Nr Tondo, Philippines

The kids lived in shacks next to a stagnant, dirty canal.

Meanwhile back in Australia, the Government shames itself at the AWB Inquiry. Here's a funny movie about it.

Nr Tondo, Philippines

On the way back from Smoky Mountain, I met some kids playing in the street next to a jeepeney.

The Children were shouting together
And racing along the sands,
A glimmer of dancing shadows,
A dovelike flutter of hands.


The stars were shouting in heaven,
The sun was chasing the moon:
The game was the same as the children’s,
They danced to the self-same tune.


The whole of the world was merry,
One joy from the vale to the height,
Where the blue woods of twilight encircled
The lovely lawns of the light.


George William Russell

Tondo, Philippines

Last October I visited my friend Quacher - a vietnamese Australian living in Manila. One afternoon I left Makati City and took a taxi to Tondo. Tondo used to be the site of Manila's smelliest and largest rubbish dump known as Smoky Mountain. Smoky Mountain has been cleaned up considerably in the last couple of years. A housing project has been completed and the site is no longer used to dump rubbish.

On the day I visited kids flew kites from the top of dirt mounds and listened to this guy as he poked the ground with a wooden stick.

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final end of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;
That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void ...

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Staunton St, Hong Kong

I put on my raincoat to make it rain
And sure enough the skies opened up again
I dreamed of you as I walked to the shops
You were dancing with the wallies on Top Of The Pops

Once in a while
Gennady Gerasimov deops his smile
And you can see that his aim's
A portfolio pregnant with gains

He's been up all night
Moving the goalposts

Like a jackdaw with a fiery brand
Spread the news all over this land
Robin Hood and his Merry Men
Are never, never, never coming back again

I don't believe that love should be pain
So could you please rub my back again
I think it's safe to leave tham in the park
Let's blow out the candles and kiss in the dark

Heavens above
Can this sticky stuff really be love!
Don't get dressed yet
Not yet

We've been up all night
Moving the goalposts

Billy Bragg