Weeds grow through our pavers at home.
Paspalum and dandelions, and grass that belongs in the lawn.
Glyphosate sorts them out, but they take a week to die.
Dying weeds hanging on littering our pavers is frustrating. It is also ugly.
Glyphosate is not a safe chemical, but it does the job.
The weeds die and they eventually disappear.
They are forgotten about until they grow back.
Read MoreSome thoughts are better left as thoughts.
Some thoughts that form into opinions can be considered gratuitous when another perspective ought to be discussed, but the provocation does more harm than good.Alas social media may not be the best place to persuade.
"Faster, Higher, Stronger" has been the Olympic motto since 1896.
Read MoreSitting in a chair designed to fold adorned by winter sun with the warming glow keeping me company, I was beset with an unfamiliar realisation that I had nothing to do.
Absolutely nothing.
Nowhere to be. Nothing requiring my focus. No tasks to complete. No immediate responsibility for staff.
My family were content and healthy, and my mobile phone was out of reach.
There were caravans arranged in methodical fashion, creating shelter and privacy - not that it was needed.
Read MoreThere is a level of frustration and passion bordering on anger that inevitably bubbles to the surface when I read that families are threatening educators at schools across Tasmania in record numbers.
Verbal and physical aggression often born of frustration are not responses appropriate to environments determined to model and build community. In fact, they are not appropriate in most environments.
Fight for your kids, but do not fight those desperate to make a difference - our teachers and support staff.
You are not UFC legend Conor McGregor; you are your child's partner in education and along with love this partnership is the most important role you will ever play.
Read MoreNonetheless, the industry faces a complicated future.
They acknowledge the challenges ahead.
As a result of the book, they now have reputational damage to manage, and a well-oiled environment machine, thirsty to mobilise, that may impact their operations.
From the dam wars to the forestry wars and now, potentially, the salmon wars, this Tasmanian conflict is a well-trodden path and if not handled properly will lead to one certainty – bitter divisions that last for generations.
Read MoreAt times, there is a story for every occasion. I just must remember not to tell the same one twice. At other times there is nothing.
Writing fulfils me, but I do not profess to be any good.
Writing makes me happy as much as it tends to frustrate.
Selfishly, I did not set out for people to read my column.
"Think I've nailed it this week," I proclaim to Mrs W.
"You say that every week," she laments.
And that's why readers owe me nothing.
Here's to the next 150.
Read MoreThere is an exclusive Sydney based institution known as the Australian Club where captains of industry, politics, and influence gather to enjoy each other's company.
Members can invite female guests, but females cannot be members themselves. The Australian Club was founded in 1838 enabling businessmen to meet, unwind, and cogitate the issues of the day.
But doesn't it sound rather splendid?
Read MoreReaders - there is a relatively new way of working that has become the norm.
There are words for this type of behaviour - Zoom and Teams. Before COVID we used phones on speaker or Facetime to cater for our distant colleagues. Not anymore.
The saying goes "there is no I in Team(s)", but there is certainly one in Microsoft!
And Zoom Zoom Zoom is no longer a chant for encouraging toddlers to play with Matchbox cars nor the slogan that once reminded you to purchase a Mazda.
Read MoreWinter has arrived.
Like an unwelcome knock on an old door my mood dials to tense.
I have come to dislike winter. A chill in my bones that no fleece can thaw. My legs, my toes, my joints, my nose - reacting anxiously to the enveloping dark and the gradual decrease in temperature.
Cold. Colder. Coldest.
Read MoreIn Tasmania, our public schools will not reach 100 per cent of the SRS under the bilateral agreement signed by state and federal Liberal governments until 2027.
Every independent and Catholic school across Tasmania is already at that standard.
More than 70 per cent of Tasmanian students attend public schools, yet these schools attract 10 per cent less funding than their private counterparts.
Can you even begin to imagine if private hospitals received 10 per cent more funding year on year than the public system?
Read MoreI felt ashamed.
It was The Examiner's Twitter handle that informed me a car had been stolen. And not just any car. The Northern Suburbs Community Centre car used to assist people to learn how to drive had been pinched - again.
Obviously, feeling ashamed for the behaviour of my fellow humans did not return the car, nor did it solve the problems we collectively face as a society.
And although there must be consequences because criminal behaviour deserves to be punished, gaol time or youth detention will not stop people stealing cars.
Read MoreFlanagan explained his rationale when he told a recent audience at Launceston's Star Théâtre, as part of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival via livestream from the Sydney Writers’ Festival, that it was to protect the book from legal suppression from the salmon industry.
And sadly, we will now walk a well-trodden path with Tasmania divided by another industry, and it will not be long before we are at war again.
Flanagan expanded that the hydro and forestry wars were due to a power imbalance in the Tasmanian community, and a desire to search for space - a culture inspired by First Nations people.
Read MoreIt is a thirst for motor sport that dictates the attire of die-hard fans. Polyester blend fashion wear celebrating names like Mostert, De Pasquale, Davison, Whincup, and ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom are resplendent in bold print, often accompanied by flags waving in the breeze from cars parked on the hill with punters excited to watch exploits at the famous tight corner known as Brambles Hairpin.
Read MoreDisagreement can be positive, while conflict rarely leads to the outcomes the argument desires to solve.
A rip pushes the waves into conflict as the water rushes from the sand back out to sea, desperate to escape.
Across Australia with hot summers and warmer autumns that conflict can be dangerous, but it can also be of assistance as surfers harness the current to catch just one more wave.
But if you ever hear the call and find yourself guided by the moonlight of the night, make sure you sashay your way to bioluminescence.
Read MoreThere appears little room left in the Australian political landscape for big picture thinking. And with recent and historical events and disclosures uncovering a cretinous and perverted culture that we often surmised existed in the corridors of power, big picture moments of transformation will be left to artists - not the so-called thinkers who gather in Canberra to shout at each other.
By example, transitioning from a Constitutional Monarchy to a Constitutional Republic will occur in my lifetime. However, it appears that the current political class do not have the conviction, nor the following to bring this much needed reform to fruition, at least anytime soon.
Read MorePerhaps this is the strategy employed by the sitting state government - call an election during a holiday period where most will be disengaged, favouring sitting candidates with name recognition.Tasmania is one of the greatest places in the world with the most stunning environments imaginable - it has taken a long time for many of us 'lifers' to accept and understand. There are gum trees, sheoaks and widow makers that capture our attention more than politics.
Read MoreBut thousands of years before European settlement the plangermairreenner, plindermairhemener, and tonenerweenerlarmenneclans (Ben Lomond tribe) called the mountain turbunna.
Hauntingly, following colonisation, it became a region synonymous with murder, dispossession, the Black Line, and "black catching".
Read MoreI am not from a family of swimmers.
My heritage is to blame.
My mother, and father, dec. hail from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
My father taught himself to swim, breaststroke, at the local swimming pool during World War II. My mum remains apprehensive around water.
Read MoreLearn to "love the mud" is an answer if the estuary was not the economic lifeblood of the city.
For amenity and to support development, businesses, and recreation providers who we have encouraged to invest, the state and federal governments must reinstate a dredging program as a community service.
Frankly, learn to love the mud is akin to saying learn to love the cold should the City of Launceston council decide to stop heating the regional aquatic centre because it is too expensive.
Read MoreWhen a young person went missing in Launceston last week, emergency services and the community hastily mobilised to search. There were relatives and friends and acquaintances and those unknown to the family joining the party.
None of us would feel surprised because this is what we do. When someone is in trouble or the chips are down, we come together and help.
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