It's a small world, after all....

Yesterday was Tuesday tarts day.
Today was Wednesday wenches day.

Want to know what I am talking about?

Friendship, especially womens' friendships.

Let me explain....

Tuesday Tarts,  which I have only recently become a more regular member of  is where my wonderful mother in law, sister in law and a couple of their girlfriends meet on a Tuesday morning at a local cafe for coffee and a good old chat.

I have taken the daughters ( referred to as the tartlets,  i.e. small tarts)  some times when they are in town and one of them commented that the group had the feel of a "a Liz Byrski novel".

Liz Byrski is one of my favourite authors, she writes novels about womens' friendship, lives, loves and all that stuff in-between.  Yesterday we had a wide ranging discussion from the impact things people can say to you on your life, in one tart's case, how  something said when she was a child has had an impact on her impression of her ability to do certain things most of her adult life;  to how to die with dignity. I told you it was a a diverse topic day.

In between all these life and death discussions, the tarts were chatting up a man of a certain age and invited him to join them next week! The biggest dilemma was what would he be? he couldn't be a tart, I suggested a Torte! A bit bigger than a tart, but still sweet!  Watch this space to see if he does join them next week!

Today for Wednesday wenches I met up with a woman I used to work with,  first over 20 years ago while we were both nursing in Sydney.  It really is a small world,  I have since met another woman I worked with at the same hospital too, she is also working with me at the private hospital. Anyway the first girl is friends with my very good friend and we met through her and recognised that we knew each other from before.

So now"retired" I can find time to catch up with people and expand my social network, so we had coffee and an hour went by in a flash. We talked about family, my gap year and the slog of working full time and her post graduate studies. That is one thing I admire about nurses, we are always improving our skills and knowledge and most of these studies are done in our own time and expense, and does not lead to  $$'s  reward, unlike in other careers, just better care for our patients.

So now I'm off to the big smoke with a couple of days with the  2 of the tartlets, for a bit of girl time.

What about you, have you read any Liz Byrski book?
Have you reconnected with someone from your past?
Do you have a coffee group?

Australians all let us rejoice.... Why?

I don't mean to put a dampener on anyone's Australia Day but I have recently been watching the ABC 4 corners 50 year birthday APP on my new iPad, (Yes I have an IPAD!!) and it has been quite interesting if not a little depressing to see how little things have changed in 50 years.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/four-corners-50-years/id487084761?mt=8

For example:
Stories from the last 50 years and my thoughts.

The parlous state of  the Indigenous People of this country, this story pops again repeatedly in each decade and is even today still an ongoing issue, why can't we get it right after all these years?

The power of the RSL clubs in setting the political agenda,  sound familiar? Poker machines and the proposed tax come to mind??

Crime and Punishment/Police Corruption, this is where 4 Corners in my opinion has made its most significant mark, some of you may be too young to remember such stories as: The Big League, Horses for Courses, The Moonlight State, Police Story (the prelude to underbelly NSW), Academy of Crime,  Fixing Cricket,  Melbourne Confidential, Supermax,  I could go on but you get my drift I hope...

The role of women in Australian Society, the fight for equal pay for equal work, the culture which celebrates men's sexual conquests but condemns the women as "moles, etc", the fight for decent affordable childcare and why are more women not involved in the decision making processes in this country in both politics and the boardroom.

Wars and Famines, Vietnam, Banned Aid, Indonesia, Rwanda, Gallipoli, Ethiopia, Bougainville, Yugoslavia, East Timor, weapons of mass destruction, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq etc etc .....  Maybe if more women were running the show ( see point above) we may have less of these???

The treatment of Refugess and Asylum Seekers  we are still fighting over how we treat these people who often have risked their lives to find a safe haven, why is a country so wealthy so mean spirited?  How about taking some of our national anthem words and actually meaning them...... "for those who come across the seas we've boundless plains to share"


Mining, multi-national companies harvesting our resources, shipping the profit off shore and then leaving the australian people to deal with their aftermath, remember Wittenon and the "blue death".


Today is a day where we hopefully think about our good fortune to be living in such a country where most ( but not all,) have enough to eat, somewhere to sleep, an opportunity for an education and political freedom. To me,  being an Australian is not about wrapping yourself in a flag, instead it is  not allowing ourselves to become complacent and let others make decisions about our country because it is all too easy to blame the politicians etc.  We have a voice and we must use it to ensure that the values we hold dear of equality, social welfare, a fair go for all, are not eroded.

That is my soap box for today, in case you think I have taken leave of my senses here is something more amusing for Australia day from one of my favourite writers and broadcasters Richard Glover.....

http://www.richardglover.com.au/blog01.php