Yep! Headaches gone

Re: Melbourne: I don't even know if Neighbours is a real street? Nor if it is even in Melbourne?…I don't watch it. From the little I have seen of it, I'd say it's fairly typical of urban sprawl, but not at all representative of the character of our cities…especially Melbourne I get embarrassed that Neighbours is one of our exports. I don't think it represents our people at all well…do you folks feel accurately and/or honourably represented by Coronation Street?

Actually, I was born and grew-up (used metaphorically), in Newcastle (approx. 160ks North of Sydney). I now live near Canberra, in the beautiful Snowy Mountains

Yeh! The 'flat' thing is seemingly a biological with me…I can appreciate flat places, just don't like living in them. You know what they say about Mountain Men…?

Re: France: Already well tempted…but I look forward to your pics and stories

Your ol' York chap sounds like he'd fit the bill nicely :- )

Cheers

Stephen G

OK, I'll put Melbourne back on the list – actually it sounds wonderful. I haven't seen much of it, just the street in Neighbours really, which I'm guessing isn't typical. You're from Sydney? You don't play the guitar do you? BTW I know what you mean about flat, this part of Yorkshire is, well, relatively so. I lived on the coast for years with huge cliffs and hills that were almost vertical; walking is almost boring now I'm on flatter ground lol

You *really* should go to France! It's such an experience. Paris is incredible, so much history and culture. And the rural parts are still pretty unspoilt, and surrounded by amazing scenery. it really is a *must see* place. I'm hoping to go next summer; I'll make sure I post photos to tempt you

“an old grumpy person that thinks everyone else are idiots”
Sounds like a chap at York lol He was really into the Icelandic Sagas and thought the rest of us were morons cause we weren't.

How are you? Haven't seen you for a while

And you did that with a headache?!!! I'll have to tell Spike. Headaches as a writer's block remedy?…Excellent! He might add it to his Freelance Writer's Toolkit…ay-bluddy-mazing!

I'm gunna go and bang my head against a wall right now…oh hang on, I've been doing that all week jousting with Telcos & Gov't Service Providers and, and, and, and…seems I may have had a headache for so long I don't notice anymore

Don't let embryonic geeks put you off Melbourne though Kate…but if you do go, don't go for a holiday…go for a sabbatical. You have to be there for long enough for it to soak. There are some that consider it the 'Writer's Capital'.

I lived there for a couple of years and loved it. Bazillions of second hand bookshops that you can smell from the street…sandstone cafes that are only 10 feet wide, but they go for 200 feet up fig encrusted wobbly, cobbled staircased hillsides, with little galleries and studios studded randomly either side, wafted with the smell of coffee, oil paints, old books and honey-suckle, stirred into smoky spirals, so they're not mixed, just swirled…

And I don't know what it's like over your neck o' the woods, but in Melbourne folks use parks like their lounge rooms…they live in them…there's always something interesting and creative happening for free in Melbourne…it's unlike any other 'Osstraalyun' city.

The only reason I can't live there for a long time is that it's too flat and the sky is a bit pale for me…so is the sun. But I s'pose that's only 'cause I grew up on the coast North of Sydney. Mountains, bright blue sky and Ocean everywhere…

I love Canberra even better…high up in the mountains, with the bluest sky you've ever seen…and where I am, it's only about 75klm from the Ocean (as the crow flies)…right near the edge of the range where it drops down to the coastal plain…so we get the afternoon sea mist and the smell of the ocean…pretty neat.

Geez, I just read what I wrote and it sounds like a bad travel brochure…no I'm not bucking for a job with Australian Tourism …I just love certain bits…

My idea of romance is getting plastered on cheap Port and coffee that dissolves your spoon, at 10 o'clock in the morning with Henry Miller, Herman Hesse, Jorge Louis Borges and Franz Kafka in a sidewalk Cafe in Dadaist France…never been there, but I can smell it when I read about it…

My idea of University has always been sitting under a big ol' tree with an old grumpy person that thinks everyone else are idiots…

Anyway…it seems that randomness it pleasantly contagious…

Thanks for the great headache…I mean post

Cheers

Stephen G

Talking of money – I was going to buy the Guernsey Potato Pie book yesterday, along with the one Jayne mentioned in my last post, but the I can't, an atm stole my card. Did you know they run on Windows? The machine reset itself just like a computer. Windows? What's that about?!

I've an even better idea for you – next time you mention Manet, encourage your friends *not* to get you Monet, but to get you some Money instead. After all, what's the difference between a 't' and a 'y' amongst friends!