RON - from Alexandra

     The people here in my town, are each memorable characters, real down to earth with a spirit that makes this part of the earth a delight to live in. I have a neighbour - let’s call him “Ron.”  Ron is an ex-bikie who grew up here, rode motorbikes, worked in the mines of Western Australia, and lived in New Zealand for a while. He is a tall, powerfully built man, with long unkempt hair, a former hippie. Currently, how hip can one be these days? He is as hip as can be. He walks with a permanent limp from a surviving a motorbike crash many years ago. Rarely uses a walking stick that he perhaps should be using. Ron is a great free spirit, single, never married and seems in his fifties. He avidly reads almost everything. He is very knowledgeable about the writing of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, a Japanese sword saint and just about anything from organic gardening, conspiracy theories, motor maintenance, Nikola Tesla. He knows the Bible really well, claims it so because one needs to know one’s enemies well!! The local Jehovah’s witnesses are wary of him!

     Ron’s views on how to treat horses and children are really worth listening to. He is quite ready with real useful tips on how to do just about any handy work.

     Ron is good with his hands and for a hobby crafts beautiful, authentic bows, battle-axes, and swords in his garage. Ron drives a van that requires a lot of tinkering. He is very knowledgeable about anything automotive.  The day I bought a second hand twelve-seater bus for my business, he was out there, setting up the jack, and helping me change oil. Another day when my vehicle got stuck in the boggy clay, he was out limping but got a mat under the bus, pushing it out. Just steps in and helps. That’s how most folk here are.

     We want to grow our own vegetables in the future in our yards with some cooperation. Ron is very interested to learn and when he heard I used to work with computers, immediately deferred to me as an expert that I am not. My son knows more about the current programs and setting up mobile phones and laptops than I do. We tried to help Ron with mixed results! He is almost always willing for a nice friendly chat and has an irreverent sense of humour. The other day, he was telling the story of a young ‘Bollywood beauty’ who walked up to his door and asked him about which electricity company he uses to sell him another with a cheaper rate. There are many young Indians from Melbourne who come here on sales drives and they can be a bit persistent. Ron uses very little energy in his lifestyle and his bills are low. He would go green and install a solar panel if he could. Ron, in his typical fashion, told this young lady just as he would advise his own daughter or niece –“What is a young attractive, girl like you doing knocking on the doors of a stranger in this quiet town, all by herself. What if I or someone just pulled you in and had my way with you?” When the stunned girl did not know quite what to make of this rough looking giant of a man, with gentleness to his voice, he proceeded to advise her, “You should really be more careful and at least go along with someone.”

     Ron is one among many who constantly remind me, just by being themselves, why it is so good to live here.