Magic Minute The Disappearing Kitchen By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // My unforgettable single mother was an uncanny version of Ma Kettle. Like her namesake her bringing up five unruly kids in the 1960s was very rough and ready. One day I’d slung some beetroot at my teasing brother staining the kitchen door. And we […]
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Magic Minute All That Glitters By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Ever been enticed by something irresistibly beautiful? I was around 8 years old and totally entranced by a large golden orange fish casually swimming in a pond as part of the Kannonook Creek, recently flushed and replenished by a massive pump from Port Philip
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Magic Minute 17,000 Feet and Falling! By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // A tremendous explosion blew flight Lieutenant Neil Lindsay out into space through a gaping hole in the Lancaster’s fuselage, the plane a raging blaze. His parachute unstable, he was now 17,000 ft above enemy territory and falling fast with the Germans already taking
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Magic Minute Hello Old Friend By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Funny how clever the mind can be in discerning someone you know from a distance even walking away from you. It takes in the way they carry themselves, what they’re wearing, and even the back of their head is factored into an image of
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Magic Minute It’s What The Locals Say By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // It’s always a bit of a challenge to fit into a different environment when you’re new to it all. An American primary school teacher new to Australia was telling me, “In the staff room at morning tea a young grade three student
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Magic Minute The Easyrider By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // Ever experienced something so unusual that made you laugh out loud? Well, I was driving along when I heard the throaty note of a serious motorbike coming up behind me. And sure enough, a magnificent machine began to pass me, something straight out of the
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Magic Minute Australian Icon By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // There was a time Australians would fret if they didn’t have some Vegemite in their luggage… and I’m not joking! Even our Kiwi neighbours say, “What’s with you Australians and your bloody vegemite?” I once shared a long train journey from Vienna with a Canadian
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Magic Minute Knee Deep in Grapes By Laurie Smale MAGIC MINUTE // When I was 15, I found myself knee deep in grapes celebrating their squashing into wine with a Sicilian family… very unusual for an Australian lad in 1962 Melbourne! I enjoyed the festivities so much I ended up living with Peter and Maria
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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,
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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,
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