Can she do it this time?


Last year Sam reached the finals of the Paris Open, but was defeated in an incredible display of unusual skill by her Italian opponent.

This year she’s stormed her way into the final of the US Open, to challenge the High Priestess of Tennis, Serena Williams.   She’s the first Aussie lady to make it to the American final since 1977 – that’s a long time between drinks!  Can she win her first Grand Slam title?

Frankly, I doubt it; Serena is some tough cookie.   But although logic says no, my heart will be cheering for Sam.

The British and American militaries in Germany.

As promised, this is my view of Germany and the US/UK/France military presence/occupation.

After WWII ended, Germany was levelled. There was no government and very few institutions were left functioning. Even before the war had started, Germany was being torn apart by the fanaticism of the Nazi regime. Even though decades and generations have passed, Germany is only a shadow of what it used to be. After the war, some sort of military occupation/rule was necessary. Heaven knows what would have happened had there been a complete power vacuum. After 1948, however, things began to change. Germany was again an independent country, albeit with major foreign military presences.

There wasn’t much hostility to it. Most Germans were glad that the former regime was gone and that it was never coming back. Most West Germans (myself included) were glad that we had the British and Americans around. Both were infinitely preferable to the Soviets. Both the UK and USA were there with the permission of the German government, and both were generally well received. A number of German women were especially fond of the Americans, many of them wound up marrying US serviceman and leaving the country for a time. Even though it often didn’t turn out well…

Continue reading “The British and American militaries in Germany.”

Bok rugby jersey and ANC meddling

I've got one of these

While watching the anthems at tomorrow’s Boks v Wales match you may notice during the performance of our anthem some Bok supporters clutching either their right breast with their left hand, or clutching their left sleeve with their right.

Let me explain…

Our jersey for over a hundred years has looked like the one depicted on the left, Springbok emblem over the heart (it was combined with a Protea perhaps 10 years or so ago.)

Not good enough for the power crazed ANC government, they insisted that we ditch the Springbok and replace it with the Protea, as our cricketers and (I think) all other national sports have.

Our rugby board obviously had tremendous pressure placed on them by the politicians and agreed but in order to prevent full scale fall-out compromised by Continue reading “Bok rugby jersey and ANC meddling”

And that’s when – 5

Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch, and slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the van, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day.

I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife’s back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, “The weather out there is terrible.”

My loving wife of 5 years replied, “And, can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?”

And that’s how the fight started…