Source: Courier Mail For the last few months, there have been a series of industrial actions by teachers in the state where I live. It has been many years since such a widespread strike has caught the attention of the media in this state at least. Education is complex. The issues that have triggered this strike are complex. But the media had distilled it down to one thing: money. If you read only headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking this whole performance is about remuneration. Most social media posts give a nod to classroom conditions, including physical and verbal abuse by students and parents, but other than acknowledging it happens and giving vocal support to teachers, nothing more is said. Reading accounts [...]

A few weeks back, I posted about being back on the water. It has been a journey from May last year, when we handed the keys over to our beloved first big catamaran, Twoflower, to now. It took much searching and disappointing inspections ti find Velella. Most people selling something that has been a big part of their life see their yacht through rose-coloured glasses and place a value on her that is much higher than buyers in the marked are prepared to pay. The last couple of years of Covid craziness, however, have seen people paying silly prices for everything, especially luxury items like yachts and caravans. We encountered some people who were completely taking the piss both with their price, and [...]

We have some new additions to our household. Meet five fluff balls that have been born at our house over about a week. They are slowly adjusting to life in their outside pen. Although the smallest one, Troubador, was very fond of a snuggle inside a shirt.

Last Monday (has it been that long??) I posted about a dilemma with my thyroid medication. So it turns out I did take a double dose. For the record I am not doing that again!! Anxiety off the charts and it took two days to get over the tiredness and feeling really weird. Coming off that last week was a blur of trying to do too much and not quite hitting the mark. I was attending an event with some past students and wanted to make myself a new dress, I am attempting Novel November and I trying to get a handle on a large garden that has been somewhat neglected for the last few years. I did get some mowing and garden [...]

Good morning and welcome to Monday! Today is officially FAFO day. I woke up stupid early. Something that seems to be happening a bit lately. Not helped by the fact that currently in Brisbane it starts getting daylight around 4.30am. After scrolling for a while I got up, took some medication and started my day. Since my thyroidectomy in August I take a daily dose of Thyroxin. This medication isn’t optional. It is also kind of helpful if it is taken on an empty stomach, 30 minutes before eating anything. So as I staggered to the kitchen and clicked on the kettle a random thought went through my head. “Did I take the thyroxin?” I have two medications I take in the morning. [...]

I have lived in different areas of the same city for most of my adult life. As a child, I visited this same city several times a year. Sometimes I drive through areas of the city I haven’t been in for a long time, remembering things from my teenage and early twenties years. This morning as I drove Mr Jones to a hospital appointment (the joys of aging!) I found myself stopped at a set of traffic lights and remembering something that happened many years ago at the same set of traffic lights. In my twenties, I was driving from my workplace in a rural town just outside the city to my boyfriend’s house in the inner suburbs. A car with two young [...]

Photo by ERIC MUFASA on Pexels.com In the swinger lifestyle, consent is a cornerstone. Everyone has a right to say no. No explanations, no justification, no negotiation.   Every time.  Right?  Except of course, when they don’t.   I bet as you are reading this you are thinking of a million scenarios when a man didn’t listen to a woman’s refusal. When he nagged her, or gaslighted her, or got her drunk so she was more compliant. We have all seen this happen. We have all read the countless social media posts, articles and blog pages about men who do this.   But what happens when a woman doesn’t respect a boundary or accept a refusal for sexual contact?   “That would never [...]