"My move to Canada will either
be my making or my undoing"
Chilling visions of the future for Cameron Cuming. It's not even 2009 and I'm predicting my down fall. It's absolutely not a case that I don't trust myself. No. It has more to do with the fact that I am going in to a completely foreign country. Whilst I'm quite aware that the Canadians are formal with their English, my limited time in America (3 months-ish, 7 days) indicates to me that it will be an incredible transition for me to make. Just think about this. For 21 years I lived in a reasonably large city - in Australian terms at least. Wikipedia says 85,000 people as of 2006 census but I'm sure it was 95,000 people when I left last year. 10,000 in a year? Probably untrue but regardless it was just under 100,000 people. I stayed there for twenty-one years. Sure we moved but you are actually talking about no more than 2kms away from my childhood house.
Mum and dad liked the area and I can't blame them. I like it too but now I understand there is more out there. Australia almost promotes a sentiment of celebrating isolationism. "We're Australia and because we're cut off from the rest of the world, we'll act like that's part of the draw of us!". Don't get me wrong, please. It is certainly a comforting feeling while you live there but once you take off from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide (should not have it's own international airport for 2 reasons), Brisbane or Hobart International Airports, you begin to realise that we have sort of doomed ourselves. We are like the Boo Radley of the world. If you don't understand that then I'm not going to explain it to you. Read a damned book. Specifically "To Kill A Mockingbird". Everyone else should be rolling around in the aisles in stitches due to my talent in comparing my nation to a character in a book.
Enough of my "Un-Australianness". I'm sure if anyone bothers to read this it will come up somewhere along the line. Believe you me, I am Australian. I like being Australia. I enjoy being Australian. I hate the Poms and Kiwis as much as everyone else but I refuse to be blinkered to the world and what it has to offer. I am not a horse for a start. I just want to see what there is! As much as I hate it one day I will probably return to the sun and the sea. That's right. One day I will go back to Brighton and thumb my nose in the direction of Australia.
My initial idea for this post was to tell you that I will be leaving the United Kingdom on the 17th of March, 2009. I will be leaving from Manchester Airport and I'll be landing and Philadelphia International Airport. I'll be staying there for a week with a friend and then on the 24th I will scoot down to Nashville, Tennessee to visit Chelsea. I'd like to think I will be able to be there for my birthday (23rd, April). I would have liked to have been there for this year when Elvis Costello played at the Ryman Auditorium but it just wasn't to be. That's a shame but really it was only a 22nd. Even the 21st wouldn't have been that important! 23rd on the 23rd of April. Nice one, Cameron. Just a couple of drinks and some food at McCreary's. I love that place even though at the moment I live half an hour away from the actual Ireland. It doesn't matter one bit.
Then, with a little luck, I will be flying up to Toronto on the 28th of April. Keeping in line with my neuroticism I hope to have some sort of of accommodation lined up and even a couple of job interviews if not an actual job. Seeing as I'm not that skilled at anything other than talking (and then barely that!) I fear a little bit how difficult it may be. As careless and fancy free as I am I quite obviously don't want to turn up to Canada and be living off savings from England. I hope to have enough to allow myself a crutch to stand on for, if need be, a couple of weeks. I'm going to check out if there is anything like the website I went through in Australia for England. Except for Canada in England. I'm a wily one. If not overly cautious then perhaps just a little bit mentally diminished. That is to say that I should not operate a car or perhaps even a razor.
So there you go. You all sort of know what is going on. If not pay closer attention.
Love to all two of you who read this (Mum and dad! Thanks!)
Cameron.
be my making or my undoing"
Chilling visions of the future for Cameron Cuming. It's not even 2009 and I'm predicting my down fall. It's absolutely not a case that I don't trust myself. No. It has more to do with the fact that I am going in to a completely foreign country. Whilst I'm quite aware that the Canadians are formal with their English, my limited time in America (3 months-ish, 7 days) indicates to me that it will be an incredible transition for me to make. Just think about this. For 21 years I lived in a reasonably large city - in Australian terms at least. Wikipedia says 85,000 people as of 2006 census but I'm sure it was 95,000 people when I left last year. 10,000 in a year? Probably untrue but regardless it was just under 100,000 people. I stayed there for twenty-one years. Sure we moved but you are actually talking about no more than 2kms away from my childhood house.
Mum and dad liked the area and I can't blame them. I like it too but now I understand there is more out there. Australia almost promotes a sentiment of celebrating isolationism. "We're Australia and because we're cut off from the rest of the world, we'll act like that's part of the draw of us!". Don't get me wrong, please. It is certainly a comforting feeling while you live there but once you take off from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide (should not have it's own international airport for 2 reasons), Brisbane or Hobart International Airports, you begin to realise that we have sort of doomed ourselves. We are like the Boo Radley of the world. If you don't understand that then I'm not going to explain it to you. Read a damned book. Specifically "To Kill A Mockingbird". Everyone else should be rolling around in the aisles in stitches due to my talent in comparing my nation to a character in a book.
Enough of my "Un-Australianness". I'm sure if anyone bothers to read this it will come up somewhere along the line. Believe you me, I am Australian. I like being Australia. I enjoy being Australian. I hate the Poms and Kiwis as much as everyone else but I refuse to be blinkered to the world and what it has to offer. I am not a horse for a start. I just want to see what there is! As much as I hate it one day I will probably return to the sun and the sea. That's right. One day I will go back to Brighton and thumb my nose in the direction of Australia.
My initial idea for this post was to tell you that I will be leaving the United Kingdom on the 17th of March, 2009. I will be leaving from Manchester Airport and I'll be landing and Philadelphia International Airport. I'll be staying there for a week with a friend and then on the 24th I will scoot down to Nashville, Tennessee to visit Chelsea. I'd like to think I will be able to be there for my birthday (23rd, April). I would have liked to have been there for this year when Elvis Costello played at the Ryman Auditorium but it just wasn't to be. That's a shame but really it was only a 22nd. Even the 21st wouldn't have been that important! 23rd on the 23rd of April. Nice one, Cameron. Just a couple of drinks and some food at McCreary's. I love that place even though at the moment I live half an hour away from the actual Ireland. It doesn't matter one bit.
Then, with a little luck, I will be flying up to Toronto on the 28th of April. Keeping in line with my neuroticism I hope to have some sort of of accommodation lined up and even a couple of job interviews if not an actual job. Seeing as I'm not that skilled at anything other than talking (and then barely that!) I fear a little bit how difficult it may be. As careless and fancy free as I am I quite obviously don't want to turn up to Canada and be living off savings from England. I hope to have enough to allow myself a crutch to stand on for, if need be, a couple of weeks. I'm going to check out if there is anything like the website I went through in Australia for England. Except for Canada in England. I'm a wily one. If not overly cautious then perhaps just a little bit mentally diminished. That is to say that I should not operate a car or perhaps even a razor.
So there you go. You all sort of know what is going on. If not pay closer attention.
Love to all two of you who read this (Mum and dad! Thanks!)
Cameron.
4 comments:
i see, so i'm just "a friend" now!
also, make that 3 people, because i read this too. well i figured you'd want me to, considering you told me about it...!
I didn't want to reveal names. It's a social fox paws.
and 1 of the "two" has also read it now we wont need to keep asking you what your plans are
me reading it makes four people..!! SCORE!! four is an awesome number... mainly because..
Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself..
also Foreigner *yuk* have an album called 4...not so cool anymore..sorrrrrrrry
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