D1: Bendigo looks like one big Salvador Dali exhibition this week - everything is melting and we’re all a bit confused because it’s not even summer yet.
Speaking of art, the fists are flying over a painting hardly anybody here has seen.
I would love to see the William Abednego Thompson portrait, which depicts him as a boxer, and not as a drunk or revivalist preacher as he was also known. It seems quite fitting that Bendigo was named after a bloke who resembled him.
D2: It does certainly seem a pity that a piece of Bendigo’s past - a unique selling point - will not be enjoyed by all.
Let’s hope people come to their senses and the painting gets its due recognition.
Speaking of boxing, the gloves are coming off down at Weeroona College, with angry parents slamming a move to close the P-6 section of the school as the Bendigo Education Plan gathers momenteum.
We’ve been told that parents, students and teachers were all brought to tears by the decision.
Do you think the centralisation of schools is good for students, especially given the old political point-scoring trick of talking about teacher-student ratios?
D1: I think the proof will be in the pudding. Problem is, by the time the first students have graduated from various surrounding schools, it will be far too late to go back on any decision.
As a fellow Bendigo immigrant, I know you have also noted the strange aversion locals have to crossing the street unless the green man tells them to.
I’m sure this pleases the boys in blue, but it’s quite strange watching adults waiting at the side of an empty street for a little flashing person to guide them across. Maybe I’ve uncovered the real reason behind the maligned Walk Bendigo - it’s a way of encouraging timid Bendigonians to cross the street.
D2: Yes, I’ve noticed it, too. Now we don’t want to be inciting illegal behaviour young Bucci, but I must admit in my travels around the world the only other place I’ve witnessed such diligent pedestrian traffic rigidity was in the Austrian capital, Vienna. I find it very interesting that Bendigo is the hoon capital, yet people are very wary about speeding across streets.
Or maybe the hoons have scared the footpath fleet?
D1: Who knows. The whole thing confuses me as much as the hype surrounding vampire shows at the moment.
Doesn’t anyone remember Buffy and how pathetic that was? Can’t anybody see that these shows are just edgy versions of Dawson’s Creek dressed up with some soft-core porn and blood drinking?
If I see anyone in Bendigo wearing a Twilight T-shirt I’ll spew up, as Terry Wallace would say.
D2: It find it amusing because Twilight has been accused of Mormon propaganda. But it does send some positive (albeit naive) messages by not addressing high school issues such as drugs and alcohol and concentrating on simple things such as love . . .
D1: I noticed some jokester referring to the Hargreaves Mall as a skate park in a recent letter to the editor.
Your thoughts on the finished but not finished epic? All I will say is that people forget very quickly what the old mall looked like - more dated than your grandma’s tablecloth.
D2: I never saw the previous life of the Hargreaves Mall, but its current incarnation does leave a lot to be desired. Progress is good, but unfortunately for the people of Bendigo they are stuck with a very clunky, uninspired hulk. And speaking of uninspired, your Movember tache is woeful, but of course all for a good cause.
D1: Wait for me to sculpt it into a masterpiece - you can’t rush genius. Just ask the City of Greater Bendigo.
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