I am an immigrant. Have you heard of this campaign? Have you seen the posters? What an urgent and vital voice it seems at the moment. I am an immigrant too. I was born and grew up in Australia. I lived in Melbourne until my early twenties when I decided to move to London. My …
Category: musings
eight week review
It's just over eight weeks since I quit my job and time is doing that weird thing it seems to do of speeding up and filling up the more 'free' time one has. So I thought it might be good to take a step back and reflect on what I've done in that period. I've …
off to the charity shop
I bid farewell to an old favourite the other day. A school satchel that has seen better days, and for the last few years, if not longer, has hung, not quite forgotten, on a hook on the back of the door that hides our hot water tank. I bought it decades ago, before satchels became …
not twiddling my thumbs
In my rebellious teenage years, if I expressed my desire to be a writer, the immediate 'helpful' suggestion was that I should pursue a career in journalism. I knew strongly this was not what I wanted to do, nor did I want anything so conformist as a career. So I made a conscious decision to …
the view from my window
This is the view from my studio* window. I love it. That big blue gasometer has been part of my skyline for very nearly 25 years. I think it's beautiful, in a rugged, industrial way. But the gasometer has been decommissioned. It's being dismantled. You can guess what's going to replace it - luxury apartment …
Melbourne scrapbook
Here are some snaps and snippets from my recent trip home. Home? To the city where I was born, where I grew up, that I made a conscious choice to leave many years ago. London is home now. Melbourne is family, a few friends, home-but-not-home. What's that line from a Gang of Four song? 'At …
freesias
Once upon a time my family owned a house on a block of land in Anglesea, on the southern Victorian coast. We spent most school holidays there, the long holidays over the summer, when we'd swim and bushwalk and sometimes sail the dinghy my father built - if I remember correctly - with help from …
adieu, 2013
Paris for New Year's Eve. Et pourquoi pas? This was our incentive and reward for sticking with the French courses we'd signed up for in September. So, on 31st December we arrived in Paris early afternoon and booked into our modest 2 star hotel for a 3 night break. I'm not a huge fan of …
I blame John Hegley
Moi, je ne regrette rien. Well, I don't have many big regrets, but I do regret never having learnt to speak another language fluently. I learnt French and Russian at school; did a year of French at university before chucking in my degree; six months intensive German when I wintered, physically and emotionally, in Berlin …
uncomfortably blonde
When I was little I had blonde hair. As I grew older it darkened to what could best be described as 'dirty blonde'. So for years, every six weeks or so, I have restored my 'natural' blondeness with the help of a home hair dye kit. I hope I'm not especially vain, but somehow 'blonde' …
Hilaire 