70

March 2025

At the end of March, I levelled up in the game of life to 70. 70. Like, seriously, when did that happen? It’s not so long since I was standing outside my parents’ farmhouse, staring at the night patina of crystal stars and the distant glow of the Adelaide lights over the Lofty Ranges, the deep silence broken by an occasional bleating sheep and a solitary car whooshing along the Princes Highway, wondering where my life would lead and how it would unfold. And now, here I am, 70, looking back at the highs and lows, the wins and losses, the joys and sadness, the successes and failures, wondering how far into the immediate future this life will extend.
The end of March and the beginning of April melded into celebratory madness with dinners and small parties and too much food and maybe a little wine and whiskey, and writing evaporated in the mayhem, becoming what it was before I left the education sphere – brief grabs between events. Hence this blog entry is three weeks late and I almost decided to hold it off, but here it is.

I ran another editing eye across the four The Last Wizard manuscripts and submitted a query for the series to an agent. Now, it’s wait and see.

I completed a 3,500 word historical article for the Friends of the State Library Bibliophile journal on the groundbreaking entry and participation of policewomen in the Mounted division. Thank you to Hettie Tinsley for the invitation and to Richard Miles for support and information. I now only have to organise 4-5 photos to accompany the article. It won’t see publication until late in the year.

I coordinated the second SA Writers Think Tank session, focussing on the ideas of knowing ‘where your story will end before you commit too deeply to a writing project.’ I am a firm believer in knowing the intended destination of a journey, even if, eventually, the destination changes because of events in the journey. I apply this to writing. We also discussed the issues around copyright and plagiarism, but that will return in a later Think Tank for an even deeper dive.

I held conversations with three writers via Spectrum Writing around their projects and challenged them with relevant tasks associated with their projects. The mentoring is proving exhilarating, even if only for me. I love the conversations.

​And, so, 70. I’ve long considered that to be the turning point where I am officially old. The Government sent a letter asking my GP to confirm that I am still capable as a driver. I have issues with my knees and feet. I have had a swathe of blood tests concerning my health and the results will be confirmed next month (May). I have a Seniors card, but I still can’t get a pension while my wife works. Frustratingly, I’ve battled with myGov for three years to prove my identity to link various services, Centrelink being one. Several of my best friends have passed on. My parents, their siblings and their generation are almost all gone as well. People I admired as music and film and television celebrities are dead. And yet, I still sometimes feel like I am that young person standing outside in the night, staring at the stars, wondering at my future, curious to see what transpires next.