Patra's Other Place

I started out with Patra's Place, primarily dedicated to my linen collection and stitching projects. But I kept getting side-tracked, so I decided to create Patra's Other Place for anything not related to embroidery topics. So you now have a choice. If you are interested in me, read this. If you only want to see my linen and stitching, visit Patra's (original) Place! (Please note that by clicking on any of the photos, they will be enlarged to fill your computer screen.)

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Location: Melbourne, Vic., Australia

I was married to Ken for 43 years, but he died in October 2022. So I am now alone with two cats, eight hens, and a few finches and parrots in one aviary.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Being in a state of perpetual busyness!

The title to this blog was prompted by Connie's latest post on her blog, in which she apologises for her absence from the blogging community, and pleads 'being too busy' as the reason. I left a comment there about a t.v. show I'd watched earlier tonight. It was an interview with author Hugh Mackay, a psychologist and social researcher. He has just published a book titled "Advance Australia Where?" and the interviewer asked him about the ways Australians have changed over the past 30 years. One of the most interesting aspects he has noticed (in my opinion) is that everyone is always 'busy' these days. I've noticed it too, and sometimes it annoys me to blazes, and at other times I'm totally sympathetic! Depending on the person and in what context they use the phrase.

In Connie's case, she has a very reasonable excuse, many of them in fact - and goes on to say what she has been doing instead of blogging. Hugh Mackay suggested in his interview that one of the main reasons why we are so busy is technology. Internet/email, mobile phones, SMS, etc. all contribute to the way we communicate with each other nowadays, and because these mediums are all going pretty much 24 hours a day, we feel that we should not turn anything off, just in case we miss out on something! Do you ever feel like that? I know people who never turn their mobile phone off - not even when they go to bed! Mine is off as soon as I get home. I can't see the point of leaving it on when we have a perfectly adequate land line/fax machine available in the house. The internet is only switched on at night when all my chores are finished, although occasionally I'll turn it on during the day if I'm not busy (blah! blah!).

My previous post about my job uncertainty has left a few people wondering what the upshot is. I still have to find out a few more facts before I can make informed comments here, so please bear with me.

2 Comments:

Blogger Val said...

Thanks for the reading suggestion, Gina. I always enjoyed McKay's articles when he was writing for The Age newspaper.

Don't get me started on how Australia and Australians have changed over the last 30 years. Having arrived here 33 years ago I was very aware of how laid back Australians were compared to overseas - it was so blissful. But now it has "succeeded" in catching up with the rest of the world. Sad.

I am always amazed to see people gazing into their phones, totally ignoring people, landscape, ignoring LIFE for cryin' out loud. Example: I go to the zoo often, and I see young mothers with their young children there. But many are not looking at the animals or interacting with their children, enjoying their reactions to the animals. No. They are looking at their phones, and children and beautiful zoo surrounds could be on another planet. What a waste.

Wednesday, 29 August, 2007  
Blogger Scribe With Gold said...

Gina,
A very interesting post. I know for one I'm going to work at slowing down. :)
Happy week.

Monday, 03 September, 2007  

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