The Windey Man, The Long Mover

Is from The Mighty Boosh (BBC TV), apols to all concerned that I forgot to credit this in the last post...anyhoos, yo' ma' homies in Japan, France, Switzerland, and Singapore, welcome y'all to TMGI...when the weather's pleasant and the wind's in the right direction and the barometer is in the 'knees-functioning range', I like to go for a walk...and usually it's over fairly flat ground, but when conditions are super-optimum...(and the planets align in the firmament, etc-Ed)...well not quite, but yeah, there are 'good knee days' and sometimes there's 'bad knee days'...anyhoos, on 'good knee days', I can walk the Valley Lake Crater Rim Scenic Route...Trail...Walk...I mention this with regard to some of my less pleasant 'personal shizzle' goin' on 'off-blog, ie, I have tried really hard over the last 2 years to improve my physical health...(and with it your Mental Health-Ed)...well indeed, the first can certainly lead the second, and the latter can matter when the former is sought...(whaaa?-Ed)...well sometimes-even-often it's motivation/depression/resignation that are the greatest struggle/hurdle when trying to get fitter/healthier...(interesting, do go on-Ed)...I do...

Been through this myself many times in many ways over many, many recent days...through sheer determination bordering on bloody-mindedness, I had made gym a daily regime that had profound and  positive effects on my Physical and Mental Health...(and then you got literally slung-out in the street in what can only be described as a viciously abusive and threatening way wholly bereft of respect or professionalism?-Ed)...including being bluntly informed over the phone by the franchise head office that I had "been reported to police"...(which then quickly contracted to the empty threat of 'you will be reported if you don't back off'-Ed)...although they couldn't tell me (haven't yet told me) what for, and there wasn't a single 'note' about anything at all on my 'official file', etc...(and then came the massively abusive emails and threats of 'defamation', etc-Ed)...yeah, all the good stuff...

And I can and will draw a very short, very straight line from this stuff directly to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, and not least of all because of the Lutherans and/or SAPol (police) involved with/at that gym...I was/am still devastated that certain people could say these things about me, not least of all because they know them to be patently un-true...even when I take full responsibility for anything/everything I did/didn't do and/or say, whatevs, I have been treated appallingly and far beyond reason...and have suffered for it...however, this clearly remains for me an un-resolved and ongoing issue and at the very least I will be holding to account/exposing the franchise because of their atrociously unprofessional conduct and super-dodgy one-sided contracts where-in a Member can get booted sans explanation and/or right-of-reply, not nuthin'...(you're out matey!-Ed)...said it before, as hypocritically hilarious as some will indeed find it...(I love this one-Ed)...it is li'l ol' I what's been slanderously defamed, 1) merely by-way of the expulsion/cancellation, and 2) the extraordinary things being circulated about and/or to me, not least of all in emails already in my possession...but I digress...   

Knees-up Means Knees-down:...in that going up a hill means comin' back down again...(unless you stay at the top of the hill-Ed)...and anyone with dodgy knees knows full-well that the dynamics of walking down' places, places far more strain on said knees, so to me, gettin' 'round Valley Lake was an un-achievable non-reality less than 18 months ago...(but now?-Ed)...well now, given the above provisos are met, then it's a huffin' and a puffin' and around we go, without stopping...(including the 369 steps?-Ed)...yep, and some of the smaller ones 2-at-a-time...(nnno?-Ed)...only some, maybe 50-60, but yeah, now that I've exercised myself into a semi-fit state, I can slowly cruise the Valley Lake Rim Walk without actually stopping...(which, for non-resident availees, is how far?-Ed)...just on/over 5kms, if you include the inclines/declines...(and you weigh?-Ed)...about 97-99kgs, give or take...(so you're dragging near-on 100kgs up-and-down on truly knackered knees?-Ed)...yep...(well it's hardly Everest, but all things considered, that's not so bad-Ed)...cheers, stiff-as-a-board later, but will still do it whilst I can...and it surely did bring me to this, the Windey Man, the Long Mover...

Dead Set Ledge-End:...because that's where the python's head was, outta' sight under that shrubby thing there, in the shadows, just on the lip of that ledge...this next photo is from much closer, having climbed just over the Centenary Tower fence, grasping a tenacious clump a' grass, whilst hovering over a 2metre drop onto said snake-laden ledge...just below that is a further 3-4m drop, and to get any closer I'd have had to go around the spine of the cliff-face, just there in front of the snake, and then climbed up several metres to come-up right at my face-height right in it's face...(ahhh, there's something on your lip there-Ed)...here?...(no, the other side-Ed)...here?...(nope, doesn't matter, it's just a bit 'a 2m python-Ed)...indeed, I'd have been reluctant to take that snake on on flat ground, let alone aways-up a cliff face...

 

Python, Pyth-off:...now that's apparently probably a Murray-Darling (Carpet) Python, a very healthy, very well-fed Carpet Python that's either 1) escaped from somewhere there-abouts, or 2) been released, probably 'cos it got 'too big', or 3) even maybe unwittingly hitched a lift under a caravan or car, whatevs, that's travelled down from the Riverland to Mt Gambier and stayed, say, at the caravan park just up by the Blue Lake, whence the python alighted...I've got footage but can't get on the blog, too long, will look at Tubefacing it or something...whatevs...oh yeah, unless there's more than one python up there, this snake has been seen repeatedly around the Valley Lake area for at least 4-5 months, possibly as much as 6-7...

Are We Stars Or Specks Of Dust?:...a beautiful picture doesn't need to be 'beautiful' and laden with colour, etc...here's a very leaden picture of Mt Gambier coupla' weeks back, as taken from the Valley Lake rim, Southern lip, looking roughly East...these are my favourite sort of photos of Mt Gambier...(what, ones where you can barely see it?-Ed)...now Ed, don't be like that...(like what? it's your damn photo and I'm a shreckin' confected literary device what you done confect!-Ed)...well ok yes, those are all valid points, but can't we just enjoy the beauty and the almost-Art of this point-and-snap, mobile phone photo...(what? and not mention Mt Gambier snuggly nestled in a smothering smog of it's own atmospheric effluent?-Ed)...yes, without mentioning that...(well I'll try-Ed)...that's all I can ask...(not promising anything mind you-Ed)...sure...(smog-Ed)...well done...

Dawning Realisation:...'cos here's the same damn dawn realised with the same phone only about 75 minutes earlier...couldn't decide which I liked better, so here's my 2 favs...

As part of doing a daily post I have to get a better grip on the positives and the beauty and 'art' and blah, blah, blah, not just spend my life face-down in the muck of corrupt politics, so's I'll be doing a bit of this stuff, eg, already half-finished a post re positive potential Tourism developments for Mt Gambier...(Monorail!-Ed)...you are so predictable...(Cable Car!-Ed)...that'd be so funny if it weren't true...this was the self-appointed, Ratepayer-funded Tourism Mount Gambier's grand first idea for Mt Gambier, a cable-car thingy 'across' the Blue Lake...(wow-Ed)...and I see that TMG is advertising for a photographer...(yeah, what's that about?-Ed)...all in good time grasshopper...

OMG, It's Cory's Cons:...'cos here come the self-declared Australian Conservatives...(which is only Cory Bernardi, ex-Liberal-Ed)...yes, and now Family First...(what, of dodgy Bob Day fame?-Ed)...yeah, that's them, well it was them, they don't exist as of 1100hrs yesterday (Wed 26th April 2017), having merged with Cory's Cons...and I'm gunna' shamelessly steal someone else's observation that Cory has done the math and very astutely turned One Federal Senator + One Federal Senator into One Federal Senator, ie, 1+1=1...(whaaa?-Ed)...well he's FS1 and FS2 is/was Family First...(yeahhh, that's 2 though-Ed)...except that Bob Day's Senate replacement and new-this-week FF Senator Lucy Gichuhi, she ain't quite feelin' the love for Cory's Cons and will therefore be initially operating as an Independent Federal Senator...(and like wow-Ed)...absolutely...(so CC and FF, they had one Senator each, and Cory's combined the two, only to come-up with one...get in, back of the net-Ed)...I know, hilarious right?...

No Language Warning Needed Here Matey:...because I'm definitely not going to do a purile, schoolboy humour piece about how Family First should have united with Cory's Conservatives...(I'll just go and put-up that Language Warning sign then?-Ed)...probably best...(probably-Ed)...they should unite to bring us all all the great joy of the Family First United Cory's Conservatives, or the FFUCC...(I am not supporting that!-Ed)...oh come on...(no! I remain firmly opposed, I do not believe there is a place for these people in power, not in any sort of 'Socialist Progressive Politics'-Ed)...nope?...(no, I say 'Get The FFUCC Out'-Ed)...catchy slogan...(indeed, and I've started a party to counter the FFUCC, a new party in the style/mold of 'Get-Up'-Ed)...ah yeah, and what are they called?...(FFUCC-Up-Ed)...they should do well...(but I do attend the FFUCC meetings when they have a Club Keno night you know-Ed)...mmm...(where they also do Karaoke-Ed)...I thought they might...(yeahhhs, I never miss a good FFUCCCKK night-Ed)...super...but the FFUCC isn't just SA, no sir, they are nationwide, the FFUCCN Party...

If only there were some way to get the FFUCCN collaborating with the people behind Fix The UK Exit, or FUKIT...(what, to form some sort of FFUCCN FIXIT Coalition?-Ed)...spot on...(that would certainly rectify things-Ed).........sorry, I'm going to stop now...End Language Warning...and I'm not sorry... 

And here comes my good mate former Family First, now Cory's Cons, SA State Senator Robert Brokenshire, just on the good ol' ABC South East, stating that he cannot state to the State what's already being stated until it's stated 'officially' at 1100hrs in Adelaide, etc, etc...and I call Robbity-Bobbity my good mate because we had a jolly ol' chat at Family First candidate Peter Heaven's campaign launch here in Mt Gambier back in March 2014...(a chat about what?-Ed)...mostly the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...(imagine my surprise...and let me guess, he confirmed his/FF's extensive previous involvement and knowledge of the issue/s, and expressed grave and ongoing concerns?-Ed)...not least of all because of Family First's direct and influential involvement in the Parliamentary SARC Inquiry/Report 54 into the Teachers Registration Board (2007-2011), an inquiry self-stating that it was motivated/generated by TRB actions re a teacher from a Mt Gambier school...(and that school was St Martins-Ed)...indeed... 

*And given this post was started yesterday, Robert 'Rotten Borough' Brokenshire was on again this morning having swiftly swapped bonnets if not ideologies, and apparently we're all the winners...(so not just him then?-Ed)...absolutely not...and dear availee, if I may quickly, just about fell-about laughing when I went a-huntin' for a stupid, hopefully funny nickname for Bob, and immediately waded waist-deep straight into a sweetly segue-shish reference/homage to BlackAdder (BBC TV)...(orrr yeah, the episode where Baldrick runs for parliament but it's actually BlackAdder pulling the strings, etc...hilarious stuff re the 'Rotten Borough'-Ed)...that's the one...(ahhh, now I get it, 'Broken' is 'Rotten', or vice versa, and of course a 'Shire' is a District or Council or 'Borough'-Ed)...bingo...I was also amused by another's observation to me about a nickname, namely, Bobby 'Brokeback' Brokenshire, gently mocking Cory's Cons' charming attitudes towards not accepting the Gays...(ahhh, 'Brokeback Mountain', the iconic gay cowboy movie thing-Ed)...spot on... 

And that BlackAdder episode segues straight-on round into the farcical debacle, a 'farcacle' if you will...(what happened to 'debasco', where a debacle rams unceremoniously and irretrievably into a fiasco?-Ed)...sure, but in this case a careening farce ran-down and then into a slow-moving debacle...(sure-Ed)...the 'farcacle' that is the $345,000 that former Mt Gambier City Council CEO Greg Muller stole/defrauded/embezzled/misappropriated/whatevs from the Main Corner project, and the ludicrous list of non-excuses presented by MGCC at the time, including the spookily adjacent 'Window Tax' of BlackAdder, and the 'Window Insurance' excuse proffered by Council...(deadset?-Ed)...this stuff re the gross Nepotism, Corruption, etc, re the Main Corner, this has been repeatedly covered in this 'ere blog, and I have frequently made reference to that BlackAdder episode...and so it has come full circle, the 'art' of BlackAdder mimics the 'life' that is the rank corruption of Mt Gambier City Council in this, the most Rotten of Boroughs... 

Ignorance Is What Ignorance Does:...and in this instance, ignorance does this (attached below)...here is the Ebony Jackson letter as printed in/by The Border Watch on Thursday April 20th 2017, and as duly flensed by us here at TMGI in the last post, enthusiastically eviscerated for being the embittered litany of pig-ignorant bigotry that it so self-evidently is...dear availee, if I need to explain what's wrong with this bitterly dismissive missive, then I'm not sure what we all are doing here...no offense, but if availees aren't offended by this particular effort I won't pretend I'm not disappointed, but rest assured, I'm offended enough for all of us...  

And I make the point again that this was printed by as well as in TBW because they need to take responsibility for the abusive dross vomiting itself out of their pages...(even when it's not their own work?-Ed)...nice...and having said that 'I won't explain', I can't help feeling that we'll all be re-visiting this little gem some time real soon...again though, as angry as I am, hopefully there's some way to turn this to a positive re a more informed debate re the genuine issues of Addiction and/or Mental Health, Service Provision and/or Failures, etc, etc...

I am Nick Fletcher and this here is my blog which, believe it or not, people avail themselves of so as to find out 'the truth about what's being said in TBW and on the ABC'...people, albeit a handful, have actually said this to me...(yeah, fair dues, but I still struggle to process that bizarre reality, that some random loose unit with an angry blog is genuinely considered to be more accurate and of more genuine intent than the 'official' media-Ed)...'struggle to process'? try living it mate!...cheers and laters...(laters-Ed)...

PS:...because of this long post, full scale photos in separate post immediately following this...cheers...