Graeme

She's had a heart attack. That doesn't mean she's died....

LOL

Thank you! I did try to tie everything together.

Several possible disasters averted through a bit of good luck and good planning. However, I wonder if Jacob is supposed to have French the following day, because that's the class that's going to reveal the switch if Josh is still "Jacob" when it happens. It's interesting that Jacob doesn't mind continuing the switch for another day (or two, since if Josh is only half done with mucking out the stables, they'll finish at the same time the next night and won't be able to switch until the following day). He clearly hated it at school and Josh's parents weren't inspiring, either. The only positive for him appears to be Josh's computer. I'm still waiting to find out what happens when Parker picks on the wrong "Josh"

The rules in Australia differ from state to state, but here in Victoria, you can't get a learner's permit until your 16, and your can't do the driving test for a license until you're 18. From the official government website on getting a probationary license: if you are under the age of 21, you must have held your learner permit for at least twelve months in the period immediately before applying for a licence and completed a minimum of 120 hours (including at least 10 hours at night) of driving with an experienced driver. You must have recorded these hours in an official Learner Log Book signed by you and your supervising experienced driver. if you are 21 years of age or over, or obtained your learner permit before 1 July 2007, you will not be required to complete 120 hours of supervised driving or submit an official Learner Log Book if you are over 21 years of age but under 25 years of age, you must have held your learner permit for at least six months in the period immediately before applying for a licence. if you are 25 years of age or over you must have held your learner permit for at least three months in the period immediately before applying for a licence. Even when you've got a probationary license, there are significant restrictions: Cannot drive eight cylinder, turbocharged, supercharged, or high performance six cylinder vehicles except in special circumstances (eg. for work or in hardship situations) Cannot have more than one passenger between 16 and 22 unless there's an experienced driver next to them (for first year of the probationary license only) You must have a zero blood alcohol content (BAC of .00) at all times while driving. If you are a drink driving offender caught with a BAC of 0.07 or more, you will have to fit an alcohol ignition interlock in your vehicle for a minimum of six months once re-licensed. If you pass your Drive Test in an automatic vehicle, you can only drive a vehicle with an automatic transmission (this does not apply if you have previously held a manual licence). You must not use a mobile phone while driving. This includes hands-free devices, hand-held phones and messaging of any kind. P1 (first year) probationary drivers are only allowed to tow for work at the request of their employer, or for driving solely in connection with agriculture, horticulture, dairying, pastoral, commercial fishing, or under instruction with an experienced driver in the vehicle.

Thank you!

The story is a mixture of genres. The opening section is a sort-of mystery, though I suspect most people will work it out before the reveal. Then the story becomes a drama/romance novel, as you can probably expect from the premise of The Tree

But how did she feel about it? She didn't sound upset to me....

Alex and Bobby watched as the last of the cars disappeared from view. Alex sneezed once as the wind blew some of the dust in their direction, but otherwise the two guys stayed silent. Bobby glanced around and noticed that Vince’s parents had gone back inside. It was early, but it was going to be another hot Saturday. There were forecasts of possible storms for the afternoon. Bobby had a healthy distrust of the weather bureau, but he hoped they were right. A good storm would deliver some much-ne

Thank you! In my opinion, very few people hate without what they consider to be good reason. Others can disagree if those reasons are justified, but they'll have those reasons. I suspect that's why I have so much trouble writing homophobic characters, because I personally have trouble believing in the character's justifications for their behaviour

Jamie padded into the kitchen to make his breakfast. Bobby was still asleep – not surprising, given the late hour they’d arrived home. It had been a good night, and even though Jamie had wanted to stay with Alex, he understood that his boyfriend would have to get up early to go to work. The family business operated seven days a week, and Alex had to open the store on Saturday mornings. Jamie found himself starting to think of long-term issues regarding his relationship with Alex. He was surpris

They're off to a good start, but it's still risky. One thing I noticed was how little worry either appeared to have about swapping keys. That shows an almost instinctive trust of the other, especially with Josh giving Jacob the password to his computer. After I wrote my last review on the difficulties, I thought about handwriting, but you're one step ahead of me and the twins have similar handwriting, too. The difference in personalities is going to be the biggest challenge, but Josh will have Ethan and Sarah with him, and it's easier for others to accept an increase in confidence when Jacob is impersonating Josh. They'll get away with it for awhile. How long, though, remains to be seen. It could be minutes, hours or days. As a real-life equivalent, one of the Big Brother series here in Australia had identical twins sharing the house, swapping places from time to time. They got away with it for a while, but they'd lived together and knew how each other acted.

I remember you! Welcome back I've been good. I've had a three year break from writing, but that's broken and I've written two short stories recently, with a new novel underway. How's your writing coming along?

“You know, you surprised me this afternoon,” Matt said to Vince as they lay intertwined on Vince’s bed. Both guys were bare-chested, having discarded their shirts soon after they’d closed the door. “What do you mean?” “When you said you’d agree to a commitment ceremony.” Vince smiled and snuggled into the side of Matt’s neck. “I didn’t agree to that.” Matt stiffened and then made himself relax. “That’s what I thought you said, and I’m sure everyone else thought the same.” “I agreed that whe

The thread has been re-opened. Please be civil in any future discussions and remember that not everyone has the same life experiences and opinions as yourself. We're all different, and we all have different families.

I suspect the trading places thing will fall in a screaming heap. Jacob could probably pretend to be Josh, since Josh doesn't have any friends, but Jacob sounds too popular for Josh to impersonate him. They already realised that impersonation is more than just appearance, but I suspect they don't really appreciate how much more it is. They might pull it off for a few hours, but that'll be it. Josh just doesn't know how to act confident around people. That's my read of the situation

LOL -- don't worry about it. I was considering moving the topic for you, but since you've posted the new topic there's no need Oh, and welcome to GA!

Mail delivery in Australia has been Monday-Friday for a long time now. The Australian post office (AusPost) has been expanding into also be store for selling things other than postage, as well as being an agent for bill payments and for some forms of ID verification (eg. passport applications). Personally, I wouldn't be affected if they stopped mail delivery because I live at a rural property that doesn't get mail delivery, anyway. We have to go into town to collect our mail if we want it We usually do that a few times a week, but certainly not every day.

Mark was frantic. He’d been searching The Nacho Nirvana but couldn’t find Mia. He headed over to where Matt, Vince, Bobby, Karen and Padma were talking. “Do you know where Mia is?” Mark asked. “I think I saw her slip out with Shane,” Matt said. “Shane?” Mark said, perplexed. Shane was the last person he expected Mia to be with. “When was that?” “Soon after midnight,” Matt said. Mark had been hoping to have the midnight dance with Mia, but he had lost sight of her and had to be content stand

LOL!

Interesting.... From memory, studies with identical twins have reported that if one is gay, there's something like a 50-60% chance that the other twin is also gay. I like the possibility that this is a story about identical twins that don't share a sexuality, but I'm also aware that when Jacob made his announcement it was when we were reading things from Josh's point of view. We don't know if Jacob was telling the truth

Mia made her way across the road and into the park, walking carefully to avoid spilling the two cups of takeaway coffee she was carrying. After a pause to scan the area, she headed over to the old melaleuca that stood near the small ornamental pond. She smiled down at the guy in the shade of the tree. Jamie was lying on his stomach, reading a book. He hadn’t noticed her arrival. “G’day, Jamie. I’ve got a coffee for you.” “Mia! Sorry, I didn’t notice you there,” Jamie said as he rolled into a

A Moreton Bay Fig tree. The original inspiration is this tree but that is larger than the tree I imagine as The Tree. Do an image search on Moreton Bay Fig tree to see lots of examples.

~sigh~ Hopefully we can put this discussion to rest now. I'll finish off by putting my two cents worth. I'm the flip side of what Adam has talked about with respect to sexuality. I consider myself to be gay. I'm not attracted to women, it's guys that I look at for eye-candy and for fantasies. Pictures of nude women turn me off. Pictures of nude or even semi-nude men, however.... Despite that I am in a happy monogamous heterosexual relationship. I do not consider myself to be bi-sexual, because I'm not attracted to females. I'm just in love with one, that's all.

The next morning, Jamie awoke to the sounds of Bobby stirring. Relishing the feel of lying in Bobby’s bed, he didn’t move for a couple of minutes. He sat up when the continuing noise made him feel guilty. He looked over the side of the bed. “Morning, Bobby. Why don’t you get up here and lie in your bed for a bit? I think it’ll be my turn to sleep on the floor tonight.” Bobby gave him a sheepish grin. “I’d like to refuse, since you’re the guest, but this floor wasn’t as comfortable as I’d hoped