Another song for another grandson. My older grandson was 11 years old when Covid lockdowns and online learning became a thing. Surprisingly during this difficult time his reading and love of books - particularly fantasy and adventure stories - went through the roof. It pleased and old teacher librarian very much and I wrote this song for him but I hope it resonates with lots of other booklovers.more

Lots of my songs are written for family and friends. This song was written for my grandson when he was two and like so many two year-olds, he loved cars and trucks. He's now a big boy of four and truth be told, he still loves them.more

I taught in New South Wales public schools from 1978-2015 - it was a rewarding, exhausting, challenging, exhilarating, frustrating and memorable career. At various times in those nearly 40 years I was a classroom teacher, school executive, sports coach, librarian and principal. Every job rewarded the effort you were prepared to put into it. I was very pleased to have retired by the time Covid came around but I saw how incredibly hard my daughter and son-in-law worked during this time. Politicians, businesses and media paid lip service to teachers (and nurses, aged care workers, police and other frontline services) but very few called for better wages, increased staffing or improved working conditions for these heroic service providers. When the worst of Covid was over the NSW Teachers Federation was negotiating a new teaching award and the NSW State Government strongly opposed wage increases, staffing increases and better disability support - a 'Thank You' was considered sufficient. The NSW Teachers Federation ran a campaign called 'MoreThan Thanks' and this inspired my song. PS The picture is me singing with my class at Ben Venue PS in 1995more