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I'm an Aussie by nationality but a Tasmanian by nature. We moved to what Tasmanians call the "Mainland" which is of course the mainland of Australia when I was quite young and I have lived most of my life in Sydney. However now I am living in London. This is my second long-term visit here - this one could be for many years. We arrived in May 97 to find things much the way we left them, despite a new government. Because of my occupation, I am not condemned to a life of working in a pub which is very fortunate for me (or good planning if you prefer a 'proactive' stance). By now you may have gathered that I like to travel. If you want to see some photos of my travels, go and have a look at Travel pics. Apart from the expensive past-time of travel, I enjoy reading, writing (short stories, letters and many emails only so far - working up to the great Australian novel) and even the odd sport - rollerblading and skiing.
If I had my way (and lots of money and space and didn't travel too much) I'd have a whole zoo but at the moment all I have is a DLH (that's a domestic long-haired cat for the uninitiated) and a basenji (a natural breed of dog native to Zaire).
Rina's early days
The cat, called Rina, started life as most cats do, as a stray. She inhabited the carpark of the place I was working at the time and the sympathetic members of staff fed her milk and biscuits (Arnott's of course, as it was their carpark). She was a very vocal little ball of fluff. Thinking I was being kind, I brought her home one weekend as I knew she wouldn't get fed otherwise. I rang up a vet known to take in strays but all her cats had flu so I couldn't bring this one to her. Meanwhile the cat was determinedly crouching under the bed and wouldn't come out. I was afraid she'd die of stress. At last she did come out and of course she never did get to the vet to be sold. She stayed with us. We did try to find another home for her (not very actively I must confess) but there were no takers so we were stuck with her. For a preview of the longest haired domestic have a look at Rina.
Rina's big adventure
When we decided to move to London we had decide what to do with Rina. As she'd already been shown the worst of humanity by being dumped I couldn't do that again - not even give her away. So we decided, cruel as it may be, that she was coming with us. This is a very expensive and time consuming business. She was taken away by a very nice pet-picker upper who is no doubt used to this but we felt very mean sending her away in a van full of meowing cats. The next day she was to fly over to London - via British Airways Pet Class where the airconditioning is cooler (for their comfort we were told but probably because they're more docile when cold). We didn't see her for about a month, just after we arrived in the UK. She looked pretty drab and depressed but basically healthy enough. Over the next five months that we visited her she got happier and healthier looking. A bit confused by it all no doubt. She was well and truly ready to get out by the time six months were up. She has found settling in to normal life a bit of a struggle. On her third day home she ran off at eight in the morning and didn't come home til eight that night terrified and vicious. We were very worried about her getting lost but cats are very clever at that sort of thing. She didn't go out again (at all!) for ages but now, a few months later she'll go out for a short while. She hasn't really fit in to the large neighbourhood of cats around here (perhaps it's her accent...). She's now incredibly furry (being winter) and a bit fat (not getting enough exercise) but we're happy she's here with us and I think she is happy too to be reunited with her 'family'. There is strong pressure at the moment to change the quarantine laws but a bit too late for us.
The dog, called Jenny (if your name is Jenny don't be offended - I think it's a nice name), lives with my mother and is 14 years old. Basenjis are interesting dogs - they don't bark, they don't smell (well, not like dogs more like omelettes) and they don't obey. Jenny is red and white (that's brown and white but it's called red) and quite big for a basenji. In her youth she was a racing dog and did pretty well. They have to wear muzzles as they are quite aggressive with each other and tend to gang up on the winner (tall poppy syndrome?). Jenny comes from a showdog background with a Canadian champion in the pedigree but was sold because she was a bit deformed and ate too much. Eventually however she grew to proper proportions, much to the chagrin of her breeder and doesn't eat quite so much now that she's an old lady. She is a fine example of the basenji. To see this lovely creature have a look at Jenny.
We had a turtle, Tommy, for many years. Tommy was an Australian longneck turtle and lived in a fishtank. He was quite friendly for a reptile. He died sadly due to the Sydney climate (hot one day, raining and cold the next) which played havoc with his digestive system. Poor Tommy. Lest we forget.
We also had a cat, Pusska, another stray, who lived to be about 16. She was a lovely cat - very wild and died of kidney failure :(
I would love to have an alpaca - what gorgeous animals and I am very attached to geese. We lived near a pond which was home to a large flock of geese in England and - this is true - eventually the geese recognised our car as we drove up. They'd come up for a feed and one of them (we called Pee Wee after a very greedy basenji who also lives with my mother) would let me touch it. Geese are great. Another that I would like to have but apparently are hard to keep happy are seahorses. Actually I love just about any animal. Remember a long time ago in strange comic books you'd see an ad for sea-monkeys? Well for all the disbelieving, check them out.
What I am reading at the moment
Just started reading A brief history of time which is slow going as you have to think about everything. The style is great, although I still have trouble with the pictures showing time against speed etc. Never was any good at physics. Still enjoying it very much and hope to understand the theory of relativity etc. Previously read Charles Dickens' Bleak House, suitable Christmas fare I think. There is a remarkable amount of social comment if you can pick through to the irony. Sometimes it's hard to tell with Dickens if someone is an ideal or a horror. However it was very enjoyable. Most of the London scenes are around Holborn and Chancery which I travel through every day. Makes me wonder what Charlie would think of it today! Train travel has made me quite a fan of Patricia Cornwell and John Grisham as their protagonists always have such a hard, fast, busy life that I feel relatively lucky. I was reading so much I decided to join the local library which has been a saviour. Otherwise I'd have a house full of books (again - I already have about 500 at my mother's place). I generally don't read women's magazines anymore as I've read so many it's just the same old stuff again and I don't want to be told what I should be doing by people younger than me. I have now progressed to food and house magazines. Probably I will reach the same conclusion about them shortly. I for one would never have a lime green and dark blue room. It may be fashion but it's still ugly.
Desert island book is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Each time I read it I get something new out of it. It changes with me. My vote for the best book in English literature.
Videos, movies and performing arts
Last year, I went to see an opera for the first time - La Boheme a la Baz Luhrmann. Wonderful. I realised that really you cannot just listen to opera - it's a complete experience and this one was so bold and colourful. I was totally engrossed. Must see more!
For those of you who live in Sydney, you really must get along to Shakespeare by the Sea at Balmoral. It's free (they ask for a donation but it's not compulsory) and they do a great job with almost no props. Take a picnic rug and sip champagne as you sit under the stars with the gentle sound of the sea behind you and the odd group of bats flying overhead (some bats even drive by in their BMs). Runs January to beginning of March usually.
What I also love about Sydney is the Festival (in January). Symphony under the stars (although last time I went (97) was a bit of a let-down) but generally a magic night (and almost guaranteed to rain). Opera in the Park is also not to be missed and much easier to get a good spot.
My favourite spots in London are the National Gallery (what a heap of old masters in there!) and the Tower of London.
In the classical arena, cliched though it is, I'd have to say Mozart is the desert island choice. However I'm very fond of Beethoven and a bit of Tchaikovsky doesn't go astray (Romeo and Juliet is just divine). I learnt the piano for a while and would love to take it up again, start learning the violin and maybe learn to sing.
My all-time favourite song is ... Tainted love. As for consistent favourites:
Obsession of the moment: 30 odd foot of grunts - the lovely Russell Crowe puts his just woken up voice to music and does a damn fine job. The other members of the crew are great, though it must be said, not as good to look at. The recorded version (current EP "What's her name" out now) is not a patch on the real thing but gives a feel to the direction. Very 80s I think, which is a good thing in my opinion but not for everyone I suppose.
Number one stupid thing in Australia is compulsory voting (I can hear the Australians crashing to the ground as they faint). It may have made sense once (1924) when there weren't many people (eligible to vote that is) but now it's an anachronism. What are they afraid will happen if we don't have to vote? For those of us living in 'safe seats' it's ridiculous.
The older I get the more I lean to the left and it's not just arthritis. I had an encounter with a member of the Socialist Equality Party and though I agree absolutely with everything he said, I was a bit dismayed that he saw nothing inherently wrong with using the term 'mankind' as in 'what makes man different from the animals is that he...'. He also ignored me when I said I was aware of some issues he brought up. In other words, I felt he was being patronising and this is the big problem with Parties.
Political correctness - there I used that phrase. The point of political correctness is to change thinking through speech. There is no point being politically correct however if that's not the way you think. It's all about inclusion rather than exclusion. We are each a member of the human race and deserve to feel included. Think about the exclusion implicit in 'mankind'. How has 'mankind' managed to exist without 'womankind'. If mankind means men AND women then why not use a word like humanity or people? The use of 'man' and 'he' to denote 'someone' immediately brings to mind an image of a man. It should only be used when speaking of a man. You may say 'Who cares?' and I would say 'I do' and so do plenty of others. Why use the male gender to denote humanity when statistically women are the majority of the population? For all those who say 'Who cares?' imagine it the other way around where 'she' means her OR him. Well, it's silly isn't it?? Take note John Howard (Prime Minister of Australia who has just decreed that all chairpersons are now to be chairmen regardless of gender but preferably male one assumes).
If I were in control of the world I'd have to say I would decree that meat-eating is forbidden. However I am a realist and I respect the right of others to choose in this and all things. As a vegetarian for twelve years, I can report that it will not kill you. What started initially as a health decision has changed to a more anti-cruelty stance. I find the idea of eating animals abhorrent. However my major concern is with cruelty which I find impossible to understand whether it be to animals or humans, physical or emotional. Animal experimentation would have to be the most disgusting practice of the human race. I concede that a certain amount of it may be deemed necessary but the pointless duplication of experiments and the 'bleeding obvious' projects are cruelty for its own sake. In particular I wish to say Hands off the monkeys! They are our cousins and we as the default rulers of the planet should show a bit more respect and leave them alone. They are not the ethical equivalent of substitute humans. They are intelligent and emotional. Leave them alone! (and stop those stupid Bion projects). Further to this madness was the recent 'head transplant' experiments. This is totally pointless as no-one in their right mind (so to speak) would donate their whole body. Could you put your head on someone else's shoulders? The whole thing is insane. Giving someone else your liver if you die is one thing but how would your family feel if your body was running around but was someone else? What is the point? It just causes suffering of the innocent animals to prove an unworkable idea.
On the issue of human rights, I have one issue that really concerns me and that is the death sentence. This is the state condoning murder. In practice it is handed out to the perpetrator of death under mitigating circumstances as readily as it is to the hardened killer. The plight AJ Bannister in Missouri was terrible. He was executed on 22nd of October 1997 after about fourteen years on death row. Here wa someone who did not deny the killing but assisted the police and was clearly set up by a drug dealer. This man was condemned to die. He already had one eleventh hour reprieve. To hear him describe this incident, it is clearly worse than death itself. This is a cruel and unforgiving practice that along with putting to death someone who could be said to deserve it can take the life of the innocent, the set-up and the naive. Getting it right even 99% of the time is just not worth it. One wrongful death is too many. Mercy is our duty. Any judgment in the afterlife is for a being greater than us. It is not a practice for a civilised society. Fortunately it does not exist in Australia. May it stay that way.
If anybody has any further to the Bion projects, please do send me a message.
Travels I have made:
There are many places that I would love to see, in particular Egypt but that at the moment is a bit dangerous. This is very unfortunate for all the people there who survive on tourism and also sad for those of us in the world who feel drawn to Egypt because it is part of us all, the history of humanity. I understand that you can be extremely annoyed that people come and trample all over your patch - living in London one sees it every day - but when that patch is so historic, well what you have belongs to all of us. Londoners hate tourists and so do I but they have every right to see what it's all about. Americans and commonwealth citizens in particular want to see where they came from. The history is in the blood. It's a piece of you coming home.
When we were last over here we travelled extensively in Western Europe - camping! It was great fun but a lot of hard work. I don't think I could do it again but have no regrets at all. I loved France - and even the French. Each country was a new culture (or two), new currency and language(s). I took about 30 rolls of pictures - virtually none with people in them. Quite an achievement in Europe in summer. Here is a sample:
Caesar's
triumphal monument - France
Clos
Luce - Leonardo Da Vinci's last home
Metro
- Paris
Orleans
cathedral
Pont
du Gard
Jenny
the wonder basenji
Jenny
(left) and PeeWee (right)
Rina
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© 1997, 1998 Kirsty Grant.
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Last update Feb 2004>