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…)

With elections in Victoria this coming Saturday to elect a new (or old) State government, I am puzzling again on the question of what issues we put our minds to in order to choose who will govern us for the next three years. (more…)

Life can be like a series of film clips which repeat in changing permutations and which themselves have changed each time they run, or which can seem the same each time through.  I’m in an aeroplane again, on my way to Sydney, again, to exhibit nutritional products at an ACNEM¹ training event, again.  For any of you not aware of it, I was, until a little over three years ago, CEO of ACNEM.  My time with the college represented, when I left, over one quarter of my life. (more…)

What is the purpose served by our knowing of a kidnapping in Italy or a triple murder in the USA or the conviction of a politician for fraud in the UK or an avalanche in the Andes?  How does any of this information change our lives, our behaviour or our beliefs? (more…)

I seem to have come back as two people, or as one person inhabiting two worlds.  Having returned from Europe, I slept on and off for almost four days and it was not jet lag. (more…)

War Dances
Sherman Alexie
Scribe 2010
ISBN: 9781921640803
$26.95
224 pp

Sherman Alexie is a native American and many of his stories and poems in this collection make this obvious.  Other pieces ignore it completely.  He sometimes refers to himself as a “part-time Indian”.  He treats his ancestry with humour and lightness, while also exposing the mistreatment of natives by others and the pain this brings. (more…)

A pleasant exhaustion envelops me as I sit in a crowded Jumbo, waiting to taxi for take-off from Heathrow, to head east; back to the familiar from what was unfamiliar and became familiar very quickly. (more…)

Sometimes the best-laid plans of mice and men … can be as nothing if the workers of the Belgian railway decide to strike.  Plan B for getting to Amsterdam from London: train, ferry, train.  Includes a two-berth cabin for the night crossing.  Travel and accommodation for the same price as the non-existent train through Belgium.  Thank you, striking workers. (more…)