Unaffordability of houses is getting big play in the media. Now although my mortgage worries are a long way behind me, I have to watch the dollars in my fairly frugal lifestyle, so I feel for couples who see their dreams evaporating.

“Open up more land,” the development industry cries, throwing in the motherhood term “sustainable ” to avoid frightening the horses.

The claim is that the law of supply and demand will cut in and solve the problem, but how far should we let the urban sprawl go?

I’d like to see home affordability aimed at from a different angle. How about a bit of public education to convince would-be home buyers of the need to cut their coat according to their cloth, and to reassure them that having a large house with all the furniture, furnishings, white goods and so on already in place isn’t essential to the satisfaction of owning one’s own home?

Among my happiest memories is the gradual furnishing of our first modest cottage with stuff given by relatives, bought at exciting auctions or occasionally saved up for.

Old-hat, I know, but the principle of living within one’s means shouldn’t be a casualty of the advertising industry’s dream-making machine.

The huge loans taken out by working couples on first homes, and their spending on furnishing, decorating, landscaping and so on before they even move in, staggers me.

What happens when one of the two incomes suddenly stops due to illness or some other circumstance? Up goes the “Must Be Sold” sign and down goes the dream.

Perhaps it’s time to dust off that old slogan: “Small is Beautiful”.

Crude label objectifies women

Have you heard about yummy mummies?

I came across the term only recently, and I don’t know what the sisterhood thinks of it, but it strikes me as yet another of those crude, instant labels that are taking the place of apt description, debasing our language and, in this case, surely, objectifying women.

Comely young mothers who like to look their best surely deserve a better expression of admiration than a line more suited to a grab-it-and-go food ad.

So what’s next, the glam gran?

Greying gracefully

Now, as a disinterested but not uninterested observer, I’m about to step fearfully into the landmine-strewn field of male comment on female style.

In recent months, I’ve noticed that among women of, shall we say, mature age, there are a lot more grey or greying heads, and I like what I see.

Greying is a natural accompaniment of maturity, and it seems that this is at last being acknowledged not as a process to be denied, but welcomed and turned into a styling plus. It has even had good press from the national media’s arbiters of fashion, who have given it what seems to be today’s ultimate but rather tacky tick of approval ... “sexy”.

What’s the matter with just “attractive”?

And another thing …

I see that I’ve made a distinction above between “disinterested” and “uninterested”.

This is just one of those fine shades of meaning in which the English language is so rich, but which are rapidly being lost to loose usage and poor vocabulary in what we read and hear. If you’re puzzled, I suggest you do some dictionary drill.

rich.29@bigpond.net.au