We seem obsessed with best, worst, highest, lowest, first, last, youngest, oldest. Any extreme seems to do. People go out of their way to have their names in the record books. Recently, the world’s oldest women died at the age of 115. Now her ‘runner-up’ is the oldest woman. It is a good thing that centenarians are not often given to bumping off their ‘competitors’ in order to make it into the record books.
I can’t ignore that it is Australia Day. We received Chinese-made Australian flags in the letterbox from a local real estate agent and people are walking around with Australian-flag clothing and head gear. Cars are sporting flags, as are letterboxes and house rooves.
Almost two years after the devastating fires in Victoria and now with a large area of Australia progressively inundated by floodwater, it is relevant to ask, ‘what is the best way to compensate people who suffer loss as a result of disasters on a large scale?
What are modern children to make of the Santa Clause, when they may see dozens of them in one day in a shopping centre, weeks before Christmas? What about the Easter Bunny? How well do we manage mythology for our children?
In the Santa-believing parts of the world, some tens of thousands of Santa suits have gone back into storage, along with fake sleighs and stuffed reindeer, tinsel, baubles and strings of lights, as well as all the flashing Santa displays and plastic Christmas trees. That must require millions of cubic metres of storage space. (more…)
Dear part-of-me-that-is-perfect,
I will once more rely on you to ensure that the list of resolutions I dream up for the coming year will be adhered to and shepherded to fruition in a timely manner and with the help of your infinite wisdom. You see, it will soon be a brand new year and I am determined that I will be a brand new person. (more…)
Instead of sitting at my usual table at the local café this afternoon, I was lying back in a dentist’s chair, with my mouth agape and full of fingers and implements. The annual cleaning of the ivories. (more…)
It is possible but not easy to avoid being caught up in the Christmas hysteria. As with my lack of interest in organised sport and its celebrities, my failure to be enthused about Christmas is sometimes looked on askance by those around me. Even the government tries to make me feel guilty for not contributing sufficiently to the economic welfare of the nation by my refusal to join the feeding frenzy at the retail trough. (more…)
The question of “What is truth?” is being debated and argued about around the world as are the questions: “Is truth important?”; “Should truth come out, no matter what?”; “Who should control truth?”; “Who does control truth?”; “Should anyone be punished for telling the truth?”; and many other related ones. (more…)
There is something wonderful about a sun-dried towel after coming out of a refreshing shower; ironing a shirt and then putting it on immediately, while it is still warm; writing on textured paper with a fountain pen; having a bath and then letting the water out very, very slowly; listening to Bach choral music, loudly. (more…)