15 April 2020
Self-isolation: it’s situation normal for loners and introverts
THERE is something to be said in favour of being an introverted loner at times like this. While all about us fret and fume about the enforced home confinement wrought on their lives by Covid-19, the true loners simply plod on regardless. ‘What’s changed?’ we ask. Situation normal. All’s well on the home front. Far… Continue Reading

THERE is something to be said in favour of being an introverted loner at times like this. While all about us fret and fume about the enforced home confinement wrought on their lives by Covid-19, the true loners simply plod on regardless. ‘What’s changed?’ we ask. Situation normal. All’s well on the home front. Far… Continue Reading
Having so far remained free of the horrendous effects of Covid-19, I will however admit to suffering what might be considered a supplementary impact. Not the sweaty feverish three days with a headache and sore dry throat and the accompanying anxieties; they lingered a bit too long for comfort but thankfully eventually moved on. Immune… Continue Reading
2 April 2020
It may be just a small point to you …

WHAT is it about apostrophes that is so difficult to understand? Yes, I am well aware it’s a question that has been asked hundreds of times before. But we remain none the wiser – certainly not those who scatter them hither and thither like seeds on the wind. Nor those who teach them, either, it… Continue Reading
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, sang Joni Mitchell. And right now I am hoping that will be the case. Hoping that when Covid-19 testing eventually filters down to the masses, my current concerns will prove justified. That I was not giving in to hypochondria. That tests provide late confirmation of what… Continue Reading
27 March 2020
Strewth, it’s Strine
You’ve gotta love what the Aussies can do to the English language. No time was wasted Down Under in adapting linguistically to the present crisis. A sample of the latest OzSpeak: “Me boss tested posi for the ’Rona so now I’m in iso. Popped down to Woollies for some sanny, but it’s been bloody magpie’d.” Continue Reading
THE elderly man flicked through the pages of the newspaper. Back and forth. Flick, flick. Stopping occasionally to re-read an item, perhaps check a headline, looking for meaning, for answers. Finding none, only confusion. What first appeared as imperatives could also be seen merely as advice, open to interpretation. An either/or situation. Toss a coin…. Continue Reading
12 March 2020
In the long run, even the long run has to stop – finally
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9 April 2020
The Perfect Wife weaves a near perfect tale
As one who is forever wary of book cover blurbs, I approached this much-praised offering with even more caution than usual. Look at those blasts from high-status reviewers: Mind-bending, Unputdownable, Masterful. Surely hyperbole gone mad. There are six more pages of them inside, all of them in the same OTT vein. An enormous pinch of… Continue Reading