As it came closer Inge could see the "tiny person, not even five feet (152 centimetres) tall" was Auguste.
At least part of the wartime nightmare was over. But for the next two years, Auguste and the kids kept moving, "running away from the Russians".

KURT found his family in Bavaria in 1945. They migrated to Australia in 1953. Dieter now lives in Melbourne. Kirk and Auguste spent their final years in a Buderim retirement village. Kirk died in 1981 and Auguste in 1984.
A Birkdale resident for 30 years, Inge does not take her current comfort for granted.
"I have a home, food, furniture, a bed to sleep in … I thought what can I do for the poor people in Victoria," she said.
"When they have put everything into their farms, then lost it all, even if you gave them a million dollars they haven’t got the spirit to start again. I can so easily feel for them.’’

INGE talked with her friends, Michelle and Barbara. They decided to sell bromeliads to raise money for the relief effort.
The sale was washed out last Saturday but it will be on again tomorrow, all day, in Bayford Street.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Cleveland, Redland City, Queensland, Australia.

Locavore movement gains momentum

Image: The south-east Queensland region, a focus for locavores. Map courtesy wikipedia.

A GREAT mix of Redland’s rural heritage and a forward-thinking environmental ethos has come together in the formation of a new group for people who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
Redland Organic Growers Inc (ROGI) got rolling at a meeting in October at Redlands IndigiScapes Centre.
Founding president is Emma Baker, a Capalaba mother of two boys, Reuben, 6, and Eathan, 3, who love getting out in the growing patch with their mum.
Emma, a Redland Council landscape architect, is a woman of principle and goes out of her way to connect with her community through food.
She says she felt humbled among the ilk of more than 100 people at the foundation meeting.
"Some have been gardening for 60 years or more and have so much knowledge," Emma says. "You can only get this type of knowledge by getting out there and doing it."

ROGI has no affiliation with the formal process of organic certification for produce but Emma says several members may have the aim of taking their growing to such a commercial level.
In forming the group, she simply wanted to help people "connect back to their communities", talk with likeminded people and learn more about gardening techniques and issues.
ROGI meets on the first Tuesday every month at 6.30pm at Indigiscapes, where it has a seed bank and exchange, a bookshop and an outlet for organic products and edible plants.
The formation has been good news for another young Redlands mother. Nicole Bennett, of Victoria Point, became committed to organic food for the benefit of her family’s health but had difficulty obtaining certified produce locally.

IN 2006, Nicole set up a business, Wholesome Organics, to improve the availability of organic produce by making door-to-door deliveries and has expanded her range to include organic cleaning and skin and hair products.
Despite a lot of hunting, she has been unable to find a ‘certified organic’ grower in the Redlands, once one of the State’s major horicultural districts.
Most of Wholesome Organics’ produce comes from the South East Queensland growing areas, including the Lockyer Valley.
For Nicole, that organic certification is all important, so she must also source produce from outside the region.
She described ROGI as a breakthrough.
"The ideal would be to supply locally grown fruit and vegetables so the group must be a big step in the right direction," she said.

NICOLE and Emma’s local and/or regional focus would qualify them for membership of the "locavore" movement that is gaining momentum around the world.
They are "connecting" with the community through food, and that can mean benefits for society generally.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Cleveland, Redland City, Queensland, Australia – on the shores of beautiful Moreton Bay. Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Love me tender, fine statue you

Image from wikipedia.

AN important date slipped by without retired "jack of all trades" Norman Purse honouring the occasion.
It was the birthday of a close "mate".
The pair has shared a Cleveland unit for the past five years.
While Norman tunes into his favourite TV shows, mainly news, his mate sits on a stool and holds a guitar but doesn’t play it or talk during the news broadcasts.
Norman admits he slipped up by neglecting to celebrate the January 8 birthday of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Elvis Presley.

AS the birthday came and went, Norman was planning to make some space by selling his lifesize fibreglass Elvis statue, which is rather imposing in a small unit.
Norman says he has always liked the King’s music. When the Elvis burst into the limelight in the 1950s, Norman could whistle Love Me Tender as he worked as a roofing plumber with the Revesby, Sydney, factory of HH Robertson Australia Pty Ltd.
The post-war era was kind to Norman, born in Mullumbimby. He had grown up on a banana plantation, enlisted in the army in 1941 and served in Darwin as a gunner with the 14th Anti-Aircraft Battery.

MORE than six decades on, he believes most Australians still do not realise the extent of the Japanese bombing and says his unit defended against about 60 raids.
"People also misconstrue what anti-aircraft artillery was designed to do," he says. "It wasn’t to shoot the planes down but to fire shells to put them off course so they didn’t have a straight line for their bomb sights."
After three years, Norman joined the Australian 1st Paratroop Battalion as a way to "get out of Darwin".
He says he trained at Richmond for one major mission, "to join with the 7th Division to retake Singapore" but the war ended before the call to action.

THESE are just some of the stories that Norm’s fibreglass mate, Elvis, could hear, if he could take the space between his ears off the echoes of Love Me Tender.
For the past few years, while Norm has tuned into the nightly News, Elvis’s eyes have been on a statuesque Egyptian beauty, another lifesize fibreglass statue.
Elvis can get off his stool and pass the working guitar to someone who can actually play it. Norman says a musician he engaged to tune the instrument believed it was well constructed and of good quality.
The portable Presley package was still available this week, with Norman slightly disappointed that no one except me responded to his ad.
He pondered whether the tight economic climate was the reason, or whether maybe the shine has faded from the King’s crown and Elvis’s popularity has waned.
Norman advertised his Elvis for $1800.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Cleveland, Redland City, Queensland, Australia – on the shores of beautiful Moreton Bay. Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Blogging the midnight oil

BEFORE it gets too late tonight, I want to talk about a subject of great importance to you and me – blogging. It’s the new age of publishing.
Here I am, writing; there you are, reading.
While bloggers may typically burn the midnight oil, I have written a lot of words for other purposes about this time of night over the decades.
Much of the outpouring was destined for the next day’s paper. During that era in my life, adrenaline and a supercharged sense of duty pushed me to “get that story” and, yes, even shout “Stop the press” with conviction that the public sorely needed the words I was about to commit to a production process.
Floods and other acts of nature, accidents of many types, night sport events and those across time zones, unexpected twists and turns in matters politic, actions and reactions … many sparks of many types ignite the fires in the bellies of news gatherers.

TONIGHT, it’s just you and me. You are wondering where all this will lead and asking why bother. I am wondering how I can translate my feelings about blogging into an understandable and meaningful form and asking for your patience.
This piece is not about the ‘shock’, ‘horror’ and headlines of the news world but that world is not far away. The blog requires all the skills I have used during a long career in the media. Accuracy and accountability are important, whether a writer is committing for publication one of the major news stories of the day to print in a major mass circulation newspaper, or talking to the world through just one of many thousands, maybe it’s millions, of blog posts that become available every second.

THIS is ‘me 2 u’ – direct, unplugged, a la natural. No roar of the press, no ‘can we really say this?’ calls from editors opting on the side of caution, no deadline …
Ooops, I lie – there’s always a deadline; there has to be. Otherwise, nothing gets finished.
So I here I am, writing late at night, blogging my guts out, so to speak, and writing like there’s no tomorrow (deadline), then contradicting myself and saying there really is a deadline.
That’s the hazier-than-twilight world of blogging, I guess.
Here I am, pretending I am writing without the baggage of “traditional publishing” but then having to admit some major controls are still in place and I have a deadline to get to bed (literally, metaphorically and physically).
What else can I say? Well, watch this space.

Englishman revels in Queensland heat - and cold

Surrey has some natural air conditioning too, as this picture from wikipedia shows. Today's post appeared one week ago in The Redland Times, Cleveland, Redland City, Queensland, Australia.

A REFERENCE somewhere in the history books may note the beads of sweat on Captain Arthur Phillip’s brow as, in the middle of a southern summer, he presided over the raising of the Union Jack to claim, in effect, the island continent for Mother England.
Imagine the whispers among the assembled soldiers and convicts, suffering the colonial heat.
"Here he goes again -- wouldn’t you think he’d cut the waffle and let us get out of the sun?"
The Sydney Cove ceremony on January 26, 1788, started some sticky centuries for "cold-blooded" English folk but it must be acknowledged that many revel in our warm to hot summers.

SURREY-born Wayne Fullard’s introduction to Australia followed that of Phillip’s First Fleet by 211 years. That was in 1999, and a further 10 years on, Wayne gets a bit sentimental as he says: "I just fell in love with the place."
Wayne, an air-conditioning engineer who specialised in retail centres and shops in the London region, has never feared a hot day.
He had several stints "down under" before another love bug bit in a Cleveland restaurant in 2003, when he met the Brisbane-born woman he would marry in 2006.
Ella Fullard has devoted her administrative skills to helping Wayne build his business from a home base at Alexandra Hills.

THEY had a busy 2008, with major projects including a new Endeavour Foundation centre at Toowoomba, as well as many smaller commercial and domestic contracts.
The couple had a hectic festive season. Their marriage created a combined family with five grown-up children and a growing band of grandchildren, now numbering four.
Of course, the stream of visitors from the UK has been steady. The Fullards farewelled the last of the current bunch on Wednesday when their friends, Eric and Wendy Holmes, boarded a plane back to London.
Another friend is due next month, then Wayne’s son, Lee, and his girlfriend Kate, will arrive in April.

THE UK visitors come here with confidence in Wayne’s ability to cool down a hot day; back home, they can call on Wayne’s elder son, Dean, who now runs the Surrey business.
There have been no First Fleet-style grumbles from the Londoners whom the Fullards host.
"They all love the Redlands area – they think it’s beautiful," Ella says.
On the development of the business, Ella and Wayne thank Brian Forsyth, Santo Coco, Neville Wright Barbara and Tony Wills, and "our wonderful children", Sam, Leah and Zena, all of whom have contributed along the way.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. Wayne and Ella Fullard advertise in the Trade Services section of The Redland Times Classifieds.

Investment to some, gamble to others - that's 'super'

Images - The Rumney brothers at Mowbray Racecourse, circa 1960. They are, from right, Percy, my dad Gil, Reg and Jack; and that’s me with an old wood robe (just in case you are as easily confused as me, this link from the archives keeps the current post at the top of the page, so scroll down for more on the silky oak wardrobe).

MY old uncle Percy had a quaint term to legitimise his fascination with thoroughbred horses.
He spoke of each donation to the bookmakers as an "investment", rather than a "bet".
Percy died poor.
This sad tale has a modern sequel after the nation’s superannuation savings – from two decades of garnishment of wages – have taken a battering in the stock market, which is "investment" to some and a "gamble" to others.
I wish Percy and maybe some modernday superannuation managers had talked to Bob Metcalfe, who represents what he says is one of the safest investments.

BOB, his wife, Dianne, and her dad, Merv Alley, worked feverishly for most of the last half of 2008 to set up a shop in Bloomfield Street, Cleveland.
But Bob and Dianne are not selling financial packages or dispensing money-management advice. Their business is Bayside Antique & Collectables Centre, which occupies a former service station.
"Good antiques and collectables will never go down in value," Bob says. "They only go up -- something like 11 per cent (return) a year for a good quality item, such as a Victorian gold chain or an 1880s Australian-made cedar chest of drawers."
The Australian Government in fact has sanctioned investment in antiques, collectables and fine art for superannuation purposes, subject to its conditions, Bob says.

THE couple searched hard for the right Redland premises. The trio toiled for about two months on major renovations of the old garage before they picked up a paintbrush.
The premises now provides about 650 square metres for about 20 independent dealers. Bob says customers will always find a wide range of items.
Antique cameras, retro and vintage clothing, jewellery and furniture for different tastes are among features.
The shop opened as the financial crisis bit, but Bob says the gloom has not affected business: "We are doing better than we thought we would."
Which seems to indicate the strength of the "antique economy".

IN the nature of the write-offs on financial articles, I must ask readers to seek independent advice before buying anything for investment.
But even browsing collectables and antiques is enjoyable. And who knows? You may spot something that has been undervalued.
Bob says a Brisbane man several years ago bought for a few dollars what a dealer believed was a Albert Namatjira print – the painting was valued at $30,000.
Now, I remember, old Percy had a few old prints …

THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

FOOTNOTE: It is a special pleasure for me today to publish a picture of the man who, with my mum, Jean, introduced me to the marvellous community of classified advertising when, all those years ago in the summer of 1955, they placed a notice announcing the birth of a son. Those who are disrespectful of classified advertising may note this significant cultural relationship and that a big chunk of the population has had a similar start in life. The proud tradition continues (Classie Corner archives). For an example of such disrespect, read what Geoff Brooklyn of Sydney had to say on the News blog. I can only wonder why Geoff would bother and I must suggest he stops and thinks before putting out his claws.

Let's all 'pluck the day'

Don't seek, my friend, we cannot say what end's in store for you, for me: don't trust in vague astrology. Better to shoulder what will be, whether you soon will die, or stay to watch the shore exhaust the sea. So drink some wine while your hours flee, put small trust in posterity, and prune your hopes; but pluck the day. - Horace (65-8BC), Pluck the Day, courtesy of www.poetseers.org.

Image courtesy of www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace

THIS story starts with wise words of one of the most celebrated Roman poets and will end about 2000 years ago later many thousand kilometres from Rome and in Queensland, Australia, where another seer has dropped (rather, dispensed with) the toga and stone slabs and is etching his own niche in poetry and history.
What has poetry to do with the ‘marvellous community of classified advertising’, you may ask. Well, poetry is everywhere.
Rhyme and rhythm are an ‘in-ya-face’ feature of modern life. Turn on the TV, radio or computer, or scan the pages of any newspaper or magazine and a poetic touch will tickle your heart.

OVER the years, many such statements have leapt from the small print of the classifieds to give me a cardiac caress.
Matters of the heart have been close to my ventricle for the past year since an unusual bump on an ECG print-out led to the diagnosis of a rare condition of a heart nerve, Brugada syndrome (www.brugada.org), and the implant of an internal cardiac device (ICD), a defibrillator, to protect against sudden fatal arrhythmia.
But don’t celebrate too soon. The doctors say I now have better chances of surviving a heart event than the vast majority of the population and with above-average general heart health may live to 94 without the defibrillator ever delivering the life-saving shock.

THE sentimentality of the festive season - as always, walking in the shadows of the smiles, jolly handshakes, hugs and kisses – may still partly explain my current poetic bent.
The heart is long regarded as the seat of emotion, although some argue it is, in fact, the liver, which also takes a pounding each December-January. So you can see, quite a few influences are at work today, although the truth may be I just needed something to write about, maybe looking for rhythm (ha).
But I just love that Horace poem, translated from Latin, in which www.en.wikipedia.org/ says the title was ‘Carpe diem’.
Like most good poems it seems written ‘just for me’. Even the ‘pluck’ part. I am always plucking away at my guitar – again looking for that steady rhythm, I guess.

BACK to poetry and the classifieds. Just have a browse through the pages of any edition of any newspaper and you’ll get to peep inside someone’s heart (or liver?).
It’s worth the effort to see some inventive trading names in the business section but the personal columns can be a real hoot and you never really know when someone will drop a poetic word or two into their for-sale notice.
Isn’t it just so great that a word or two, plucked from a sea of small type, can make a highlight of your day?
Now, I have all that off my chest to start the new year, I can introduce the Horace of Queensland…

Poet shares special vision

Images: Poet Paul Dobbyn and illustrator Gemma O'Brien; Jen and Paul Dobbyn, Mirusia Louwerse and Sebastiaan Coenen.

MY long-time mate Paul Dobbyn certainly has packed a lot of living into the past half century or so. He was a journalist with a young family when we met, in our twenties, while we worked in the regional press.
Already, Paul held a university degree and had travelled widely in Australia, worked as a construction labourer and in other jobs before journalism and published his first book of poetry.
During the 1980s, he wrote another book, upgraded his qualifications to become a high school teacher, then took another turn into sales in two of the most demanding fields (door-to-door and advertising), excelling in both.
He has also worked in marketing and consulting in the job network and in marketing and publishing with major public agencies.

THIS summary would be far from complete. It’s just what springs to mind, rather than Paul’s CV, but helps to illustrate forces that have shaped him as a poet.
Out of all that life experience comes a special insight that reflects in Paul’s latest book, Soul Healing Afoot / Dead Dad Bye.
Paul launched the work late last year (more below) and says he later "had the pleasure" of reading to high-flying star singer Mirusia Louwerse the book’s dedication.
Mirusia and Paul have been friends since they were members of a "commuters club" chatting during their trips from the bayside to the CBD.
The dedication says:

Mirusia, my modern muse of the glorious voice who travelled with me by train each week those two years or so, reminding me, challenging me with that inner fire, true inspiration and dedication to artistry bring.

THE reading occurred at "a bash at her parent’s place" after what Paul described as an "amazing story of success for young Birkdale lass as she flies again to top of charts aboard Andre Rieu's record-breaking DVD release from last month's Melbourne concert".
Once a marketing man, always a marketing man, I guess. But the same holds for a poet, and here’s what Paul’s friend, long time Melbourne poet, critic and member of Cathouse Creek - Liz Hall-Downs – wrote at Compulsive Reader:

"Unlike the ranting, raving, populist, (and frequently facile), performance poetry that seems to be springing up everywhere lately, Dobbyn's work is much slower in the fermentation, and deals with some of life's big questions. These are deeply felt, considered, highly-crafted poems about the challenges of middle age, about weathering divorce and rebuilding a life from its ashes, and about facing the death of an elderly parent - but they are not devoid of humour and, often, clever word play. Gemma O'Brien's lovely linocuts relate subtly to the poetry and, combined with the unusual font and off-white paper, the overall effect is of an 'artist's book'.
'Soul Healing Afoot' is the longer sequence, and deals with personal transformation: the poet drives into the desert while contemplating his unknown future; an encounter with a snake's shed skin prompts the lines: '... I knew how he felt, / that snake: / shiny and fresh - slicing through the grass: / chuckling at life's best trick - and gift - of all' .

Rev Anthony Gooley wrote:
The collection is in two books which are bound together in a flip book style one part Dead Dad Bye and the other Soul Healing Afoot.There was a fairly large audience for the reading, standing room only, and we had some great live music in between readings ... I think all of us were so privileged to hear Paul's work and the poetry was amazing. One could not help but be moved by some of the pieces and laugh at others which had some very clever word plays.I am not Paul's publicist nor his marketing director but I can say that the poems we heard yesterday were outstandingly good and I would recommend his book, which is great value at only $20. I for one, am looking forward to my chance to enjoy a closer reading of the material over the holiday break.

ANYONE wanting a copy of Dead Dad Bye / Soul Healing Afoot can email me through this site (see right of page). Paul has sent a link list: Compulsive Reader, myspace, fortheloveoftype, city-south-news.