In my seventy-eight years I’ve seen many changes, not only in Mullumbimby. The thing I notice most is how we now dance to the tune of the biggest idiot.
I personally am very lucky, have had ups and downs but now I’m on the home straight. One of my four sons has bought the property that I was battling to save for their inheritance, what a blessing.
That’s not my only luck lately. Early in 2020 I returned from my usual abode and family in Northern Thailand, the day before the borders were closed because of COVID.
As I intended to stay only a few weeks this would seem a disaster, but what happened next saved my life.
I complained to a doctor that I felt very strange and within weeks was on the operating table for the neurosurgeon to remove a golf ball sized tumor from my brain. Thanks to the amazing medical teams here in Mullum and up at the Gold Coast I’ve returned to my usual self; a hater of injustice.
As well as the injustice I see inflicted upon people in other countries, I see it here in Mullumbimby. Why can’t all local kids buy a home in the area, why is not more land released for housing, why can’t you live in a humpy if it’s safe and clean, why can’t a capable person fix a light switch without a licence… and it goes on and on.
Where has common sense and personal judgment gone? Seems like we all have to dance to the tune of the biggest idiot. Don’t fix your own roof because you might be an idiot and fall off and that’s why it’s illegal because you might be an idiot, and so it goes on. I must say it again, I am so lucky.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
