This story was first published in The Big Issue #523 (21 Oct – 3 Nov 2016) I’ve stopped collecting freshly-cut logs and tree stumps from nature strips. I’ve stopped pulling over a little excitedly, opening up the back of the car, hauling the wood into the boot and driving off, a little triumphantly. My back’s […]
‘Been a while since I’ve written a Stereo Story. Here’s how my latest starts: My eldest brother didn’t own many records. If my memory serves me well, the albums he listened to were by The Beatles, a rebel country songwriter, some Dylan and Clapton, a little art rock, and some English pop by a red-headed […]
My latest Big Issue story is an 800-worder called Tree Change. And, no, it’s not about moving to a rural idyll.
This story was first published in The Big Issue # 518, 12-25 August 2016. My mate Paul and I have started a new postal service. An exclusive, boutique service. We have a catchment area of four linear kilometres and a clientele of two. There are no premium rates. No sorting of letters in faraway […]
The Big Issue has just published a story about letter-writing, and friendship, and delivering your own hand-written letters on your own bike. I have a postie’s bike, but not in good working order. Salvaged from a skip, it’s a rusted machine with a cracked leather seat, flat tyres and a chain that won’t budge. Still, […]
‘The foreshore is bleak and desolate with a beauty not at once obvious…’ The Age, 1990 I am sitting on a rock 300 metres from shore. The tide is out. The rock protrudes from the water. Behind me is Port Phillip Bay and beyond that, well beyond, is Bass Strait and then Tasmania. Ahead of […]
November 26, 2016
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