Land of milk and honey?

Well...I think this is the longest that I've not posted an entry since I started this blog which is just over two years ago. Tomorrow will be two years since we arrived in Australia if my memory is not addled.

I remain convinced that, (if not, as Daile's cousin Sue put it, 'the land of milk and honey') this is a great place to live. I think that for me, blue skies, relatively low levels of traffic, enough space to park a couple of boats (even if one of them still needs my attention), a garage that I can make stuff in with my own beer fridge, and a street that the kids can play in on their bikes without excessive fear of dangers - is close to what it's all about.

But of course there are flys in the ointment. Work is the main one, but that's like a power switch. Nothing else has had so much influence on our status, yet the issue is resolved like a shadow of a cloud passing, when a job is confirmed. We have both found it difficult to get the kind of work we want, and we're both doing work that is lower paid than we'd consider in the UK. Daile can't even do any work that is related to children because she doesn't have a certificate 4 in childminding for example. The fact that she's had more front line experience than a Tour de France bike saddle counts for nothing! Same thing even in the movie industry here. The forthcoming movie 'Mad Max 4' is starting off in Sydney, and they are crewing up... but not like they do in the UK where the crew are selected on the basis of who they know and what they've worked on that uses 'similar skills'- here its who they know and what tickets they've got. What that means is that you have teams of specialists that have undertaken formal training in the various aspects of special effects. All the welders on Narnia are pressure rated for example (and the welding is, I have to say, beautiful) In the job market in general, this means that for people like me, a generalist not a specialist, there simply isn't a place. I'm always up against people who's skills are more refined than mine, who have honed a niche and got the ticket. It's not a big thing on the face of it, but it certainly feels significant to me.

Another fly in the ointment is the lack of 'cultural depth'. There IS cultural stuff here, mostly in central Brisbane on the Southbank, where you'll find world class acts from time to time, a phenomenal library, a couple of very good galleries, a museum and a sophisticated microcosm of culture-o-philes. There's also the leading edge research environment at the 'Creative Industries Unit' at Queensland University of Technology on Kelvin Grove - where I'm hoping to do some research of my own in the fullness of time. They seem to have a very progressive view of the cultural issues involved in creating and sustaining creative approaches to industry, but it's all about industry... and that's probably the biggest fly (for me), since the driving focus of industry is efficient output. That's what's driving the certificate obsession. That's what has constrained Brisbane architecture to disappointing (shed) proportions. That's what is driving the mad development of the surrounding areas and stupid waste of money on road infrastructure without anyone bothering to see what the results of the same strategies were in other big cities and etc.

I suppose that there are problems when millions of people all live together and Brisbane is no different in that respect from any other city. But its got blue skies. In the end, when the sun shines...everything seems OK.