12, 13. I don’t know why we count….actually, yes I do. It’s because you want to tell people afterwards; boast a little (14, 15) and get some brownie points for being so silly in the first place (16). Yet there’s nothing glamorous about it, the rise and fall and the probing nature is, in someContinue reading “THE DAY THAT SUCKED”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
ON FLANDERS FIELDS
I was born and raised in Teralba, a suburb that still seems apart from the rest of Newcastle. 21 years passed, during which time I would frequently visit my grandmother on my father’s side. I still recall trips to Newcastle, a big occasion for a young lad, on the 363 bus from Speers Point. GranContinue reading “ON FLANDERS FIELDS”
A MAN AT IRONBARK
It seems to me a little sad. In the cities it’s all about the latest American rapper or no-talent people on “reality” shows. Australian names from the past are largely lost, forgotten and generally neglected. The work of once literary giants like “Banjo” Paterson have escaped notice. His accurate descriptions and portrayals of times pastContinue reading “A MAN AT IRONBARK”
IT ROCKS
There was no-one. In fact, the previous time I’d camped overnight and left early, the golden hour in fact. The light was exquisite, the temperature cool, the trail enticing and I was alone; but that was decades ago. The ragged rock faces, weathered over millennia, seemed not to have changed as I got into myContinue reading “IT ROCKS”
……CAN HOLD MORE THAN HIS BELLY CAN
Nonchalant. Now there’s a word that perfectly describes how I felt, sitting by Lake Macquarie with an hour and a half to spare. The breeze of the afternoon layered the surface with ripples as I leant against the bench contemplating life. Clouds were not apparent but still the chill of the late afternoonContinue reading “……CAN HOLD MORE THAN HIS BELLY CAN”
ONE CHATEAU BEGATS ANOTHER
When you’re in the Dijon area it’s hard to avoid chateaux because this is the place where a lot of serious wine is grown and the term originally meant a house linked to a vineyard. Here many prospered, and still do so today, but the big chateaux are suffering and tourists are needed simply toContinue reading “ONE CHATEAU BEGATS ANOTHER”
UP AND AWAY
WOOLPACK AND CATHEDRAL ROCKS It made a frightening noise; so frightening that I recall seemingly jumping nearly as high as where the branch had come from. How lucky was I that it was 50 metres behind me though the odds were definitely in my favour that it would miss me. Still, I couldn’t help butContinue reading “UP AND AWAY”
THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACK
GOERLITZ At night it looked so different. A series of lights along the waterfront with some barely discernable buildings behind. I had no idea what it was called or what was there. The Goerlitz map showed just a few buildings beside the river and the “living house of J. Bohme”, whoever he was. I left myContinue reading “THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACK”
LE MISTRAL – LE MISERY
I’d waited, waited because there are a thousand postcards of Peyrepertuse with the sun shining on its crumbling old walls atop a spectacular outcrop of rock; but in the end I was denied. Instead of improving, each day the weather seemed to get worse. The weather for the whole trip bar one half a dayContinue reading “LE MISTRAL – LE MISERY”
MIDST MAYHEM AND MELANCHOLY
It was crowded and seemingly disorganized, such a contrast to my previous visit to the famous Dali museum at Figueres, that almost; no, definitely, indescribable edifice that reminds you of no other; like the man himself, it is unique. The short road to the carpark was being dug up and we had to wait aboutContinue reading “MIDST MAYHEM AND MELANCHOLY”
Taking You To Places You've Never Been 