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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Magic Minute The Beatles, Southern Cross Hotel and Me By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // So what did I as a young factory worker, have to do with the Beatles’ stay in Melbourne’s iconic Southern Cross Hotel during their legendary 1964 Australian tour? Well, I played a vital part in the actual hand-crafting of the
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Magic Minute Ticket to Nowhere By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “Wow! Working on the remote sheep station of Copley in the South Australian Outback… This is the life for me!” So this 15-year-lad would be off to isolated Copley! A young girl who’d been living at Copley and now working in our Italian glassware
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Magic Minute Not A Second To Spare By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “I’ll never forget the day our neighbour ran into our front yard screaming, “Mrs Smale! Mrs Smale! My baby’s choking! It was 1954 in the back-blocks of Seaford and my single mum, a real hands-on ‘Ma Kettle”, didn’t waste a second for
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Magic Minute Australian Grizzlies By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “All an English friend of mine remembers from his visit to the magnificent Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains was what happened to him on his perilous journey back to his hostel in the dead of night. Because it was much too late, the local
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Magic Minute A Teaspoon Of Sugar By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “The song might say a teaspoon of sugar makes medicine easier to swallow, but that’s not all it can do! While visiting some Italian friends, something caught my eye. The teaspoon in the sugar bowl was shaped like a little shovel with a
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Magic Minute Little Big Man By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “I was Twenty four, sitting there completely lost and wondering, “What’s this all about?” I was watching the 1970 satirical Western, ‘Little Big Man’ which was far too deep and nuanced for my narrow view of the world to cope with. Because of social
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Article Heard About Horse Whisperers? What About a Whispering Horse? By Laurie Smale In my role as a public speaking coach I was once counselling a lady concerned about an upcoming speech she was afraid she might have to give because she had ‘nothing to say’, (we’ll call her Mary). As our session progressed I
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Magic Minute Where Have All The Flowers Gone By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “I opened the hatchback and it was empty! “Where are all the flowers?” I thought. “I distinctly remember loading that full carton of flowering plants right here in the boot! But maybe I didn’t and have left them in the nursery
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Magic Minute Wonderful Wonderful Birmingham? By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “For those who live in England’s historic Birmingham, you either love it, hate it, or something in between. A stately friend of mine of Danish origin told me he was once out for an early morning stroll while visiting Birmingham and chatting away in
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