We’re visiting Germany for a few days and arrived late yesterday just ahead of the rain. Barely had time to liberate the contents of a local white before the first heavy drops fell. The sky rested, shroud like, just above the treetops with swirling black clouds threatening us. We were sitting outside on the veranda [...]
‘Maybe it’s just Me…’
Simple Pleasures
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Can’t Find a Pulse
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010The coach driver has the thousand yard stare. The stare of the war weary veteran who has dissociated from the trauma of battle. There are a lot of excess kilos hanging over an already stressed belt and he is smoking what is probably his 40th cigarette for the day; stroke material looking for someplace to [...]
You Have to Laugh
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010There was a message when I got back. Mona smiled, as she tossed me the message book. “Guess who called?” I knew who’d called. “He say what he wants?” We ran an agency that helped young adults with intellectual disability into some sort of work. I had a case load of about twelve guys and [...]
Sure, Everything’s Just Peachy
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010If you have heavily tinted rose coloured glasses you might be excused for thinking we avoided the Global Financial Crisis. The professional liars masquerading as politicians would have you believe it was their expertise and financial brilliance that saved the day. You might think that China buying practically any resource we were selling had nothing [...]
Real Men Wear Hard Hats
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010The other night I was soaking in a bath. I’d been running, it was cold and I needed heat for a sore body. So I lay there for an hour or so in about six thousand litres of valuable water. Anyway, there I was soaking up energy and resources like you would not believe. The [...]
The Catman of San Parello – Part Two
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010… Suddenly there is a drum roll and the crowd quietens. Into the centre of the ring strides Monsieur De Carne to the accompaniment of the Marseillaise. The crown cheers in acknowledgement, drowning out the anthem. The hero stands to attention, a gloved hand over his heart and eyes towards heaven. He is resplendent in [...]
The Catman of San Parello – Part One
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010by Ian Arkell It occurred to me the other day that you don’t hear cat juggling mentioned much nowadays. Yes, I know it’s been illegal since the fifties but I’m told that during the Depression it was quite popular in certain countries. My late grandfather travelled extensively between the wars and just before his death [...]
Quick, Over to Port
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010by Ian Arkell I don’t know much about Mary McKillop. The ferry that is, not the woman who’s about to become Australia’s first saint. I have to be honest. I think this ferry blessing business is fraught with problems. And whilst George Pell, has a brilliant record of upholding the rights of gay people and [...]
Witch Way to Go?
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009by Ian Arkell I scan through the news most days. And sometimes I have to wonder if humans behave more logically than garden gnomes. An item this morning was particularly interesting. In Perth a balcony on a house collapsed when it became overcrowded with forty revellers celebrating Halloween. There was a variety of injuries and [...]
…and Counting
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009by Ian Arkell A lot of people swear by numbers. Some buy their lotto by numbers, decide where to live by postcode or house numbers and are convinced that this or that year is propitious simply because of numbers. I am sceptical about all this stuff, as I am about star signs. Whenever I meet [...]