You see, I had two columns written for this week, and was deciding which to run with, and that’s when last Tuesday happened.
One of our sons needed my car briefly.
One of his sons had taken their car to work, and the back-up vehicle was having repairs.
So, my husband and I climbed into our car; the plan was to have a coffee with our daughter-in-law, while the message was taken care of.
Then my phone started ringing and text messages began arriving. I went into one of the bedrooms to take the first call, without my notebook, a pen, or any of my references.
None of those calls were in my contact list and I’d told one lady I’d call her back.
When the calls stopped, all I had was a list of mobile numbers from ‘unknown callers’.
The text messages were fine, I could respond to these — but I felt I’d given inadequate responses to some of our readers.
One of those calls was from Bill Bloomfield, on a different topic.
I hadn’t heard from Bill for five years, so he wasn’t in my contact list either.
I really enjoy chatting with you, but last week was just a bit messy.
And please understand that I would never publish your name, even your first name, without your permission.
Trust me on this please.
I’m even wary of writing about some of your kind comments because without pen or pencil at the time, I might not be remembering them correctly.
Most were about Annette and Peter Leahy and your memories of them.
But several related to the Halpin stories.
There was another bout of calls, and texts, in the evening.
Although I was slow in responding to the emails, I did acknowledge them.
One gentleman sent me a photo of the Halpin gravestones, including that of the two young boys.
Annette told me that this gravestone wasn’t in place when the boys’ parents were alive, probably because they never recovered from their loss.
One of my email contacts said she remembered when Annette was a Cub leader and wrote she remembered thinking that Annette was a “real-life angel”.
She also remembers her as a teacher and how loved she was by her students.
Just now, as I write, I received a call from Rex Cambray, who now lives in Templestowe.
Rex remembers Annette in 1959, when he was in Year 9.
In the 1980s, he became Notre Dame’s inaugural business manager and he “caught up” with Annette at that time.
He asked me to pass on a message to her (which I have done) — and gave permission for me to mention his call in this column.
Thank you all for your interest, and forgive me if I failed to call you back.
However, I did check one fact for an anonymous caller — Margaret Leahy (Doreen’s daughter) was a Presentation Nun. I hadn’t mentioned this in the story.
Hiding the truth
I think it was Buddha who said “Three things cannot be long hidden, the Sun, the Moon and the Truth”.
And I wish I believed that. I think that the truth is often hidden from us — even by our own governments.
For example, exactly what happened to $15 billion that the Victorian Government lost somewhere?
That equates to $2158 per head, including littlies.
Perhaps our roads could have been fixed, and perhaps our fire brigades could have up-to-date equipment — or maybe our hospitals could have every dollar they need.
What on earth is going on in our state?
That’s it for now.
Next week I’ll tell you a real story; although I don’t know which one yet.
When you read this, it will be autumn.
Let’s hope for some pleasant weather ahead of us.
May it be easy, my friends
Marnie
Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au
Phone: Text or call 0409 317187
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