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pippa April 9, 2021

When I was a kid in the 50s, there was a very popular song called ‘Changing of the Guard’. One line went: ‘The Royal Standard in the breeze will tell you if their majesties are there to watch the changing of the guard.’ When we were in London, my husband and I went to Buckingham Palace to watch this spectacle. As we walked through Green Park, the palace came into view and the Royal Standard was flying. I told my husband that the Queen was at home.

Shortly after, we heard a helicopter and realised it was coming from the Palace roof. As we watched, the helicopter rose into the air and, in perfect synchronicity, the flag was lowered. I was amazed at the timing, but I guess if you’re going to get perfection anywhere, it’ll be at Buckingham Palace.

pippa March 31, 2021

How could you put Turkish Delight on the bottom tier?! Seriously, how could you?! I adore Turkish Delight and I know I’m not Robinson Crusoe because whenever a chocolate selection is put out, I always have to fight for the Turkish Delight.

pippa March 17, 2021

@chrissyinthemiddle, message me in Facebook Messenger. Elaine Irvine, is the name I go by on Facebook. I’m the one whose profile pic is a Newcastle Knights quilt. I can then put you in touch with Anthony.

pippa March 15, 2021

@chrissyinthemiddle, that’s great to hear. Kevin Donnelly is also a very wise and clearsighted guy. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book. Anthony shares all of his articles with me via email. He writes for The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Quadrant and the Spectator Magazine. I can just see the left wingers rolling their eyes. 😉😊

Add: I let Anthony know that you were planning on buying his book and he’s offered to gift you a signed copy. He’s a great guy. If you would like that, reply to this and we can figure out how to make it happen.

pippa March 12, 2021

@chrissyinthemiddle, one of my dearest friends is Dr Anthony Dillon, one of Australia’s top Aboriginal academics. Anthony has copped plenty of overt racism throughout his life and one of my favourite ‘Anthonyisms’, is: ‘Offence cannot be given, it can only be taken.’ Having experienced more than his share of racism during his life, Anthony simply refuses to allow idiots to control his emotions. His chief bugbear is people seeing racism where none exists and this phenomenon seems to be becoming more and more popular.

pippa March 6, 2021

I can’t believe the pressure people put on themselves when they plan a wedding. Your wedding shouldn’t be about ‘perfection’, it should be about the joining together of two people who love each other and want to show their commitment to friends and family. It’s not a competition.

When we married, my mother and I visited one, yes one reception centre while my darling Dad had a snooze in the car. Having decided that we loved it, Dad came in and wrote a cheque for the deposit. We went back a month before the wedding to give the venue final numbers and chose the menu, organised to have an MC employed by the centre and chose the live band we liked from their list.

That was it! A week before the wedding I had a kitchen tea and two nights before the wedding, my friends took me to Miranda RSL for dinner. A great time was had by all and 53 years later we still look back on our wedding day as being a great start to our married life. It wasn’t ‘perfect’, there were a couple of unforeseen mishaps but those mishaps have provided us with laughs through the years.

Your wedding isn’t the marriage. You need to save your energy for the years to come, because if you think a wedding is stressful, it doesn’t come close to the stress you’ll face at times during your marriage.

pippa March 3, 2021

The most concerning thing to me in this whole sorry business is what Peter van Onselen said on Channel 10 news last night. He said that the allegations were made public by a journalist who didn’t consult Christian Porter before publishing those allegations. In no world is this acceptable.

PVO is known to have no time for the coalition government in general, and Scott Morrison in particular, so he’s not speaking from a position of bias. He said that this is nothing short of trial by media and it’s a very dangerous path to proceed along. I agree absolutely.

pippa March 2, 2021

I was forced to place my parents into a nursing home because I lived two hours drive away and worked full time. My sister lived on the other side of the country. I believed the care they got was good and my mother enjoyed her time there. Mostly because she hated housework and cooking and in the nursing home, she didn’t have to do either one. My father had severe dementia, so we never knew how he felt.

Now it’s my turn. I’m 75 and have multiple neurological problems. I can no longer live alone, but my husband is my carer and for the most part, does a great job. I have help under the Commonwealth Home Support Program, which makes life easier for us both. At the moment, I get a cleaner for two hours a fortnight - I’ve been offered two hours a week, but I don’t need that at the moment. We have meals delivered once a week. They are pretty good quality and designed specifically for older people. The government subsidises the cost of these meals. I also have an exercise physiologist come to my home once a fortnight to help with exercises to improve the strength of my legs, arms and hands. Her visits are subsidised by the government, as are the cleaner’s. I feel very lucky to live in a society where this help is available.

I mentioned to my caseworker recently that I can’t bear the thought of having to go into a nursing home and she told me that she will do everything in her power to keep me at home, because ‘You’d never survive in a nursing home!’ Thank goodness for people like her.

pippa February 26, 2021

I have to say that I’m not the slightest bit surprised at the reasoning of some of the husbands. For the last five, 10, 15 years, hundreds, if not thousands of women have been appearing on reality shows having spent thousands of dollars changing their faces and bodies. Some men now expect that if a girl doesn’t possess the big boobs, slim legs and hips and perfect, white toothed smile, she doesn’t care about what men want. She’s selfish for not realising that her physical imperfections are her fault, and if she had any consideration for the feelings of this type of male, she’d rush out and change herself to make him happy.

In my view, the women on recent reality shows have been women who’ve almost all had cosmetic surgery. Many of the more shallow type of male would have been expecting to be paired with a plastic princess and are now disappointed that they’ve been matched with a normal girl, physical imperfections and all.

Of course these picky men, are all the finest specimens of manhood ever! Yeah right!

pippa February 7, 2021

I had the very great pleasure of knowing Lady Ashton. In 1988, I shared a hospital room with her at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital. We became close over the two weeks we were together.

She was one of the most delightful people I’ve ever met. Despite her diagnosis, she was always happy. She loved to tell stories of her life, which I loved to listen to. My favourite, was the one about how she got her name. She was born in South Australia she said, and was the only girl after several boys. The way she told it, after her birth, both she and her mother were close to death. In order for her to be baptised before she died, which was expected, the priest needed a name. As Lady Ashton’s parents had assumed this baby would be another boy, they’d never discussed girls’ names. Under pressure from the priest to hurry up, her father came up with the first female name he thought of, which was Winfreda. It was the name of his yacht!

When I heard the news of her death, I was so sad. She was the gentlest person ever. Had Glover asked for her money, she would willingly have given it to him. She called everyone ‘darling’ and seemed to genuinely love everyone she met. She was ill anyway, and a beautiful soul like her deserved to die with dignity surrounded by her family, not in a squalid garbage area.

pippa February 6, 2021

Grandparents are also invaluable in this scenario. Our granddaughter has a head of glorious red hair, freckles and very pale skin. She talks a lot to me about the cruel things kids sometimes say to her. I can relate, having faced the same taunts growing up. I was also very, very thin and was teased for that, as well as my very curly hair.

When I told her that, she was amazed, because she thinks I’m beautiful now. The Ugly Duckling story also helps. My husband and I just keep emphasising her caring, happy nature and her special relationship with every animal she’s ever encountered. We tell her that animals instinctively know the character of humans and she should trust their judgment.

pippa January 30, 2021

My mentally ill brother cut me out of his life at the beginning of 2012. His wife and two adult daughters were threatened with death if they contacted me and, as he was apt to wave a loaded .22 calibre rifle around, they didn’t take the risk.

He died on 29 December 2019, without my having seen him for almost eight years. I realised early in the estrangement that there was no point in my beating myself up because, as a professional victim, he was unable to be reasoned with. I’d done nothing wrong, but those with the victim mentality need a scapegoat, and he chose me. Better me than his wife or one of his daughters.

pippa January 28, 2021

Good grief! I had no idea I was interested in so many things. I guess that’s what happens when you give your iPad to your grandchildren to play with. They got my age right though.

However, my husband and I will be celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary in May, and google thinks I’m single.

pippa January 28, 2021

Good grief! I had no idea I was interested in so many things. I guess that’s what happens when you give your iPad to your grandchildren to play with. They got my age right though.

pippa January 28, 2021

Good grief! I had no idea I was interested in so many things. I guess that’s what happens when you give your iPad to your grandchildren to play with.

pippa January 26, 2021

It seems to me that Margaret Court has been the subject of far more hate speech than any of the people who’ve taken offence at what she said. I don’t agree with her views but, in the great scheme of things, with what’s going on worldwide, I really don’t understand why people keep harping on about it.

She made her insensitive remarks a couple of years ago. She’s only spoken about it since, when questioned. Her critics however, continue to drag it up every time her name is mentioned. Whether we like it not, the fact remains that she’s the greatest tennis player ever, male and female. The records prove this.

The stunt pulled by John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova at the Australian open last year was a disgrace. Can you not step back a bit, and see that for what it was? It was overt bullying by two guests in our country and Tennis Australia should never have allowed it to happen.

pippa January 20, 2021

Let me very clear: I cannot stand Donald Trump. However, I also cannot stand negativity and hate. No person in this world is absolutely good or absolutely bad. To believe the opposite is to show a distinct lack of emotional intelligence.

My GP is so far left, he’s almost falling off the edge. We discussed the situation last Friday. He said he credits Trump with three achievements: the increase in black employment - for males, the highest since 1969 and for women, the highest ever. The signing of the peace deals in the Middle East, and the rise in manufacturing, due to companies having more optimism as a result of leaving the Paris Accord, and some major companies returning from overseas to set up in America again.

I’m also concerned that the article seems to be written on the premise that Trump had sole control over the pandemic response. He didn’t. As in Australia, the individual states carried the ultimate responsibility. Trump’s reaction to the pandemic was ridiculous, but he was no more in control of what the states did, than Scott Morrison was in Australia.

The riots in the Capitol on 6 January were a disgrace, but the guy telling the police to leave before they get hurt, is an Antifa leader. He’s been arrested and given the police chapter and verse on how it was organised. There were Trump supporters there, but by no means were they the only rioters.

pippa January 20, 2021

@zaky, the peace deals signed with middle eastern countries? I can’t stand the man but the facts are the facts. Nobody else, presidential or otherwise, has achieved what he did in that area.

pippa January 19, 2021

What a beautiful, well phrased speech Melania gave yesterday. Full of positivity and good will. She’s a classy, dignified woman who simply got on with the job without fuss and fanfare. A great role model who did an excellent job as First Lady.

pippa January 4, 2021

Your son seems to lack the company of children his age. As a mother and grandmother, a retired teacher and nurse and a lover of children, I know that nothing brings a bratty child down to earth more quickly than a group of children his or her own age.

Children need to spend extended amounts of time with a peer group, minus parents hovering over them. Get him into a sporting club, an art group, perhaps a music or drama group with children his own age. Drop him off and go shopping, or have a coffee with a friend and don’t go back to collect him until finishing time. There must be something that interests him. He’ll probably find it hard at first, but it’s important you persist.

I also wonder if you both spend too much time teaching him about the right path in life. It’s critical of course that children learn these lessons in the home, but they need to mix with peers to learn how to apply them in a social setting. Perhaps he’s rebelling against this a bit. I wish you luck.