When I finished high school, I dived headlong into the world of broadcasting with all its glitz and glamour. Well, actually, I held a microphone on the end of a bamboo pole for 10 hours a day for the production of Playschool! Fortunately, over the years, things got a lot better, and I guess I […]
Category: News
New Year’s – Resolutions / Disillusions / Delusions?
Happy new Year! It’s that time of year again where we look forward to what the year ahead holds for us and as our hands fall to our sides after the last hurrahs of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, we’re contemplating our New Year’s resolutions. After all, this is going to be ‘our year’, we can feel […]
Driving home for Christmas
Yes folks, it’s that time again. I’m listening to this song as I start this blog; a nice song from Chris Rea – sentimental, hopeful, and typical of what many people will be feeling as Christmas looms. You’ve probably got your numbers sorted for Christmas Day, and there’s a mixture of excitement, anticipation – and […]
What’s worse than coming home with luggage missing?
Q: What’s worse than coming home with luggage missing?A: Coming home from a tour of duty with extra baggage. Read on… A soldier returned from his tour of duty in East Timor and decided to take some very well -earned rest and recreation. He decided to come home and stay with his mum and then […]
It’s not my fault, your Honour; they provoked me!
I was working late in my office one night when I received a phone call from a very distraught client. This woman had been having difficulties in her relationship with her husband and had expressed fears that he may harm her when he was drinking. She wouldn’t go to the police and she wouldn’t let […]
Hang on – Help is on the Way! …Or not.
Leading up to last year’s Gumboot Friday fundraising, Mike King said this about our Mental Health system: (Warning: Some people may find this comment disturbing) “If you put your faith in the system, there is a better than evens chance that your child will die, because no-one is coming’. This statement is confronting rather than […]
Clear and Present Danger
When I was young, I lived next door to a man who served in World War 2. He had a heart of gold, would do anything for you, and yes, protect you to the end if he thought you needed it. He was also a heavy drinker, and when he went on a bender, it […]
Denial
What is Denial? Google it, and it comes up with ‘Denial is a river in Egypt’. Seriously. But all jokes aside, denial is one of the many coping mechanisms we have that stops our heads from exploding when we are facing an event or situation that is too emotionally painful and threatens to overwhelm us. […]
Trouble with the waterworks
It was November 19th last year. Tami Nelson appeared at the Theatre Royal with her Kingmaker show. It was well worth waiting for, having been postponed from its original date due to Covid. The place was rocking, the theatre was packed, and getting through the fans was a challenge as I joined the throng headed […]
World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10th 2023
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD)is an annual awareness day aimed at raising awareness about suicide, to promote suicide prevention efforts and provide support to individuals who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts or have been affected by suicide. This global observance is organized by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in collaboration with the […]
Mother’s Day Grief
We all know our parents are going to die one day, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to grieve them on special occasions like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Losing your parents is one of adult life’s most significant rites of passage. And while society may recognise the loss that children feel when […]
Anzac Day – Lest we Forget
Nelson ANZAC Park 5.30 – Parade to assemble at Millers Acre to march to Anzac Park followed by the ANZAC Dawn Service at 6am. The War Memorial on Piki Mai 9.00am – ANZAC Day Commemoration Stoke Memorial Hall 10.45 – Parade to assemble at Isel Park to march to Stoke Memorial Hall followed by Stoke […]