Author Archives: Ellen Gregory

About Ellen Gregory

Writing fantasy fiction with coffee or red wine in hand, chocolate on the side, and a devilcat on my lap.
June 17, 2013

The sad demise of reference books

By Ellen Gregory

Once upon a time, when I was still living with my parents, a frequent Saturday morning activity was the completion of the weekend general knowledge crossword. Me and my dad would scrabble through an entire bookshelf full of reference books to figure out the answers and gleefully write them in.

Reference Books

We would consult encyclopedic dictionaries, books of quotations, Enquire Within, the Pears Encyclopedia, the Guinness Book of Records, the Times atlas, and all manner of random books containing miscellaneous information. There was something thrilling about mining the information from the tomes lined up on the wall.

These days, however, all you need is Google and a smart phone.

These days, the moment you want to know anything, you can find out in less than 30 seconds.

When it comes to completing crosswords, though, it totally feels like cheating to use Google — whereas taking the time and effort to look up the answers in books did not. Maybe it was due to the process of choosing which book, or the pleasure of allowing ourselves to be sidetracked by all the other little gems of information found along the way as we flicked through the pages.

On the discard pile

I had occasion to think on all this recently when I was de-cluttering and, ahem, cleaning my study. At the end of this process I had accumulated a few boxes full of items to be discarded. At least one of those boxes is still lurking in a corner, filled with several reference books.

I have hoarded these reference books for years. The stash includes two nice boxed sets of literary references:

  • The Oxford Library of Words and Phrases (Quotations, Proverbs, Word Origins)
  • The Oxford Library of English Usage (Grammar, Spelling, Usage)

It broke my heart to relegate them to the discard pile, but the fact remains I really don’t need them.

Know a fragment of a quotation? Google will tell you who said it, or where it’s from, much quicker than the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations can . . . Need some advice on some controversial grammar point? Yep, you got it: Just ask Google.

That’s not to say I’m getting rid of all my literary reference books — the photo shows which ones I’m keeping (including a slim volume of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style — mainly for posterity). But although I will occasionally dig out the thesaurus, in truth I am far more likely to go to dictionary.com and its affiliates.

Still, I can’t help but think it’s sad the way reference books have been superseded by the Interwebs.

What about Encyclopedia Britannica?

Back when I was at school, owning the multi-volume Encyclopedia Britannica was something to aspire to for many families. It looked majestic on the bookshelf and cost thousands of dollars for a full set. Most of us had to be content with browsing through it in the library.

Now it looks like they don’t even make it in book form anymore — you can get it all on DVD-ROM for about $40. Or subscribe to the web site for $70 a year. Or get the smart phone/tablet app.

But back then there was something amazing about turning the pages and browsing through all that wonderful information.

What’s more it was reliable information — although with a (these days untenable) tendency to go out of date…

Fast, diverse, current

I suppose for the purpose of speed, currency and diversity of sources, the Web is a superior information gathering resource — so long as we are discerning and analytical.

Yet the Web certainly does not teach us patience.

Today I look at my reference books on the shelf, smile affectionately, and resolve to consult them more often — especially the classics like Strunk & White. But then the very next chance I get I’m Googling again.

Nonetheless, I’m half inclined to return my Oxford Library box sets to the shelf, after all. They haven’t actually made it out the door yet. What harm could there be to keep them?

What’s your reference book collection like? Do you find yourself Googling more than consulting a book for information? Do you think this is a good thing?

 

11 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Reflection

June 14, 2013

Diary of a Devilcat: Beware my Evil Eye

By Ellen Gregory

Says Chenna the devilcat:

Ellen is letting me write the WANAFriday post today, because the estimable Liv Rancourt has acknowledged that “cats run the internet” and challenged humans to post about their favourite pets, real or imaginary. She might just be my new favourite person…

Well, I can assure you I am very much real and I am going to do a post about ME! Specifically I am going to tell you about my evil eye.

Chenna evileye Devilcat

Chenna Evileye Devilcat

You may well stare… But the fact is one of my eyes changed colour 5-6 years ago, bestowing upon me a rakish air and providing feline eye specialists around the world with much food for thought. Read on to find out why!

(The following has been extracted from my dormant blog, Feline in Therapy — which should totally not be dormant, because it’s awesome, but Ellen will never give me any time at the computer… She’s a computer hog.)

***

16 July 2008

We visited the opthamologist this evening. Ellen has been going on and on about my left eye, which has changed colour over the past year or so. Maybe longer. I haven’t thought much of it, but we asked Dr Caroline to look at it when we visited last month and she recommended we visit a specialist.

So today we saw Dr Chloe. And now it seems as though it might be something serious after all. Or at least it might lead to something serious. Melanoma of the iris – skin cancer of the eye! Dr Chloe says if it changes colour, goes darker, I might even need to have my eye removed!

What can you say to something like that? How would I go with only one eye? I’ve heard that cats can’t judge distance when they only have eye. This makes leaping onto things hard. (It’s hard when you’re carrying a bit of extra weight as well!) And probably Ellen would make me stay inside all day, or maybe build me a cat run, instead of being able to go in and out as I choose. But maybe it would be OK . . .

There is a worse scenario of course, but let’s not think about that.

I will add, however, that despite these devastating tidings, I behaved beautifully at the eye doctor today. Only one half-hearted swipe and a faint growl. Other than that, I was placid and very very very good. Dr Chloe might actually even like me.

7 December 2008

The week before last, we went back to the eye specialist. You know, the one who wants to yank my eye out? Well, I did NOT want to go there, and I made sure Ellen knew it. She was so certain I would be good so long as she fed me before we went, but I wasn’t falling for that again. To make it even more worthwhile, the vet had students witness my examination, and I’m not sure they’d ever encountered such a devilcat as I. Ha Ha! I showed them! Hiss, spit, scratch. In the end they had to wrap me up in a towel. (I didn’t like that so much.)

I have to go back AGAIN in another four months. But at least I get to keep my eye for the time being. The specialist vets are fascinated by my eye, and have evidently been asking other opinions in on-line vet chatrooms. Cool huh?

But do you know how off-putting it is hearing people talk about ripping your eye out? As though it was a splinter or something! I mean REALLY! This is my EYE we’re talking about!

8 May 2009

The good news is that I get to keep my eye for another three months at least! Went to the specialist this evening (and I behaved extremely well, I might add), and once again suffered Dr Rachel and her accomplice to shine bright lights into my eye, and poke it and prod it, and take photos of it. Not pleasant! And I didn’t scratch once! (Although I did hiss quite a few times.)

Anyway, Dr Rachel thinks it might have changed a little bit, but not too much, and she didn’t think there were any raised lesions, so I don’t know what Ellen was on about. All in all, they dithered and muttered and postulated and prevaricated, until they finally decided that the odds were slightly in my favour and I should come back in another 3 months.

So that’s what we’ll do I guess.

19 August 2009

Got dragged off to the eye specialist today. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I’m either suffering home alone in silence, while Ellen goes out socialising, or being shoved into the carrier and subjected to trauma.

And so today they turn all the lights down, luring me into a false sense of security, then they shine bright lights straight in my eye!! Sheesh. AND they take a gazillion photos of it, with the flash spearing me time and again. Hateful.

The only good to come out of it was the knowledge that it’ll probably be six months before I get subjected to that again.

I heard Dr Chloe say that if the eye had been cancerous when she first saw it over a year ago, I would now be dead. So in view of that, she reckons it’s not cancerous. Hmph. Cold comfort!

27 August 2009

Well, it looks like I’m not out of the woods yet. My specialist, Dr Chloe, is in discussions with her colleague about whether or not they should rip my eye out. I’m trying not to think about it.

16 December 2009

We heard from Dr Chloe today and the FANTASTIC news is that after much debate among the various eye specialists at Animal Eye Care in Malvern, they have decided I get to keep my eye for the time being. Woo hoo!

It’s not the end of the road yet, though. We will still be monitoring it carefully for any change, but they reckon it can’t be cancerous yet, because if it were I’d probably be dead already. (Sobering thought.)

So, we go back in February for another check up and see what happens after that . . .

***

So what happened after that? NOTHING! We visited the eye specialist every six months for a while and now I’m on annual checkups. There’s very little change — other than the colour getting “more diffuse”, which basically means the striations first exhibited are disappearing. Dr Chole checks no ducts are getting clogged and that the pigment isn’t getting dark and black, which could indicate melanoma.

Imagine if they had ripped out my eye on the pretext it might be cancerous after our first visit five years ago? I was contemplating being ‘Ol Chenna One Eye’ there for a while, but am most thankful it hasn’t happened.

And you wonder why I’m a DEVILCAT?

Heh ~ This is now a very long post. Bet Ellen is regretting letting me loose at the keyboard!

And now, as though you haven’t already heard enough about me, here are some pictures. Maybe if you look close you can see my evil eye…

A good spot to sleep
This is my favourite place
Overseeing activities at a writing retreat
I don’t go up here much anymore – hmm
Spot of sunshine
My garden – get out!
The best way of helping

***

To join the WANAfriday fun, tweet your post to #wanafriday and add your link in the comments. I’ll try to update the list of participants here too.

  • Janice Heck introduces us to Snaggletooth
  • Liv Rancourt introduces us to Burnsie
  • Cora Ramos draws parallels between dog packs and writers and introduces us to Buddy and Milton

Has your pet got any weird health issues?

8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Diary of a Devilcat, wanafriday

June 13, 2013

Travelling in the 90s – Delphi

By Ellen Gregory

To resume my Travelling in the 90s series (in which I share extracts from my original travel journal with minimal editing to marvel at how different things were back then), we now head to the ancient Greek town of Delphi.

(Here’s the first post in the series — Athens. And here’s an introduction.)

It’s now the second day of my big adventure. During the planning stage, Delphi has been one of the focal points of my entire trip — after I read a couple of fabulous novels set there, most notably Mary Stewart’s My Brother Michael — so my expectations are HIGH to say the least…

***

[Mon 29 November, 1993] You’d think that Delphi would know that I was coming and therefore present a beautiful clear winter’s day. No such luck. It’s pouring with rain and has done all day. Nothing is inspiring when it drizzles all day.

We arrived in Delphi (on the bus) just after 1:30pm and walked up to the tourist office where we picked up a map of Delphi and were told the hotels we should check out. We went to one called Pension Odysseus and have a clean, neat two-bed room with no heat — but it does have a view!! (I rather expect that anywhere in Delphi would have a view.) After we settled in we trudged down to a taverna which the guide book recommended (and there are many — in fact Delphi seems to consist entirely of hotels (34), restaurants and tavernas, and gift shops) and had a lovely lunch of spaghetti bolognaise at about 3:00pm. Then we wandered around Delphi until about 5:30pm.

We decided not to visit ancient Delphi yet because we thought we’d like a whole day, and I’m praying that it’s not raining tomorrow! I’ve been looking forward to my picnic in Delphi for so long now that it’s not allowed to rain — and we even smuggled some wine off the plane for the occasion! Anyway our wander in the rain was quite enjoyable — although it’s slightly depressing at how run-down everything is. Some parts of the town are quite charming though, with new paving, refurbished street lights etc. Most of the tavernas advertise “coffee, toast, ouzo etc” or combinations.

[Tues 30 November, 1993] Today has been amazing. I suppose for the purpose of making sense I should start at the beginning and progress, however it’s so difficult to keep to such a rigid format (particularly when I’m three parts sozzled with the local wine).

diary - delphi

Recall that yesterday was a dismal, depressing mess. Well today (after a FREEZING night) dawned with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. The relief I was feeling is unexplainable. There is something that makes the dampening (ha ha) of lifted spirits and expectation (ie. Delphi) so impossible and incomprehensible, that today HAD to be nice because we were going to see ancient Delphi.

The minute I realised that it was NOT raining and was in fact simply BEAMING with sunshine I was up and out of bed, thrusting open the shutters covering the doors to our little balcony, and simply singing for joy. The time was 8:00am and the day’s photofest started about then. We had breakfast in a little cafe we’d spotted on our walk yesterday — coffee, juice, toast and cake! Following breakfast we purchased some tzatziki for lunch and strode off down the road towards ancient Delphi, very soon stripping off layers because of the sun.

Delphi is magic. The sight of those ancient pillars reaching for the blue sky, backed by either rocky mountains or a deep blue-green valley (depending on perspective) really made me want to sing. Unfortunately, according to the signs at the front, singing was prohibited! (As was entering the site in a bathing suit.) DAMN!

Anyway, the only disappointment was not being able to climb up the seats of the ancient theatre — the bit I was rather looking forward to. It was roped off, although we were allowed on the base section. Nevertheless, just looking over the ruins on the mountainside gave me much pleasure. [Ellen 2013: Can’t believe I omitted this, but I did make a point of reciting my Hamlet soliloquy from the sweet spot at the theatre’s base.]

Amazing Delphi: Top – dreary drizzle upon arrival; Middle – Hamlet recital in the ancient theatre; Bottom – picnic in the stadium. *

After the theatre we wandered up to the stadium, and stayed there for ages. Eventually we thought perhaps we’d go see the other ruins, and looked properly at the Temple of Apollo and then the Temple of Athena, the Tholos, and the gymnasium which were further down the mountain. It was all amazing.

Unfortunately, our room is rather cold. There is no heater (at least there is, but it doesn’t work). So at the end of the day we sought out another cafe for some coffee. Following this, we had a post-card writing session and then went to a taverna which a local had recommended for dinner. The proprietor was lovely and spoke excellent English (having lived in New York) and was very helpful. We sat at a table closest to the heater and drank home-made wine (at least, I drank most of it). Back in our room now, I have pulled out my sleeping bag.

A few more things have struck me about Greece (and Delphi in particular):

  • Everyone smokes!
  • At tavernas you are served bread or water or both regardless of whether you order it.
  • Ditto for OJ with breakfast.
  • All the houses in Delphi have rocks placed on their roofs to prevent the tiles from being blown/washed off.

***

To this day, Delphi remains one of my travel highlights and I would love to visit it again. Once upon a time you could wander around the ancient ruins whenever you liked for free — we weren’t lucky enough to experience this, although I suspect the crowds now, 20 years later, would be substantially more intrusive. We didn’t see too many people on that memorable day.

Has a place ever captured your imagination so thoroughly that you’ve planned a holiday around it? Have you been to Delphi? I’d love to hear some shared experiences.

 

* More photos of photos… sorry

8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Travel, Travel in the 90s

June 11, 2013

How Time Team can help with fantasy worldbuilding

By Ellen Gregory

I’ve recently been watching a lot of old Time Team episodes (a British TV show hosted by Tony Robinson in which a bunch of archaeologists excavate exciting things over three days).

I think they have the best job ever. I absolutely love the fact there’s so much history buried under pretty much every innocuous field or footpath across the UK… Today they are excavating Roman roads and bridges… Last week it was an unfinished medieval castle… Next it’ll probably be an iron-age village…

Simply wow.

Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain -- remnant of a lost civilisation

Gratuitous travel photo (albeit on topic, sort of): Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain — remnant of a lost civilisation

Time Team also really gets me thinking about fantasy worldbuilding. From a research perspective, real world archaeology provides great insight into how people lived in pre-industrial times. Every time they dig up an old buckle, or fragments of clay pots, or a carved tool, or decorative beads… I start wondering how items such as these could be injected into my primary fantastical world of the moment.

Colour and light and telling detail.

But it also inspires me to incorporate archaeological principles into my fantastical worlds. After all, every inhabited imagined world also has a history. Why should they not have an ancient collapsed bridge from a lost civilisation (or an, er, aqueduct) — and more besides?

Three great fantasy examples

There are three fantasy works that stand out in my mind for their use of history and archaeology as part of their worldbuilding: Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Song for Arbonne, and Robin Hobb’s sprawling Farseer/Liveship/Rainwild Trader books.

It’s been a long time since I read ‘Song’, but I distinctly remember the use of ‘romanesque’ ruins in its more medieval ‘alternate France/Provence’ setting. And then there’s LOTR, which is saturated with historical references — and the Peter Jackson movies bring these brilliantly to life.

Robin Hobb’s books keep returning to the mystery of the near-forgotten Elderlings, whose ancient excavated cities and standing stones play pivotal roles throughout the various books. I’m sure there are many more fantasy works dealing with ancient and lost civilisations, but these are the ones which stand out for me.

Inventing histories

I tend to invent fairly detailed histories for my imagined worlds. I like to know who inhabited the lands first and who conquered them (and why), how they adapted/integrated (or not) etc. Using archaeological references in the narrative to convey setting is one really effective way of illustrating these histories without great swathes of exposition.

Of course, there is a fine line to walk here. It’s all very well inventing histories and remnants of lost civilisations to add texture and depth to the world, but unless they impact the plot, many readers would chastise the author for including them in the narrative. Although I embrace such details as a reader (in moderation), it’s far better if the writer in me can use them as solid foundations for plot points.

Aspiring archaeo-metallurgist

I did, in fact, once write a story in which the protagonist is an archaeo-metallurgy doctoral student. It has never been published (because it needs work), but I keep on thinking I’ll drag it out and take another look at it. It’s a piece of writing very close to my heart, because I based aspects of it on research I did back when I was a metallurgist (right down to the grumpy supervisor!). It was an attempt to use the whole ‘write what you know’ advice in the most literal fashion.

And so… every time they dig up a metallic object — or ‘find’ — on Time Team I feel an extra pang of envy. Given my metallurgical background, the role of archaeo-metallurgist seems tailor-made for me. I think if I lived in the UK or Europe, I might very well have headed down that track. (There are not too many ancient metallic objects being dug up in Australia.)

As it is, my inner archaeologist will just have to continue to live vicariously through Time Team.

Are there any other Time Team fans here today? What would be your ultimate dream archaeological discovery? If you’re a fantasy reader, can you share any other works that make good use of history and archaeology as part of the worldbuilding?

 

10 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Craft, Reflection

June 7, 2013

Wordle on Worldbuilding

By Ellen Gregory

Today’s blogging theme is WORDLE, the wonderful word cloud tool. After some contemplation, I decided to build a word cloud from all my blog posts with the tag worldbuilding.

worldbuilding wordle#4

Cool, huh? I rather think this word cloud reflects the themes of my blog quite well.

It’s made from the following eleven posts (a total of just over 6000 words):

***

Join in the wanafriday fun by creating a wordle of something you’ve written and tweet to #wanafriday. Participants this week include:

  • Cora Ramos shares a wordle made from the blurb  from her upcoming novel Dance the Dream Awake
  • Linda Adams shares a wordle from the last scene she wrote featuring a magic surfboard
  • Kim Griffin shares a wordle of her blog
  • Janice Heck shares a wordle of her first ever blog post
  • Liv Rancourt shares a synopsis wordle for one of her MSs (Hell… The story)
  • Rabia Gale shares a short story wordle (A Crackling of Thorns) from her forthcoming collection of broken fairy tales
  • Julie Farrar shares a wordle of things growing in her garden

I’ll update the list as they’re published.

What would you wordle?

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in wanafriday, Words

June 5, 2013

Singing up the Helix Tree – voices of light and colour

By Ellen Gregory

One of my resolutions at the beginning of this year was to actively seek out more experiences that will feed my soul with inspiration and joy.

In order to create, one needs to fuel the creative well.

After my Christmas carol experience in December (Remembering Song), I joined a local community choir called, most appropriately, SoulSong. It’s an informal (and fluid) a cappella group of 20-40 singers, who meet once a week to simply celebrate the joy of singing. We sing gospel and folk and popular and blues and just about anything in between — so long as there are harmonies and we can make beautiful music.

It’s been very therapeutic for me this year, with everything else that’s been going on, and it’s made me a bunch of new friends as well.

helix tree

This week we participated in Melbourne’s ‘Light in Winter’ festival at Federation Square by Singing up the Helix Tree. The Helix Tree is a temporary construct fitted with hundreds of LEDs and a sophisticated system of microphones and electronics that causes the LEDs to light up in response to the pitch and volume of the human voice. (See this news article from The Age.)

The tree is located in the centre of a major public square, surrounded by restaurants and bars; for about half an hour by arrangement, about 20 of us SoulSongsters stood around it and sang, making the lights bloom and change colour.

We attracted a small audience, and although I’m not sure the sound carried all that well (we weren’t amplified), the onlookers were certainly treated to a spectacular light display. Because it was a casual performance, and the visual focus was on the tree (it being dark besides), I didn’t feel as though we were on show at all. It was more an organic merging of voice and light and beauty and was really quite magical.

I’ve come to the realisation this year that the true joy I gain from singing is from singing with other people. It’s not about my voice — which is competent but not spectacular, although I have reasonable pitch.

It’s about the blend of voices, the harmonies, the sharing of the experience. Sometimes after our weekly session is finished, a few of us will just stand around and keep going, practising a few harmonies or simply not ready to stop…

The pleasure of community or group singing — and especially up the Helix Tree — is my inspiration of the week. Any other singers out there?

 

19 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Feeding the muse, Music

June 3, 2013

A good SIGN for a hungry traveller

By Ellen Gregory

I was flicking through a bunch of travel photos just last week and came across a pic of this fabulous sign, and made a mental note to drag it out if/when the WordPress weekly photo challenge called for a sign.

Surprise! I didn’t have to wait very long — the blog gods clearly heard me, and that’s the theme for this week (The sign says)!

Found in Ronda, Spain

Found in Ronda, Spain

I found this sign while walking along the streets of Ronda in Spain. It probably doesn’t need much explanation as to why it appeals to me…

For those who haven’t been there, Ronda is a really cool little town in Andalusia. It’s located on top of a high precipice, split by an awe-inspiring canyon, and features a rather spectacular bridge. It has strong Moorish and Christian influences in its architecture and archaeology. Here’s a link to a post I wrote about it (Ronda proves a revelation) when I visited in 2010.

So… if you saw this sign as a weary and dusty traveller, what would you do?

 

11 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Travel, weekly photo challenge

May 31, 2013

Anywhere I like? In the world?

By Ellen Gregory

It’s definitely travel week here on ye olde blog. Completely unplanned, I assure you! But, upon reflection, considering the tagline of ‘To beyond and back’, it’s actually rather fitting.

Today we’re not peering into the past, however, but embracing the future according to this week’s WANAFriday blog prompt: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Ooooooh.

Anywhere? Really?

This is a really hard question, because there are so many places I want to go: South America (especially Peru… and Patagonia), North Africa (especially Morocco), Mongolia, the area around the Caspian Sea, Everest Base Camp, Antarctica…

The list is literally endless.

My current most immediate hankering, however, is to walk the Mont Blanc circuit in central Europe. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy and is the highest peak in the European Union. I have no desire to climb the mountain itself, but there’s a walk you can do that circumnavigates the peak in about two weeks. Here’s a link to the Intrepid Travel guided walk — and it’s taking extreme self-control not to book myself on a trip here and now…

Mont_Blanc

The description on the Intrepid web site: Undertake one of the most dramatic walks in Europe. No amount of training can prepare you for the staggering beauty and degree of diversity that is contained within the Mont Blanc Circuit. Postcard perfect villages, cerulean glaciers, striking alpine vistas, challenging passes and rewarding days await on this walking adventure through France, Italy and Switzerland.

  • Follow the Grand Balcon trail
  • Walk through fields of wildflowers
  • Traverse alpine pastures to Champex
  • Pass through France, Italy and Switzerland
  • Get up close to breathtaking glaciers
  • Follow ancient Roman roads

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

I am desperate to do this walk. Not only do I absolutely love mountains, but don’t you think it sounds like a fabulous research trip for a fantasy writer? Might even be tax deductible…

So, right now, that’s where I’d go, if I could go anywhere. Where would you go? Does anyone else like walking/trekking holidays?

***

And now it’s just occurred to me that I took this prompt to mean “anywhere in this world“… Because, if out of this world was an option, then just imagine the places one could go: the moon… Middle Earth… Al-Rassan… [head explodes]

***

Other participants in this week’s WANAFriday blogfest include:

  • Kim Griffin — who tells us why she wants to visit Paris, Australia and Hawaii
  • Siri Paulson — whose destination of choice is a little out of this world…
  • Janice Heck — who reveals why she’d go back to Paris
  • Cora Ramos — who shares her favourite mode of travel: the wandering road trip
  • Liv Rancourt — who reveals her yearning to revisit Hawaii
  • Nikki McCormack — who shares a bunch of recent photos from Ireland
  • Tami Clayton — who says she wants to go to Hawaii too (that’s three votes for Hawaii!)

Further posts will be updated when they’re live.

To participate, simply write a post to the prompt and tweet to #wanafriday, then hop around and visit all the other posts (and link to them if you wish).

Image credit: Wikimedia commons

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Travel, wanafriday

May 29, 2013

Travelling in the 90s – A bit of background

By Ellen Gregory

As often happens, the morning after publishing the first post in the Travelling in the 90s series (and thanks for the positive feedback, everyone) I thought of a heap more things I should have said by way of introduction.

It’s been on my mind all day, so at the risk of overdoing it for week 1, I thought I’d take several steps back and provide a little more background.

The trip in question took place between end-November 1993 and February 1994 (which is the long summer break in Australia). My friend and I spent pretty much the whole year planning it during our final year as engineering undergraduates, and it was quite the most exciting thing I’d ever done in my life.

My travel journal was a cheap spiral-bound notebook (Exhibit A), to which I had taped a print-out of Hamlet’s soliloquy from Act Two-Scene Two: I have of late, wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth… This was for me to recite in all the Greek and Roman theatres, you understand. (This speech being a favourite of mine following Richard E Grant’s memorable rendition in the film, Withnail and I.)

Inside this soon-to-be-battered travel journal I taped every ticket, pamphlet etc I picked up along the way. One of the covers ripped off in time and I stitched it on again with my emergency needle and thread — which, of course, all good backpackers carry ~ heh.

In short, this travel journal was probably my single most treasured possession during my travels. Every spare moment (waiting for trains/buses… idyllic lunch stops… evenings in youth hostels…) was spent writing in it by hand (Exhibit B).

This is such a stark contrast to my most recent big trip in 2010-2011, when I travelled with a small computer and spent just about evening blogging in bed with free WiFi, including digital photos snatched from my SD card (I didn’t even have a smart phone then).

When I recently came across a printed-out version of that first travel journal — which had been written with an audience in mind (admittedly parents and grandparents) — I started reading through it and was instantly struck by how different it was back then.

Journalling aside, this was a time when we were pretty much completely cut off from friends and family on the other side of the world.

We did not have mobile phones. There were no text messages to our families to advise of our safe arrival. There were no facebook or other social media to help us keep track of what was going on at home — nor any means of us instantly letting everyone know what a fabulous time we were having.

Instead, we wrote postcards, copious numbers of them. I remember having a long list of people I needed to send a postcard to — and pages of handwritten addresses. This was the only way our friends and relatives heard about our adventures. Occasionally — very occasionally — we would find a public telephone and call our parents.

If our families needed to get information to us… they couldn’t. At least not in the early stages.

Embarking on an adventure like this was huge. We were completely on our own, fending for ourselves in the big wide world. And boy was it thrilling.

Figuring out where to go and how to get around was different back then too. Our Lonely Planet guide book was our bible. We also came to rely upon scouts at train stations for basic accommodation.

These days, it’s a matter of jumping on a web site and booking ahead online.

These days, you have the option of GPS and Google Maps to help identify where you might happen to be, or where you need to go — so long as you can find free WiFi.

On that first day in Athens, we procured a tourist map (Exhibit C) as mentioned in yesterday’s post. That map — and others like it for different cities — showed us our path. (If you look closely at the photo of the Athens map you can see the pink line, drawn on by me, marking our walking route around that wonderful old city.)

At least that’s one thing that hasn’t changed. I still like procuring tourist maps in new cities and taking myself on a self-guided walking tour. Until mobile data is cheaper for roaming, I guess a paper map is the only practical option.

***

So that’s what has prompted me to revisit my old travel journal and share the thrilling adventures from 20 years ago. I find the contrast in perspectives — born of many factors — fascinating. And the 1990s really don’t seem all that long ago!

 

Can you remember a time when travelling was a complete escape? Do you think we’ve lost something important in this modern era of connectedness? Should we travel and leave our smart phones and computers at home (eek!)?

 

15 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Reflection, Travel, Travel in the 90s

May 28, 2013

Travelling in the 90s – Athens

By Ellen Gregory

Today I’m launching what will be a sporadic series of posts called Travelling in the 90s. I’ll be extracting segments of a very elaborate travel diary I wrote by hand (and transcribed some years later) when backpacking with a friend after we finished our University degrees. I think it’s fun to reflect on:

  • The naivete — and also the wonder — of our 22-year-old selves
  • How dramatically travelling has changed in the past 20 years
  • How little I have really changed at heart

Gee, we had such a fabulous time.

We began our trip in Greece, flying directly from Australia to Athens. This was not a conventional beginning — most Australian backpackers back in 1993 started in London. Us? No… So our first international experience was arriving at 6am on a November morning in one of the most ancient cities on the planet… Where very few people spoke English.

Here’s part 1 — Athens.

***

[Sun 28 November, 1993] It’s currently 3:00 pm local time and I can honestly say: “What a day!” I am footsore and absolutely exhausted. Things that have particularly struck me about Athens:

  1. There are hundreds of stray cats who slink around and beg for food — many of them look very much like Emerald.
  2. All the taxis are yellow regardless of make.
  3. All the ruins have ‘police’ in blue parkas who blow their whistles.
  4. It’s cold….

[Mon 29 November, 1993] We are doing very well and I’m so proud of us! We have not caught a taxi yet, and made it to the bus depot from where we caught this very bumpy bus to Delphi. Part of our independence is owed to this wonderful map of Athens given to us through the tourist window at the National Bank of Greece (thankfully open on Sundays). All the streets are marked on this map and hence our walking tour of yesterday was successful (discounting getting mildly lost in the national garden). The latter route took us through a street we firmly resolved never to enter again.

Athens -- Temple of Olympian Zeus with Acropolis in background

Athens — Temple of Olympian Zeus with Acropolis in background*

It still all feels rather unreal. I know that I’m in Greece and that I’ve seen the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus, but it’s so hard to really comprehend. I see three months of incredible bliss stretching out before me — no study, no work — and wonder whether it’s real. Of course it is, and this very bumpy bus on which I’m currently sitting reminds me of it.

The Acropolis was amazing. Unfortunately we were not allowed on the Parthenon (ref blue-parkered police) but just to see it there, looming up before me was wonderful. Even the heavy scaffolding and the crane in the centre could not wholly detract. In fact, we could not touch any of the wonders on that lump of rock but it was invigorating just to be there.

All sights of the Acropolis from around Athens are tinged with the same wonder and amazement. They just loom up out of nowhere in the midst of everything! As do all the other ruins around. Especially the Temple of Olympian Zeus — these great pillars were the first ‘old’ things I saw as we entered Athens on the bus from the airport. They are majestic! I cannot write enough of the wonder I really do feel at seeing such ancient things.

Other sights of yesterday included the ‘changing of the guards’ at the parliament house. They are really very silly dressed in their white dresses and red shoes with pom-poms!

Today it is raining and really quite horrible. Nevertheless we got up and ate breakfast, which consisted of four slices of packet toast with peach jam, a glass of OJ and some very sweet coffee. We found the bus that took us to the bus station, and found the bus for Delphi. We haven’t paid yet either – I asked twice about tickets. The first time we were told “yes this is the bus for Delphi – stay here” (or words to that effect) and the second time “no ticket? get on, get on”. So we did.

Greek men seem to be constantly feeling sorry for us. One, early yesterday morning, beckoned us over to warn us about thieves and to ask us where we were going because we looked lost and probably dishevelled, because the bus driver (from the airport) dumped us. Another today seemed to think we were standing in the wrong place to catch the bus into the city. Of course we were because we didn’t want to go there. When I said Delphi he said “Oh!” and gave me a pat on the shoulder and pointed the way we were going…

***

Next stop Delphi!

Anyone else got memories of visiting Athens — or landing early in a city where you didn’t know the language? I’d love to hear your travel tales.

* This is a photo of a photo — because, you know, there was no such thing as digital cameras back then (and I don’t have a scanner — yet). Sorry about the quality.

14 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Travel, Travel in the 90s

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