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Dec 6, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly |Louise Rugendyke |Katrina Strickland
By Paul Connolly, Louise Rugendyke, Katrina Strickland, Frances Mocnik and Melissa Singer December 6, 2024 — 4.01pm, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Joining a group of friends in a bar, I’d barely raised my glass when one asked, “What did you do today?” “Not much,” I replied. My default answer didn’t cut it. Questions came at me like bees. What time did you get up? What was the first thing you did?
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Jonathan Seidler |Paul Connolly |David Leser |Barry Divola
By Jonathan Seidler, Paul Connolly, David Leser, Barry Divola, Damien Woolnough and David Swan September 6, 2024 — 3.50pm, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Bored out of our brains during lockdown, Australians bought a lot of things we didn’t need – and one consumer good we bought in record numbers was, well, records.
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Jun 18, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Greg Callaghan |David Swan |Paul Connolly
Is the mobile phone reducing our fitness along with our attention spans? Credit: Getty Images I see them all the time at my gym: the phone drones. Mr Grey Crew-Cut on the leg press, pushing out a desultory set of reps before reaching for his phone and descending into yet another YouTube or Insta black hole.
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Mar 15, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
Johnny had never been one to stifle a fart. The kids had followed suit. To Rebecca, it often seemed as if an ensemble of deranged trumpeters was loose in the house. Exasperated, she announced a new house rule: "You have to go outside to fart.""But I'll be outside more than I'm inside," Johnny complained. He and the boys complied, however, and some nights they'd be outside for ages, pulling each other's fingers and roaring with laughter.
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Mar 7, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
Save Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Liam's limping entrance was spotted by his daughter. "Mum! Dad's hurt himself at soccer. Again!"Gratuitous, he thought, easing himself onto the couch. Nikki arrived momentarily. "What is it this time?" she sighed. "Calf," he groaned through his whitening beard. "Liam, this is getting ridiculous," she replied. What's ridiculous, he thought as Nikki went to the freezer, was the sumptuous pass he'd made to set up Gaz.
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Feb 29, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
Anne had barely opened the door when Lindy's cat snaked around her ankles. "Hungry, eh?"After filling the cat's bowl and cleaning its litter tray, Anne washed her hands, coveting, not for the first time, her friend's gorgeous bathroom. On her way out, she browsed the bookshelf. She spotted White Teeth. Momentarily, she slipped the book into her bag. She saw the cat watching her. "I'm not stealing; it's mine," she insisted, before leaving the apartment, her cheeks aflame.
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Feb 22, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
By Paul Connolly Save Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size Grace woke to find her grandmother standing at the open front door. Credit: Jim Pavlidis "Wow," Grace said, seeing fog shrouding the street. Soon they were outside, exploring the eerie stillness, familiar landmarks now ghostly apparitions. "What causes it, Nan?" Grace asked, water droplets like diamonds on her lashes.
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Feb 15, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
It was an otherwise ordinary day when Shane first made a noise as he sat down. "You just 'oofed', " Hayley said. "Did I?" he said, sounding pleased. He was an oofer from then on, and the further his freefalls onto soft seating, the louder he was. Previously unassuming, he became raucous in other ways, too: his sneezes rattling windows, his yawns evoking foghorns, his laughter turning heads in restaurants.
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Feb 9, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
Save Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it The second Eric opened the door he could feel it: the air, contaminated with acrimony. When a fierce row then erupted upstairs, he was momentarily chuffed at having guessed right. But, damn, Penny and the girls were really going at it. For a moment he considered trying to sort it out. Then he came to his senses. Fifteen minutes later, he was in his local pub. "Sorry, Pen, stuck at work. Home late," he texted.
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Feb 3, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Paul Connolly
We're sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We're working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Skip to sections navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer In our cover story this week, Rebecca Gibney shares some key learnings from her amazing 44-year career and tells writer Lorna Gray about her exciting new challenge. 14 stories Save Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
