How I discovered my kids are geriatric millennials
Recently the Blindboy Podcast caught my attention. At first, I found the host really disturbing. I thought I was listening to a computer-generated voice – a spooky one. It could’ve been Siri or Alexa’s aging cousin from Ireland. Anyway, I checked Blindboy out on the internet to see if he’s real. Sure, enough he is! […]
Australia loses three treasures within nine days
Archie Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) Archie Roach was so much more than a musician, singer, author and activist. He was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who fought hard for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Through his music, he created awareness about the plight of the stolen generations […]
Elvis: the death of a King (a personal recollection)
It was mid-afternoon on Tuesday, 16 August 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley was at home in his mansion at Graceland. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. But sleep didn’t come easily to Elvis. So he was pumped full of drugs and left alone to die. The way I see it, is that […]
The Chevrolet gets a scratch
The day my father discovered a parking spot that had always been ‘reserved for him’ was actually reserved for a tourist bus was a memorable day indeed. My father was a quiet man most of the time. He rarely spoke about anything. But he was also very bad tempered too which was witnessed by a […]
The day my brother’s childhood ended
It seemed like a perfect day. I was soaking up some rays on the beach. My youngest brother Sam was inside the caravan playing games with his teacher. It was clear I wasn’t welcome because the teacher latched the door of the caravan. I was OK with that. Playing board games wasn’t my thing anyway. […]
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 […]