We've become creatures of habit which means we've just come back from our Monday morning swim in the warm-water pool and our usual lunch at the Thai restaurant.
Filling in the hours between our swim and lunch, we shared a coffee and lamington at the Aquatic Centre's coffee shop with Roberto who, as it turned out, had never heard of the story of the shipwrecked BATAVIA.
I had heard of it several years earlier when listening to the only station my radio is constantly tuned into, namely ABC Radio National.
The Shipwreck of the Batavia combines in just the one tale the birth of the world's first corporation, the brutality of colonisation, the battle of good vs evil, the derring-do of sea-faring adventure, mutiny, ship-wreck, love, lust, blood-lust, petty fascist dictatorship, criminality, a reign of terror, murders most foul, sexual slavery, natural nobility, survival, retribution, rescue, first contact with native peoples and so much more.
In his book "BATAVIA", Peter FitzSimons describes it as "a true Adults Only version of Lord of the Flies, meeting Nightmare on Elm Street".
A great read, and I have a spare copy for you, Roberto, when we meet - not Wednesday which is our dental day in Ulladulla - on Friday morning.
P.S. Did I mention that we also went to Vinnies where I found beautifully bound hardcover copies of "The Quiet American", "The Grapes of Wrath", and "For Whom the Bell Tolls"? Yes, I have them all and read them all, but these three beautiful editions are, as the say in "The Castle", "going straight to the pool room!", i.e. into my wood-panelled library.
