47 Things About Me

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.

1. I was born in 1947 (sssh - yes - I am THAT old - just keep it quiet)
2. I have blue eyes.
3. I have fair hair.
4. I wear glasses.
5. I have been happily married since 1971.
6. I was a primary school teacher for 35 years until I retired in 2004.
7. I write poetry.
8. I have a great passion for birding.
9. I enjoy writing stories.
10. 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)
11. I collect maps - 100s of them.
12. I have trekked the Himalayas as far as Tengboche in the Everest region.
13. I have a daughter who is a teacher.
14. I have a married son who is a computer whizz (and you thought that I maintained this site????)
15. My wife has a small Australian native plant nursery.
16. I live in Murray Bridge, South Australia, 80km east of our state capital city, beautiful Adelaide.
17. I have a small aviary in the garden.
18. I spend too much time watching the Australian cricket team.
19. I love attending the best cricket oval in the world, the Adelaide Oval.
20. I follow the Adelaide Crows in the AFL (Australian Football League).
21. I like reading.
22. I usually read magazines from cover to cover (if I’ve paid for it I want to get my money’s worth).
23. I have a large, growing heap of unread magazines.
24. I enjoy reading stories aloud (this comes from reading aloud to my classes while a teacher for so long.)
25. I love the smell of rain on dry ground.
26. My favourite movie is “Pirates of the Caribbean” but this is subject to change with my mood.
27. I love taking my daughter’s dog Nancy for a walk.
28. I have been a member of Birds SA, South Australia’s main birding association, for over nearly 30 years.
29. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the Murray Mallee districts of South Australia.
30. I once lived in Clare in the mid-north of South Australia, just around the corner from where my daughter now lives!
31. My son and daughter-in-law live in Sydney.
32. My interest in photography has returned since buying a digital camera last year.
33. I love sitting in front of a wood fire.
34. I love going camping.
35. My first teaching appointment was to Parachilna Rural School, a one teacher school in the Australian outback.
36. My favourite bird is the Rufous Fantail, a member of the flycatcher family.
37. I am a Life Member of the Adelaide Zoological Society.
38. I have been a member of the South Australian Writers’ Centre for about 15 years.
39. I enjoy watching natural history programmes, especially if they feature birds.
40. I am a member of Birds Australia, our largest birding association.
41. My favourite animal is the Red Panda; unfortunately I didn’t see one when in Nepal in January 2006.
42. I have written several novels and picture books for children, as yet unpublished.
43. I have had six books published (in the early 1990s now sadly out of print)
44. I enjoy watching the Tour de France - and wished I had 1% of their energy and endurance.
45. I have an in-ground swimming pool in the garden affectionately known as “Le Swamp” when I don’t maintain it properly.
46. I love lists.
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.