Cultured Views

The day Dad lit up the house - and nearly blew us into space!

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My late Dad was one of those people who held the attitude of ‘ Why pay someone else to do a job when you can do it yourself for free? ‘

Which is fine - so long as you know exactly what you are doing and especially when it comes to do-it-yourself electrical work. And my father had absolutely no idea about this area; he worked on the premise of if you plug it in and it works then it’s all fine…

Dad decided one time to rig up some outdoor speakers on the patio as he did a lot of entertaining, we always had people over for bbq’s and parties. He thought it would be great to have music playing outside and so he took two speakers, tied them to the branch of our willow tree and ran several metres of electrical cable directly into the house and plugged it into the power board where the television was also connected to.

Well, the idea worked fine despite Mum’s apprehension whenever it rained. But something had to happen sometime and that something happened during a particularly violent storm. We were watching the TV, which was plugged into the same adapter as the speakers outside when a lightning bolt hit the willow tree.

The charge ran through the speakers, blowing them to pieces, along the cabling into the house and straight into the television. Ever seen a TV explode…? well, we did, and from very close range. How none of us were not injured remains a mystery to this day.

So that put an end to Dad’s outdoor music. Some time I’ll tell you about the time he decided to build a fireplace in the loungeroom - using a portable barbeque…

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On ‘yer bike!

The image of the ‘bikie’ has certainly changed over the years. My own Mum and her sisters were members of a motorcycle club back in the early fifties which was a long time before words like Hells Angels came into being.  

Even back then though the words Harley Davidson were synonymous with owning a motorbike; just about every bike enthusiast dreamed of owning one and you have to admit that they really are great looking pieces of machinery. One interesting aspect is that now there are shops which sell Harley Davidson accessories so even if you do not own a Harley you can still buy all the gear and stroll around looking as though you are a true Harley fanatic.

And the stuff looks great too; when my son graduated from school he wanted to wear something ‘different’ accessory-wise so I went to a local Harley store and bought him a cool looking chain to wear with his suit. He still wears it often and it has become something of a keepsake. But, I am afraid to say, that is as close as I will allow my son to get to owning a motorbike…

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When your kid needs glasses

      My son has always had a bit of a lazy eye muscle in his right eye which, strangely enough, does not seem to bother him now as much as it did when he was smaller. No, I didn’t get it operated on - the doctor spelled out so many things that could wrong during the surgery that he frightened me right off the idea. 

When he was sixteen he did finally get a pair of glasses which he wore for about a month until he sat on the first pair, lost the second and didn’t bother going back for a third.  The price of those things! there are so many different types of frames these days but they are yet to come up with an un-loseable pair.

I never went in for the expensive one’s as there are now those budget options such as zennioptical.com where you can get a pair of prescription glasses for a very, very low price. This is a godsend to those parents especially who have several kids needing glasses. You don’t get a huge choice of style - but who cares when you can get a pair for just $8.00 !

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