July 7th, 2024Just sayin’…

By Donna Kelly

Hmmm. If I don’t hurry up this could be the first edition of The Local without a Just sayin’… column. OK, I agree, maybe not a bad thing.

Sadly I am a procrastinator so I have lots of ideas but not a lot of action. And I am also a perfectionist so if I start a column and then read it through and don’t like it, I hit delete and start again.

So after staring at this page for some hours, and wondering if Jane (above) would make a nice pet, I have decided to write about a few things.

Someone once told me when you start writing about your dog then things have gone pear-shaped, so no more talk about Jane. Although she does look sweet and greyhounds do make nice quiet pets. Anyone?

Anyway, here goes.

Firstly, I already feel sorry for the next set of Hepburn Shire councillors. Personally I think you would have to be mad to stand. The council is broke, has a low satisfaction rating (again), and it still has to work through its highly unpopular town structure plans. And the rates have just gone up.

So why would you put your hand up to step into the firing line? I guess if you are really keen on giving back to the community – although there is no money to give back with – or perhaps someone who should be popped into an institution to have a bit of a think about life.

The lack of wards will be interesting. I think there will be an over-representation from Creswick and Daylesford which may not play out so well for the smaller areas.

I guess we wait and see. The last council meeting for this current mob is September and then it’s into caretaker mode. So watch this space.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since we lost my mum. She died in May 2020 and after thinking about it I do blame the pandemic. She was in hospital, not for much at all, but things just kept going wrong.

And I think because everyone was so panicky that the ball got dropped a little with small things (not) like stopping blood thinners, wrong medications, a fall the family was never told about.

Of course we were wearing masks, you could only have one family member in at a time to visit and everyone had that look of fear, if you remember that part. The look of “I can’t believe I am in a hospital in a pandemic”.

Anyway, she died and we had a stupid tiny funeral with just 20 people. And everyone had to stand in their own pew which meant my mum’s best friends, who I had known all my life, were standing alone, crying. And I couldn’t even hug them.

It was two years later that we could finally hold a ceremony with about 80 people and scatter mum’s ashes off Olivers Hill in Frankston. Her wish. She used to go fishing with her dad off there in a little dinghy when she was a child.

He would tie her with a rope so she wouldn’t fall in. Her called her Sammy. This year on her birthday, June 21, I reached out (I hate that expression) to a Frankston Facebook page and asked if anyone would give their horns a little beep as they drove up or down Olivers Hill.

Lots of people wrote back that they would or had. So that was a nice thing. I hope to make it an annual event – Beep for Betty. Sorry in advance if it takes off and you live on Hopes Rise…

Oh, I know a few people who have lost parents recently and send them my love. It is a such a hard time. And even if they are “a good age” or “had a good innings” it’s always too soon.

Finally, and very much alive and well, is Maureen Andrew. She got in touch to say she is in a production of The Boy from Oz. So being a former local, and just a great person, I did a bit of a story and we also have some double passes to give away. Check out the story on page 14 (The Local current edition).

Maureen says performers, and all creatives, have a little bit of insanity going on and just keep on going with their passions.

I remember her atop our TL ute in the ChillOut parade one year. She was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Just climbed up and over, no worries at all.

And Kyle watched her limbering up at the gym once. Let’s just say this woman can bend. I am sure the show will be a big hit – if you get time pop along and support our performers. They did it hard and are back with a vengeance.

And pop Beep for Betty in your calendar – you never know, you might just be in Franga for the day. Just sayin’..