And the Clock on the Wall is a Fine Clock ... Chasing the Minutes in a Climb?

My clock on the wall is still ticking,
but it's stuck

Well, I have to say that reading 'Boy Swallows Universe' has been one big personal mind blow-out for me.

The clock on the wall slowing down dramatically 

I had just replaced the AA battery in my owl clock in my living room a few days back when I had looked up from my TV and noticed the pendulum wasn't moving and the owl's eyes weren't going back and forth anymore, unlike it is in the picture below.

It was probably due for a new battery anyway, as I had bought it years ago from the cuckoo clock shop on Mt.Tamborine -

Who? The Angel of Death?

Missing any time?-)

I didn't take much notice of the time the owl clock had stopped on when I replaced the battery, because I rarely look at the clock to see the time when I have my iPad or iPhone with me to tell the more accurate time of day anyway.

The owl clock could have been stopped for days until I noticed the owl's eyes were staring straight ahead like it was in a coma, and the pendulum was stuck dead centre and not moving.

I went upstairs to the cupboard I keep the AA batteries in and took the last one out of one of the two packets I had bought.

I saw that I still had five AAs in the other packet, so didn't worry about adding batteries to my shopping list.

But when I came downstairs around 3 o'clock on June the 1st and looked up at my kitchen clock on the wall it was showing 12:25pm, while my owl clock with the new battery was showing 2:50pm.

My kitchen wall clock hadn't stopped, it had just really slowed down to the point of being hours behind my living room clock, so I went to get an AA battery out of the other packet of batteries I saw the other day when changing the battery in the owl clock.  

Five corroded batteries, DOH!

But they were all distorted and leaking a crystalline salt out of their backsides, or downsides.  
So, I threw the batteries out and just left the clock to die until I could buy some more batteries on my next trip to the shops.

The funny thing was I had just read the chapter 'Boy Masters Time' in the novel 'Boy Swallows Universe' where the chapter starts off with the line, "Do your time before it does you."

When I came downstairs on July 2nd (AKA World UFO Day) my kitchen wall clock had appeared to have stopped, but it hadn't really, as there must have been just enough power left in the battery to keep the clock ticking, but not enough power to get the minute-hand to tick past the second it was stuck on, or between.

Happy 2021 World UFO Day?

My cheap TARGET clock stuck and ticking away on the wall 

It was like the clock just didn't have the power for the minute-hand to fight the Earth's gravity and kept falling back to where it was stuck with every tick.

And when I was listening to Jim Sullivan's UFO album (in the You Tube below) when I was writing up my World UFO Day blog post I heard the song 'Roll Back the Time' and couldn't help thinking about the weirdness of both of my clocks downstairs running flat as I was reading 'Boy Swallows Universe' which is all about contemplating time and Earthly life in my hometown of Brisbane. 

Boy Swallows Universe and Brisbane Dentist Wakes Up With an Irish Accent Coming Out of Her Mouth?

Samantha Bruce tragically died on March 28, 2021 following a three-year fight with a type of brain tumour called astrocytoma.
The dental nurse from South Shields was diagnosed with the condition at Sunderland Royal Hospital on January 10, 2018 after complaining to her GP of migraines and dizziness.

Samantha Bruce?

I finished reading the book last night and was wondering who this news reader in the novel named Samantha Bruce was, whether she was real or just a name Trent made up for his novel, since I grew up in Brisbane watching a lot of the same news readers on the TV that Trent would have seen.

Brisbane City Hall

I couldn't find any Brisbane newsreaders by that name in my brief search, but I did find the tragic news story of a dental nurse named Samantha Bruce.

Bit of a ... SPOILER ALERT ... in that the climax of the novel takes place at an awards ceremony in the Brisbane City Hall, which was opened the day my father was born, on a personal synchromystical note:-)

Brisbane City Hall

Starr's painting of the
Brisbane City Hall

And in another small ... SPOILER ALERT ... the main reason I decided to read the book was because of a blue fairy wren on the cover of the book, which makes its impact in the novel on page 444, which is a number with a reputation of being the "angel number" in a lot of esoteric circles.

 Although, it was possible that Trent was aware of that when he was writing the novel, but I think it was just a "happy accident" somehow:-)

Magic Words and the Power of Language?

The weirdest encounter I've ever had with a blue fairy wren was when I realized the spot I had been standing on in Port Arthur was where 20 people had been gunned to death in cold blood by a psycho who is still behind bars down there doing time for his crimes.   

The blue wren I saw in Port Arthur in 2016

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

If you keep seeing the number 444, someone may
be trying to send you a message from heaven?

And of course, the main reason I started this blog was to show a few friends the photos of the little weird blue bird that flew into my window.

But that bird was a kingfisher, not a blue wren.

The Bird that Flew into the Window

I also had to smile kind of, when I saw this written on a page numbered 424 like my old man's taxicab number, considering Trent's real-life babysitter, the Houdini of Boggo Road jail was in jail for allegedly murdering another taxicab driver.

That obviously wasn't what made me smile, because if that "magician" really did murder the cab driver, I hope karma teaches him a real lesson in the next life.  

What made me smile was the "Gold Lotto" line and numbers, because last year around the time of my birthday I won over $1000 and just missed out winning $1,000,000 by not having #23 in that line of numbers.

And 23 is my birthdate:-(

One number off winning 1 million dollars,
 and that number was 23:-(

O Fate, You Are a Trickster Aren't You?

When I saw the Albany Creek Crematorium mentioned as the venue of Arthur Ernest "Slim" Halliday's send off, it brought back memories of attending my favorite aunt's funeral and being surprised to see my cousin-in-law there on day release from prison, when he was serving a drink driving manslaughter charge.

That was the only funeral I have ever attended in that crematorium, so far in my life, and it was for the auntie I mentioned in this post -

Watching the sunset, sunset, sunset, sunset... over the beaches, beaches, beaches, beaches...?

"They will size you up, and open that friggin door,
and that's a beautiful trust exercise."

Behind the Media Podcast:
Feature writer Trent Dalton

I heard on one of the podcasts that I listened to last week Trent mention his father's name was Noel, so I put 2 & 2 2gether and found out that Trent's father's funeral was held in the Bribie Island suburb that I had been dropping my old books off in -

 Dates with Destiny?

Little Flower Catholic Church,
First Avenue, Bongaree?

Small world, big universe and time flies it seems?

Although, I have to admit that while I have never been to the suburb of Bracken Ridge, which Trent grew up in, even though I have lived in and around Brisbane for most of my life, I have been to the suburb of Deagon, which is the next suburb to the east of Bracken Ridge -

Is that a Luck Dragon flying over Deagon?-)

Or is it just my mind telling me stories?

Something Strange Happened to Me on THE WAY out of a Taoist Temple

Every Story is Part Myth No Matter How True People Want You to BeLIEve it is?