Once upon a time a Poor Young Single Mother joined the Australian Public Service.

She lived, with her child, in a North Sydney bedsitter, reporting for a trade paper owned by a rich and charismatic man who had once flown a plane under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The PYSM had struggled to find child sitters who were not extortionate in fees or forgetful to arrive, before she had had to flee, notebook in hand (trade events and launches were often held out of hours).