Column 294

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Life Music

Hi people, it's Leo here. I'm sure you all know the music app Spotify. It's what's been getting me through the lockdown. Like books, music can transport you somewhere else. Listening to music is really useful, especially when I'm doing school work. But, I know that when we will be back in my physical school, I won't be able to list to my music whenever I want to. Last term, sometimes I would list to music during class (not when the teacher was talking but when we were working) and I loved it. All in all, listening to music while studying or working is great because you can choose what you want to hear. It really has been my lifesaver.

Until next time 
Leo Roving Reporter

French cat

 

Video art

 

Column 293

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Bubble time

Hi people, it's Leo here. Maybe you've heard of this new freedom that the government has initiated, it's called a friends bubble. It lets you see two of your friends as it's three people bubble for kids only, But I bet most of you know this already. My family and I didn't know about this until I was invited to my friend's house and after not seeing a human being (that was not my mum and dad) for a very long time, it was a blast. I definitely recommend doing this, it's great.  The only downside is that you can only have one bubble which means you can't go and visit someone else, you can only visit the same three people. It does suck a bit because of that one condition but I guess it's for our protection in the end, so if anything is contracted we don't spread it. Definitely do this bubble thing or maybe you're already doing it - either way it's great. 

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 292

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Box Brownies

Hi people, it's Leo here. Wow, it's the last week of the school term already. Is it just me or is this year going by quickly? I'm really excited for the school holidays, a time to just sit back and relax. On the weekend my mum and I bought two old box brownie cameras. They're super cool, a bit under the weather age-wise but they look like they might still work (I'm hoping that they do). One of them even came with a camera case. Now I can add them to my small but interesting collection of old cameras. Maybe in the holidays I can see if all my cameras still work, Sadly the film required for old film cameras is very expensive, so that's something that I'm going to have to save up for. The first camera is a bit worse for wear as it's a bit rusty, the lenses are dirty, the front covering is missing but we do have the back covering which has come off. but we can fix all that. The back covering says it was made in Rochester, New York. The second camere has that classic box brownie look and is in better condition then the first. It also came with a camera case with a leather strap. It's a Japanese made Kodak camera and it's really cool.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

column 291

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: The Qin Dynasty

Hi people, it's Leo here. Not much has been happening at this end with the lockdown upon us, but even in lockdown we all have at least one thing to do. For me, it's my history project. The task is to create an artifact from Ancient China, and it's been a blast so far. I'm right in the middle of building my artifact.  I have chosen a soldier's helmet from the Qin Dynasty, as found in the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huangthe along with his terracotta army. Did you know that originally the terracotta army soldiers were brightly painted? But when they were being excavated and the paint came in contact with the air, the paint shriveled up and peeled off the statues in more than two seconds. 

That's one of the reasons why archaeologists haven't unearthed the rest of the terracotta figures, in fear of losing all the amazing paint on them. I'm not far from finishing my helmet and if I have time I will build the ancient Chinese warrior sword and try to include my replica Chinese copper coins also from the Qi Dynasty.

Fact: Ancient Chinese armor included protective garments made of overlapping leather or metal scales. Ancient Chinese soldiers used a great variety of weapons, including swords, daggers, spears, crossbows, and battleaxes.

Fun fact: my helmet and sword are made from cardboard

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 290

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Now what?

Hi people, Leo here. Today I am going to talk to you about life as I know it. Well, as you probably know we all are now in a state-wide lock down. So, lots of indoor time I guess along with online schooling and working from home. There are certainly ups and downs to all of this and to list just a few downs we will be seeing a lot less of our family and friends and going out and about. People that have been in lockdown for some time now must really be missing their people. We are lucky to be going into lock down just now because some people have been in lockdown for months. But back to the ups and downs, some ups can be more alone-time, more finally-I-can-finish-that project-I've-been-wanting-to-do time, and some people like working from home or doing their school work in the comfort of their own place. My classmates and I have been sent home for about a week but things might change. We will all know soon enough. This photo is from Michael's Cats on Twitter. Says it all.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 289

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Bathurst
Story filed: Toy Soldiers

Hi people, Leo here. Today I am going to talk about toy soldiers. I've had some vintage Airfix toy soldiers that used to be my dad's when he was a kid, for a long time now. My dad never got around to painting them all but he did try and paint some with enamel paint because acrylic (which does a better job in my opinion) was not invented and he also wasn't a very good painter. Up till now, they've just been sitting around the house and one night I thought to myself ''I should paint them'' and so now I am. There were so many of them as my dad had a lot of boxes. There's Confederate Infantry, Sheriff of Nottingham, Romans, Washington's Army, North American Indians, Foreign Legion, Waterloo Highland Infantry, Robin Hood, Bedouins, Waterloo French Artillery, U.S Cavalry, and the High Chaparral. We also had some vintage WWII battleships but little kid Leo didn't know the plastic melted when put in front of the bathroom heater and little kid me thought that it was a good idea to dry them off in front of the heater after playing with them in the bath (and I always played with them very gently so they wouldn't break) So, I think we all know what happened to the battleships. To this day all I can find of them is a broken turret (as you will see in the photo. This mistake goes for the French Artillery too as I just took off the wheels a bit too much so now they all have one wheel, same goes for some of the Roman chariots, just one wheel). One day when I have finished this massive project of painting my dad's old models I will proudly place them next to my own models, two generations of models.

Until next time
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 288

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: A Viewfinder

Hi people, Leo here, hope everyone's doing ok with all the new covid restrictions and anything else that's been happening. Things have been going well here with me and something really exciting has just happened. On Sunday, my mum and I decided to go for a walk at Boundary Road Reserve where we came across a tooth of some sort of animal and some animal guts (not a pleasant sight.) We even brought our own pocket kite and flew it on top of the hill, that was nice. After that we decided to go to the top of Mount Panorama to get more wind for our kite, that was really cool. After that, we thought we'd pull into Time Warp Collectables and say hi. We said hi and looked around and talked to Jo the owner. There was lots of cool stuff like always; there were some vintage lego sets, a cool pocket watch, an ammunition belt, and lots of other things. I was looking at all the old cameras and saw a German-made Voigtlander Bessa camera. It was so cool and in perfect condition, its box was falling apart but it still had all of its pieces. And now it's on my desk. I've always seen pictures of this type of camera and imagined how amazing it would be to have one of these and now I do have one and it is amazing.

Until next time
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 287

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Hello again

Hi people, Leo here feels like it's been a while since I did a column, but it's good to be back in the new Central West Village Voice newspaper. I hope everyone is having a good school holiday. Not much has been happening in the holidays for me apart from a trip to Sydney (before the lockdown) and the Winter Festival. My trip to Sydney was super cool. My dad and I went there for a Suzuki cello concert where I and all the Suzuki cello choir players performed the songs we've been practicing, I am in the junior cello choir. My grandmother came along and dad also invited his friend Frank to the concert. It was really good to see my grandmother and Frank again because I haven't seen them in a long time. After the concert, Frank took us out to this really nice cafe-restaurant. It was so good, the food was delicious and after our meal, I got to have ice cream. That place was amazing. 

The next day was even better. My dad and I caught the train to Town Hall station and walked to Hobbyco in the Queen Victoria building. Hobbyco is amazing - they have all the best toys and kits, everything I could ever think of that I would want, maybe not everything, but mostly everything. There were model tanks, planes, trains, big robots, and on the second-floor LEGO, Meccano, diecast cars, and my favorite bit - diecast planes. These planes were crazy detailed and some were pretty big. We could have bought one but in the end, we bought a model T-35 tank and it was totally worth it. After all that, my dad and I caught the train back to my grandmother's and started to go back home to Bathurst. I would have been back in Sydney for a cello camp and a taiko drum workshop but Covid happened and it was all cancelled. On the bright side, I still have all that time to finish my model tank. How exciting.


Until next time
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 286

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My Desk
Story filed: Micro Fiction

Loud thunderous cracks and the sound of rifles firing and being reloaded was the everyday noise of life in the trenches, but not today. Today was different. “Cromwell, you’re up. Sleep well?” asked my friend Ted. “Yeah, sort of” I muttered, still half asleep. “Yeah, it was pretty loud last night. Gerry must have decided to keep us up all night. Well, we’ll get ‘em back” he replied. “Oh by the way, the Captain’s given you the job of showing Little Jimmy here, around the trenches” he continued, as he pulled a rather young boy out from around the corner”.

“Hi” I said.

“Hello’ replied the young boy.

“So Cromwell, this is Little Jimmy, Little Jimmy this is Cromwell.”

“Nice to meet you” Little Jimmy said as I reached over to shake his hand.

“You too” I replied as he shook my hand.

“All right, I’ll leave you to it. See you, for now” called Ted as he left.

“Well rule number one – never poke your head over the trench or you will die. Germans have good aim”

“OK” he said, answering quickly.

‘Good, good. OK rule number two. Always treat Mitty nicely or she will scratch you” I informed him.

“Wait, who’s Mitty?

“Let me show you”

After some time walking through the trenches, I said “This is Mitty”.

“A cat? Mitty is a cat? he replied, confused.

“Yep and the best cat in our Regiment. Isn’t that right Mitty? Good girl” I answered as I scratched her behind her ears. She purred in return, with thanks.

“Is it not dangerous for her?” asked Little Jimmy.

“No, no, she’s the best at staying out of trouble. Oh, by the way, why do people call you Little Jimmy?” I asked.

“Oh my name’s not Little Jimmy, it’s just Jim r James. But when I signed up everyone in the Regiment thought I looked so young that they called me Little Jimmy”. At that moment I started hearing a whistling sound.

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“Run, incoming shell” I yelled.

Immediately setting off, we ran as fast as out legs could carry us.

“Oh no. Keep running, I’ll be back” I called to Little Jimmy as I ran back and grabbed Mitty who was still licking her paws.

Boom! A big explosion shook the earth and us. As Little Jimmy got up from the ground he waited anxiously for Cromwell. “There you are” he said as Cromwell came out of the smoke, spluttering and coughing. “Where did you go?” he asked. “I couldn’t forget Mitty” I replied as I put Mitty on a stack of ammunition. To her, nothing seemed to have just happened. “Man, that cat” I said. “She is some cat” remarked Little Jimmy. “Yes, she is, she definitely is.” I added. Ding, ding, ding!

“What’s that?” Little Jimmy asked.

“That’s the sound of lunch. Let’s go, Mitty will follow. And that brings me to rule number three – watch your food or that cat will steal it!”.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 285

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Bathurst
Story filed: A Life Aquatic

Hi there, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about the swim league I did at the Manning Aquatic Center on the weekend. Maybe you've heard of it? It's a big, noisy competitive swimming carnival were teams like the Mammoths, the Blazes and the Bulls (which is my team) all race each other. We just race in lots of different events to get 1st, 2nd and 3rd points and beat the other team and to have fun. This year I was in the seniors which was a lot harder then being in the juniors. I think I may of been the smallest out of my team but to despite my size and skill I tried to keep up and I did an alright job. It was super fun and we have two more swim leagues coming up in the next few months. I'm really looking forward to swimming again.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 284

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Family room
Story filed: We Bare Bears

Hi there it's Leo here and today I'll be talking about an amazing show called We Bare Bears. Maybe you've heard of it so you can agree with me that it's amazing! It originally was a comic strip and now there's a movie, I thought it was only a TV show and that was it but no it's a movie too... I HAVE to see it. I love all the characters from We Bare Bears like Griz, Ice Bear, Chloe Park, Panda, Charlie, Ranger Dana Tabes and Nom Nom (he's a koala). I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks so good. But I won't give any spoilers away.

 

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 283

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My Desk
Story filed: Squeak

Ring! Ring!
‘Next!” boomed Phil.
Phil was your average middle-aged man; he does average stuff and lives an average life. But the place where Phil works is anything but average. Phil works at the highest security prison in the world. The location is classified, how many prisoners there is classified, the name is classified, even what they eat there is classified. So everyday Phil drives in, walks to the office, signs in, gives his fingerprint, blood sample and DNA and starts his day. One of Phil’s usual jobs was to take the mugshots of the newly arrested prisoners, but today was different. The prisoners came in like they were told to, like any other day but among them was a mouse, yes, a mouse.

In some way Phil was not surprised. Yes, it was a mouse but compared to the stuff that went on behind these walls a mouse did not make a difference. When it came up to the mouse’s turn to be processed the guards had to stack some boxes on a stool to get the mouse in the camera’s viewfinder. Click. 'Please turn to the left'' called Phil. The mouse grunted rudely and turned to the left. Click. “Ok, good. Now turn to the right'' replied Phil. And so, again the mouse grunted and turned to the right. ''All good. Is there any more?'' asked Phil of the prison guard. “No, that's it'' muttered the prison guard. Clang. ''Move along'' called a prison another guard to a handful of prisoners, one of them being a mouse.

They had just had their mugshots taken and were now being escorted to their cells. One by one they were put in their cells but the mouse, well, he was already thinking on how he could get out of here. For this mouse was not your standard criminal mouse: no, no, no, no. This mouse was a criminal mastermind. ''Here's your cell'' stated the guard. “It's a bit damp in here and it's cold. You got anything else?” observed the mouse. ''You better get used to it as you are going to be here for a long time'' replied the guard. ''Oh, we’ll see about that'' hissed the mouse ''Ha! You just keep on dreaming'' laughed the guard as he locked the door and walked away. ''You'll never get out of here'' called the guard. 'Oh, you'll see, you'll see'' smirked the mouse as a dark, sinister and evil smile spread across his face. Things were about to change.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 282

 Leo, Roving Reporter

Report from: Milltown Cop Shop

Story filed: SUSPECT RAP SHEET

                       Name:  Miko                                                                                  

         Case Number:  773 564                                                                             

                    Gender:  Feline                                                                                

                        Alias:  The eater of food which is not hers                                   

                  Address:  Her owner's house                                                             

                                                                                                                               

Known Associates:  Believed to associated with the Kat Gang well known to    

                                    authorities for illegal transport of catnip                              

    Criminal Activity: Eating her owner's food without permission,                      

                                   smuggling illegal catnip in to the country, asking for lots    

                                   of food when she just ate and having an illegal firearm    

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                               

                     Status: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DO NOT APPROACH

                                                       END OF REPORT

Column 281

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed:   :/  

Hi people, it's Leo here. Today I am going to talk about Covid. Things are looking a bit meh or :/ with all this Covid still going around but with restrictions easing even more, things are looking pretty good. Well at least here in Australia it's ok but in other parts of the world it's not looking so good. I'd say we're lucky to have a fairly good control over Covid at the moment and we were lucky to shut the borders as early as we did. If we didn't, we would probably be in a much worse situation.  My aunty, uncle and cousins in England have had a really hard time and so has my godfather and his wife, in France. But most of all I feel so sorry for everyone who is sick or has died. We are so lucky here in Australia.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 280

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: School camp

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about my upcoming school camping trip to the Southern Highlands. It's definitely different from last year's camping trip. Last year's camping trip was pretty straight forward: we slept in small cabins, went canoeing, sailed in boats, etc But this year, the school requires you to 'pack more precisely' so what that means is that you need to pack waterproof stuff, thermal clothing, fleece not cotton tops, cup, bowl, headlamp and so on which is really exciting because it means we are going bush! At the camp they will be giving us camp stoves to cook our food, compasses and a map and a medical pack. Now this, sounds really exciting. I only need to wait two more weeks for the camp and I am really pumped.

Until next time 
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 279

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Pigeon!!

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about a PIGEON!!.....oh yeah a wood pigeon somehow got stuck in my room .... again. Last time it was another type of bird but that still counts. This time I was at a friend's house sleeping over so I didn't witness the PIGEON!! in my room but my mum did. My mum was walking down the hallway when she looked in my room. At first she thought the PIGEON!! wasn't real or that it was a stuffed one that somehow had been attached to my window sill - so she was wondering where I got that from and then it struck her that it was real. Mum then spent some time getting it out of there. How? Well, she closed all the doors to the other rooms and opened the front door so the bird could fly out. Eventually the bird did that but the PIGEON!! left a little poop on by bed as a present (I've already changed the bed covers). The PIGEON!! must have come through the front room chimney, through the hallway and into my room. Clever bird. Hmmm we should block that chimney up.           

PIGEON!!

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Technology - Security Device video

 

Column 278

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: Police Paddock
Story filed: the cricket pitch

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about how my cricket team got into the semi finals and then played our worst game yet. It was the semi-finals and we were ready to play our hardest. We opened the bowling and I had the third over to bowl and I have to say; well, I've done better. After a long and tedious fielding session we moved onto batting and this is where everything started to unravel. Our best batsmen went in and came back out again - why? Well, most of them got out first ball and might I add this was a very windy day and they all said the same thing "that the ball swung in from the side". It would look like a perfect block and then it would swing in and hit the stumps before you knew what had happened. My friend Will and I were at the bottom of the batting order but the way things were going we needed to pad up. My friend managed to stay in and get nine runs and then I managed to stay in and get two runs before getting bowled out too. At that stage I was the last batsmen and it was just go-out-there- and-slog some balls and if you get out, no problem as we were certainly not going to win this particular game. 

Until next time 
Leo Roving Reporter

Column 277

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Mitchel Wu

Hi people, Leo here. Today I'll be talking about a man called Mitchel Wu. Mr Wu is a toy photographer and a toy photographer is, well the name spells it out. It's someone who takes amazing cinematic photos of minifigures and toys in different positions: like jumping off a table or floating in mid air and so much more. I originally found Mitchel Wu's photos on Pinterest. For those who do not know what Pinterest is, it's a website that gives you a look into the fantastic collections of photos of pretty much anything, created or collected by other people pretty much like a scrap book or book. So, Mitchel Wu's photos come up in my home feed and I see them and I go ''Hey, those are really good'' and it started off there. I really like photography and minifigures and toys as well, and would definitely recommend giving Mitchel Wu a search online and giving his photos a look.

Until next time 

Leo Roving Reporter

Column 276

Leo, Roving Reporter
Report from: My desk
Story filed: Why there?

Hi people it's Leo here.  Have you heard or read about the very important  ''Save McPhillamy Park''  protest? Well I certainly have and what I don't get is why does the Council, or whoever it is, want to build this go-kart track on top of Mount Panorama in a Park meant for you and me?  Yes, a go-cart track and may I also add that this go-kart track is only for ''members'' and not the public. So great, you can't even take your friends to go go-karting. Now back to what I was originally going to say, why do they have to build the go-kart track there? There must be somewhere else to build this confounded go-kart track.......but no, it has to be built in Wiradjuri Country and what about the risk of destroying native animal habitats? I don't like it.

Until next time 
Leo Roving Reporter