And another thing PHIL BROWN

Iused to be a vegetarian. Don’t judge me. I went through a couple of phases of it but thankfully I grew out of it. One of those stints was when I was living in Monto for a year. Not a lot of vegetarians around there because beef is a way of life.

I used to cover the Monto Shire Council meetings for the Burnett Herald which led to me being invited to join the shire chairman, Phil Marshall (a car dealer whose nickname was Honest Phil), the town clerk and another bloke on a trip to Biggenden for the Central and Upper Burnett Local Government Association meeting. What has this got to do with vegetarianism? Stay with me.

So we drove to Biggenden and that was my first time in that bustling metropolis. My beat was Monto, Eidsvold, Mundubbera and Gayndah. Living in Monto was a revelation after growing up in Hong Kong and the Gold Coast.

Anyway we arrived and the meeting began and the good news was that the CWA ladies put on a spread for morning tea. That was one of the best things about my time in Central Queensland – CWA morning or afternoon teas with scones, pikelets, sponge cake and other treats. I have a sweet tooth and that suited me fine. Anyway afterwards the meeting progressed and I tried to look interested and jotted things down in my notebook – stuff about cattle, weed control, water supply and other riveting matters.

Then it came time to break for lunch and I went in and sat down with the various cow cockies and administrators. I was out of place with my long hair and John Lennon spectacles. I think quite a few of the delegates wondered what the hell someone like me was doing there. I did wonder that myself. When they started serving the food I realised that it was all thick steaks and I caught the eye of the lady serving just across the table and I asked, possibly too loudly,

“Is there a vegetarian option?” Silence ensued and everyone looked at me as if I had vilely blasphemed. I was then given a plate with just vegies on it and I could see the outline where the steak had been.

I was glad when that lunch was over.