At the moment, I am just reading the news like everyone else but there are still many conflicting views.
I have heard/read “Alfredo shot in a bedroom/shot at the front gate”, “shooting started at 6:50am versus Alfredo shot 30 minutes before the President”, “kidnap not assassination”, “PM Xanana knew nothing about what happened 40 minutes before / made fully aware”, my cyclist friend has been elevated to diplomat but downgraded to jogger etc. etc.
I am sure the UN police know enough to knock some of these on the head quite quickly but they probably will not say until they believe they have the facts worked out sufficiently. There are arrest warrants to be issued etc. etc. And of course, they are fighting their own battle re. claims of being slow to respond and reluctant to enter the shooting area.
Meanwhile we await if the “state of siege” will be extended by 10 days. There seems to be some degree of uncertainty. But if it presses ahead, the bars will receive a hit. I rang a friend at 7pm last night (to discuss a work issue) and found the friend in a bar operating at full swing. I am not old enough to have experienced the (now historical) Melbourne 6-o’clock swill * but I detected an element of that in the festivities.
The last 3 nights have been very quiet. The HMAS Perth arrived Tuesday morning and is roaming up and down the Dili coastline. On Tuesday, ABC TV reported that OZ troops and police arrived “secretly” at Dili airport. That raised a chuckle. There are only about 2 plane movements a day at Dili airport and the only jet is the lunchtime turnaround of the 737 from/to Bali. So when the 4-engined jet nearly blew the roof off late afternoon, “oh, they’re here”. Even the Spice Girls could have arrived more secretly.
* The 6 o’clock swill was the term used for lining up a number of beers at the bar prior to the cessation of bar service at 6pm. The law at the time was designed to put an end to the male breadwinner drinking all night in bars. So he just bought 3 or more beers and lined them up, which might keep him going until 8 o’clock. I would love to have seen it – purely from a sociological point of view of course.
Being an underage teenager but sociologically curious I vaguely rember the swill in action – what a racket, which built up to fever pitch in the last quarter of an hour. My father reckoned of the 6 o,clock swill: Raising your voice (shouting) at the barman/maid in an attempt to be heard above the din of the other drinkers also attempting to attract their attention became colloq. = Its my shout.
p.s your blog and FOS attracting a lot of attention here in Oz media.
dear diligence, as i thought, your blog has attracted a lot of attention. I am sure that if you had stats associated with it, you would see the booster of the last few days. I also found interesting your silence of the past 48 hours -please dont tell me you posted the above on Valentine’s day, i havent seen it, despite that i checked yr page for most of the day!
We will have to resume lunch -not that one meal makes it a tradition, but still…
Firstly, let me give Valentine’s Day my acerbic view. It is a load of cobblers.
As for not posting, I let the international press go to town first.
But Squatter, you must post. The international press have been using your stuff in their stories.
fos