I originally trained in a branch of engineering but got distracted many times along the way. There were too many jobs, from the menial through to the managerial, and too much travel along the way to list everything here, but some of the latter years were spent building and renovating houses in West Australia. I eventually got the chance to fulfil a long held dream to design and build my own house, solo. Back in the days when you were still allowed to do such things. I’ve been resting on my laurels ever since.
Well, not quite. I have spent the last twenty years as the full time Carer for our severely intellectually disabled son, including home schooling him through the Primary School years until he was old enough to get a place in a Special Ed Department at the local High School. Despite having no speech until age six he eventually gained enough command of language to be able to tell his old man to shove off when he’s had enough of being schooled. He now gets support through the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) for a community inclusion program. This means that he gets taken out several times a week by a succession of delightful and very competent young women who ensure that he now has a much more varied and active social life than I do. Clearly, in a just world, this scheme should be extended to include Aged Pensioners such as myself.
When not sitting in a comfortable armchair and savouring my new-found hobby of sipping whisky and mumbling to myself, I enjoy playing the guitar, fiddling around with motorcycles and photographing the local wildlife on our four and a half acre bush block in the Hills outside Perth. And I occasionally get to drive the local Volunteer Bushfire Brigade fire truck – which is every bit as much fun as you thought it would be when you were a kid.
I really know next to nothing about whisky, but that won’t stop me telling all my friends what I think I’ve learned so far. I’m still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up, but perhaps there’s a future in talking about whisky? No money of course, but I’m sure that I could persuade a few friends to drop around for a blind tasting or two….
Cheers to all.
Whisky Waffle 