Category: Daily Prompt

Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why? On the surface, my answer should be simple. I’m Australian, and for over 30 years I’ve lived in beachside suburbs. The ocean has been the backdrop to my days—warm, lively, full of movement. There’s a sense of community at the beach that’s hard to replicate anywhere else.…

What are your family’s top 3 favourite meals? 1. Garlic Sesame Crumbed Chicken with Mango SaladYou always know summer is on its way when the roadside stalls start shouting the news before anyone else can: “Mangoes.  $10 per tray”. In our family, that’s the signal. The starting gun. My wife will inevitably call out, “Mangoes…

What’s your favourite month of the year? Why? November arrives in colour.Jacarandas burst into violet clouds, and lawns disappear beneath a soft, uneven carpet of purple. Every footstep becomes a whisper through petals. The air shifts too—not yet heavy with summer, but warm enough to loosen the shoulders, warm enough to invite the day in.…

What is your favourite place to go in your city? When people ask about my favourite place in Sydney, it’s easy to list the obvious ones. The Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Botanical Garden—everything the postcards promise—are all within a short walk of each other. Add The Rocks, with its historic laneways…

What’s the first impression you want to give people? I still remember the summer of the 2019 bushfires. The smoke had settled over Sydney like a heavy blanket, and news kept coming in about towns under threat. As I followed the fire maps each day, I found myself thinking about where our college students lived,…

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)? We were walking to school one morning when my friend Robert and I spotted a single banknote sitting on the footpath. No one else was around. To two eight-year-olds, it looked like a fortune — about fifty dollars in today’s money. We hesitated. We could have…

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can? My wife calls me a camel. She’s right — I can go long stretches without drinking. There’s always something else to do first: an email to write, a meeting to get to, a thought to finish before it fades. She sometimes…

What is good about having a pet? We have two pets — a dog who is turning two and a cat who is nineteen. They share almost nothing in age or energy, yet both remind me daily what companionship means. Our dog is uncomplicated joy. She asks for little: food, company, and exercise. That’s all…

Name the most expensive personal itemyou’ve ever purchased (not your home or car). Maybe it wasn’t the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought, but it comes close. We were both students when we got married and had nothing to spare. In those early years, love was measured in patience, not possessions. About thirty years ago,…

What was your favourite subject in school? You were my quiet companion through school. For years I treated you as a task to complete, tables to memorize, or a pattern to memorise. You waited patiently while I solved for x and answered questions on exams. But in time, I began to see you differently. You…

How do you manage screen time for yourself? I’ve never been much of a scroller. My time on screens tends to have purpose — writing, reading, thinking through issues, responding to people. This blog is one example: an intentional space where I reflect, rather than react. Screens are woven through my day. I read the…

Do you need time? Time flies. Everyone says that, and it’s true. Days blur into weeks, and sometimes I wonder where it all went. There are moments I catch myself whispering, I just need more time. But then I remember two lines that have followed me for years. Tolkien once wrote, “All we have to…