The Train Driver was reminiscing and with his eyes on the floor he began his story quietly. "As a call-boy we would work three different shifts, seven hours sixteen minutes per shift, forty-four minute meal break, eleven days per fortnight. On night shift we were kept...
Grammar is a funny thing. I remember when it was almost mandatory that no ifs-ands-ors-or-buts may be used to begin a sentence. If you dared to challenge the rule you got - sorry, got was nearly as bad as ifs-ands-ors-or-buts - you were marked down, right down. That...
Christmas is where "the search for Truth ends in the birth of one special child." This is a tiny statement from a good message that came through on my computer. The whole message was good but something about this sentence rang bells - Christmas bells, bells of good...
The most frightening text in the Bible is in the Lord’s Prayer – "Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us." When we pray it, we ask for forgiveness to be measured, we determine how much we receive, and we ask for exactly the same amount that we give to...
You don’t get far these days without a password. If you want to use your computer or access your bank account, you must know the password. Only with the password, can you access the depths of information. Can you imagine being adrift in a dark, shark-infested ocean,...
Among the beautiful parrots that come to feed at our feeding table is a flock of Mountain Lawries. Their colouring is mainly deep crimson and rich blue so they provide particular pleasure as they chat to each other around the food bowl. One day we noticed that one of...
"Time is ours," said one Maniacal Cackle Frog to the other. "We have conquered time and we know all its secrets!" The Frog and his mate had found a clock on the outdoor wall and had taken refuge behind it. They observed that the sun came up and went down again...
Seeds are remarkable. You can walk all over them and not know they are there. You can fail to see them, ignore them and throw them away and they will still amaze you by making a come-back. I walked across the top corner of our plot of ground, a dry area devoid of...
When you open a book, you read it looking forward. The first pages reveal what is to come and the Bible is like that, too. I read it looking forward. I imagine the lovely garden with platypi and fishes watching from the edges of the water and birds hovering in wattle...
‘A call-boy’s job is exactly what he does,’ the Train Driver explained. ‘His job is to provide a wake-up call and call the train crews to their duties, often during the early morning hours. Then to mop and clean the office and to run messages for the Roster Clerk....