HELLACIOUS: What does it mean?
Hellacious arrived in the English language via North America. It’s an adjective meaning ‘very great, bad or overwhelming’. It can be used to describe an awful experience and is often used to describe traffic, weather or even a period of time (e.g. a hellacious summer). It’s also commonly used in sport when discussing a hellacious punch or hit. (Oxford Online Dictionary).
I think we can safely say: The year 2020 was one hellacious year!
I WISH EVERYONE A MORE CONVENTIONAL 2021. :)
I think we can safely say: The year 2020 was one hellacious year!
I WISH EVERYONE A MORE CONVENTIONAL 2021. :)
As Victoria starts to come out of lockdown I remind myself daily of how lucky we are to live in Australia. In general, I believe we have been in good hands during the pandemic with dedicated and experienced health experts guiding the handling of the crisis. A quick glance around the world at how some leaders reacted to Covid-19 is enough to reinforce that. The mistakes that were made, eventuating in a second wave in Victoria were truly regrettable. However, I am grateful Professor Sutton and Daniel Andrews showed strength and true leadership.
I also feel blessed to have loyal and supportive clients. Thank you all.
There has been a lot of discussion about the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on the academic progress of students. With that in mind I will not be closing down at the end of November this year. Instead I will continue until December 10. I’ll also commit to opening for 2 days a week during the last two weeks of January to allow students to get a head start on their 2021 studies.
The pandemic showed many of us we can do things in a different way. Not a bad thing! I learned to conduct lessons online. I will continue to offer online sessions for those who need them which includes students who live too far away to attend my office.
I have also introduced Turbo Tuition. These are concentrated half hour sessions (at half the price of a full session) suitable for students who need extra support with their studies e.g. after the disruption of lockdown, as well as students requiring quick advancement and those who already attend once a week but would benefit from a little extra.
Although I found the online lessons worked well and appreciated the technology that allowed me to maintain contact with the students, the feeling of jubilation and contentment I experienced when the children resumed attending at my office must be an indication of how much I missed the person to person contact. The fact that my students were much chattier than usual in the first week back might indicate the same for them. :)
In 2021, I plan on getting back into the routine of publishing one newsletter each term, as well as sending home student reports.
Lockdown proved to be an excellent opportunity for me to focus on writing with few distractions. I murdered several people—in story that is—by writing short murder mysteries, as well as fine tuning Dusty Kent Murder Mystery #5, Tooting Moon set in Broome, Western Australia. This book should be ready for publication in a few weeks. Just in time for Christmas! If you have friends who like Agatha Christie style murder mysteries, Tooting Moon is the perfect gift.
Since it will be difficult for me to travel to a warm location to research the setting for Book #6, I have decided to set the story right here in Albert Park. As part of my research I discovered that Albert Park Station was once known as Butts Station– so named because of its proximity to a 28 hectare volunteer militia rifle range between the park and the sea. I’m sure I will discover many more interesting bits of trivia about the area, although little of it will end up in the book.
Start reading Tooting Moon now.