that's life! Issue 48, 2021

Years ago, I was talking with friends who’d emigrated to Australia from South Africa. There were quite a few quintessentially Aussie words and slang that they’d managed to work out. But one story in particular made me laugh. They’d been invited to a party by new friends who’d asked them to ‘bring a plate’. They were baffled as to why they’d need to bring their own plate. ‘Have they not got enough crockery?’ they wondered. In the end, they decided to call their friends and check if there was a particular kind of plate they should take. ‘Oh just a salad would be perfect,’ their host said. At which point the penny dropped. Our food section this week has some great ideas if you need to ‘take a plate’ this…

WINNERS are grinners Thank you that’s life! for this fantastic prize – after many years of entering your competitions – a Fisher & Paykel fridge freezer! Bruce Johnson, Auckland, NZ Three generations celebrated my granddaughter Annabelle’s Year 12 graduation. Here she is with her Nanny Catherine (me) and proud mum Alyson congratulating her on her great achievement. Catherine Van Amstel, Morphett Vale, SA Farm life on the west coast – some days are magical! Trisha Launer, Fox Glacier, NZ I love getting out and watching the sunset. The colours are so awesome. Paula Simpson, Ocean Grove, Vic My great-granddaughter Ava is helping me solve some puzzles. Ava is four months old and I am 76. Faye Bourne, Rivett, ACT Phoebe and Sophie enjoying the sights of Sydney! Allison Meyer, Cammeray, NSW While on a cruise a few years ago, we saw a show…

Sarah Dumais-Pelletier, 33, Sunshine Coast, Qld We need to start thinking about freezing some embryos,’ my fiancé Tim, then 31, said to me, back in 2018. It might sound like a strange thing to suggest, but his best friend’s dad was a fertility doctor. Since he was a teenager, Tim had been advised that, if he and his partner weren’t ready to have children but wanted them some day, to freeze some embryos. I’d never thought about embryo freezing until then, but it seemed a good idea. We weren’t quite ready to start a family of our own, and I knew that many of our friends were having trouble getting pregnant. ‘Sure,’ I agreed, excited at the idea of planning our future family. So in October 2018, we went in for the procedure. ‘We got three embryos,’ our…

Melissa Whitten, 37, Toowoomba, Qld Sitting on my mum Deborah’s blue Corolla car, I popped a fluffy hot chip in my mouth. ‘Yum!’ my brother, Michael, then 16, said, digging in. The three of us were enjoying our Sunday tradition at Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia. Michael and I would play on our boogie boards in the water, while Mum did some sunbaking on the sand. And at the end of the day, Mum treated us to delicious, hot fish and chips. ‘Another lovely Sunday,’ Mum beamed. I was 15, and Mum was my best mate. She was strong and always there for us kids – I told her everything and she never judged me. So kind, she’d give anyone the shirt off her own back. Mum had recently split from our stepdad Jamie and it was good to see her…

Later, Valenta had confessed that he killed Mum to a relative of his, who had secretly recorded the conversation on tape. ‘That’s when I donged her. Bang. Bang. Bang. And when she fell, and when she hit the ground, I went bang bang for good measure,’ he’d said. It was harrowing to hear. Also, it was revealed that days before killing Mum, Wayne Valenta had said to his workmate, ‘How does it feel to know that you are going to know a murderer?’ He also showed him the claw hammer, adding, ‘How many times do you reckon it would take this to kill her if I smashed her in the head with it?’ Judge Justice Miller pointed to Valenta’s prior history of assaulting women, and told him he had no hesitation in concluding he went…

Lynn, 52, Geelong, Vic* As a teenager, I ran away from an unhappy home. I found a cheap room to rent and got a job at a clothing factory. There, I made friends with Katrina, a young single mum. She’d had a rough life too. Pregnant at 17, she was abandoned by the father of her child. Even her own family had disowned her. ‘It’s just Emily and me now,’ she told me. I liked Katrina a lot, and admired her dedication. At the factory shop, we could buy the beautiful sleepwear they produced, at a discount. As none of us earned much, I had an idea. ‘Let’s chip in to buy one of the items in the shop each month, then hold a raffle so somebody can win it,’ I said to the other girls.…