Hair Bear Bunch

by John Curnow on 21 Jun 2016 Way, way back in the day a certain club, Checkpoint Charlie, had lunacy nights that were all about celebrating the full moon. Whether that celestial event fell on the weekend or a ‘school night’ didn’t matter. The classic smiley face that is now better known as an emoticon, but if you’re old enough it is way more synonymous with original VW Kombis, was the mnemonic that told all it was time to party.

There were three guys that decided to take on the challenge of such a party and prepared for their trip with massive ‘fro wigs, huge MrT-esque style jewellery, oversize chrome sunglasses, paisley shirts and mohair coats. The second hand stores got a belting… They guarded their identity closely and certainly enjoyed their night immensely. It seemed their identity was the thing to discover, and even the lads’ girlfriends could not be sure it was them.

So whilst talking about Hanna-Barbera’s great cartoon series that originated in 1971 is a terrific conversation starter it is merely a segue for another Lunar Sea. On Saturday evening, the Whitsunday Sailing Club had an almost full moon race around White Rock. Warm, not wet and enough breeze to get you around the track paled into insignificance against the majesty of the views and a night race you could do entirely in shorts and T-Shirt. Many thanks to John, Clay, Polly and Bob for including me on the Crowther penned tri, Aeolus.

Now thank God it was an evening race, for if it had stretched into the morning, then the racers would have been met by voluminous amounts of water and Westerly busters. Of course another East Coast Low has just given Southern Queensland and NSW another drenching, and to some it may be no surprise to some that we have just had the hottest May on record since records first begun in 1880.

Elsewhere in the universe, and Brazil first had to deal with Zika, as if that was not big enough of an issue. Then last week there were the papers on super-bugs that have infected the beaches and also the watercourses where Rowing, Triathlon, Sailing and other sports will be held.

Before that there was the impeachment of the President, Dilma Rousseff, adding more politics to the equation. Now as the country grapples with recession, the news that they are in deep water fiscally is probably surprising to no one at all. The State of Rio is struggling to meet its obligations in terms of infrastructure for the games, as well as basic human services like doctors and police.

They have gone to the federal government cap in hand for $900m! All that cannot be good, and no amount of bossa nuova can take your attention away from that magnitude of disaster. They are even calling it one themselves. So whilst a couple are struggling to get there, many learned souls have begged anyone who would listen not to send any of the athletes there in the first place. One group will be right, for time will tell, as it always does…

There is more on the fiscal issues here, but we have now just had the spectre of violence raise its ugly head again. For ages it seems like it may have been under control, and the police were trying, but in one horrific stroke we may have seen the turn back into darkness. Bag snatching has always been prevalent, but armed robbery is another thing entirely. Our thoughts are with Liesl and Sarah at this time.

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