“HERE WE ARE AGAIN”

“So, here we are again, happy as could be
All good friends, and jolly good company
. Never mind the weather, never mind the rain
As long as we’re together, singing this refrain
So, here we are again, happy as could be
All good friends, and jolly good company

Reading, on eLanka, that’s good enough for me! “

“A happy old verse from a very old song
With cheerful lyrics, for a good “sing-along”
We should be living in this atmosphere
So all I can say now, is “dear oh dear”
The “election is over and out of the way
“Medicare” is safe, for the moment, they say
Both “jobs & growth” are now on the rise
Budgets will no longer be a surprise
Things do look good, the boats have been stopped
Looks like the “dole rorts” might even be chopped
Our future seems safe, for two or three years
Our “borders” protected from terrorist fears”

WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO WORRY ABOUT? , NOTHING BY THE LOOK OF IT,

“BUTT, BUTT, BUTT” !!( As the goat said),

What an absolutely “screwed-up” World we are living in, right now.! The only “saving-grace” is the fact that this writer can “air his views” without fear or favour on a web-page initiated proudly by the Country in which he was born, 80 long years ago, formerly Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. This web-page is simply called “eLanka” (especially for “Lakans’, “down-under”).

I am proud indeed to be a small part of this “page” in amalgamation with Melbourne’s ” Lanka Times”, another “Lankan” accomplishment, for readers everywhere, via the Internet, but again, especially for the thousands of Sri Lankans all around the World.
There are many good people to whom I would say a grateful “thank-you” to, for giving me the chance to “get my two-bob’s worth” in, but I will not name them. They know who they are.!

For obvious reasons,(most of them political) , I also intend to refrain from using “names”wherever possible, but if, and wherever “the name is the game” I will not hesitate to use them because “screwed-up” as the World seems to be getting, “the pen will always be mightier than the sword”.

Very importantly, I would like my readers to know that “my point of view” might not necessarily be theirs.
If this is the case, I certainly respect that, and invite them to “make their individual comments” on the eLanka page, I think that this would make for much more interesting “reading” for everyone concerned.

In Melbourne, where I have been resident for about 54 years, because I have now become a “reluctant-recluse”, my only form of “visual-entertainment”(for want of a better term!), is my television set. I prefer to watch “Aunty”(better known as the A.B.C.), primarily because I cannot stand to watch most of the “ads” that the other “Commercial-Channels” inundate us with.

“Aunty” has, and continues to “air” some very interesting “shows”. “Landline” gives us a very good idea on what “Country-Australia” is about. We, Lankans, and other “legal-migrants” should be extremely grateful that Australia accepted us, in the first place. Landline amply demonstrates what a beautiful Country Australia is. True, Sri Lanka is considered to be one of the most beautiful Countries on Earth, but this is simply because all her “beauty” is condensed into around 250.000 square miles. Australia has all this “beauty” too, but spread over one of the largest “Island-Continents” on this Planet.

Some Australian farms are larger in area than Lanka!!.

Landline is a superb television program, which truly depicts both the “highs” & “lows” in Australian farming life. It has led me to believe that there is absolutely nothing that cannot be produced for our”dining-tables in “Oz” if our farmers are given “a fair go”. These farm-folk lead great, but very difficult lives. Huge farms, machinery & infrastructure means huge “loans” to pay off, their “days” usually begin at dawn and end, late at night. True, they work in glorious surroundings of the Australian Countryside but their very existence depends solely on “nature”. Australian farmers will always need our support to provide us with the best, and to see the BEST of “Australian Country” tune in and watch “Landline”on Channel two, thank you.

“Aunty A.B.C.”, as a whole, is the most comprehensive means of “getting the WHOLE story”, the reason being, as I have already said, the total lack of advertising which, unless you are a “continual tea-drinker,” generally puts one to sleep. My only criticism
of our Aunty is the fact that she tends to give you the SAME news two or three days in a row. “Repeats” are
O.K. , my dear Aunt, but please try to make it just ONE.

Other excellent “shows” on the A.B.C.(Channel 2), include”Quanda”, “One+One”, “The Book Club”, & “Australian Story” (to name just three), but it has been “Four Corners” that does’nt seem to go around even ONE corner, it gets straight to the point. The latest “show-all” exposure about teenage boys in a Darwin prison, the shameful treatment meted out to them by some prison guards. I will not go into all the sordid details of what at least 95 % of all Australians know, or should know by now, anyway.

This is the reason for my “article” on this screwed-up World. This SHOULD NOT be happening in Australia
of all places, BUTT(here we are again), there are TWO sides to a coin. The teenage boys in question, should never have been treated in the manner they were in that prison, but why were they there, in the first place?.
WHY ARE TEENAGERS NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR SO MUCH CRIME IN THIS COUNTRY? !!Boys, especially, & let us not differentiate between the Countries they come from. Police, & Prison Guards, amoung others, cannot be expected to be insulted, told to f—off, spat on, & not allowed to do their jobs, in this screwed-up World. I have said & written this many times, readers.

The ONE WORD, very sadly lacking in Australia generally, is DISCIPLINE! !. It starts in the home., follows, in school, (bullies normally begin their nefarious activities here, rather than studying), no respect whatsoever, is shown to teachers, and IF there is NOTHING that can be done to these erring teenagers because of their “tender years”, their PARENTS should be disciplined. Once they leave school and IF they cannot get a job for any reason, whatsoever, give them the “dole” for 6 months, and if they still cannot get a regular job, ENLIST them in the Army, Navy or Airforce
to not only “serve their Country” but get some well-deserved DISCIPLINE,as well.. My name is not Malcolm Turnbull, but if it was, this is what I would do. AUSTRALIA is too good a Country for all the bull-dust that goes on here, Sir, please do something about it.

Desmond (Kelly from Colombo).