leffe3's VirtualTourist Home Page

So, after several months, I'm back on VT.

For those of who who remember (and are interested :)), I was mightily hacked off having been broken into for the 4th time nack in October 08 and, yet again, having the MACS walk out the door. Almost as soon as we replaced them, our new friends would come a-calling. (Stupid to keep on replacing, possibly, but we have the right to want our MACs and little extras in life).

Glad to say that's all in the past now - moved home! The new security system installed just wasn;t enough so we finally bit the bullet and moved on out.

No longer the three bedroomed sprawl of a house in the boring suburbs with massive front and rear gardens and with so many entrances. no matter what we did, we could never keep anyone we didn't want in, out. (Strange that we managed to lock ourselves out on a few occasions :)).

So now we're back into apartment living in St Kilda (yay, begone boring burb and welcome back lifestyle) that takes security very seriously.

In fact so seriously, we can only move between the ground floor, the level we live on and the basement carpark. That's 18 floors we cannot visit unless invited. The lift is just smugly immobile if you try to go anywhere other than your own floor.

But after so many losses, this, along with the video surveillance everywhere keeps us very happy. Although the swimming pool, spa and gymn may contribute to this.

My father also died a few weeks ago, so that was a sad trip back to the UK - my first in five years. It's strange to think now that I would never have guessed that the last time I saw my dad (5 years ago) would be the last time I saw him. But as they say, he lived a good life: he was 83 years old and, to be honest, according to my mom, it was a blessing that he went when he did - his last few weeks were not good ones (he had cancer).

So now, I have to catch up and update as much as I can - Home Page, other pages, new pages etc... May take a while but... Any another major change - I now own a digital camera (so I eat humble pie Allikat :)).

To be honest, it wasn't through any burning desire to have the digital. All came about as a result of my manual camera being knicked. Having a new for old insurance policy meant that a replacement would cost $A6k!!! Point being that it had to be specially ordered as manual cameras are being phased out. I so did not want such a camera! So a bloody good Canon digital it is in its place.

I've deleted some of the info on this page - I'll come back to it and update. Bottom of the page is more general and still pretty relevant (it'll do until I get round to finishing off the whole page).

Reading allikat's Home Page made me think of other bits of information about who I am, and I do love lists (see below) so...

Hobbies include:-
Photography (always snapped pics but have taken it a little more seriously since moving to Australia. I now use slide film - digital cameras not my bag, at least not yet. I tried a course in b/w photography, but realised it was not my bag either - an expensive lesson to learn! - and now I'm exploring colour intense films... Garish, me?)

Hiking (whether it be through rainforest, up hills, along deserted and windswept beaches, this is something I enjoy but need to do more of)

Reading (the answer to a question in a debate about Big Brother and what would you miss most outside friends and family. I would go stir-crazy if I could not access reading material. The newspaper every day is a must. I also try to create as much time as possible with a book or two on the go. Novels and/or non-fiction (ideal situation is one of each on the go at the same time).

Film (I could happily see 3 or 4 films per week at the cinema. But I have interest beyond the passive - I've produced 6 Film Festivals in 3 years in the time I have lived in Australia and 3 in Israel when living there).

Performing Arts (Less interested these days after reaching saturation point in living and working in London and Tel Aviv. Live theatre was my passion for a long time, then discovered contemporary dance. But seeing too many performances in professional capacity resulted in a waning of my interest. But it's still lying dormant, waiting to be re-inspired :)

Travel (naturally, although harder these days now that I have moved so far from anywhere else LOL)

Gardening (at the moment at least. Fair weather gardener, and it maybe a passing phase LOL)

Food (ahhh, now we're really getting to the nitty-gritty. One of my greatest pleasures in life is good food and good wine. Preferably cooked by someone else in a decent restaurant, but am also rediscovering for myself culinary skills that have lain dormant. But I enjoy food, so would like to think I am not too much of a food snob. I'll not recommend Mackers to anyone (I won't go) but I'll eat at Hungry Jacks, a much better burger. I love grilled cheese on toast (and have cravings for it if I have spent a week eating out).

As I said, reading is important to me - to the point that I cart my books with me from place to place as I re-read many of them. I have 000s of them and increasing all the time. I also stockpile. The Margaret Drabble I mention is at least 3 years on my shelf.
Favourite Books:

Love In the Time of Cholera - Marquez (in my opinion, the most romantic book of all time)

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Bernieres (made me laugh out loud and reduced me to a blubbering mess two pages later. But the film version was appalling)

The Secret History - Tartt (a damn fine yarn so well told)

The History of Western Ideas - Lund, Pihl and Slok (a fab precis of 2000 years of thought. I did (in part) philosophy at University and discovered it whilst writing my Finals dissertation. I ended up reading it from cover to cover - if only I had discovered it earlier (it had been a course book in my First Year - oops. For some reason (wonder what) I missed it), It's a great intro to every conceivable thought - 3 pages each on all those names Monty Python squeeze into one song!!).

(More to come)

Always difficult but....
Cities: London (OK, so I am biased): Chicago: Lisbon: Edinburgh: Cape Town: Istanbul and Tel Aviv of course :)

Countries: Italy: Portugal: Greece: Thailand: USA: Mexico

Nightlife: Berlin: Tel Aviv: London: NY

Food: Indian: Italian: Turkish: Thai: Moroccan (but most as long as it is good LOL)

Food Cities: London: Tel Aviv: NY: Istanbul: Melbourne

Beaches: Oaxaca state (Mexico): Caparica (Lisbon): Watamou (Kenya): Sinai (Egypt): Shark Bay (Western Australia): Fort de Soto (Florida): Lower Newton by the Sea (Northumbria, England)

7 Natural Wonders: Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe): Sinai (Egypt): Fall (New England): Halong Bay (Vietnam): Seven Sisters (England): Waiheke Island (New Zealand); Uluru (Ayer's Rock) (Australia)

7 Man-Made Wonders: Abu Simbel (Egypt): Angkor Wat (Cambodia): CBD (Chicago): Dome on the Rock (Jerusalem): Grand Palace (Bangkok): Chichen Itza (Mexico): Petra (Jordan)