Magic Minute Day Dream Kindness By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Ever daydreamed yourself into trouble? Well, our concrete gang just put the final touches to an artful driveway after hours of toiling in the sun. Younger than the others, I always cleaned the tools and was wheeling them in a barrow full of slurry, […]
Magic Minute Day Dream Kindness Read More »
Magic Minute Life’s Surprises By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // In life you never know what awaits you around the corner. A guy once phoned me and asked for some help with his public speaking fears. What he didn’t say was, he was the captain of a floating oil-rig ship in Thailand’s Gulf of Tonkin,
Magic Minute Life’s Surprises Read More »
Magic Minute Am I Hearing English? By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // I was listening to directions from a Scotsman in his thick brogue, but all I heard were meaningless sounds. This challenge of understanding the accents and slang of others doesn’t only fall on the proud Scots. While a German friend of mine was
Magic Minute Am I Hearing English? Read More »
Magic Minute Comfortable Conversation By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // In a friendly conversation I once asked a young guy what he did for a living. “I work with animals,” he said. I immediately thought of a zookeeper or some sort of animal trainer – but he turned out to be a butcher! He told
Magic Minute Comfortable Conversation Read More »
Magic Minute Ya Got Trouble! By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // It happened in my old Australia-Post mail van, hurtling around the back streets of Toorak with the side door open clearing mail boxes. In full voice, I was rehearsing a patter number from The Music Man – Trouble in River City – for an
Magic Minute Ya Got Trouble! Read More »
Magic Minute A Feeble Cry For Help By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Sam picked up a feeble cry for help and quickly swam towards it, discerning two boys fighting for their life in the deeper water. They’d drifted way past the sandbanks and fallen off their paddle board. Through his mother’s encouragement Sam was
Magic Minute A Feeble Cry For Help Read More »
Magic Minute Keep The Happiness Flowing By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // “Funny how a friendly conversation with a complete stranger can take us somewhere we didn’t expect. I’d just stopped at the lights on my fancy pedal-assist tricycle with a massive 4 L bottle of mineral turpentine in the basket to clean my dirty
Magic Minute Keep The Happiness Flowing Read More »
Magic Minute Should Have Listened By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Heavy rains the night before had the creek running higher than usual. “Should be all right,” Johan thought. “I’ve crossed this ford before and I know where the rocks are.” Our bike group leader saw it differently. “Better play it safe and walk across,
Magic Minute Should Have Listened Read More »
Magic Minute You Had To Be There By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Some of our memories aren’t that big a deal now, but at the time they were. It was around 1957 in grade 4 in old Dixon’s Class; a dour old Scotsman who found it hard to see the funny side of anything.
Magic Minute You Had To Be There Read More »
Magic Minute Happy Song Bird By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Ever been judged out of context? Well, with these Magic Minute videos I soon learned that my speaking voice needed a bit of a tuneup before each event. And the best way to do this was to sing a couple of songs like: “Ramblin’
Magic Minute Happy Song Bird Read More »
