Saturday 2 September 2023 South Coast Track, Tasmania Loading up an A frame pack with a weeks worth of flour, a change of socks and swimmers plus towel was about the sum of my trekking preparation once upon a time. Not so today. The pack was unpacked and checked then repacked – and of course…
Friday 1 September 2023 “Remove the lifejacket by pulling the tab.” She intrudes the instruction into my consciousness just as the 717-200 bumps into reverse and an unseen tug pushes us away from the terminal. We are eventually enjoined to respect each other, a message which is a sign of our times and sadly needed.…
The account (Wrestling a Python) of our start up adventure is coming together. Helping me along are these notes I jotted in my diary shortly after we listed. Also helping me along is the memory of Jonathan here, first in to join the co founding team. Sadly he was also the first out. RIP. We…
When we buried Dad we buried his Bible with him. Mum thought it would be a good idea and there was something symbolic about it that made sense. As sons and in-laws and grandsons hauled the casket from the hearse the breeze snapped the tattered and well worn volume open and we quickly grabbed the…
Monday 19 September 2022 Hue (Hway) aka Harry is a cherry, bespectacled chap with an open face and an engaging demeanour. His primary job is as a salesperson for Norwegian company Jortun but I wonder if he prefers his second source of income more – a Mekong tour guide. It goes against the grain to…
Sunday 18 September 2022 I have a memory of Ho Chi Minh City which is now a generation old and in the intervening period this city has modernised at an extraordinary rate. The wealth born of this very entrepreneurial people is reflected in the new high rise buildings but also in the refurbishment of the…
The call to prayer wakes me at 0445 and that prompts a distant rooster to get cracking but they both quickly fade out as the rain on the tin roof drowns them out and I drift back to sleep. I wake later, rain still drumming but imam and cockerel silent. It’s Sunday morning so now…
1 August 2022, Ipswich. Today John Kirkpatrick was buried and a celebratory service held afterwards. It was stirring day and not as tough as I thought it would be. Why so? Possibly because the reflection of the hope in him on which his faith was built. Not a gambler’s hope against the odds that be…
In 1981 the Queen opened CHOGM in Melbourne. The RAF VC10 aircraft and those other planes of visiting dignitaries were parked at RAAF East Sale where a handful of newly graduated dog handlers worked their first ever night shifts guarding them. Then in October 1982 I found myself looking after a RAAF 707 which had…
I inherited an eclectic array of postage stamps from Dad. ‘I didn’t even know he collected them’ was my first response. But then vague memories from my teen years of a friendship with the local post office manager in the gritty suburb of Reservoir, Melbourne. A chap who would hand over folded, crisp sleeves of…