Wednesday 7 January 2009

Shock horror probe!
Frogdancer has posted with a fun sort of meme, in which bloggers interview one another, asking and answering five questions. Unlike other memes, the questions vary according to the interviewer and the subject — so every one is different.
Bloggers volunteer to be subjects, and then you send them five probing questions by email.
So here are my answers to the five questions Frogdancer asked me. In return, I invite any of you to email me or leave a comment saying 'interview me', and I'll ask you five searing questions. (Hmmm — I wonder if I have enough readers?!)

1. You seem to have travelled all over the globe. Which is the one place that you would go to in a heartbeat if you could, and why?

If you mean a place I've already visited, then it'd probably be Carcassonne, in the Languedoc region of south-west France. I'd love to take my husband and show him this amazing walled town.
I was 20 when I went there, in the summer of 1974. I had no money, and was hitch-hiking around Europe with a friend from Perth. We got a lift to Carcassonne in a Kombi van full of hippies whom I repaid by sitting on the streets of the old city selling their African jewellery and beadwork.
It was hot and beautiful, with bells ringing in the church towers. It remains the most romantic place I've ever been. I took a fancy to a lovely young singer from Perpignan who wanted me to ditch my friend and hitch there with him, but I didn't! On our last night together — I was heading for Spain and he was going home — he took me to a bar where we ate leftovers from the kitchen and listened to Romany flamenco guitarists — so much passion! So long ago!
I say I'd go back in a heartbeat, but I'd be nervous about how time has treated it. It's probably crawling with tourists, with fast food and soccer on big-screen tellies ...

2. Alternatively, which place tops your all time list of 'Places Never to go to again" and why?
Tijuana, Mexico — just across the border, about 20 miles south of San Diego. In fact the two cities have merged to form the world biggest trans-national conurbation, with about 5 million people.
It didn't rock me. I hate that you can drive across the border and go in an instant from a land of excess into a far less privileged country, and you can look back from the potholed roads and shanties and see America sparkling across the fence. Not fair.
And parts of Tijuana are rough, desperate, violent, horrible. There were 830 murders there last year.
I'd like to go to other parts of Mexico, and I know when I'm back in Perth, I'll wish I'd taken advantage of the cheap flights to Mexico City or Guadalajara. But hey!

3. Which is the quality that really stands out in each immediate family member?
Oh lord — just one? Each of them is really loving. And funny. That's two ...

4. What are you really going to miss when you come back to Australia to live?
Having Los Angeles just up the road (same distance from San Diego as Bunbury is from Perth)!
Art galleries too big and full and fabulous to get round in a day.

Mountains in the distance.
Concerts — frequent and cheap.
Sensible traffic rules.
Driving on the freeways — and along Wilshire Boulevard in LA.
Hummingbirds.
Turning right when the light's red.
Cheap flights to scores of amazing places and wonderful cities all over the country.
National parks.
The shopping — it is the absolute b-e-s-t! In the whole wide world.
Polite, attentive service in shops and restaurants. Nothing is too much trouble. I'm preparing myself for the rude, apathetic, haughty shop people and waiters when I get home.
Having my birthday in spring instead of the stinkingest tail-end of a Perth summer (March).
The Bondi!

5. Which quilt is your favourite that you've made?
This little one, about a metre square, which is a copy of a 'Navajo eye-dazzler'. I first saw it in the book, Patchwork Folk Art, by Janet Bolton, who is an English textile artist whose work I just love. I made this quilt about ten years ago, and — don't ask me why — I didn't use scissors for any of it, other than the diagonal cuts for the triangles. And it was entirely hand-sewn.
This is the picture that inspired me.

If you’d like to join the fun, it’s simple.
  1. Send me an email or a comment saying 'interview me'.
  2. I will then email you five questions that I choose.
  3. You can then answer them on your blog.
  4. You should also post these rules along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you or comments that they want to be interviewed.

6 comments:

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

I loved the questions and your answers. Beautiful favorite quilt. Especially interesting to hear your favorite parts of being in the U.S... makes me see things in a new light.
This is a clever meme, and I cannot resist asking to be interviewed.
BTW I used to go to Tijuana ALL the time up in to my 30s... sadly, no more. It is too dangerous and abused, and this from someone with family there. It is a tragedy... you could have seen something quite different a few years ago.

Anonymous said...

Now I have to go to France one day.... I want to see that walled city.

Interesting answers.... but then I had a feeling they would be!

Anonymous said...

I love these, it really lets people know more about the interviewee... and yours was no exception. I am so envious of your travels!

M said...

I think San Diego's proximity to LA while not actually being IN it is hard to beat - I can see how you will miss it!

Anonymous said...

The town in France reminds me of the town in Chocolat. I think I'd like to visit it too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for you comment on my blog. :) I'm actually from the US, but moved to the UK several years ago. I really like Norwich; I'm not sure that I'll ever leave! Have you been back to visit since your childhood?

As for The Quincunx, my husband read it a couple of years ago and kept hounding me to read it. I'm glad I finally gave in! It really makes work go by slowly, though, since I can't wait to get home and read more of it.