Out of Office Alert

January 2, 2010

Out of the Office

If anyone cares to notice, I will be noticeably absent for most of January and February. Why? Traveling of course. I posted a few details of my upcoming plans in From the Editor: What’s Around the Corner at Matador Trips.

I just spent the evening making about 20 trips back and forth from my flat on the first floor (second floor for you North Americans) to my van, loading it up with things to sell tomorrow morning at the Camberwell Sunday market. The past several weekends have been spent mostly building up S.A.M., our van.

We’ve been selling a lot of our possessions, mostly to newly arrived migrants from Germany, India, New Zealand. Today we got rid of our fridge (yes, most flats do not come with one) so we’re living out of our little campervan fridge for the next week. We have no couches so I’m writing this on the floor with my laptop perched on top of a Tupperware box.

Our TV and DVD player left us shortly after Christmas, same with our stereo. All the wall hangings are off with patchy stucco marking where things used to be. Someone came to look at our bed. Our prize possession. You really can’t invest enough in something that you spend around a third of your life in. And now we’ll spend the next year and a half searching for that perfect sleep.

We got to take a small break between Christmas and New Years. We drove 2000 kms round trip to Sydney to camp on Cockatoo Island for a night to watch 12 minutes of fireworks. It was brilliant. Worth every tick of the odometer.

It’s bedtime now, quite possibly the last night in my bed. The alarm is set for 5 AM tomorrow. Have to be at the market bright and early to set up for the rabid bargain hunters to pounce once it opens. I wish you all a Happy 2010 and hope you have a great start to the new decade!

*Photo: Victor Bezrukov

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Beware of traderdomains.net scam

December 25, 2009
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About a year ago I acquired a domain name. At the time, the .com version was, disappointingly, taken. I settled for .net. Then I received an email the other day.

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Writer’s curse

December 23, 2009
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Why must I feel compelled to write about everything that happens to me or my family that is even remotely out of the ordinary?

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Is Routine All That Bad?

December 20, 2009
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As much as I love to move around and have new experiences, there is a lot to be said about routine.

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Don’t tell me it can’t be done.

December 14, 2009
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Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s a cliche we’re all familiar with, and probably all strongly believe in, but in many aspects of life we don’t apply it.

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Traveling is simple.

December 7, 2009

I think I’ve figured out what it is about traveling that I love so much; which is to say that somewhere down the line — a year, 6 months, maybe even next week — it will change and be something else.

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Beer wasters are not welcome.

November 26, 2009

I find it funny that the one thing I grew up feeling guilty about wasting was — not leftover dinner, not that “perfectly good sweater”, not the electronic gadget or pair of Nikes that were replaced the next year with the latest version — but alcohol.

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A Growing Matador: Travel, Writing, Photography, Community

November 24, 2009

I might be biased a bit. Just a bit.

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We’re always rebuilding.

November 22, 2009

Last night Yvonne and I dismantled our wardrobe (aka closets in North America). It’s common for flats here to not come equipped with any (or, for that matter, heating and refrigerators too).

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MatadorTV set to rock the video (cyber)world

November 11, 2009

It’s official. MatadorTV has been launched.
The tagline is “Filtering the best travel video on the web”, but it will also feature original content produced specifically for MatadorTV.
This is Joshua Johnson’s baby, and it looks dope. Check it out.

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