Bytes: 2025

Saturday, February 15, 2025

CONTINUATION WEEK

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DRUMMOYNE

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One I like, I used to live here.

Location:

Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Drummoyne sits on the peninsula between Iron Cove and Five Dock Bay. It is surrounded on three sides by the Parramatta River and, as such, has some of Sydney's best waterfront views.

Name origin:

William Wright, merchant, whaler and sealer, named his land Drummoyne Park in 1853 after his family home on the Clyde in Scotland.

About:

In the 2021 census the population of Drummoyne stood at 12,011 people with a median age of 42 years, 66.9% of people having been born in Australia.

Drummoyne is now part of the City of Canada Bay, a municipality formed in 2000 by the amalgamation of the municipalities of Drummoyne and Concord.

Victoria Road, one of Sydney's busiest roads, cuts through the heart of Drummoyne en route to the Sydney central business district.

Drummoyne is mostly residential with some commercial developments, and still retains some of its industrial heritage. The main shopping strip is located along Victoria Road and the intersecting Lyons Road. The Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre, featuring a Coles supermarket, specialty shops and factory outlet stores is located at Birkenhead Point.

The Bay Run is a popular route for runners and walkers.

Gallery:

Apartments on the Parramatta River, Drummoyne

Afternoon traffic on Victoria Road

Drummoyne Presbyterian

Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre

Drummoyne Reservoir, Rawson Avenue, Drummoyne, NSW is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. Built 1910-1914, Drummoyne was one of two reservoirs built with an attached tower and was the only reservoir in the group to feature a tower as a deliberate ornament. It is now the only reservoir with its tower surviving.

Sydney Water sold the property in September 2018 to owners of a chain of childcare centres, who plan to convert the site into a childcare centre while retaining most of the heritage structure.

Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne.

As at 2013, Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, being 305 metres (1,000 ft). One of only two of its type in NSW, Gladesville Bridge is considered to be a leading example of technical and engineering achievement on the international stage. An innovative design that set new global standards for design and construction, Gladesville Bridge was one of the first bridges in the world (if not, the first) to utilise computer programming in its construction.

Corner Off Lyons Road And Victoria Road

Drummoyne Post Office

Old home in Wrights Road, Drummoyne

‘Tudor House’, 23 College Street, Drummoyne in 1905. Built for Sir Thomas Henley (1860-1935) in circa 1895. Since demolished.

Sir Thomas Henley's funeral procession in Lyons Road Drummoyne, 1935

Some homes . . .

Water . . .

Bay Run . . .

Friday, February 14, 2025

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

FUNNY FRIDAY

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Hello again Byters and wellcome to another Friday.

If you're not aware of what today is, the theme of the following jokes will make it apparent.

Enjoy.

Caution: risqué content ahead.

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SOME HUMOUR:

__________

If any of you are sad about being alone on Valentines Day, just remember...

that nobody loves you on any other day of the year, and Valentine's Day shouldn't be any different.

__________

A variation on the above . . .

A mother heard her daughter crying in her room, so she went in to see what was the matter.

"What's the matter, dear?"

"Oh, Mom, it's Valentine's Day and nobody loves me!"

The mother thought for a moment and said "Oh, cheer up dear, this isn't the only day nobody loves you!"

__________

My wife just called me and said, "Three of the girls in the office have just received some flowers for Valentines Day. They are absolutely gorgeous!"

I replied, "That's probably why they've received flowers then."

__________

Bought my wife a new belt and bag for Valentines Day,

The vacuum works just fine now.

__________

My Valentines Day so far has been going like a fairy tale.

Grimm.

__________

A Valentines Poem

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Whitney Houston is dead

and iiiiiiieeeeiiiii will always love yoooouooooou

__________

This Valentines Day, I asked a Chinese girl for her number.

She said, "Sex! Sex! Sex! Free Sex tonight!"

I said, "Wow!"

Then her friend said, "She means 666-3629."

__________

My Wife was all excited when I told her that I had booked a table for Two for Valentines Night, I just hopes she likes Snooker.

__________

Every year for Valentine’s Day I used to always get a card from a secret admirer. This is the first year where I haven’t received anything.

First my granny dies, now this?

__________

For Valentine's Day I made a chart of past relationships....

It has an ex-axis and a why-axis.

__________

I asked my wife where she wanted to go for anniversary dinner. She said "Anywhere as long as it's expensive." I bought her a sandwich at the airport.

__________

The woman opposite the road from me called me a pervert earlier, I don't know why!

Knowing she likes bird watching I asked her if she'd like to come over and have a look at my twelve finches.

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A guy walked into a post office just before Valentine's Day.

He couldn't help but notice a middle-aged, balding man wearing a suit, standing in a corner sticking "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them. There were stacks and stacks of envelopes. He kept watching as the man then took out a bottle of Chanel perfume from his pocket and started spraying the scent over the envelopes.

By now, the guy's curiosity had got the better of him so he asked the man what he was doing. The man replied, "Every year before Valentines Day, I send out 500 Valentines Day cards, signed, 'Guess who? xoxo' "

The guy asked, "But, why?"

The man replied, "I'm a divorce lawyer."

__________

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?" The boy takes the quarters and leaves.

"What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream parlour.

"Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"

The boy licked his cone and replied:

"Because the day I take the dollar the game is over!"

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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:

There was a young fellow named Goody

Who claimed that he wouldn't, but would he?

If he found himself nude

With a gal in the mood

The question's not woody but could he?

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GALLERY:

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CORN CORNER:

__________

What is the difference between a baseball and Prince William?

One is thrown to the air.

The other is heir to the throne.

__________

My wife came rushing in out of the garden and said, "There's a pair of my knickers missing off the washing line."

I said, "I know, the two kids from next door have them." She said, "The dirty little perverts." I said, "It's nothing like that, they mentioned something about building a hammock."

__________

The therapist asked my wife why she wanted to end our marriage.

She said she hated all the constant Star Wars puns.

I looked at the therapist and said, "Divorce is strong with this one!"

Thursday, February 13, 2025

They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see, gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen. You hear it?... Carpe... Hear it?... Carpe. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.

- John Keating, Dead Poets Society

CONTINUATION WEEK

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Not strictly a Part 2 but a continuation of Henry Lawson’s poetry. . .

TAKING HIS CHANCE

From:

https://allpoetry.com/Taking-His-Chance

This poem depicts a daring "bushranger," Jack, who attends a dance despite being pursued by authorities. Jack's reckless bravado and the compassion of the attending bushmen are contrasted with the ominous arrival of troopers.

The poem's setting in an "Inn on the Rise" evokes a sense of isolation and danger. Jack's defiance of authority mirrors the frontier nature of Australian society during the time period.

Compared to Lawson's other works, the poem is more straightforward and less reflective. However, its concise narrative and use of suspenseful elements create a vivid and gripping account of a life-or-death struggle.

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'Taking a Chance' by Pro Hart

(The painting is misnamed in that the poem uses the word 'His', not 'a')

Taking His Chance

Henry Lawson

They stood by the door of the Inn on the Rise;

May Carney looked up in the bushranger's eyes:

`Oh! why did you come? — it was mad of you, Jack;

You know that the troopers are out on your track.'

A laugh and a shake of his obstinate head —

`I wanted a dance, and I'll chance it,' he said.

Some twenty-odd bushmen had come to the `ball',

But Jack from his youth had been known to them all,

And bushmen are soft where a woman is fair,

So the love of May Carney protected him there;

And all the short evening — it seems like romance —

She danced with a bushranger taking his chance.

`Twas midnight — the dancers stood suddenly still,

For hoofs had been heard on the side of the hill!

Ben Duggan, the drover, along the hillside

Came riding as only a bushman can ride.

He sprang from his horse, to the shanty he sped —

`The troopers are down in the gully!' he said.

Quite close to the homestead the troopers were seen.

`Clear out and ride hard for the ranges, Jack Dean!

Be quick!' said May Carney — her hand on her heart —

`We'll bluff them awhile, and 'twill give you a start.'

He lingered a moment — to kiss her, of course —

Then ran to the trees where he'd hobbled his horse.

She ran to the gate, and the troopers were there —

The jingle of hobbles came faint on the air —

Then loudly she screamed: it was only to drown

The treacherous clatter of slip-rails let down.

But troopers are sharp, and she saw at a glance

That someone was taking a desperate chance.

They chased, and they shouted, `Surrender, Jack Dean!'

They called him three times in the name of the Queen.

Then came from the darkness the clicking of locks;

The crack of the rifles was heard in the rocks!

A shriek and a shout, and a rush of pale men —

And there lay the bushranger, chancing it then.

The sergeant dismounted and knelt on the sod —

`Your bushranging's over — make peace, Jack, with God!'

The bushranger laughed — not a word he replied,

But turned to the girl who knelt down by his side.

He gazed in her eyes as she lifted his head:

`Just kiss me — my girl — and — I'll — chance it,' he said.

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Hear a sung version by John Schumann (who wrote and sings I Was only 19 from when he was with Redgum) and The Vagabond Crew by clicking on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqjbG3iWK8

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

CONTINUATION WEEK - VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS CONTINUED

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Sent to me by Leo M.

Thanks Leo.

This post: famous figures from the past (no Dave in Scotland, I’m not talking about Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot or Sophia Loren, although they are included).

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