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Has Western Society Compromised Community For Adventure?
I read this article by Hugh Mackay this morning, and it reinforced my view that one of the main reasons behind the increase in mental illness in the modern world is a disappearing sense of community and isolation. The accusation that perhaps we’ve got our priorities wrong in terms of our lifestyle choices makes perfect…
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‘Power To The People’
Wisely, I try to leave politics to people who actually know what they’re talking about – mainly because I wither like a flower in sunlight in confrontation – but as my blog is a personal blog and I hold the power, I can’t NOT comment on what is happening in the world right now; I…
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A Helpful Safety Guide To Public Swimming Pool Etiquette For The Illiterate
Dear Person Who Cannot Read/Swim, As a staunch supporter of community public services, I have commandeered myself to remind you of the swimming etiquette in our local public pools. For while the lifeguards are confident to chat for hours with Kardashian-esque 20-30 year old, svelte swimmers in itsy-bitsy bikinis erect signs with suggested swimming styles/speeds…
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Middle-Age: The Best Way To Gain Kilos Without Really Trying
Do you, like me, sometimes look in the mirror and secretly wish you were larger? Are you disappointed when you can pinch less than an inch, or can’t find clothes that fit because you’re simply too small? Do you watch other women on the beach flaunting their curves and muffin tops, and imagine yourself in…
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Middle Age, Weight Loss and Climate Change
If one step closer towards the end of the world is marked by Trump’s inauguration this week, then the heat wave in Sydney came a close second for me. A recent aerial view of Sydney. If the adult human body is made up of 60% water, there can be no biological explanation for how my…
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Netflix, Vikings and Middle-Aged Memory Loss
As I’m sure most of you would agree, the invasion of Netflix into our lives has been a godsend to our age group; up there with Botox, Tena pads and Viagra for some of us, I would imagine. Unfortunately, however, the old man and I have a few issues to resolve around our nightly sessions…
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Role Modelling: When You Get Tired Of Being The Responsible Parent
One day over the holidays, after lunch out with the old man at our local pub, NC and and I continued to paint the town red while he disappeared to check the cricket scores. Obviously we didn’t leave the house – because that be supremely awkward for her – and the focus of our “session”…
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A Tree Change For Your Act 3?
I’d never heard of the expression “tree change” before some brave friends of our did exactly that and moved six hours north of Sydney to the foothills of a beautiful inland town called Bellingen. When you go for a dip and someone’s playing a f**king didgeridoo. Tree changes are a real thing and another retirement…
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My Son Has Never Read A Book
To have to admit that at the age of nineteen my son has never read a book fills me with the sort of bad-parent angst and shame that I imagine I would experience if I stood in front of an AA meeting and admitted to being an alcoholic. He reminded me of this fact yesterday…
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Not Another F..king Post About “Gratitude”…
I realised that that I make the same long bloody list of resolutions each year and then persecute myself for being such an under-achiever when I don’t accomplish them. Mia Freedman wrote a piece in Mamamia in the New Year about how last year she simplified the whole process of resolutions and instead picked one…
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The Value Of Celebrity In Our Lives
I can’t remember when I finally grew up and began to like mushrooms. Oh, that’s right… I didn’t grow up, I just began to like mushrooms and a few more of those foodstuffs that I never trusted when I was little because they were fugly. One of the biggest pieces of wisdom you acquire when…
LOUISA SIMMONDS 