Sime says

Speak science, philosophy, fine art and literature to me and you’ll find I’m a bit of a lightweight. Like a fish out of water, it doesn’t take long for my cerebrally challenged brain to flounder. But I’d rather lack intellectual depth on some issues than carry the weight of the world around my arse. Tipping the scales at just 74kg, I felt decidedly Biafran when walking into Goulburn’s celebrated Paragon Café during the holidays. A stack of 5kg jars of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread sitting on the counter at the café’s entrance, and selling for a cool $65 each, signaled that this is the big end of town. The large pots matched the corpulent posteriors, which swallowed seats, and the flabby arms, which quivered in the air-conditioned cool. Like father like son and daughter like mother, hungry hordes followed me in to this human feedlot. If there were such a thing as Wagyu Beef on two legs, I’d found it. The larger-than-life characters (think Bert Large in ...

Cricket is to summer as vegemite is to toast: hand in glove or hand to mouth, the two come together for a feast of sport at this time of the year. When our cricketers are winning, the nation is full of happy little Vegemite s. So, when a key ingredient of the game of cricket retires and no longer stands upon the commercial shelf of fame, a void opens up like the gap between the bat and pad of ill-prepared batsmen. And so it was when Ponting recently left the crease, the steely Tasmanian who once sported a goatee and a shiner in the same year. But those were the early days when impetuous youth was blunted by bucket loads of talent, which lasted right up until his final dismissal in Perth at the ripe age of 36. He might not have been able to pull many punches during a night out in Kings Cross but during his illustrious career out in the middle, Ponting’s effortless ability to despatch a rising delivery over mid-wicket, left many a fieldsman ducking for cover. P...