Just A Lovely Xmas Carol Or Two. By Uncle Monty.

Just A Lovely Xmas Carol Or Two.

By Uncle Monty.

Photos By Alex Albion.

+
Friday evening rush hour was in full swing at
London’s Charing Cross Railway Station soon
after the talented 16-member St. Martin’s

Singers had assembled there to raise annual

Christmas Funds for The Connection at St.

Martin-in-the-Fields for its well-known
homeless mission that is located at the

heart of the world famous

Trafalgar Square.

+
St. Martin’s has helped to feed and clothe

the destitute, the unwanted, and the home-

less for centuries upon a time. While St.

Martin-in-the-Field is renowned the

world over for its classical music concerts

and its Angel recordings, it is also the Church’s

Anglican faith and mission to serve all of those,
who for one reason or another, have fallen

upon hard times and personal plight.

+
St. Martin’s Singers with Sky News recording

its upcoming Xmas feature on St. Martin’s.

I was interviewed as part of the feature, too.

+

As someone who was fed, clothed and housed

by The Connection when I first became home-

less after losing my home to a catastrophic fire,

I have for the past four Christmases done my

little part to help raise money by joining St.

Martin’s to say my little “thank you” for the
real help I was given at The Connection.
We have a moral and spiritual duty to pay
back in kind for the kindness given when one

was down and out. As a devout Anglican, I

believe that if everybody did a little toward

helping their fellow humankind, our world
would then be alot better place than it is today

with rising numbers of homeless around the

world among other human conditions that

can be solved or alleivated if we would all
just pull together, for once in awhile, to help

one another. It may sound "corny" to those

who don’t give a damn, but perhaps one day

thru their own life’s trials and tribulations,

such will not be viewed as "corny" by

them in the end. Let us pray for them.
+
A few nice St. Martin's ladies ...

+

The St. Martin’s Singers are truly a fine
amateur choir that saw some members of the
public stop, tarry, and listen to them appreci-

atively as others rushed on madly by to get
to their train connections to their suburban

homes or weekend destinations. It was the

last but one Friday before Christmas Day.

+

I do hope St. Martin's did okay for its annual

fundraising for The Connection. But things down

at my own Big Issue pitch don't bode well for this

2oo8 Christmas with my days looking like regular

ones, so far, instead of the usual extra Xmas giving

and spirit that looks pretty dead so far at London's

Covent Garden at where I sell my homeless mags.

I'd say I'm 50% off from last year's Christmas take

at my pitch aside from the lousey weather that

impedes such Big Issue vendors like me from

gaining that extra at Christmastide by selling on

the streets. Sure folkz are giving, but I'd say

such kind folkz are giving me 50% less than

they did last year. When one of my fellow

vendors came by to visit with me yesterday,

he said he thought this Christmas wasn't

looking very good for us Big Issue vendors.

But I told him, "Listen mate, I'm sorry it

seems that way and I agree you're probably

right, but for me I've already had my Christ-

mas by the expensive gift of a lifetime that

was given to me to travel to Australia and

back for free ... That's what I call a real

Xmas gift that it truly was to me. So I've

got nothing to really complain about at

this Christmas ..."
+
Below: A St. Martin’s parishioner who reg-

ularly helps collect money for the homeless

and who always plays her small tambourine

to accompany the carol singers at Charing

Cross. Sorry, I didn't catch her name ...

+

Roger Shaljean, a beloved and respected

figure at The Connection and, of course, at

St. Martin-in-the-Fields. And, rightly so ...

+
Roger Shaljean, 69, (shown above) is an

institutional figure at St. Martin’s, where for
years he has not only organized the Christmas

Appeal for The Connection, but he has also
been instrumental in organising the annual

interfaith Commemoration Service for the
Homeless Dead at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

And for over 40 years, Roger has been a qualified

social worker. He is a licensed Anglican Reader,

too, at the Diocese of London. He lives with his

family at Salop. He and I regularly exchange
emails though we don’t always get much of a

chance of seeing each other during the regular

year. We are both active and very busy people

doing our good thing, so to speak. Without Roger

at some point in the future, I’m not quite sure

how St. Martin’s will recover after he’s gone.

+

In the meantime, however, The St. Martin’s

Singers sang on at Charing Cross with such

lovely Christmas carols as Ding Dong Merrily

on High; Come, Come, Emmanuel, Once in

Royal David's City; Silent Night, Holy Night,

and The Holy and The Ivy, among the 30

carols they sang so beautifully and almost

reverentially at times.
+
Myself at Charing Cross Railway Station.

Myself doing my Xmas thing (far right,
above) with St. Martin’s Singers while getting

folkz to drop money into my Connection bucket.
I hope I raised perhaps several £100’s during my

three lovely one hour-Xmas Carol sessions for

the St. Martin’s gathering at London's Charing

Cross. All the folkz from St. Martin's also had,

I am sure, a good experience. I saw some of

the regular old hands there again this year. I

was unable, however, to accept an invitiation

to later attend the annual St. Martin's Vol-

unteer's Party due to an earlier commitment

to dine with American friends at the Inter-

national Photographers Association dinner.

+
In any event, I plan to be present again at
Charing Cross for next year's St. Martin's
fundraiser for The Connection. If you wish

to donate to them for Christmas, please

contact them directly either online or by

phone. Just look for The Connection at

google or in the phone book. They're

easy to find and easier to give to, too.

Failing that, be sure to come and see

The St. Martin Singers next year at

Charing Cross for just a lovely

Xmas carol or two ...

+

Kudos, Uncle Monty.

+Eve of 3rd Sunday of Advent, 2oo8.

+

Next, They'll Arrest Us For Chanting "God Save The Queen." By Uncle Monty.

Next, They'll Arrest Us For

Chanting "God Save The Queen."
By Uncle Monty.

~~~

Sixteen Spurs football fans are being hunted

down by Britain’s Hampshire Police for alleged

“racist and homophobic chants” against former

Tottenham defender Sol Campbell at a recent

Premier League match.

~~~

So far, two of the 16 wanted fans have

already been hunted down and arrested

by the Hampshire cops after the British

news media published CCTV mugshots of

such fans “chanting” abuse against Campbell.
+
Such is the latest case in England of where free-

dom of speech is yet again criminalized and at

where British laws have been passed to enable

such cops to hunt down those who speak their

mind against someone they don’t like and who in

this case is Sol Campbell. But because he’s black,

he’s protected from the vulgar and rude chants
of white football fans. Welcome, then, to modern
Britain, where everybody from immigrants
to foreigners are protected, but at where
British citizens are not if they dare say the
“wrong” things. Some of the biggest racists

and anti-gays are not the English, but

rather the same immigrants and foreigners

that the present leftist New Labour govern-

ment has freely harboured upon us without

any limit or cap on their dreadful numbers

that are now sinking the country to a terrible

social and economic abyss that threatens

everything that is, or was once, British.

~~~

If you’re anything that is weird or alien

and not Caucasian, then New Labour, of

course, dearly wants you. The more black,

the more gay, the more weird, the more

alien and/or the more foreigner you are,

then the more you're welcome by Britain’s

New Labour and no matter if the local British

folkz detest everything that is going on

in the country thesedays.
~~~
Who then is Sol Campbell other than a
black guy who kicks a football around for a

living? Or is he some sort of Black Emperor

or some feudal dictator of an African Banana
Republic at where we must all bend our knee

and bow our head to pay homage to him? To

chant against him in England we're told is

now a "wicked white crime," oh dreary me.

~~~

And, why is a whole police force of Hampshire

being deployed at the taxpayers' cost of £100’s

of thousands to hunt down, arrest and punish

those who have allegedly chanted ill against
footie Sol Campbell? Why is one person like

him now having the undeserved luxury and

special right of a whole police force at his beck

and call? What New Labour has done is to

graft special rights on all others that don't

belong in any way to the majority culture

either by accident or choice or default.

~~~
Why, too, did the British news media stoop

down to publish the mugshots of the 16

chanters (shown above) as if some how they’re

equivalent to wanted “Muslim terrorists” or

"heinous criminals," which they most certainly

are not? The freesheet – thelondonpaper –

devoted almost half a page with its condemnatory

headline - “Spurs fans sought over racist abuse” -

focussing on the accused and police-wanted

soccer fans under the byline of its staff

writer Richard Moriarity.

~~~

The whole thing regarding "the chants"

against Sol Campbell is a stupid and a pre-

posterous police priority that is so typical of

the endgame of the political and social agenda

of today's "Broken Little Britain." Next, they'll

arrest us for chanting "God Save The Queen."

After all, some New Labour freak could comp-

lain such was "racist" in nature, if some white

folkz chanted so on the football stands or

outside of Buckingham Palace. Then the

police would move in with their trigger-

happy laws and arrest such pro-Queen

patriots. That's how stupid and preposter-

ous New Britain has now become along

with its politicized cops and the ever out-

landish authorities tagging along to enforce

politically-correct speech. At, you bet, the

expense of what was once our freedom to

speak on how we wanted. Such is becoming

worse by the day under the gross tyranny

of New Labour that should be sent to pur-

gatory for the political sins they've commit-

ted against the British people over the

past 12 years in office.

~~~

In the end, though, Sol Campbell can either

freely quit his footballing or he make his way

back to where ever his ancestry first originated.

I wish more like him would do so, but England

is now struck with them. I just want to vomit,

I do ... least I also chant the wrong things in

my own country that has now been robbed

from me and those 16 Spurs chanters by our

present hideous New Labour government

and under Britain's ever sweeping and

catch-all anti-free speech laws.

~~~
Footballer Sol Campbell.

Let me vomit, Uncle Monty.
+11th Day of Advent, 2oo8.

~~~

:: UPDATE ::

MORE SPURS FANS NOW HUNTED DOWN.

By Uncle Monty.

~~~

Along with the London Evening Standard’s

provocative news report by Anna Davis entitled -
Football racists who chanted at Campbell 'include

a policeman' - all but 7 of the 16 wanted Spurs fans

have already been hunted down, captured, arrested,

and charged in Britain by the Hampshire Police in their

unbending quest to charge them with alleged “racist

and homophobic” chants. Now the latest twist to

the ongoing news story is of a British policeman

being perhaps among the 16 chanters, which is re-

ported like political paranoia and radical zeal among

the New Labour media establishment. I still cannot

see how chanting of any kind can be classified as any

sort of “crime,” let alone hunting people down like

we're in a national witch hunt against those some-

times rather vulgar and rude Spurs football fans

against Sol Campbell. Who the hell is Campbell

anyway other than a footie who happens to

also be racially-black. So what?

+13th Day of Advent, 2oo8.

~~~

:: And Here We Go Again ::

By Uncle Monty.

Six London Met cops are to appear at the Old

Bailey next April, 2oo9, following "allegations

of racial abuse" at Sussex Gardens back on

June 1st, 2oo7, reports the local weekly West

End Extra in its Dec. 12th, 2oo8, edition. We're

undergoing a cultural revolution at the hands of

British New Labour laws that are criminalizing

all of those who don't comply with its political

and racial agenda. I wonder when and where

all of this criminalizing will take us and make

us a white criminalised people who can be

hauled into the courts of our own country at

anytime by the New Leftist masters and law-

makers of today's Broken Little Britain.

+15th Day of Advent, 2oo8.

...

Grand Funeral for Grand Patriarch. Ecumenical Notes By Uncle Monty.

Grand Funeral for Grand Patriarch.

By Dmitry Solovyov and Oleg Shchedrov.

Ecumenical Notes By Uncle Monty.
+
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy

II was buried on Tuesday after a long and elaborate funeral

ceremony at which he was praised for reviving the nation's

Christian faith after decades of communist rule. State broad-

casters canceled normal programing to broadcast live the

half-day ceremony for Alexiy, who died on Friday aged 79

after 18 years leading the world's biggest Orthodox church.
Thousands of ordinary Russians lined the streets of Moscow

to see the coffin pass as bells tolled. Some mourners wept.

+
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir

Putin, in black suits and black ties, attended the funeral. Both

kissed Alexiys' robed body on a catafalque surrounded by white

roses in the heart of Moscow's gold-domed Christ the Saviour

Cathedral. "He spoke in the language of eternity, he under-

stood that only love could unite people," the church's interim

leader, Metropolitan Kirill, said in a speech delivered beside

the coffin, which was draped in a green, red and white shroud.

Kirill, 62, was helped away by aides at one point during the

lengthy ceremony. The Church said he was in good health and

had not fainted, and he subsequently rejoined the funeral.

+
Orthodox patriarchs and metropolitans (senior bishops)

from Russia and abroad stood in the vast cathedral as

priests chanted the liturgy, followed by funeral rites. Arch-

priest Dimitry Smirnov, head of the Patriarchy's department

for cooperation with the army and law enforcement forces,

praised Alixiy's role in the church's revival after the Soviet

Union collapsed in 1991. "The number of churches multi-

plied to 30,000 and the number of monasteries to 700

from 18 (under Alexiy)," he said. "This is a fantastic

number, so fantastic it is difficult to believe, but it is true."

Alexiy's opponents say he allowed the church to become a

junior partner of the Kremlin when Putin was president,

and the Patriarch failed to shake off allegations he worked

as an informer for the Soviet KGB. The church denied this.
+

Christ The Saviour Cathedral

+

ALEXIY INTERRED
The presidents of Moscow's close allies Belarus, Armenia

and Serbia, at least 11 Russian cabinet ministers, top Kremlin

officials and leading businessmen also attended the funeral.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council

for Christian Unity, led a delegation from Rome, with whom

the Russian Church has at times had strained relations.

+
Throughout the funeral, the coffin lay in the center of the

cathedral, which was rebuilt in the 1990s after being de-

stroyed by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. At the catafalque's

head stood a floral display depicting the Orthodox cross

with its extra two bars.
+
As the ceremony ended, top clergy said prayers for Alexiy's

soul and lined up to file past the coffin and kiss him farewell.
The coffin was carried out of the cathedral over a path of

white roses, said to be his favorite flower.

+
A black hearse drove the body in a convoy escorted by

police through the cold, rainy streets to the 18th-century

Epiphany Cathedral, where Alexiy was laid to rest in a

private ceremony. "I feel today that a great saintly man

has left us. I hope he will pray for Russia when in heaven.

I attended his sermons and he was such an approachable

and simple man in his everyday life," pensioner Olga

Larchenko said.

+
Kirill, whose official title is Metropolitan of Smolensk

and Kaliningrad, was chosen by a 12-man Holy Synod

of top church leaders as interim leader last Saturday.
The Holy Synod will on Wednesday announce a date

for convening the Local Council, a body of the

Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy and laity

which will choose a new Patriarch.
+

Grand Metropolitan Kirill.

(Reuter writing by Michael Stott and Guy

Faulconbridge; editing by Timothy Heritage)

+

:: Ecumenical Notes By Uncle Monty ::

I have seen three different spelling of the

late Patriarch's name of Alexei or Alexiy or

Alexye. I do not know which is the correct

spelling of his formal religious name. I am un-

aware also, at this time, if the See of Canterbury

sent a funeral delegation on behalf of the Anglican

Church of England to the Grand Patriarch's burial

service at Moscow. I would very much hope so.

At this point, I assume His Grace, Archbishop

Rowan Williams of Canterbury, either attended

in person or was represented at the funeral.

I have thus far seen no secular press reports

of any formal Anglican presence at such an

important ecumenical and funeral event.

Truly, Uncle Monty.

+10th Day of Advent, 2oo8.
+

Rest Eternally, Great Patriarch. Ecumenical Notes By Uncle Monty.

Rest Eternally, Great Patriarch.

Ecumenical Notes By Uncle Monty.
Osternachtfeier in der Christ-Erlöser-Kathedrale.
Präsident Wladimir Putin und Patriarch Alexi II.
von Moskau und ganz Russland tauschen
Glückwünsche zum Osterfest aus.
+
Russia pays tribute to Patriarch Alexei II
as 'true pastor.' Moscow (ENI).
Condolences on the death of Patriarch Alexei II poured
in, as the Moscow Patriarchate announced that a synod
of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church would convene
to name a locum tenens who would serve until the election
of a new leader of the world's largest Orthodox church.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, known as president for
his close relationship with Alexei, called the patriarch's
death "a very tragic and sorrowful event". "Not only
was he a prominent figure in the history of the Russian
Orthodox Church, but also a great statesman," said
Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
+
World Christian leaders praise Moscow
Patriarch Alexei II. Geneva (ENI).
Christian leaders and organizations from around the
world have issued statements to mark the death of
Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church, who
died on 5 December at the age of 79. The World Council of
Churches, which groups 349 churches, mostly Anglican,
Protestant and Orthodox said, "The WCC and the ecu-
menical movement have lost today a leading figure, a
powerful voice that knew how and when to be supportive
and constructive but also how and when to be vigilant and
critical. He guided the Russian Orthodox Church moving out
of the atheist regime. He led the Russian Orthodox Church
through a long, patient and important reconstruction process
during which the members of the clergy, parishes, monast-
eries, seminars and other institutions serving the church
and her people were multiplied with a spectacular speed."
+
Moscow Patriarch Alexei II praised for
role in changing times. Moscow (ENI).
Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church
has died at his residence in Peredelkino, 40 kilometres
from central Moscow, the church's Moscow Patriarchate
has announced. No cause was given for the death on 5
December of the 79-year-old patriarch. The previous
evening Alexei held a church service in one of Moscow's
central cathedrals to mark a major religious holiday,
the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. It said
the church's ruling body, The Holy Synod, was
to gather for an urgent meeting in Moscow on
6 December following the death of its leader.
+
Alexei II: Russian Patriarch who saw in
big changes – Obituary. Moscow (ENI).
Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church,
who died on 5 December at the age of 79, will go down
in history as the cleric who presided over Russia's
"second baptism" - the post-communist era which saw
the liberation of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well
as the restoration of battered church buildings and, even
more important, of the church's status as an institution
at the very heart of the nation's cultural and political life.
Much had to be done in the 1990s as the church, with no
experience of a modern pluralist democratic society,
struggled to preserve its traditional theology and
practices in a rapidly changing nation. The Patriarch
approached the challenge cautiously, making the unity
of his church his priority, and steering a careful path
between the reforms advocated by progressive clergy
and the deep-rooted conservatism of others.
+
Above and Below Reports Taken From
The Ecumenical News International (ENI)
News Highlights. 5-9 December 2008.
+

:: UPDATE ::

Russians honour Patriarch Alexei;

dignitaries arrive for funeral. Moscow (ENI).

Thousands of Russians stood in line for hours outside

Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to pay final

respects to Patriarch Alexei II, who died after leading the

Russian Orthodox Church to revival in the post-Soviet era.

The funeral of Alexei who died on 5 December was to

take place on 9 December led by Patriarch Bartholomeos I

of Contstantinople, the Rev. Nikolai Balashov, the Moscow

Patriarchate's secretary for Inter-Orthodox relations told

the Itar-Tass news agency. Relations between the Moscow

and Constantinople patriarchates have been marked by

conflict over influence in former Soviet territories, but at

a meeting in July in Kiev during celebrations marking the

1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, Alexei and

Bartholomeos said Orthodox unity was of foremost

importance and they pledged to pursue dialogue.

+

Vatican and Moscow mull future relations after

Patriarch's death - Analysis. Rome (ENI).

Russian media created a stir in the weeks before the

death of Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox

Church, by reporting that plans were underway for a

meeting in 2009 with Pope Benedict XVI at an interfaith

forum in the Azerbaijani capital. Officials of the Moscow

Patriarchate rushed to quash such speculation. Still,

observers have suggested that relations between the

Russian church and the Vatican are warmer under

Pope Benedict XVI than during the papacy of his

predecessor, John Paul II.

+

Rendezvousing Again At Hong Kong. By Uncle Monty.

Rendezousing Again At Hong Kong.

Story By Uncle Monty.

Photos By Alex Albion.
...
Hong Kong beckoned me again to rendezous with

Contessa Maria, who wasn’t particularly happy

when I declined her Christmas invitation to go onto

Los Angeles with her and then to go on from there to

Mexico’s Cancun for the New Year. While I was in

Oz, Maria had travelled onto Papua New Guinea,
New Zealand, and Tasmania without me, because I

wanted to spend as much time as I could exploring

Australia itself – a huge country, of course - along

with attending The 6th World Homeless Cup, go-

ing to the Oz capital of Canberra, and visiting and

staying with dear friends Carl and Myrna Hancock

out at Adelaide Hills. Plus, my unquenchable desire

and aim to encounter and to photograph for the

first time in my life those irresistable kangaroos.

Everything that I set out to do, I successfully and

happily completed while on the other side of the

world.

...

Maria didn’t enquire of me what I had done in

Aussieland, but it was due entirely to her financial

underpinning that I had freely spent over 16 days

inside Oz like being as free as a bird. She had no

interest, naturally, in homeless football or kanga-

roos or visiting with the Bush Aussies. Her only
interest was that I was content and grateful with

what she had done again for me. I most definiately

was ... Although, whenever I don’t go along with
all that she wants of me she then turns on me
and says I’m “always ungrateful” to her for
what she’s already done for me over the past
almost 4 years of getting to know each other.

But, she knows full well I am eternally grateful

to her for all she's done without conditional love.
...
Now at Hong Kong, Maria was nagging, baiting,

and poking at me again. Where within less than

three weeks we had now had our second Asian
rendezous to sort out what she and I wanted to
do either together or individually. Her mind was

made up that it was easier for us to go on together

to the West Coast of Obama's US of A, than for me

to fly on alone across parts of the Middle East and

huge swathes of Russia to get finally back to frigid

and broken England after my first Australian ad-

venture which had taken me more than 25,000

miles there and back, and to and from, the other

side of the world. "Maria, you've done by far too

much for me already," I told her. "You don't need

to do anymore," I earnestly added to her. In the

end then she went onto LA without me and I to-

ward Pakistan, Iran, Russia, the Eastern and

Western countries of Europe and to finally

hit icy cold Heathrow head on by Qantas.

...

Inside Hong Kong International Terminal

...

Coming back to Hong Kong on Qantas – Australia’s

Fly Kangaroo – was nothing short than an health hazard.

On my left side sat a young hospital nurse from Northern
Ireland with all the sniffles and sneezes of a very bad cold
and who constantly spread her germs to others like me by

her failure to cover her coughing and her nose blowing with

decent hankies or paper tissues. While right in front of me

at seat 68 G was a heavyset, lanky, and brooding middle-age

fellow who pushed the back of his seat almost into my face.
I finally had to ask a stewardess to tell him to pull his seat
back from blocking my ability to almost move in my own seat.
Then those babies crying and squealling during most of the

flight was like seeing a flying maternity ward with rich doting

mums all trying to outdo each other on how many baby nappies

they could change in front of us 400+ air passengers on our

longstretch Boeing 747. While behind me in the next row were
two loud male chatterboxes yabbing away in their exotic lang-

uage and then belting out their shrill bouts of inexplicable giggles
and grunts. They went on no-stop for hours. The location of my
row of seats seemed to also exclude us from getting served those

extra juices or treats, since we were either a row behind or a

row too short for the cabin stewardesses as they went by us to

always serve others. I had to wave and shout at times to get

finally an extra biscuit or soft juice that the Irish nurse next

to me thought it was then for her and not for me. As for the

loo, it was like waiting at Piccadilly Circus to cross the road

without getting trampled on by an herd of bloody tourists or

God-damn mindless foreigners. And then being forced to

wait upto 20 or 30 minutes to find a free and empty loo

while holding on like grim death at somewhere in midair

over Russia or where ever to urgently complete

one's deed of Mother Nature.

...

Another thing back in Oz, I have never seen anywhere

else on how folkz seemingly spend hours waiting at each

predestrians crossing for the lights to change to green

so that they can walk on across the city street. Most

folkz stand passively even when there is no traffic

near by them. They wait and wait for the lights
to turn green while I'm about to turn red.

Safety yes, zombie conditioning no.
...
And to think, by the way, that Contessa Maria had

spent almost £1,000 of her own money on buying

my Qantas ticket was a wicked shame considering

what harzard and discomfort that I went thru on

the first leg of my almost 10,000 mile airflight
just from Melbourne to Hong Kong.
..
Fun Figures At

Melbourne’s Bourke Street.

...
Moments before we said our "goodbyes" and our

"Merry Christmases" to each other on departing

Hong Kong, Maria had her Xmas gift already to

give to me. She insisted that I opened it before she
embarked on her LA flight for she wanted to be sure,

she said, that she had the right gift for me and that

I was indeed “grateful” for her ditigal gift of a swanky

and sophisticated brand-spanking New Dell Latitude

series laptop with its gleaming and polished finish of

silver chrome. It was my first Christmas present of

2oo8. When she asked me a few weeks ago what

I might like from her for Xmas, I timidly hinted

I’d like a laptop. She then asked me: “What’s a

laptop?” Maria was quite mystified by such a

thing. My answer to her was: “A laptop is a

compact folding computer that you can rest

on your lap, literally.” I explained such quite

gently to the Contessa without sounding at all

superior and big headed or appearing mildly

computer savvy. So, thanks again to my guardian

angel, I now have my first Dell laptop to take with

me here and there and to upload my images with-

out any problem in the future when I’m mobile

just doing this or that for my sometimes nasty

and ever critical blog … This story I am now

writing here is on my New Dell laptop, too.
...

Maria's Xmas gift and my Oz Big Issue Bush Hat.

...
My Christmas Greetings from
Hong Kong, Uncle Monty.
+8th Day of Advent, 2oo8.
...

AFGHANISTAN WINS 6TH WORLD HOMELESS CUP. Oz Report By Uncle Monty.

AFGHANISTAN WINS 6TH

WORLD HOMELESS CUP AT OZ.

WHC Founder Mel Young fetes them.

Oz Report By Uncle Monty.

Photos By Alex Albion.

...

Afghanistan became today the 6th

World Homeless Cup Champions after

defeating Russia 5-4 to win the final

match against their arch football rivals at

Melbourne's Federation Square at where

an estimated 50,000 fans packed the

homeless football event of the year.

Mel Young, Founder of the WHC

(shown above) then feted the new

champions of our homeless sport.
...

Aussie Big Issue Vendor John With Uncle Monty.

Good luck to all the homeless who participated

at Melbourne. You're all champions one way

or another. I have been so glad to spend

time here at Melbourne to see and hear

ya all that's to do with homeless people

and the world sport of the common and

decent humanity. Congrats, Afghans.

Three cheers, Uncle Monty.

+2nd Sunday in Advent, 2oo8.
...

:: UPDATE ::

While at Mebourne's 6th Homeless

World Cup, the "Gulf in the Media" reports:
"The entire Zimbabwean and Afghan soccer teams

competing in the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne

have applied for asylum in Australia. At least one
Kenyan player disappeared soon after his arrival in

Australia and may be planning to stay illegally,

the Melbourne Herald Sun reported.
The competition brings together teams from around the

world made up entirely of homeless people. The tournament

was won by Afghanistan, which defeated Russia 5-4 in the

final. Both the Afghan and Zimbabwean teams are no longer

in the lodgings they were assigned for the tournament. The

eight Afghan players and the seven on the Zimbabwean

team held visas good for 21 days after entrance. The
Immigration Department confirmed it had received

15 applications for asylum from Homeless Cup players.
The teams come from two of the most troubled countries

in the world. Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed and

a cholera epidemic has killed hundreds of people in

the African nation, while violence has recently

increased in Afghanistan."

- 14-ذو الحجة-1429ه -

...

My Big Day of Kangaroos At Oz. By Uncle Monty.

My Big Day of Kangaroos At Oz.

Story By Uncle Monty.

Exclusive Kangaroo

Photos By Alex Albion.

<>

Long before I came to visit Oz
over the past two weeks, I had
mental images of spending at least
a good day simply photographing
the kangaroos upclose and especially
in their natural habitat if at all poss-
ible. And luckily today was the day
I finally was able to do that with my
cameras and steady timing to record
perhaps more than 20 kangaroos all
in one go for the first time in my life.
To come face to face with my first
kangaroo just feet away from me
was exhilirating and extraordinary
for me. I could have hand fed them
easily, if they had needed me to.
<>
One of the kangaroo species is
called "Marcopus fuliginosus"
or the Western Gray Kangaroo.
Such live in large family groups
in their wild habitats across
Kangaroo Island and in different
areas of the Australia mainland.
Then there is the "Macropus rufus"
or The Red Kangaroo. Such are
usually brick-red in colour and as
many as upto 300 of them at a time
may gather at fresh grasslands
and at new shrubs to feed en-
masse and are found primarily
in central Australia. The Red
Kangaroo, I believe, is the largest
of the kangaroo family with large
hindlegs and big body bones. They
stay together as a family group
throughout their earthly life.
<>

<>
The shape of the kangaroo
and the way it moves and hops is
more enthralling at eyesight than
in the best photographs or films
that most of us have seen. I love
wildlife, but I love the kangaroo
now more than ever after my so-
journ to their family habitats
this day ...
<>

Parental Kangaroos.

<>
Your's truly, Uncle Monty.
+The 5th Day of Advent, 2oo8.
<>

After Most British Adelaide. By Uncle Monty.

After Most British Adelaide.

By Uncle Monty.

-.-

Of the capitals I have now seen at

Victoria, at New South Wales, and

at the Australian Capital Territory,

Adelaide, the capital of South

Australia, is the most British of

them all. Statues of Queen Victoria

and King George V, along with other

statues or memorials of British or

Commonwealth nobility, that echoed

the history and era of Australia's mother-

land of pre- and post-Victorian England.

Adelaide was also the most "Xmasy"

of the Australian cities and towns I

have thus far visited at this Advent.
.-.

Adelaide is still a noble city with its

most British ancestry still intacted

from what I could see and hear as I

scoured the capital to see what else I

could discover and find. I first strolled

down to Tarndanyangga at Rundle Park.

I also found that Adelaide's reputation

as "The City of Churches" stood firmly

so. A mix of old and new churches, of

big and small, and of every Christian

denomination I saw. And, non-

Christian, too. I also saw the

impressive Masonic Headquarters

and visited inside. What I found on

travelling thru the small towns scat-

tered across South Australia was the

unlikely number of active Masonic

Lodges everywhere. Free Masonry

is strong here and for what reasons I

do not know. Perhaps they associate

Free Masonry with being British. I do

hope not, for I think we need to be

free of all the wierd things that such

a negative and strange craft tends

to cook-up in other people's mind.

._.

Four things happened while I was in

Adelaide that I think helped make

my visit of special interest to me.

First, I bumped into a real Buddhist

monk and who I photographed in

his monk attire. We chatted, too.

Then down at the grand Railway

Station I found Kelly M selling her

copies of The Big Issue at AUS$5.00

each on her first day of being an Aussie

Big Issue street vendor. Kelly told me

she was just 19 and had sold six copies

already before I bought her seventh.

She was with three or four of her

friends to give her some support

during her first time selling. She said

she was a homeless student. In Aus-

tralia, The Big Issue also recruits those

who are unemployed and not just the

homeless and the vunerable. I'm

surprised that London's Big Issue

hasn't turned to the unemployed, too.

.-.

Then there is the Aussie 2oo9 Big Issue

calander here that is a hot seller for the

most vendors. Perhaps the Vauxhall Big

Issue gang will follow suit and start pub-

lishing a British Big Issue calander to help

vendors make more money on the streets

as well as helping BI co-founder John Bird

and his galloping gang to make some more

profits, undoubtedly. The Aussie 2oo9 Big

Issue Calander is simply superb, I must say.

.-.

My third encounter at Adelaide was

with Dunga, 39, an Iraqi Kurd, and she

was studying for her Master's degree in

architecture and although she's been

in Australia for 6 years she wants one

day to return to Iraq as an architetect.

Dunga was an educated and Westernize

lady, who was so much fun to chat with.

She said she was a Sunni and even told me

I was quite aware of the various religious

fractions in Iraq that most Europeans

had not idea about.

.-.

While conversing with Dunga, I

also met David age 19. He is a Sudanese

refugee and was on his way to Melbourne

to try to get a job of which he's had little

luck getting in Adelaide, he said. David

told me he's been in Oz for the past 5

years and found many Aussies were

hostile to him as an African refugee.

He seemed to have a very outgoing

disposition and I was hopeful he'd do

okay in Melbourne at least.

.-.

Arriving back today to Melbourne -

where spring ended and summer began

yesterday - I then ventured over to The

Big Issue headquarters on Melbourne's 148

Lonsdale Street, just next door to the Wesley

Uniting Church. When I got there, nice Alice,

one of the BI vendor support staff, told me

they were closed until 2:00pm for lunch.

I said I would return later, which I did.

.-.

In the meantime, I bumped into

Australian Barrister James McQuillan,

Q.C. just a stone's throw from the

Supreme Court of Victoria and much

to my surprise he promptly agreed to

let me photograph him in all his black

Inns of Court robes. James was a fri-

endly fellow and he was originally from

Northern Ireland, he told me. I told

him that Jeanine McQuillan, who

worked for the Royal Masonic Society

in London until she recently retired,

was a dear friend of mine back in Eng-

land. She is also from Northern Ireland.

Maybe they're related?
._.

After that, I then popped back to the

Coinworks shop to look at more world

coins and medals, but the prices were too

high thu the quality and variety was out-

standing despite finding myself priced

out of the market. British pennies from

1888 to 1908 ranged from AUS$10.00 to

AUS$50.00 each. Such are pretty common

coin dates, with the exception of a few

notable dates or mintmarks, in England

and they can be bought for a quid and less

unless they're in mint or proof condition.

.-.

Whatever, I then returned to The Big

Issue Australia and with its doorbell

broken, we were informed to knock

the front door "loudly." I did so and

after three tries of banging loudly

there came another vendor support

staff called Virgina. She tried to fob

me off by telling me that they didn't

open until 2:00pm even thu it was

now past 2. I asked for Alice, but

she'd already gone downtown to watch

the ongoing 6th World Homeless Cup

at Federation Square. So I was now

stuck with Virginia, who wouldn't let

me inside The Big Issue even if I was

a visitor or not from all the way from

England. She grabbed a couple of back

issues and a red Big Issue cap and

thrust them into my hand. She then

went to shut the door again in my

face until I remonstrated with her

that it was past 2 and that I would

like to interview someone or anybody

from The Big Issue Australia. She

was unmoved and disinterested was

Virginia. She was too busy to spend

any of her time answering whatever

questions I might have about The Big

Issue. Finally, she left opened the

front door and vendors seemingly

appeared from nowhere knowing

themselves it was now past 2 when

they could come to pickup their issues

at $2.50 per copy and they make $2.50

profit when sold. They must buy a

minimum of 5 copies each time. Per-

manent pitches are assigned to regular

vendors, but irregular ones get what-

ever is then left over. There are

about 85 vendors at Melbourne.

.-.
I got to speak to and to photograph

a number of vendors while at

The Big Issue back yard on Lons-

dale. With about 20 coloured plastic

chairs for vendors to sit on, the yard

was rough and crude. I was surpris-

ed, too, to find out how many of the

vendors came from British parents, which

included first generation Aussie Simone

Mole, age 47, who told me her English

dad had disappeared some 45 years ago

and left her family high and dry. He was

from Cambridge, so Simone told me.

She does her vendoring on and off

and enjoys doing it when she does.

To her, "The Big Issue staff are won-

derful." Then British-born vendor

Gordon Pearson, also 47, like Simone,

seemed to be really chuffed by my visit

while Big Issue staffer Virginia was so in-

different to say the least. Gordon has

been a Melbourne street vendor for

almost ten years and loves it ...

.-.

Then I saw "Peachy," 24, with his

left hand all bandaged-up and in his

right hand he held his well-used

skateboard as he arrived to buy his

copies of the latest Christmas edition

that had come out a few days ago.

He's been selling Big Issue for almost

3 years. His bandaged hand had re-

sulted from Peachy having gotten in

a street brawl with some drunken

guyz just days before. I saw Peachy

later hopping on to Tram 59.

.-.

Next was Paul, another vendor, who

I'd met 3 days earlier on Collins

Street, and the only vendor who had

been nasty to me when I asked him to

give me a copy of the 2oo9 Big Issue

calander instead of a back issue he had

sold me. He sneered and complained

about exchanging one for the other.

I told him if he wouldn't give me a

calander, I wanted my money back

after I caught him with several copies

of the Aussie Big Issue calander

when he had first lied to me saying

he only had one calander left ... When

I later emailed Sandra Del Monaco

about the incident, she simply ignored

me by not answering me. So much then

for the stiff staff of Big Issue Australia. I

think I know now why they also failed to

organize the proposed 1st International

Conference on Homelessness. They

simply don't have the skill, aptitude,

or in-put to pull off such a worthy feat.

They seem more interested in making

more profit and money off the backs

of the Aussie homeless folkz than of

achieving something beyond their Big

Issue profits and their commonality of

doing business as usual. Otherwise, the

global problem of homelessness can

just go to hell as far as Big Issue

Australia is concerned. That's how

I feel about it after seeing upclose

something of the Big Issue operation

at Melbourne. I wasn't impressed ...

Should I have been? You bet.

.-.

Cheers, Uncle Monty.

+4th Day of Advent, 2008.

---