Kyle Barnes caught up with an old mate, artist and sparky extraordinaire Gary Miles, who with his wife Jen, has recently opened an eclectic shop in Creswick called Imperial Lighting. Kyle chatted with Gary and used the opportunity to roll out every lighting and electrical reference and pun he could think of. Apologies in advance. […]

I love a sausage, but I was recently cornered at a barbecue by a bloke who reckoned “they were okay in my day, but nowadays they’re full of crap”. So, cast your mind back 50+ years. It’s 1973, the butcher wraps your snags in yesterday’s paper and nobody asks what’s in them. I remember our […]

By Donna Kelly If you read this column regularly you will remember I broke my left ankle at the start of the year.   Of course, I hoped it was just a sprain but when I went for x-rays at St John of God in Ballarat, the surgeon came back with the bad news it […]

Brendan Hehir was running The Blackwood Times when the storm of June 2021 decimated the region, so, naturally he started reporting on it. Taking photos, getting stories from affected community members. But after a while, like others, he realised it was bigger than one paper, bigger than a few news reports. “About two months later, […]

By Donna Kelly I have known for some time now there’s a state election in the wind – because of the endless emails from every party under the sun. Well, mostly Labor, the Libs and one or two from Family First. Labor is lucky. Being in power they can try to disguise their election propaganda […]

I loved reading about David Hall’s epic journey across Asia and Europe – and the release of his book about his escapades. Head back to page 13 for a really great read. Journalist Kevin Childs sums it up well, saying that trips of that nature are no longer possible due to political and social upheaval. […]

The boxer and the wrestler I taught a boxer English No bruiser, he was deft In year nine at high school he enjoyed respect A wrestler in the same class fell to wrangling words For his trouble he got lumped in with the nerds The boxer had a girlfriend knew how to manage him The […]

The wettest ‘dry’ winter we’ve ever had or how Victoria’s Google search history, and Clarkes Hill’s rain gauge, both called out the Bureau’s ‘super El Niño’ this winter. Google Trends data has confirmed what one Clarkes Hill local, Robert Grieve, suspected all along: this winter didn’t just break the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast, it broke […]