Shimmy: Currently being spun on Tammys electrolla 'Three in one' is this fab platter of aural delights.

Nooooo Yawk is where i'd rah-der stay: In preparation for our visit to New York, i have started to trial a few outfits and moves for my time there, below is a pic of me on our Balcony in Wollongong, practicing swishing out onto our Park Avenue balcony in New York, i would like to thank Tyson for the loan of his dog, and Beryl for the hire of her wig 'Dahhhh-link i luv ya, but gimme Park Aven-oo'

The things we do for our 15 minutes of fame: Not many people know, but Australia was the first country outside of their native Sweden to really break ABBA, ABBAMANIA was huge down here, still is .. especially after the movie 'Pricilla - Queen of the desert', recently i found these pics of ABBA from an early promotional visit to Aussie, i had no recollection of the band appearing on so many of our local (for want of a better word) 'variety' shows, i'm at once joyed, AND dismayed to see that ABBA made appearences on 'Bandstand with Daryl Sommers' 'The Done Lane show' and most disturbingly of all 'Jimmy Hannan's celebrity squares', i suppose if the Beatles can get their start in a fruit cellar, then ABBA can cavort with Jimmy Hannan on their rise to fame and music world dominance.

Plastic 2: While i'm on a roll .. nothing much to be said about this next pic really.

Ringo Klaus: As our trip to the U.S draws ever nearer, friends are starting to show signs of concern about my probable behaviour at the two Paul McCartney concerts i am going to whilst over there. Its no secret that i am a BIG fan, and i become 'quite' emotional whenever i've been to one of his concerts, or had the opportunity to meet him, most famously after meeting Paul and shaking his hand for the first time, my friends turned to see that i had accomodated most of my entire right hand into my mouth, i feat i have never been able to replicate since.

So it is with a growing sense of joy and enthusiasm that i prepare for my next Paul encounter, my first in twelve years. In the movie 'I want to hold your hand' (about a group of mostly screaming teenage female fans trying to meet The Beatles) is a male character called 'Ringo Klaus', he is every bit as insane as the screaming girls, some friends have taken to refering to me by this name .. i hope i dont let them down. Below i've attached a couple of screen captures of Ringo Klaus in full flight at a concert, i'm currently in training practicing his moves.

Plastic Fantastic: Everyone is asking me 'What are you most looking forward to seeing and doing on your trip to America?' thats a REALLY hard question, but i'm slowly whittling down my priorities. Definatley in my top five things to see over there are the parading plastic surgery disasters, i want to spend a good few hours just sitting around Rodeo drive watching the passing throng of the 'stretched people'.

I have a somewhat disturbing facination for people, who commit heinous acts upon their faces and bodys with scalpels, chemicals and just plain old fashion elastic bands all in the name of youth and beauty. One of my favorite 'stretchy' people to watch at the moment is Burt Reynolds, his face looks as if he's in one of those 'G' force simulators.

Come on board: Sniffing around ebay on the weekend, i came across a set of dvd's of the childrens tv series from the early 1970's 'Here come the double deckers', this totally blew me away!, i hadnt seen or really thought of this show since i first watched it in about 1973 (you do the math) memories came flooding back, i'm not sure if its just me, but i have a pretty good memory and recall, and when something triggers it, it can be pretty vivid. I remember sounds, smells, feelings etc. As soon as i saw these couple of images of the Double deckers, i was transported WAAAAY back.

When i was but a mere nipper, television was a total escape for me, i would become immersed in some parallel reality, the Double deckers was custom made for this escapism. The story revolved around a group of kids Tiger, Brains, Scooper, Sticks, Doughnut, Billie, Spring who had a secret hideaway, it was a big red double decker London bus, this served as the kids club house, and hideaway, from here they got into all sorts of adventures, my favorite character was 'Sticks' he was the drummer of the gang, boy how i wanted to hang out with those guys, they really had the ultimate cubby house.

I have a strong memory of being depressed, not sad, i mean REALLY depressed when the series came to an end, they only made seventeen episodes as well. I dont know of anyone else amongst my friends who remembers this show, i seem to have watched a few tv shows that very few others recall, other big shows for me, but that no one else seems to recall are 'The rupert the bear show' this wasnt a cartoon, but they used puppets. A couple of other shows i really liked were 'Hotdog' (with Jonathan Winters), 'The Hector projector show', 'Comedy capers', 'Mack and Myer for hire' (this last one i dont think anyone else but me watched, or ever saw)

I'm just going to clear my throat and give you a rendition of the Double deckers these song .. ahem ..

Get on board! Get on board!
Come and join the Double Deckers.
Take a ticket for a journey,
On our double decker London bus.
Ring the bell (ding! ding!),
Toot the horn (honk! honk!),
When you ride with the Double Deckers.
Fun and laughter is what we're after,
On our double double double decker bus.

You're aboard! You're aboard!
You're aboard with the Double Deckers.
Fun and laughter is what we're after,
On our double double double decker bus.
La la la! La la la!
La la la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la la,
On our double decker London bus.