CYCLONE NOEL
December 6, 2023The TV went whoop whoop whoop, and Ben (6) and Hillary (10) watched Mum and Dad stop chewing their dinner, mouths still full of…
Zizzy Stories and Blogs
SWARM
June 19, 2023I’m singing an old song in American – give me land lots of land, and starry skies above – taught years ago by a US Army staff…
WAR SLANG
April 25, 2023THE SOLDIERS’ WAR SLANG DICTIONARY “Genius named them as I live! But what genius could compress, In a title what man’s humor said to man’s…
GORILLAS OF BWINDI
December 2, 2022A silverback gorilla announced itself by thrashing around in a bush, and while we couldn’t see the Big Boy we watched one of the local…
EYESHINE
June 19, 2022Reflection of strong light on the back of the retina picks up the shine of the eyeball. Hold a torch close to your head and…
Field Notes from the 2022 Campaign
May 10, 2022Wow, isn’t there some overblown criticism about the CH9 election debate around. Check the huffing, puffing Canberra Times editorial above. Debates test policy, character and…
SEND IN THE ARMY!
March 21, 2022The suitability of our war-fighters to assist in flood and fire disasters became the topic of a national debate over the past few weeks and…
UNSHADOWED BY THOUGHT
February 11, 2022I have no parents; I make the heaven and earth mother and father. In a tower-block unit above Sydney Harbour, a party sparkled along. The…
Books that helped me escape 2021
December 8, 2021As The Kyoto Bell made The Australia Institute’s 2021 Essential Reads list, I thought I’d return a favour with a list of some escapist reads…
GLASGOW’S SMOKY BREATH
November 5, 2021“Then suddenly the sun was snuffed Behind a sooty cloud And night let fall on Glasgow Green Its sulphur-stinking shroud” From News of the World,…