Magic Minute Teetering On The Edge By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // My first time behind the wheel of that Wasa Jeep, a two-ton Russian relic of WWII, had me careening sideways on a gravel bend miles up in the Italian Alps. I slammed on the brakes but it kept going, thumping to a stop […]
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Magic Minute Moonlight Misstep By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Twas a stormy night by the light of the silvery moon when it happened. Our merry nightman was waltzing down the garden path to our outhouse in the backyard to empty our night pan – long before universal sewerage had come along. But sadly for
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Magic Minute A Bird Man’s Leap of Trust By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Thousands of Melbournians grew hushed as the next Moomba Bird Man was set to leap off the Yarra River’s towering Princes Bridge in their quest to fly the furthest for their nominated charity. This brave Birdman was my engineer neighbour Peter.
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Magic Minute Where English Comes From By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // The mish-mash of English origins renders much of our spelling very difficult and illogical for it’s a real hotch potch of influences, invasions, and linguistic mixtures. The very term ‘hotch potch’ comes from an early Anglo-Norman stewpot tossed together from whatever’s to hand.
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Magic Minute My Quirky Loveable Mum By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // My quirky loveable mother was something else! Widowed when she was 23 with three little boys under 4 in far away Donald, she battled through thick and thin to keep us together. When I was around 3, something remarkable happened while my mum
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Magic Minute From Terror to Wonder By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “So there we were, comfortably chatting by the fire in the wilds of the Bogong High Plains, completely oblivious to what was about to happen … I do remember the comforting red glow of the fire reflecting on our faces; the pitch blackness
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Magic Minute A Universal Angel By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “Ever been on the verge of your world crashing down around you when some Angel of The Universe appears and shields you from danger? That happened to me in the form of big, lovable,Pancho the Kiwi. We were on a rigorous training trip around
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Magic Minute A Good Listener By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “Three thousand times a day we’d do it! My Italian boss Lino would be fed a blob of molten glass and press it into a pancake of mosaic tiles, then I would ‘paddle’ these cakes into the cooling oven over and over again. But
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Magic Minute Meaning of Words By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // A young German couple sat uneasily in their English class wondering why their teacher had asked them to write down all they know about a working bee. “What a strange question!” They thought, and began wracking their brains for all the things that came
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Magic Minute Quirky Aussie Custom By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Just about every Australian newcomer I’ve met has been thrown by the perplexing Aussie request to ‘bring a plate’ when invited to an informal gathering among friends. Too polite to question why, these newcomers are left to navigate this quirky Australian custom as best
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