126 – Cancelled, Part 1: 23 December 2024

 

****

I loved every moment with Margaret.  These photos of us date from our 2001 house warming.  We both glowed.

The cancer and our cancellation were then 20 years away.

****

Our cancellation began on 26 January 2021 – the Australia Day public holiday.  That day supercharged my health decline and brought me to the edge of death.  My decline was so rapid and severe that for months, it was probable I would die long before Margaret did.

****

The Australia Day public holiday is celebrated on 26 January.  The First Fleet of British settlers consisting of British convicts, their guards and the ship crews landed at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.  The Commonwealth of Australia would not exist if that event had not happened.

Before 2021, the date of Australia Day had been slated. 

The Woke Folk claim Australia Day commemorates the beginning of a British “invasion” of Australia. 

This claim is garbage. 

I am proudly Australian and the historical fact is that Australia exists only because of the arrival of the First Fleet on 26 January 1778.  Like former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, I reject “the black armband view” of Australian history.

****

Margaret and I did have things to celebrate that Australia Day; but our barbecue was not a celebration.  It was a farewell. 

We celebrated the simple fact that Margaret had finished her chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  We were both exhausted by the treatment program, but we knew our exhaustion would deepen in the immediate future.  Margaret was doomed to die shortly.  We were unlikely to again be able to invite our friends and say goodbye. 

So, we held the barbecue and I did most of the work because Margaret had completed chemotherapy and radiotherapy a mere 4 full days earlier. 

We held a barbecue and invited our friends so we could say goodbye and celebrate the conclusion of the treatment program. 

January is our middle month of summer and most of South Australia is desert.  Because South Australia is a desert State, rain in January is very unusual and temperatures often exceed 30 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit).  Maximum temperatures between 30 and 45 Celsius (80 and 113 Fahrenheit) are common.

We got lucky on 26 January 2021.  The maximum temperature was 23 Celsius (73.4 Fahrenheit) at 6:00 pm.  The weather was perfect for our gathering.

****

I cooked a leg of pork and a leg of lamb on the barbecue.  We prepared a mountain of food.  Our guests began arriving at 11:00 am and Anne Ryan was our most honoured guest.  Back in 2021, she had been my friend for more than 20 years and Margaret’s friend for 40 years.

Unfortunately, neither of us realised that Anne was a Woke True Believer and that for her, friendship came a distant second should any of her friends contradict her Woke beliefs.

That day in 2021, I had no idea what the word “Woke” meant.  I had no idea that true believers in the Woke religion thought that those who did not share their religion should be cast into eternal damnation and shunned.

I know better now.  

I learned the truth about Woke true believers by experiencing the cancellation reserved for those who do not share Woke religious beliefs.

****

After she arrived, Anne told me the date of Australia Day should be changed - and she made sure her opinion was known to all our guests. 

I was cooking outside when Anne asserted that the date of Australia Day had been selected only in 1994 and that the date should be changed from 26 January.  I told her I had lived nearly all of my life in Australia and that Australia Day had always been on 26 January during my lifetime.

To understand what she said next, you need to be aware Anne Ryan has dual Australian/ Irish citizenship.

Instead of amicably disagreeing with me - her 20 years plus friend - Anne likened the celebration of Australia Day on 26 January to the celebration of “King Billy’s Day” as a national holiday in Ireland. 

King Billy’s Day is celebrated annually on 12 July in Northern Ireland.

King Billy’s Day celebrates the lifting of the siege of Derry by forces of the English King William in 1690.  If this whole discussion sounds ludicrous, I too thought this in 2021. 

I told Anne I could not see any similarity because King Billy’s Day celebrated a military victory by English military forces over the Irish and the beginning of the Protestant domination of Ireland.  I said nothing like that had happened in Australia on 26 January 1788. 

I was in a good mood.  Margaret was still going to die from cancer, but she had just finished six continuous weeks of exceptionally hard treatment.  This was not a day for unhappiness or argument.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing about the Woke religion and its true believers.

****

I was shocked when Anne Ryan said “I am not going to listen to this”.

She then stood up and went back inside our home. 

I had never before seen her behave in such a shabby, astonishingly rude fashion.  She had often mouthed the platitudes of free speech, but on that day I said something she disagreed with and her claimed support for free speech – even when it involved a close friend whose wife was dying – disappeared. 

Anne Ryan got angry, stormed away, ended any rational discussion and immediately began to shun me. 

I was not offended by Anne’s opinions, but I was shocked by her rudeness and arrogance. 

Anne avoided me for the rest of the day. 

I was extremely shocked and made no attempt to talk to her.

****

Anne’s behaviour had very nasty consequences for me.

One hour after the barbecue finished, I got diarrhea and an optical migraine at the same time.  My optical migraines put pressure on my eyes and give me streaks of jagged lightning bolts across the eyes.  When the migraine was at its peak, severe stomach bloat plus continuous burping and hiccupping set in. 

I was so ill I didn’t hear my phone ring when my son rang to ask how we were going.

The diarrhea continued for most of the night and my sleep was nearly impossible.  I was still awake and hiccupping at 1:00 am.  I got up and dozed on the sofa from 3:30 am to 5:20 am. 

My symptoms that day were the worst I had ever experienced.

Our cancellation had begun. 

****

This is a photo of Margaret with Anne Ryan on 8 April 2018.  Margaret was shocked when Anne cancelled her when she was dying in January 2021.