The Afterword

Author: Peter

  • If You Love Chocolate, You’ll Want to Know This

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    Peter
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    It’s milk chocolate—smooth and silky, not too sweet—with little shards of caramel that crunch like well-made nut brittle. There’s a buttery snap to them, almost like they’ve been toasted in sunshine. Then, just when you think it’s all indulgence, the sea salt hits—tiny flakes that wake everything up and keep you from drifting into sugar…

  • Favourite Childhood Books: A Reflection

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    Peter
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    When people speak of their favourite childhood books, there’s often a glow—a warm memory of being read to at night, of turning pages beneath a doona with a torch, of library visits and beloved stories that shaped the way they saw the world. My childhood wasn’t like that. Books didn’t feature heavily in our home.…

  • Unsettling Gifts: Three Books That Shifted My Ground

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    Peter
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    Some books entertain. Others inform. And then there are the ones that rearrange the furniture of your mind. These three books didn’t just give me new ideas; they unsettled me in the best possible way—disrupting old assumptions and making space for a truer way to see the world and live within it. 1. The Grapes…

  • How I Overcame My Fear of Words

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    Peter
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    Years ago, I was issued a simple challenge: do something that takes you out of your comfort zone. I had no idea how lifechanging that would be. At school, I was a maths and science guy. I loved logic, structure, formulas. Words, though? They baffled me. English was a subject I couldn’t feel, couldn’t grasp—so…

  • Clean – Leviticus 12–15

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    Peter
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    We don’t preach these chapters.Rashes, discharges, childbirth blood—who puts that in a sermon series?It’s gross.It’s weird.It feels irrelevant—until BBQ Man got sick. He just wanted a snag with friends.Went to the movies,BBQs Galore,the butcher—and then the city shut its doors.Unclean, they said.If you’ve been where he’s been,stay home.Don’t touch.Don’t come near. And suddenly, Leviticus makes…

  • The Morning Delegation

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    Peter
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    It’s early. Ridiculously early. The world is still blue-grey and holding its breath. But I’m up—by choice, no less. Dog and cat fed. Coffee brewed. Brain only halfway online. I sit down to write, clutching the warm mug like it’s the last torch on earth. This is my hour. My quiet. My sacred little pocket…

  • Woman Announces She Will Be Seeing the Outside World Again, on a Trial Basis

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    Peter
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    Two months after retreating into a semi-permanent relationship with her phone, local woman Clare Montgomery has announced plans to give “offline life” another go. In a statement released from her kitchen bench—via Notes app screenshot—Clare confirmed that she’ll be attempting to reintegrate with real life, as long as it doesn’t require group activities or being…

  • After the Election

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    Peter
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    After the election,a few friends said,“I’m off the news for a while.”Some never went back. Too much fear,too little they could do.“It’s like being yelled at with no way out,”one of them said. A researcher told us,“If you keep feeding people threatsbut no way to respond,they shut down.They stop listening.It’s not apathy,it’s survival.” And then…

  • A Brief History of Gainful Employment

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    Peter
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    Delivery boy — Technically, my first job. I was a prescription mule for the local pharmacy, zipping around on my bike like a budget courier with zero insurance. Kept me fit. Also gave me thighs of steel. Rifle range target marker — Nothing quite says “occupational hazard” like sitting in a bunker in front of…

  • Loss, Yearning, Transcendence

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    Peter
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    “Religion is spirituality with rigour,” Nick Cave says, half-laughing, half-serious. But beneath the quip lies a depth of insight that names something essential: that the spiritual life is not only about yearning, but about consenting to be shaped by the weight of that yearning. In a world often suspicious of structure and reverence, religion can…

  • Compelling

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    Peter
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    I wouldn’t say I’m religious—at least not in the way people usually mean it. If someone asks, “Do you practice religion?” my answer is yes and no. Yes, because I’m a Christian.No, because I’m not drawn to religious routine or ceremony for its own sake. I go to church every week—not because I’m especially fond…

  • A Brief Encounter with Someone from the Analog Age

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    Peter
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    A 42-year-old Sydney resident has today admitted to growing up under what can only be described as Stone Age conditions. The shocking confession came during a casual lunchtime conversation at a suburban café, when Peter R., a self-described “analog native,” revealed to a table of younger colleagues that he memorised phone numbers. By choice. “I…

  • You Make More of a Difference Than You Think

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    Peter
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    Every now and then, I try to take stock. Just an honest look in the mirror. What have I been given? What am I growing into? What can I offer? I’m not naturally comfortable answering the question, “What are you good at?” It feels like walking a narrow ridge between false humility and quiet pride.…

  • A Conversation About Contentment Across Generations

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    Peter
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    We were five generations at the table—passing the bread, refilling cups, and circling, as families do, around big questions in small talk. Someone had tossed it in lightly, like a crouton into a bowl of soup: “Do you think it’s possible to have it all?” As the conversation deepened, the focus shifted. Maybe the better…

  • Fit for the Feast – Leviticus 11

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    Peter
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    How can we be fitfor God? Exercise?Healthy food?That’s part of it.But our bodiesare more than that.They are temples,sanctuaries where the Spirithas taken up residence.They’re not our own—they’re made to honour God. Leviticus—pages of blood and fire,priests anointedlike lanterns for the people.Then, chapter eleven:camel, rabbit, pig—off the menu.Clawed birds and scale-less fish—off the table. Why?Not because…

  • A Life Worth Listening To

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    Peter
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    I’ve always been fascinated by people—what makes them tick, what they carry, and how their stories unfold. My first job after university was in IT, automating a production line. Because computers were expensive and labour was cheap, system development had to wait until after 4 p.m. So I started late and stayed late, spending my…

  • The Writing Compendium

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    Peter
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    I’m not someone who accumulates much. In fact, I’ve come to want less, not more. Rather than shape my life around possessions, I’d rather shape my life to need less. And yet, the belongings I do hold onto tend to carry meaning. They’re not just useful—they’re threads in a larger story. One that comes to…

  • What We Keep

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    Peter
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    I used to have collections. Years ago, I was deep in the world of second-hand record shops, trailing my fingers across shelves stacked with dusty vinyl and history. My treasure hunt had a clear target: old comedy albums. There was something about them—tiny theatrical worlds trapped in grooves. I found Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman, George…

  • The Day Mackenzie Scott Emailed Me

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    Peter
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    (Or, How I Almost Became a Billionaire in .ru) It was a regular Tuesday. I was sorting through my inbox like a digital archaeologist—sifting through newsletters I don’t remember subscribing to, birthday discounts from cafes I haven’t visited since 2017, and the occasional existential crisis triggered by seeing “Re: Just checking in” from someone I…

  • You Know the Beauty of Cold; I’m Still Learning

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    Peter
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    COLD:I grew up in the silence of winter.The still kind of cold,the kind that creaks the trees at nightand lays a hush over the world so thickyou can almost hear the snow settle.It taught me how to listen.How to endure.How to know the differencebetween solitude and loneliness. HEAT:I was raised where the sun seeps into…