Last weekend at Milan's San Siro stadium, an important association football (soccer is the slang word for the game) match took place. AC Milan and Inter Milan fought it out in the premier Italian league. Whenever the two teams meet, passions sun high for the players and for the supporters. Much a...

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You will find in the FAITH section of the site the sermon I preached at the Yilki Uniting Church last Sunday, September 8th. It is based on the incident in Mark's Gospel of the meeting of Jesus with the Syrophoenician woman and her sick daughter. I hope you find it worthwhile reading. It will come u...

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In recent months there has been some discussion and visual material on television concerning Vesuvius and Pompei, both on the Bay of Naples (Golfo di Napoli). The volcano and the ruined city are both strongly in the spirit of the bay in the minds of the people of Naples and the other settlemnts aro...

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There is much that fascinates me about the gold rush era. My major interests lie in the gold discoveries in the area around Ballarat, Castlemaine and Kynetone in Victoria and in discoveries at Kiandra in New South Wales. I go to Kiandra whenever I can (I don't live in either New South Wales or Vict...

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  The WRITING section of the site has a piece under the title, IN THE BEGINNING. I don't claim it is a great piece of writing, but i do suggest that it asks intesting quesions. In the beginning (that is, the ultimate beginning, the beginning of that which became all things), there was what?&nb...

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The grace of God is one of the most encouraging and enabling themes of the New Testament. Last Sunday, July 7th, it was my privilege to preach again at the Delamere Uniting Church, a small congregation of warm, welcoming Christian people who worship in a lovely church building in a beautiful valley ...

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Well, what a fortnight it has been with Giro d'Italia gluing us to the television screen for highlights of the race each day. The highlights only last for an hour and the commentators leave much to be desired, but the race itself is compelling watching. Both Ruth and I look with awe at the str...

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One of Ruth's and my favourite places is Kangaroo Island. More specifically, we have a particular love for American river, a place of tranquillity. We visit the island whenever we can (and whenever we can spare the money!). We choose to stary in the Mercure KI Lodge. We have a paricular room we sele...

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I received an email from a good friend who is currently in Italy. She told me that she is having a really wonderful time. That isn't surprising for one who likes to learn. She had read my book, "Unpacking Italy: Passions of a Traveller", before leaving for her visit to that fascinating land.  ...

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Advent is one of the important seasons of the Christian We have four Sundays of preparation, leading into Christmas Day. Is there spiritujal preparation we can do? Certainly prayer, contemplation and careful attention to the readings set out for the season in the Revised Common Lectionary are very h...

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Remembrance Day, in my younger times in England, was a major annual event. It focused on a minute's (or was it two?) silence at 11am, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The silence was maintained to remember, respect and honour those service men and women who gave their liv...

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I am currenly reading Donna Leon's The Waters of Eternal Youth, one of her series of novels featuring Commario Guido Brunetti and the police of Venice.  Written in 2016, it is not a recent novel I find myself very easily in Venice as I read because Leon, who lived in the city for a number of y...

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I have a speaking engagement in the first week of July. Apart from the fact that I love speaking to audiences, I have the added benefit that, because we live in a rather special area, wherever I go to speak, I drive through beautiful countryside. Last month, for example, I had a speaking engagement ...

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  it is always good to receive positive feedback. I had a 'Meet the Author' event last month in our local library, during which I spoke about my fascination with Italy and promoted my book, Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller. I enjoyed the speaking opportunity to a packed room ...

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I have the good fortune to see the dawn daily. I rise early from bed and am sitting in an extender chair, cup of tea at my side, pen in hand, before the first glimmer of light appears in my pre-dawn world. The view from my chair, through a large lounge window, is of the ocean in the far distance, g...

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It has been satisfying to have my latest book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller", written, published, and in the marketplace. It was a labour of love, though demanding in the extent of research undertaken and the editing and polishing. The writing itself was a pleasing tour through some of...

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COVID has interrupted many travel plans. Its huge spread in Australia and other parts of the world has made gathering in large groups less attractive than once it was. Some, however, are still venturing out in their own Marco Polo ways and drinking in the wonder of the world, exposure or no exposure...

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It has been good to hold in my hand my book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller". it somehow feels good to have it physically in existence, and a few days ago I had the pleasure of seeing it on the "New Titles" display in our local library. As the title indicates, I am anxious not to be know...

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  There are many people who visit Italy who don't ever see Termini, Rome'[s railway terminus. That is, I think, because most visitors to Italy arrive in Rome at the airport. I much prefer to arrive by train (I prefer to arrive anywhere by train). There is a romance to a railway station t...

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Interest in my book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller" is being shown and it's good to have people asking for information about how they can buy it. The easiest way is to use the link below: https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/unpacking-italy If you use the code AUTHOR1022 at the check...

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This is a particularly interesting time in the story of my new book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller". I was glad to be interviewed on our local radio station, 90.1FM, about the book. I shall be having a "Meet the Author" session at our local library in early March next year, at which I s...

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In two days from now, November 30th, my book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller", will be published. I'm excited about that because it allows my love of italy to be shared with others who choose to buy the book.  I have been in love with Italy for many decades and have enjoyed very man...

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I mentioned in the previous blog that my book, "Unpacking Italy:passions of a traveller" is due for publication on November 30th, just two weeks from now. Information from the publisher is that the book is available for pre-order online with 25% discount for the paperback edition. The paperback pri...

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I am excited that my new book, Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller, will be published on November 30th, just two weeks from now. The chapters take you on a journey through what I like to term, My Italy, from north to South, a Journey on which I share with you why I find Italy one of the mo...

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I have added the sermon preached last Sunday at the Yilki church to the site. The title is "Our Healing God" and is based on a healing in a synagogue in Luke 13:10 -17. I hope you find it helpful. I have worked on the text to convert it as much as possible from a hearing experience to a reading expe...

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What is it that we set out hearts on in life? That really is a big question. Someone has recently won $1.3 billion. That might not in itself be disastrous for any of us were we to win it, but it could be if coveting money were our 'heart's desire'. It's always worth some inward searching, asking ou...

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Karen Armstrong, in her book, The Case For God, states, "Religion is a practical discipline that teaches us to discover new capabilities of mind and heart." I like the emphasis on "practical" allied with discovery of new capabilities. I am persuaded that this is one of the most interesting and...

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Yesterday, I preached at the Aldinga Uniting Church, a very pleasant building and a warmly welcoming congregation. The subject was "Wholeness in Christian Discipleship" and was based on the saying from Jesus, "No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God". The ...

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Adelaide has one railway terminus, unless Keswick is taken to be one, though it is used for terminus purposes only when the Overland, the Indian Pacific, and the Ghan trains call there. Each train is a weekly visitor. London, by cantrast, is a multi-railway terminals city, as is Paris. London, howe...

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I don't know if the summer just completed was a particularly bad one for snake numbers. Given that it seemed to me to have been cooler on average than some other recent summers, perhaps snakes were less in number than usual. Not everyone is comfortable when there are venomous snakes around, and cer...

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I think there is little doubt that the values we take into our lives are overwhelmingly the influences that determine both the courses our lives follow and the satisfaction life gives us.  At base, perhaps it reduces to a rather simple matter. Do we live for ourselves only or for the blessing ...

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The Quakers have recognised the importance of silence. To spend an hour of silence in a Friends' Meeting House is to spend an hour listening. To listen is more difficult than to talk. Often our talking is to promote our own ideas and convictions. To listen is to concentrate upon ideas, thoughts, ob...

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The gospel show differing accounts of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist at the Jordan. That isn't surprising, given the that each gospel writer had his own purpose, his own elements of the Jesus story to bring to light. Hence, there are differences in wording, differences of view, differences...

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To meet a good man is always a privilege, and one's own life is immeasurably enriched. It has been one of the great blessings of my life to meet a number of good men and to have benefited from my meeting with them. I think of a preacher in a small chapel in Wales; I think of a man who befriended me ...

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The privileged years of life can be the days of retirement. I recognise, of course, that the good fortune of an adequate level of health is necessary for my statement to have value, but given robust or near-robust health, the senior years are the precious ones. Some might want to add a further provi...

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Great buildings attract attention just because they are very large, sometimes have commanding positions and often are architectural gems. St Pancras station in London is a case in point. Stand on the southern side of Euston Road and look across at the station and you could be forgiven for believing...

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Perugia does not usually appear on the routes of tours of Italy. This is fortunate for people such as I who love that city, because when I visit it Perugia is not over-run with people and I can enjoy it so much more. It is a loss, though, for travellers who love history, culture and architecture, be...

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When Jesus said that if anyone would save his life he would lose it, he was taking his listeners straight into the matter of values. The matter of values with him was always a division between the material and the spiritual, that is, between and perishable and the imperishable. That might be rephras...

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The late Paul Tillich, philosopher, theologian, scriptural interpreter and preacher, wrote of God as 'The Ground of Our Being,' John A. T. Robinson, late bishop of Woolwich, popularised the concept in his book, 'Honest to God,' in which he also looked at some of the views of the German theologi...

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Ruth and I have become possessors of a brand new, neat looking , manually operated shredder. It has slots for shredding paper, credit cards and CDs. We have not used it yet; we received it yesterday. Personal items such as medical records, very old receipts and so on can be shredded. Now we need ...

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W.F.Howard (page 54, 'Christianity According to St John') notes that the fourth verse of John's Gospel provides the text for the first 'letter.'  '...in him was life and the life was the light of men' is certainly the subject matter of the rather convoluted first paragraph of 1 John. Those wh...

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A couple of days ago, Ruth and I received the good news that the operator of the Overland train that runs between Adelaide and Melbourne had issued us with a voucher enabling us to use the fare we have paid for a return journey to transfer to the same journey some time in the future. We w...

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On May 1st, while in the high country of Victoria, I wrote the following in the early hours of the morning: 'Today we see autumn leaves upon the ground. Yesterday, we saw a radiant, dramatic display of leaves on the deciduous trees near Bright. The leaves are reminders of this very special season a...

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Some years ago, Ruth and I served for a couple of weeks as volunteer wardens at Talbot House in Poperinge, the rest, recreation and spiritual centre for troops on breaks from the trenches of the Ypres Salient during the First World War.  Late one afternoon I made the lengthy walk in search of ...

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Richard Rohr, in his stimulating book, The Universl Christ, p.112, writes, '...great love and great suffering (both healing and woundedness) are the universal, always available paths of transformation, because they are the only things strong enough to take away the ego's protections and preten...

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Two essentials of our western democracies tradition are in dire trouble. Each is moving toward the verge of extinction. Each is in need of rescue before it is too late. One is the presumption of innocence in our legal arrangements. The other is free speech in the life of the nation. The former is...

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Noticing a book on Rome lying on a glass table in our lounge this morning, I began to think about that extraordinary city. I realised that my last visit was a very long time ago, probably around 2007. True, I had stopped over for overnight sleeps a couple of times since, but I had only travelled fro...

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It's nice to have friends in our home, but recently we had a very unwelcome visitor. A brown snake made itself at home in our laundry. Ruth saw it first and called me. Within a few minutes I saw it twice, once slithering under the washing machine and once beginning to come out but changing its mind...

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To say that Johannine Christianity is the most developed in the New Testament is to say that which is likely to be obvious to readers of the Gospel which appears under the name of John and the three letters of John.  The Gospel and the letters taken together enable us to build a picture of the...

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Faith won't keep you safe from COVID-19. The virus is a problem to health that we are all susceptible to, and we rely, quite properly, on our medical advisers to tell us how to take the best possible precautions. How important that is in South Australia today in the light of the stringent lock...

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I recently re-read Henri Nouwen's 'The Wounded Healer. It is an interesting and powerful flowing together of leadership and healing. Henri Nouwen has, I suspect, been both in his personal relationships. Every page of the book presents a strong impression that he is a natural leader and a devoted he...

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Does this time of the year bring your thoughts to the garden, either because you know there are jobs to do or you simply take pleasure in things growing? If so, you might enjoy the short article on our garden in the 'Writing' section of this site. Just clisk on 'Writing.' I hope you enjoy the brief ...

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Yesterday, while sitting in my recliner chair during my 'get well' time after hospitalisation, and lookingout from the bay window at our front garden, I noticed two birds I had not seen before flitting among the roses. They are not rare; in fact, my reading informs me they are quite widespread on th...

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On Thursday last week, Ruth and I spent half an hour in the Newland church building. The organ was playing. We sat and listened. We prayed. We contemplated. It was a special time and we were glad the opportunity was made available. That God is met in undisturbed contemplation and prayer is to me be...

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'Be still, and know that I am God,' is a gem of advice for any age. It can be more relevant today than ever. This is the age of noise and mental battering. Unless we make time for insulation from the hammering of our minds there can be no being still. Television, Facebook, Twitter, cellphones and ...

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My wife Ruth and I have begun watching on VHS video, "Goodbye Mr. Chips." It's the fictional story of a special, good man, a teacher. He has a beautiful humility and a deep love for his school. He values the opportunity of influencing for good the lives of the boys he teaches. Mr. Chipping receives...

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Have you wondered about how deadly nightshade and a railway are connected? Of course you haven't. Yet there is one part of the world where they are. If you are curious enough to want to find out, go to the Writing section of the website and you will find an article under the heading, "The Vale of De...

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      I am reminded every day of how good it is to live where we do. There is so much of the wonder of God around us.       The kangaroos in the field on the opposite side of the road from our house are endless fascination for me. It is a rare day t...

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In yesterday's blog I mentioned the incident in which Turner received a comment from a woman on the clouds in one of his paintings. Let me refresh your memory. A woman, looking at the painting, said to him, "I don't see clouds and water like that." Turner replied, "Don't you wish you could, Madam?" ...

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Albert Einstein once wrote,             "Whoever is devoid of the capacity to wonder, whoever remains unmoved,  whoever cannot contemplate or know the deep shudder of the soul in enchantment, might just as well be dead for he has already c...

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Some members of congregations will have ben watching 'virtual' Christian services Sunday morning and missed the ABC's "Songs of Praise." The purpose of this blog is to urge you to make up for the missing of the programme. I believe it is available on  Iview. Ruth and I did see it and are comp...

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This is the year's most special day. It is a day when Life is celebrated more joyously than at any other time. Why? If the Bible accounts of the resurrection are read simply as indications of something that happened a couple of thousands of years ago in a country in the Middle East, then it becomes...

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ה' The symbol you see above is the Hebrew word for Life                                         ...

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If we want to be totally prosaic about it, we can say that Easter follows the first full moon after the equinox. But that doesn't really tell us very much about it. In fact it says nothing really useful about it. A more useful thought is that the Jewish pesach (Passover) and Easter are linked. That...

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Michael Mayne, in his 1995 book, "This Sunrise of Wonder: Letters for the Journey," wrote, 'Ours is a world that is unimaginably more than the ordered mass of atoms and molecules obeying the rules of their separate fields. For it is a world in which matter is capable of being the bearer of spirit -...

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The most recent communication from the Primo Levi Centre, includes the following, in the context of the coronavirus: "While some of us can stay home, others are out providing "essential" services at the risk of their lives...today they are shielding others from possible death...There are times, per...

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Good news is especially good in difficult times. In the Leprosy Mission's magazine, "Action," there is a good news story coming from Nepal. It concerns a young woman called Parbati. Parbati has been cured of leprosy, but has been significantly disabled by its effects. She has lost the front of bot...

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We all have to make adjustments and live with restrictions for the forseeable future. However, there are positives. God as Spirit, God as Light and God as Love are realities that are part of our lives always, whether we are aware of them or not. ON THE FAITH SECTION OF THE WEBSITE I HAVE JUST POSTE...

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I'm looking at perfection in the form of a rose. It is in a vase on my desk as I sit here this morning, keyboard at my fingertips. Some would marvel at the complexity of the computer. Why not? It represents a great advance in technology. However, it cannot come near my rose, put on the desk for me ...

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From a second hand book, fell two railway train tickets. I hadn't expected to find anything more than the book when I bought it. I dare say the author would not have expected me to find in his book somethng more fascinating than his words in. But I did! The tickets had printed on them,   ...

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I wear around my neck a cross, but it is not the usual form of a cross. It looks as much like an anchor as a cross. It is a "Camargue" cross; I bought it in the French town of Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer at the south western point of the great wetlands that lie between the two arms of the River Rh...

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A few weeks ago, while clearing some things out, I came across my old army sailing pennant. It's small because of its purpose and contains crossed swords on a red background. It is used at the top of the mast of a yacht or a sailing dinghy to show what is known in sailing circles as "the apparent ...

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One of my interests is painting. I try to make a passable watercolour or two.       This morning I was browsing through a book on watercolour and read these apparently not especially important words, except to an artist:         ...

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      In these days of social restrictions, closed borders and health concerns, we are hoping for better times. In fact, for many, hope will be the most positive part of living today. Thoughts of, "When this is all over", "The churches will be open again", "Weddings with the guests we...

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      I find the reality of God as that reality is expressed in John's Gospel, and the First Letter of John, immensely helpful at any time. It sems to me that it is especially helpful at this time.       John's Gospel and the First Letter of John sp...

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We have not encountered anything like COVID-19 before. There is therefore no direct experience of it to guide us through these days. No previous outbreaks have left us with information to help plan the virus' defeat. It is no respecter of persons. National leaders as well as thousands of unknowns ha...

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The current state of freedoms or lack of them in Australia seems to me to be truly alarming. Most alarming of all is that in modern Australia, truth of the unacceptable kind cannot be spoken without negative consequences ensuing. Barry Spoor, the literary editor of Quadrant, wrote in the November 2...

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Yesterday, Ruth brought in from the garden a bucket full of magnificent peaches. We have a wonderful crop of stone fruits this summer from our three net-covered apricot, peach and nectarine trees. We have never had so fine a crop. Perhaps the recent very high temperatures have been beneficial. I am ...

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Ruth and I have spent a good many pleasurable days in southern Victoria in recent years. The Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island have attracted us, partly because I lived in Mornington for a couple of years and learned to love the peninsula. It is truly one of Victoria's most pleasant place...

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I have just put an article on the Tumut area on the TRAVEL section of the site. It's an area I know very well, having fly-fished the rivers for a number of years. It's always a joy to return to Tumut. This time it was during the autumn when the town's great number of deciduous trees transform the st...

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 A few days ago I lay on a grassy bank of the Thredbo River absorbing the peace of the day. It was a beautiful experience in a place well off the beaten track. So many of the places of deep peace are where few people go. That isn't to say that we should be hermits, but I do say that time spent ...

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Yesterday I put a short contemplative article on the website in the FAITH section. It concerns the beautiful eucalypt forest around Jindabyne in the fly-fishing country I love. It is about the spiritual experience of places of nature. My experiences of deepest spiritual growth have usually been in p...

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It has been a real joy over the past few weeks to eat apricots, peaches and nectarines from our own trees. Somehow they are sweeter and more packed with juice than any fruit I can buy retail. They seem to declare how wonderful the world is, how fecund it is, how bursting with good things. Of course...

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Thomas Aquinas defined courage as the  strength of mind which conquers  all that gets in the way of attainment of the highest good. The highest good is likely to be a little different for each of us. For me it lies in the emphases of the great prophets and of Jesus of Nazareth. The prophet...

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Dickens had a wonderful ability to invent names which described his characters. Scrooge was one of them. His transformation from "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone,...squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner" into the generous wisher of a merry Christmas to everyo...

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Many descriptions are given for Christmas in the media and in advertising material, few if any having much to do with Christmas ("Christ-Mass). I read of the Festive Spirit, a term which is used without explaining what feast it is that attracts the adjective festive. It was in print recent...

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One of the considerable benefits of travelling is the opening of gates of learning. Ruth and I have just returned from a week in Phillip Island, as part of our most recent exploratory journeys into Victoria. A week was seriously insufficient. We had so fascinating a time there that another week or ...

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The newspapers are filled with headlines and news items that appear to have come from desires to produce the most depressing views of the world possible. Certainly terrible things are happening, but good things are occurring too. And there are good people as well as those less attractive ones the pa...

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Today, the 1st of November, and tomorrow, the 2nd, are dates of celebration of All Saints and All Souls in the Christian calendar. Some churches, including our own at Newland, Victor Harbour, will be having this evening a service where there is opportunity to remember those people important to us w...

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It was a pleasure today to lead the service at the Yilki Uniting Church, a congregation of very warm, welcoming people. The sermon was to do with blind Bartimaeus who calloed out for healing on the Jericho road. As with all stories of healing in the New Testament Gospels their major point is an over...

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Most of us can remember special people who have affected our lives very positively. Iris was one of the kindest persons I have met. I can't supply her surname because not sure that it's right to identify her. It's sufficient, perhaps, to say that I met her many decades ago when my wife and I and ou...

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What makes for contentment? James Thomson, 1700-1748, once wrote, 'An elegant sufficiency, content,   Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books.' * It is my joy to have all of those, and contentment therein there certainly is. I choose to think of contentment rather than happiness bec...

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Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor who died in 2016, wrote a piece in a symposium, The Future of Prophetic Christianity (Orbis, 1993), under the title, Lot's Wife. His article included the following: 'Only if we remember the other can our own identity remain redeemable. It is through the o...

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Way back in the 1960s my late wife Ann and I called at Overland Corner while staying at Barmera. We enjoyed it, but thought no more about it for some time. In those early 1960s I was a young sergeant in the British Army, posted to Australia. In 1964 I was posted back to the UK and my wife and young...

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The theology study group which meets fortnightly at our home has just commenced studying the Sermon on the Mount, found in chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew's Gospel. After some good introductory discussion at the first session on the subject, it was decided to look at the Beatitudes. commencing at our ne...

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The theology group that meets at our home approximately fortnightly has made the decision to study the Sermon on the Mount. It appears in Chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew's Gospel. As most people know, the Sermon on the Mount is a collection of the teachings of Jesus rich in material about the deepest an...

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What is it like to live for a few days in a village which consists of about a dozen or so houses, a pub, a church and a small primary school? I found out on a recent visit with my wife Ruth to the delightful Cotswold village of Great Tew.                 ...

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I have above my desk a small Camargue Cross. It measures about 6 inches by 4 inches, is black and made of metal. What is a Camargue Cross? It is the cross that characterises and belongs to the Camargue wetlands area of southern France, the territory of the grand and petit Rhone rivers which form th...

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It was my great joy to attend a little while ago, with Ruth, the Quaker Meeting House in the village of Come To Good in Cornwall. It is one of the oldest Quaker meeting houses in England. I had wanted to visit it for some time since including it in my Kindle novel, "Cornish Pastiche. A Murder Myster...

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  I was thinking this evening of an incident involving a train Ruth and I were travelling  in toward the end of last year. In December we were passengers on The Overland to Melbourne. Close to Cressy the train was bowling along at a very good speed. We felt two jerks to the moti...

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It's said that a writer writes because he is impelled to do so; he or she is not at ease when not writing. I'm sure that claim is correct, at least to some degree. I set my alarm for 4.45am each day simply to be sure that I can have a little over three hours to write before breakfast when I know tha...

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At a theological group meeting today I remarked that the world is changing at a more rapid rate than ever before, and that presents challenges to all voluntary organisations, a challenge to present their case in the context of change, rather than trying catch up with the new world. Change is certai...

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As last night I watched on television what is happening to innocent people in Syria I found myself thinking of the words of Tacitus (c56 - c.117AD: "They make a wilderness and call it peace." Who does not long to see peace in Syria. Our hearts are pained by the sight of young children suffering the...

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William Temple (1881-1944), once said, "It is a mistake to suppose that God is only, or even chiefly, concerned with religion." To some that will be a jarring comment, yet it raises questions for faith and for living.  The first is Temple's taking-for-granted existence of Divinity. For some t...

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It has been a joy for the past few days to be a facilitator at an Initiatives of Change "Life Matters" workship at Armagh, the house in Toorak which is the headquarters of Initiatives of Change in this part of the world. It has been inspirational. The workshop was for young people under t...

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The property known as Armagh, at 226 Kooyong Road, Toorak in Victoria, is a special place. It is the headquarters of a deeply spiritual yet clearly practical movement called Initiatives of Change. Its spirituality is based upon the Inner Voice we can all listen for. As I thought about it today I wa...

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As I write this blog, a Premier League match is being played between Arsenal and Chelsea, a London 'derby' that has been pulsating thus far. The second half has just started after a 0-0 first. Oddly, much as I love football, the match has taken my mind to cricket. Why? Because both games have suffe...

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It's hard to imagine a more depressing statement about life than the assertion, 'Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.' It is found, of all places, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, a book which I am very fond of, but I don't identify with this remar...

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A couple of days ago I read an advertisement on the back cover page of the October 2017 edition of Writers' Forum magazine. It concerned writing courses, so inevitably I read it. The courses advertised are held in North Wales at a large country house called Ty Newydd, a property which sta...

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We seem to me to be living in a time when, in Australia, we have to be protected from silence. Silence is treated as though it were a dangerous enemy. In restaurants, music is more often than not played in the background. Those who decide to pipe it for the customers seem unaware that one person's ...

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Yesterday's blog described an incident on our journey to Melbourne on the Overland a week ago, an incident which sadly cost a woman her life. Most train journeys are without incident, as our return journey on the Overland was on Tuesday this week. Being a train lover I would not...

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Last Friday (3rd November), Ruth and I travelled to Melbourne on the Overland. Ruth, being the reasonable and understanding woman that she is, agreed to travel on the Overland rather than fly because she is very well aware of my love for trains.  The journey should have tak...

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Yesterday, October 21st, we held our Open Day at the campsite in Victor Harbor to provide information about Toc H, about the campsite and about tasks which require the time and effor of volunteers. We were lower in visitor numbers than we had hoped, but our pleasure in recruiting new volunteers out...

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The next point of the Toc H Compass I have to comment on has the title, TO LOVE WIDELY. Love is a word which is understood in many different ways. In Toc H our understanding of love is the sense in which the Church understands it and the New Testament teaches it, and it's summarised by a Greek word...

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The next point of the Toc H Compass I want to comment on is that which has to do with service. We call it in Toc H, To Build Bravely. I think of that as building service opportunities, which in themselves build bridges, which can also lead to peacemaking. To build bravely is a powerfu...

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As some of the readers of these blogs know, my murder novel, CORNISH PASTICHE, A Murder Mystery has been available via Smashwords outlets and Kindle as an ebook for a few months.  I can't help writing, so I am currently in the process of writing not a novel, but a book on Italy. This is inevit...

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I've visited Talbot House in Poperinge, Belgian West Flanders, five times in all. Each time I have found myself in direct contact with the spirit of Toc H. On the first occasion, I arrived at Poperinge railway station from Ypres (It appears on the map today as Ieper, its Flemish name) wit...

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The Toc H Compass is our guide for service within the movement and we hope in all our living. It is throughly Christian way of being and living. In this blog I'm commenting on one of the four points of that Compass - To Think Fairly. To think fairly is to consider all points of view. We are not com...

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Building character is one of life's hardest tasks. It is, of course, a lifelong one. We can be grateful for the people who have been examples to us. They have often been our inspiration. I am certainly grateful for those who have been examples to me. In the Travel section of this site there is an a...

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Yesterday it was my privilege to be able to speak about Toc H (=T. H. = Talbot House) at the Yilki Uniting Church. It's always a joy to me to able to share Toc H values and the Toc H story with people. Toc H's Christian orientation ensures that it remains a service movement, seeking to provide serv...

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On saturday, October 21st, Toc H in Victor Harbor invites visitors, volunteers and potential volunteers to an Open Day / Volunteers Day at the Victor Harbor Toc H Campsite. If you want to discover how fine a facility the campsite is, want to walk a little of a unique piece of scrubland and learn th...

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Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching at the Yilki Uniting Church at Encounter Bay. The congregation is formed by a very warm, welcoming group of people. As is my custom, I used and preached from the lectionary readings set for the given Sunday. In this case the two principal readings were the...

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It was my privilege and pleasure to be invited to speak about Toc H, a Christian service movement, at the Tyndale Christian School, Strathalbyn, yesterday morning. My speaking appointment was during the 9am Assembly for senior students. I very quickly discovered that the Tyndale School is a very sp...

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Faith is either for everyday and for every circumstance or it is not for serious consideration at all. When it is understood to be a way of life it becomes revolutionary. One of the best-known sentences in the New Testament is found in the letter to the Hebrews, one of the two major documents left...

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The spring equinox is only three weeks ahead and before long our fruit trees will be covered in blossom. The later winter / early spring is a beautiful time to experience. The magpies have been busy at their nests. The pair which uses the nest in the tall eucalypts opposite our home on the other si...

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It was my privilege to preach at the Newland Uniting Church in Victor Harbour yesterday. The set Lectionary reading was the chapter in Matthew's Gospel which tells of Peter's declaration that Jesus was the Messiah, and the response that the Church would be built upon the rock of his faith. Faith is...

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In the August edition of Writing Magazine (a UK writing journal) there is a short article featuring my writing Cornish Pastiche, my murder mystery novel available as an Ebook for US$3.99 via Kindle and Smashwords outlets. I enjoyed writing the article in which I set out why I chose to...

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Toc H is a movement which excites me when I think of its founding, its many decades of service and its current opportunities. I value my involvement in the Victor Harbor branch in South Australia, a branch that will be 82 years old later this year. Toc H had its genesis in the terrible days of tren...

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Almost three weeks ago,a dream from my schooldays was realised.  As early as I can remember, the most exciting location in the place where I was brought up was for me the railway station. When I first discovered that magical place (as a very small boy) I knew there was nowhere to match its exc...

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The current edition of Writing Magazine (August 2017) has a half-page column on my detective novel, Cornish Pastiche, under the heading, 'Corpses in Cornwall', a rather clever title supplied by the editor. The column has a photograph of me and a photograph of the ebook cover.  I am p...

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 There are no forms of transport that can possibly rival the train for me. I know that to leave Australia I have to use an aeroplane or a ship, but wherever possible I take the train. It has ben my good fortune to travel by train in many parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand. Can...

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From Alfriston, leaving beautiful Sussex, a county deeply etched into my experience from the age of 20 when I spent my first week there among the South downs, we proceeded by train to London where, at Victoria Station we had merely to leave the train and check into our hotel whose entry was from the...

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Following our brief time in London we took the train from Victoria to Eastbourne where we took a taxi to the lovely village of Alfriston. It is one of the delights of rural England. We spent our first night there at the lovely Dean's Place Hotel and on the following morning (Sunday) walked across t...

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My new novel, Cornish Pastiche: a Murder Mystery, became available on Smashwords distribution retailers and on Kindle this week. Smashwords retailers include Apple Products, Barnes and Noble, etc. The action of the novel takes place in Cornwall and centres on Detective Chief Inspector Jim Hatchard,...

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Arrival at Victoria station, not far from Buckingham Palace, and disembarkation from the Orient Express, was sad in one way. We were of course sorry to leave the VSOE, but we had England, or our chosen part of it, to enjoy.. Our hotel for two nights was on Euston Road, a taxi ride from Victoria.. O...

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Sundays are important for Ruth and me. They give us a focused opportunity for contemplating realities beyond the material or, to put it another way, the deeply satisfying exercise of sitting aside from the consuming society. Instead, Sunday provides us with the invitation to give attention to nurtur...

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Yesterday my new novel, 'Cornish Pastiche: a Murder Mystery', was uploaded to Smashwords. It is available now from the Smashwords store, and should within a few days be available from Apple ibooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Scribd and Gardners. Next week I intend upl...

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Pens don't appeal to everyone. Some would probably say, if I spoke to them of my love for pens, 'What's wrong with a word processor?' Of course, there's nothing wrong with a word processor if all you want to do is put words into print. Others might say, 'What's wrong with an SMS? I'd have to say, 'T...

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Santa Lucia station in Venice is always an exciting place. I feel a growing sense of excitement when I walk onto one of its platforms to board a train to travel to another part of Italy or another country of Europe. This time the journey was very special. Ruth and I were to board the Venice Simplon-...

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I am finding an early morning study of the Greek of Matthew's Gospel immensely satisfying. Over the past few years I have worked methodically through the Greek of John's Gospel, of Paul's letter to the Romans, and through the Gospels of Mark and Luke. This current study of Matthew is therefore the l...

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On leaving Carcassonne we made a number of connections in order to reach Venice prior to boarding the Orient Express for London. First, we made a relatively short journey from Carcassonne to Marseilles by train. It meant that we could have a leisurely breakfast at Hotel de la Cite before taking a t...

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From Narbonne we made the short train journey to Carcassonne, one of the most stunning places in all of the south of France. We had visited Carcassonne some years ago, staying the in Hotel Cite located on the site of the old Bishop's Palace next to the cathedral. We fell in love with Carcassonne on ...

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We left Paris for the south of France with the sense of pleasant anticipation I always feel when I know I am headed for Gare de Lyon and a journey on a TGV (Train Grande Vitesse - very fast train). This time we were headed for Narbonne over a route with which I was familiar. I was very familiar wit...

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Paris, the place I always feel my pulse rate increasing! We arrived at Charles de Gaulle from Dubai and took the easy way into the city - by fixed-price (50 euros) taxi to our hotel, the Panache just off the Grand Boulevards. The Panache has recently changed its name from the Madrid Opera. We have...

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Ruth and I have recently returned from a very special time away. Our purpose was to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary by selecting the best experiences we knew. In future blogs I'll talk about those. It's sufficient here to say that our time in Europe was wonderful, the best time we have had o...

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A few days ago I finished reading Donna Leon's novel, Falling In Love. It is of course one of her series of novels featuring Commisario Guido Brunetti, his Ispetore (inspector) Vianello, the brilliant secretary at the Questura (police station) Signorina Elletra and Brunetti's wife Paola an...

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Les grands diseurs ne sont pas les grands faiseurs, runs the French proverb, and it can be argued that it is generally the case that the great talkers are not the great doers. There have been eloquent men who have achieved much - Winston Churchill comes easily to mind, and a careful considerat...

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The newspapers and the television newsreels are showing pictures of the smoke and flames of The Jungle, the migrant camp at Calais being closed and dismantled by the French Government. In England, the media is largely describing the people in the camp as migrants. There is a good deal of sense...

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I was talking with some locals many years ago in a pub not far from Stratford. You might not expect locals in a pub to be Shakespeare students. These locals, though, were passionate. "Shakespeare wrote them all," one of the drinkers said to me, speaking of the whole corpus of his work, "They had not...

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Ruth has just had a birthday. I know there are some people who would say, "So what? Birthdays are just days like any other days." In one sense, that is true. A birthday is simply a date on a calendar. You go to work as normal. You read the morning paper as normal. You eat your three meals in t...

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I do not know how many times I have visited France. The first visit was many years ago, or perhaps I should say very many years ago. I love returning to that land for many reaons, not the least of which is the wonderful courtesy of the French. In the days that I was lecturing on France to adults, i...

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"I cannot for the life of me," wrote Seneca, "see that quiet is as necessary to a person who has shut himself away to do some studying as is usually thought to be." Given that he was living above a public bathhouse at the time, it seems he could claim some authority for his view. There is, I am sur...

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If I say that for me Paul Tillich is the most important theologian to work during my lifetime, and I do, it is because he brings his methodical German mind to the task and combines theology and philosophy. He was already known to students of theology when, many years ago, John Robinson, bishop of W...

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It was my good fortune to live twice in Wales, once in the south, once in the north. During that time I came to love the principality very deeply, both for its extraordinary beauty and for the character of its people. I have so many fond memories of that lovely country. They include sailing on Bala ...

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The results of the British referendum on to remain or to leave the European Union have just been declared. The outcome is a Brexit victory. The United Kingdom will leave. I recognise that 48.2% of the voting British population have a view on the issue which is different from mine. However, as an En...

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Ruth and I were in Peterborough in South Australia's mid-north recently. We journeyed up on the rather dilapidated Indian Pacific train. We used it because I am a train-lover and would use just about any train in order just to be onboard and enjoy the sensation of steel wheels on steel rails and the...

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Sand Writers, a writing group based in Goolwa, South Australia, recently published its 5th volume of Speak Out, a collection of writings largely by its members. The very high quality content includes short stories, poetry, commentary, reviews, profiles and short articles. Many subjects are cove...

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I'm in the final stages (I hope!) of editing a novel that deals with murder and detective work. I've learnt something important from the process. It's hard work! That needs just a little clarification. The writing is not hard work. That's fun and quite exhilarating as the story moves on towards its...

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I don't pretend that others see the looming election as I do. I am not excited.  I am not excited because I don't hear any political party talking about moral leadership, political philosophy, justice, equity, compassion, mercy or in fact anything that makes for a better society. A great deal ...

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Lylle Schaller, in his 1972 book, The Change Agent. The Strategy of Innovative Leadership, wrote, 'Every organisation, but especially non-profit organisations which do not have easy-to-read evaluations of fulfillment of purpose, tend to move survival and institutional maintenance to the to...

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I have been thinking quite a lot about Agrigento recently. I don't really know why, except that at some time in the future - not the immediate future - I intend to return there, this time to paint in the valle dei templi, the valley of temples (though it's not a valley at all, but a ridge). I first...

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I first went to Bruges many years ago. As a young man I was on a cycling holiday in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was my good fortune to find myself in the town during Mardi Gras, so though I have no record of the dates, it was obviously spring, the last day before the 40 days of Lent. It was a t...

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Ruth and I have just enjoyed a few days at Lakes Entrance. We had not visited the area before and were astonished at the extent of the waterways. I think we shall both remember with pleasure the view down upon the lakes before making the descent into the town as we arrived from Bairnsdale.  W...

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Summer is the time of shortening days and that suits me very well. I start my with a fountain pen in my hand. I begin writing at 5 am and write until 8.15. My first place of writing is a familiar chair in the house. I have a hot mug of tea by my side, made with loose-leaf tea in a teapot. What do ...

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The current edition of New Scientist indicates that etching approximately 13,800 years old has been discovered on a slab of rock about 50 kilometres west of Barcelona. The etching might be of a group of huts, but the important thing to me is that it is, it seems, the oldest example of Mank...

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To walk in London is to know the old town in a way that is not possible when driving or using the tube or the buses. You absorb it slowly, and therefore in greater detail. It is much the same with other cities. You know Florence, or Rome or Paris or anywhere else best by walking its streets. When I...

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When the multiple-location attacks occurred so recently in Paris, following so closeluy upon the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the words Nous sommes Paris came automatically into my mind. That is how I felt. We all, or at least a great number of us, wanted to declare our one...

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In his 1904 book, "The Holy Roman Empire", James Bryce described the Holy Roman Empire as "the wonderful offspring of a body of beliefs and traditions which have almost wholly passed away from the world." It is not my purpose in this blog to agree or disagree with Bryce concerning the claim th...

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It seems to me that a key to living well and finding depth in being is to retain the sense of wonder of the world. I am one of those fortunate people who is happy to set the alarm early and rise well before dawn. I write a page on almost any subject fromabout five o'clock. It takes me about half an...

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I have visited Cornwall a nuber of times and loved it more on each occasion. The fact that my wife Ruth is of Cornish descent has increased my interest, but I would have found it fascinating anyway. Perhaps, though I would not have been back as often, had Ruth not been of Cornish blood. I certainly...

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Remembrance Day has just passed. We have remembered with gratitude the service and sacrifice of those who gave their lives for their countries including, of course, for Australia. We owe them more than we could possibly repay. The First World War saw the creation of a very important Every Man's Clu...

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Robert Frost wrote, in 1914, "The best way out is always through." The wisdom of that  can hardly be challenged. We all find ourselves from time to time in circumstances which we wish we could escape. The time would come when many Americans would wish they were somewhere other than in theatres ...

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Recently I saw the film, 'The Last Cab to Darwin'. Anyone who has seen it will find it hard to forget Rex, the Broken Hill cab driver. There were some fine acting performances, but perhaps the real star of the film was the multi-redded outback which provides the setting for the film. I am a regular...

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      Every day is a marriage day, of course, for those enjoying a happy marriage relationship. But you can do things to celebrate marriage. One way of celebrating it is described in my article, Marriage Day, published in the Special 100 issue of The People's Friend, publish...

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I was watching an episode of The Antiques Roadshow not so long ago and enjoying an expert's assessment of a fine teapot which had been brought to him. It was a fine teapot, one I would love to own (as an owner of many teapots). During the discussion with the owner he said that the teapot w...

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Henri Nouwen wrote in "The Wounded Healer" in 1972, "...no one can help anyone without becoming involved, without entering with his whole person into the painful situation, without taking the risk of becoming hurt, wounded or even destroyed in the process. The beginning and the end of all Christian ...

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I wrote some months ago about my Ferrari fountain pen. It's a very special one because I bought it as a result of visiting the Ferrari museum at Marinello last year. It's red, as might be expected of a Ferrari product. The clip on the handle has the black Ferrari prancing horse on a yellow backgroun...

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Last week Ruth and I spent some time in Echuca on the Upper Murray. I recall well my first visit to that fascinating town. It was during the summer tourist season and the place was so packed with people that it was difficult to find a seat in a cafe for coffee, and there were queues for many things...

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A few mornings ago, at 7.15, before the sun  had shown its face, but a glow was present in the eastern sky, I saw two sparrows perched on the top of a large rose bush in our back garden. The bush was once which contains a bird feeder, but it was too early for birds to be breakfasting. The two,...

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There are more important things about Easter than simnel cake, but nevertheless I engaged in a long English Easter tradition by baking and decorating one a day or two ago, and today we cut it and ate the first slices. My wife Ruth, my son Richard and I went first to church. Easter is, in our f...

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Last week Ruth and I were in New Zealand. It was the first time I had been in that lovely country for many years. On that only other time I was a merchant seaman sailing out of London on a refrigerated cargo ship. We visited Invercargill, Port Chalmers, Duinedin, Lyttleton (Christchurch) and Welling...

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The Revised Common Lectionary used for preaching during the 2014-2015 Church year determines that Mark is the gospel for the year. One of the difficulties of readings during church services is that they are read as stand-alone passages, and of course they don't stand alone . They are all part of lo...

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"Will cricket survive?" wrote George Orwell in the days when it was still played. He was reviewing a book. "Cricket Country", by Edmond Blunden whom he describes in the reveiw as "a true cricketer." "The test of a true cricketer," Orwell wrote, 'is that he shall prefer village cricket to good crick...

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      We live in an  area where we see kangaroos almost daily. As I look from our kitchen or lounge window across the road to the field opposite I see, more often than not, kangaroos feeding and occasionally drinking. At times I have seen up to a dozen from one of those...

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      Three and a half centuries ago John Milton wrote,             'Peace hath her victories             no less renowned than war.' Do we admire men and women o...

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      I read this morning in a writers' magazine of a 5-day writers' retreat at Ty Newydd at LLanystumdwy in North Wales. My mind raced to the exhilerating beauy of the principality and my two periods of residence in Wales.       To spend a wee...

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      There has rightly been great horror expressed after the murders carried out at the offices of Paris' Charlie Hedbo journal.       There have been many other atrocities committed during our time, some with far greater loss of life. Yet none, pe...

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James Elroy Flecker is a (was a) poet who ought to be better known. I cannot help asking what he might have achieved had he not died at the ago of 30. On January 3rd, 1915, consumption ended his brief life at Davos. He is buried at Cheltenham in the west of England. I should like to see his grave an...

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      With Christmas now two-and-a-half weeks behind us we are probably getting used to the presents we received on Christmas morning. Some perhaps are "just what we wanted", others might be less appropriate. Some might even have been just what we needed.    ...

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Because I start work at five each morning, I am able to enjoy the wakings of the birds in the garden. We have a pair of blue wrens, the male looking magnificent, who have made our garden their major place of abode. To see them flitting among the shrubs and flower beds and occasionally across the pa...

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"Free", says the advertisement, thus grossly misusing the word.  All forms of advertising seem to misuse it. Radio, newspapers, dodgers, television, internet - all carry advertisements using the word "free". They also use the word "save". Both words are used in ways that are parodies that add u...

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