Today is the end of something and the beginning of something else

Today I finish up at my soon-to-be-old workplace, Williams Boag Architects, having been made redundant by the powers that be, in response to the generally hideous state of the construction sector here in Victoria. I have worked at WBA for 12 of the last 15 years, so that's quite a chunk of time. Interestingly, after all that time, I don't have any pearls of wisdom to impart - so this is kind of a non-post, but I thought I should mark the occasion on my blog.

After all - I am a writer passionate, but only on the fringes of my career; the main game for me remains architecture. So here it is: one thing ends, and something new and exciting is beginning. Almost immediately, in fact. But more on that later.

So long WBA, and thanks for all the fish.

Up Late Listening to Lem

Hello fellow southern hemisphericals! Well, winter is in full swing here in Melbourne, and today in particular an icy wind has been blowing through town. I spent my lunch hour huddled over my laptop in a cafe that was actually very cold - right up until they turned on their air conditioner, at which point it became very hot. It is hard to type or to write when your fingers are chilly, and clutching a hot coffee helps, but hardly gets any work done. It has been several months since I last tackled any fiction, either reading or writing - although that isn't exactly true, as I have been working my way through the unabridged audio books of Stanislaw Lem, that master of science fiction.

His work is magical, and somehow universal, or timeless - a quality that is all too lacking in much fiction today, and, it seems, science fiction in particular. The Polish Lem's tales, and really they are almost fables or myths, remind me of Italo Calvino at his most lyrical, when he is mining the rich vein of Italian Folktales. I have heard Lem's Cyberiad described as 'Aesop's fables for the cybernetic age', and that is a fitting description. I highly recommend any of his works. Google recently honoured him with a doodle on their home page: this is where the sketch above come from.

New habits: new habitats

It's winter here in the Southern Hemisphere! So in the cold weather here in Victoria I have been seeking the great indoors for my writing outings. This is the time of year when the Federal Coffee Palace at the MGPO is a little breezy, despite its gas heaters. So I have been supplementing my cafe writing stints with a new habitat, namely the lofty-ceilinged library of the RACV Club, a private Club based here in Melbourne that I am a relatively recent member of. The Club has great resources, and the Library is my favourite part of the entire setup. It has about 10,000 items that you can borrow as a member, although I prefer to read things there rather than take them home.

To top it all off, the Club is located right behind my apartment building. In addition to writing in the Library, I also love spending a few hours sitting in one of it's deep armchairs, reading through whatever my latest obsession is. In the interests of sharing, and on the topic of what I am reading, I am currently obsessed with the growing phenomenon that is Google+, and reading several books about using it for business. Nerdy, but interesting. For some reason, fiction is not holding my attention at the moment. 

The Club is really becoming my home away from home - an extension of my personal living space. And to top it all off, there is a restaurant, a bistro and a café area, where I can read and write in comfort, and importantly stay warm.