Bryce Courtenay was a great influence in my early career. Like many others, I was saddened to hear of his passing this week. He will be remembered as an author who left a great body of work that we will continue to enjoy, but my memory of Bryce is from a different time. About 15 years ago, I decided to jot down my memories of my early life in advertising industry. Here is an extract containing my first meeting with him: It was yet another...

Anzac Day, April 25th, marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, and today is an occasion of national remembrance, but let’s not forget those Australians and New Zealanders who lost their lives in the war before WW1. Every Australian knows about Gallipoli, and it is particularly significant for our family because my great grandfather, Harry Percival...

One of the things I often do is go for a jog before breakfast. When I?m traveling, my morning jog can be a bit of an expedition, as it was a few days ago. We were staying in a hotel in Wagga Wagga for a few days and as usual, I?d packed some exercise gear. I don?t like running along the roads if I can avoid it, so the night before, I pulled up Google maps to find a route for my morning jog. I was in luck, there appeared to be a good path...

Leading a Double Life I recently went to a surprise party and as I was walking the dog this morning, it occurred to me that the whole idea behind a surprise party isn?t quite as simple as it may first appear. The obvious idea behind a surprise party is of course, that it has to be kept a secret from the intended recipient of the surprise ? and that can be an extremely difficult thing to do. Especially if there are blabbermouths, careless...

Anyone who lives in Australia will know that at around 3pm on the second Tuesday in November, the country comes to a stop. If Australians aren?t at the pub, the local racetrack or having a long lunch at a restaurant somewhere, they have most likely downed tools and are having a drink whilst watching TV or listening to a radio. This year at 3:02pm our phones started ringing one after the other in succession. In my experience, each time this...

In my post last week, Learning and finding Inspiration, I wrote about an article I’d read in the New York Times. I wanted to know how far it was from where I was in Hall, ACT, to New York. (According to the site Time and Date it is roughly 16,233 km or 10,008 miles or 8,765 nautical miles) As I was sitting in a cafe I pulled out my trusty iPhone and went to Google Maps and requested the route. The answer was a staggering journey of...