Bellbird Park 10 August 2026
Hi Marlis,
For someone who isn’t working, I’ve had a pretty eventful 2 months, keeping busy as always. Here are my adventures of the past few months.
Work
I had a few things
going on, but nothing too serious or involved. There’s still the Sydney
consulting job for just a few days, but they still have to get back to e after
4 weeks and I’ve checked up twice, so I’ll leave it with them. Then there was
the bigger piece of work for the Vetpartners organisation, but they decided to
postpone until September, which I understand, but it also means no work for me.
There were a few half-promises and opportunities that all just didn’t happen as
is often the case.
To be fair, I’ve only really been looking, and not very hard, for the past 4-6 weeks. I have enjoyed being off and free to do what I want, but I am starting to miss work, so need to get on it a bit more. I keep finding excuses to not have to join the job hunt because it is a special kind of soul crushing. The whole process is just terrible, often automated, full of spam and scams and overworked recruiters just trying to reach a quota. I get it all, but would rather not get involved.
You’d think that someone with a network across the world, who is so involved in the community would have an easier time of it. I guess people admire me, but they won’t hire me, haha. Last week I joined a consultancy in a pitch (sales conversation) for an 18-month project at Queensland Rail and was impressed with how much they had already done. I wouldn’t mind taking the lead on that. I think we did okay in the meeting, but it’s anyone’s guess in these sorts of things, so we’ll know more this Wednesday. There was a lot of preparation work to be done and I always enjoy that, they will even pay me for the day it took to get all that done, which is a nice bonus and normally doesn’t happen.
If that one falls through, I’ll get serious about work, because I am almost at the end of what I want to do at home. And I’m running out of excuses…
Yumi’s work and dancing
Yumi celebrated 2
years at the Queensland Mental Health Alliance 2 weeks ago, wow time has really
flown by on that one! It’s so great to hear her talk about her work and the
things she’s achieving for the community, she’s definitely found the right role
for her. Her team love her and they have so much fun together while also doing
good work, sometimes I wonder if I am in the wrong line of work. They keep
getting more work and people and new opportunities keep showing up, which is a
real testament to the quality of the work they do to educate people, create
jobs and develop the workforce in many other ways in this sector.
She’s started the 4th year of Common People Dance Project and I am already looking forward to that show, it will be crazier and more over the top than ever. It’s just good fun to see the costumer and routines and how much joy they get from being on stage. The Burlesque dancing is also still happening, with another show just done last Saturday and she practiced really hard for this one, even including a few Sunday afternoons to get it all done. It will never be my thing, but I am still very proud of her doing all this and it’s a great way to make friends and stay active for her.
Rural Fire Service
It’s been very dry in
our area lately, without any really good rain for the past six weeks or more.
We have a dryness indicator we want to be between 30-70 at the most. It’s now
above 100 and going up to 140, where things really only need a spark to burn fast, so we’re on high alert.
So far it hasn’t been too busy with fires, which is exactly what we like, but there’s a lot of preventative controlled burning so you can see big smoke columns above the hills most days. They are trying to get things done before the weather gets even dryer and then the fire bans come in, and we all wait for bad things to happen. We had a big tree on fire, a few small grassfires and also assisted a neighbouring brigade with a massive log pile burn that was 2 years of collected material lined up over 100 meters or so. They make beautiful ember tornados, but of course we want to make sure those embers don’t ignite anything, so we were out in force with 20 firefighters and stood around for 3 hours keeping warm with nothing happening, which is good!
I have now completed my Firefighter Advanced Skills training and get a second bar on my epaulette. That’s as far as it will go for me, because the next level up means you will have to lead a crew and I have zero interest in that. I want to drive the truck, put the wet stuff on the hot stuff and keep things safe, no need to be in charge of anything.
There are many other things I can still learn about and all the extra training I got was very interesting, especially the fire science of reading the landscape, understanding burn patterns and doing some investigative work on how fires originate, that was very cool!
There’s a lot going on at the brigade in leadership, with our First Officer stepping down and his dad also not putting his hand up for election at this year’s General Meeting where we elect our new operational and administrative leaders. It happens on 22 August, and we’ve been discussing what needs to change for a while, not so much campaigning, but discussing. I want a female leader for the next 2 years and fortunately we have Christy, who is very accomplished and willing to stand for election, she will almost certainly get voted in. This made me put my hand up for the role of Chair of the management committee, which is just looking after admin and supporting the operational leaders to deliver on promises.
Of course, I have many plans and ideas for change, mostly around the volunteer experience, succession and development, but this isn’t hard for me and will benefit the brigade a lot. We’ll see if I get elected, considering six people have asked me to stand for it, I like my chances. But even if that doesn’t happen, someone else will do it and while we’ll have lots of experience from long-serving members, we’re also getting some fresh blood, which is exactly what we need!
On 18 August it will
have been 4 years since we moved from Altona to Brissie and I can’t quite
believe how much has happened since. I’ve worked in 5 different places, bought
2 new cars, wrote another book, met so many new people, helped create a
stronger change community, started Karate, joined the fire service, bought a
house, mowed 3,000km2 of grass, made new friends and now I wear shorts most
days of the week when I am not working, even when it’s 2 degrees outside. I am
becoming quite the Queenslander!
Yumi came a bit later, remember how I lived in student accommodation for six weeks, but for her it’s been an even bigger shift. Wrapped up her business, started a new role, got very involved with Love a Greyhound, joined two dancing groups and she now has a social life busier than she ever thought she’d have or want, but she’s loving it.
And 3 September is Dash’s 4-year anniversary with us, what they call his Gotcha Day. I so vividly remember the trip up from Melbourne to Springfield Lakes in the truck, driving behind Yumi and seeing him look out the window the whole trip and getting used to living with humans. He’s getting a bit older now at 8.5 years, but doing well and staying active.
Yumi and I often comment to each other that if this much happens in just 4 years, what might happen in the next 4?! Well, you’ll keep reading about it in these letters every few months!
Wombat the Greyhound
Very good news for Wombat, he got adopted! After 10 weeks with us and slowing down quite a bit, he’s now living the good life on Russell Island (just 6km from mainland Brisbane) chasing the waves and whatever catches his eye. Oh my goodness what a handful he was, but also absolutely adorable and lovely. Dash is probably the happiest of all of us that he’s gone, he is such an only child, haha. Wombat now has a family of four kids to keep him entertained and the dad sends us pictures where Wombat looks right at home. We’re very happy for him, and for us, because he was absolutely full on!
One week before he got adopted, we got into a fight with another dog. It a Friday afternoon around 4.30pm and such a nice day I thought I’d take the boys for a slightly longer walk. We are walking along a street I’ve been a hundred time, minding our own business and all of a sudden, a dog (I think it’s called a Cavoodle) which was much smaller than 2 greyhounds shot under a closing garage door straight at Wombat barking and growling. It was off leash and I was not fast enough to pull back Wombat or Dash, so Wombat immediately grabbed it on the shoulder and wouldn’t let go. He wasn’t trying to hurt or kill it, I think, but of course the smaller dog had by then realised that this was not the smartest plan it ever had. Don’t worry, it was fine, but not before total chaos followed.
Here I am, on the ground, wrangling Wombat to let go of the dog, my fingers in his mouth, trying to pry his jaws open, him clamping down, the dog screaming. By then the mum and 2 small kids had run out of the house and start screaming and crying and very ineffectively slapping and kicking Wombat, but mostly hitting me. Wonderful! Finally, I get Wombat to let go and the dog stumbles away, only for Dash to come out of nowhere and tackle the dog to the ground again and grab it by the throat. I yelled NO!! at the top of my voice, which scared him so much he let go and then the dog finally got away. The whole family fled inside and they and I got assistance from 5 ladies from the neighbourhood who came to see what was happening.
The only one injured was me. Skinned my left elbow and knee pretty bad, so there was quite some blood, but more painfully, I had hurt (possibly broken) a few ribs at karate two weeks ago and not only did I get kicked by the mum, at some point I think she or the kids stood on me, trying to hit Wombat. I was sore all over the next day, but so relieved the dog was fine (stupid but fine) and that neither Wombat or Dash had bit the kids or mum. One of the neighbours saw it all happen and confirmed there was nothing I could have done, they should have secured their dog, but still, very glad it ended this way. Pfff, never again, I hope!
Love a Greyhound
events
It’s been a busy time with the greyhounds too. It’s still mostly Yumi’s volunteering, but I do help out a bit more now. We did two events in a park, where people would gather to draw and the greyhounds would model. Easy enough when it was Dash and Wombat, but the next time I had to go and pick up two dogs first, take them there, stand around for a few hours and chat (not the hard part) and then drive back again to deliver them back to their foster homes, hoping that they’ve made good impression on someone looking to adopt. It’s also a good opportunity for people looking to adopt to come and see the hounds in person, so definitely worth my time!
Then there’s the two-weekly greyhound walk that we’ve been going to for years and last time we had a record 23 dogs! It’s so great to see it grow and have all the dogs say hello and their humans become friends over time too. Some people started out with none or one dog and now have two or even three, which certainly makes the group bigger every few months.
Just this weekend we helped out at what was easily the biggest event they had organised ever. In the Brisbane Botanical Gardens there were 10 stalls, the Love A Greyhound tent, a fashion show with greyhound models which was hilarious, music , kids’ activities and of course dozens and dozens of greyhounds. It was all the work of Yumi’s volunteer colleague Sharni who did an amazing job pulling all this together. When I agreed to help out a few months ago, I thought it would be fairly small and just few hours work. We ended up leaving the house at 9am and were back at 6pm, but again, time well spent!
Visiting dietitian
You’ve heard me talk about my struggles with weight loss and dieting for as long as we’ve been friends. While it’s not been easy or fun for the past 12 years, I mostly manage to stay around 90kgs, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. But that’s only half the story.
Food noise, which is a term to describe continuously thinking about food at home and at the shops, is the real issue. It can be very distracting, annoying and frustrating. I though that with all my dieting knowledge and experience, I should be able to figure this weight thing out, but I finally concluded I needed some help.
So, I booked in with a dietitian 4 weeks ago and spoke to her for about an hour to explain my history. She agreed with most of what I said and had done, but told me to stop dieting and increase my protein intake for the next four weeks. I need about 90-110 grams and was probably only getting 50-60 on a good day. I had cut out so many calories, which is good, but had also cut out the protein, which kept me in a perpetual state of hunger. No wonder I was quite literally, always hungry. My body was telling me, but I misunderstood it for food noise.
Two days after essentially doubling my protein intake, the food noise is gone. It’s just not there. It’s so quiet. It’s hard to explain or describe, but it feels wonderful. I don’t want to eat, I don’t have to eat, I don’t think about food and when I am in the shops, I can walk past all the snacks and not feel like putting them in my cart. It’s amazing how fast it worked. I was worried about putting on weight, but I didn’t gain or lose anything, stayed about the same 91kgs as the past 4 weeks.
She agrees that I can
stand to lose 10 kilos, which will be the conversation for tomorrow, but for
now I am getting used to eating different things and working on like protein
powder shakes. They don’t taste great or terrible, a bit gritty, but it’s such
an easy meal and keeps my body entertained for hours. Now I have to remember to
keep eating, which is such a change from waiting for the next meal I could eat.
It’s quite the experience to find out this is how other people have been living
their whole lives!
Last will and
testament
We’ve finally started getting serious about sorting our last will and testament and there’s a lot to consider. We realised that we’ve gathered quite some assets over time and with our life insurance and everything paying out if we happen to die at the same time (flying, diving, driving, etc.) Dash would be a very wealthy dog 😊. He would probably spend it all on kibble and treats, so we decided to get a new will and testament, which means we also have to think about things like Advanced Health Directives, Power of Attorney, who gets what and what to do with all our stuff.
We’re now working with a lawyer who specialises in this sort of thing and it’s kind of fun figuring it out. We’ll set up a trust, called the Blue Sea and Sky Trust, named after what we used to tell people when they asked us “Why Australia” after we moved here. The trust will look after Dash and his needs in great comfort if we happen to leave this earth tomorrow and the rest will go to family and charity.
The Advanced Health
Directive asks some pretty big questions and it’s a 14 page document, but it’s
good to think about what you want to happen when you can’t make your own
decisions anymore. Yumi and I are very similar, we want the plug to be pulled
if there’s no chance to live a meaningful and worthwhile life, so best have
that written down before we end up being kept alive for years as a vegetable in
some hospital, no thanks! We’ll have our ashes tipped into the ocean off the
coast, together with the remains of all the pets we’ve ever had, returning us
to the circle of life in a sense 😊. Weird to think
about when you’re 47, but probably smart to have it sorted early.
Many small things and
life events
· After 3.5 years, I’ve
stepped down from the Change Management committee. No drama or strive, I felt I
had done everything at least twice and the organisation was getting a bit
conservative, so I stopped at a high and maybe check in again in a few years.
· We’ve started making
holiday plans to go diving in Indonesia in October or maybe November, Dash will
stay home to guard the house
· My parents are going
on what I think is their 5th holiday this year with the caravan,
they are loving it and I think it’s great they get to travel as much as they
want.
· While out litter picking,
I found a brand new working laptop computer and managed to get it back to its
owner. It was stolen with her car, not sure how the story ended but she at
least has her work device back.
· I passed my green
belt Karate exam last Monday. That’s the third exam, so I am slowly making
progress, still a few years and 6 belt to go until I get to black, but after 15
months I am not a total beginner anymore.
· I stupidly fell off
my bike at a very low speed taking a corner I had taken many times, but managed
to hurt my ankle quite badly. I am fine now, but with the karate injuries and
the dog fight and my general clumsiness I have 12 injuries or so and I am feeling
it!
· I did my taxes as a
grown up and had to pay a lot less than I had put aside, so that’s a big win.
· One more week and
then we’ll host the 7th edition of the Australasian Change Days.
Ticket sales have been a bit slow, but we have a good line-up and it’s a good
time to spend the day.
· All the plants in the
yard are growing and doing well. The Arabian lilac is a bit dramatic, drooping
as if it’s about to die if I don’t water it every week and the grass is dry because
there’s no rain, but ours is still the best lawn in the neighbourhood 😊
· I’m really enjoying
listening to a podcast by Alan Alda, who you might know from the tv-series
M.A.S.H. He’s 90 and still working, so who knows Marlis, you might start your
own podcast soon too, haha.
· I bundled all the book reviews I ever wrote, and it turns out there are more than 120! I remember maybe half of them, but it’s cool to have it all in one place.
Okay, I think that’s
most of it. I hope you’re keeping well and that we’ll see each other for your
birthday. If you are feeling up to it, I would love to come and visit to spend
some time with you.
I’ll call you closer
to the date to see how you are feeling. If you’re not up for it and it’s all
too much, that’s fine too 😊
Be well and stay warm until Spring arrives,
Gilbert
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