Basic English

A chap I know will spend his six-month long-service leave teaching English in Cambodia. Having heard about it, I emailed to tell him about a rather ingenious and all-but-forgotten teaching method known as Basic English. An English linguist, Charles K. Ogden, had compiled a vocabulary of 850 words that covered everything necessary for day-to-day purposes, and the Australian immigration department used it in the 1960s to teach us a rudimentary knowledge of English aboard the migrant-ship.

This Basic English course and my trusty old Langenscheidt Englisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Englisch dictionary (32. Auflage 1964 - and I still have it today!) together with the later acquired Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary saw me through those early days when every Australian was allowed to feel superior to everyone else who spoke with a non-English accent which in their eyes was equal to some sort of mental deficiency.

Well, the Cambodia-bound chap picked me up on my use of the contraction "you're" in my email and ruminated, "I must compliment you on your English. I know a number of Australians who don't know how to use the words 'your' and 'you're' in the correct context." What did he expect? That I oughtn't be able to speak or write proper English - or possibly do so even better than a native speaker - because I was born in Germany? I wasn't born with any accounting knowledge either and finished up as a Chartered Accountant!

It makes me wonder if he knows how to spell "patronising".

Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol

I joined the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol last year and am now going through some basic training to become an active member of the team. I have done my First Aid course and my survival training at sea and have yet to sit for my Radio Operator's Licence and Boat Licence.

At the moment I am also understudying the treasurer to do their books on the MYOB-package while he is away on leave in May.

Bali Hai!

It has been some time since my last trip away from "Riverbend" but I have now booked my flight out to Indonesia.

Apart from spending some time in Surabaya with Padma's parents, I'll be for most of my three weeks away in North Bali, which is as far away as one can get from the tourist hordes at Kuta.

Not being one to sit aimlessly at bars or on beaches, I hope to do some volunteer work at the Kupu-Kupu Foundation at Ubud which supports mentally and physically handicapped children.

I have already set up their website at www.kupukupufoundation.org to help the Foundation with the raising of funds through donations and sales from their handicraft-shop at Ubud.

The Chicken Dance

The "Chicken Dance" is a real oom-pah-pah tune originally composed by the Swiss accordion player Werner Thomas. It was hugely popular when I lived in Greece in the early 80s and I remember the Brindisi ferry rocking from side to side as the passengers started flapping their arms and breaking out in song.
Here are my numeric notations: (which are explained in a previous post )
5 5 5 5 4 4 5
5 5 5 5 4 4 5
5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 5 5 4
4 4 5 5 3 3 4
4 4 5 5 3 3 4
4 4 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 4 4
5 5 4 4 5 7 7 7 6
5 5 4 4 5 7 6 6
5 5 4 4 5 7 6 6 6
7 7 6 6 6
6 6 7 6

The gorgeous GIORDY

My accordion-addiction is growing and I ordered a new and much smaller and lighter accordion some months ago from Italy. It's a hand-made CASTAGNARI Giordy which weighs a mere 1 kg and measures 14 x 9.5 centimetres! I ordered it in the same scales of G and C as my second-hand HOHNER accordion to allow me to play the same tunes on both. As it is hand-made, the delivery time is around three to four months and I expect delivery of it sometime in late February or early March. Don't even ask me how much this little beauty costs. All I am prepared to say is that it is very, very expensive!

You see me here trying a demo model. It's a truly small button accordion that packs the power of a larger model melodeon (the "proper" name for a button box!) into a tiny, tiny package.