Even my nearest and dearest wouldn’t say with a straight face that I have a good sense of fashion -- or indeed, any sense of fashion. In the past, let loose from the daily requirement to don a conservative suit and tie, I may well have struggled a bit to strike the right sartorial note …
Remember the post I wrote about Cruise, dog-about-town and long-distance traveller? Well, in the short time since then, Cruise has added to his list of destinations with his furthest expedition yet – a jaunt to the Emerald City itself, Sydney. It all started on Saturday, when Corner Cottage played host to a group of friends …
There’s a word they have here for people like us, who arrive in Braidwood and set up shop to live the honest country life – and that’s ‘blow-ins’. I quite like it – it implies that we’ve been carried here by the winds of fate, rather than finding ourselves here as the chance of birth …
Welcome back! When we left off yesterday – a cliffhanger moment if ever there was one – your faithful correspondent was just about to set foot on Aussie soil for the first time in the sun-baked conurbation of Brisbane. My cousin and her two daughters picked me up; I was in a haze of jetlag …
Readers of these perceptive and illuminating insights into Aussie culture will be stunned to learn that when it comes to being in Australia, this isn’t my first rodeo. It’s probably the seventh or eighth – although I will concede that this is the first time I’ve been here as a legal permanent resident. The first …
Thinking a bit about the various variations of my chosen profession, writing, had me reminiscing a bit about a man I spent a lot of time with in the late ‘80s. Out of choice, initially, and then because he’d kind of moved in and couldn’t be evicted. The man was American poet E. E. Cummings …
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that despite our best efforts, one simple DIY job will generally spawn several more; when this principle is combined with the immutable law that no DIY job is as simple as it first appears, you have a rule or constant that indicates that a man’s work is never done. Worse, the …
How do you describe the complex phenomenon of the sophisticated man-about-town? His ease in all kinds of company, his subtle air of mystery, his discreet comings and goings? You know the type – well-travelled, cultured, ageless and self-assured; friend to many, intimate of few. This is Cruise, subject of today’s post: a nuggety Jack Russell …
As a semi-pro freelance writer, I've developed some pet hates when it comes to cliché-ed phrases -- and one of the most tooth-grinding is 'sneak-peek'. Let's face it, this twee substitute for the perfectly good 'preview' or even 'glimpse' has had its day and should be taken out back and humanely shot. What follows is …
It’s story time again. There hasn’t been much opportunity for messing around in the garden or painting in the house, as I’m knocking out a bit of what’s popularly known as ‘content’ in the world of marketing and such. This involves a lot of sitting in my shed – sorry, ‘studio’ – staring at the …
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