Chris Dowding - writer

By Linda Muller - Redlands Times It's the sort of book you can read over a few beers. A few Drops short of a Pint sprang from a series of emails author Chris Dowding sent to friends and family while living temporarily in Ireland in 2001. 'I used to send emails home and a few friends said I should turn them into a book. This is the result,' he said. His efforts won for Chris the 2007 IP Picks Best Creative Non-Fiction Award and has also prompted Chris to continue to write. He has already started another book. Educated at Redland Bay Primary and Cleveland High Schools but now living at Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast, Chris said his school English teachers 'never liked' his writing, something this honest account of Ireland now makes a mockery. 'My wife and I went to Ireland like most people go to England. We wanted to live in another part of the world but not where there were lots of Australians. It was challenging,' he said. Chris writes about the little thing...

Have you reached the big time when your book gets listed in Wikipedia ? Or does it mean you’re past it, old news? I have to admit, I was excited to realise that my book seems to have become an authority on Dublin’s statues . Or at least the derogatory names that Dubliners have for many of them: Hags with the Bags ( statue of two women with their shopping bags at their feet ), the Prick with the Stick (James Joyce) and the Skewer in the sewer (Millennium Spire, O’Connell St ). I wonder if Dublin Bus will list the book on their website, to let users know what they’re in for. Probably not… but you can see some of my contributions on an alternative site – Busrage.com. Dublin Bus confirms dodgy brakes on some buses , and How full does a bus have to be to call itself full? . Have a great week Chris

This man has successfully posed as the American president since 2001. He has pulled off an incredible variety of politically suicidal stunts and his latest effort is possibly one of the best. Thousands of people lose their homes. George appears to do nothing, apart from talking up the US economy. A little while later, millions of people have lost their homes. Still nothing. A few bankers lose their shirts. George and the Federal Reserve hand over billions and billions of dollars to prop them up. Suddenly, lots of bankers and stockbrokers have lost their shirts, and George is looking to hand them nearly a trillion dollars . What I don't understand is this -> if he has a trillion dollars to spare (and I think the only way he could is to get the U.S mint printing 24 hours a day), why doesn't he buy up the houses that have been foreclosed, and rent them back to the previous owners, or even more radically, give them back. Surely the same amount would be spent, people would have a...

Kerryn and I went to see Wall E at the movies yesterday. Like Toy Story, it's funny and charming, and it's aimed at children. I must have a lot of kid-like tendencies myself, because I really enjoyed it. It has poignant messages about the Earth - after working for 700 years, the robot Wall E still hasn't been able to clean up the mess that humans made before they left to live in space. He's become a little bit bored by the time an environmental robot called Eve shows up to check the planet for signs of plant life. He follows her back to the humans' spaceship, to find a world where all the work is done by robots and the humans are taking it pretty easy. With a bit of imagination, it's easy to see how this could really happen... check it out!

Recently, Brian at our office carried out some structural design for a public toilet block to be built at one of the beaches in Queensland. Believe it or not, the design for a decent toilet block in these times requires a multi-disciplinary approach, with input from the local Council, an architect, a structural engineer and a hydraulics engineer. Anyway, Brian thought he'd finished, when a forwarded email came through from the Council: "John: Am concerned about potential [ocean] wave action against the structure. Perhaps the structural engineer should consider a lightweight design with piled foundations. Please get them to have another look." "What on earth are they talking about? Are these toilets right next to the beach?" I asked. "No - the building will be well back from the beach. I think they're worried about climate change," replied Brian. "You mean they're worried about the ocean rising and knocking over the toilet block?" ...

After his Irish sojourn, Chris moved back to Australia, bought a house and settled into a career with a large engineering firm. Whilst he finds this satisfying, everyday life leaves him with little ‘to write home about’. When an Irish friend invites Chris and Kerryn to a wedding in Scotland, Chris rushes out to buy airline tickets. He travels through England and Scotland, continuing the journey of self-discovery he began in Ireland. He reunites with Tanya and Brian, his friends from Dublin. He gets lost on the seemingly endless English ring road system. He tries Yorkshire pudding, haggis and kilt-wearing. And he realises that some of his rough edges seemed to have been rubbed off. The second book, with the working title, ‘a few Tealeaves short of a Cuppa’, will be the story of Chris’ latest journey.

On Friday, my wife, Kerryn and I attended our friends’ wedding in Perth, Scotland. I put on a kilt for the first time in my life, with a fair bit of resistance. The groom had never worn one either (he wasn’t Scottish), and he wanted lots of support from his friends. Kerryn ambushed me a few months ago by ringing him and saying I was very excited about wearing Scotland’s national costume. Not funny, Kerryn. I picked the gear up from a tailor in Perth and listened carefully to his instructions about how to wear it. I had one hour to get ready; a chartered bus was going to collect us at 1.00PM. I showered at our hotel, put the kilt on. My fingers struggled with all of the buckles and fastening belts - I had to reach around behind myself to fasten each item. It took me ages to tighten the kilt and add the sporran and belt. ‘What about the shirt?’ asked Kerryn. ‘That comes afterwards, as far as I know,’ I replied. I checked myself in the mirror. The tartan stripes on the kilt seemed to run ...