MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Final Year Photo CCGS 1973 I have just returned from a great week at my beachhouse at Guilderton, about 100 kms north of Perth. I had originally hoped to have 2 weeks there but it was not to be. So, 6 days it was and we certainly made the best of them. We laughed, cried, danced, sang, swam, cooked and drank too much wine – altogether a perfect “girl’s gettogether” And it was a wonderful mix of my friends, one of whom I have known since we were 14 and attended the Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School. As we were both children of military officers we also ended up sharing a dormitory in our last year of school as boarders. Our parents had been posted elsewhere and we revelled in our new found "freedom" in the boarding house together. The galahs made nearly as much noise as the girls! Another friend used to work with me in Malcolm Fraser’s office when he was Prime Minister. She and I have been organising a fundraising event here in Perth with the world renowne...

  The Concorde Menu: BA 172, New York-London, 7 June 1978 I have been cleaning out cupboards in preparation for the upheaval in my house in two weeks to enable the laying of new carpet. And it is amazing what I have found…I am much more of a hoarder of mementos than I realised. In the mid 1970’s, when in my early 20’s I had what I was sure was the best job in Australia. I was the assistant to the Press Secretary to the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. I held the position between 1975 and 1979. I travelled the globe, worked ridiculous hours and loved every minute of it. To this day I am still very much a “political animal” and a news devourer. Late last week I had a call from my old boss. We keep in touch a couple of times a year and after such a long period of time I like to think of him as a very dear friend. The Official London Program And then this morning when I was sorting, ruthlessly, through my cupboards I found some of the mementos of my second trip t...

Ruby waiting for a stick to be thrown into the river this morning. Apologies to the fisherman I have just returned from a long, languid and lazy walk along the Swan River which laps ashore about 250m from my home. The New Year’s weather is stunning, and the mood in Perth is very much high summer, with most people not starting work until Monday, or even the 17th. This period from Christmas to mid January is when many take their holidays, even if they don’t do anything more with their days than enjoy their families and our beautiful beaches. And I have been doing just that over the past two weeks. I have caught up with friends and heard some funny stories about the way the Australian animals, and in this case a very impolite kangaroo deal with the heat and lack of water. My friend, Dianne, who lives in the hills near Perth, had me laughing hysterically the other day when she retold her story of a close encounter of a very scary kind with a 2m tall kangaroo. She had gone outside to han...