MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

The "Peace" Rose (photo LP) This morning, when I returned home after a weekend away, enjoying the spring blossoming native wildflowers during  my walks,  I was delighted to see that the first of the spring roses had bloomed.  This rose is called "Peace" and comes from a 50 year old bush which was given to me by friends who were demolishing an old house;  the rosebush would not fit with their new garden. Geraldton Wax, a native bush which parades it's beautiful flowers only in Spring (photo LP) Some details about the "Peace" rose from Wikipedia:  It was developed by  French   horticulturist  Francis Meilland  in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. It is said, that it was sent to the US on the last plane available As Meilland sent his cuttings just before the war, communication b...

This morning The West Australian newspaper published an article about Notre Dame University fighting the spread of "digital stress"by urging staff to switch off their email for one morning a week and talk to each other instead. The Chancellor was quoted as saying that apart from being distracting and time-consuming, emails had a higher likelihood of being misinterpreted because they were not accompanied by eye contact, body language or facial communication. The term "digital stress"has been coined to refer to information overload caused by too much multi-tasking on digital devices.  The article resonated with me because I have had a interesting week presenting The Percy Institute's  Strive for Corporate Success program to an international humanitarian organisation, and also a top tier legal firm. My program content is tailored for each client but there are a number of areas of interest which are common to two such diversified organisations. When t...

I had an interview yesterday with ninemsn.com.au  relating to generational differences with regard to manners;  the way the young see the elderly and their more “traditional” manners, and the way the elderly see the youth of today with their “lack of manners and respect”. After my recent vacation when taking a quiet walk along a nearby street with my dogs, an older gentleman  (I think he would have been late 70 ) went past me on a bike, and then stopped suddenly to look at a new “McMansion” being built on the other side of the road.  I acknowledged him with a smile and a “good morning”, and he said: “I grew up in the house that used to be there”.  I remembered the previous house as being quite elegant, on a large block, filled with beautiful trees. He said: “I lived there for the whole of my childhood”...and then commenced to tell me about the suburb in those days and what he remembered of the area at that time. After we had finished a really int...

A local Kanak  family at the monthly Kanak market day (photo LP) I have recently returned from a  séjour linguistique  in New Caledonia at   CREIPAC  ( Centre de Rencontres et d'Echanges Internationaux du Pacific (Centre for Meetings and International Exchanges in the Pacific).I attended an intensive two week French language course and revelled in the atmosphere of Noumea...it's intrinsic "Frenchness" and it's Melanesian, Pacific Island colour. The Coat of Arms of New Caledonia Some background on New Caledonia. It is one of Australia’s nearest neighbours, located 1,470 kilometres northeast of Brisbane. It comprises the island of Grande Terre (where the capital, Noumea, is situated), the four Loyalty Islands (Ouvea, Lifou, Tiga and Maré), the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and some remote islands. Some 250,000 people live in New Caledonia. Approximately 44 per cent are indigenous (‘Kanak’). CREIPAC...in the old convict area of Nouvi...

Forget standing when women enter the room or calling all men “sir”. Modern western society would suggest that is behaviour from a forgotten time.  But what are the modern manners every child should have? When I was thinking about this post I returned to the memory of my father answering the telephone…the sort which was attached to a  wall and was shared among all members of the family. “Is Louise there?” would ask the tentative teenage male voice.  “Yes” was the response of my father as he put the telephone handset back into its cradle. Oh, the humiliation!  Whoever  the new “boyfriend” of the moment was, he had not asked the correct, and polite by my father’s standards, question: “Good evening…may I speak with Louise please”.   Then the answer would have been, perhaps:  “No, we are in the middle of dinner.  Why don’t you call back in half an hour”.  And then I would have to suffer through another half hour of polite family...

The trilogy of erotic books which started with the e-book   “Fifty Shades of Grey” . has resulted, apparently around the world, in increased adult shop sales of sex toys and  in an extraordinary amount of internet “chat” about the relevance of the manners involved in “modern” sexual practices.  Certainly I have had more than the average number of emails requesting advice about the manners involved in intimate relationships, and the boundaries which can be crossed, or not crossed…and how to discuss those boundaries politely. I respond that I am not in the business of sexual advice, but etiquette and manners.   But I can offer a few words of common sense, I hope, which will assist when people are responding to requests in their intimate lives which are possibly uncomfortable. The most important premise is to be true to yourself.  When love “is the hero in the story, one’s intuition can be placed under general anaesthetic”  as a Swiss f...

A popular French style shop in Perth My sister and I had a great day on Friday.   We went to the Perth Good Food and Wine Show…a showcase of the best of Australian produce, wine, products and celebrity cooks. We took the bus into the city…or the Green Mercedes as she calls it!  I rarely use public transport here in Perth, but with the skyrocketing price of parking because of the overall lack of parking spaces it was an obvious solution.  And a great opportunity for one of my favourite past times, people watching. $5.00 Australian = $5.12 US &  €4.20. Not cheap!! The show was well patronised, even on a Friday.  It is school holiday time here and so there were families as well as foodies like us. After tasting some wonderful local olive oils and vinegars we felt ready to start sampling the wines.   After buying tasting glasses which could hang around our necks we headed to the Barossa Valley, South Australian wine stand to start with ...