Spicy Sculduggery- The Trade Routes of Friendship

The penchant for possessing the world’s most luxurious spices, commercialised by East Indian Trading companies in the 1600’s, has shifted from high sea endeavours, the fascination of faraway lands, and struggles for ‘spice stock market supremacy’, into a mainstream malaise of mass-produced spice packets and tea bags of all varieties. Despite the swipe and pay ease of availability, the historical racketeering and skulduggery associated with trading spice routes, and the smuggling of the ‘illicit’, remains an allure embedded in history books, block buster movies, and the…

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01/05/2024

Tote Hose: When What You Say Meets What You Wear

It is said that knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom. That it’s the road map of a culture. To speak another language has been likened to possessing another soul. I try conjuring such heightened enlightenment, no doubt fought for by our ancestors, but it stealthily escapes me as we walk through the small medieval German town of Buttenheim. The cobblestones of the 16th century, born from an earlier Karl the Great decreed superhighway, tell the story of a bygone hustle of trafficking and trading,…

8 Comments

21/04/2023

CONFIDENCE / General / perspective / Self help / wholeheartedness

THE OCULAR EVEREST – A NEW WAY OF SEEING FOR BLIND BATS

According to health studies some of the most common eye problems include cataracts, keratoconus, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and refractive errors. Despite the scientifically observed peeper problems, you don’t have to suffer from any kind of vision impairment or be blind as a bat to understand we don’t all see things the same way. That life is blurry for some, clear for others, appears distant, or is close enough to trip over. 20/20 vision is the ‘ocular Everest’, and even when we have it, most of us…

2 Comments

03/08/2021

General / LIFE RAMBLINGS / positive thinking / RESILLIENCE / Self help / WISDOM

WISDOM FROM THE KITCHEN BENCH: BENEFITS IN THE BANANA

In the world of consumer health, it’s all about slogans, shelling out the big bucks and the sanctioning of superfoods. It’s about brassicas, berries and a large amount of bullshit. To uncover prominent profundities in the produce and discover a balance in the bent; trawling supermarket isles becomes superfluous, ditching junk mail mandatory and a consumer wellbeing price check required that peels it all back to the bloody basics. If we are in fact what we eat, beyond the dazzling marketing mantras of the goji, quinoa…

5 Comments

05/04/2021

LIFE RAMBLINGS / perspective / wholeheartedness

ON SACRED COWS: BLINDSIDED BY THE BOVINE

(*Version 2 where the author has not gotten so carried away with complex content). People say cows have no business in horseplay, but who’s ever heard of ‘cowsplay’? And then there’s never been a holy horse or cash horse. We don’t wait until the horses come home, and Seth Godin, didn’t make his millions writing a book called Purple Horse. And although the idea of spiritual horses carrying the human soul to Valhalla sounds more attractive than a cow clomping to the afterlife, it’s clear our…

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14/02/2021

General / LIFE RAMBLINGS

BLINDSIDED BY THE BOVINE: ON SACRED COWS AND HOW WE SEE THINGS.

People say cows have no business in horseplay, but who’s ever heard of ‘cowsplay’? And then there’s never been a holy horse or cash horse. We don’t wait until the horses come home, and Seth Godin, didn’t make his millions writing a book called Purple Horse. And although the idea of spiritual horses carrying the human soul to Valhalla sounds more attractive than a cow clomping to the afterlife, it’s clear our allegiance is still with the beauty of the bovine and the essence of the…

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31/01/2021

General / joy / LIFE RAMBLINGS / WISDOM

JOY-FULL-NESS: Discovering Joy in Digestion and Ditty’s

There are things that stay with you you’d rather forget. There are things you’d rather remember that you forget. Then there are things you recall leaving you wonder why on earth you have. Popping up somewhere from my lurking, murky, otherwise heavily armoured subconscious, is a kitsch, highly cringeworthy, Sunday school song falling into the category of memories we’d rather forget, but somehow seem to want to stick around. “I've got the joy, joy, joy, joyDown in my heart (where?)Down in my heart (where?)Down in my…

4 Comments

04/01/2021

CONFIDENCE / Determination / Empowerment / LIFE RAMBLINGS / RAMBLINGS

CHANGING GEARS: A DETERMINED MIND AND MUSCLE POWER UP

“The way we see the problem is the problem.” ― Stephen R. Covey There’s a horizon called Easy. It’s unconsciously locked into most people’s dream destinations. You arrive there in comfort, with minimal dis-ease, hardly breaking a sweat or spitting a cuss. It’s the ‘Granny gear’ of all utopias, easy to reach after nominal peddling, pain and gear shifting. Life there is a freewheeling downhill ride. There’s a price to pay for riding ‘Granny gear’, where the bike chain sits in it’s lowest position. Alignment is incongruous, wear…

4 Comments

10/10/2020

community / CONFIDENCE / RAMBLINGS / STILL RAMBLING / wholeheartedness

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS – HOW MELBOURNE SABRE SAILORS ARE RIDING THE SECOND WAVE.

In a series of on again, off again COVID-19 restrictions since March, Melbourne Sabre sailors have found themselves stranded high and dry. Undeterred by the storm, the fleet has ‘re- written’ the sailing instructions; rigging up new strategies for community connection. The class’ renowned enthusiasm normally reserved for the rigging yards and racecourse, has rapidly switched tack to embrace online sailing development forums designed to share and foster skills growth, Sabrette Soirees creating a sense of connection and community across the female contingent and PR cross-State…

2 Comments

22/09/2020

RAMBLINGS / TRAVEL RAMBLINGS

LESSONS FROM THE TRAIL: FRÄNKISCHE GEBIRGSWEG A UNIQUE CAMINO EXPERIENCE

“I can imagine lots of couples do something like that for their 25thwedding anniversary, why would you go to an exotic Island to relax when you can walk a 430km trail!” The response, sweating sarcasm, from my old sports teacher, at a chance meeting on a 25km training hike. Romantic, sand soaked, sun bathed, blue water- bliss 25-year wedding anniversary celebration options never appeared on our ‘trip advisor’ as we considered the challenge of a long- distance hike. Sifting through alternatives to the heavily trodden El…

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12/09/2020