A little -- well, a lot -- about me
The obligatory statistics: I was born on October 27, 1948, at about 5:15 in the morning -- which makes me a double Scorpio -- and stand 1.82 metres tall and weigh in at around 84 kg (6 feet and 185 pounds) the weight and waistline varying with whether I've been having one of my infrequent bursts of enthusiasm for exercise.
The eyes are brown, the beard is going white, and what's left
of my hair is white too.
At least I think it is: I haven't seen it for years.
The eyes are brown, the beard is going white, and what's left
of my hair is white too.
At least I think it is: I haven't seen it for years.
I was born in Sydney and can't think of any place I'd rather live, but I can't really describe myself as a dinki-di Aussie. My father was English but born and brought up in China
and my mother was Australian;
and between them they gave me blood from just about every country in Europe.
Dad's job meant I spent my childhood in various parts of the Orient (I was actually conceived in Bangkok) and though the family came back to Australia in 1960
in time for my high school years and I've lived here ever since,
I still speak the British English I learned as a child
-- and the food with the comforting childhood memories tends to involve rice...
and my mother was Australian;
and between them they gave me blood from just about every country in Europe.
Dad's job meant I spent my childhood in various parts of the Orient (I was actually conceived in Bangkok) and though the family came back to Australia in 1960
in time for my high school years and I've lived here ever since,
I still speak the British English I learned as a child
-- and the food with the comforting childhood memories tends to involve rice...
I've been a keen gardener since I was a small child -- I planted my first rosebush in my mother's garden when I was about 12 --
and it was the love of gardens that led me to train in architecture and go on to become a landscape architect.
Even in my University days when I was living in digs I almost always made at least a window box; and since then I've made real gardens of my own wherever I've lived.
The present one here in Sydney is my eighth, not counting those I've made for other people in my thirty year career as a landscape architect in Canberra, Adelaide and Sydney.
Sure, it's hardly vast -- 47 square metres all up-- but I don't find that frustrating. I've made gardens on a grand scale, and after a working week talking, drawing and writing about gardens and plants and gardening the last thing I want to do is spend my weekends labouring in a big garden.
There are other things to do in life!
and it was the love of gardens that led me to train in architecture and go on to become a landscape architect.
Even in my University days when I was living in digs I almost always made at least a window box; and since then I've made real gardens of my own wherever I've lived.
The present one here in Sydney is my eighth, not counting those I've made for other people in my thirty year career as a landscape architect in Canberra, Adelaide and Sydney.
Sure, it's hardly vast -- 47 square metres all up-- but I don't find that frustrating. I've made gardens on a grand scale, and after a working week talking, drawing and writing about gardens and plants and gardening the last thing I want to do is spend my weekends labouring in a big garden.
There are other things to do in life!
The garden here in Erskineville, taken a few years ago by Lorna Rose.
The ginkgo, just coming
into leaf here,
is enormous now
The ginkgo, just coming
into leaf here,
is enormous now
It's a Zuckermann Flemish Double, signed Roger Mann, Canberra 1982
Such as good food ( I like to cook and love to eat out)
and wine (I actually drink very little, which enables me to keep
a good cellar), books, books and more books -- and music. Classical music, everything from Hildegard to Henze,
though my great loves are Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Shostakovitch, and above all J.S. Bach.
It was with the ambition of playing Bach for myself
that I built my harpsichord back in the early 1980s,
though I don't practise nearly enough (CDs are so much easier to play!) and my repertoire remains embarrassingly tiny.
But there's no doubt that wrestling with the notes opens
one's ears to music like nothing else can.
and wine (I actually drink very little, which enables me to keep
a good cellar), books, books and more books -- and music. Classical music, everything from Hildegard to Henze,
though my great loves are Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Shostakovitch, and above all J.S. Bach.
It was with the ambition of playing Bach for myself
that I built my harpsichord back in the early 1980s,
though I don't practise nearly enough (CDs are so much easier to play!) and my repertoire remains embarrassingly tiny.
But there's no doubt that wrestling with the notes opens
one's ears to music like nothing else can.
I hate talking in public about my personal life,
and all I'm going to say here is that I'm
a life-long bachelor and happy to remain so;
though I have given my heart in the past and
am open to the possibility of doing so again.
Who knows?
But in the meantime I'm happy in the love of my family and friends -- and in the companionship
of my cat, a Russian Blue called Pushka Anastasia Sovietskaya who came into my life on my birthday (and, we found out later, on hers)
a few years ago when my cousin Mark
rescued her from an owner who was allergic to her.
and all I'm going to say here is that I'm
a life-long bachelor and happy to remain so;
though I have given my heart in the past and
am open to the possibility of doing so again.
Who knows?
But in the meantime I'm happy in the love of my family and friends -- and in the companionship
of my cat, a Russian Blue called Pushka Anastasia Sovietskaya who came into my life on my birthday (and, we found out later, on hers)
a few years ago when my cousin Mark
rescued her from an owner who was allergic to her.
In Canberra in 1983, in my biker
days before I went grey
That's Pushka
(aka The Green-Eyed Monster)
on the left
days before I went grey
That's Pushka
(aka The Green-Eyed Monster)
on the left
