A couple of days ago, I listened to a podcast by John Anderson. He was a Deputy PM of Australia when Howard was the PM, and I have been a subscriber of his podcasts for a little while. The one heard two days ago was his chat with Julian Leeser, a Jewish MP that is intelligent, articulate, and comes across as a leader I can respect and admire.

That podcast was made available 1 day before the tragedy that unfolded at Bondi Beach on Sunday (14 Dec 2025). As I listened to it, I was reminded of Michael Gawenda’s book on being a Jew. That book was published on 3 October 2023 – 4 days before Hamas perpetuated its evil acts on 7 October 2023 at Gaza. As I read that book, I wondered why the world hated Jews. Why so called leaders – not just political leaders, but also institutional leaders like in universities and multinational corporations and think tanks and the likes – why do these so called elite groups hate the Jews.

The timing of the podcast and book were uncanny. I was fortunate to consume both soon after those tragic days in history.

Last night, as we were driving home from Kiddo’s, my watch pinged and I took a glance that said a major incident was developing at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Not long after we got home and settled down, we turned on the TV and soon, programs were interrupted to broadcast live reporting of what had transpired. Like many, we were shocked. I was speechless as I took in what the reporters were relaying. Sadness kicked in and I expected the worst, as footage of 2 gunmen firing from a pedestrian bridge beamed into our family room. I looked up Google map to check the bearing of where that bridge was at Campbell Parade at Bondi Beach, but couldn’t find it. Soon, it emerged that the perpetrators had targeted a Jewish Hanukkah event and had shot at children and families gathered near a pavilion for that event. I said to Tress this was an antisemitic attack.

Soon, that shock and sadness turned into anger. Anger that Australia had allowed antisemitism to simmer for over two years. Anger that crowds were allowed to march and chant antisemitic curses. When the Opera House march happened 2 days after the 7 October event at Gaza, I was distressed. Why has Australia responded this way, where victims of that event are now the subjects of a hate march? Why has sentiments in Australia been one where the victims are being blamed and became, the targets of hate? Why has the Government done nothing to shut down the ensuing protests that continue to victimise the victims of hate?

Later, that Government that failed to manage the hate supported the perpetrators of that hate. It supported recognition of that terrorist group as a legitimate organisation. I was mortified. The anger continued but it felt hopeless.

This morning, as news report that 16 had died at Bondi Beach and that tally could escalate, my distress and anger continue to simmer. I am angry at our own government. It has brought untold misery to many by an unjust and unnecessary act, driven largely by ideology. Ideology – the cancer of modern Australia (and much of western liberal democracy) – is the only reason I can think of to make sense of this mindless trajectory Australia is on.

I actually started wearing my current trainers in Dec last year, but only “logged” it on my Garmin tracking app about 2-3 weeks later. So, it has trekked more than the “1,814.4”km shown. Even then, one year feels a bit short for the shelf-life of a pair that cost me more than pocket change.

It was the same experience with my previous pair.

Do they make it so that they wear out quick, or has granddad status caused me to shuffle more/alter my gait so that they don’t last as long…

It is now a year since Tress and I moved up to the “boring” bush capital. This time last year, we were on the road, from Melbourne to Canberra. The little fella was seated on the back seat with Tress. I had flown in from Canberra earlier that morning for the drive.

Last night, when we were at Kiddo’s we took a walk around the block in her hood. Abby was on her toy tricycle, happily Flinstone-ing her way through the quiet road around a circuit while I carried her sister in my arms. Mic had Milo their dog, and Tress fussed about how fast Abby was going on that souped up little tricycle. Kiddo fussed about Tress fussing. I hummed a few tunes at the little wonder in my arms as she eyed her sister swanning on her unlicensed and unregistered speed machine, sans helmet or any other PPE. It was a warm late arvo and as the six of us strolled around, I took deep breaths of the cool summer’s air and felt contented gratitude.

We got home later that evening and I sat on couch to soak in Australia’s bewildering second Test victory over the Poms at the Gabba. Captain Steve Smith had dived low to take an unbelievable catch off Nesser to dismiss Jacks and break a promising partnership, and the keeper then took an equally impressive catch to dismiss Captain Stokes, the combustible ranga (sorry…) to set Australia up for a very satisfying romp home. Smith then hit a six (after dishing it out to poor Jeffrey Archer aka Jofra the rap artist wannabe) to pocket the winning runs and end a match in 3 days – one more than the last one – and leave the English with a mountain to climb in this Ashes series. This has been a romp of a start for the Aussies, proving all the naysayers wrong. The Aussies had looked poor on paper compared to the Poms but like Brian Clough famously said, these contests aren’t played out on paper.

The summer has well and truly started. I turned on our evaporative cooler earlier last week and it worked a treat. Here’s a toast to a lovely summer…

A year ago from today, I left my physical office to come and live here in the bush capital. It’s been a whole year I’ve worked 100% remote, seated every single workday at my desk in my home office (the back room), “meeting” for work via Teams or Google Meet or Zoom. It took a while but I am very slowly becoming accustomed to it.

Later this week and next week, my office in Melbourne will be having numerous Christmas/year-end functions and parties. I was asked if I wanted to go, but work related travels have never been my thing and flight costs are rather high now, so I declined. The waiting at lounges, transfers to and from airports – the interminable queues and waits always tire me out. In as much as I long to be with my work colleagues in person and see people generally, my aversion to those travel pains often wins. I remain contented, by weighted choice, to reminisce.

My reading this morning took me to a passage about Absalom’s battles with his father’s men. The fight included one in a forest, and a description of how that forest took more men than the sword, jumped out at me. I was reminded of that scene in The Lord of the Rings where Gimli’s face told of a fear that the Fangorn Forest forbode, when he and his friends realised Merry and Pippin sought refuge there.

Earlier, I read of Joshua’s inheritance city of Timnath Serah and the name Minas Tirith emerged like an image in a mirror… that capital city of Gondor that was the scene of epic battles in The Return of the King had a name that so stuck in my mind that reading the name of Joshua’s city immediately conjured images of that multi-tiered behemoth that was besieged by Mordor’s mob.

I had to wonder… was Tolkien influenced by the Bible…

Summer beckons, and that means cricket is in the air. On Friday, the first Test match of the Ashes series started in Perth. I watched bits of it and followed it intermittently on radio. It was a bit of a frenzy, with wickets tumbling – 19 fell on the first day…

On a different note, not long after we started going to St Alfred’s Anglican Church at Blackburn North, we became part of a homegroup that met at the Maurys. Matthew was the CEO of Tearfund Australia then, and Susan lead the group. They were from the US and worked for a long time in ministry in Africa (South Africa), before moving to Australia.

Late last year, Matthew started a role with ACFID (Australian Council for International Development) that is based in Canberra and when that role took on a longer term nature, Susan joined him here. They have been living and working in Canberra for a few months and last week, they messaged us and we caught up for dinner on Saturday. It was really nice to chat about families, St Alf’s and our lives generally, again. The lovely food at the Namaste Indian Restaurant was a bonus.

Kiddo and her mob had attended a Wiggles concert earlier that day and the kids went to Mic’s parents at Gungahlin while the Kiddo and Mic went on a lunch date. So we didn’t see the two little angels till Sunday, at SBC.

Earlier on Saturday, we had walked the pooches to the Kambah playing fields and peeked at the little neighbourhood Christmas pop up stalls at Kambah Village, before coming home to leave little Oreo at home and went to Belco for lunch. I had missed the best Malaysian food in Canberra for some weeks so I was very much looking forward to this.

After lunch, we came back and I started on working on the lawns and the garden beds, while Tress went for a hairdresser appointment. It was an overcast Saturday arvo and I worked at a leisurely pace while listening in on Day 2 of the Test in Perth. I had also borrowed Mic’s little electric chainsaw, to cut down a few stumps of little shrubs and trees that I had cut down some months before. It was just after the lunch break in Perth when I was winding up and the score was 1-62 with Aus bowling at the English, trailing the Poms somewhat. I thought it was going to be a hard slog for the Aussies and the English would probably win in 3 days, or certainly not seeing any play for Day 5.

I cleaned up, and just after 4pm, as I settled down to watch the game, Boland picked up a few wickets, with the English batters sloppily attempting drives at balls flying down wide and on the up. Boland had ably deputised superstar Starc, who had spectacularly did a bowled and caught earlier in the day and who was almost certainly going to get 10 wickets for the match.

When Tress came back close to 5 and we then headed for dinner with the Maurys, England was still batting, albeit with the tailenders adding to a lead that was just past 200 runs.

After dinner, while driving back, I turned the radio on to ABC Sports and the commentators went on about Travis Head’s feat. Little did I know Aus was closing in on a famous and miraculous win. We got home in time to see Smith smack one square on the off side for the winning run. A win, inside 2 days – a resurrection quicker than Lazarus, with Head blazing the second fastest Ashes 100. I had seen Gilchrist get the fastest (also in Perth) but apparently Head’s is more breathtaking (from the sounds of it). Somehow, he didn’t win MOTM (Starc did) but even this morning, I was still trying to catch up on “what just happened”.

Sorry, Matthew and Susan – catching up with you guys was very nice, but my memory of this past weekend will, like the rest of Australia, be the one with Head removing his helmet, shake his head with that ridiculous haircut, enroute to that “what just happened” win. A “Travball” performance (mocking the English “Bazball” moniker) to remember. Sir Alex Ferguson famously said “Football, bloody hell”. I am inclined to say the same thing about cricket, especially the Ashes Down Under.

On most Saturday mornings, when the weather is clear, Tress and I would get the little Padawan (a.k.a. Oreo) into the car and we’d drive to Kiddo’s. We’d take Milo and we’d all walk towards the playing fields at the end of Boddington Crescent. We love to see these pooches running around the fields. They look really happy and the backdrops of various hills surrounding the fields provide really good scenic views and it’s a part of our weekend that I really enjoy. Often, when we get back about a couple of hours later, Oreo would be pooped and look quite contented to have a bit of shut eye as we go about our weekend errands.

Tress was supposed to meet up with someone from SBC and I had planned on cleaning the barbies and hopeful of some cooking time on them over the coming warmer weekends. As I was headed to Bunnings to pick up some Seasol etc., Tress message me to say her appointment has been cancelled as the person she was supposed to meet was unwell. So I headed home, got cleaned up and we headed to Woden. I returned David Day’s Young Hawke at the Woden library. Again, the timing of this read was fortuitous as towards the end, it told the story of the dismissal of Whitlam’s Government by Kerr.

Gough Whitlam’s had been such a pivotal government that was so eventful that its sacking remained a ripe talking point, especially as the 50th anniversary took place. That it overshadowed other parts of Remembrance Day annoyed many who prized 11 November each year. Whitlam was sacked as PM on 11 Nov 1975. I first came across this historic event when at UNSW, doing a subject on Constitutional Law (or course). Phillip Jensen, in his Campus Bible Study talks, also referred to Whitlam’s many changes, including the Marriage Act which made faultless divorce possible, so Whitlam’s impact became etched in my mind. I kept reading on this event thereafter so David Day’s reference to it felt like driving past a small little town. Blink and miss. It caught my attention only because the media had been full of it, no less by the likes of Paul Kelly of The Australian, a journo I followed and read closely.

Anyway, Tress and I then had lunch at Ramen O, a little shop just behind the library, which has fast become our Saturday favourite lunch spot. I said to Tress I really enjoy the texture of the noodles. It reminded me of the best “wanton mee” I had in Klang as a younger person, especially the dry version. The broth the folks at Ramen O whip up is a perfect bath for the “just right” bouncy noodles. I have been having the mildly spicy version in recent weeks.

After lunch, we did grandparents duty and looked after Zoe at the Westfield at Woden, as Kiddo attended to Abby who was napping in the car. Tress and I had one of those really lovely arvos as grandparents. Later that evening, we bought some takeaway from the local Italian (providentially also named “Pronto”) and they came over to our home, had dinner, had loads of playtime, before they went back and got ready for Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, Tress and I had a quick brekky and then we headed out to Stromlo Forest Park. I had signed up for my first little run at the Stromlo Running Festival. It was only the 5km, so I did no training whatsoever. It was a beautiful morning however and running through the beautiful Stromlo Forest was a blessing. I hope to do more of this.

After the run, we headed to SBC for an unusual service. Schools had been shut by an asbestos stained play sand so Namadgi School was unavailable. Thankfully, the leaders at SBC managed to get a cinema at South Point so we had the service there. Not ideal, but at least we met, and were able to do the basics. We also had a quick chat with Josh, a recent Canberran from Melbourne like us, whose wife Kaela is expecting their firstborn. Josh told us they’d be heading back to Melbourne so we’d miss them.

It was a full weekend. Fun, tiring but all so fulfilling for so many reasons.

The days are longer now. In fact, we’re heading towards summer solstice which is a mere 6 weeks away. So, as we head home from Kiddo’s in recent days, we see the Tidbinbilla range in its splendour, as the sun sets against our line of sight. On weekends, when Tress, the little guy and I walk on our “weekend route” sans Milo, the furry friend from Kiddo’s mob, we take in the same scenic sights. It really is a pretty little pocket.