MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Graphic from the ABC memorial site The world lost a gentleman yesterday.  His family lost so much more. Paul Lockyer was a friend of mine in the mid 1970s in Canberra.  He was working for the ABC and I was working in Malcom Fraser’s press office.  He was about 5 years older than me.  And we became friends.  He encouraged me to achieve more than what I felt was possible.  When  I went to Perth to assist my family, and then decided to “migrate” he was one of the few friends who understood…he was a West Australian. Some years later I met him again.  He had married his Maria and I had married a West Australian;  we met at the home of mutual friends.  And as friends, we picked up where we left off…. Time passed.  And on Christmas Day, last year, outside the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Nedlands, our eyes met.  And it was such a pleasure to encounter such a friend…again, we picked up where we left off…and had the joy of in...

Lucinda in front of the lemon tree The weather today is beautiful.  A mild day of about 18 degrees under a very blue, Western Australian sky.  The jonquils under the Chinese Tallow Tree This morning I noticed that the first of the jonquils had burst into flower underneath the still bare Chinese Tallow tree.  The snowdrops are flowering around the chilli bush, above  the vincas, which have very bravely hung on through a bleak winter and around the roses, only pruned a week ago and still nestling in their very sandy soil.  I will build it up with manure as their leaves start to sprout. The chillies keep the aphids off the roses! And around the pool the bougainvillea and geraniums are bursting into colour to brighten my day.  The bougainvillea is showing off ! In the courtyard Lucinda gazes down on a bare soil which will soon be planted with white primulas, but she is comforted I’m sure by the background lemon tree which is heavy with lemons after the genero...

I read a comment the other day about the table manners being displayed by the judges on Masterchef Australia.   And I had to agree.  At what stage did licking the knife become any style of good table manners? Apparently one of the judges, when asked about his manners, responded that his grandmother had taught him table etiquette and that it was, on occasion, OK to break the rules…does national television equate to “on occasion”? With a vast television audience, multicultural and across all age groups – with respect, a great achievement by the programme – I would have thought that  this occasion would be one where the judges would in fact endeavour to “put their best foot forward”… closely followed by their best table manners. Hopefully tonight’s Grand Final will allow them to showcase their etiquette skills. It’s not old fashioned…it's just good table manners. Good luck to the finalists, Kate Bracks and Michael Weldon. I will be watching a...

My 21st birthday dinner...Oh so formal then! I was talking with a friend the other day about friendship.  About how it impacts on our lives, from childhood and teenage friends, to becoming friends with boyfriends’s friends, husband’s friends and their wives, parents of other school children, social club friends,  friends after divorce or death of a partner, passing friendships, acquaintances…and now virtual friends. It’s complicated. And I am finding in my “middle” years that my need for friends has reduced…not that I don’t value and cherish my friends, but my actual need has lessened.  Why, I wonder?  I used always be a “People who need People” (with apologies to whoever wrote the song made famous in Funny Girl ) sort of a person.  I was always out and about, making sure that I saw my friends, knew all that was going on with them and theirs.  Afternoon tea for the girls...with bubbles! However, as the years have moved on, my children have become ind...