The Soapbox

This page written circa 23 January, 1999.

Life, The Universe, Nothing Much

This is as much a status report on our life as the Vallejo Phase unfolds, as it is a reflection on what might be worthwhile in general.

I have not regretted leaving academia, and especially not Sydney University; I do not regret marrying Kay; I am happy having emmigrated to America (though I miss talking to you); working for HP is great; I like Santa Rosa (though I miss the intimate bustle of Newtown sometimes); this house promises memorable times and fun projects galore; we meet Californians of whom some will become lifelong friends (you know who you are already); I am not yet quite sure why we had Meri, just somethig new perhaps, but so far it's fun.

The current happiness is not without gaps. It is sad that Amelia moved back to Sydney just as we lined up this new life, and we miss our close friends---I caught Kay crying over this today.

In the boxes shipped from Wentworth Falls (via a year in storage), visitors to the Photo Gallery will observe, we found a load of slides taken between 1958 and about 1961, chiefly involving your author in his platimum blonde phase. There are about 150 of them in all. They are interesting in a funny sort of way, but they have made me miss my mother for the first time seriously. She would be enjoying this web page, and it would have given her great pleasure to see these images of fun times gone by. I am photographing the more interesting ones, mainly for ease of viewing and electronic transmission, and as something to leave Amelia. I have plans to collect the cream of the 2000 slides I took between 1977 and 1986, so expect some juicy exhibitions in the gallery in the year(s) to come.

What do Operation America and family nostalgia have in common, that I join them here? I feel as if my mother slipped through my fingers just before we got to really enjoy each other, and I do not intend to let a few miserable thousand miles prevent me enjoying the company of my valued friends, or Amelia, before I shuffle off his mortal coil. As Cath (who is visiting at the moment) said, we may well spend more time with the people who are important than if you were still around the corner, because it will be longer spells, and the time spent together will be much more intense and important for the distance. I will do my best to see that this is so.

Peter told me that he had fewer visitors when he lived in Silicon Valley than he expected. Peter, I have some things working for me that you did not: our friends are of longer standing and greater disposable income because we are older, and we have the internet making contact easier. Oh, and several of you have business reasons to come to the USA, quite apart from us! We bought our fourth queen-size bed today.

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