Category: Uncategorized
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Of bludgers, grudges and falling walls
My most vivid memory of starting out at The Examiner newspaper in Launceston is not my first byline, nor even my first mistake. It’s a wall. It came down without warning during a newsroom refurbishment in the late 1970s. Not a metaphorical wall — a real one. A temporary partition collapsed on to the chief-of-staff’s desk. The…
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The man with no ears and the man with no fears
I never met Mark “Chopper” Read, but I have sat on his barstool. It was at the Royal Oak in Launceston in the late 1970s when I was 18 or 19. I was pleased because I had found myself a prime position at the bar. Then someone burst my bubble. “You can’t sit there, mate…
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My life story recycled by an op shop
Here’s another old column from Son, give me back my trousers. In my defence, I’m busy writing my next novel. I KNEW MY old neckties would come in handy one day. My eight-year-old son came home from his school holiday program last week and asked me if I had one or two to spare. Apparently,…
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The Burpers, The Farters and The Punk
The punk with the green mohawk and a safety pin through his nose examined his bloodied knuckles, then started sobbing. He had just smashed the thick window beside him on a London Tube in 1980. Broken glass was everywhere. Over his leather jacket. Over the seat. Over the floor. And I was the only witness…
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The loosing of wisdom
Does anyone know what the going price is for wisdom teeth? I am only asking because my dentist says she’ll keep an eye on one of mine but eventually she’ll probably have to remove it. I happen to be on first-name terms with the Tooth Fairy, a relationship forged 25 years ago when my son…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 