Knitting toward a better future

Image courtesy African Equity.

THE ancient art of knitting is a handy hobby for many modern Australians but half the world away in Kenya it can be a survival skill. Kenyan families, like those in the town of Nyahururu, near the hometown of US President Barak Obama's family, depend on the garments they knit, not only to clothe themselves but also to earn income from sales. That is why the charity, African Equity, placed a Classified notice seeking hand-operated sewing machines.

THE aim is to equip a Nyahururu orphanage to train its youngsters.African Equity, which Cleveland businessman Chris Anderson founded about two years ago, focuses on "breaking the cycle of poverty through education and employment – creating an environment of self sufficiency and autonomy, not dependence". Mainly supporting Kenya's largest orphanage, Heroes of the Nation, African Equity also runs other community projects such as medical clinics, adult education and vocational training. It has set up business initiatives, including maize grinding and agricultural and mechanical services, and regularly ships containers of goods, many of which are donated.

THE call for knitting machines followed a recent trip to Nyahururu by African Equity volunteers including Alexandra Hills dentist Debbie Leong, Cleveland accountant Derek Grewar and former Rural Press Cleveland general manager Greg Watson. Derek and Greg took their families on the working holiday. Greg returned with advice that the knitting machines are "like gold" in the Kenyan culture. Bayside Bulletin/The Redland Times sales coordinator Gordon Lawrence, who also is an AE volunteer, had good news for a meeting of the group this week at Noci Italian Ristorante, Raby Bay. Three Redland donors are keen to back the cause and their machines will be shipped to the orphanage soon.

GORDON says the warm response points to a big future for the Redland-based charity, which has about 20-30 volunteers and a policy of encouraging direct contact with the Kenyan beneficiaries, whether through visits or other methods including internet hook-ups. "African Equity is helping the kids over there in a myriad of ways," he says. "They have only just received seven containers that were sent about a month ago." He says shipments have included clothing, kitchen utensils, a piano and even an ambulance.

THE website, www.african-equity.com, says 47,000 pairs of reconditioned prescription glasses from the Redcliffe Lions Club and 300 all-terrain wheelchairs from the Gold Coast Rotary Club were part of the 2009 inventory, along with surplus stock, seconds and clearance items. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars of benefit has been created from products that may have otherwise been left idle in warehouses," the charity says.

Thanks for joining me today in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column appeared in The Redland Times in early August.

Jasmine the mini horse: She's 'almost human'

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times. Image shows another miniature horse (courtesy theminiaturehorse.com).

THE cute creature that won Tony Castelli's heart just a few weeks ago still has him cooing with deep affection. But Tony has realised it's not the right time and place for him to own a miniature pony, so he needs to sell the three-year-old chestnut mare, Jasmine. The decision to place the notice in the Classifieds this week was hard for Lancashire-born Tony, who generally prides himself on his good judgement after 34 years in business in Queensland since he migrated from England.

THIS time, he has had to admit that his emotions ruled and he made an 'impulse buy' after he fell in love with Jasmine at first sight."I just don't have enough grass here," Tony said from his small Thornlands acreage property. "She needs to run around in a big paddock. "The ad said "cute as a button, very intelligent", but Tony said that was an understatement – the horse was "almost human", sticking her nose into his tea mug in the morning and trying to get a nip of port in the evening. Jasmine found her way into Tony's downstairs pool room and had a game with the red balls, and she showed mechanical skill, selecting sockets from his toolbox.

TONY grew up on a farm in the north of England and has owned full-size horses. He first thought Jasmine would be good for his two-year-old granddaughter, Jorja, but had to acknowledge the child was too young for a horse, even a miniature. He is grateful to Jasmine for introducing him to "the lovely people" at the Pinklands-based pony club, from which he sought advice. "When I took her down there, she fancied a big Arab stallion and I had to tell her, 'Sorry but he's out of your league'," Tony said. As the venture into horse ownership unfolded, the miniature proved herself to be out of Tony's league. Still, he marvels at how the local schoolchildren call "Jasmine" as they pass the Dinwoodie Road property. He said she had so much personality he would be very sad to see her go, and his wife Nerida, daughter Jo and Jorja would be more so.

TONY started training Jasmine to pull a sulky that he hopes the new owners will take in a package deal, with the two at $450 each.Tony, who was an award-winning master butcher in England, said he had made many good decisions on buying and selling – he went on to own 21 businesses in Queensland. He is busy improving his Thornlands property, which unfortunately is too small for Jasmine.

Cultural, economic views on the big Australian house

Image of housing courtesy microsoft clipart.

THE Australian obsession with big houses has been a visible social trend while sustainable development and wise use of resources have been a focus.
Some may regard the 'upsizing' as a snub to environmental considerations. Of course, many families need big houses and others do not but whether need, want or greed is the driver, analysts find positives as well as negatives from the big-house trend.
Less than one year ago, statistics showed the typical size of a new Australian home had reached 215 square metres, Fairfax Media economics writer Peter Martin reported.



QUOTING Statistics Bureau data compiled for Commonwealth Securities, Martin said Australians were piling on sitting rooms, family rooms, studies and extra bedrooms, with the size of our homes overtaking those in the US as the world's biggest.
Commonwealth Securities economist Craig James acknowledged that "the biggest homes in the world ... could be better utilised'' but he said the number of Australians living in each home had risen slightly.
"Population is rising, as is the cost of housing and the cost of moving house, so we are making greater use of what we've got," he said. "Children are staying at home longer and more people are opting for shared accommodation ... If sustained, it will save us building 166,000 homes.''



MY research into house size followed a recent Classified notice seeking host families for about 40 Japanese teenagers who will visit Redland City next month under a program involving Education Queensland International and Cleveland State High School.
Yoshie Harris, who organises the annual visit through her study tour agency Speaknow Education, says Australian house sizes are the biggest surprise for the Japanese teenagers.
Website references indicate the average dwelling size in Japan is under 100 square metres – less than half the size of the typical new Aussie home.



ALTHOUGH house size has topped the list of student comments, Yoshie says the visitors also note the beautiful greenery and beaches, and the friendliness of Australians.
She enjoys working with the young people from her homeland. Yoshie and her husband Leon met while he taught English in Japan about 20 years ago. In 2004, they settled at Alexandra Hills with their children, Erica, now 12, and Leonard, 10.
The Redland visitors, aged 14 and 15, from Shukutoku Junior High School will be part of a 162-student group, which will be split among four South East Queensland High Schools.
By Wednesday, Yoshie needed only two more host families for the Cleveland group during the three-night stay from August 26 to 28.



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

King Kong can step aside at 'tax time'

Image: The original King Kong from the 1933 movie. Courtesy wikipedia.

MONSTERS of the big screen, such as King Kong, Freddy Krueger and even Godzilla, fail to evoke as much terror as a certain real-life antihero. A film producer should glorify 'The Taxman'. Imagine browsing the cover notes in your favourite video store: "He keeps his victims in bondage and tortures them for their entire lives – they scramble for their records but no one can escape The Taxman." 'Return of the Taxman', 'Son of Taxman' and 'Nightmare at Tax Time' would definitely get an X rating.


PLEASE forgive my attempt to inject humour into such a serious matter: Every winter many have tremors, not because of the cold but because the end of the financial year brings the dread of reporting to one of the most powerful authorities. My dad gave me good advice. "Never tell lies – but especially not to your mum, your wife and the taxman." That was it, without even a permit for the occasional 'little white lie'. Before I hunt through bundles of paper and ransack the wardrobe, a recent notice in the Classifieds caught my eye.


PHIL Higgins asked, "Are you having trouble with accounting records? Need a hand?" and even gave an answer: "Retired accountant loves a challenge." Phil was born in Sydney and worked for one of the "big eight" firms, Smith Johnson and Company, which evolved into Peat Marwick Mitchell and further into the professional services giant KPMG. In 1971, he moved with his family to Alexandra Hills, which became his base as he continued in commercial accounting on international projects in many countries.


PHIL worked on joint ventures for large-scale interests including the Packer group, CRA and BHP and, mainly in the early 1980s, also the floating of public companies. He retired for health reasons and now takes much satisfaction from assisting small businesses. His main interest is not directly in tax but rather in "resurrection" of business recording, but Phil agrees some tend to suffer a type of tax paralysis in which fear hinders the task of getting their affairs in order.


"PEOPLE fall off the bandwagon for various reasons; in some cases their accountants let them down; in others they are simply scared they haven't done things correctly," he says. "They can be afraid of the taxman and get very bad visions locked in their head about what will happen, when the reality is very different." Phil says small businesses cannot afford to pay the fees that big agencies need for the often-time-consuming task of rehabilitation, so he is happy to provide an afforable service, made possible because of his retirement.


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

Cafes raise the bar-ista with beans

THE blank looks and 'what does that mean?' headshakes that once greeted a nifty little word of Italian origin have disappeared in the modern era of Australia's oh-so-sophisticated cafe culture. The word has escaped the crossword grids that formerly rested on bare tables beside cups of lukewarm instant coffee – which always seemed to come out half strength even if you asked for hot and strong. Few adult Australians nowadays would need to ask the meaning of 'barista', which appeared out of a cloud of steam over the past two decades or so and now hovers around the crispness of ironed tablecloths.

AS 'barista' has taken its place in everyday language, the evolution of the cafe culture, in fact, has created a profession. Where once the common belief was that virtually anyone could accept money to make a cup of coffee, nowadays society demands a specialist, even when no payment is required. Redland City counts among its entrepreneurial businesses A Class of Barista, which has trained coffee makers for about the past year at Capalaba. Carrying a subtitle as 'the Brisbane Barista School', the business is the brainchild of a highly experienced hospitality manager, Nathan Fleury.

NATHAN spent 17 years in 'front-of-house' food and beverage management with restaurants, cafes, hotels, resorts and even six-star ocean cruisers before he acted to meet the need for barista training in south-east Queensland. He says he affiliated with Sugar'n Spice Coffee to conduct his schools at the Dan Street coffee roast house, is pleased with the handy Redland location and already has trained dozens of hospitality professionals as well as 'home baristas'. "The demand of discerning consumers for excellent coffee means that it is a crucial factor for the cafes," he says. "Coffee is such a competitive commodity, if a cafe does not make good coffee the cafe down the road will get the business."

AT the highest level, A Class of Barista takes gradutates to national accreditation for their skills but it also supports local schools' vocational education training (VET) for Year 11 and 12 students. Nathan says the industry has experienced a trend away from blends to single-bean grounds that have propelled Papua New Guinea's coffee to rank with that of Ecuador and Colombia among the connoisseur's choice. Nathan's passion for coffee comes through as he talks about his search for "one of the rarest delicacies" in the coffee universe: a cup made from beans that have passed through the digestive tract of a small animal that inhabits parts of Indonesia.

SUCH a cup is rather expensive but Nathan hopes one day to have the chance to hand over as much as $90 for the treat. That is how far the cafe culture has come. We know that one will be hot and strong. Thanks for joining me to meet the people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Classie Corner, which celebrates its 30st anniversary in 2010, year, now appears in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media/Rural Press newspaper. Image is Microsoft clipart.

Rust sets in as trust loses a 't'

Image is Microsoft clipart.


A 't' has dropped off one of the most significant words in our language. Good old-fashioned trust: it's still around but the 'rust' seems to have set in. Once upon a time, it was in so many places we took it for granted; nowadays society seems to regard 'trust' as a characteristic of the gullible. A police officer recently told on ABC Radio of the continuing success of internet scammers in gaining trust of those who fall into their bulging email addressbooks. The interviewer expressed dismay at anyone falling for the faulty English in the spam messages. This dismissive attitude is understandable.

SCAM spam examples in my trash folder are hardly worth quoting, even to illustrate their basic lack of believability, but the following is rather cute: "I want us to team up and convince the bank to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer ... " And another, direct to the point: "I will soon retire from the bank and without wasting time I will like the fund to be release into your account." But the police officer emphasised no good would come from blaming the victims who for whatever reason – whether promised riches, romance or anything else – have bestowed their trust in someone communicating in this bizarre manner from a remote and exotic location. He said the scammers were ruthless criminals known to kidnap and even murder.

THIS was 'heavy stuff', just when I had been thinking about trust and feeling grateful to the many dozens who have trusted me when I have called at an odd hour to talk about their classified advertising. An elderly reader recently lamented the general suspicion in modern society. We had a good cry together because, as this column's 'intro' tries to say, modern life has turned into a monster that keeps snacking on the 't'. The reader was sad that her kids had to tell their kids to be wary and suspicious of everyone; it never used to be like that.

IN my email inbox last week, sandwiched between messages from a "Reverend" and a "doctor", and wrapped in others from a "casino", a "lottery official" and a lonely heart named "Eva", another reader simply asked for the phone number of a person about whom I wrote a few weeks ago. This showed there is good reason to check the email subject lines carefully and not just delete the unfamiliar – a seed of trust was in that weed pile.

IN the marvellous community of classified advertising in local papers such as The Redland Times, trust has taken root in a stable culture over many generations. We've bolted on our 't's because we know life's always been a bumpy ride.

Digital TV = Fingernail-curling frustration

Image from www.digitalready.gov.au


A SUBSTANTIAL mood of frustration is seething behind the doors of many Australian households.Again we can blame the digital age but this time the cause is neither the home computer nor the internet connection. The internet hook-up gauntlet seems surprisingly to be leaving fewer bruises on confidence with technology as 'techno-time' has continued its forward march with refinements. But just as one set of fingernail-curling circumstances subsides, another has emerged. And the level of mass annoyance was immediately evident when this writer visited www.thesaurus.com to find a synonym for this article.

AT the top of the list of the sponsor notices on the 'frustration' page was www.digitalready.gov.au, the Federal Government site explaining the changeover to digital television. This association undoubedtly proves that reception problems are widespread.Sudden disruption of the images and loss of sound on digital TVs risks driving the nation crazy. Just how many times can a dad miss seeing his league side cross the try line, a mum miss a judgment on a cooking show or a daughter miss the punchline in her favourite soapie before they call in an expert to track the fault.

'PIXELATION' - in this sense meaning a breakdown in the image - has graduated from the ranks of computer jargon to true 'household status' with a vengeance.The term has also featured in the Classifieds as antenna experts including Birkdale's Tony Woodcock offer to end the frustration for suffering families. Tony and wife Jenny have equipped their firm, Antenna Express Installation, with state-of-the-art test equipment and proudly proclaim: "This business employs or engages antenna installers who have been endorsed under the Australian Government's Antenna Installer Endorsement Scheme."

TONY has been in the antenna trade since he was a Sky installer in New Zealand in the mid-1990s. He came to Australia in 1998 and climbed on roofs around the nation for Foxtel before the couple settled down about six years ago in their Redland City base. Tony has found most digital reception problems, such as pixelation, stem from the use of older antenna systems. "It is very important to have the correct antenna in the correct position on the roof because factors such as trees, the general terrain and the height of the nextdoor house can all have an effect," he says.

A FEW of Tony's clients have been lucky enough to have just a small fault in the wall plug but he says the interference can come from anywhere in the cabling and connection system. In addition, this digital age has a new technical term, 'impulse noise', describing certain types of interference, for instance from the household electrical systems,Tony says the modern 'quad-shielded' coaxial cables have four layers of protection against impulse noise. However, he says the fault tracking requires an individual assessment in each case.

IF you see Tony on the roofs around the Redlands, give him a wave for me.Thanks for joining me to meet the people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

This column has appeared in the Redland Times.

It's enough to make you scream!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THROW out the daily crossword -- here's an idea for all 'wordnuts' out there to form a new compulsive habit.This word game beats racking your brain over cryptic clues 'down' and 'across'. Some may say it deserves a patent; others may suggest some serious counselling. At risk of chorus of "get a life" feedback, Classie Corner today launches 'The Great Exclamation Mark Hunt!'. It's easy! It's fun! It's addictive! No maths involved!

THE exclamation mark has long been a sacred symbol of grammar. In the publishing professions, we have been conditioned to use it so sparingly that this tiny blot of ink on paper almost gained a heritage order. Crusty old sub-editors on journals of record would peer over reading glasses, sneer and utter, "Never", at any noviciate who dared press the holy key. The less fervent traditionalists would tolerate the occasional indulgence. The mark has carried a downmarket status in the highbrow world of grammar. "Serious" writers have often scorned it as the tool of the advertising copywriter; such critics may betray some professional jealousy because we all know who pays the most tax.

OF course, the exclamation mark has also been a hallmark of 'sensationalist' reporting but few journalists want to be paraded on Mediawatch so we keep a leash on the !-finger. As the handy websiste www.about.com notes, the mark is known by "various slang terms: bang; pling; smash; soldier, control; screamer", but certain terms that have been heard around the editing desks are not suitable for this G-rated location. Nevertheless, strict grammarians chanting "only use it when appropriate" have failed to the keep lid on the !-box.

IN the new age of communication through email and 'texting', the exclamation mark has proliferated like the plague.The tiny symbol certainly becomes more important in the abridged messages flashed around on mobiles.The intruiging exercise of working out whether an exclamation mark is warranted is the game plan for The Great Exclamation Mark Hunt!

GRAB any page of the Classifieds, search it for '!', and work out whether it's needed. A page I just scanned expounded: "This is not a carboot sale!" So next Saturday, I'll get down to the monthly markets at Russell Island Motel to make sure no one dares deviate from the "art and craft" theme. So now its LOL! and thanks for joining me on my !-hunt in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

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

Shedding light on mushrooms

A LONG tradition in primary production continues at Thornlands where the son of an Italian immigrant from the 1950s applies the knowledge and skills under a brand name that is synonymous with the heritage of Redland City. Eprapah Produce is the business of Peter Comuzzo, who for the past 16 years has specialised in growing mushrooms. Peter employs five people to help him send up to 2.5 tonnes of mushrooms a week to Rocklea Markets from the property he bought 22 years ago. He was one of four children of the late Mario Comuzzo and his Blackbutt-reared wife Norma.

THE family farmed at Wishart for about 30 years before, as Peter says, the fields there "started growing houses". The Thornlands property was Peter's first venture outside the family small-crop business, which had irrigation from a creek. He started his own venture with lettuce, tomatoes and eggplant. "The property has two dams but we soon pumped them dry," he says. "That's why we went into mushrooms - they don't take anywhere near as much water."

ALTHOUGH the output may appear substantial, Peter says it is small compared with some large-scale production in South East Queensland, where the biggest operator produces about 70 tonnes a week. Mushrooms give stability of year-round growing but Peter says consumer demand picks up considerably during winter. "During summer, there is more choice of fruit and vegetables so more competition for the household budget," he says.

MUSHROOMS have high protein content and have been promoted as "the meat for vegetarians", Peter says. Despite the emergence of exotic mushroom varieties in recent years, Peter has stuck with the tradional. 'Buttons' are his biggest crop but he also produces smaller volumes of field mushrooms, or 'flats' as they are known in the industry.

REDLAND householders have a bonus from the by-product of Eprapah Produce's farming - a constant supply of spent mushroom compost that is ideal for gardens, big and small.Peter says the growing medium is replaced in nine-week cycles, resulting in the availability of 300 blocks of compost a week. He sells the compost in 20kg bags and delivers locally for free.Winter is not only the ideal time to throw a handful of buttons into the minestrone but also to dig some compost into the home garden before the warmth of spring.

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

Twists and turns in language, life, love and loss

Image: A Rolls-Royce 20/25 - courtesy http://www.conceptcarz.com/

WITH great respect for the vast majority of our loyal readers, newspapers have long suffered from the very small minority of 'difficult customers'. Whether they are forever dropping in on deadline day to discuss the twists and turns of their pet interests or back again with a complaint about this or that, we try to always be courteous, politely answer their needs and get back to business. Sometimes this is not enough and things get a bit tense or even heated. One of my editors way back dubbed them 'serial pests'; we love to hate them, or should that be vice versa?

SO when an associate, reading aloud during a recent browse of the Classified muttered, "crank ... lost", I thought tempers had flared and wondered if a crank had 'lost it' in the foyer. This was far from the meaning of the Lost & Found notice under scrutiny. Who would expect, in year 2010, to read about the loss of a vehicle crank handle?

RETIRED engineer Rob Gabb, now on holiday at Evans Head, is still lamenting the sad event of April 13, when he took his 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25 on the first trial run after years of restoration. "I inadvertently left the crank handle in place and I heard it fall out but in the five or 10 minutes it took me to turn around and get back there someone must have picked it up," Rob said. This all happened between Long and South Streets, east of Bloomfield Street on Tuesday, April 13.

THE handle is quite a miniature for a car that is classified as a 'limousine saloon' - it is only about 100 millimetres long. Rob at least can still start his beloved 20/25, on which he has worked "seven days a week" for three and a half years. "The car has a dual ignition system so it also has an electric starter," he said. "Rolls-Royce always said their cars 'should never fail to proceed'. "I bought it from a chap who acquired it with a property. It had been under the house for more than 20 years. It was a mess. The engine was full of water ... all the woodwork was rotten. I needed to get a new cylinder head and other parts from England. It has been a major project."

ROB says the car is now ready for the finishing touches and he will soon take it to a trimmer to get new leather upholstery. "A bloke in England is looking for another crank handle for me -- they are hard to find," he said.The 20/25 has a garage-mate at Rob's Princess Street, Cleveland home -- another 'Roller', a 1926 Super Sports. Ron certainly has been busy on his labours of love in the decade since he took down his electrical consultant's sign at Cleveland House and 'retired'.

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

Veteran 'general' plots bridge campaign

Map from wikipedia.


THE campaign has been long and hard but Joyce Webb, the general of the Russell Island Bridge Lobby, shows no weariness as she marshals her troops to keep up the battle. Joyce, just weeks from her 87th birthday and suffering from health problems, shows no sign of giving up her dream of a bridge from the mainland to the southern bay island. She is "positive and hopeful" that the breakthrough is near and she has joined the Liberal National Party to speed things up a bit.


JOYCE's critics undoubtedly will seize on this apparent change of heart as she is a former Labor Party member and in fact served in some of the party's local positions. But that was more than a decade ago. Nowadays Joyce looks back on that 12-year stint as a mistake. "I never should have been in the Labor Party because I am all for progress and development with planning," she says. Joyce's bridge dream started in 1984 after she and her husband, Ron, then newly retired after three decades with the South East Queensland Electricity Board, built their Russell Island home and moved from the Gold Coast.


THE couple quickly became known as leaders of the bridge lobby. Joyce's resolve on the issue seems to have strengthened since Ron's death in 2002 at age 83. She says her three heart attacks and an operation to install a pacemaker prompted her move to Thorneside in 2007. "I've got a button here I can press to get help quickly if anything happens," she says. "If I was on the island, without a bridge, there wouldn't be enough time (for medical help). I can't live there anymore without a bridge."


JOYCE has other health problems but she will not let anything get in the way of her preparations for the annual general meeting of "RIBL Inc" in which she is honorary secretary, treasurer and chief fundraiser. Her Public Notice for the May 8 meeting seems to indicate the stormy history of the Russell bridge campaign. "Bridge supporters only welcome to attend," it says. Joyce hopes for a good turn-out for the 1pm meeting at Redland Bay Community Hall. She says the RIBL membership list represents 484 families and 1476 individuals throughout Australia and New Zealand."I write to them every time we are having a meeting," she says.


THE AGM will hear that Joyce is now "very hopeful" of the breakthrough. She says RIBL has been talking with three construction companies that have expressed interest in taking a proposal to the State Government. Joyce admits she is worried about the influence of the Greens in the political landscape. "They want to knock everything on the head," she says.



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

Call for doll's pram meets need

Image: Example of a white cane doll's pram - courtesy www.littlewagon.com.au

A RURAL town of yesteryear, Cleveland had dirt footpaths when June and Bob Fenwick brought their young family to the bayside in the late 1960s.The Fenwicks moved from Oxley to a 15-acre (6ha) plot on Panorama Drive. The property had an old farmhouse but the couple built a new house, where the two youngest of their three daughters grew up. Bob was a builder. He died in 1995 at age 72. June says she is grateful to have had the support of very closeknit family in her 15 years as a widow and she has never regretted the decision to settle in the Redlands.

NOW living at Thornlands, June at 84 years old is at the head of a big clan including five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She counts carefully and says she hopes she hasn't missed anyone in the younger generations.June's great interest in her twilight years is her doll collection. "I used to make porcelain dolls," she says. "I used to go to a shop at Coorparoo."They used to make the moulds. We had to clean them, cut out the eyes, mouth and the head and paint them. It was very very nice and I enjoyed it." However, June says the shop closed and "nobody seems to be doing it anymore". It is in fact "quite a while" since her circle of friends has been assembling the dolls.

JUNE doesn't expect to make any more.However, she enjoys maintaining her collection of just a few.This week, one of her favourite pieces, a life-sized "baby doll" is in a new setting. June placed a Classified ad with a big and bold headline, "Wanted. White cane dolls pram -- must be in good condition..." She received two responses and bought one of the prams on offer for $200."It is very nice and in good condition, all steel underneath and with a lovely fringe around the hood; I think it was made in New Zealand," June says.She laments an accident in which another favourite, a 30-inch doll called Hilary, was smashed but she says she has finally found a woman who has a mould and looks forward to getting to Wynnum to meet her.

A FEW weeks ago, I wrote about Victoria Point guitarist Sam Shepherd, 21, without having heard his music. This sort of disappointment happens quite a bit in journalism with deadlines requiring us to often rely on quotations rather than first-hand (or -ear) experience.Since then Sam sent his 2006 CD, Finally, to preview another he expects to release soon. I can now add that those quoted words of praise from some big-name musos weren't misplaced.Sam's distinctive and relaxed playing in a complex finger-picking style is a real "touchdown". You can see it at youtube. Search for "Sam Shepherd - The Gypsy and Caravan".

This column has appewared in The Redland Times.

Female dog? No, just the office manager

IT wasn't any mix-up when an ad for a labrador, cattle dog, kelpie and border collie appeared several pages from the Pets & Pets Supplies column.T he notice wasn't the standard "free to good home" type but rather reflected a Victoria Point woman's search for a job. The woman, chuckling over her "dare to be different" hunt for an administration role and asking to be quoted simply as "Jan", delighted the dedicated readers who soak up 'every word in the paper', knowing they'll find a gem in an unexpected place.

RIGHT there in the small type under the terribly serious headline, Positions Wanted, Jan described herself as possessing the loyalty of a labrador and devotion to duty of a kelpie. The canine metaphors kept barking, with the notice saying she was as hardworking as a border collie and as trustworthy as a cattle dog. The list ended with Jan declaring she was an "admin b....h" and adding two exclamation marks just in case anyone missed her reference to a female dog.

JAN came to the Redlands with a young family about 20 years ago and now rules her turf on a household that must get pretty hectic with a "combined family" that includes five offspring, ranging in age from 17 to 22, from the two partners. She occasionally has to show her teeth to a serious rival. An ageing Australian terrier, Winnie, shares the address. Jan says a workmate gave her the dog about six years ago when Jan was doing the admin for a Capalaba car yard. Jan seems like a life-long dog fanatic and she previously owned two, a bitsa and a Pomeranian, but "that was long ago when I was a child". Asked how long ago, she quoted the unwritten rule that the 'admin b....h' never reveals her age. 'Keep 'em guessing' is the best tactic to stay in control of the office, she reckons.

AFTER referring to just about every dog in the pound, Jan's ad said she actually had a few more qualities, was experienced in "reception/administration/accounts roles" and was available for immediate start. Days later, she had received only one call - from a woman who asked if Jan could tutor her in office work but at least didn't want Jan to check her for ticks or clip her nails."Teaching someone was not what I had in mind," Jan howled. Then she growled about not getting a better response, but still she remained hopeful of collaring the right position.

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

Dogfight threatens household balance

Image: My former best friend, the late Penny. More about fox terriers in the Classie Corner archives.

BEN Reid's voice reflected the depth of emotion when he said: "It was like giving away part of myself." Ben was talking about his sadness at parting with his dog, Oscar. Oscar is the nine-month-old fox terrier who featured in the Classifieds Pets & Pet Supplies last Friday as "free to good home". The ad, in which Ben revealed his heartbreak with the words, "reluctant giveaway but desperate", prompted about 40 calls.

"I HAVE to find someone to move into my place and it's just not fair to expect them to put up with a dog in the house -- he is an 'inside' dog," Ben said yesterday. "I wanted to give him to a family but a lady who lives up the road liked him too. She already has a little foxy and she's there at home all day, so that's good for a dog, and we thought Oscar would be good company for her dog. She said, 'Come up and have a look at my place' and I walked into her house and she has ornaments of dogs all around. She loves dogs and she loves him but I am a bit worried. She rang me the other day and said her dog and my dog had a fight. Apparently they were on the bed and had a bit of a bark, so I don't know if they are going to get along. I'll ring her this afternoon or drop in and have a talk about what's going on."

BEN said he had kept the numbers of some other applicants for Oscar, so others on the shortlist still had a chance late yesterday. Ben's a tiler who was born in Darwin, grew up on the NSW north coast and has worked his way "pretty much around Australia". He has lived at Redland Bay about seven years.

DOGS certainly have their own set of rules and manners on their canine friendships. I once thought my dog needed a companion and introduced another dog to the household. Months of agony followed, with the first dog bullying the newcomer 24/7, and making all our lives hell. The new dog was a happy-go-lucky type who seemed to really try not to get in the other dog's way and it was tragic to see him constantly harassed. My older dog would not accept my counselling and show any tolerance.

THESE experiences suggest the canine territorial instinct can overrule a human attempt to create new doggy friendships. Whether there's a solution, only a dog expert could say. Some excellent dog trainers have advertised in the Classifieds over the years. If anyone has ideas on two-dog diplomacy, please let me know. Thanks for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

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

Roofer on run in wet season

The following column appeared in The Redland Times late February: Image of the tunnel run courtesy www.clem7.com.au/

THE wet season drags on. Those with ageing roofs pray we can get through another few weeks without the sight and sound of drips coming through the ceiling and hitting the floor, presenting one of the most horrific experiences of 'householding'.

Despite the many days of grey clouds and showers, Redland City roofs seem so far this year to be coping pretty well.

Luckily, by yesterday morning at least, we have missed the severe storms that quickly show up the faults 'up top' and keep roof repairers busy.

Victoria Point roof and guttering maintenance contractor Jason Dahler, who trades as Weatherite Enterprises, says business has been steady and he has been grateful for a pretty laidback wet season.

JASON has enjoyed his weekends this year, with sons Lachlan, 13, and Joshua, 11, playing cricket with Faith Lutheran College. The college plays in The Associated Schools (TAS) competitions, so Jason, his wife, Sara, and their daughter, Isobel, 7, have been on the sidelines of many fields around South East Queensland. A drive to Warwick is on the Dahler agenda this Saturday. On Sunday Jason, Sara and Lachlan will compete in the Clem7 Tunnel Run, part of an open day at Bowen Hills celebrating the latest addition to SEQ's transport infrastructure. The Dahlers certainly have an athletic focus; the family has had membership of Bayside Runners for some years. Jason admits that after a hard week's work he usually leaves it to Sara to contest the longer events.

THE trio obviously looks forward to joining thousands on Sunday in the 10km run, which will start and finish at the Bowen Hills tunnel entrance. Some athletes apparently have worried about the tunnel's suitability for such an event. The run website lists among FAQs: "Will it be humid or uncomfortable in the tunnel? Conditions inside the tunnel are dependent on conditions outside the tunnel. There are a number of jet fans inside the tunnel which will be operating to keep air flowing ... Participants will enjoy shade for most of the event. The only areas where participants will be running outside is at the start, at the turn-around point (at Woolloongabba) and at the end of the race."

A LATE-summer downpour should not have much effect on these runners, as Brisbane's new pride and joy doubles as a gigantic covered stadium.If the heavens open and Jason gets an emergency call for a roof repair he'll simply have to say, "Sorry, I'm too busy -- I'm being run off my feet."

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Guitarist keeps presto pace

Image courtesy of www.visibleink.org/sam-sheperd/

A BUSY year is shaping up for Victoria Point musician Sam Shepherd. The award-winning guitarist has found himself in demand for some important gigs, marking the 10th anniversary of his first major public performance.

Sam was only four years old when he started learning the guitar from his dad, Gary, and at age 11 he was on a camp with his Victoria Point Primary School Year 5 class when a talent contest gave him the opportunity to show his skills.

"It was a turning point for me," Sam says. "That was when I decided I would like to make a career of playing the guitar. I liked the applause.

"The pupils of that class are now turning 21. Sam already has that key, and looking at his calendar he notes that a run on 21st birthdays is on his 2010 schedule.

THE past 10 years have cemented Sam's place as a mainstay of guitar in the Redlands. He obtained a Certificate in Music from Alexandra Hills TAFE and in 2005 was the National Young Jazz/Blues Guitarist of the Year at the Frankston International Guitar Festival in Victoria, competing against dozens of older guitarists, including some with conservatorium credits.

In 2009, he graduated with a Bachelor of Popular Music Degree from Griffith University. He has performed at the Grafton Arts Festival, the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival, the Redlands Bluegrass Convention, and at Tamworth, and he opened the second Celebration of Guitar Concert in Brisbane in 2006, playing alongside internationally renowned Australian fingerstyle guitarist Michael Fix, US session guitarist Louie Shelton and Australian singer-songwriter Peter Cupples.

SAM has also performed many times on stage as lead guitarist for Cupples. Sam's 'bio' sheet quotes Cupples as saying, "He's as dedicated as anyone I've ever known", studio guitarist Kirk Lorange (“Sam is well on his way to being one of the greats”) and Fix ("He undoubtedly possesses amazing skills"). The sheet promotes Sam's first album of mostly original music, while previewing another album for release this year, and his internet presence, www.myspace.com/samshepherdmusic.

SAM has conducted many guitar workshops. He has about 15 students at his home studio and also teaches at Victoria Point and Redland Bay Primary Schools. His notice in the Classifieds Training & Tuition column says, "Play guitar today!" and promises immediate results without "boring scales and exercises". After all, that's the way his dad taught him -- and it worked.

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

US loses grip on line-dance lasso

THE romance between Australia and the US seems to keep growing stronger but surprisingly one 'very American' pastime has been losing its cultural stranglehold.

Line dancing, the partner-less style that lonesome cowboys are credited with devising around their campfires on the prairies, has broken some of its country-and-western domination.

Ormiston line-dancer Liz Keenan makes this point when talking about the classes she holds at the Donald Simpson Centre and Redlands RSL Club, Cleveland.

"NOWADAYS, while American country music is still very popular we dance to any type of music whatsover, whether it be from Michael Buble or any of the other popular performers," Liz says. "There is still the country but not as much. Line dancing has changed; the music is extremely varied now."

Liz was born in Ireland and lived in the US for four years but she did not see any line dancing until she lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1990s.

She took up line-dancing after moving to Queensland about 12 years ago and saw a notice for classes at the Thornlands Dance Palais. She has been the head teacher with Emerald Line Dancers for the past three years.

"A LOT of the modern influences come from the choreographers in England but we have a lot of good Australian choreographers too -- like Gordon Elliott from Sydney and Jan Wyllie from Hervey Bay," Liz says.

"The internet has played a role, with sites like YouTube allowing us all to see what others are doing around the world, and there are also some good line-dancing sites."

Liz says the Donald Simpson Centre classes each Monday draw about 35 regular dancers. "It's extremely beneficial for anyone aged from nine to 90 as it exercises the mind as well as the body," she says.

"You start by learning the sequence but every dance is different - it's exercise, fun and social."

OLDER dancers sometimes take their grandchildren to the classes but many like the independence of "just being able to come along without worrying about a partner or anyone else", she says.

"Our oldest dancer was Grace Mitchell, who passed away last year at 92 years old," Liz says. "She stopped dancing less than nine months before she died.

"Age has no bearing on line dancing."Although the American form of line dancing started its march around the world in the 1980s, earlier forms of folk dancing are acknowledged as playing a part in the evolution of the style.Liz welcomes new dancers and advertises beginners' groups in the Classifieds Training & Tuition column.

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. More stories at classiecorner.blogspot.com. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia. Image from http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/clipart/results.aspx?qu=computer&sc=20

Looking for life-rafts in cyberspace

THE oldies who refused to use automatic teller machines and personal computers could be having the last laugh nowadays.

The eager brains behind the computing culture once labelled as a "Luddite" anyone who dared to question their passion for technology, with the term inferring a primitive attitude and rejection of change.

The original Luddites in England in the 1800s went on rampages destroying machinery during the Industrial Revolution. But through the entire march of technology at least some fear and suspicion is justified.

As time has passed, technology has bred maybe millions of evil geniuses who devise schemes such as the latest fake ATM card reader to milk accounts, viruses that destroy the intellectual property of countless computer users and other scams, or 'techno-tricks'.

Add the crashes that turn the dreams of computing into nightmares and many must feel the world without computers wasn't so bad.

But there's no going back, and we can be grateful that at least on the PC front help is available from the Classifieds' Computer column, where Jenny and Peter Sharp, of A Class PC Service, Cleveland, are long-time regulars.

Peter started working on computers 20 years ago as a hobby. Friends turned to him to fix their breakdowns and about five years later he had a part-time business, which led to fulltime trading as A Class PC Service since January 1997.

Jenny, with a business degree specialising in information technology, worked in the IT sector and spent four years in management with an international software development company before she joined Peter full time in 2003.

"Within six months of this, we moved our business, originally from our home, to our current business premises at South Street – and we have not looked back since," Jenny says.

"In addition we now have two other technicians. Our business is built on a high level of service and honesty."

She says the couple has advertised each week in the Classifieds for almost 13 years."We always have a fantastic response rate with our local paper advertising, and find that around 30pc of all our new customers come from the local paper, around 30pc from customer referrals and the remainder from various other advertising sources," she says.

The firm has been busy helping victims of one of the latest techno-tricks, scareware, which Jenny says has been disrupting and even paralysing internet browsing. She will email a fact sheet on request (Jenny@aclasspc.com.au).

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia. Image from http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/clipart/results.aspx?qu=computer&sc=20

Holiday reading in Classifieds 'back editions'

Image of Fellomonger Park from http://www.epa.qld.gov.au

IF it's old, knock it down. That seems to have been the mindset of many Australians through much of our national history.

In Queensland, our noses are continually rubbed in the sins of past eras – notably, the loss of buildings with heritage value decades ago during the Bjelke-Petersen crane-counting regime.

Older readers will recall how, during the development boom of the 1980s, then premier Sir Joh measured the success of his leadership by the number of cranes he could see on the city skyline.

THAT wasn't all bad. But it left some long-mourned casualties and deep scars in the Queensland identity. When the metropolitan news editors scramble to fill space and time slots during the "silly season", they seem to simply assign the relatively easy task of yet another post mortem on a couple of the demolitions.
An episode of such "file vision" appeared during my holiday reading, which did not relate to Redland City Council's "10 hottest books in the Redlands this summer".

While the library and its devotees celebrated the words of list topper Bryce Courtenay's The story of Danny Dunn, back issues of the Classifieds provided my inspiring and relaxing read.

A PUBLIC Notice in the Times in September yielded an intriguing glimpse into the Redlands' colonial history, with the Department of Environment and Resource Management announcing Queensland Heritage Council decisions to add two local sites to the heritage register.

The sites are the Ormiston Fellmongery, Fellmonger Park, Ormiston, and Cleveland No.1 Cemetery at Lisa and Scott Streets.

The department's website has well-written detail on both sites, and answers one of the key questions: "The process of fellmongering appears in the early 1850s in the Moreton Bay region. A different process to wool scouring, fellmongering processed sheepskins in order to remove the wool in preparation for tanning. The wool was washed and dried, and the skins were processed into leather."
The documented history is fascinating. Browsers can almost hear the convict's chains clinking.

SO, I did learn quite a bit from my holiday reading, thanks to the Classifieds. For those more interested in the highbrow, here are the other books in the library's top 10: I, Alex Cross, by James Patterson; Nine Dragons, by Michael Connelly; The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown; The Silent Country by Di Morrissey; Maralinga, by Judy Nunn; Mao's Last Dancer, by Cunxin Li; The Brightest Star in the Sky, by Marian Keyes; The Five Greatest Warriors, by Matthew Reilly; and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, by Stieg Larsson.
Great books – I can appreciate that. But for me, the Classifieds will always win. They show the culture of our lives and times as well as any blockbuster novel.

This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Two words that mean a lot

This column appeared in The Redland Times just before Christmas 2009.

TWO special words are the chorus of the day at this time of year. They will reach a crescendo in exactly one week from today.
"Thank" and "you" undoubtedly should be not only on the lips but also on the minds of everyone year round.
Sometimes, we don't manage to verbalise this important sentiment for some reason or excuse like laryngitis or emotional paralysis, so Christmas is always a great occasion to get square with your conscience.
Classie Corner, dedicated to the great people in the marvellous comunity of classified advertising, has just started its fifth year in The Redland Times.
WITH the mighty press to cool a little as the sun sets on 2009, my thanks must go to the Times team – including Brian Hurst and Julie Burton – that allows space for this column and presents it for the readers.
Thank you, too to all who have featured in Classie Corner during 2009. As I have lamented previously, much of my records disappeared in a mid-year computer disk crash, so when I moved to identify all the deserving parties I set a laborious task of combing through remnant files.
For this reason I ask for the forgiveness of anyone who takes umbrage at omission from the following:

Amy Dakin; Angela and Kent Griffin; Barbara and Tony Wills; Barry Crocker; Barry McKenzie; Bob and Diane Metcalfe; Bob Possingham; Brian Forsyth; Brendon Prior;
Carole Oliphant; Carol Sefton; Charles Neophytou; Christina Mayor; Col and Kay McInnes ; Danny Mayers; Debra and Gordon Kuss; Denton Wade; Elizabeth Bigges; Elvis Presley; Emma, Reuben and Eathan Baker; Gary Wheeler; George Frideric Handel; Graham Josefki; Graham Easterbrook; Horace; Inge Drake; Jack Sim; Jan D’Arcy; Jesus; Jim White; John Gallon; Karen Struthers; Katrina Goldsworthy; Les McDonaugh; Liz Hall-Downs; Margaret and John Sullivan; Mary and Ross Gibb; Merv Alley; Mervyn Moriarty; Neville Wright; Nicole Bennett; Norman Purse; Norm Taylor; Patricia and Ross Harris; Paul Dobbyn; Paul Truscott; Peter Lawrence; Ray and Cherry Norris; Rebecca Dunn; Rod Johnson; Santo Coco; Sheryl Daley; Sheryl Galbraith; Stan Lewis; Steve and Evelyn Rae; Stiven Jakovich; Trent Cowan; Trevor and Helen Ehrlich; Wayne Adair; Wayne and Ella Fullard; Wendy Gardner. Special mention to the late Bill Orr and the late Glenn Prior.

To all on this list, thanks again. And to everyone, my best wishes for a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

More about lady in white dress

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

THE "lady in the white dress" is set for a starring role as author Jack Sim painstakingly researches for a new book.

The lady is known as "Elizabeth" – and Sim says she gave him one of his closest encounters with a ghost during his two decades of researching the supernatural.

Elizabeth featured in Classie Corner this year in a report about a 'freshening up' at The Old Courthouse Restaurant, Cleveland.

Restaurant properietor Mary Gibb told how a district landowner and publican, Francis Bigges, built the courthouse in 1853.

WHEN Mary and husband Ross bought the restaurant about 10 years ago, they were told it had a resident ghost, Elizabeth, Bigges’ wife.

"One day I was on the phone to a friend and she floated past me," Mary said. "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."

Sim believes he also saw Elizabeth some years ago when he conducted a "ghost tour". He was with a guest who was taking a picture inside the restaurant when "we both saw a shimmer of light and movement near the door to the verandah".

"When we looked again we both think we saw the image of a piece of cloth vaguely in the shape of a person," he says. "It moved about two feet and then vanished."

Sim says he has found reports of the courthouse ghost in newspapers dating from the 1960s and indicating that sightings were made at least as 50 years before that.

ELIZABETH is among the 13 Redland ghosts that the author, who specialises in true crime and ghost stories, is documenting. He will talk about them on "an evening with Jack Sim" at Victoria Point Libraryon Thursday, December 17, from 6 to 7.

Over the past four years, Sim, who is is the publisher of the Murder Trails, Ghost Trails and the Boggo Road Gaol series, has completed 10 titles, including Haunted Brisbane: Ghosts of the River City and The Ghosts of Toowong Cemetery: Brisbane's Necropolis. The work in progress is titled Haunted Redlands.

SOME consider losing all your computerised records in a disk failure as an unpardonable error. I am weary of hearing, "Why didn't you back it up, silly." But the real pain comes from the loss of contact details of people who have contributed this column during its four years in the Redlands. Could those who have shared their lives in these dozens of columns please email me so I can reinstate your addresses in my now empty book? Tell me how you are going and what you are doing now and I'll be happy to share it with others in the marvellous community of classified advertising. Email: fourjays@bigpond.com

Thanks for joining me in the community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia.

How AMP man gave sunbeams to many

THE atmosphere was 'electric' throughout Australia on the morning of June 15, 1998. Throughout the nation, people were keeping one ear on the radio, one eye on the television and logging onto news websites.
In the newsrooms, we were doing all this and more, continually checking the agency news services, lining up interviews with financial analysts and moving to identify the beneficiaries of one of the most significant trading days in the history of the Australian share market.
It was easy filling the next day's news pages with the twists and turns relating to that first day's trading in AMP stocks after the demutualisation and subsequent sharemarket listing of the nation's 'iconic' insurance group delivered share issues to 1.6 million people.

SOME who had invested with AMP over decades through their insurances received issues that potentially were worth as much as Lotto wins. But there were also small windfalls galore for others who had simply taken out basic insurances.
The AMP Prospectus relating to the listing estimated the base share price between $12.50 and $16. On that first heady day, it rose and kept rising to peak momentarily over $40 and close in the low $20s.
Even for those who missed that sort of profit, the shares -- despite subsequent devaluation in comparison with day one -- remained a valuable, albeit unexpected, reward for loyality to a truly Australian service company.
The AMP share issue, in fact, changed people's lives.

IN the Redlands on that winter morning 11 years ago, one heart must have beat at least a little faster as Bill Orr, then aged 78, monitored the breaking news.
Bill, who had retired after a long career with AMP, was delighted that he had paved the way for dozens, perhaps hundreds, to benefit in the nation's biggest share 'giveaway', his daughter, Katrina Goldsworthy, recalls.
It was a fantastic post-career highlight for the World War II pilot who became an AMP agent in Tamworth in 1963 and moved to Brisbane the next year. Bill moved to Buderim in 1981 and to Ormiston in '86.
Within a month of the AMP listing, however, Bill and his family suffered the tragedy of the death of his wife of 52 years, Millie.

BILL died at age 89 on November 18. His funeral service heard of Sydney-born Bill's rich life, including how he skilfully bellylanded "his beloved Mosquito" aircraft during a reconnaissance flight to Borneo.
Bill Orr was remembered as a loving father of three, grandfather of eight and great-grandfather of two. The younger generations called him "Big Bill".
The service heard that William Leslie Orr, also known by some as "WL", would sing a line, “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam”, from an old children's hymn, and his private and professional lives underscored that happy spirit.

Thanks for joining me in the community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia.

How to save your tax records

Image from http://www.brisvegasremovals.com.au

THE dreaded task of moving house can push normally placid people 'over the top'.
No one knows this better than the removalists who deal with some 'testy' tempers. A mate working in the field once told me removalists must be on the lowest rung of the social scale, a conclusion that followed countless denigratory lectures.
He was fed up with copping blame for scratches that his crew had not inflicted and for 'missing' items that could not possibly have even been loaded.

WITH this in mind during my last move, I greeted the removalists with a warning: "I want to tell you blokes one thing ..." Their faces showed a here-we-go-again gloominess.
"My possessions require special handling." By this time one bloke rocked from foot to foot and the other had turned his face toward the heavens as if to ask God to shut me up.
"Some boxes contain my tax records and I require you to lose them." We all had a good laugh and worked happily together throughout that demanding day.
When I told this yarn to Wayne Adair, a longtime specialist in relocation services, he quickly asked: "Did they lose the boxes for you?" Unfortunately, they didn't.
Wayne knows the value of a sense of humour on Move Day. He started in transport administration with big companies as soon as he left school after growing up mainly in the Wynnum area and has specialised in relocation management for most of the past decade.

IN partnership with Brisbane couple Steve and Evelyn Rae, Wayne has been working hard on their business, the Wacol-based BrisVegas Removals.
In 2007, the partners bought the then 35-year-old Redland firm, Bayside Removals. To complete the Redland link, Wayne, his wife Kellie and their daughters Aneka, 4, and Isla, 2, spend much time at their Macleay Island "weekender".
Wayne appreciates the "laidback island lifestyle" after his busy weeks managing a fleet of 10 trucks. BrisVegas employs 26 staff and sends the trucks, ranging from 13-metre pantechs to a semi-trailer, through the eastern States.
BrisVegas and Bayside Removals promise to "ensure your move is smooth and stress free".

"WE'RE here to help you make moving as easy as possible," the firm's mission statement says. "We are a reliable and friendly removal service. We pride ourselves on offering exellent customer services, backed up with the skills and knowledge."
They even "can arrange the entire move" from packing to relocating pets, cleaning, pest control, carpet cleaning, unpacking and making the beds.
In case you are wondering, the statement says nothing about tax records.

Thanks for joining me to meet 'the people behind the notices' that appear your local paper. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia.

Family funds jewellery sales

TWO pleasant surprises have meant a happy spring 2009 at the Capalaba house that Patricia and Ross Harris have called 'home' for the past three decades.
The Harrises have had many happy times at the Sutphin Street address where they have lived since August, 1977, just five months after their marriage. A lot of laughter and joy would echo around any family home for a couple and their three daughters.
Patricia was working in medical records at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Ross in car sales when they tied the knot in March that year.
They had an early setback when the company employing Ross ran into financial difficulties but he soon found a job with an industrial packaging company and is still in the same field with another company.

THE couple had a daughter, Rebecca, in 1981, and another daughter, Melissa, in 1985. Their third daughter, Vanessa, was born in 1988, the year of Australia's bicentenary.
Now, more about the fantastic quinella that has featured in the Classifieds in Melbourne Cup week, 2009. Patricia had organised an engagement notice for Melissa, when Rebecca called from Western Australia to say she was also getting engaged.
The result has been back-to-back notices honouring this special time for the family.
"I am so excited," says Mum. "I think it's lovely to put it in the paper."
This shows the great heritage of publishing that local papers such as the Times and Bulletin have inherited over generations of service to their local communities.
Patricia, now working part time as a home carer, agrees some would see engagement notices as old fashioned but says they are a great way to share the good news.
But I'm getting off the subject(s): Patricia says Melissa's fiance is Timothy Day, known around the Harris household as a jack of all trades, after his recent experiences in gardening, wood turning and tool-making for the mining industry. Melissa is a dental assistant at Morningside.

ONE of Patricia's great joys is her first grandchild, Melissa and Timothy's 18-month-old daughter, Lucinda.
Patricia says the other enagagement stems from a New Zealand tour by Vanessa and Rebecca in 2008, when Rebecca met West Australian sandmining operator Nathan Armstrong.
Patricia knew some serious romance was under way when Rebecca returned from the tour, spent almost a month in Bunbury, WA, then moved west to work in insurance claims.
The Armstrongs are also part of the marvellous community of classified advertising. "Nathan's mum and dad put a notice in their local paper too," Patricia says.

Thanks for joining me to meet 'the people behind the notices' that appear your local paper. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia. Image from http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/clipart/

From Durban to Capalaba

Image of Durban Town Hall from en.wikipedia.org

THE south-east Queensland climate attracted the interest of a young South African toolmaker when almost three decades ago he looked for the right place to build a new life for his young family.
Graham Easterbrook was working in the port city of Durban, where he had grown up. He wanted to ensure his wife, Kathy, and their two infant sons, Justin and Gareth, had the security of a new homeland.
In 1981, Graham, then 25 years old, looked at migrating to Australia and found his toolmaking qualification was in demand.
He came to 'test the waters' and then settled his family at Victoria Point, where they lived for three years before the couple saved a deposit on their own home at Alexandra Hills.

GRAHAM and Cathy had another two sons, Kyle and Ashley. In 1988, Graham set up a business, The Machine Shop, in Neumann Road, Capalaba.
The couple celebrated the birth of their first grandchild in 2006 when Justin and his wife, Kristy, had a daughter, Natalie.
Justin is now aged 31 and working in information technology; Gareth, 28, specialises in window, blind and awning installation; and Kyle, 22 and Ashley, 20, are taking the same path as apprentice plumbers.
Ashley was the "hardworking, competent and reliable" third year apprentice who advertised recently in the Classifieds' Positions Wanted column.
Graham says he will never regret the decision to bring his family to "such a good country".
"I haven't had any disappointments over that – never," he says.
Graham says other family members have come to visit over the years and liked the Redland lifestyle so much they have returned to stay.

LIVING in Honeymyrtle Court, Capalaba, for the past two years, the Easterbrooks still have their two youngest sons at home.
Graham is proud of his business's claim as one of the leading precision machining engineering companies in Brisbane, using the latest equipment and machinery "capable of catering for all metal and plastic engineering needs".
He is confident of taking on just about any machinery component porject with equipment including computer numerically controlled (CNC) lathes.
Sadly, he says the growing trend for such work is offshore sourcing, from countries including India and Thailand.
Despite his pride in his own profession he is also happy to know his sons have shown their independent thinking in following their own paths in life.
That, after all, was the reason he and Cathy came here.

Thanks for joing me to meet the great families that are part of the marvellous community of classified advertising.This column has appeared in The Redland Times, Queensland, Australia.