Category Archives: Creative Writing

100 Up

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So this my 100th Post – It’s timing is perfect just as I start my next journey.

Michael Clarke’s Celebration after reaching 100 in Adelaide. Source: www.news.com. au

My blog has not met the WordPress suggested approach of a theme and stick to it. Rather it has been the thoughts of a fifty something as he contemplates what’s next. 

While it hasn’t been a “Dear Diary” it certainly has been a reflection on my thoughts. There has been plenty on music including my discovery of Country Music and the regular paying homage to The Boss. There have been posts on our trip to Europe and our plans for 3 months in Italy. There’s also been the opportunity to post on our local scene – the fabulous Adelaide Oval, Tour Down Under and Second Valley. I have also mentioned my move back to study on numerous occasions but the topic I expected would appear most being Sport has only been mentioned sparingly.

It has  enabled me to meet an objective of writing a thousand words a month and I think also improved my writing skills. 

It’s a time for celebration!

A daily occurrence – the best of times, the worst of times

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

For me this is a daily occurrence as planning for retirement or transition brings these emotions on a very regular basis.

I often describe my days as a roller coaster of mixed emotions, moving through a cycle of euphoria ( “the best of times”) to ambivalence and then to panic ( “the worst of times”). During a day I find myself excited about my future, a period post retirement from my firm, relaxed that I’ll be able to fill my days with gainful activity and then frightened that I am not properly prepared or ready.

In those times when I am looking forward to the next phase, it can be the best of times. No more time sheets, budgets, and relentless pressure to grow the business. My excitement also comes from the opportunities I have before me.

University the opportunity to learn, complete my Honours, start a PHD, research and teach. These are all things that over the last 12 months I have come to enjoy. I feel confident that my network of contacts will engage with me in a way that neither they nor I have before, providing me new and exciting opportunities. I’ll have more time for travel and riding my bike.

I then cycle through feelings of ambivalence arising from the assumption that it will all work its way through and I’ll be OK.

But then there is the fear of the unknown, the worst of times. Sheer panic!

What happens if I don’t like it. I’m moving from the cocoon of a very large firm where I am relevant to perhaps being completely irrelevant. How will I feel about that? What happens if I can’t afford to live the way I want too? What happens if my planning simply doesn’t pay off? What happens if I don’t continue to enjoy my study, it’s too hard and I can’t make a success of teaching? What happens if I my network no longer engages with me after I no longer have my Partner badge? It’s very scary!

So yes on a daily basis I experience both the best and worst of times.

Daily Prompt – Extreme Tale

It’s better to give than receive

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We had dinner with a friend recently. Someone my wife and I see through my work. It was a fabulous dinner with maybe more wine than we should have consumed for a work night with an early start the next day, however it was fun.

Whilst much of our talk with our friend has been about where I’m at with my life, this time as the conversation and wine flowed we turned to where my wife was at with her life.

Too often this involves running around after our adult children. Bluntly she seems to be their unpaid PA! Whilst I know she is happy to take on that role it seems that she doesn’t have enough of her own time. That was a theme we discussed at length.

Through the conversation my wife talked about writing.

Continue reading →

Who do I write for?

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Who is your Reader?

My blog is not a Dear Diary, however it is my own personal reflection. It’s not my goal to reveal my inner most secrets, but an opportunity to write about what matters to me.

It was as I have posted before a way for me to keep myself honest to my personal challenge of writing a thousand words a month. I have achieved that goal in each and every month whether through this blog, via my articles for The Adelaide Review or in my University assignments.

I write because I enjoy it. It’s both intellectually stimulating and relaxing at the same time, although as I am reviewing and editing a post the relaxation aspect can get lost in my desire to get the grammar right! That’s why I enjoy my personal fifteen minutes and then post challenges, of which this is one.

Also I think My writing has got better. Maybe that’s not surprising because it’s like everything – the more you practice at something the better you get. I’ve even tried to write some fiction which is a long way out of my comfort zone.

I haven’t written my posts to necessarily have them read by lots of people, which is fortunate because they haven’t been. That said, I have been gratified that sometimes my posts get some comment and the occasional like.

So when I answer the question who do I write for its Me!

They would never have believe it

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Paul was keen to get away from work as Wednesday night was band practice, and he needed to be there by seven. It was going to be difficult because August was always a manic month.

He enjoyed his work and was comfortable being defined by his role role, as a Partner of one of the world’s largest accounting firms, however he was thoroughly enjoying getting back into his music, something he had not really done since his high school days in Southampton. That was such a long time ago, pre Julie, the children, and his arrival in Australia.

A child of the sixties he felt a rich musical heritage, Continue reading →