Original doors from the Richmond Town Hall Library, Bridge Road – now installed at Richmond Library, Church Street. I co-host In Those Days with Christina Adams. In the podcast we read digitised newspapers from Trove, the National Library of Australia’s digital repository. The premise of In Those Days is that I’m a library nerd who… Read Post »
Recently my friend digitised the 1997 video of our school orchestra tour of outback New South Wales. Titled ‘On the Verge of the Outback’, it’s styled as a fly-on-the-wall documentary and was made by the school chaplain. We don’t know why, but I’m glad he did because it’s the only footage I have from that… Read Post »
ONE: Shorts without pockets Ambling in your local park, listening to all things you can’t hear, you spot a treasure on the ground. You bend to pick up the glittering prize and hold it up to the light. Yes indeed, a fine treasure. You try to slip the special object into your shorts pocket. Uh… Read Post »
I’ve ended the week dispirited by the awful climate news and the loneliness of my personal attempts at activism. So I decided it’s good day to update our household climate action plan. This plan lists stuff we’re trying to do and includes household, work, communication, activism and community activities (obviously these can overlap!) I know… Read Post »
While researching a podcast episode with the team from Stamps Aren’t Cool I became aware of something called the language of stamps. This language was mentioned in an article about a divorce court hearing in 1931. The husband submitted as evidence a stamp his wife had placed on a piece of paper at a rakish… Read Post »
Waffles and Jaffles, Coonalpyn January 2016 Every year my family drive from Melbourne to the Fleurieu Peninsula near Adelaide. Over the past 10 years we’ve made this trip with children growing in size and number and we’ve found ways to make the trip fun(ish) for every(some?)one. I considered writing a guide reviewing every stopping point… Read Post »
In the olden days, having COVID was unusual and the community rallied around those afflicted with support packages and engagement on COVID diary posts. These days, most Australians have had COVID, and many people more than once. Like a Krispy Kreme, you no longer have to go to the airport to get it, but it… Read Post »
When I started a podcast, In Those Days, I decided to include transcripts. It can be a pain but here is why I think it’s worthwhile. Accessibility Podcast transcripts make the content accessible to more people. People with hearing impairments use transcripts to access audio content. This is a lot of people. More than 5%… Read Post »
For too long people have asked me ‘How do you do it all?’ I haven’t answered because I’ve been keen to keep my competitive edge. But I’m finally feeling secure enough to tell you some of my time management tips. Flexible but rigid routine Having a routine is very important. It cuts down on wasteful… Read Post »
We need climate action and we need it fast. Often people get caught up in the false dichotomy between individual behaviour change and system change. It’s true that fossil-fuel companies promote individual change to obscure their active climate denial and delay. But individual change can be powerful, creating community connections and leading citizens to demand… Read Post »