There’s a family of magpies that live in one of the trees in our yard. Every day we see five or six of them ripping into our lawn searching for worms. Andrew gets irate as he’s spent hours preparing this lawn , fertilising, coring and watering it. Over winter it’s going to go dormant. He […]
Collecting RATs
I’m over the bulk of the worst of COVID symptoms although I’m still coughing and have a runny nose. I STILL don’t have a sense of smell or taste now over a week and I can’t wait to get this back again. There are also days where lethargy come over me and I feel wiped […]
Argh. Now Husband Has Covid
It’s never ending isn’t it? Argh. I’ve now cancelled our trip to the Clunes Book Festival which I was looking forward to all year. Two days of book talks, book fairs on the streets and all the seven bookstores of that town open to public. Bloody hell. 🤬 Oh well. On the plus side, my […]
Finally Caught COVID
It took some years but I finally caught it. I was holding onto the hope of never getting it but unfortunately, it happened. I’ve had all my boosters, I tried to keep as safe as possible but now, it’s everywhere. It didn’t help being in an overcrowded classroom last week when there were a couple […]
A Typical Evening Scene
Evenings at ours means a lot of time spent on the sofa watching television, reading books or listening to music. Tonight as we listened to a CD by Suede, I shared the sofa with Pud who had fallen fast asleep with my foot on his belly. It’s pretty relaxing to do this. I quite enjoy […]
Being a Tourist in Canberra: What I Saw & Did in Our Nation’s Capital
We travelled to Canberra for a few days for family reasons and while there, I had an opportunity to act as a tourist. I worked there for four years and I loved this city. It’s Australia’s national capital and full of institutions, museums, galleries and so much more that means there’s always something educational and […]
Personality Tests
Many years ago when I was in the corporate world, every team bonding activity involved some kind of personality test. These tests evaluated our preferences against others in our teams and shed light on how we prefer to lead and work with others but also come to understand our own strengths and weaknesses. (I’ll say […]
Morning is My Favourite Time of Day
It’s Wednesday morning. Outside, except for a call of a magpie, it’s quiet. I pulled out of playing golf early this morning because I hadn’t slept well last night. I’m the type of person who needs to have a good night’s sleep or have things perfect order (clean house, swept floors, bed made, general tidiness) […]
The Lifespan of a Fact
On Saturday night, Andrew and I went to a local theatre group to see a performance of this play based on a book called The Lifespan of a Fact. We hadn’t been to amateur theatre in many years and we do have some local groups in the area. I had seen this as advertised in […]
The Cult of Taylor Swift
I don’t know how many times this year I’ve thought to myself that “I don’t understand the world we are living in right now.” It’s as if the lines are blurred between fact and fiction; real or fake. Nothing makes sense yet nothing is surprising anymore. To be honest, I think we have lost our […]
Battered by Melbourne Storms
The day was sweltering hot on Tuesday. It was 38 and with strong winds. The worst weather you’d wish to have in a state that still remembers the worst bush fires that decimated entire regions, homes, livestock, flora and fauna a few years back. I had just started my French class when there was a […]
Celebrating Our 18th Wedding Anniversary
Today was our 18th wedding anniversary and we usually celebrate the day with a dinner somewhere. This year, I decided to instead see an exhibition in town followed by some lunch. The Titanic Artefact Exhibition was on at the Melbourne Museum and it was a fantastic one that walked us through gangway right to the […]
Fake News in Our News Media
Everyone is talking about how one of our biggest news channels this week used generative AI to Photoshop one of our politicians photos. Of course she was a young woman and she called it out in X even saying that she knew the photo was clearly wrong because she also has a stomach tattoo that […]
Live Writing
This year I joined Writers Victoria based out of the Wheelers Centre at the back of the State Library of Victoria. The centre supports writers by providing an excellent library, events, workshops and other resources for people to write. Twice a week they run Live Write sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays online. However on the […]
Conversations with People Who Are Still Working and Those Who Aren’t
I’m at this weird age where some friends, family members and acquaintances are still working, close to retirement or just decided to retire early (like myself) brought on earlier than planned due to various factors in their lives such as “post pandemic life rethink”, ageing parents or career transition. I’ve got various groups of friends […]
Colourised Old Films
I spent a few hours today watching old films. When they’ve been colourised and no doubt sprinkled with some magic AI and there’s something that seems a little more “real” about them. Having the soundtrack too makes the film that more emotive so you can’t help but get sucked in. Or to start crying like […]
Reading The Divine Comedy by Dante
It was about time I read this book. We have two copies. The first one is the Oxford Classic which I’m poring over (you have no idea how much I love going deeply into the book with its end notes and references to figures of history and philosophy – which I may add, all happen […]
Holey Moley
A bowling alley, arcade and mini golf course (putt putt) has recently opened up near where we live. We live near an industrial estate and a lot of the factories are now closing down and the area gentrified with boutique breweries, gyms, cafes and restaurants. The new trend to to build these “experiences”. I’m not […]
I Reached 3000 Subscribers on YouTube
A few days ago I reached 3000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. All without using social media to promote it, creating Shorts or using AI for any of it. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes. I don’t think it’ll explode in growth (I don’t want it to) but I think it’ll peter out […]
Pretending Like it’s 1942
Over the last few days I’ve been pretending it’s 1942 in Melbourne. It was a weird time back then. Singapore and Phillipines had fallen to the Japanese and there was a general sense of impending doom. The prime minister of the time, Curtin, inspired Australians to serve and that was the time, the war came […]