Flynn & Tonic

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Perfect Strangers AKA The Most Left Field Text Message I Ever Received

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They say adversity makes strange bedfellows. Indeed, throughout history, there are countless examples of unlikely alliances; uneasy coalitions of the most incongruous forces, bound together through mutual gain (or at least survival) in the face of some epic calamity.

How many modern states would not exist if sparring tribes hadn’t joined together to defeat invading forces?

Would Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf have ever discovered their mutual love of classic cinema, of they’d never united to help save Serena from Juliet Sharp?

Yes, there is something gloriously unifying about disaster.

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Is this the Golden Age of the Dobber?

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Aussies are a funny bunch.

We love the great outdoors, tomato sauce (on everything), and nicknames that have little-to-no bearing on the person’s actual name. We are notoriously laid-back (except where sport is concerned, which inspires a sort of preternatural passion in even the most unassuming of individuals), and abide by the principle of a “fair go”, which is basically just a less fancy way of saying “do unto others”.

But whether you find our traits charming or cringeworthy, there is one thing Australians are most definitely NOT: dobbers.

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The Real Reason Parents are Scared AF of Homeschooling

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If you woke to an audible crack in Sydney this morning, allow me to explain: that was the sound of millions of parental hearts breaking.

Not because they were facing their 700th jigsaw puzzle and four millionth load of laundry for the day (that’s more of a 3pm meltdown thing).

Not because the ABC Kids app had imploded from over-use.

And not because they’d finally had enough of finding sultanas in increasingly bizarre places around the house.

No, the catalyst for their collective nervous breakdown came down to an announcement containing just a few short words: Home. Based. Learning.

With most of us still actively recovering from PTSD from 2020, the thought of homeschool reopening for business is enough to push even the most hashtag-blessed of us into a terminal decline. Despite Gladys’s attempts to sugar coat it as “just four days”, we all know the truth – if you thought the past fortnight was hard, just wait till you get to those 96 hours of living hell.…

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The Princess and the Peeved: some thoughts on THAT Oprah interview

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I have a confession to make.

Before today, I really, REALLY didn’t like Meghan Markle.

I firmly subscribed to the Piers Morgan school of thought that she was a fame-hungry hypocrite, self-obsessed and painfully ‘woke’ and contrived.

But after sitting glued through all 120 intense minutes of Oprah’s interview with the Sussexes, I must now give a mea culpa (or should that be a megha culpa?).

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If 2020 was a song, this is what it’d be.

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“You say you want a revolution,” sang the Beatles back in 1968. “We all want to change the world.”

And indeed they did – surrounded by global social upheaval and in the shadow of the Vietnam War, it became an anthem for a generation frustrated by the status quo and hungry for change. But what the Beatles happened to do pretty darn well, is really what countless others had done before them: turn turmoil into inspiration; misery into a movement. After all, you couldn’t have had the Renaissance without the Dark Ages. Jazz may never have left New Orleans if not for the yearn for a new way of being post-WWI. And a jumpsuit-fancier named Elvis Presley wouldn’t have had a career without the winds of ’50s social change whipping up his bouffant.

Which brings me to the current day.

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Total Recoil: the risky business of socialising during a pandemic

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We Zoomed our way through lockdown. We House Partied more than we’d ever actually house partied. We pretended doing trivia in fancy hats over a computer wasn’t at all slightly strange and lame and probably more appropriate for your teenage brother hiding out in the basement circa 1999.

But while we all dreamed of post-pandemic socialising as being some sort of hedonistic affair that even Jay Gatsby would consider OTT, the reality is a little more sobering.

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7 Times Isolating Adults Were Pretty Much Just Big Toddlers

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  1. Complete disregard for sartorial norms. Pyjamas till noon? Sure. Sequins with tracksuit pants? Obvs. While toddlers inherently understand that some days need more sparkles and superhero capes than others, us Iso-dults are only just twigging that dressing like the love child of Helena Bonham Carter and Carole Baskin can add a serious mood boost to your day.
  2. Naps for daysssssssss. Enough said.

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We got 99 problems but a virus ain’t one

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“It’s a time to slow down and just be,” they said.

“The universe is giving us a chance to reassess what’s really important,” they said.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, after four weeks of iso life, we got 99 problems and a virus ain’t one.

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