Occasional Ravings – Hanging out in the carpark

Let me set the scene. Our new home has the advantage of an elevated position, providing and idyllic view overlooking open paddocks, trees and the rolling hills that surround us. It also overlooks the rear of the local pub and its carpark. One of the less edifying aspects of that particular part of our view …

Lucky

I've just watched 'Lucky', a movie that Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas amongst other triumphs) made in the same year that he died, at the age of 91. It is a funny, wise and engaging conversation about our final days that will bring insight and laughter in equal measure. It has many links with The …

Occasional Ravings – The great poetry joke

I read a couple of ‘poems’ in a daily newspaper today. Poems appearing in newspapers should be cause for celebration but, as always, it caused me despair. Below you will find the two poems: Freehold by Theodore Eli and Her Late Hand by Jaya Savige, as well as an extract from Sarah Holland-Blatt's breathless take …

Pass the lemon

This piece in my Occasional Ravings category is brief exploration into my past life as a manager in various settings. ‘Pass the lemon’ is a phrase I coined to describe a phenomenon that plagues managers worldwide, especially in government service and in large corporations. It refers to the practice of dishonestly moving underperformers and malcontents …

Single bells

Many years ago, when people still wrote letters, a single woman friend who’d always shared houses wrote to me that she was now living alone and was happier than she’d ever been. In my reply, I said that I was glad she was happy but perhaps over time she would miss the company. She replied: …

Choosing the way to go

Choosing the way to go I first published this piece on my Six Crooked Highways blog on April 17 2020 but my views have not changed. The way matters are developing has, if anything, reinforced my view. Lest you leap to the conclusion that this is just another woe-is-us piece on the world bequeathed to …

The virus and the fragile state.

For those followers outside Australia, we are a Federation of six States and ten Territories, two of which are part of mainland Australia (Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory) and each State and mainland Territory has its own legislature. I have lived in four of those States (Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and …

Degree factories undermining literacy and numeracy

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that universities have become corporatised degree factories and this is having a long-tail effect. A recent media article (behind a paywall, so I won't post the link) states that nearly 10 per cent of Australia’s aspiring teachers are failing to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards, a significant …

Oxygen thieves

It's not difficult to spot one. They'll be the one under the misapprehension that if they stop speaking they'll die, which must make falling asleep a terrifying experience. They'll be the one that follows your comment about elephants with "Speaking of elephants, my neighbour has the fattest dog you've ever seen". No non sequitur is …

Everyone’s a winner! – Writing in the modern era

I’m thinking of setting up a writing award scheme/program/investment vehicle, call it what you will. Oh no, not another one, I hear you cry but in the true spirit of Roy and HG, too many writing awards is never enough. And the beauty of these awards is that everyone’s a winner because you get to …