Archive for the 'General' Category

You may be wondering who I am and various things about me. Here is a list of 47 things about me that might not be obvious from my blog.

UPDATE: many items on this list were updated on 28th November 2009.

1. I was born in 1947 (sssh – yes – I am THAT old – just keep it quiet)
2. I have blue eyes and fair hair. (Update: it’s getting thinner)
3. I wear glasses.
4. I have been happily married since 1971. To the same person.
5. I was a primary school teacher for 35 years until I retired in 2004. Update: in 2012 I was invited to take up a part-time lecturing position at Tabor Adelaide.
6. I write poetry and have had many published. In 2009 I won first prize in a major poetry competition.
7. I have a great passion for birding.
8. I enjoy writing stories and have many published.
9. I am a legend in my home town for telling jokes – I’ve have even been a stand-up comic on a number of occasions (but not professionally)
10. I collect maps – 100s of them.
11. I have trekked the Himalayas as far as Tengboche about 5 days’ walk from Everest base camp.
12. I have a daughter who is a high school  teacher.
13. I have a married son who is a computer whizz (and you thought that I maintained this site????). Update: I now have a grandson and a grand-daughter.
14. My wife has a small Australian native plant nursery.
15. I live in Murray Bridge, South Australia, 80km east of our state capital city, beautiful Adelaide.
16. I help run a poetry reading and critiquing group.
17. I spend too much time watching the Australian cricket team.
18. I love attending cricket matches at the best cricket oval in the world, the Adelaide Oval.
19. I follow the Adelaide Crows in the AFL (Australian Football League).
20. I like reading.
21. I usually read magazines from cover to cover (if I’ve paid for it I want to get my money’s worth).
22. I have a large, growing heap of unread magazines.
23. I enjoy reading stories aloud (this comes from reading aloud to my classes while a teacher for so long.)
24. I love the smell of rain on dry ground.
25. My favourite movie is “Pirates of the Caribbean” but this is subject to change with my mood.
26. I love taking my daughter’s dog Nancy for a walk. (Update: sadly Nancy went to Doggy Heaven in 2008. I now walk alone.)
27. I have been a member of Birds SA, South Australia’s main birding association, for over 30 years.
28. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the Murray Mallee districts of South Australia.
29. I once lived in Clare in the mid-north of South Australia, just around the corner from where my daughter now lives!
30. My son and daughter-in-law live in Sydney. (Update: they adopted a Colombian boy in 2009 and a girl in 2012 so I’m now a Grand Dad).
31. My interest in photography has returned since buying a digital camera in 2005.
32. I love sitting in front of a wood fire.
33. I love going camping, especially in the Flinders Ranges.
34. My first teaching appointment was to Parachilna Rural School, a one teacher school in the Australian outback.
35. My favourite bird is the Rufous Fantail, a member of the flycatcher family.
36. I am a Life Member of the Adelaide Zoological Society.
37. I have been a member of the South Australian Writers’ Centre since about 1992.
38. I enjoy watching natural history programmes, especially if they feature birds.
39. I am a member of Birds Australia, our largest birding association.
40. My favourite animal is the Red Panda; unfortunately I didn’t see one when in Nepal in January 2006.
41. I have written four novels and seven picture books for children, as yet unpublished.
42. I have had six books published (in the early 1990s now sadly out of print)
43. I enjoy watching the Tour de France – and wished I had 1% of their energy and endurance.
44. I have an in-ground swimming pool in the garden affectionately known as “Le Swamp” when I don’t maintain it properly.
45. I love travelling and my most memorable trip was 2 weeks in Ethiopia, followed by 2 weeks in Morocco and another two weeks in Spain during December – January, 2011-12.
46. In February 2008 I went back to university. I am doing my Master of Arts in Creative Writing. It is fun – but hard work. UPDATE: Feb 2011: I passed my degree with a distinction. Yay. UPDATE #2: In February 2012 I was invited to take up a part-time lecturing position at Tabor Adelaide.
47. This list started out being called “100 Things About Me” but I ran out of steam at 47, so this is it. Why stop at 47? Well, I was born in 1947, and thinking up a list of 1,947 things about me would mean no-one in their right mind would read it. Besides, that many things about me would be rather silly. So there you have it.

Regular readers of this blog will already know that I have started posting snippets of my writing on this blog. I have been writing for many years – close to 50 or thereabouts. This means that I have a significant body of work to share with my readers. Some of my poems and stories have already been published in the world of print. Some will only ever reach an audience on the internet. It is becoming increasingly hard to get one’s writing published in magazines these days.

Over the coming weeks and months I plan to regularly post examples of my short fiction, longer stories, poetry, non-fiction and other works as I feel appropriate. The plan is still in its development stages, but at present I will be posting as follows:

• Fridays – general poetry
• Saturdays – Haiku poems
• Sundays – short fiction

As usual, I invite readers’ comments on my writing.

Poems and stories already posted:

• Index of my poetry (click here).
• Index of my Short Fiction stories (click here).

I’ve just looked an interesting web site called the Urban Dictionary for the first time. All kinds of very interesting alternative definitions of slang words and expressions in common usage – but not the kind of things one finds in a standard dictionary. It’s a very handy resource.

To access the Urban Dictionary click here.