Moments

**   This is part two of me taking you for a ride along this tram route.** Walking is my go to exercise especially now that COVID has made its home with us. A favourite walk is from St Kilda along Chapel Street into Richmond alongside the tram tracks. Last Sunday when I got to Swan Street I was hot and sticky and feeling the effects of the distance.  Coles is good place to pick up a few groceries.  I did that and scrambled onto the 78 tram as it trundled towards my home and a reviving coffee. The crowd on…

Life is always interesting on this tram route – never dull moment as they say…   Last week when I was traveling  from South Yarra to Prahran on the 78 tram the only free seat was opposite a dark skinned older man.  He had a swollen eye but it didn’t look like a the result of a punch up.  It looked more as if it was suppose to be that way.  He sat very still and stared straight ahead.  I gazed passed him and out the window.  No eye contact is my go to position on this tram. Two impeccably…

The lockdown door has opened a crack with more light coming through on November 1st.  With this new life seeping towards us we have another Melbourne spring-style day. Cold wind and now in the late afternoon the sun is out and the wind lessened. To Celebrate I have poured a gin and tonic in one of the beautiful glasses I inherited from my mum.  The gin turned up when I was cleaning out a cupboard.  Not much left which is perhaps why I forgot about it but enough to celebrate.  The crystal is sparkling in the sun and the slice…

I’ve been missing for a while – it is the dreaded virus. COVID-19 lock down in Melbourne and my creativity is locked down with it. I settle into my chair and I have nothing to write. I wander around the house. I make a cup of tea. I check my emails again and again. I find something on YouTube to listen to. I go for my daily walk. I sit at my computer again. It’s no good there is nothing there. My creativity has died. Are you the same? What’s been your ‘go-to-thing’ to lift you spirits during these COVID…

This is an amazing time in Australia.  It is a time where the country pulled together, cared for each other, looked out for each other and followed the rules. By doing this we have stopped COVID – 19 in its tracks. Not conquered yet but certainly halted it.  We believed all  lives mattered in this wonderful multi-cultural nation of ours. Watching the weekend marches you could be led to believe that ‘Only Black Lives Matter’. Of course Black Lives matter and all of us whatever race we belong to are horrified by the actions of the police officers in Minneapolis.…

It’s taken me a while to write this post … I don’t want to offend anyone or lose a friendship… it is more that I’m writing to get an understanding of my friends who aren’t writers or readers. Writing and publishing my book ‘Mayhem in Melbourne’ has been a huge mile-stone in my life.  Yet I have at least three friends who I thought were close friends, who four months after publication haven’t read it.  I put a copy in their hands so it’s not a problem with access or the cost. When I see them, I don’t say ‘Have…

A WEEK INTO LOCK DOWN… …and I’m working out ways to control my roving mind – or is it brain function.  Whatever it is, it is flipping around all over the place and preventing me from keeping on task.   Are you having this problem? Or is it just me?  I need to switch off  the breaking news, in fact all the social media. I don’t need to know the latest cornovirus  figures. It only depresses me. The task I have given myself is to work on the sequel to ‘Mayhem in Melbourne’.   I have the first draft of the…

It is a little while since I posted.  It’s such an unsettling time. COVID-19 is on all our lips. When I heard about the lock down  I thought there’s an upside to this. I can really make headway with my book. No social engagements. Nothing to interrupt me.  Nothing I can do other than a quick trip for a few groceries. Everything to give to my book.  But it isn’t working out like that.  I can’t concentrate. My mind’s all over the place and therapeutic walks have all but vanished from my life. It is all the changes that are…

I’m not going to tell you my goals.  Some Guru’s say that telling everyone commits you to sticking to them. On the other hand it could commit those you tell to keep nagging you about them. That’s something I don’t need. But that may work for you. We all respond differently. I have written my goals down.  I’ve kept the list short.  Experience has shown me that when I read them a month later if I have too many I’m daunted. It looks too hard and most of them drift away. I’m not writing down ‘lose at least 5 kilos…

We have a relatively new addition to our extended family. No, not a dog. So many people describe a pet as a ‘new addition to the family’ and so it is when you think how your grocery bill increases after it arrives. A dog or a cat would be fun but I am talking about a delightful, energetic and lovely, little boy who has just turned two. Being a writer I couldn’t resist the chance to write his ‘Life’. It is in the form of a diary. When I come home from spending time with him I write the experience…