Ian Lidster: THE INTERVIEW

As follows is a series of five questions posed to me by Down Under blogger Meggie at Life's Free Treats. If you would like to be interviewed too, it's quite simple. Just do the following and I will custom design questions for you. Here are the steps:

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.

Here are my Five from Meggie:

1. Who, or what, from your childhood can you look back on with fondness, or happiness?

My maternal grandparents especially, both of whom I adored and felt closer to than my parents. I was also very fond of, and as I got older, closer to my paternal grandfather. Assorted aunts and uncles also meant a great deal to me.

2. I know you have an old dearly loved cat, who may not be too much longer for this life. Will you get another cat, once you dear old pal is gone? Or would you consider a dog, & if so what type? Or both?

I got my cat, Griffin, when I was ‘between marriages’. I wanted some sort of companionship because I didn’t want to rush headlong into a relationship at that time. Anyway, if a relationship with a cat goes awry it's much less expensive than if a marriage does, beliee me. So, that was back in early 1997 that I ‘adopted’ him. I was told that he was six or seven at the time, yet he is still going strong. It is going to be a shock when he goes, I realize. I had never truly ‘bonded’ with a cat before him because I had always been a dog person. I still miss my old border collie, Murphy, who was a wonderful companion and terribly clever. As for the future, we’ll probably get something. Wendy would like to have a dog, as she has never been a dog owner before. We shall just wait and see.

3. Apart from Hawaii, is there anywhere else you would love to spend huge chunks of time?

Well, we loved the Cook Islands when we visited there early in the decade, and would certainly go back. I love the tropics and Polynesian attitudes. But, because of their size, I found Rarotonga, for example, limiting. I also love the south of France, southwest England (and I lived in the UK for a year and feel very at home there), the west coast of Ireland (a ‘terrible beauty’ indeed), and southern California, especially San Diego and the desert around Palm Springs. The coast of Oregon is pretty darn nice, too, but quite similar to the coast of BC. I like change when I travel.

4. I know you love to write. Is there any other job, or employment that has given as much satisfaction?

Probably addictions counselling. I am not even sure why and in a way it ties in with writing in the sense I like to hear people’s stories. If I can give them any actual help, so much the better. I think I am an effective counsellor, so it doesn’t come too difficult for me. Years ago, when I was a secondary teacher, I loved the teaching part and the young people, but I detested the politics and bureaucracy of the job. I decided life was too short to keep compromising what I believed in.

5. This may seem flippant, but is there anything about your physical self that you would want to change? Don’t get me wrong, here, you look perfectly fine to me, but we don’t always see ourselves as others do.

I would like to be 6-foot-2 (I’m 5/9) and would like to look just like Cary Grant (I do have the same hairline) and have his charm. An interviewer once said to CG, “I always wanted to be just like Cary Grant.” Grant replied, “So did I.” But seriously, I am generally pleased with what I have and in my life I haven’t really jarred too many people (either male or female, with females counting more for obvious reasons) with my appearance. I’d like to be a little trimmer at the waistline, but wouldn’t we all?

So, that is me in a nutshell.