Nooka recorded 21 members and one guest in attendance.  Our guest Louise Muggavin and the twenty-two members present were grateful to Nooka for his report. 

 

 

Once again this week, out of respect for Nooka, we have not taken his photo.  Instead we bring you an oil on canvas work we are calling 'Nooka goes electrical'.

 

 

Meal: Schnitzel, salad and chips.  Interestingly, schnitzels are served all around the world, but they vary greatly in different locations.  The typical Australian parmigiana style schnitzel with passata, cheese and sometimes ham is almost unique to Australia and New Zealand.

Our Sergeant David opened with an excellent joke about a priest, a doctor and a lawyer playing golf.  The joke was not fully appreciated by the lawn bowlers who listened to it being broadcast over the entire venue via the PA system.  Next time David try a joke about lawn bowls and see if they warn to that.  David then introduced our President, Bono.

Brendan reported;

In other reports;

Our guest speaker was Louise Muggavin, who Robbo recruited as a guest speaker while he was on death’s door in hospital.  You cannot question Robbo’s commitment to Rotary.

Louise is a former Rotary Exchange student who went to the Philippines in 1976.  She went to Iligan City in Mindanao.  She raised the $660 airfare herself by working during her school holidays.  Adjusted for inflation, that is the equivalent of about $5,250 today.  It is worth noting that the same flights today would cost less than $1,000. 

 

Louise noted that she stayed with very wealthy families, who had cooks, chauffeurs, and security guards.  The guards may have been helpful because she noted ‘Americans were being kidnapped’ at the time.  She attended the local university, which taught classes in English.  The experience developed a thirst for travel and Louise has since travelled all over the world.  She had hoped to return to Iligan City and visit old friend later this year, but the whole area is currently under a ‘do not travel’ advisory from DFAT. 

It was fascinating to hear from Louise about her exchange experience in a part of the world that most of us will never see.  We thank Louise for taking the time to present to us. 

Dillo then conducted an excellent fines session.  He was in Aldi recently and came across a collection of sports quiz questions that he described as ‘some of the worst questions you have ever seen’.  Naturally he thought of us and brought some of those questions in.  Dillo did tell a joke about Robbo, who liked tongue twisters, standing in court in front of the judge, who obligingly gave him a ‘tougher sentence’.  Don’t listen to them Dillo, I thought it was good.  Actually Dillo, I think what threw people off is that they were assuming Robbo was the defense attorney in your scenario, but you were assuming he was the defendant.

We had some fines from the floor before the barrel was drawn and Lew bagged the meal voucher on his birthday.  Happy birthday Lew!

Last Thursday The Age ran an excellent piece by Danny Russell looking at the whole Sirileo Miss drug scandal.  Out of respect to Danny and The Age and their intellectual property I wont repeat what was written, but I encourage members who are interested and are Age subscribers to read the article. 

 

A few people have asked for my thoughts on the matter.  Although it is a change of pace for the Central Spoke, I thought I would share my thoughts for those who might be interested.  Obviously I cannot offer any insight or expertise around the legal process involved.  What I can do is give you more of a scientific, biological perspective on the saga.