Who is he?

 James Cameron Slaughter (1902-1982), town clerk, was born on 16 August 1902 at Thursday Island, youngest of five children of Brisbane-born Ernest Ebenezer Slaughter, plumber, and his Scottish-born wife Jessie, née Cameron. Reared in Brisbane mainly by his mother, a strong-minded, determined woman, Jim attended Petrie Terrace State Boys’ School before starting work at 14 with the Ithaca Town Council, Brisbane.Of average height and well built, somewhat distant and aloof on initial acquaintance, Slaughter projected an aura that commanded respect. As town clerk, ‘JC’ mostly conducted himself with great formality, always addressed lord mayors as ‘my lord mayor’, and was held in awe by all administrative colleagues. Conscious of the town clerk’s traditional role as a leading member of the community, he joined several of Brisbane’s top clubs, and mixed in business and sporting circles.Widowed in 1980, Slaughter died on 16 October 1982 in South Brisbane and was cremated with Anglican rites. His son and daughter survived him. After Charles Chuter, he was the second most eminent figure in twentieth-century Queensland municipal administration.(Extracts from the Australian Dictionary of Biography.)........and they can't even ensure his waterfall has water in it........tut!

Pride!

Tonight we drove out to the cinemas at Victoria Point because there was nothing we wanted to see at our usual cinema in Brisbane.We saw the film 'Pride'

.....there were only 4 of us in the cinema.Will and I both found it very emotional and we absolutely loved it and highly recommend it if you get the chance to see it.Once again scenes of the  countryside of 'home' tugged at my heart strings. I go through the days convincing myself I am not the least bit homesick and then when I see scenes like that......just a van driving through the Welsh countryside....I could almost burst into tears....and I realise how much I miss it. 

Melbourne Cup Day.

Yes, it is the first Tuesday in November and the day of  'The race that stops a nation'....The Melbourne Cup.Last night Wendi came and Dulcie chose the horse she would back. She only ever bets on this race. They also cut out all the names of the horses in the running out of the paper, roll them up, put them in a colander and then throw them down the hallway and then place bets on the first three and the one that falls last."Are you going to bet, Nick?" asked Wendi."Are you Will?," I asked.Will wasn't going to....he doesn't like it and thinks it is cruel for the horses."But, I think you should bet in at least one race," he said.I studied all the horses and three of them were British and of the three 'Red Cadeaux' had been second twice, including last year so I felt that it deserved to win this year....I chose Red Cadeaux for my horse. Dulcie chose Precedence.I can't remember what the horses were that Wendi and Dulcie bet on because of the way they fell out of the colander.Today Wendi came back to watch the race and she brought a lunch of fresh prawns for us. The prawns were huge and delicious....we didn't eat them all so Dulcie and I will have the ones that are leftover for lunch tomorrow.We settled down to watch the race......I must be getting quite Australian because I was getting quite excited too. The build up is huge with interviews with all the jockeys and then the singing of the National Anthem and the parade of the horses.The race started at 2.00pm. It only lasts just over three minutes.A German horse called Protectionist won and deservedly so......as it came from the back of the pack through the middle and was way out in front at the end......the jockey was British.My horse, Red Cadeaux, came second again!......for the third time. According to Wendi I might have won $3Dulcie's horse, Precedence, came sixth.....but the jockey was fined after the race for excessive use of the whip.The favourite for the race Admire Rakti came last and sadly collapsed after the race and died.......You can see why Will doesn't like it.

J C Slaughter Falls.....Doh!

"Where are you going tomorrow?" Asked Will last night.I really  hadn't thought about it."Why don't you go to Mt Cootha and walk at J C Slaughter Falls?" He suggested.It sounded more like something that you would do at Halloween but after failing to spot my feet under the over hang of my belly yesterday thought it might be good to go out and get some exercise at least, so when Cecilia squeezed her hips through the front door at 10.00 this morning I headed off.I was on the Ipswich Freeway before I realised that I had not brought my mobile phone with me and immediately started to worry what I would do if I broke down....Doh!I went through lots of different scenarios in my head in preparation and almost missed the exit I was supposed to use. before I had even finished worrying about breaking down I started worrying about getting lost. Yes, I know I have been here for over a year now but Brisbane is a sprawling place and there are lots of suburbs that I have not yet been to or even heard of and if I ended up somewhere I had never been to or heard of would I ever find my way home again.....well, yes I would eventually, but it would be cutting it fine when you only have a 2 hour 'respite' window.I found the J C Slaughter Picnic Area and spotted a woman getting out of her parked car.....she looked like she was going for a run. I chose a parking spot in the shade under a tree and parked Roxy and set off walking.I had not been walking very long when my legs started aching....I had my new blue canvas shoes on and I realised they were probably not the best choice for bush walking.....Doh!I went to take a picture and discovered that I had left my memory card back home in my computer....Doh!There was a little memory on the camera itself but I had to delete all the photos that I had taking up that memory before I could carry on.I realised that I could have actually parked much nearer to the Falls than I did but as I had never been there before it was all new to me.There were a few different walks to follow but the one that looked most interesting was the Aboriginal Art Trail which also passed the Falls. I decided to do that one.I suddenly remembered that in my camera case I had a spare memory card.....the one from the camera I left in the sea for two hours in Fiji....I popped it in full of hope......but the camera did not recognise it.....Doh!I headed up the track to the Falls and realised that the dry gully I was walking past was actually the creek bed and it was completely dry! Sulphur Crested Cockatoos squawked over head and sounded very much like a flock of Pterodactyls.....I imagined I was walking through Jurassic Park.I found the first piece of Aboriginal Art...well, the sign for it.....it gave information about the art painted upon the tree trunk in front except that the tree trunk had completely rotted away and there was hardly anything left of the painted design. The second piece of Aboriginal Art was a bit more noticeable but though I found the sign for the third....couldn't see it.I came to a wooden walkway which I assumed was by the Falls themselves......but there was no water at all in the creek. I heard something moving across the creek bed and spotted a large Monitor Lizard moving through the bush. It hadn't seen me so for a little while I felt like David Attenborough..."Here, deep in the Australian bush lives the terrifying 'Goanna'....an Australian Monitor Lizard....some of these cold blooded creatures can grow to 6 feet in length....Here, a male is patrolling his territory, wondering where the heck all the water has gone.......(Whisper) Oh, I think he's spotted me...."I felt quite thirsty and of course had not brought my water bottle with me.....Doh!I didn't know what time it was because I did not have my phone with me and then my camera battery ran out.....Doh!I just squeezed enough power out of my camera to see if it had the time.......all the pictures are date and time stamped.....if you want them to be.The camera told me it was 3.43 am.......Doh!I walked back to the car and realised that I had chosen the furthest possible parking place away from the Falls.....Doh!I guessed it was about 11.05 but it was actually 11.31 on the clock in the car......how time had flown?.....I must have had fun!I made it back without getting lost or breaking down.

 

'Medication.'

"Medication....whoa...oa...oa, Medication...whoa...oa...oa.Medication, that's what you need.If you want to be the best, If you want to beat the rest.Medication's what you need.....Whoa....oaoaoaoa....yeah!"(The 'late' Roy Castle.) Ok.....I confess......there have been a few times that I have forgotten to give Dulcie her lunchtime pills. It does sound worse than it is because the lunch time pills are only paracetamol and she has never noticed or suddenly been racked with pain. The important pills she needs are taken at breakfast and bedtime.....and we have never forgotten those.She gets a made up Webster pack from the Pharmacy which has a weeks pills packed in it and we started a new one last night.I noticed that some of the 'breakfast' pills for this week looked different and not what we usually have. One of them looked like a huge 'horse' pill, the size of a suppository! Dulcie already cuts her paracetamol tablets into quarters to swallow, she'd never get this one down.This morning I only gave her the ones that were still the same and after Blue Care had been for her shower, we headed down the steps, into Roxy and off to the shops and to the Pharmacy to check on these new pills.Dulcie waited in the car while I popped in.I could not see the Pharmacist and so I explained the situation to the girl assistant. She took the packs I had brought with me away into the dispensary....a little later she came out and said that she needed to speak to the Pharmacist who was out the back, so off she went to find her.A little while later they both came back."Hello Doll!" said the little Asian Pharmacist....she is the only person who has ever called me 'doll.'I explained the situation. She looked at the pills and then went and got Dulcie's prescription. The big pill was not a different Lasix tablet as Will and I had suspected. It turned out to be a vitamin D tablet but this one had added calcium."Sorry Darling, I will speak to the other Pharmacist and get this sorted out.""Could you just change the packs back  to what we normally have?" I asked.She said she would. I said I would pick them up later.We hadn't been back at the house long when the phone rang...."Hello, Doll...." I knew who it was."Was this the first time you found this new pill in the pack?""Yes," I said, " we haven't seen it before today.""Oh, I was just checking because I have to write an incident report," said the Pharmacist.I nipped back this afternoon as Dulcie was settled down with The Virginian."Hello, Doll, I just rang Dulcie and she said you were on your way. Here they are and I have made a note to stick to the same tablets.""Well, then we know where we are," I said."Is Dulcie alright? Does she have regular blood tests?" Asked the Pharmacist."She is fine," I said, but wondering why she was asking, "she doesn't have regular blood tests but the Doctor checks on her every month.""That's good. Well sorry about all that Darling."She gave us some new pack holders....I think as a bribe to not take the story to 'A Current Affair.'

In Woollies I got myself my own little weekly tablet holder.

I have found myself  remembering taking my tablet out of the bottle but don't remember popping it in my mouth...though I must have because I have not found then lying around anywhere.Now with my new pill dispenser I will easily be able to see if I took it or not."Medication's what you need.......Whoa.....oaoaoa.....yeah!"