Latest news with #Rider
Times
5 days ago
- Times
Me, my son and the gap year I crashed: what's working (and what's not)
It's an early start today in Brisbane, on my gap-year-in-a-week alongside my 18-year-old son, Rider, and we have a plane to catch. I give him an alarm call, but in the room next door he's (unexpectedly) way ahead of me. There's no time for breakfast so the stylish Crystalbrook Vincent hotel sorts us coffee and croissants to go. Shame. I would have happily stayed in bed until 11am staring at the extraordinary view of Brisbane Bridge. By 9.30am, after a Qantas flight from Brisbane's domestic terminal ('My first plane with propellers!' Rider says), we're at Hervey Bay, on the Sunshine Coast 180 miles north of Brisbane. From the nearby SeaLink terminal at River Heads it's a 50-minute ferry ride across the Great Sandy Strait to the Kingfisher Bay eco-tourism resort on K'Gari, the world's largest sand island. Formerly known as Fraser Island, K'Gari (the 'K' is silent) is famous for its beach-dwelling dingoes and Top Gear-inspired 4×4 safaris. Despite its popularity as a holiday destination, here nature retains the upper hand: there's a metre-long reptile cruising the tables for lunch leftovers (known colloquially as a tree goanna, though technically it's a lace monitor lizard). Rider is wary: 'Uncle Jonny [my Aussie 'little' brother] says they're the only Aussie creature he's still scared of.' Tree goannas have notoriously poor oral hygiene and a nip can send you to hospital, so we leave this one to his chips. For those who aren't driving a high-clearance 4×4, it's worth joining an all-day tour on the resort's custom-built super-bouncy coaches. We set off the following morning with a driver who is seriously multitasking: combining a nonstop running commentary on the flora and fauna while towing another coach out of a sticky spot. When traffic backs up on a two-way sandy 'road' the width of an English country lane, we stop again to hoick a stranded car out of a rut. Our driver says many people hire suboptimal 4x4s that can't hack the terrain, with inevitable wheel-spinning results. Back on the 'road', we meander through Pile Valley's extraordinary subtropical rainforest, admiring the ancient Satinay trees and giant palms. On the return leg some of us take a short walk through the forest, spotting a tiny baby Carpet Python curled around a stick, happily nonvenomous. After a lunch break we head to 75 Mile beach, where we're lucky to spot a lone dingo ambling against the backdrop of the Pacific. This is not a swimming spot — currents and sharks see to that — but it's popular for beach fishing, barbies, camping and taking selfies against the rusted wreck of the SS Maheno or while floating down the freshwater Eli Creek in rubber rings. • 35 of the best things to do in Australia Eventually we arrive inland for tea and swimming at the gorgeous Lake McKenzie, with its extra-fine white silica sand and mild water. I fall into conversation with a British family. The mum (a doctor), dad (in finance) and their two young kids had moved to Australia a few years back but returned to the UK shortly after lockdown. They've pulled the kids out of their school for an extended Easter break back in Oz and, this time, plan to stay. 'It's a difficult decision but the quality of life here is just so …' Dad tails off, as the kids call for him to come into the lake. 'Have a lovely life!' I shout after him as he rejoins his family. I'm momentarily wistful for those holiday moments with young kids; we never appreciate how precious and fleeting they are until they're gone. We've had a fun day, however a coach tour is never the go-to for an 18-year-old. In truth it wouldn't be mine either, so when I catch Rider eyeing-up a convoy of 4x4s full of teenagers exuding gap-year-party vibes I ask him if he's really OK doing this stuff with his 61-year-old mum? 'One hundred per cent. I just really want to come back here sometime, with my mates,' he says. That evening we eat at the resort's very good Asian fusion restaurant, Dune, before heading to watch Illumina, a 30-minute alfresco immersive light, lasers and music show. It's beautiful — and surprisingly moving. Woven with dramatic First Australian dreamtime imagery and mythology, it's also the perfect way to end our day. If you've been watching the hit BBC1 series Race Across the World you'll have followed the emotional/physical journey of the winners — fellow sixtysomething mum, Caroline, and her 21-year-old son, Tom. Though it remains strong, the mother-son bond I have with Rider has also been tested since the sudden, accidental death of his older brother in September 2023. Unlike RATW's Tom, however, Rider was never an only child. Losing Jackson has completely reshaped the family dynamic because, even in his absence, his presence remains huge and it always will. Rider's own strength has been inspiring, yet I know that navigating my loss and keeping other relationships intact and my head above metaphorical waters is the hardest work of what's left of my lifetime. So I'd purposefully left it five months before joining Rider in Australia. We both needed space to deal with ourselves without having to accommodate each other: Rider deserved to find a route for his future that wasn't defined by being the charismatic Jackson's 'little brother', while I needed to build a different life around the unanticipated void my eldest son's death had now created. Waking very early the next morning, I watched the sunrise from my balcony, hoping these magical shared experiences would provide enough glue to help me and Rider through a future that will, inevitably, be spent further Flett is spending a month travelling in Australia, and crashing her son's gap year. Read more at She was a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland (
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Time of India
Criminal injured in bid to escape police custody in Muzaffarpur
Patna: A criminal sustained bullet injury in exchange of fire with police after he tried to escape the police custody in Muzaffarpur district on Friday. The incident took place in the Saraiya police station area when the accused, Rahul alias Rider, tried to escape on the pretext of going to washroom while being transferred to the police station. According to the police, Rahul, a resident of Mungauli village and a notorious criminal with over six criminal cases against him, was initially arrested based on intelligence inputs. During the transportation, he managed to snatch a police officer's pistol after asking to stop for a bathroom break. While attempting to flee, he opened fire at the police vehicle, specifically targeting the driver's side door. In response, the police conducted controlled firing, hitting the accused in the leg below the knee. He was taken to the local primary health centre for initial treatment and later transferred to SKMCH for better medical care. Rural SP Vidya Sagar said, "Rahul was wanted in multiple cases, including a recent ice cream vendor shooting and a pickup truck robbery case in Jaitpur where a driver was murdered. The victim in the truck case was identified as Rajkumar Rai (38), a resident of Manikpur." Prior to this incident, Rahul also escaped police custody on September 18 during a similar bathroom break situation, leading to a case being registered (449/24). The SP added that the accused is currently undergoing treatment at SKMCH, and further legal proceedings are underway. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Iconic' Italian Restaurant The Italian Moon Closing After 60 Years
An "iconic" Italian and Mexican restaurant announced its doors will be closing later this month after 60 years in business. "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closing of Italian Moon. After many wonderful years serving the Grand Forks community, our final three days of service will be June 18th, 19th, and 20th," a statement from The Italian Moon reads. "This decision was not made lightly. Italian Moon has been more than just a restaurant—it has been a gathering place for families, friends, celebrations, and everyday moments. We've had the privilege of serving generations of loyal guests, and we are truly grateful for the memories made within our walls." Radio personality Rick Rider called the North Dakota restaurant a "staple for sure, and a household name" while referring to it as an iconic venue for the area. "This was a place enjoyed by families on their way to a UND hockey game or to watch a big high school game. At one time, it was just about impossible to find a table on a Friday or Saturday evening. It was also a popular spot for a lunch or dinner buffet in Grand Forks," Rider said. The Italian Moon got its start in February 1965 when owner Keith Moon opened an Italian restaurant. In 1974, the restaurant was sold to Ken Towers and Dave Rubin. Scott Purpur took over in 2015 and the company lasted 60 total years. "To our incredible staff, past and present, thank you for your dedication, passion, and hard work. To our customers, thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives—we are humbled by your support and love over the years," a statement from the restaurant read before asking customers to come back for one more meal together before it closes for good. The restaurant offers its customers everything from burritos to chicken Alfredo, but will be coming to a close next week.'Iconic' Italian Restaurant The Italian Moon Closing After 60 Years first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 12, 2025
Times
07-06-2025
- Times
Yes… I crashed my son's gap year. Here's what happened
I never had the faintest intention of 'crashing' my son's gap year; I just planned an extraordinary holiday for us both within it. And when I shared this idea with my 18-year-old son, Rider, he was excited. I know my son, and we are entirely capable of enjoying extended periods of time together while respecting each other's boundaries. If you like the sound of a gap year holiday, then here are my tips: 1. Make sure they know what you're planning. 2. Don't arrive until they've been away for several months and have spread their wings. When they are at the point where they most appreciate the Bank of Mum and Dad, they will be genuinely enthusiastic about seeing you. 3. Plan some tantalising adventures they haven't yet managed. Note: spa breaks at luxe retreats may be your idea of heaven, but for them it's The White Lotus. 4. When catching sight of your beloved offspring for the first time in months, try not to burst into tears in public. 5. If, like me, you manage three of the above, you're winning. I arrived in Brisbane on Good Friday, after the least stressful long-haul flight of my life — just 24 hours before Rider's flight arrived from Melbourne. At my Airbnb I slept, rehydrated like an athlete and got sufficiently abreast of any jetlag to get my Adulting Gap Year itinerary so watertight that the Royal Navy could deploy it as a submarine. We would be so busy that I would need another week to recover. (Luckily, I'd factored that in.) Travelling light has never been part of my skill set. Now, however, I recognised that three pairs of trainers, Ugg slippers plus not one but two pairs of niche footwear for plantar fasciitis was probably pushing the packing boundaries too far (and don't get me started on the vitamin supplements). Nonetheless, by the time my son and I were reunited in domestic arrivals, my pre-adventure to-do checklist had been checked. Within the hour (thanks to Rider) I had bought an e-sim to avoid mobile roaming charges: we recommend the Holafly app. • Kathryn Flett: Should I crash my son's gap year? By 7pm we had caught an Uber into Brisbane's central business district, where four fifths of my Aussie family had convened for Easter in a glamorous high-rise Airbnb overlooking the twinkling city. However, I barely registered the views; I had two nephews I had never even met to distract me. What a joy. During our heady week getting to know Queensland, Rider and I had precisely one argument, right at the beginning of the next day: Adventure Day 1. At the SeaLink terminal in the Brisbane suburb of Cleveland for the ferry to Stradbroke Island, I realised I didn't have the tickets — and the ticket office didn't seem to be open. Neither my son nor I are at our best in the early morning. As I made it clear to everyone within earshot that I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't hear Rider mutter 'zip-it, Karen', though he may have. Instead, while I was trying to explain to the staff that the tickets had already been paid for — I just didn't have them on me, Rider cut to the chase and simply bought two more, on the boat. Which reminds me, I still owe him for those. • Best hotels in Brisbane Forty minutes later, at North Stradbroke, we set off on a four-hour Aboriginal tour of the island that the local First Australian Quandamooka people call Minjerribah, with Elisha Kissick from Yura Tours. Engaging with the island's beauty ensured that we healed our minor rift. From the serene bush-fringed inland lakes to the seafood beach picnic of Moreton Bay bugs, crab and stir-fried ugaries — tiny saltwater clams we had prised out of the sand, ('Now you're hunter-gatherers,' we were told), via a bouncy 4×4 trip along pristine beaches, Elisha imparted the magic of Brisbane's nearest faraway place. 'First Nations people are born storytellers,' she said. 'It's what we've been doing for thousands of years.' 'Is that a koala?' Rider pointed at a furry blob in a gum tree. 'Wow! Well spotted!' Elisha said. Our Day 1 Aussie wildlife bingo scorecard eventually featured: two koalas, three wallabies, one semi-submerged turtle (possibly), numerous herons, cormorants, curlews and … then I started singing, 'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree/ Merry, merry king of the bush is he/ Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra/ Gay your life must be.' Rider was well within his rights to deploy his AirPods. However, my mum used to sing it to me — albeit not when I was 18. After a pitstop at the stylish island shop run by Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, whose gorgeous textiles, ceramics and jewellery sell internationally (if only my bags weren't already full of pointless pairs of shoes) we were back on the mainland, on speaking terms, heading for plunge pools and saunas at the Bathhouse Albion. We've previously thalassotherapied together in Cornwall and been massaged side-by-side in Marrakesh. However, this was the first time either of us had had an entire pukka spa all to ourselves. The infrared sauna was a game-changer; I lingered for much longer than I do in the traditional kind. • Read our full guide to Australia By the time we were ordering beers and burgers at (big, bold and very buzzing) Felons Brewery in Howard Smith Wharves, right beneath Brisbane Bridge, we were bonded again; a fully functioning mum and son duo up for more adventures. 'This is the life, eh?' I was happy to embrace cliché as we toasted the end of Day 1, which had been a long one. 'I wonder what tomorrow brings?' 'It's been amazing already,' ider said, 'but I'm fine without eating more ugaries.' I agreed; perhaps we weren't hunter-gatherers after all. Either way, we were up for whatever Queensland wanted to throw at us, together. So we drank to that. But not too much — there would be another early start tomorrow. Kathryn Flett was a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland ( and Qatar Airways, which has return flights London-Brisbane via Doha from £1,149pp (
Times
31-05-2025
- Health
- Times
Should I crash my son's gap year?
An empty nest hits some parents harder than expected and Michelle Obama recently admitted to having therapy to deal with hers. I'm the same age as Mrs O, a 'nan-aged' empty-nester who had two sons in my late thirties and early forties. However, after the sudden accidental death of my elder son, Jackson, in September 2023, at the age of just 21, it's fair to say my nest is even emptier than the former first lady's. Emptier, indeed, than I ever imagined it could be. I haven't had therapy and found other ways to get through. Yet towards the end of 2024 I'd all but exhausted my coping strategies when my partner was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and rushed into surgery. To deal with yet more extreme stress I chose to retreat; to batten down the hatches to get through what promised to be another tough winter, at the end of the cruellest year of my life. If this wasn't tough enough, while navigating profound personal loss and illness I lost friendships too. Inevitably, as so many testing, unanticipated chapters of my life unfolded, not everybody in it was able to stay on the same page. Still, while in this peculiar holding pattern I had sufficient wherewithal to suggest to my 18-year-old son, Rider, that after the worst year of his life — coinciding with his A-levels — he should probably embark on his richly deserved gap year even sooner than he had planned. With my partner about to start three months of postoperative preventive chemotherapy and Rider's friends scattered to uni or on travels of their own, there was little to look forward to at home, in the House of Absolutely No Fun Whatsoever. The Bank of Mum and Dad — albeit separated and repartnered for many years — ensured Rider boarded a flight to Brisbane on December 5 last year. At the other end he was met by my Aussie half-brother, Jonny, sister-in-law, Felicity, and two of my three nephews, Dominic, 10, and Memphis, 14 months, whom I'd never even met myself. It had been 16 years since I'd last visited Australia (along with a six-year-old Jackson) and 12 years since my Australian family had visited me; the latest addition to their family was born exactly a month to the day after Jackson had died. Given that my Aussie-born, UK-based father died in 2019 and my Aussie mother (who returned to Australia 45 years ago) died in 2020, during Covid, what remained of my diminished gene pool was quite suddenly all on the other side of the world. While I was born in the UK and have lived the whole of my adult life here I felt an umbilical tug. The thing is, my earliest memories are of the year I spent in Oz, aged three, when my mother had a trial separation from my father and took me 'home' — she was a country girl, having grown up on an 80,000-acre sheep station on the New South Wales/Victoria border. My parents eventually reconciled (for a few years) and I returned from my free-range year roaming the Australian bush to the suburbs of London. Accessorised by a tan and a broad Aussie accent, I defaulted to 'steereo' for stereo (a word used more often in the 1960s/1970s than today!) for years. After his arrival I gave Rider long enough to get over the jet lag and used to the high-summer heat before I started begging for pictures and updates via WhatsApp … Poor kid! Previously he and his brother had navigated the usual blended family's revolving doors ('Make sure you phone Mum on Mother's Day … I'll buy the card for Father's Day …'). They had each other's backs; now, tragically, Rider faced a future navigating the demands of his separated-but-equally-bereaved parents all by himself. His father and I inevitably both want big pieces of him while recognising he needs a new space for himself, free from our neediness; inevitably a tough balancing act for all. In the meantime, however, thank God for WhatsApp. 'What do you think of Australia so far?!' 'Amazing. I love it!' 'Good to hear! Show me the view!' Rider turned his phone around, waving a 'tinny' at a sunset over the gum trees with a twinkling Southern Cross emerging in the early evening sky. I sighed. 'That looks fantastic. Have the best time. Love you loads …' It really was a visceral tug. Yet I knew it was for the best that Rider remained a long way away from home during yet another emotionally bleak winter. Shortly before he died Jackson said that 2023 had been 'the perfect summer'. And now, if only by default in the light of his death, 2023 had become my 'perfect summer' too. Yet, once again, summer — the metaphorical and the real one ahead — seemed very far away, while future 'perfect summers' felt impossibly out of reach. Meantime I battened down the hatches once more. As my partner embarked on three months of chemotherapy I wanted to be there for him. However, (if all went well) afterwards I also wanted to reclaim space for myself. • 35 of the best things to do in Australia As Rider celebrated Aussie Christmas in Queensland — barbecue, swimming, cricket, hitting Surfers Paradise bars and clubs with his eldest cousin, Jordan — I hatched a plan. By the time he'd travelled to Sydney for New Year before arriving in Melbourne, I knew what I needed to do. Though how would my son feel if I crashed his gap year? Have you ever joined your child on their gap year? Let us know in the comments below
