Dear Friends, It's been a very long time since our last letter! But then, nothing much seems to happen in retirement. The only life in the fast lane for me these days is the "Eight items or less" check-out at Woolies (as a pedantic grammarian, I have a real problem with the word LESS in this context but won't go into it here). We watched "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" again (and again); to me, it brings back many memories of my time in Greece and Padma loves the music. We bought a separate CD of the movie's soundtrack and in particular, the movie's central theme, Pelagia's Song. Here is Ricordo Ancor in Italian and in its English translation: Ricordo ancor in fondo al cuor il lacrimar per te t'invoco ancor in sogno con me il tuo volto tra i mieli sguardi rubati al mondo sol' per te lo saro per te un fiume di neve bianca che si sciogliera al sloe dei tuoi occhi di primavera Guardami ancora I still remember crying from the depths of my heart for you I still call for you in my dreams your face among images stolen form the world, just for you For you I will be a river of white snow melting under the brightness of your eyes in spring Look at me once more. from the depths of my heart for you I still call for you in my dreams your face among images stolen form the world, just for you For you I will be a river of white snow melting under the brightness of your eyes in spring Look at me once more. (The Italian language must be extremely economical or the English translator took a great deal of poetic licence; still, it's an extremely haunting tune.) If you would like to listen to the soundtrack of this enchanting movie, visit www.captain-corellis-mandolin.com. The other night when I couldn't sleep, I idly listened to RADIO NATIONAL and a segment called VERBATIM, in which the interviewer talked with a 92-year-old chap called Bill who has had an obsession with wheels all his long life. The power of the engine didn't matter; whether it was trucks, bicycles or battered old 2CV Citroens, Bill had travelled Australia from end to end on all of them. Most of his travelling had been done in pursuit of work (and girlfriends) and his was the story of a labouring man with a taste for adventure and no desire to settle down. For Bill, there had always been another river to ford or a python to wrestle or a murderer to evade ... and suddenly I realised that I knew that chap: he was Bill Skinner whom I had befriended back in 1977 when I lived on Thursday Island. Bill had driven an old truck up to Cape York and, daunted by the prospect of driving down that same rough road again, had come across to Thursday Island to book himself, his three dogs, and his truck onto the barge returning to Cairns in a few days' time. He had missed the boat going back to Bamaga and wandered the main street of TI aimlessly when we ran into each other. I invited him to stay at my house for the night and we talked and talked (and drank and drank!) well into the night. We met again in 1979 when I overnighted at the Great Northern Hotel in Cairns on my way to a job interview on Mornington Island. Bill lived in Cairns at the time and I went to his house in Severin Street. His backyard was a junkyard! It was full of old things which Bill had kept or collected under some "it-may-come-in-handy-one-day" compulsion. To make even more room for all the junk, Bill had removed the clothes hoist to the top of the roof! Wash-day at Bill's must've been quite a thing to behold! He'd just "tarred" his old, unregistered jeep in black paint all over as he was about to go on another trip somewhere. He only told me about the recent paint job on the drive back to the hotel - the black paint spots stayed on my trousers for a long time! And the story has a happy ending: after hearing him on the radio, I wrote a short note to his current address in Longwarry in Victoria - and I have just received his reply! His memory is not what it used to be but he does remember his trip to TI and our meeting and, as he put it, "if I can find Nelligen on the map, I'll drop in some day." and, "I could easily drive up there, but thieves are everywhere here now and very cunny [sic]" and "I camp in a caravan every night hoping to catch the thieves - with a 3-inch piece of pipe!!!" It sounds just like the old Bill Skinner! Our other travelling friends, the two Austrians Rob and Andrea, are still pedalling through South America. I am keeping a website of their exploits which you can view at http://www.riverbendnelligen.com/rob1aussie.html. They met another "mad" Austrian, Gregor, who walks around the world and you can read about him on http://www.globalchange.at. Best wishes and from the Riverbend Quartet! Peter & Padma & Malty & Rover riverbend@batemansbay.com 25 June 2004 PREVIOUS LETTER   NEXT LETTER