It was a pretty little town, with trees in the main street. We used to drive through it to visit the brother-in-law who had an opal mine at Lightning Ridge. But, as he coughed his lungs up over the phone the other day, he told me all the shops are boarded up and you wouldn't want to go there now. That's what opal mining and diving for abalone does to your lungs. Yep, apparently it's the posting from hell if you're a policeman.
When I was a musician, another one of my career choices, I remember one band where a couple of the members were Torres Strait islanders, the rhythm guitar player and the vocalist, who sang like Lena Horn. Lovely people they were. They couldn't have cared less if the cheese was Coon, which I seem to remember from decades ago, maybe even schooldays.
I better sign off before the cancel mob comes for me. There seems to be a lot of mobs around these days. Why is that?
