I’m on the 2:30 train to Cranbourne. I’ve just met a new friend, Jane, in Melbourne where we spent three lovely hours wandering around the Art of Banksy exhibition followed by a wonderful lunch at Dymocks bookshop. I had vegan shepherds pie accompanied by ginger & lemon tea. I’m feeling tired but also a little…
A journey of healing
I wake up to the burning sensation in my stomach. I clutch it, curling into a ball. 2am. I close my eyes, willing myself to breathe in, breathe out. Please, brain, don’t go into overdrive tonight. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. I feel the rise and fall of my burning abdomen. What…
The rambling recesses of my mind
I’ve been going through a thing. And it has been so hard to talk about, to compartmentalise, to rationalise, indeed to live. The thing itself has been harrowing enough, but it is the soul reaching thoughts and feelings that have left me reeling. Mr C and I were watching TV the other night; sometimes I…
Strong people: we need you to fight for our world
Recently, I was asked if I would consider standing as a councillor on our local Council. I laughed out loud. I’m pretty vocal in my own little community. I belong to an Owner’s Corporation that is only three years old. The inaugural committee at the time was pretty punitive in its approach, egged on by…
Coming home
I’ve been away. Two and a bit weeks ago Mr C decided I needed a break. He had snagged himself a job (oh the relief!), and we had a little of the redundancy money left, so he decided to send me back to the UK to where my dad lives. Just between you and me,…
Work and longing
And so it has arrived. The relief. The overwhelming unadulterated release. After 10 months and 4 days of unemployment, Mr C has finally been offered a job. He got the phone call. I heard him talking. I knew it was THE call. After three interviews, we hoped it would be what we wanted to hear….
The yin and yang of the week that was
So this is how my week has been: We withdrew Master J from school. Only a term before the end of VCE, only a term before the end of his entire 13 year career. We withdrew him because he could take it no longer. He could no longer endure the place that promised us that they…
How the media is swallowing Mrs Peregrine and democracy
When I was 32, I decided I wanted to do a Creative Writing degree at Chichester University in the UK. Since it had been some time since I had studied and I hadn’t already received a degree, I had to do an Access to Tertiary Studies course in the form of a Diploma of Liberal…
Thoughtfulness Cards – acknowledging depression and suicide
I’m depressed. There’s no coating it, there’s no glossing over it, and there is absolutely no point in pretending that I’m not having an episode of deep depression. There is an argument floating around that writing about dark stuff on a personal level reduces readers, that people don’t want to read about the horrors of…
Stream of consciousness
I wrote a post about gun laws, but I’m not going to post that today. Another day perhaps, maybe later in the week. The truth is I’m tired. I’m too bogged down with what is going on in my own life, in my immediate vicinity, to make the effort to scream across the water at…