READERS WRITE

 

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Steve M sent me an email commenting on the Australia Day posts:

Great Bytes today, Otto. Loved the cricket stuff and especially loved the bush poem.

Agree with your sentiments.

Many thanks.

Steve m

Thank you, Steve.

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Likewise friend and colleague Tony G expressed appreciation for the Australia Day Thought for the Day:

Love the thought for the Day.

Thanks Tony.

The Thought was the victory song of the Australian cricket team, sung by the players after every victory:

Under the Southern Cross I stand,

A sprig of wattle in my hand,

A native of my native land,

Australia, you fucking beauty!

We should consider that our national anthem in place of one that has the words “Our home is girt by sea.”

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Steve also sent me a response to the photographs of urban hells around the world:

Amazing Bytes yesterday, Otto. What dreadful people creatures human beings are.

Thanks Steve.

As someone once said to me: “It’s the price you pay if you want a ten dollar angle grinder.” He was referring to the pollution arising from overseas countries where manufacture is cheap and without controls.

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David B commented on Big Things:

Love that you have captured the Kelpies atmosphere and all.

Hope that you are keeping strong.

David

Thanks Dave, I am.

The kelpies Dave was referring to are a pair of monumental steel horse-heads 30 metres high between the Scottish towns of Falkirk and Grangemouth. (A kelpie, or water kelpie is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a grey or white horse-like creature, able to adopt human form.)

Some more pics to show size, scale, manner of construction and how they are variously illuminated:

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Ron T emailed a comment about the photographs of my father:

Your Dad was one handsome fellow. Folks of that generation were heroes in every respect.

Thanks Ron.

Some facts about my dad that I learned from relatives, he never spoke of these matters:

• His mother would hide him and his brother under floor boards covered by a carpet when the Nazis came looking for males to send to slave labour camps.
• Twice he was caught and sent, both times he jumped from a moving tarin Germany and made his way back home.
• On one such escape he was hidden by a German family.

After the war and migration to Australia, he often declared that that was the past, we should move on and not hold onto hate and hostility.

My mother retained her hostility for a long time. As I said in my eulogy of her (which I will post one day), this was a woman who still had the scars of German shrapnel on her leg, who saw the V2 rockets and the Hindenburg fly overhead. In her last days, in moments of hallucination, she was dreaming she was back in occupied Holland as a young girl, hearing the sound of goose-stepping Wehrmacht soldiers marching on cobblestones and fearing for her life. She overcame the negative feelings eventually when Dad started training German Shepherd dogs, bringing them both into contact with numerous German people, some of whom became friends.

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Thanks to those who welcomed me back when I had blog and internet issues, both at the same time ! !

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Charlie Z in the US sent me an email before those issues arose:

Otto - many thanks for the poetry and funny Fridays! Many have been passed on to friends who appreciate your humour!

Thanks Chezza. Interesting that you used the Australian/English spelling on ‘humour’. A result of living in Australia?

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David B emailed a comment on Maya Angelou’s poem My Younger Days, the final verse of which is:

Though my hair has turned to grey

and my skin no longer fits,

On the inside, I’m the same old me,

It’s the outside’s changed a bit.

David commented:

Hi Otto

This resonates with me and reminds me of a comment made by a contemporary. A comment with which I very much agree.

"When I look in the bathroom mirror I wonder who that old man staring back at me is."

Regards

David

Thanks David.

I responded to him:

I know the feeling – mentally and psychologically I don’t feel the age I see in the mirror.

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David G (is every second person in the world named David?) set me a comment on Christmas day:

Otto

Merry Christmas. Thanks so much for receiving your Bytes each day. It always extends my breakfast to a second coffee and makes a great start to the day.

Really appreciate the Christmas card, your sticking to tradition (ie mailing Christmas cards, Otto) is fabulous.

Trust 2025 brings good health to you and your family and look forward to catching up sometime.

David and Lorraine

Thanks Dave.

By the way:

Tim B liked the following, which I used on a Christmas card one year (best image I have been able to find):

‘Santa and the Drover’

by commercial artist and illustrator Jack Waugh (1910-1996).

Jack Waugh’s 1964 painting of Santa pausing on his travels to share a cup of billy tea with an outback drover, whilst the drover’s horse and Santa’s reindeer tentatively become acquainted, was painted for Arnott’s Biscuits and was featured on the lid of their Christmas biscuit tins. So popular that it was repeated year after year, it also appeared on the rear page of The Australian Women’s Weekly for a number of years each Christmas. Waugh, born in Lakemba and raised in Glebe, used himself as the model for the drover. Note the kelpie (Australian cattle dog, not the Scottish horse) next to the drover.

UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS . . .

Under the Southern Cross I stand,

A sprig of wattle in my hand,

A native of my native land,

Australia, you fucking beauty!

• "Under The Southern Cross I Stand" is the victory song of the Australian cricket team. It is typically sung by the players in the style of a raucous chant after every victory and "treated with reverential consideration and respect" within the team.

• The authorship of "Under the Southern Cross I Stand" is credited to former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who was apparently inspired by Henry Lawson's 1887 poem, "Flag of the Southern Cross".

• Marsh initially had the role of leading the team in singing it, and on his retirement he passed it on to Allan Border. 

• The other players to have taken on the role are:

- David Boon (when Border took over the captaincy), Ian Healy (on Boon's retirement);

- Ricky Ponting (on Healy's retirement);

- Justin Langer (when Ponting took over the captaincy); and 

- Michael Hussey (on Langer's retirement). 

- Hussey passed it on to Nathan Lyon upon his retirement in January 2013.

- With Nathan Lyon's departure from the team due to injury after the Second Ashes Test at Lord's in 2023, custody of the song has passed to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

ORIGINS WORDS AND PHRASES

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CRICKET

I confess that I am not a fan or follower of cricket and find watching it as dull as dishwater.

However, here are comments on some cricketing words and phrases, plus a few anecdotes.

By the way:

The expression ‘dull as dishwater’ originated in the 1700s and originally appeared as ‘dull as ditchwater.’ Roadsides commonly had ditches alongside which often contained dirt, debris and muddy water. Either through careless pronunciation or similar analogy, the phrase dull as dishwater seems to have overtaken the original expression in popularity. An early example can be found in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1837): ‘He’d be sharper than a serpent’s tooth, if he wasn’t as dull as ditchwater.’

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Cricket:

Some explanations as to origin:

• It derived from the Old French “criquet”, meaning “goal, post, or stick”.

• Alternatively from the Middle Dutch “kricke”, meaning “stick” or “staff”. The latter Middle Dutch derivation from “kricke” is generally considered more likely due to the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and Flanders, which belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy.

• A further alternative explanation: it comes from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, “met de krik ket sen”, which means “with the stick, chase”. Early cricket was played with a stick that resembled more a hockey stick than the modern day cricket bat. Bowlers, at the time, typically kept the ball on the ground or at least skimmed the ground, instead of pitching the ball as they do today. As a response to the change towards pitching and bouncing the ball, in the late 18th century, the straight bat was introduced and is still used to this day.

The game of cricket itself is thought to have been played as early as the 13th century, with the first direct reference to it appearing in 1598 in a court case which referenced a game called “krekett” (sometimes spelled “creckett”) being played at the Royal Grammar School in England in 1550.

Cricket gradually grew in popularity until, in the 18th century, it was named the official sport of England, being the favored leisure activity among the privileged class.

Evolution of the cricket bat. The original "hockey stick" (left) evolved into the straight bat from c. 1760 when pitched delivery bowling began.

Painting by Francis Cotes, The Young Cricketer, 1768

The first recorded photo of a cricket match taken on 25 July 1857 by Roger Fenton

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Brit cricket commentator Brian Johnston is said to have commented upon Michael Holding of the West Indies bowling to Peter Willey of England in a Test match at The Oval in 1976: “The bowler's Holding; the batsman's Willey." 

Another Johnston item: During a Test match at the Oval in August 1991, Jonathan Agnew suggested that when Ian Botham was out hit wicket, trying to hurdle the stumps, it was because he had failed to "get his leg over" (a British slang term meaning to have sex; Botham's sexual exploits had attracted national attention). Johnston carried on commentating and giggling for 30 seconds before dissolving into helpless laughter.

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The Ashes:

The Ashes is a men's Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia.

The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and that "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.

After England won two of the three Tests on that tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh in Melbourne. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail, and were humorously described as "the ashes of Australian cricket".

The Ashes urn

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Bail, Stumps and Wicket:

In the sport of cricket, a bail is one of the two smaller sticks placed on top of the three stumps to form a wicket.

The bails are used to determine when the wicket is broken or put down, which in turn is one of the critical factors in determining whether a batsman is out bowled, stumped, run out or hit wicket.

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The first testicular guard was used in cricket in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974.

It took 100 years for men to realise that the brain is also important.

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Howzat:

In cricket, an appeal (locally known as a "Howzat", from “How’s that?’) is the act of a player (or players) on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batter is out or not.

According to Law 31 of the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batter out unless the fielding side appeals for a decision. However, in practice most umpires will give a batter out to an obvious bowled or caught.

On many occasions when a batter has otherwise technically been out, the fielding team has not realised, so neglected to appeal, and so the umpire has not declared them out.

An appeal may be made at any point before the bowler starts their run-up for the next ball.

By the way:

Howzat" is also a song by Australian band Sherbet, released in May 1976. The song reached number 1 in Australia.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EmSanSFXEM

Some of the lyrics:

You told me I was the one

The only one who got your head undone

And for a while I believed the line that you spun

But I've been lookin' at you

Lookin' closely at the things you do

I didn't see you the way you wanted me to

How, How, Howzat?

You messed about I caught you out

Howzat?

Now that I've found where you're at

It's good-bye

Well Howzat?

It's good-bye

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Googly:

A deceptive spinning delivery by a leg spin bowler, also known (particularly in Australia) as the wrong 'un. For a right-hander bowler and a right-handed batsman, a googly will turn from the off side to the leg side.

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Hat Trick:

A bowler taking a wicket off each of three consecutive deliveries that he bowls (whether in the same over or split up in two consecutive overs, or two overs in two different spells).

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Sledging:

Verbal abuse in simple terms, or a psychological tactic in more complex terms. Used by cricketers both on and off the field to gain advantage of the opposition by frustrating them and breaking the concentration of the opposition. Considered in some cricketing countries to be against the spirit of the game, although occasional sledging remains common.

A well-known sledge:

Portly Eddo Brandes was a Zimbabwean medium-pacer by day and chicken farmer by night. During a one-day match between Australia and Zimbabwe in 1996, Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was becoming increasingly frustrated with Brandes’ play.

After several play-and-misses, McGrath looked Eddo up and said: “Why are you so fat?”

Brandes immediately retorted: “Because every time I make love to your wife she gives me a biscuit.”

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To conclude, an item which has previously been in Bytes -

The victory song of the Australian Cricket Team, sung by the players after each victory:

"Under the Southern Cross I stand

A sprig of wattle in my hand

A native of my native land

Australia, you fucking beauty"

Maybe it should be the national anthem.

OZ DAY APPROAHES

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As we approach Australia Day with its associated PC and woke commentaries, discord and even hate, it raises another aspect upon which my friend Steve and I have disagreed for years: the Australian flag.

Some comments:

- Steve feels we should retain the existing flag.

- I have no objection, just take off the Union Jack.

- When the below poem was written by Banjo Patterson, Australians fought under the British flag as a colony of Britain.

- The comments in that poem still hold equally true about removing the Union Jack.

- Five Commonwealth nations have the Union Jack on their national flag: Australia, Fiji , New Zealand, Tuvalu.

- The first Commonwealth country to drop the Union Flag was Canada in 1965, after adopting a new national flag. The most recent country to drop the Union Flag from its flag was South Africa in 1994, after adopting a new national flag.

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Our Own Flag

    -  Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson

They mustered us with a royal din

In wearisome weeks of drought

Ere ever the half of the crops were in

Or the half of the sheds cut out

'Twas down with saddle and spurs and whip

The swagman dropped his swag

And we hurried us off to an outbound ship

To fight for the English flag

The English flag.. it is ours in sooth

We stand by it wrong or right

But deep in our hearts is the honest truth

We fought for the sake of a fight

And the English flag may flutter and wave

Where the World-wide Oceans toss

But the flag the Australian dies to save

Is the flag of the Southern Cross

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When the miners at Eureka rebelled in 1854 at the harsh, unfair and brutal treatment being directed at them by the government and police, the oath they took was by the Southern Cross.

From a past Bytes:

We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.

What better oath for the miners to take. A collection of miners of different creeds, colours, faiths, political allegiances and origins swore not to a political entity or to a divine being, but to the Southern Cross above them, the constellation under which they toiled, lived and slept, the stars from which they took bearings for directions. An oath to stand by each other for their rights and liberties, under a flag which for the first time in Australian history stood for independence, fairness and freedom.

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One final item from the vault about the Southern Cross:

On a day celebrating all things Oz, and at a time when there is ongoing debate about our flag and anthem (and I place on record that I hate the inane lyric “Our home is girt by sea”), it is appropriate to recall the victory song of the Australian Cricket Team, sung when victorious:

"Under the Southern Cross I stand

A sprig of wattle in my hand

A native of my native land

Australia, you fucking beauty"

REMEMBRANCE DAY FACTS

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• Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the end of the First World War, the Armistice, on 11 November, 1918.

• World War I was originally known as the Great War. It began in August 1914 when Britain and Germany went to war but many countries, such as Australia and New Zealand (who formed the famous ANZACs), immediately declared their allegiance to Britain and joined the war. Many such allergiances were due to the system of treaties and support agreements. This partnership was known as the ‘Allied Forces’.

• The main nations in the Allied Forces were Britain, France and Russia. Later, they were supported by countries such as Canada and the United States. The Allied Forces fought the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).

• During the four years of World War I, Australia was involved in some of history’s most tragic conflicts, such as the famous landing at Gallipoli, horrific battles on the Western Front (France and Belgium) and in the Middle East.

• In 1918, after suffering a number of defeats and heavy losses, the German forces agreed to an armistice with the Allied troops and this signalled the end of WWI. The treaty was signed at 5am on 11 November 1918, but did not officially come into effect until six hours later at 11am. The armistice was met by celebration around the world.

• For this reason, Remembrance Day was originally called Armistice Day. In Australia, it was renamed in 1997. The name change broadened the meaning of the day, widening the focus from World War I, to a day which commemorates those who served in any war or conflict.

• In most countries, Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of First World War hostilities. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918, in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. "At the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am. The First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.

• Every year, nations around the globe fall silent for one minute at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month to remember those who have served their country during war. This practice stems from King George V’s declaration on 6 November 1919 that people throughout the Commonwealth should suspend their normal activities so that in “perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the Glorious Dead”.

• The Flanders poppy was one of the first plants to grow on the blood-soaked battlefields of France and Belgium. In nineteenth century English poetry, poppies often symbolised sleep or oblivion. After WWI, silk poppies were sold on Armistice Day with proceeds going to a charity for French children and to the Returned Soldiers League (RSL).

• Many people wear a sprig of rosemary on Remembrance Day and on ANZAC Day. Since ancient times this aromatic herb has been recognised as a sign of remembrance and loyalty. For Australians, rosemary is even more significant as this plant grows wild on the Gallipoli peninsula, serving as another reminder of the ANZAC troops who lost their lives there.

• An old tale describes the Virgin Mary spreading her blue cloak over a flowering rosemary bush. The story says that the white flowers turned blue and from that day on the bush was called the ‘Rose of Mary’.

• On Remembrance Day, flags are flown at half-mast from 10.30am to 11.03am as a sign of mourning and respect. It is said that this tradition stems from sailing ships that lowered their sails at sea to honour an important person or mark a death.

• There are a number of rules associated with flying the Australian flag at half-mast. The flag can never be flown at half-mast at night. If in a group of flags, all flags should be lowered to half-mast, however, Australia’s should be lowered last and raised first.

• The Unknown Soldier is intended to represent all men killed during war, especially those with no known resting place. The original Unknown Soldier was entombed at Westminster Abbey in London on Remembrance Day 1920. On the same day, France entombed an Unknown Soldier below the Arc de Triomphe.

• It was not until Remembrance Day 1993 that Australia laid to rest an Unknown Soldier in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. At his side was a bayonet and a golden sprig of wattle. The soldier was buried in a coffin made from Tasmanian Blackwood which was scattered with soil from the French battlefield, Pozières.

• It is estimated that over 60,000 Australians died in the Great War, many of these have no known graves. This left the Western Front dotted with memorials and cemeteries commemorating the fallen. Many Australians travel to these locations, as well as others in Egypt and Turkey, to pay tribute to the events that occurred and to remember all who served and fell there.

• In modern times, these pilgrimages have become increasingly popular around Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day. On these days, many locations, such as Gallipoli, Villers-Bretonneux and Bullecourt, hold special commemorative ceremonies. These ceremonies are made up of many traditional elements such as a parade, wreath laying, the Last Post (played on a bugle) and a minute of silence.

• The word ‘armistice’ means a truce or peace arrangement. It comes from the Latin word ‘arma’, meaning arms and ‘stitium’, meaning ‘a stopping’, giving us the meaning: to put down your arms ie weapons.

• The famous poem In Flanders Fields that made the red poppy such an iconic symbol, was written by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McRae. It is said that it only took him 20 minutes to write buy, dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away. A fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915. The poem went on to become hugely popular with the public, and has since become an abiding symbol of remembrance worldwide.

• It was not just men who went to war. In World War I, many Australian women volunteered as cooks, drivers, interpreters and other skilled positions. Female nurses served in countries such as Egypt, France and Greece, often in dangerous conditions, close to the frontline where they were exposed to shelling.

• World War I was the first armed conflict where aircraft were used. There were around 3000 Australian airmen who served with the Australian Flying Corps.

• The conditions in WWI trenches were so horrifying that they gave their name to numerous ailments that occurred there. These include: ‘Trench Foot’ (a fungal foot infection), ‘Trench Nephritis’ (an inflammation of the kidneys) and ‘Trench Fever’ (a painful infection caused by lice).

• It is estimated that the WWI trench system on the Western Front measured approximately 475 miles (764km) in length.

• Many countries (such as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Poland) also observe Remembrance Day.

• During the Second World War, many countries changed the name of the holiday. Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopted Remembrance Day, while the US chose Veterans Day.

CONTINUING: TOP 10 + 2 CHRISTMAS MOVIES

A Sunburnt Christmas:

This 2020 Stan original is a delightful Australian outback Christmas film that is a worthy inclusion in my Top 10 + 2 Christmas films.

Daniel Henshall plays a small time crim seeking hidden stolen loot on a farm where the kids mistake him for Santa, an illusion he continues to get them to assist him.

It’s quirky, wacky and sweet, well worth a viewing.

According to Brad Newsome, film critic for the Sydney Morning Herald on Rotten Tomatoes:

“This new Christmas comedy flick has a heart the size of the Outback, and it's as Aussie as two vanilla slices with a sprig of wattle on top.”

Holiday Inn:

This 1942 American musical film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, deserves inclusion if only for introducing the world to the song White Christmas (a white Christmas nonetheless being completely alien to us here in Oz). The only Oscar the film received was for Best Original Song for that Irving Berlin number.

Some facts and trivia from a past Bytes post:

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Story:

Bing Crosby runs an inn that opens only on holidays (sounds like a good way to lose money) so there’s lots of singing. His friend is Fred Astaire so there’s also a lot of dancing. Oh, and Bing falls in love.

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Kemmons Wilson, who founded the "Holiday Inn" motel chain in 1952, named it after this movie.

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This is one of the first examples of how a hit song can help propel a film's box office. In this case, the song was Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas." Later examples include the title tune from Ghostbusters, Whitney Huston's "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard and Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic.

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Movie quote:

Linda Mason: My father was a lot like you, just a man with a family. Never amounted to much, didn't care. But as long as he was alive, we always had plenty to eat and clothes to keep us warm.

Jim Hardy: Were you happy?

Linda Mason: Yes.

Jim Hardy: Then your father was a very successful man.

White Christmas:

Capitalising on the popularity of the song “White Christmas” from Holiday Inn, Paramount Pictures made the film “White Christmas” in 1954 which again starred Bing Crosby and featured the song. The movie was a smash hit.

In summary, a successful song-and-dance team (Crosby and Danny Kaye) become romantically involved with a sister act (Rosemary Clooney, George’s aunt, and Vera Ellen) and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general (Dean Jagger).

A Christmas classic.

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Some facts and trivia:

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Until 1997, "White Christmas" was the best selling music single ever. It was passed at that time by "Goodbye, England's Rose", the Elton John rework of "Candle in the Wind" done for Princess Diana's funeral. These two songs still rank Number 1 and 2.

However, an update in the 2009 edition of The Guinness Book of Records named both to be "winners" by stating that John's recording is the "best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s," while maintaining that "the best-selling single of all time was released before the first pop charts," and that this distinction belongs to "White Christmas," which it says "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later."

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For the song "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army", there is the lyric, "Jolson, Hope And Benny all for free". This is a reference to three wartime entertainers: Al Jolson, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. The original words were "Crosby, Hope and Jolson all for free", but the lyric was changed because with Bing Crosby in the cast the original lyric would break the fourth wall.

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White Christmas (1954) was the first film photographed in Paramount's widescreen VistaVision process. A radical departure from the other widescreen formats of the era, VistaVision did not extend the width of the screen as much as it raised the height, which produced a significantly clearer image. Not surprisingly, the hundred or so films shot in VistaVision (notably High Society [1956], North by Northwest [1959] and White Christmas) have provided the most vivid clarity when transferred to high definition home video formats, as VistaVision applied the same principle and was, in effect, the first experiment in high definition.

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The Vermont inn is the remodeled Connecticut inn set from Bing Crosby's earlier movie Holiday Inn (1942)

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The "I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show" sequence points to changing times in terms of Hollywood's sensitivity to racial norms. The set design, props, costuming and musical arrangement are all typical of vintage minstrel shows, but the performers are not in black-face. This was progress, as Holiday Inn (1942), which inspired this production, featured a black-face number only twelve years earlier.

The Shop Around the Corner

This 1940 American romantic comedy film starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan is the inspiration for the 1998 film You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, but without Christmas.

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Watch it if you get the opportunity, an oldie but a goodie (much like a pot of us).

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Some facts and trivia:

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In You've Got Mail (1998), which is based on this film, Meg Ryan's character owns a bookstore named The Shop Around The Corner.

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Brett’s Monthly and an Anniversary

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Welcome to February, this year giving you more because there is one extra day.

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I am also giving you more in that this blog started on January 25, 2010.

Over the next week I will repost some of the items from those first days. I hadn’t recalled them and found them entertaining and interesting, hopefully you will too.

They appear after Brett’s Monthly.

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Some quick notes about February:

- last month of winter in the northern hemisphere

- last month of summer in the southern hemisphere

- The word February is believed to have derived from the name 'Februa' taken from the Roman 'Festival of Purification'. The root word 'februo' meant 'I purify by sacrifice'.

- Joe, this one’s for you: Before 2002, Super Bowl Sunday was held the last Sunday in January, but since 2002 it is more commonly held the first Sunday of February.

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As usual Brett has emailed me his list of bizarre and unique holidays for the coming month.

Thanks Brett.

Click on the daily items to expand . . .

Month:

• American Heart Month
• An Affair to Remember Month
• Black History Month
• Canned Food Month
• Creative Romance Month
• Great American Pie Month
• National Bird Feeding Month
• National Cherry Month
• National Children’s Dental Health Month
• National Grapefruit Month
• National Weddings Month
• Spunky Old Broads Month

Weekly Celebrations:

3rd Week International Flirting Week

February 2020 Daily Holidays, Special and Wacky Days:

February 1

1 Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day - first Saturday of month

National Freedom Day

 No Politics Day

Spunky Old Broads Day

February 2

Candlemas 

Ground Hog Day

Superbowl Sunday - Superbowl 53, date varies

February 3

Feed the Birds Day  

The Day the Music Died - Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash in 1959.

February 4

Create a Vacuum Day

Stuffed Mushroom Day

Thank a Mailman Day

February 5

National Weatherman's Day

February 6

Lame Duck Day

National Chopsticks Day

February 7

Bubble Gum Day - first Friday of the month

Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day

Send a Card to a Friend Day - obviously created by a card company

February 8

Boy Scout Day - celebrates the birthday of scouting

Kite Flying Day - in the middle of winter!?!

February 9

National Pizza Day

Oscar Night - date varies

Toothache Day

February 10

Clean out Your Computer Day - second Monday of Month

Umbrella Day

February 11

Don't Cry over Spilled Milk Day

Make a Friend Day

National Inventors Day

White T-Shirt Day

February 12

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday

National Lost Penny Day

Plum Pudding Day

February 13

Get a Different Name Day

February 14

Ferris Wheel Day

National Organ Donor Day

Valentine's Day

February 15

Candlemas - on the Julian Calendar

National Gum Drop Day

Singles Awareness Day

Susan B Anthony Day

February 16

Do a Grouch a Favor Day

February 17

President's Day - third Monday of month

 Random Acts of Kindness Day

February 18

 National Battery Day

National Drink Wine Day

February 19

National Chocolate Mint Day

February 20

Cherry Pie Day

Hoodie Hoo Day

Love Your Pet Day

February 21

Card Reading Day

February 22

George Washington's Birthday

Be Humble Day

International World Thinking Day

National Margarita Day

Walking the Dog Day

February 23

International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

Tennis Day

February 24

National Tortilla Chip Day

World Bartender Day

February 25

25 Mardi Gras  / Fat Tuesday - date varies

Pistol Patent Day

February 26

26 Ash Wednesday - date varies

Carnival Day

National Pistachio Day - it's a nutty day!

Tell a Fairy Tale Day

February 27

Polar Bear Day

No Brainer Day - this day is for me!

February 28

Floral Design Day

National Chili Day

Public Sleeping Day

National Tooth Fairy Day - and/or August 22

February 29

 Leap Day -2020 is a Leap Year!!! It's once every four years

Open That Bottle Night - last Saturday of month

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Bytes origin:

Bytes started life as a Quote for the Day sent to a select group of friends by email. Gradually more and more people asked to be added to the mailing list and I started adding items of interest. Eventually the list became so large that my daughter, Acacia, turned it into a blog. 

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From the Bytes first postings, an item to go with Australia Day 2010:

Australiana: Under the Southern Cross I Stand 

On a day celebrating all things Oz, and at a time when there is ongoing debate about our flag and anthem (and I place on record that I hate the inane lyric “Our home is girt by sea”), it is appropriate to repeat and amplify an item posted last Australia Day, the victory song of the Australian Cricket Team. I came across it again as I was transferring old posts to this blog. 

The words to the song are: 

"Under the Southern Cross I stand

A sprig of wattle in my hand

A native of my native land

Australia, you fucking beauty" 

Some facts: 

The song is sung by the players after each victory. 

It is treated with reverence and respect by the players. The ritual of singing it is akin to a sacred honour. 

Some sources claim that former wicketkeeper Rod Marsh is the author/composer, the work having been inspired by the 1887 Henry Lawson poem, Flag of the Southern Cross. That poem refers to the flag flown at the Eureka Stockade. 

Others believe that it originated much earlier, including that it was sung by Australian soldiers serving in the Middle East. Thomas Keneally recalls his father (a sergeant in Egypt) singing it when he was a kid. 

Ian Chapell says that he introduced it to the Australian team, although he did not write it: 

“When I recited Southern Cross to Rod Marsh he liked it so much it became the Australian team's victory song, The first time Rod sang it was after we beat England in 1974 at the Gabba. We were down in the dressing room having a few beers and he sang it. A little while later we were invited up to the members' bar, where there were still quite a few people. Well, Rod jumped up and sang it and Lew Cooper, the secretary of the Queensland Cricketers' Club, who had asked us up, came up to him and told him he'd have to mind the language. Well, Rod got up and sang it again and then we were offered a couple of cartons and directed back down to the dressing room." 

At any one time there is a custodian of the song, whose honoured role it is to sing it and lead the others in singing it after a victory. As the keeper of the unofficial anthem retires, is promoted or not selected, he anoints another to be the custodian. 

The custodians so far have been: 

· Rod Marsh, passed it to Allan Border on retirement; 

· Border passed to David Boon when he took on the captaincy. 

· Boon passed the honour to Ian Healy when he retired. 

· Healy anointed Ricky Ponting when Healy retired. 

· Ponting gave the responsibility to Justin Langer when he became captain in 2004. 

· Langer appointed Michael Hussey in 2007 on his retirement. 

· Hussey passed it on to Nathan Lyon upon his retirement in 2013. 

To hear the Australian Cricket team rendering it with beauty, elegance and class after the 2007 World Cup victory, click on: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snhCXsH_9oE

http://www.theage.com.au/news/news/victory-song-goes-soldiering-on/2007/01/05/1167777280937.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Southern_Cross_I_Stand