WRITING
Switzer Daily
Out of the comfort zonE - December 4th, 2015
It was interesting to read John McGrath's article in Tuesday's Switzer Daily, about the new wave of 'Searchangers'. Instead of older folk and empty nesters heading out of Sydney, it's now young people and their families heading north to the Central Coast or south to Wollongong. (read more...)
Goodbye to the macho meN - November 27th, 2015
machismo: 1. strong or exaggerated sense of manliness; an assumptive attitude that virility, courage, strength and entitlement to dominate are attributes or concomitants or masculinity. 2. a strong or exaggerated sense of power or the right to dominate. (read more...)
PRIME SHOPPING TIME - noVEMBER 20TH, 2015
You can hear it coming like a distant stream train. Winding its way around the familiar annual landmarks like the Melbourne Cup Carnival, Halloween and Remembrance Day. As the train gets closer, you start to see the puffs of smoke and hear the Toot! Toot! and you know it's not far off. There's no stopping it now. (read more...)
not a happy customer - nOVEMBER 13TH, 2015
'As a valued customer, we'd like to invite you to take part in this survey. Your input and answers will be very valuable, and we look forward to hearing what you really think. (read more...)
Pack of cards - November 6th, 2015
Several times a day I come face to face with online ads for cheap business cards - 250 for $10. Not sure why they're targeting me, I've already got hundreds of the things. Maybe thousands. Not to mention other people's business cards. (read more...)
Total recall - oCTOBER 30TH, 2015
This week I received a letter in the mail from Audi Australia. It began "As you may be aware, there have recently been media reports in relation to the emissions of certain diesel vehicles." (read more..)
SPARE COIN - OCTOBER 23RD, 2015
Of all the things to collect, old coins seem a strange choice.
One collects coins, I would have thought, to spend.
It's money. You amass it, you save it, you spend it. But there are those people among us who like the collect coins, and there's a special name for them - numismatists. Which is not one of those words you use often, or that slips easily off the tongue. (read more...)
Accentuate the positive - October 16th, 2015
"You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with Mr. In-Between”
You might remember this golden oldie. It was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer and first recorded way back in the 1940’s. Since then it’s been covered by everyone from Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters to Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Paul McCartney. Its message never seems to go out of date. (read more...)
is it time to leave long-service leave behind? - October 9th, 2016
The proprietor of this information and discussion website, the excellent Mr Peter Switzer asked in his column yesterday:
“Why don’t we ask the country for commonsense suggestions about tax concessions and excessive government payments that could be changed so more and more Australians can contribute to being a part of our economic solution?” (read more...)
the shopping strip effect- october 2nd, 2015
In any given week, the busiest shop in my local suburban shopping strip is the active-wear shop. Every Sunday morning they hold a free yoga class and it’s chockers!
Fit young things are crammed in side by side on their rubber mats in neat rows, slotted in between the racks of fluoro lycra and moisture-wicking spandex. The downward dog was never meant to be performed in quite such close proximity. (read more...)