Stephen Blyth's Blog

I’ve been counting up the number of sayings used to describe the way we cope with the ups and downs we face in life. There are lots. Without trying the adages flow: purses from sow’s ears, silver linings, and taking the rough with the smooth. Despite the clichés, I am actually finding some solace in [...]

I stayed in an apartment behind the glitzy charade of the Crown casino ‘gambling addiction-generating’ complex. My apartment was next to a motorway fly-over, surrounded by construction sites with a full view of a multi-story carpark. Hoardings for idyllic and life changing abodes dominated the streetscape. The cool glass tall towers of Melbourne cbd a [...]

If I had the time when biking to Canterbury university I’d make a detour on the way. This wasn’t to stop off at friends to argue about politics or to grab a fresh coffee. My detour was for aesthetic reasons. I took the long way so I could bike through a glade of trees and [...]

David Rawlings was so absorbed in his playing I could have sworn his hands fused with his guitar. I couldn’t really tell. I was sitting 23 rows back from the stage at the Paramount Theatre when he played back-up man to Gillian Welch. The concert, in October 2004, was memorable not only for Rawlings’ playing [...]

Now it’s time to head-offline to actually read something, rather than just scanning, sorting, saving links, removing unread articles from my desktop, more scanning, etc.  Yes, I’m downing tools and going on holiday. Packed in my bag are a couple of books and unread newspapers. And, yes, amongst everything else is my laptop. I’m taking [...]

After I cram in spare clothes, relevant documents from the paper war, spanners and sandwiches there is never much room for my 15in laptop in my cycle pannier. This tight squeeze, the hefty weight to lug up Brooklyn Hill and a nagging worry that constant vibration is shortening the life of my computer started me [...]

I had no idea I’d get this far when I started. But here I am at the 200 blog post marker. I’m not sure if it’s a whoa! or a phew! moment. Either way, I’ll pause. Well for a moment. In the beginning my goal was to write about my three month sojourn to Melbourne [...]

Before launching into an acoustic version of “I keep the faith”, English musician Billy Bragg urged the audience to cling to the hope ushered in by the election of Barrack Obama. “What’s different now is that we live in a world of possibility. Not all those possibilities will be realised but some will. And when [...]

I couldn’t resist sharing this clip of Julia Donaldson and her husband singing Happy Birthday to the Gruffalo. A bright spot on a dull winter’s day. The fearsome but loveable Gruffalo turned 10 years old in March. There are monster celebrations at the official website, as well as loads of other fun. Don’t get tempted [...]

Apologies to anyone who turned up at 1pm on Saturday expecting to find a treasure trove. I cancelled the garage give-away I wrote about last week (see “Garage give-away – 1pm 16 May 2009″). Sorry I didn’t have time to put up a notice. My decision hinged on the difficulty of advertising a real world [...]