peterbowes

[peterbowes]

mussels in the corridor and dinner overboard

Things go wrong in the top hotels all the time, that’s why there are so many buttons on the house phone. Housekeeping, in-room dining, concierge, front desk, valet parking  – and never a manager. How is it that staff in the hotel game can disappear from public sight when they get a promotion. All of a sudden they are working on some invisible floor in the building with no lift number – like the…

[peterbowes]

the heptagon.

It’s the Zionists says Ed. The Iranians say Alf. No, the Turks says Geoff, I reckon the Syrians says Wally. Bloody Yanks  says Pete. No mate, it’s the Russians says Bill. You’re all wrong, it’s Hamas says Habib. This is what a fellow of delicate sensibilities and a broad church of drinking companions has to put up with in the public bar of the local hotel .. but what can a man do, these men are…

[peterbowes]

Loss

[peterbowes]

ben buckler by chase hardaker

Photo by Orlanda Goffin. The late Scott Dillon once said he had it further around the point and he had to fight off Bluey Mayes who was lurking on the shoulder..

[peterbowes]

alfred comin’ lookin’

[peterbowes]

just about done here lads

A man has to know .. and thanks to  you all .. pete

[peterbowes]

why surfers are smarter than most

.. because they can figure this baby out in under a minute. … You are standing outside the closed door of a small room. On the left hand external panel are 3 light switches. Inside the room is only one lightbulb. The door can only be opened if all the switches are in the OFF position. Only one of the switches turn the light on.… ok? Which one?

[peterbowes]

the revisitation

Poland 1943 Australia 2025

[peterbowes]

guarding life

Lighthouse Beach. Ballina. Today. You know how sometimes when you are walking along the sand, close to the shoreline on a good surfing day, waves six foot plus, sets close together, tide incoming and the wash all of a sudden is up to your knees. Then you have to stop to let it recede. Lighthouse was closed today and up at the north end three youngsters were dodging about in the same shorebreak,…

[peterbowes]

anti-semitism

I was reminded of this image today when I read of the attacks on Synagogues and Jewish homes in Dover Heights, Vaucluse, Rose Bay and Woollahra .. my youthful turf. The image is of Rudolph Hoss’s bedroom, the camp commandant. The view is of the killing factories at Auschwitz. His wife enjoyed staying at the extermination camp, saying she had a lovely garden but the smell drifting in from the…

[peterbowes]

families

‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’  Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy.

[peterbowes]

in the interests of the nation

There were four of them sitting at a table in the local hotel, all about middle sixties, three men and one sweet faced lady, above them a screen showing the fourth Aus V India test match. Day five. Americans don’t understand this, they want their results pronto … we, on the other hand will watch a five day game and not complain when it ends in a draw. So I walked over to their table on our way…

[peterbowes]

Kevin Brennan. Fifty years dead.

Bloke rings me up a few weeks ago, says he’s Angus Fontaine and he’s writing an article for the Guardian and wants to talk about Kevin Brennan, being fifty years since he died. Bit of a memory test there but the longer we talked about Head the more came to mind. The article was published today,…

[peterbowes]

the years behind us ..

Born in 1944 .. gone for all money but home to a priceless album of memories. Not that anyone these days is interested but that’s what makes them precious .. these recollections.  So many discoveries, point breaks, beach breaks, river mouths – all but empty then but for a few, and those few who welcomed us visitors, happy to see us enjoying their spots. inviting us into their homes, their waves,…

[peterbowes]

you should have been here sixty years ago ..

Nobody worried too much about sharing the biggest wave of a set, all the boards weighed about fifty pounds, we didn’t do kgs and we didn’t do kms, a six foot wave was about ten foot, dropping in on your mates was pleasurable, pinching their girlfriends even better, nobody ever joined a surf club, we were all pacifists, meaning we kind of vanished when things got ugly at the pub on Saturday…

[peterbowes]

the cattleman

Walking up the footpath towards me a lean and rangy youth dressed in dusty boots and Levi’s, faded check long-sleeved shirt and a beat-up old hat as shady as a beach umbrella, loping past me, a sharp glance in my direction, not unfriendly. ’There’s a horse up the road looking for you, mate.’ I said. Five steps on I heard him say, ‘Has it got three legs or four?’   ‘Five.’ I answered  

[peterbowes]

meet nick and anthony ..

They started off Afterpay and earned many thousands of millions after it took off .. now you see its annoying little logo on nearly all the shop windows in nearly all the towns in nearly all of the country, and in case you weren’t born in the 40’s, Afterpay is the child of early Laybuy where the store looked after your purchase until you paid for it, now you can take it home straightaway and the…