Letters from Quotidia

The enemies of Jesus called him a drunkard and glutton because He and his disciples wined and dined with tax collectors. But then, of course they had also lambasted His cousin, John the Baptist as a lunatic because he fasted and abstained from alcohol. More

The mistake too many human beings make is thinking that they can negotiate with the forces of darkness and come out in front. Soul for sale anyone? Best not, eh! More

Sharing a birthday drink with my brother-in-law, he told me about a mate he worked alongside with for many years who, learning he has terminal cancer, has arranged a neat end. He has approval for voluntary assisted dying and has said farewell to his family and friends as well as having ordered his affairs. He is not in pain, but he intends to bow out this weekend. More

Twenty years ago...around a fire with a friend...we were talking about how little we knew about our forebears. My nephew, the family historian, had discovered that my great-uncle had fought and died with Australian forces on the Western Front in 1917...maybe I should jot some stuff down about... my life just in case a future family historian might want to delve into what it was we were all about....

Jack London had many attributes of the classical hero: a wanderer over land and sea, a prodigious energy ,consorting with interesting people, gaining fame and fortune and dying at an early age. More

So, every Father’s Day, presented with descriptors such as World’s Best Dad, men groan- perhaps inwardly- when compared, falsely in most cases I would imagine, to heroes... and to any number of masculine exemplars! More

For those starving or dying of thirst, a scrap of food or drink of water may be the only thing that counts. For each individual, the only thing that matters is what counts for you! More

People of my generation remember Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, where she uses clouds as a metaphor for change and life’s bittersweet nature. The Rolling Stones’ Get Off Of My Cloud, I wore done as a 45-rpm single where the line, Hey you get off of my cloud/ Don’t hang around cause two’s a crowd emphasised the 60s elevation of personal freedom as a guidi...

-Yet another doleful dirge, eh?- -Hey, what do you expect, another My Way?- -Well, we could certainly use the money.- -Sorry but I can’t write from the point of view of a sociopath! I mean, a full life lived with so few regrets that they’re not worth mentioning!- More

The kids of The Colony had a rare freedom, even for those relaxed times of the 1960s. We swam in the lagoons, fished off the reef, and explored the caves and abandoned phosphate mines of Aruba More