Thursday is our day out in Moruya when we have our weekly roast, beef or pork, at the Moruya Bowling Club, followed by a visit to Vinnies, both in Moruya and in the Bay, and a drink (or two) at the Soldiers' Club before we drive home again.
I won't bore you with the books I found at Vinnies but here's a taste of the DVD "Neil Diamond - Greatest Hits Live" which I couldn't resist picking up for a dollar because of the many memories it holds for me. At the boarding-house in Canberra where I lived before I left for New Guinea at the end of 1969, my room mate had a girlfriend who shared his bed on several occasions, never mind that I was within earshot just a few feet across the room. Her name was Caroline and he was constantly humming Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in between heavy breathing.
The next time I encountered Neil Diamond was on Bougainville Island in New Guinea where 'Bulldog', a likeable Pommie bastard, had decided to buy himself a Hammond organ to learn how to play it. To the great relief of all the fellow-inmates of Camp 1 in Panguna, he gave up on it. Instead, he used the organ's enormous speakers to endlessly play, night after night, his favourite album, Neil Diamond's "Hot August Night".
Neil Diamond, some four years older than me, is reported to now be suffering from Parkinson's disease which, as he puts it, has brought a sense of calm to his life. As it has to mine when I now listen to this DVD, on very, very low volume, to "Sweet Caroline" and "Hot August Night", and still remember all those many people and places I have known.
