The song of a male scarlet robin drifted across my garden at the start of winter and I rushed to the lounge window to have a look at him. Yes, there he was atop a pin-cushion hakea beyond my lawn, singing his heart out and declaring a winter territory. He might even be trying to attract the attention of a mate. It was special to hear, and then see, the resplendent robin in his bright-red finery because the species had been missing from my garden all summer and autumn. I … [Read more...] about Purr-fect storm for birds
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The spirit of the press room
A SHADOW drifted across the far end of the long, dark passageway and Don Bentley stopped, surprised that someone else should have been down there in the printing works at this hour. Bentley strained his eyes to identify the shape in the near darkness, at the far end of the passageway where the light from a single light bulb at its entrance barely penetrated. The shadow moved out of sight and Bentley called out, softly at first as if not wanting to disturb the silence down … [Read more...] about The spirit of the press room
Doors close on the past
Donald Knowler celebrates more than half a century in the newspaper business. He started work as a messenger boy in Fleet Street in September 1963 before writing his first words six months later on the newspaper that gave him his start in journalism, the Woking News and Mail, in Surrey. He usually looks back, and forward, through his alter ego, Don Bentley, but in two articles first published on the Tasmanian Times website lamented the demise of the office pub. The … [Read more...] about Doors close on the past
Beermat of memory and loss
It’s not much to look at, the beermat from the former journalists’ watering hole, Montgomery’s in central Hobart. It’s not as striking as the fiery red one from the Coopers brewery in Adelaide, with a beer barrel at its centre, or the shield-shaped one from Fullers in London, in ochre, advertising a bitter called London Pride. The Montgomery’s beermat is in monochrome, with a simple line drawing of the pub on the corner of Macquarie and Argyle streets, as unpretentious and … [Read more...] about Beermat of memory and loss
Going out in style
Bruce Leyland picked up the Chronicle style book, looked briefly at its ink-stained and worn cover and tossed it into the rubbish bin. Another piece of detritus from the past, the flotsam and jetsam of a life spent in newspapers, a life coming to an abrupt end. Leyland had been at his desk all morning, clearing out the set of draws and cupboard that supported the desk’s flat, polished top on which sat a computer keyboard and monitor. An ink well at one corner of the desk … [Read more...] about Going out in style