Views in Verse on World Series Champions

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants - A truly exciting series to go to 7 games - a 3-2 final result. The Royals were magnificent too ...rank outsiders march into baseball folklore - A series to savour - an October to remember - Madison Bumgarner the shining star - the Panda ...not far behind!



Dream OctoberYou say our parting is like losing a best friend
What kind of friend are you to never call at all
You say that people keep on changing without you
But that's not how I thought of you in the fall

Dream October, dream October back to me
Dream October, is that all that it could be
Dream October, see the sun set in your eyes
Dream October, as I say goodbye

Like the glacier at the top of a mountain
With the sun melting what left of the snow
And like the drop carried out to the ocean
It seems some things these days are meant to be let go

Dream October, dream October back to me
Dream October, is that all that it could be
Dream October, see the sunset in your eyes
Dream October, as I say goodbye

Yeah, sometimes I still miss you
Even though, it didn't work out in the end
Once in a while, I think back to when it all began

Dream October, dream October back to me
Dream October, is that all that it could be
Dream October, see the sunset in your eyes
Dream October, as I say, as I say goodbye

Views in Verse on 'walking the walk'

Diabetes Australia

Walk to Work Day 2014

Why not join in? Friday 14th November






Morning in the City

I caste a lazy eye 
as the the bus nears 'The Bridge'
the sun shines bright off Middle Head
The Opera House smiles
as she peeps o'er the brow
I'd be pained to use my vehicle instead




I come in early 
for my 'walk 'cross town'
the ideal start to the working day
An easy pace 
...no need to race
from The Quay toward Castlereagh

Through narrow lanes
of convict stone
I make my way toward the heart
Pitt St will take me
most the way to Sydney South
a steady hill right from the start












Martin Place is stirring;
the 'promotional' zone...
early workers busy on displays
In an hour there'll be shouts
from painted roustabouts
as commuters go along their merry way

A few blocks up 
the retail heart
trucks descend upon the mall
Restocking shops
for the day that's ahead
a greengrocer at his stall









It's a steady rise toward
the top end of town
An eclectic mix there you'll find
Best brands galore
In specialist stores
past the Hilton 
where taxis entwine

Crossing Bathurst St
up at the top 
Say hello to the 'new' Chinatown
Once confined
to 'old' Dixon St
now thriving some eight blocks around






A little further on
the railway arches
I routinely make my way down
Once you cross under
Surry Hills beckons
with the aroma of fresh coffee ground

The side-walks are narrow
where the locals gather
to await barista service with style
Just beyond them
men walk streets
clutching at loose bedding piles







But it's the 'metro' zone now
the place to be seen
I chance to wonder what I'm doing here
But I shot in the key
Enter ...just me
Ready to work ...no fear


from my notebook Grahame J Flynn

Views in verse on "the old fashioned way"

The Gaints - an 'old fashioned' baseball team!


The Giants this week stormed into the World Series under the inspiration of their 'old fashioned' right fielder Hunter Pence. After the Wild Card game that got them into the play-offs, Pence not only wound up his team to "go all the way" but he even grabbed the public address and included the fans to do all they could to see that the Giants win 'the ring' again this year.


They won in 2010 and 2012 - Pence was a key player in these games. But more than that he is their informal leader. In this knee high socks and his untrained swing he looks every bit the boy next door coming up to bat. But last night in what ended a dry spell for him (batting-wise) he posted a (3 run) home run that set up the Giants to a convincing 7-1 win in game one against the Kansas City Royals.


The manager Bruce Bochy also likes to stick to traditional baseball. He adopts a style nearly gone in these 'media mad', 'hit the ball over the fence', image that we have seen in recent decades. The Cardinals in their 4-1 series loss to San Francisco last week hit overall 10 home runs to the Giants 3. The Bochy style is that you bat for the lead runner - he is always the one in the best position to score. And score they do!


The whole Giants team appears somewhat unconventional against the hard core finely tuned professionals of the age. But this makes them very interesting. And given the fact that they can dominate (...when they want to) it makes them a lot of fun to watch. Their 3rd baseman 'the Panda' is worth the entry ticket alone too - great fielder - great batter - great entertainer!


The enthusiasm of the team shows at this time of year. They only had a 60/40 win ratio in the season but here they are! Another World Series win beckons.


Watch out for the World Series this week (7 games planned)!

Take me out to the ballgame

Take me out to the ballgame
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks
I don't care if I ever get back

'Cause it's root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
'Cause it's one, two, three strikes you're out
At the old ballgame

'Cause it's one, two, three strikes you're out
At the old ballgame

Views in Verse on Bigotry

We read graphic details this week of an Australian Academic Professor Spurr who had regularly sent around emails to his peers promoting racism and religious intolerance. This same man had been appointed to review Australia's English curriculum. When challenged on this outrage, he retorted that he was entitled to his own views on such matters and yet be totally objective in setting context and policy in relation to our national learning program for our children. Wrong man ...hand in your guns and get out of town!


In fact this bombardment by 'fire breathing' individuals spreading hate via email has taken on a very unwelcome level of late.

Only this week I received an elaborate chain letter detailing how a Christian Pastor and an Imam had crossed paths at a lecture in an American jail. The story spread by the Pastor tells how he boldly confronted the Imam on the lack of tolerance by Muslims in relation to all non-believers. The Pastor built a healthy case of disdain against what he saw as outright bigotry himself. All was plain sailing and mildly convincing till I got to the Pastors name, church but beyond all of this ...his address: ALABAMA. Hmmm ...stirs a few too many memories doesn't it? 

The question I ask is: do we ever learn? The thing most common to all this hate mail I see is that the authors always sees themselves as coming from a position of absolute righteousness.

Alabama

Oh Alabama
The devil fools
with the best laid plan.
Swing low Alabama
You got spare change
You got to feel strange
And now the moment
is all that it meant.

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama
Banjos playing
through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama.
See the old folks
tied in white ropes
Hear the banjo.
Don't it take you down home?

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama.
Can I see you
and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you
and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?

NEIL YOUNG

The Others

You took me in when I needed help

I know that you are my friend

He vouched for me also at that time 

A ready hand to lend

She too was like a sister to me

Without asking a thing in return

But it's not about them of whom I speak

It’s the others that I spurn

I didn’t mean you, when I spoke of ‘a plot’

I didn’t mean him, involved he’s not

I didn’t mean her, I’d be needlessly hurting

It’s the rest of the others to whom I’m referring

It’s all the others, who offer a threat

It’s all the others, whose intent I get

It's all about them, their motives aren't true

I know this just simply, because …I do!

from my desktop Grahame J Flynn

views in verse on behavioural change

What type of trees do you see?

No it is not a trick question...

they are of course trees typical to Australia :

eucalyptus or gum trees, but ...





In sketches still kept to this day, in colonial times in Sydney Town and in the extended penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), the English scribes continually drew their impressions of the forests they saw before them as oak, elm or larch trees. Or indeed any other tree that reminded them of the way things were back home. A case of mind over matter.

So remember when faced with behavioural change issues: never underestimate the human mind's urge to return to what it was comfortable with yesterday despite being faced with a new 'modus operandi' being demanded today. Beware a convenient myopia that may resurface for some time.

Confidence in 'the new' requires coaching, documentation, reinforcement and reassurance in order to ensure complete adoption of the required standard.




Renewal

Release
the past
It's spent
and gone
Accept
my friend
it's done!

Embrace
tomorrow
as a child
plays in rain
The future
holds promise
for some

For those
who open up
their hearts
and trust in
themselves
Good things will come
to them
as if by chance.

To lovers
who caste aside fear
the odd
chortled jeer
and boldly
march up to the floor
and dance

And to those who
take a
selfless route
in fulfilling
their pursuit
Reward will come
to them
with seeming grace...

Live to love 

the day
before wishing it away

on the past
...spent
but never

out of place!

From my I-pad - Grahame J Flynn