my neighbourhood

UooUoo is a new word for me and these beautiful UooUoo animals are new to me too – it is pronounced You You. This is a chance for me to introduce you to a new word and of course a new animal.  It is always fun to find a new word. Not that I think I will find many uses for ooUooU Remember the Pushmi-Pullyu  ( pronounced  push-me-pull-you) from  the Dr Doolittle books by Hugh Lofting.  I always loved that word and as a child walked around reciting it but like ooUooU it was hard to find places to use…

**   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…

I wrote this on the Sunday I heard about all Melburnians having to wear a mask when they left the house. I live in central Melbourne.  I thought about how my life under COVID-19 had changed. I came up with one huge positive.  I wrote about it……. *************************************************   In one way Covid-19 has played into my hands. I have re-learned the love of walking. Once this love took me into the wilds where I slogged for hours through bush to finally lunch by a freezing river or even spend the night in a communal hut with others who also…

I wrote this piece about the magpies in my area during COVID-19.  I also mention them here. This piece is for your enjoyment:- it is part of my ‘Love Writing Collection’ Life with the Magpies In my post code it is the year of the magpie. There are magpies everywhere. Yelling, chortling, and talking loudly amongst themselves. They do this at full volume. I’ve yet to see a magpie whispering to a mate. My favourite park is full of them and until the lockdown they marched around the children’s play area lording it over everyone and pretending they’re in control.  …

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…

Last time I posted on this blog I talked about my writers’ block. I was suffering and feeling inadequate and somewhat miserable. The Internet is full of cures but I have found my own cure by chance. It may help you if you ever find yourself in the same state.  It is not a happy state.  Writers write I kept telling myself that. It did no good something was stopping me writing. Check out the book I have written here   My cure and I’m sure my writers’ Block is cured.   Walking! Instead of sitting at home and gazing at…