Sunflowers – a symbol of peace and solidarity for Ukraine
Meet my sunflowers, my new friends. They have grown tall, strong and healthy from tiny seeds planted against my side fence. Everyone loves them. People passing by stop to admire them. A neighbour asked me if he could take a photo of ‘your happy plants’. My little grandchildren love sizing up to them but the […]
The day the world stopped talking about the pandemic
On Thursday 24 February 2022, people suddenly stopped talking about the pandemic. Even the media has been silenced. But it’s not over. It may never be over. The world has entered its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. So far there have been 45 million cases worldwide with hundreds of thousands of new cases adding […]
A makeover for a 1950s Chevrolet
The big Chevrolet. How could I forget it? Dad painted it canary yellow with a big paint brush. We were told the paint had fallen off the back of his Hammond’s truck when we were kids, a time when everything seemed so much bigger. My father worked at Hammond’s Transport and used to drive a […]
A tribute to Mary Kate
I have just experienced one of the saddest days of my life. The 22 January 2022 was the day my beautiful friend Mary passed away in Perth, WA. Without a doubt, she was the bravest and most inspirational person I have ever met. She fought a relentless, tough battle against cancer for over seven years, […]
When some idiot drove his boat into the Tasman Bridge
It was on the evening of 5 January 1975 when Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania was suddenly split in two. Not by an earthquake but by human error. A cargo ship, the Lake Illawarra was sailing up the Derwent River towards the Zinc Works when the captain lost control of the vessel and crashed […]
Christmas Carols, COVID and Connection – December 2021
This December I gave my vocal cords a real workout. Not by talking about ‘the virus COVID 19, 20 and currently 21’ nonstop but by singing Christmas carols. As Ed Ayers from ABC Classic radio wisely said, “music is the greatest gift of all”. We all know that. During times of crisis, people everywhere in […]
I took my harp to a party ….
Today I took my harp Brandden, named after his maker, to a party. It was his first outing in over five years. I had been asked to play at a Christmas function at a palliative care home. About twenty residents attended the party in the dining room, most of whom walked in or were wheeled […]
How about wind power for cargo ships?
What do Viking boats, Chinese junks and Spanish galleons have in common? They are all propelled by wind power. Marine vessels propelled by the power of wind are nothing new. Humans have known about this since 3 400 BC when the first sailing ship was developed in Ancient Egypt. I wonder if they emitted any […]
Another world record for Melbourne, Victoria
First let me recap. For four consecutive years, Melbourne has been ranked the most liveable city in the world. But now we have a world record of a different kind. We have achieved the world’s longest COVID-19 lockdown. Melbourne already held that grisly record last year but that has since been disputed. But there’s no […]
Construction workers – No jab, no job
Today is the seventh day of THE Melbourne protests that began on 20 September outside the CFMEU office. The protests were instigated by mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for construction workers. The government took this approach because hundreds of new infections have been linked to building sites. The industry was given notice weeks earlier about non-compliance with […]