Frank’s old school. The Austin Healey, first prize for translating “The Nigger of the Narcissus” into Strine, (courtesy of the Briquette Council).

Strap yourself in for another one from Frank, but we assure you this will not be a bumpy ride. For as Professor Henry Higgins will tell you; ‘the missiles raining over Ukraine, fall largely over the plain‘. this is an undisputed fact from our correspondent in Kiev Andrei Dropov, (pronounced “Drop-off’) who is busy translating into local dialect our P.M’s trenchant support to assist the beleaguered country with press releases and photo opps.

Yallourn, famously planned and then, dug-up through a bureaucratic oversight.

One can only hope that this sustained attack on credulity, truth and sensibility will render the Russian war machine moribund, lest it lead to general necrosis of the sensible  climate debate as has occurred in Australia.

Still we have it on good authority that Dr Brendan Nelson is taking submissions from Ukrainians arriving in Australia for a planned annexe to the AWM’s ” Over a hill somewhere’ interactive museum addition. In which snippets of the Ukrainian national anthem will be played over  a re- enactment of Australia’s elite SAS kicking bound Afghanis down a hill. Though Ukraine is remote from Australian military intervention it was felt that the spirit shown by the Ukrainians in their spirited defence and a recent shipment of Vegemite bound them to the noble tradition of ANZAC. A tradition that will ensure even if they lose, they will still win.

‘Knock off’ at ol Yallourn.

Frank writes;

Доброго дня

 I did “scientific German” at Yallourn Tech. Our class took it in turns to read out aloud bits out of a text which had chapters on various branches of science and then had to translate these, which we did with the (permissible) aid of a dictionary.

Franks house demolished (via a bureaucratic oversight) in ol Yallourn.

I’ll never forget the lesson when we read and translated the chapter dealing with the atrophying of organs by underusing them. By the time the climactic dropping off of the organ arrived at the end of the chapter, we were all in pain from uncontrolled laughter.

This atrophying isn’t confined to organs. Non use of knowledge leads to similar results. Thus, it was with my knowledge of soil science. I’d forgotten all about Chernozems when thinking about the Ukrainian conflict. Gas pipelines, NATO encroachment, nuclear armaments and reactors, oligarchs, Russian history (from Rasputin to Putin), Flashman’s Crimean adventures (like when he threw a Russian princess? out of a troika when being pursued by Cossacks who were gaining on him) these were all crossing my mind, but not Chernozem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGGkDogh0kM

Rasputin doll advert. Very popular amongst the ‘chinless’ in ol Imperial Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCLvZ3pffpc

Chernozem (black earth) is a usually deep black soil.
In Polish there is: Czarnoziem (Czarna ziemia) 
In Ukrainian there is: Chornozem (Chora zemlya), Чорнозем (Чорна земля) 
In Russian there is: Chernozem (Chernaya zemlya), Чорнозем (Чорна земля)

So, what are they fighting for? It wouldn’t appear to be their languages. I don’t think they’re that pedantic.

House near Kiev demolished through bureaucratic oversight.

Chernozem soils are mostly confined to the prairies, the steppes and the pampas.

Ukraine, often referred to as the “bread basket of Europe” has the richest soil on earth.
A third of the planet’s chernozem soil covers more than half of Ukraine’s arable land.

So it isn’t just gas, pipelines, Russian pride, Western strategic interests, economic greed, arms sales 
and billions of dollars and rubles that are at stake. 

Black gold and black soil are an integral part of the mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=druW_nssy7o  A Song of the Steppes 

‘Saint Shane of Warne’. Arguably more prominent on a global stage than Rasputin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8OjWaQdaLw Adios Pampa Mia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF1KRnkKNlc Bury me not on the Lone Prairie

In Yuendumu we’re in limbo. Awaiting the outcome of the trial which I will not comment on until it is all over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xy8NugHzjE

до наступного разу (do nastupnoho raza)

Russian advert: “Take Fire, Flood and Despotic oversight insurance, or your roubles will turn to t-roubles’

Frank