Posted on 08/13/2005 3:54:36 PM PDT by naturalman1975
DOUGLAS Wood has celebrated his return to the US by drinking a Californian saloon out of Australian beer.
The Aussie hostage survivor drank the bar dry and sang Waltzing Matilda at a welcome-back party this week hosted by his American wife, Yvonne.
"I've drunk the pub out of Foster's," a delighted Mr Wood said.
"And it's not the first time I've done that."
Mr Wood has been celebrating hard since returning to his Alamo home outside San Francisco about a week ago.
He denied media reports that he was almost blind.
"Those stories were complete rubbish," he said and then proceeded to recite the gridiron scores from a television 5m away at the Roundup Saloon near his home.
Mr Wood, who now uses a walking stick and suffers from arthritis, also said he was over the malnutrition he suffered during his kidnapping and had no post-traumatic mental problems.
"I'm bloody good," he said.
Mr Wood and his wife are expected to divide their time between their US home and a unit they have started renting in Hawthorn.
"Doug loves the place in Hawthorn," Yvonne said.
"It's just two tram stops to the Rising Sun hotel."
Mr Wood is also thinking about heading back to Iraq, where he was taken hostage.
He said there was a better than 50-50 chance he would return to Iraq.
"I would like to go back and thank the people that rescued me," Mr Wood said.
"I want to go back and see the Iraqi colonel Muhammad Faiq Raouf, who got me out.
"In the cold, hard light of day, I would like to go back in.
"And I must get back to Baghdad -- I left a full fridge of Foster's there."
But Mr Wood will face an uphill battle convincing his wife to let him go.
"I'm not taking my eyes off him," Yvonne said.
"I've got to watch him."
As he drank a can of Foster's, Mr Wood also said he was thinking about returning to the engineering business and possibly bidding for contracts in Iraq.
"I'm interested in getting work without having to go there," he said.
""I've drunk the pub out of Foster's""
Real Aussie would never drink that
Good on ya, Mr. Wood.
Is it true that the real slogan for Fosters is "Fosters: It's Australian for roo piss, mate?"
}:-)4
I know where southbank is.
Still Fosters doesnt beat a VB or Thooeys
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. ........Thooeys.
Now I'm getting thirsty for something with hops.
[The Aussie hostage survivor drank the bar dry and sang Waltzing Matilda...]
I first heard that song at a Tommy Emmanuel concert. He said the tune is an old Scottish one but the lyrics are Australian.
The lyrics are definitely Australian - written by Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Patterson, one of Australia's greatest poets.
The tune is much more complicated. Originally, the song was played to a tune composed by Christina MacPherson in 1895. MacPherson said that she based it on a tune that she had heard before - Thou Bonnie Wood o' Criagielea which is a Scots tune. The thing is, there's actually not that much similarity at all between Criagielea and the original Waltzing Matilda score.
Regardless of that, though, the version that is most commonly played today is legally accepted to have been composed by Mary Cowan sometime before 1903 (the words were also slightly changed at that time, according to legend in order to advertise "Billy Tea").
This tune is also used for a British song, The Gay Fusileer but it's unclear which came first.
WALTZING MATILDA
Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong
Under the shade of a Coolabah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
Down come a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
Up jumped a swagman and grabbed him in glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me'".
Up rode the Squatter a riding his thoroughbred
Up rode the Trooper - one, two, three
"Where's that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me".
But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
A.B. (Banjo) Paterson
My niece's husband is from Australia. He's also made statements along the line that no one from Australia actually drinks Fosters. They just export it to poor, unsuspecting, blokes. (Okay, that's not an exact quote-- language cleaned up for the forum...)
He seems to think highly of VB, but hasn't found any place selling it over here.
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