The very best?

Our own nuclear family – all of them.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging. Whosoever drinks (grog) is not wise.” Bible.

My last drink of alcoholic beverage was on February 22, 2012.

HE IS THE MAN WHO MEANS THE WORLD TO THE WORLD

HE HOLDS THE WORLD THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS.

WITHOUT DON

WE ARE DONE.

Relating to Ex-Prince Andrew – and indeed many others!

Sexual urges can have disastrous consequences

Surely that is true

(The paper pondered for many hours before the rejection came through. Oh, to be a comments moderator.)

Frogs in the drains say “Rrrppppppp”

Frogs in the drains say “Rrrppppppp”

Frogs in the drains

When it rains

Frogs in the drains say “Rrrppppppp”

After the game a fantastic pyrotechnic display lighting up Optus Stadium, the Swan River and surrounds.

It returns after 21 years. Held in Perth in front of a crowd of 58,000

I

Save it, you gave it. Spend it, it’s gone.

Prioritise.

Avoid booze, fags and drugs.

Eat in more often than eating out.

Donate carefully.

Keep good records.

Avoid scams.

Save coin then bank when there is a substantial amount.

Save then buy and avoid shelling out ‘dead’ money in interest payments.

I could go on.

Poor Old Henry

I am ready

To look into the remaining period

Of time

Left for me in mortal terms

And contemplate scenarios

Of how

And when

It will end.

I am not afraid

Or fearing the end

Especially in a world

Fraught with uncertainty

With so much focus on tinsel and glitter, froth and bubble,

Where nothing counts

When I go

I will be gone.

Nigella Lawson is the person I credit with stimulating and sustaining my interest in food .

Thank you Nigella. Lawson, for the exhilaration you inspire in my soul for good, yet simple, food.

No, no, never,

Never I sincerely implore,

Never ever have I tried,

To break our wonderful law.

“Smug”, says the lead picture to this story. That may well come to be misplaed.

AND THEY WOULD NOT APPROVE THR OBVIOUS FOR PUBLICATION/

There are two kinds of personalities in this world. Regardless of what we do when we go these personality types are with us. There are the “sayers” and the “doers”.

I believe it is very important as educators to be people who earn the respect of others

by “living” the statements that we make in the positions that we uphold to others. It is all together too easy to be somebody who commands and ask other people to do things and to act in particular ways. That after all is a part of the teaching and development of others. However we need to be prepared to live by the precepts we espouse. Unless we adhere in our lives to the things we ask of others we will not earn their respect. 

“Do as I do” is very important in the teacher – pupil relationship. If students know us as teachers who live by this principle their respect will be enhanced. This applies to every aspect of that relationship. 

If we want children to be on time and say so, then we need to be on time ourselves. Everyone children to return promptly after recess and lunch, then we can’t avoid is teachers to be late ourselves. If we want children to wear hats out in the playground then as teachers we need to do the same. If we put it upon children to keep their desks and tidy tray is clean neat and tidy, then teachers’ tables and working benches should be kept the same way.

I don’t believe we should ask the children to maintain standards that we are not prepared to maintain ourselves. And example might be handwriting. If we ask children to take care when they’re writing in where books then we need to have the same set of standards that we maintain with written work. We might think the children don’t sense or understand what we’re doing but believe you me, they are very sharp and perceptive in that regard.

The principle extends to the way in which we approach our teaching tasks. The precepts or tenets under which we operate should not just be sets of empty words but reflective of vibrant teaching practices. In that way we earn the  respect of  our colleagues, the community and of course  our students.

There may be occasions when we have to depart from the norm of usual operation. If that’s the case I believe it important that students and close colleagues understand why on the particular occasion the expected process can’t be followed.

Respect is a very important quality and in many ways the cement the binds those within an organisation together. It is a key value.  If we earn the respect of others,  self-respect also develops

Male teachers worldwide, especially in Australia and our Northern Territory, are a vanishing species. What has happened? In my opinion, there is a need to turn the situation around and increase the number of male teachers in our schools, particularly our primary schools.

One of the most satisfying periods of my teaching career was at Nhulunbuy Primary School, at Gove, in North-East Arnhem Land, 650 kilometres east of Darwin. During my principalship (1983-1986), the school enrolled 750 students from Transition through to Year Seven. A further 90 children were being readied for formal learning in our preschool.

The school had a staff of 52 teachers and ancillaries, which included nineteen male teachers (36% of our teaching staff). We men had our Touch Football team, which made up almost all of one of the local cricket teams, and we were a major contributing force to local rugby league, basketball, and other male-focused sports teams.

I didn’t appreciate it then, but a gender balance of that nature is a rarity. The ratio of male-to-female teachers in Australian primary schools is 1:27. At 1:9, in high schools, the situation is just a little better, but still, 90% of the staff are women. At Leanyer School, where I was Principal for 20 years, we had, at best, five male members of more than 30 staff. In some schools, the only male on the team is the janitor!

Where have all the male teachers gone, and why? Male primary teachers are an almost extinct species. Men in teacher training at all levels are rare. More and more qualified and practising male teachers are leaving for other less stressful occupations.

Historical Reasons

There are historical reasons for the perceived unattractiveness of primary teaching to men. They centre on the perceptions of salary, status, community regard and an inherent idea that men working with children run counter to the male psyche. The notion of ‘macho’ and children’s nurture seem somehow incongruent. This reasoning is somewhat mythical. Maybe it’s even ‘claptrap’! To hang the diminishment of the male teaching species on such ideas is illogical. However, it does nothing to ease the situation, as there are now very few male teachers, particularly in primary schools.

Men Under Siege

I do not doubt that male teachers in primary schools are under siege. Along with fellow educators, I study the media’s coverage of our profession. While the press is interpretative and accuracy sometimes skewed, it still reflects the perceptions generally held by the society of social institutions and its managers.

Diet of Male Dysfunctionalism

The community is fed a bountiful print, radio and TV diet of stories about male teacher dysfunctionalism. There has been and continues to be, a plethora of reports alleging interference with and abuse of children by male teachers. Sadly, some instances of infringement and violation against children and students are proven in court. However, a significant percentage of allegations leading to court action are baseless.

For those tried, ‘legal’ acquittal does not negate the associated moral perception and social resentment. Those found ‘not guilty’ by courts and those who never go to court because charges are dropped are left feeling tainted. In the minds of the wrongfully accused, the damage to their reputations is everlasting.

Children and students are increasingly aware of their rights to care and protection. ‘Stranger danger’, the ‘Kid’s Helpline’ and similar strategies are filling what, historically, has been an information void. Children must understand their rights and the respect that is due to them. Information from student disclosures, however, needs to be carefully checked before action is taken. If the information offered is accepted without verification, with allegations subsequently found to be untrue, then the accused is violated.

The Need for Human Warmth

Male teachers face a real dilemma. It’s no secret that primary children, particularly younger ones, often seek to be physically close to their teachers. Gripping the hands of teachers, giving teachers cuddles, and wanting to sit on teachers’ laps are manifestations of this deep-seated human need. Female teachers seem to be less at risk in this situation than males. Males may want to respond to children with human warmth and empathy but are warned off by a deep societal frown.

By contrast, middle-aged female teachers are often regarded as grandmotherly’. It seems much more socially acceptable for them to respond to the affection of children. A male teacher of the same age has to be much more circumspect, lest his actions be interpreted as those of a ‘dirty old man’.

The phenomena of single-parent families increasingly exacerbate the challenge. Single mothers often ask that, if possible, their children be placed with a male teacher for the sake of masculine role modelling. The scenario can become one that creates an acute conflict within the mind of the male teacher.

The Future for Male Teachers Is Not Rosy

There is an increasing focus on male teacher vulnerability, but tackling the issue has been, at best, oblique. Deflecting the problem is no way of handling its challenge. At some stage – hopefully sooner rather than later – a considered response to the issue by senior managers will be necessary. Ignoring the situation won’t make it go away. In an age where litigation is increasingly common, the threat to male teacher integrity will likely become more pronounced.

Many factors influence the issue of school staffing. Conversations with teachers reveal that the tension of being a vulnerable group weighs heavily on the minds of remaining male educators. I once had an excellent male teacher come to me saying he was resigning because of the weight of this perception. An outstanding teacher was forever lost to the profession.

The problem of the male teacher shortage will rapidly worsen shortly, given the ageing teaching profession and the imminent retirement of many existing male teachers. Unless something is done, primary schools will soon be staffed almost entirely by women. 

Female teachers are valued educators and do a great job.  However, there is a need for gender balance within schools to achieve organisational equilibrium. The worry is that we are sadly out of balance.

Once a week there was a round-robin flight from Darwin to Darwin flown by Connair that included every port on the Arnhem circuit. Included in this once-weekly flight were Borroloola and Numbulwar.  The route was from Borroloola to Numbulwar.

There was some capital work needing to be done at Numbulwar.  We were expecting two tradesmen on that flight. The plane arrived, but not the tradesmen.

A  follow-up telegram revealed that the two men had gotten off the plane at Borroloola, thinking Borroloola was Numbulwar. They did not discover their mistake until the plane had left.

The following week, the tradesmen arrived in Numbulwar. Seemingly they found the fishing in the intervening week to be both relaxing and rewarding!! How they justified that to the boss of the company, I am not sure.

When out in communities one could never be sure if the plane was going to be on time or whether it was going to be delayed. The one thing you could generally be sure about was it if the plane was due to arrive on a particular day, it would arrive on that day. Occasionally there was a blip in that regard but not too frequently.

An issue at times was the worry people had if they were using Connair to get to Darwin, Katherine, Groote Eylandt or Nhulunbuy to connect with another plane. For the most part, however, things did work pretty reasonably.  

Connair was a vital lifeline for us during years of poor (if any) outback road connections and during years preceding telephone and internet connections that these days keep people linked.

I dream of rolling out the red carpet in front of his every footstep.

Henry is weeping but nobody cares.

Poor Old Henry

Is trying ad trying to resist from voting for One Nation on the Australian political scene.

Closed

Locked

Night

Door

Locked

Dead latched

Security

On

Adjusted

Window

Fastened

Crimsafed

Checked

Double checked

Bed

Door locked

Key secured

Four lots of protection

Hope that keeps intruders out

Lay

Waiting

For the envelopment of sleep.

The Canadian shooting in Canada elicited the following comment from me

What a terrible and awful event. How can anyone ever tell the end from the beginning

The Australian online moderator would notapprove my comment for publication in the reader’s reactions!

WHY?

Our daughter has given me the okay to share her thoughts on the inroads into life that can be caused by the number one – known but not talked about – killer in Australia. Dementia. 

She shared it with me, and what she wrote moved me into a world of pain and understanding because dementia has not been for me ‘on the outside looking in’ but rather has engaged me directly, in the early stages, without knowing, since its impact on our lives.

Dementia is often mentioned lightly, almost in passing, and without many people knowing or understanding its consequences. I believe many think its mention is a shame job; in the same way as cancer used to be regarded. Dementia is also a scourge that many are reluctant to acknowledge and more than willing to dismiss as not an issue or a concern. 

It is for this reluctance that I would posit that there are far more people sufferingfrom dementia than the number of 450,000 that is suggested. It may well be that the actual number of sufferers is closer to the 1,000,000 mark of people predicted to be inflicted by dementia in 2050.

Funding for dementia programs and support is light on compared with research into other clinical areas. In Australia, funding for dementia programs is solely in the hands of the Federal Government, with no recognition or contribution from state or territory governments.

The impacts of this deleterious condition are eating into the brains of ever increasing numbers of people.

Please read and contemplate what our daughter has written.

Sincerely

Henry Gray

February 14 2026.

__________________________________________

Outside Looking In

My parents are Margaret Rose Gray (nee Martin), born May 28th, 1945, and Henry Maitland Gray, born February 24th, 1946. Their stories are not mine to tell, but I will say they did not have the happiest of childhoods and they both grew up having complicated relationships with their mothers. This led them to moving our family to the remotest areas of the NT when my brothers and I were young.

As parents they were ahead of their time. They seldom yelled or shouted, even more rarely used corporal punishment. Domestic labour and mental load were very evenly divided. We grew up secure in their love for us and for one another.

Things have changed in the last few years. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight the first signs I saw were at my 50th birthday party; nothing so wild that I couldn’t shrug it off as just “weird”.

Mum has dementia. A blanket term used to describe any number of conditions, much the same way cancer is. All with different causes and triggers. Genetic, physical, mental factors, lifestyle influences, environmental conditions. A treatment for one has no effect on another. One person will develop it; their identical twin will not. It has no rhyme, no reason, no mercy.

There are a lot of stats, fact and figures about dementia to be found with a simple google search. The scariest being that it is now the leading cause of death in Australia, that there are no truly effective treatments. Some things might slow the progression of the disease in some people; that is as hopeful as it gets. My father is now Mum’s full-time carer. Trying to find his way in a role no one would ever choose or want, but that has been thrust upon him by cruel fate.

I love both my parents. Respect and admire them more than I can say. They are the kind of people we should all aspire to be. As a person, a spouse and a parent I find myself following the example they set for me. Watching as this disease insinuates itself into every nook and cranny of their lives is an emotional and often overwhelming experience. I am on the outside looking in. I cannot bring myself to imagine what it must be like from the inside looking out.

My Mother

I am blessed to have been one of only a handful of people to truly know my mother. She has always been a deeply private person who hid her wit, her humour and her profound intellect. Now she does not need to hide as she becomes more and more a prisoner in her own mind. The portals that connect her to the world are narrowing; some seem to already have closed. Her eyes and ears collect the stimuli from The Now, but somewhere they become lost and so her mind sends her back to the past or into dream and figments of imagination. At times the dreams become waking terrors, and she sees, feels and hears people and events that are not there and never have been.

On good days she is HER; all the many facets that make up this woman who I love above all. My mother, the grandmother of my children, the wife of my father, the teacher, the mentor, the cook, the seamstress, the confidant, the pianist. All the roles she embraced and made her own. She was shaped by tragic events in her young life; the eldest child of a cold and unloving mother she was parentified from a very young age. Giving all to her younger siblings, especially the sisters favoured by her mother, to allow them to shine. Despite this, my mother was kind and loving. She seldom strayed outside her social comfort zone, but she saw everything around her and those of us fortunate enough to know her would cry with laughter at her stories. Growing up I would spend hours talking with her, often about nothing much at all. By listening to her I learned so much about life and the world and small ways we can act to make them better.

I miss those conversations. Now it can be so difficult to talk to her. She can jump from topic to topic, confuses who I am, how old I am, where we are. I can see her frustration at trying to process and understand what is said to her. There are long pauses and endless stilted silences. And there are so many rules around talking to a person who is trapped within their own mind. Never say “remember”, don’t say “you just said that”, or “you told me already / I told you already”, or “no, that never happened”. I sit and smile and rub her hand and nod and feel like I’m treating my strong, smart mother like a clueless child. Parentified in her youth and now infantilised in her old age.

During the bad moments the conversation is agonisingly restricted and circular. Like a goldfish swimming endless circles around an overly small bowl. Swim, swim, swim …. Oh wow! A rock! …. Swim, swim, swim ….. gosh! A plant! ….. swim, swim, swim …. Look! A rock! …… Even worse is when there is no sound. Mum sits or lies, mostly lies, and stares off into a distance no one else can see. Her lips vibrate, her eyes flicker, her fingers tap together; those seem to be reflexive movements of a body whose mind is both kilometres and decades away. When this happens, I wonder where she is, what memory or dream her mind is playing on its internal screen. Is she happy or sad in there? Sometimes tears run down her face; she doesn’t; cry or sob but the tears run freely and unchecked. If you ask her what is wrong, she doesn’t know, doesn’t realise she is crying.

Mum knows she has dementia, knows what that means. She tells me her mind is “all messed up” and she feels lazy and worthless. She wants to get control of her thoughts back, wants to DO things but doesn’t know how to take the first step. She wants me to tell her (boss her) and make her do things; I can’t tell her how many times I have tried. That Dad tries every day. There are so many diseases that turn the body against itself. Dementia is so much worse. When your brain attacks your mind, ripping and destroying and turning it into a tangle which is then locked inside.

I am scared for her. How hard it is for HER to fight her way to the here and now. How exhausting and terrifying and lonely that must be.

My Father

My father’s world has been turned upside down, shaken, set on fire and the ashes scattered in a storm. He is no longer an equal, a partner, a friend. Now he is a carer. Learning a new vocation, one no one would choose, as he neglects his own needs and wants to care for the woman, he has shared his life with for 60 years.

He can not leave her alone for long lest she needs him or believes she has been abandoned and forgotten. At times Mum resents the interests that steal some small part of Dad’s attention away from her. When she knows his thoughts are elsewhere or he is making arrangements that do not involve her. Then she can be childish and petulant. Her words lash at him to make him feel the pain she carries. Adults protect their loved ones from pain and hurt, children broadcast it until something is done to soothe them and make it go away.

Dad answers Mum’s questions, responds to her comments, explains what is happening and when and why. Over and over and over. He bites back his frustration when she accuses him of holding information from her, schools the expression on his face and the tone of his voice. Soothes, reassures, calms, loves. Above all, he loves.

Dad spends most of his waking hours sitting close by, not so close that Mum might think he is hovering or interfering, but always there when she needs him. He reads and writes and keeps busy, but mostly he keeps watch. Ready to answer her questions, fetch what she needs, help her move to another spot. Dad is a vibrating bundle of suppressed energy, when I’m there I can feel it coming off him. Always on edge and never at rest. He also wants to go out, to see, to converse, to learn, to teach, to laugh. But he stays. Every hour of every day he chooses to stay.

Dad is the strongest, bravest person I know.

Me

I rage at how unfair all of this is. Mum and Dad have lived their lives for others. Both have worked hard since childhood. They gave my brothers and I the very best lives and have done their all to make sure our children enjoy the same. These years of retirement should be about THEM. Living in peace and harmony, pursuing their interests and spending time with one another and family. The first few years of retirement were like that, but now it has become a prison for them both. The iron chains of dementia keep them isolated, even from one another.

It is s unfair for anyone to spend the last years of their lives tortured by mental decline and self-diminishment. It is unfair that anyone must watch a person they love turn inward and become lost in the tangled web of disease that withers their brain. And I am angry! Angry that such a hideous disease should even exist. Angry that science has extended the quantity of our years but can’t maintain the quality of the lives we live in them.

I am ashamed to admit, I am also so, so angry at my mother. The life she has led in the years after her retirement are a “How not to avoid dementia” handbook. No social interactions (she even stopped talking on the phone), no exercise, bad diet. One by one she dropped her activities and hobbies. The piano which we had since forever was packed up and given away, the sewing machine sits dusty and the books are unread. She stopped driving, gave up editing dad’s papers and articles, was no longer interested in the news or quiz shows. If I were granted one wish, I would go back 10 years and do my very best to divert her from the path she so blithely walked down.

I am angry at the rest of us, the immediate family. Myself and my brothers and my father. We let her make these choices and did little to dissuade her. Our family has always been about respect, accepting that the others have the right to make their own choices. Even if we don’t agree. Mum and Dad have always been a team, united, synergy. So forcing choices on mum is not something any of us would have done, it’s not something any of us feel happy about now. Maybe nothing would change, but maybe I would also feel that at least I tried.

For now, we have a lifetime of memories to share and preserve. As many quiet talks, hugs, held hands as we can. Some memories still to make. I have heard of dementia being called The Long Goodbye. Saying goodbye to our loved ones one small piece at a time as the portals between their mind and the world close.

I love you, Mum. You ….. the amazing, complicated, kind, loving, brave, intelligent, hilarious woman I know as my mother …. You will be always in my heart.

Estelle.

These days

I give scant thought to thinking about the past,

It’s challenges, celebrations, defeats, victories,

The despair and euphoria, the downs and ups, the lows and highs.,

That have been part of the hours, days, weeks, months, decades and scores,

Of time traversed.

They are there but dimly

As I contemplate what lies ahead

Around the next corner

Along the road ahead.

I cannot see

But visualise

The foreboding of tomorrow.

Give it to all my children and grandchildren to help them on their journey through life’s world.

If I don’t respond, I am presumed to be dead and no longer entitled to concessions you only get if alive.

Angus is a good man
And it is plain to see
That if he wins the Liberal spill
What a great leader he will be
He is a man of substance
With acute political brain
And as opposition leader
Will cause Albo substantial pain
On his feet in parliament
Acute questions will he ask
Forever keeping government focused on its tasks.
He is the person who could take
(And that is plain to see)
A. rejuvenated coalition
To electoral victory!

COMMENT ON AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR 2021 GRACE TAME’S TANT OVER THE RIGHTS OF INTERFADA AT RALLY PROTESTING ISRAELI PRESIDENT HERTOG’S VISIT TO ASUSTRALIA FLLOWING BONDI MASSACRE.

What a let down. What a slight on Australia. What an awful demonstration on un-Australian conduct. What a sad example to young people

The Northern Territory is more aptly expressed as the Alcohol Territory.

The costs associated with alcohol both monetarily and domestically are astronomical.

As the carer for a dementia patient I confirm absolutely the integral and important role filled in supporting people suffering from dementia, by the Northern Territory Memory Clinic situated in the Casuarina  Plaza Building.

At the moment the Memory Clinic has a staff quotient of one full-time Doctor, 1.5 trained and practice nursing staff and some clerical support. The Dementia program in the Northern Territory, including the Memory Clinic, is fully funded by the Commonwealth Government in Canberra. No contribution is made to these important programs by the Northern Territory Government.

I have been given to understand on good authority that from 1 July 2026, Commonwealth funding for Dementia programs in the northern territory will impact upon the Memory Clinic in a very negative fashion. The full-time doctors position will be reduced to a .5 position. The 1.5 nursing positions will reduce to one position only. I believe also the clerical support will be curtailed

If this is the case, then I am very alarmed for the consequences that will flow and the support that will be lost to people desperately needing support.

Currently, the waiting time for attention at the Memory Clinic after referral is around six months. That cannot be extended to a period of even further delay.

Either the Commonwealth government must be persuaded to increase and not decrease funding; in the alternative the Northern Territory Government through its Health Budget needs to provide financial support for this critically important support program.

Home is where the heart is.

This place is our dream home. It has been for almost 40 years.

I thank Nigella Lawson for inspiring me to explore the culinary delights of life.

Very few sitting days every year

It is hard to be happy.

Getting hard to do things and make things

Hard to enjoy food

To plan meals

Hard to keep focussed

To fix on time and timing

Hard not to want what we cannot have

Hard to get back what has gone.

• AI in replacing learning, creates cognitive vacuums in minds.

• Dementia slowly kills the crowns of family trees.

• The ‘system’ allows too many sick and elderly to be fleeced!

• Nursing homes are largely profit centered.

• In debate, focus on messages, not the messengers.

I went to a gathering of old people today. I am an old person and like all old people I am a physical caricature of my formal self.

We might not be brilliant physical replicas but being with a lot of old contemporaries, I realised one thing.

We are wise.

We are also discounted.

And for doing that to us

Younger contemporaries who are full of themselves.

Are foolish.

Because they have to learn the hard way.

• Run around in tight circles, arms out like aeroplane wings and pretending I am a plane landing at the Gibraltar Internstional Airport.
• Jump up and down like a Jack in the Box doing fourteen Toyota leaps.
• Singing the Pringle Song five times and at the top of my voice
• Having a drink of crystal clear water and calming down.

Hettie

Thomas

Bessie

Barney

Matilda

Dorcas

Percival

Edward

Goochie

Olive

Colin – Colsie

Lloyd – Lloyd Wilson

Lorna

Kerry

The dementia groups are the biggest and fastest growing in Australia where dementia is now the number one scourge. That said, it is downplayed and overlooked by Government big time.

Recent reports on how AI is beginning to overwhelm academe and supplant students’ complete cognitive understanding fill me with deep unrest. Have a question or a problem? Ask AI. The clear and distinct danger is that people will make decisions without understanding WHY those outcomes are correct.

Years ago, our daughter passed Year 11 with distinction. Imagine our surprise when she asked to repeat Year 11. She explained that while excelling, she did not understand why she was succeeding; that something was missing within the cognitive equation and learning process. She repeated year eleven, gained the insights she had been missing earlier, was very successful in year 12, then went on to earn excellent tertiary qualifications in the fields of science and education.

Over-reliance on AI to provide solutions that are not in line with the questions asked will lead to an explosion of mediocrity in understanding among professionals and skilled workers.  That will be a catastrophe.

It is one thing to give the correct answers and another to understand why.

I care for my wife

I love her

She has dementia

I care for her and try my best but doubt I do a good enough job.

These days when reflecting I cry a lot.

I have lost interest in me.

Were the care for my wife, whom I love dearly, not so imperative, then J would happily depart this world.

Donald Trump

He is a colossus among mankind

My wife who has dementia, was admitted to RDH recently after spending 14 hours in ED.

She was admitted to a four-bed area in Ward  7a. This is the renal ward. She was in the ward for six days.

It was for her a horrible time of incessant bedlam and noise, shouting, demands of staff, patient resistance to staff effort and entreaty and unpredictable behaviour by patients 24/7.

She was not shifted to a more suitable situation and when discharged it was without her medications which ‘caught up’ when collected 18 hours later. I visited every day from 10.00 am until 7.00 pm when visiting hours finished. 

It took Margo three days to start resetting   and for her the whole experience set her back – all without her major medical matters being finalised.

Note please that my concerns are NOT about staff and care but rather that a particular patient cohort is able to demand so much time and attention often generating from awful to behaviour. The week was one of the very worst we have ever experienced.

The stock market.

Consequences of government policies.

The product of education.

Sports form.

Socio/economic relationships.

Marital bliss.

Weather and climate outcomes.

Personal ambition.

Certainties of the days ahead.

A flat tack

A burst balloon

Weeping eyes

Sad reminiscences

Punctured motivation

Stale and dull head

Deepening hopelessness

Envelopment in the quicksand of despair.

It is getting down to the pointy end of my life. I am 80 this month. They can say what they like and pooh, pooh the notion of age until the cows come home – but I am old and the more I reflect upon the future, the more uncertain and precipitous the world seems to have become.

On my birthday, February 24 2022, the most recent chapter of the Russian War on Ukraine started. I was 76.

Should I live to 81, on 24 February 2026, that conflict will be entering its fifth year. By then China will be in effect en route to Taiwan while the Middle East will be wracked and largely wrecked by conflict.

The world is tearing itself apart.

I feel my vitality withering on the vine of life starved of moisture and feel my spirit drying up inside. I am increasingly overcome by the thickening veil of hopelessness and the world is closing in on me.

I often wonder how far I am from a break: The break that comes at the end of life’s cycle.

Never … but you never know

• There is a possibility and a 60% probability that only 14 people in the world remain unimpaired by the Geoffrey Epstein files revelations.

• There  is a possibility and a very small probability that Vladimir Putin  regrets his tilt at Ukraine.

• There is a possibility and a remote probability that Benjamin Netanyahu and the Ayatollah Khomeini will break bread together.

U

I have.

And now

I am

Tunnelled into

Darkness

With most

Behind

And little

Ahead.

My life,

Feels like the turning point

Of a corkscrew.

Guided by an uncaring hand,

Burning and burying me every deeper,

Into the mass,

And growing density,

Of an unknown substance.

Deeper

And faster,

Turns the hand,

Until the unbearable heat,

Sears deep into the tissues,

Of my mind and inner psyche,

Ripping tearing renting me into fragmentation,

Ceaselessly unendingly until I am reduced,

To a blubbering apology,

Of human wreckage.

• Most inquiries/commissions are reported then archived/lost.

• Dementia is like incurable cancer, slowly and excruciatingly squeezing and dragging you down. 

• Govt policy is shaped by emotion not rational economic logic.

• Life has become an albatross around my neck.

• Old age is increasingly like an abomination.

In the classroom
In the yard,
2026 teaching
It’s so hard,
KPI’s are all the go,
“And what would teachers
REALLY know”,
Cheeky kids
Who have no care,
Deliberately wilful,
Tear at the hair,
The very soul,
Of every teacher,
Now treated like,
Some nasty creature,
Give it up
‘Tis the only way
It’s gone to pot
Says Henry Gray

It is hard to go past the days leading to my retirement in December 2011 after 20 years at Leanyer School. They were days and weeks of nostalgia and reflection, of challenge and celebration. In so many ways, never better.

That is the way it is. All true.

A friend of mine raises a question we should all consider. 

I agree with and share her concern

Hello😊

Wouldn’t it be nice if parents actually taught their kids that we’re not all the same and that it’s actually ok to be different. Children with special needs are not strange!

They want what everyone else wants, to be accepted and happy!!!

How about it

THIS COULD BE FOR YOU

Come and help us stage Australia’s premier cultural event!

Volunteer applications for the 2026 Garma Festival open on Monday 16 February, through GoodCompany.

We’re looking for energetic and enthusiastic people to assist with transportation, ticketing and reception, merchandise, campsite infrastructure and operations, site management, administration and more.

You will also be helping the crew to set up and pack down the site before and after the event, so physical work is involved.

Volunteers need to organise and fund their own travel arrangements to and from Nhulunbuy, and be available to arrive on Saturday 25 July, and depart on Wednesday 5 August. You must be available for all 11 days.

You will also need to do a criminal history check, and obtain a clearance to work with children from NT Worksafe.

Come and join an incredible team of like-minded individuals for an experience like no other. Applications close on Tuesday 31 March.

Stay tuned for more information 🔊

Pic: Peter Eve ~ Yothu Yindi Foundation

#garma #garmafestival #garma2026 #culturalfestival

Donald Trump

One of the bravest, caring and conscientious leaders the free world has ever known.

He is minded a model of mankind.

Donald Trump

The restorer and rebuilder of America, the cater abd the protector of all that is dear to the heart of every patriotic American, the man whose pure and faultless example relights the flame of hope in each spirit and revamps every soul.

Donald Trump.

When I think of Donald Trump, I feel like putty in his hands, to be moulded and shaped by his greatness.

• In patient communication with patients almost non-existent.

• Frenetic hospital pace/ movement masks underpinning inertia.

• Focus on “race” denies socio/economic changes so necessary.

• NDIS offers a profit feast for many providers.

• Dementia is frankenstinian sucking the blood out of life.

I never achieve peace of mind.

I never feel good

The closer I get to the end the more I am disquieted about what the world holds in store for our children and grandchildren.

I never feel people will ever learn from the past.

Blind exhibitionism

Puerile self promotion

Shameless flaunting

Foolish utterances

“Me” in lights

You can eat them whole or do something like this for a yummmmmmy snack

Sausages can be part of quality sandwiches

• 4 Phases  – usually  You: Get born, grow up, get old, die.

• One Nation rising as Coalition fades into history’s penumbra.

• Expectations can be blasted asunder in the blink of an eye. 

• Collegiality and care are discounted values. It’s ’I myself’

•  Constant vigilance is a ‘must’ for dementia carers.

• Dementia reduces living to existing.

• Process and procedure stifle common-sense outcomes.

• Spoken  words are often false, betraying thinking on issues.

• Alas, the dementia mind wanders aimlessly in time and space.

• Asking for ‘sorry’ apologies is farcical, almost a gimmick!

The Shadow Health Minister said that the Liberal Party could win a Federal Election on its own and without the support of any other party.

Not a chance.

A snowball lasting in hell would stand a better chance than the Liberals being successful in solo terms.

Except for a few standout players like Ashleigh Barty, Alex de Minaur and Naomi Osaka, tennis is made up of exceptionally self centred, selfish and opinionated players.