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Mick helped himself to a Jatz and a bit of cheese and sank into the canvas deck chair under the roller door in Bazza’s back shed. “Add a few cocktail onions and some gherkins, Bazza, and my old man would feel right at home here.” “Come off it, Mick. That’s top quality Tilba cheese.” They both air clicked stubbies and took a decent drink. Bazza leaned back, threw one leg over the other and squinted into the fading sunset. “Mick, I’ve decided to make a post lockdown resolu on.” Mick scanned Bazza’s back garden, paused on the half filled wheelbarrow now sprou ng weeds, and shook his head at the out of control pumpkin patch. “Good luck with that, Bazza. Your during lockdown resolu ons didn’t seem to go anywhere.” Bazza grinned. “Perspec ve, Mick. I’ve decided I must look at the world through other people’s perspec ves. I had a yarn to the daughter this morning and she was appalled I did not know anything about Britney Spears. She was on about the huge viola on of her human rights.” Mick leaned forward and shook his head. “Britney who?” “Well exactly, Mick. That’s what most people our age would say, but it’s a major issue with young people at the moment and I’m completely in the dark.” They both took another decent drink. “Anyhow, it got me thinking, Mick. Perspec ve. Your mates in Canberra can do with a bit of perspec ve. You see, I can understand the French being pissed off when we renege on a deal to buy their submarines for ones that are reliant on foreign powers to operate. I might even share in the amazement of some of our neighbouring countries when, in percentage terms, we spend three mes more of our budget on defence than the Indonesians and fi y percent more than the Chinese. We spend 44.6 billion dollars on defence and less than one tenth of that amount on foreign aid. I mean how does that all look from their perspec ve?” “You’ve got my head spinning, Bazza.” “Well to bring it home, Mick, I was out for a walk the other morning and a young girl of about five years of age falls off her bike. I stopped to help. She is absolutely furious with her bike and she looks at me and says “This bike is ge ng too li le for me.” I wasn’t game to correct her perspec ve on her world, Mick.” Bazza’s wife, Fran, suddenly appeared and blocked the remains of the sunset. “I am going to put a lock on the side gate, Mick, and another one on this shed. This backyard is a mess, Barry. A shed full of tools and all you have created is a war zone.” Bazza straightened. “Its all a work in progress, Fran.” “Not from my perspec ve, Barry. Not from mine.”

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018