Have you ever witnessed those workplace conversations where two colleagues one-up each other about who is more busy, more stressed, more in-demand and more unhappy? These conversations are oddly inverted, as if the worse your lot is, the more validated you feel. It’s a badge of honour. A busy badge. God forbid, maybe you’ve even worn that […]
With life sky-rocketing towards Christmas at a startling pace, one can’t help but think a lot about stuff. Stuff for under the tree. Stuff for the I-bought-this-generic-item-at-a-big-box-store-on-the-way-to-work secret santa gift exchange. Stuff bought but never used. Stuff lusted after but not really needed. That insatiable appetite to consume that is fed by shiny junk mail, enticing never-to-be-repeated sales and the race […]
A few Transition Bondi folks and I went head-to-head with an unflinching Centre for Sustainability Leadership team in a halloween-night debate last week which asked “Will community groups lead the change to a more sustainable future?”. We on the Transition Bondi team had to argue against the power of community groups, a beautifully ironic task given […]
Michael Mobbs is a national treasure. I learned about him, and his micro-revolution, earlier this week at a Transition Bondi event in Sydney. He’s a recovering lawyer who has taken his inner-city house off the grid. Yes, that’s right. Disconnected from the sewer system. Disconnected from the water supply. Disconnected from the electricity grid. And, […]
Oh hello blog! It’s been a while. Lately, life has dashed by, with me racing to keep up. Living simply is replaced by living hastily. In between flights, deadlines and meetings I’ve still found some treasured moments though. Moments for farmers market shopping. Moments for exchanging ideas and dreams with friends new and old. Moments for grilled cheese sandwiches […]
Life changed shape a lot this week! It’s been in the works for a while but this week the cogs started turning. I’ve been seconded into a Commonwealth public service job that will have me calling Sydney home, at regular intervals for the next year, as well as plenty of other travel in Australia and […]
Today I learned of a fantastic web start-up called mmMule. It’s a site for, in their words, ‘delivering happiness’. If you’re a local and you long for something from somewhere else, you request it from a traveller in exchange for whatever you’ve got to give. Coralie would like a traveller to bring her pebbles from a beach […]
In the summer of 2010/2011 I made a pact with myself to get better at things. Practical things. You see, my home state was 75% underwater, and I was hard-pressed to garner any practical skills to help out with the recovery mission. I’m never going to be a bobcat driver or a carpenter, so I made a list of other useful […]