G'day Helen and all,

You do need to be a bit careful where you sing the song. Some friends were doing a music spot at a historic village/working old town venue and sang "One of the Has-beens" just after a shearing demonstration.

I'm afraid the old chap, who had just given an excellently paced demonstration of both hand and machine shearing techniques ... one where everyone could clearly see techiques and fine points instead of a blur of action ... took it personally and thought the band was having a shot at him for not shearing at the cracking pace that prevailed in the old time sheds, where a sheep could be completely shorn by a 'gun' shearer in less than 90 seconds!

The world shearing record, for an 8-hour day, averages something like 85 seconds per sheep, including grabbing them, getting them positioned and propelling them down the chute, right through an 8-hour day.

A bloke I was drilling with, on the Tasmanian Hydro, in 1966, tried to talk me into taking on a learners' pen ... I reckon if I had, I would have a back like a pretzel by now!

Regards,

Bob Bolton