In the Kingdom of the Blind

In the Kingdom of the Blind the one-eyed man is king; which is why so many organisations are now run by fools. The managerial cults of the 1980s reverberate down the years; the ever-new, the ever-new, and with each new wave comes an ever younger monster pretending they know what they are doing; presiding over their little harems of the even younger, so that many organisations are now staffed by people in their early 20s and run by people not much older. They know nothing and they make mistakes. If they can't get rid of them they treat the old blokes like dirt; forcing them to retire early. And thus it was, the fools took over the Earth.

THE STORY CONTINUES:

"It was around then that he truly began to love her, caught in some sort of destiny bigger than them both. He did not feel in control. He tried to downplay what was happening. After the disaster of Martin, he didn't want to get hurt.

"He was still getting used to the idea of a heterosexual relationship. He enjoyed the sex as much as or more than he had had with anyone in his life. It was so nice, felt so gratifyingly normal, to have a straightforward fuck. His sexuality had frozen on a few old images, and now it was moving again.

"The only thing he missed was the excitement of intimacy with strangers and the tumult of the bars. Tough sexual partners weren't exactly plentiful, and picking people up for a bit of abandoned, casual sex hadn't been his forte, he had assumed he would miss sex with men. He didn't."

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ABC:

Gale force winds lash southern NSW coast

Gale force winds travelling at 102 kilometres an hour have hit the town of Moruya, south of Bateman's Bay overnight.

The weather bureau says the storm should reach Sydney in the early hours of this morning and move up to the Hunter region.

Residents in Wollongong, Sydney and the Hunter region have been warned to stay inside their homes and keep away from windows.

Chris Webb, from the Bureau of Meteorology, says the wind has started to pick up.

"We're still expecting wind speeds, wind gusts in the 90 to 100 kilometre per hour range and we think that they'll be some particularly stronger winds offshore," he said.

"If they happen to just glance at some of the exposed coastal locations then the winds may be in excess of that."

David Webber, from the State Emergency Services (SES), says emergency crews are on stand-by.

"We've had just over 2,500 volunteers across New South Wales but also from Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT come and assist, as well as RFS (Rural Fire Service) and a lot of other volunteer agencies as well," he said.

Meanwhile, the Great Western Highway in NSW has been closed between Wentworth Falls and Mount Victoria due to icy conditions.