Dear O Sung Wu,

I'm sorry but I am not familiar with Robby G.

However my husband who's got a very vast collection
of old records that he inherited found for me amongst
his stack two old records. One entitled, "The Legend of Pele:
Sounds of Arthur Lyman," that includes some beautiful
music and exotic sounds. And the other one "101 Strings -
in a Hawaiian Paradise," that also includes the Hawaiian
War Chant, and many others. Both these old records virtually
provide a musical holiday in one of the most beautiful
places on earth. Breath-taking sound pictures of
sparkling beaches caressed by gentle trade-winds.

The enchantment of languid nights and hula guitars under
Polynesian skies. Truly Paradise.

Good afternoon to you FOXY...

Hawaii is a beautiful place for sure, even though Oahu the most populated of the Islands, is quite commercialised. Still the balmy evenings, the music in fact everything is very amenable to relaxing. Still if one were to unwittingly venture to, downtown Honolulu at certain times of the night, you'd swear you were somewhere in south central LA ? Still, that aside it's a truly alluring place nevertheless.

Years ago we spent six or seven nights at a hotel near the township of Hilo on the main Island, and it was brilliant ! Just about every evening they'd have a (sorry, can't think of the correct Hawaiian name?) 'party' come barbecue, on the beach with a small piglet being slowly roasted while turning on the rotisserie. The local chaps would sing along with their traditional songs, and the girls would do their hula's, it was very nice indeed. Particularly with the balmy evenings, the lights, together with the charming music and dance.

FOXY, it wouldn't take much persuasion, to entice my wife and I to retire over there, perched high up on some cliff with a commanding view of the beautiful sea in a palatial, but nevertheless stylized, traditional tropical bungalow. Ah well, that's the life !

Dear O Sung Wu,

I remember Hilo when we sailed to the US a
few decades ago. I thought it was Paradise
on earth. The colours were unlike any that
I had ever seen. The lushness really got to me.

However, I would never leave this country.
My family is here, my children, grandchildren,
extended family, family graves, and so on.
We've invested too much of our lives in this
country. Still it is nice to "arm-chair" travel.

No o sung wu, I didn't own a TV until the late 70s early 80s, so only occasionally saw bandstand.

When I was racing I was too busy to have time to watch it, & out in the islands there was none to watch.

I'm afraid my youth was severely deprived in entertainment.

Good evening FOXY...

Of course you're quite right, neither would I leave here, basically for the same reasons. I think it's just a moment or two of quietly musing over this and that, places you've been, people you've met, that's left an indelible impression on you.

Funnily enough, places you've visited on holidays that you've really liked, often when you return they don't seem to have that same persistent or enduring influence they did originally ? 'The pasture's always greener on the other side of the fence' ?

Not so music. A memorable tune or vocals, always seems capable of transporting you back to another time. There's one very simple melody that can make me ruminate upon my own poor decisions that I've made in times past. This tranquil but relatively solitary piano piece, by the great German composer, Ludwig van BEETHOVEN'S, first movement of the 'Moonlight Sonata' (after he wrote his famous 'Pathetique') can quieten me down no matter how 'stirred up' I might feel ?

I'm quite sure you're aware of this haunting, sad melody FOXY ?

Good evening to you HASBEEN...

It shows what a lazy lump was I sitting around watching TV all day ! No mate I just thought you may've seen Robby 'G' is all ? Your car racing must have been pretty intense I'd imagine, as was your involvement in the racing itself ? I recall we're speaking about the various circuits you've participated on and from memory you've pretty well covered all the major circuits, on the east coast at least ?

I did this course they called 'the pursuit driving course' when I was in the job (uniform). We concentrated on the 5.8 Falcons, and the old Cooper S, which I found bloody difficulty to access and egress the thing, but not too bad on the road. Though I successfully completed the course, a good driver I was not ! More like an adequate driver is all. Still at that time the old STP (the forerunner to the now Hwy. Patrol) did get you out and about a fair bit, and as long as you handed out a few 'pills' the bosses were reasonably happy. A dedicated GD's patrol meant you could be saddled with all manner of jobs, which could be a pain, in terms of being able to knock of at the conclusion of the shift.

But any sort of competitive car racing, I didn't do anything of the kind HASBEEN, so I really know 'squat' about it all. Cheers Mate.