Just Sayin'... Archives

23-12-2024

As a journo of some years, let’s say 40, I have a love for words. I also like that language is always evolving. So it is always interesting to hear what the word of the year is, especially from the Australian Macquarie Dictionary.

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Just sayin’…

10-12-2024

I enjoy travel as much as imparting a cautionary tale. So you can't imagine my joy at our latest travel adventure. Hmmm.

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Just sayin’…

25-11-2024

I am sitting in an information centre in Puerto Rico - trying to finish The Local - after finding the promised high speed internet on our cruise is not so high speed.

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Just sayin’…

10-11-2024

There are a lot of big things going on. The biggest is the memorial service on Tuesday for the tragic incident last November which changed the history of Daylesford.

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Jut sayin’…

28-10-2024

"Every day I would wake up with this knot in my stomach thinking am I going to be screamed at, white-anted or publicly humiliated today, or is it someone else’s turn? Watching the humiliation happening to others was almost as bad as being the target, but at the same time you were grateful it wasn’t you that day."

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Just sayin’…

13-10-2024

Let the games begin. So, 12 candidates are vying for seven spots for the new Hepburn Shire Council. The wards have been done away with and really, it seems a bit of a no-brainer as to who will get in.

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Just sayin’…

30-09-2024

Hmmm. So Dan Murphy's is appealing a Victorian Liquor Commission decision and still trying to open a store in Daylesford.

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Just sayin’…

16-09-2024

So the Local Government Inspectorate will not release any report into its five-year investigation of Hepburn Shire Council and The Rex Theatre development.

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Just sayin’…

02-09-2024

I managed to break my wrist, in two spots, during a recent weekend celebrating Kyle's dad's 80th over in New Zealand.

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Just sayin’…

19-08-2024

"Damn never become a carer - you won't like it." This was the sage advice of my Frankston-based doctor, dating back about 20 years. I can't quite remember but I think maybe Mum had been a bit crook and I was looking after her.

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Just sayin’…

03-08-2024

I received a media release last week from Central Highlands Rural Health saying that they are partnering with the council to provide free access to puberty education resources.

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Just sayin’…

22-07-2024

I have two quite interesting stories this edition. Well, maybe more, but we'll see where these end up. First one came to mind after reading Eve's latest Bushwalks of the Central Highlands.

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Just sayin’…

07-07-2024

Hmmm. If I don't hurry up this could be the first edition of The Local without a Just sayin'… column. OK, I agree, maybe not a bad thing.

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Just sayin’…

24-06-2024

I had some time last week so I did a bit of a Google around about farmland and farm zones. I realise there are experts just waiting on Facebook but instead I went to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.

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Just sayin’…

09-06-2024

OK. By now we all know the Hepburn Shire Council is in a bit of a state financially.

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Just sayin’…

28-05-2024

It will be interesting. So many people against the idea to turn productive farmland into residential land in East Street, Daylesford, but can they change the Hepburn Shire Council's mind?

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Just sayin’…

12-05-2024

I have been wondering how this year's council elections will go with no ward boundaries.

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Just sayin’…

01-05-2024

What an extraordinary thing Ros Pyers has done. Generously donated to not just one but four organisations.

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Just sayin’…

12-04-2024

A long, long time ago, just after the dinosaurs disappeared and the wheel was invented, I lived in Japan.

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Just sayin’…

01-04-2024

I love a cautionary tale. But not as much as I love a deserved refund. And I have two down and one to go. So feeling pretty happy.

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Just sayin’…

18-03-2024

Great to see the Daylesford Guide Hall getting the renovations it needs for a new generation of Guides. And apparently Brownies are now Junior Guides.

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Just sayin’…

02-03-2024

So, we just hit the 300th edition of The Local. That's a pretty big milestone for a little local paper. Well, not so little. This edition is 104 pages. Massive.

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Just sayin’…

20-02-2024

Wow. Daylesford is the fourth most welcoming place on earth. Who knew. Well the good folk at Booking.com and they are busy spreading the word.

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Just sayin’…

05-02-2024

It's been a long time since I wore a mask but I did recently. It was on a little New Year break on a shortish flight to Queensland.

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Just sayin’…

20-01-2024

Sometimes I wonder if the world is going mad. Or is it me? Probably me.

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Just sayin’…

03-01-2024

First of all, Happy New Year! It's 2024 already - and the years just keep rolling around. My lovely Nan told me once that time goes faster as you get older, and it's true. But getting older is also a privilege not open to everyone.

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Just sayin’…

25-12-2023

Kyle and I are having an orphans' Christmas this year. I literally am an orphan now, and one of his parents lives in another state and one in another country.

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Just sayin’…

11-12-2023

I thought Heather Mutimer's story on Madame Xenia Borovansky, the niece of the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, and who moved to Daylesford, was fascinating. It's on page 13 (this edition of TL if you want a read).

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Just sayin’…

27-11-2023

The past couple of weeks have been horrendous for many people. First and foremost for the friends and family of those people who died in the Daylesford accident.

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Just sayin’…

12-11-2023

It was a real shock to hear of the sudden death just last week of Serge Kislinsky. I hope you are not just reading it now in this column.

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Just sayin’…

28-10-2023

I think most people heard about the tragedy in Daylesford last week. An alleged robbery and someone dying as a consequence. I don't want to go into it more than that.

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Just sayin’…

15-10-2023

I received some mail late last week. Snail mail. A padded envelope. Small. I opened it and inside was a blank piece of A4 paper. Nothing written on it, just a USB stick taped on. Hmmm, I thought. That's going to be interesting.

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Just sayin’…

01-10-2023

Konnichi wa. Finally heading back to Japan after quite a few years away. Well, not until April but time does fly.

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Just sayin’…

17-09-2023

Wow, 10 years. It is a cliché but it really does feel like yesterday that we put together a little Word document and wandered the streets asking if people would like to advertise in it. For some reason many did. And thanks to them the first edition came out on September 2, 2013.

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Just sayin’…

03-09-2023

Had some interesting chats with Hepburn Shire Council CEO Bradley Thomas and Mayor Brian Hood last week.

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Just sayin’…by Donna Kelly

20-08-2023

WORDS in Winter is coming up soon - end of August - so I thought I would take a trip down memory lane and my own love of words.

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Just sayin’…

08-08-2023

OK. THIS is my last instalment on aged care provider Benetas. Well, for a bit.

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Just sayin’…

24-07-2023

I have run a couple of briefs, back on page 11 (of the latest hard copy edition of The Local) if you want a look, about a positive ageing expo and another program called Living and Ageing Well in Hepburn. As in Hepburn Shire.

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Just sayin’…

08-07-2023

I WAS going to write about The Voice. It seemed appropriate given this week is NAIDOC Week. I know, National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee Week. I guess one day was not enough.

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Just Sayin’…

24-06-2023

I HAVE been thinking about two things this week. Yes, you know me, multi-tasking yet again.

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Just Sayin’…

11-06-2023

IF YOU see me looking a bit dishevelled, don't worry, it's all about my new exercise regime.

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Just sayin’…

29-05-2023

PUTTING together our education feature took me on a trip back to my school days. Mostly good memories - I was what you would call a "goody-goody" - and loved most of my teachers and was pretty much a straight A student from prep to Year 10. The wheels fell off then but that's a story I have already told.

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Just Sayin’…

16-05-2023

A FRIEND once told me, as the editor/journalist, I should attend council meetings. I told her she could go along in my stead. Her reply? "No thanks, what a waste of time." Exactly.

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Just Sayin’…

30-04-2023

A FEW things. First up, well done to Beck Lewis who, despite having breast cancer, is spending her downtime from treatments encouraging others to get checked.

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Just sayin’…

17-04-2023

THIS is a public service announcement. Ladies, check your boobs.

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Just sayin’…

03-04-2023

SOME things just make you smile. Like driving past the PISS OFF AUSNET sign mowed into the hill on the way to Creswick.

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Just sayin’…

20-03-2023

KYLE was asked an interesting question the other day. Someone was wondering why we cover some festivals/events and not others.

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Just sayin’…

I HAD a nice compliment this week. The Powercor PR guy said my column in the last edition was the best power outage story he had read. Even showed it to his boss.

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

18-02-2023

DINNER done and I was sitting down ready to watch, again, Mr Inbetween. It's a great Australian series, quite dark, but also very funny. The guy who wrote it is also the lead character.

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Powercor reply to Just Sayin’… Feb 13, 2023

12-02-2023

Powercor is working to address reliability issues affecting customers in Daylesford, Glenlyon and surrounding areas.

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Just sayin’…

05-02-2023

IT'S the start of a new year, well just past the start, but there are a few things which seem to linger longer - and I have been thinking about them.

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Just sayin’…

23-01-2023

SO, MYER Frankston has closed. The final shopping day was Sunday, January 15 but according to social media, most of the bargains were long gone.

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Just Sayin’…

06-01-2023

KYLE and I lived for a year in Karratha, WA. Below Broome, way above Perth.

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Just Sayin’…

25-12-2022

SO, this is our last edition for the year. But don't worry, despite repeated attempts we failed to win either Powerball or Tattslotto so will probably be back next year.

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Just Sayin’

THERE'S been a lot of Black Friday sales going on, online. And that's OK, but with Christmas fast approaching spare a thought for your local businesses.

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

29-11-2022

DECEMBER 5 is/was International Volunteer Day. The is/was is because it depends what day you are reading this.

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

START worrying white males, your time is running out.

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

30-10-2022

BLOODY hell, that was a busy week.

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Just Sayin’…

14-10-2022

SO, the Big Rainbow is coming to Daylesford. I kinda thought we would win. I mean the other towns were a little bit, well, not really on my gaydar. But then, maybe they are LGBTIQA+. I have been to Katherine in the Northern Territory and I can't say it glittered.

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Just sayin’…

18-08-2022

Went out for lunch the other day. Not locally, a sushi train restaurant. In the old days, well not so old, but older than now, they actually looked like little trains running around on the tracks. But I think people had too much sake and then tried to derail the train which sounds like fun but in reality ends up a rice and fish mess.

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Just sayin’…

22-07-2022

FIRST we had the vaccine stroll out, now we have a new federal government and we apparently have the antivirals stroll out.

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Just sayin’..

09-07-2022

IF YOU flip back to page 11 you will find Kevin Childs' story on the sad or sick state of our health system. Kevin talked to health workers, on the condition of anonymity, and wrote about how many things are going wrong - some life and death situations.

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Just sayin’…

24-06-2022

I GUESS, being the travel edition and all, I should talk about the joys of hitting the road, but it's not all beer and skittles. Whatever that means.

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Just sayin’…

09-06-2022

SO, DAYLESFORD is in the running for the Big Rainbow. Of just four towns. Daylesford, Hay, Katherine and Broome. I reckon we're a shoo- in.

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Just sayin’…

27-05-2022

IT'S a funny thing getting older. Just the other day I was joking with Kyle that he used to be ripped and now he's more just Van Winkled, or Van Wrinkled. Actually he's in great shape, thanks to interval fasting and refusing to have a drink until 6pm. I am more of a "must be 5pm somewhere in the world" kind of a woman.

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Just sayin’…
By Donna Kelly

09-05-2022

GREAT news that the Daylesford Field & Game Club can return to its home at Glenlyon Reserve.

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Just sayin’… with Donna Kelly

29-04-2022

IT WAS really interesting having a chat with Cecilia Macaulay last week - check out her story on page 7. If not for Covid, she would be heading to Japan pretty soon where she spends our winters every year.

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Just sayin’…

17-04-2022

I WON'T say every Easter because that would be a lie. But when I talk to people like Natalie Kirby, I think about my stint in the Royal Children's Hospital. If you don't know the connection with Easter and the hospital and Nat, head back to page 11.

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Just sayin’…

02-04-2022

IT'S not always easy being green or a journalist. (Nod to Kermit there.) Now and again we get asked to investigate something or someone. Generally we don't because we don't have the money or time for lengthy investigations, or it's just a grudge match and we don't want to get involved in the argy-bargy.

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Just sayin’…

18-03-2022

I WASN'T going to write this, because it's all a bit too close, but Mum loved being in this column, even when she jokingly told me she was going to sue for some mostly imagined slander, so here goes.

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Just sayin’…

01-03-2022

WOW. I just watched the National Press Club piece with Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame. They were both fantastic but Grace Tame is amazingly fierce.

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17-02-2022

SCROLLING through Facebook can sometimes be a waste of time but sometimes it is great fun. Lately I have connected with former high school friends at Mt Eliza High School. That's not so much fun because I then go and look at their photos now and think "how old are they?" And then realise I am that old too.

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Just Sayin’…

07-02-2022

I HAVE been watching a fair bit of TV lately. Just relaxing a little, staying at home, breathing deeply - without fear. You know the drill.

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Just sayin’…

18-01-2022

I honestly thought 2021 would see us out of this mess and back into a normal way of life. That was wishful thinking.

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Just sayin’…

08-12-2021

I get the feeling everyone is as stunned as I am about Hepburn Shire Council deciding, pretty randomly, to scrap the Hepburn Hub project at The Rex.

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Just sayin’…

29-11-2021

SO, WE are out the other side. Sort of. As in a massive lifting of restrictions. No more masks for most people unless you are working in hospitality or medicine. It's great news. For the vaccinated. Not so much if you have decided not to get the jab. Small life and all that.

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Just sayin’…

11-11-2021

WENT to a function the other day. It was pretty exciting. I even washed my hair. It's not that hard once you get around to it.

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Just sayin’…

So Hepburn Shire Library has done away with fines. Good news all round. Well, if you borrow and don't return, I guess. But they will still want the books back, you just kind of hit a "go slow" with borrowing if you fail to return.

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Just sayin’…

11-10-2021

WE GOT a tip! Nah, not one of those: "I know what you should do in The Local…" to which the reply is easy. "Well, great, when you have worked on other papers for about 30 years, take the plunge, open your own and then just do whatever you think we should be doing."

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

YOU will find it hard to believe but I get annoyed at times. Yep, kind, placid me. If you really want proof, just ask Kyle. Maybe don't.

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Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

27-09-2021

YOU will find it hard to believe but I get annoyed at times. Yep, kind, placid me. If you really want proof, just ask Kyle. Maybe don't.

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Just sayin’…

29-03-2021

IT WAS March 11, 2020 when the World Health Organization (yes, spelt with a z because, well, I don't know - it's Swiss not American) finally called the pandemic.

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Just sayin’…

15-03-2021

IT'S been a strange week in an even stranger 12 months.

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Just sayin’…

01-03-2021

SO FEBRUARY has just finished up. And that means FebFast is over. Which is good because I failed miserably at giving up alcohol. But do I blame myself? Of course not.

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Just sayin’…

15-02-2021

IT'S Sunday morning, well, almost noon, and I have just decided to rewrite this column. I had one done and dusted but I thought about it overnight and decided it was too gloomy. And one thing we don't need right now is gloomy. So here are some more upbeat things and thoughts.

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Just sayin’…

25-01-2021

OUR US correspondent Jeff Glorfeld sent us a very, well, sort of funny, piece for this edition. He and his wife Carol, former Wheatsheaf residents now living in Redding, California had their first vaccine shots last Saturday, January 16. Read all about it on the back page. Oh, and tune into the podcast at www.tlnews.com.au/podcast

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Just sayin’…

18-01-2021

IT'S been a funny couple of weeks. Mainly thanks to our readers. It started with an email after a reader noticed that Kyle's Rant had been truncated down to "I'm out, write your own rant here".

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Just sayin’…

21-12-2020

SO, THIS is Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over, A new one just begun. And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun, The near and the dear ones, The old and the young. A very merry Christmas, And a happy New Year, Let's hope it's a good one, Without any fear. And so this is Christmas, For weak and for strong, The rich and the poor ones, The road is so long.

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Just sayin’…

14-12-2020

THE mask thing is strange now. Yes, you have to wear them in places like large shopping centres and supermarkets but not in smaller shops, unless you can't socially distance.

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Just sayin’…

07-12-2020

I MUST say I was pretty surprised to see an email in my inbox saying COVID-19 had been detected in the wastewater of Daylesford.

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Just sayin’…

30-11-2020

I WAS watching the news this morning, well not really the news, more morning television with a two-minute bit that calls itself news - with half of that given over to sports.

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Just sayin’…

16-11-2020

I KNOW for some, it has been a slow year. And that is not always a good thing. But for us, it has been busy at The Local Publishing Group. And that is a good thing.

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Just sayin’… Donna Kelly

09-11-2020

IF YOU read last week's column you would have seen my reluctance to jinx things. Which is just as well because by last Sunday arvo I felt lousy and called the doctor on Mon

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Just sayin’…

02-11-2020

AND like that, it was over. Well, not over, but you could see the other side. The announcement by Premier Dan Andrews that Melbourne could finally open, and those double days of zero figures, had people crying in the streets.

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Just sayin’…

26-10-2020

I TOOK part in a Google Hangout last week. Like a Zoom meeting but it was actually with Google people so using the Google platform.

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Just sayin’…

05-10-2020

BEING the 200th edition I thought I would try to remember how our crew came along. A trip down memory lane, if you will, in no particular order. (It's a bit long so if you get bored feel free to wander off…maybe check out our new website at www.tlnews.com.au)

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Just sayin’…

28-09-2020

WHEN I lived in Japan, back in my 20s, Mum used to send me the Women's Weekly's Handy Hints.

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Just sayin’…

21-09-2020

I SUPPOSE I should be writing about our new found freedom and that we can eat out again and enjoy each other's company.

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Just sayin’…

14-09-2020

IF JENNY Morrison can do it, then I can. And no, I don't mean sleep with Scotty from marketing. Or head out to buy some jigsaw puzzles

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Just sayin’…

07-09-2020

IT'S gone on a long time. This year. Not that I would ever wish time away but I wouldn't mind if the vaccine came along or we eradicated the virus from our shores.

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Just sayin’…

24-08-2020

WHEN we first moved to Glenlyon, back in 2005, it felt like we were the only people in the village - straight or gay.

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Just sayin’…

17-08-2020

WHEN I was born, my mum cried. Now, according to all the movies I have watched, this is not such a big deal. Except that she didn't cry with joy, she cried because I had red hair.

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Just sayin’…

10-08-2020

WELL, here we go again. Lockdown 2.0. Last edition I said there were still many things to be grateful for, so rather than complain I have some more thank-yous.

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Just sayin’…

03-08-2020

GEE, the Karens of Australia must be so Not Happy Jan! And at this rate they'll end up like Nigel, with no friends.

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Just sayin’…By Donna Kelly

10-02-2020

THE world has gone mad.

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Just sayin’…By Donna Kelly

27-01-2020

THERE is no doubt we are living in traumatic times.

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