13 May 2019, Blackburn

I went to vote yesterday. Being an early elector, I forwent the democracy sausage (don’t ask how the sausage is made) in favour of a surprisingly long queue slightly outside of my electorate. We have a very good-natured democracy, but one still has to run the gauntlet of people handing out flyers. Apart from the…

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Sunday May 5, 2019, Glen Iris

I spent the afternoon at a trampoline gym with one of my kids. We both had a glorious time, bouncing, flipping, landing awkwardly, trying not to crash into other people. The place was filled to the brim with kids, being a Sunday. A handful of adults were bouncing too, but the vast majority were patronising…

14 April 2019, Canberra

Sometimes I drink instant coffee at work. I joke that I do it because sometimes I need to hurt myself in order to feel something. The truth is really that I just like coffee. It's tough to live in Melbourne and not have strong views on espresso style coffee. I mean, I like it, and…

7 April 2019, Union road, Surrey Hills, Victoria

In this election season I have been forced to conclude that Clive Palmer's electoral office are trying to sabotage him. I mean, look at that poster. Looks like it's been put together by the year nine work experience kid. Awful Photoshopping, lurid colours, typography that could only be worsened by the addition of WinDings. It's…

6 April 2019, Surrey Hills Uniting Church, Victoria

Most churches in Australia give off a strong air of swimming against the tide. The buildings are spic and span, gardens watered and mantels dusted by a committee of keen parishioners. But the demographics are inescapable. There are no young people. There are twee little poems posted on the bathroom wall about not leaving the…

5 April 2019, Camberwell, Victoria

In these peri-Brexit days, the imperial tide is pretty far from the shore. But you still come across a few pieces of flotsam, washed up and left stranded in an ocean of transnational sameness. The stern Victorian aesthetic is a bit out of place in a country that prides itself on being egalitarian and easy-going,…