Anthony Eaton's Blog: Musings from an Outer-Spiral-Arm , page 10

They say you can never go home again...

So we're back in Perth, where we (well, Min and I) grew up and, as always, it's lovely to be back again.

Thinking about it this afternoon, it occurred to me that it's been about 18 months since I was last here. This is the longest time I've been away from Perth since I was 10 years old. And it's rather odd, coming back after so long. It's still home, of course, it's still a place I know more intimately than anywhere else in this big, wide world, still a place I love, still one of the most stu...

If We Could Have a Holiday...

Actually, we can!

As of 5.00pm this afternoon, I'm on holidays! For a whole week.

Tomorrow night, Imogen, Toby and I fly out for Perth, where we'll spend the week with our respective families.

The reason for this little jaunt is that my sister, Sue, who lives in Texas with her family, is out visiting for a few weeks with her two little girls, so it's a great opportunity to get all the kids in the family together in the one place with some of their grandparents. They arrived in Perth yesterday, a...

India Dark

It's always an incredible honour when someone asks you to launch their book for them. Especially so when that someone is a writer who you've admired for years.

Which is why I'm really thrilled to have been invited to launch India Dark, by the incredible Kirsty Murray.

I first met Kirsty almost exactly a decade ago, at the Western Australian Premier's Literary Awards in 2000, when her book Zarconi's Magic Flying Fish and my first novel The Darkness were both on the shorlists. It was a good...

In Training

This one is primarily for Darcy, who made the very salient observation in response to this post last week that 'Trains are Always Cool.'
Indeed they are.
Especially if you're 19 months old, it would appear.
In response to our son's current obsessive affair with all things locomotive, and in an effort to utterly wear him out on a rainy saturday afternoon, last weekend we took him to visit Cockington Green Gardens. You may now snigger at the name, if you wish.*
Now, Cockington Green isn't for...

One of those crappy little blog posts

Because I'm in bed, it's been a horribly long day, involving a sick wife, two cars on the other side of Canberra, a brother in law who went above and beyond the call of duty, two takeaway Turkish pide pizzas, and a book on the impact of Charles Darwin on Australian scientific and religious philosophy. And I still managed to get 4000 words written. And I've decided that next week I'm going to shoot a handgun. But I'll post more on that tomorrow. For tonight, I'm merely meeting my most basic ...

A Language Warning.

Not going to write a great deal here, today, chiefly because I had a particularly good writing day today, having clocked up just a touch over 4000 words since I started writing at 11.00 this morning.

So, I'm a little typed out at this point in the afternoon.

It's strange, though, because last week I had a complete shocker - at least in writing terms. Got perhaps a couple of hundred words down, in dribs and drabs, and found it almost impossible to get myself settled into the rhythm of the story,...

Electioneering...

It won't come as news to anyone that our PM Julia Gillard follows this blog, so I just want to give her a big shout out and say thanks for waving to Toby on the way out of Government House yesterday morning.

We'd been doing a little early morning shopping in Manuka, and on the way home turned on the radio to hear the news that the PM had toddled off to visit the Governor General and ask her to dissolve parliament.

"Well," we thought, "there's no point living in the nation's capital and not maki...

Prime Ministerial Stuff....

Okay, so I missed yesterday. Sorry 'bout that. The day started okay, but then from about 11am onwards it spiralled into a succession of meetings which didn't end until 8.30 last night. By which time, under the Chatham House Rules regarding meetings, I'm not permitted to post anything in public. (That, at least, is my interpretation of the CHR's. I got it from quality radio station 2UE)

And it's a pity, because yesterday morning, the minister for Arts, The Environment, poorly synched videos...

The Words You Don't Say, Unless you have an Hour to Spare

Parenthood is all about education, as Min and I are discovering.

Not Toby's education, you understand. That's pretty much looking after itself.

No, it's all about our education.

And, believe me, we're learning a lot.

Mainly in the area of psychology. Which is odd. After almost a decade as a secondary teacher, and then just as long doing school visits and speaking gigs, I thought I knew a thing or two about how to communicate with kids, how to get them onside and all that.

Which just goes to show w...

From one Extreme to the Other

After yesterday's little piece of ludditeism about 'Why I don't do Facebook', and in response to the comment there from Penni, I thought I'd answer her question: Do I want an iPad?

Well, that kinda depends.

Don't get me wrong - I love mine. I'm glad I got it, and the longer I have it, the more useful it's proving to be, but it definitely wouldn't be for everyone.

So, for what it's worth, here's my take on it:

1. Things I love
The Tactile Experience. Let's get the superficial one out of the way...