What does every man need?

Quite a few things, I dare say. Generally most of those “needs” could easily be reclassified as “wants”.

In my opinion, however, there is one thing this man needs: a good pair of slippers. After a hard day’s work there are few more comforting or relaxing things as a good pair of comfortable slippers.

Now I haven’t had a proper pair of slippers in several decades. Instead I have replaced slippers with Ugg boots, that wonderful Australian invention with its soft fleecy lining that ease any aches in the feet and is deliciously warm in the winter, cool in the summer and just about perfect for the rest of the year.

Sadly, my old pair of Ugg boots met an unfortunate end recently; they were thrown unceremoniously into the rubbish bin accompanied by rapturous applause from She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. (I made that last bit up – the bit about the applause.) My wife has been encouraging me to find a suitable replacement pair for longer than I care to remember. The fleecy lining had been flattened many years ago. The side of one had developed a rip to rival the San Andreas Fault and the outsides no longer looked in prime condition. They could have been mistaken for a oddly shaped refugee from a compost heap.

I tried. I really tried to find a replacement pair but extensive searches and numerous test fittings of potential replacements unearthed nothing suitable. (To be honest, I only went to one local store, and then only tried on about 3 pairs.) Imagine my delight, and my wife’s approval, when I found a pair recently that not only felt comfortable as to size, but also reminded me what I had been missing for so many years.

They are wonderfully comfortable.

Just perfect for relaxing every evening. Don’t know why I didn’t throw the old ones away several years ago.

Read more about Ugg boots here.

Good writing.

Poor fellow

Life has certainly been tough in most parts of the Australian countryside for more than a decade now. Many rural people have experienced devastating droughts, overwhelming floods, unbelievable locust and mice plagues, raging bushfires, economic downturns and unsympathetic banks. Sadly, many have not coped with the stresses of these disasters and have ended their lives. Suicide is a serious issue in many rural communities, and all it does is solve the problem for the individual, leaving further tragedy and perhaps guilt for those left behind.

With typical laconic Aussie humour in the midst of all this angst, the poor fellow shown in the photo above couldn’t even get his last act right. Instead of leaping over the cliff to the rocks below, he stumbled into a boxthorn bush. What a harsh way to go!

Seriously, although we may laugh at this poor fellow’s tragic and misplaced end, suicide is no laughing matter. If you are experiencing stress, anxiety or depression, or know someone who is, please consult your family doctor ASAP. In the meantime, sites like Beyond Blue here in Australia can be a first step on the path to recovery. There is help available and professionals can show that there is hope in seemingly hopeless situations. This hasn’t always been the case. When I was young three close relatives needlessly took their own lives; they didn’t know where to turn for help.

Writers make up a group most at risk. We often work long hours alone, cloistered by necessity. Getting published can be depressingly difficult. Finances can be stretched to breaking point just as our spirits can also break. Be sure to get help if that’s where you’re at.

Good writing and good health.

Last week I attended three days of the week long Adelaide Writers Week. This biennial event is an integral part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts here in South Australia, one of the leading such festivals of its kind in the world. The list of guest speakers is often a who’s who of the writing world. This time was no exception and the impressive parade of talented writers throughout the week was very inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

But where were the writers for children?

They were conspicuous by their almost total absence.

Almost.

Only Markus Zusak could be said to be a writer for children – a debatable point as his audience is best described as Young Adult.

Australia has an impressive number of world class writers for children. They lead the world in their chosen field. They are acknowledged around the globe for their talent and many outsell their adult counterparts. Why, then are they totally ignored festival after festival?

Is this a case of literary snobbery on the part of the organising committee? Or ignorance?

Adelaide Writers' Week 2010

]]> http://www.trevorhampel.com/where-are-the-writers-for-children/feed/ 4 http://www.trevorhampel.com/opinion-a-ridiculous-state-of-affairs/ http://www.trevorhampel.com/opinion-a-ridiculous-state-of-affairs/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:50:00 +0000 Trevor http://www.trevorhampel.com/?p=1578 Some things really rile me. They get under my skin and irritate me like the itch of a hundred mosquito bites.

Today is a public holiday throughout South Australia for the running of the Adelaide Cup.

Ridiculous if you ask me.

The Adelaide Cup is, at best, a second rate horse race when compared to say the Melbourne Cup. It interests only a few thousand people and for that a whole state grinds to a halt. It just shows how morally bankrupt our state has become. It is a ridiculous excuse for a holiday in an era when our state should be doing everything possible to be productive.

But then – the same thing could be said of many of our public holidays.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and if you live here in SA,  enjoy your break.

]]> http://www.trevorhampel.com/opinion-a-ridiculous-state-of-affairs/feed/ 0 http://www.trevorhampel.com/australia-day-2010-honours-our-writers/ http://www.trevorhampel.com/australia-day-2010-honours-our-writers/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:10:39 +0000 Trevor http://www.trevorhampel.com/?p=1458

Laughing Kookaburra

January 26th is Australia Day, a special day celebrating the first landing of European settlers in Sydney Cove, 1788.

The day is celebrated in many ways: family gatherings, picnics, barbecues, going to the beach,  attending sporting events or just having a lazy day in the middle of the Australian summer.

Every year for the last few years Australia Post has celebrated the event by issuing a special set of postage stamps called Australian Legends. This series of stamps features people who have made a major contribution to Australian life and culture.

This year the stamps are called Australian Legends of the written word. They highlight the works of six of our most prominent writers. The writers honoured in this way are Peter Carey, David Malouf, Colleen McCullough, Bryce Courtenay, Thomas Keneally and Tim Winton.

I think it is wonderful that our leading novelists have been honoured in this way. Writers in Australia are often overlooked for the massive contribution they have made to our culture. Each of the writers featured are truly deserving of the honour.

Where are they?

Of course, by featuring these six writers, many other well deserved writers have been overlooked. In the field of novelists another 15 to 20 worthy recipients could have been listed, including Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee. Admittedly, he was born in South Africa but now resides here in my home state of South Australia. Bryce Courtenay was also born in South Africa, so here is an inconsistency in the choice of recipients.  And what of Patrick White, Helen Garner, Kate Grenville, Peter Goldsworthy, Robert Dessaix and Elizabeth Jolley? The list could go on and on. Then you have the great writers who are no longer contemporary, such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson.

My major gripe however is that no poets or children’s authors are represented. Judith Wright, Les Murray, Bruce Dawe and Gwen Harwood have all had significant influences in the field of poetry. That’s just four I could name from dozens of worthy recipents.

Australian children’s authors lead the world in their field. Writers like Colin Thiele, Mem Fox, Sonya Harnett, Ivan Southall and dozens more have had or continue to have a significant impact on young readers around the world.

I guess that Australia Post had a difficult job narrowing the choice down to just six writers, but a little balance in the final six would have been nice.

Links:

• Australian Legends of the written word
• Peter Carey
• David Malouf
• Colleen McCullough
• Bryce Courtenay
• Thomas Keneally
• Tim Winton
  

But that wasn’t why I wanted to write this piece.

Something snapped in my head on Sunday. Someone at church outlined the terrible state that exists in the poor African country of Zimbabwe. Our church has been an active participant in providing drinking water wells there. I immediately thought of the hundreds of millions of dollars – or was it over a billion dollars – that the candidates spent collectively on the right to become the next president.

I think that is obscene.

Even half of that money, if spent on food alone, could save tens of thousands of people from starving to death in Zimbabwe. This story could be repeated a thousand times over around the globe. What about the enormous amounts of American money being poured into the war effort in Iraq?

I’d say that we’ve really stuffed up our priorities. Where is compassion? Where has common sense gone? What are we doing for the billions of people who merely exist from day to day?Think about it: most people in Australia, the United States and Europe spend more each day on a pet than many families of the world have to live on for a week.

Then I spend time with friends or colleagues or the folk at church and I am uplifted again. When I experience the generosity and love and care and courage of others I am amazed and encouraged. Life then is good, people are great and all is well with my world.

Each one of us can do our little bit to make this a better place.

We CAN change the world – one kind, loving, caring act at a time.

Further reading:

• To read more in my series of opinion pieces click here.

Went shopping this morning. I went to buy some AAA batteries. No problem, you’d think. Wrong. The store only stocked packs of four or eight – I needed six. Why do they do that? Now I have two useless batteries. I can’t think of anything else in the house that needs AAA batteries. (I have a sneaking suspicion that something takes AAA batteries but can’t think what it is. Is it one of the remotes? Must check.)

The Good News

So on arrival home I installed the six batteries and stored the two spare batteries in a place I’ll probably forget about. I fired up the label maker. Now here’s the good news – it does a fantastic job. All I need now is plenty of time to go and label everything in sight.

Ha ha – just let me loose.

Now – if only I could get it away from my wife; it was a combined present!

“I have to forgive the world – it probably doesn’t even realize how often it upsets me.” Ashleigh Brilliant

I must be getting old.

More and more I am getting cranky about the world and some of the people in it. Talk about becoming a grumpy old man. It is not what I want at all; I’d rather be joyful, optimistic and forward looking, but events around me and things happening on a global scale are making me grumpy.

Take, for example, the newly elected Labor Government in Australia. One of the first things Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rushed out to do was to promise to sign the Kyoto Agreement on climate change. Sounds good, noble and worthwhile – until you step back and take a cold hard look at the reality.

It is my opinion that even if we stopped using every vehicle in Australia today, and closed down every factory and power plant in our country, on a global scale it would mean very little – so close to zero, zilch, zip that it wouldn’t matter at all. Meanwhile, counties like China, India, some European countries and the United States ignore the prospects of total disaster on a global scale and merrily go on filling the atmosphere with their rubbish.

We are all on this planet together and everyone has to play their part. Until the massive polluters of this world start making a major shift in their practices, I’m afraid the agreement is a toothless tiger, not worth the paper it is written on.

“We must save the world. After all, it is the only planet with chocolate.”

Floriade 2007, Canberra

Special Note: This is the first in a series of occasional essays entitled “Opinion.” The opinions expressed in these articles are my own humble opinions. You are invited to join in the debate either through the contact form or through the comments section. I reserve the right to moderate comments.