Chris Dowding - writer

With Christmas just a few days away, it’s not long until many of us will be tucking into a large midday or evening meal, with a wine or two to set off the palette. I imagine I’m not the only person whose clothes, carpet or table cloth have been stained by red wine. How often has somebody accidentally knocked a glass over at your house? I was listening to my favourite radio station recently (I know I’m getting older because in the last year I’ve caught myself enjoying news & current affairs stations in preference to music stations). The announcer had taken her family to a public party and accidentally spilled red wine onto her daughter’s new dress. The two of them had gone to the bathroom to try and soak it up with a damp cloth.  While they were busily dabbing, an elderly Irish lady walked into the room. ‘What’r ya doin? That’s not the way to remove red wine, sure it’s not.’ She proceeded back outside, grabbed a bottle of white wine and poured it onto the stain. Apparently, the ...

Engineer-turned-author Chris Dowding reveals why a trip to the Emerald Isle changed him forever By Gregory Stanton, weekender magazine Chris Dowding appears uncomfortable as we sit down for a Guinness. My pint disappears quickly while he clutches his, taking small sips. Perched precariously on a bar stool, this Marcoola resident puts his unease down to his persona and his profession. “I was good at maths and not good at dealing with people,” revealing why he chose engineering as a career. “You sit in a cubicle pumping out designs and calculations. Not surprisingly, you don’t go anywhere with that attitude.” In short, it was not the most exciting or glamorous life. After marrying in 2001 though, wife Kerryn, who had a more adventurous spirit, was able to conquer his resistance and persuade Chris to move to Dublin for work. “I was disappointed with where I was going,” he says with a grimace. “I didn’t seem to be on much of a career path. I always seemed to get frustrated and come up agai...

By Helen Barber, hinterliving magazine Just three months after getting married, Chris Dowding and his new wife, Kerryn started afresh by moving from the Sunshine Coast to Ireland. Both Kerryn and Ireland had a sense of spontaneity that Chris, a shy and retiring structural engineer, had previously avoided in his life. His ‘culture shock’ experience in Ireland was so unusual for him that he began writing emails home about his experiences. The result is Chris’ first travel book, ‘a few Drops short of a Pint’. It won 2007 IP Picks Best Creative Non-Fiction Award – not bad for a structural engineer turned first time author, eh? Chris shares with readers amusing and challenging anecdotes about his time in Ireland. ‘A few Drops short of a Pint’ is as much a journey of self discovery as it is a travel journal. Fittingly on St Patricks’s day, Chris launched his book with a shindig at the Noosa Regional Library in conjunction with the lovely folks from the Written Dimension Bookshop. It was a gr...

Young Aussie traveller brings home a new attitude – by Jennifer Scott, Sunshine Coast Daily - Sunday issue Travellers pick up many things on their journeys – souvenirs, stories and often altered perspectives. Marcoola’s Chris Dowding came back from his working holiday with a newfound ability to relax and live for today. Pushed along by his “chaotic” new wife Kerryn, in 2001 the uptight engineer had packed his bags, given the credit card a workout and headed for the Emerald Isle. As Kerryn had decided they were going overseas, Chris got to decide where they would live. One of the things that attracted him to Ireland was its laid-back lifestyle. “I think I really wanted to learn how to have fun,” Chris said. “I was a pretty uptight sort of person. I was always worrying about the future and trying to thing about what I’m going to do tomorrow – how I’m going to get where I’m going, get promoted and all that sort of stuff. What I could see in Ireland was they lived more for today. Some of t...

He's done it - or rather, America has. Today will go down as a historic moment for America and the world, one that the rest of the world was watching intently. And if the rest of the world could have voted, they would be happy. A recent international poll by the BBC World Service found that the 22 countries surveyed preferred to see Obama win the election. For me, it means hope. The U.S looked stuck in old approaches to ongoing problems. Problems in Iraq - throw more troops at it. Banks losing hand over fist - throw more money into them. Doing more of the same thing seems to guarantee getting more of the same results. Fear, misunderstanding and mistrust were the order of the day. But now I see a man who wants to embrace everyone. A man who wants to understand. A man who wants to build trust. The mettle of any organisation, including a country, is set by its leader. I can't wait to see what can be achieved with this man as an example to the people of the U.S. and the world. Let...

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 ...

The entire journey from Australia to England takes about 24 hours of flight. As far as I know, all of the airlines stop at least once to refuel and transfer passengers. You can stay on the plane and do the entire 24 hours in one step, or stop for a night or two to recuperate. Kerryn and I recently stopped in Brunei for two days. Brunei is a small country located on the island of Borneo, just east of Singapore. 95% of the country’s export revenue comes from its crude oil and natural gas reserves. The head of government is His Majesty, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, who has been the country’s leader since his father abdicated in 1967. The country is unusual for the region - its population is only about 350,000. The majority of the population is Muslim, including the Sultan himself. I have to admit that I felt some trepidation about visiting Brunei: the Western media hasn’t been kind to Muslims in recent years. However, I know that the media tends to focus on the negative news, so I wanted t...

My wife and I went to dinner in Noosa the other night with her parents – let’s call them Jim and Jane. Jim and Jane’s friends, Brian and Bron, came along. The restaurant on Thomas Street had a funky atmosphere, and the conversation warmed up as our dishes were brought out. Bron excused herself to visit the bathroom. We talked for another quarter of an hour, until Jane asked, ‘Where’s Bron?’ The young restaurant owner walked over to our table. ‘Brian, could I have a talk with you outside?’ ‘Oh dear, this sounds bad?’ asked Brian as he stood up. ‘Nothing too serious,’ replied the owner. It turned out that Bron had missed a step outside and fallen, hitting her face and right elbow. Brian looked flustered and Bron looked pale and bruised. ‘I’ll take Bron and Brian home, and you three go and get some ice cream,’ said Jane, grabbing Bron’s right elbow to guide support her. ‘Ow, Arhhhhh’ shrieked Bron. ‘That’s my sore arm!’ If you’ve read my book, ‘a few Drops short of a Pint’, you may have n...

Dublin Bus' night service is called Nitelink, and is put on for the partygoes who stay out till very, very late (Friday and Saturday are the big nights to go out in Dublin, but Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are pretty busy as well). While Dubliners may complain about late buses and awful service from the drivers, it's good to see that Dublin Bus' advertisers have a sense of humour. Their Nitelink buses have allegedly been running amusing campaigns like these for the last two or three years. In a way, the advertising campaign is a brilliant way of saving money. Why put on more services or friendly drivers, when a good advertisement might keep the passengers from thinking about how late they are? Sadly though, it's clear that Dublin Bus remains the inefficient hopeless service that it was when I lived there in 2002. See this blog (April 2008) from a passenger: "This morning i was getting on a 145 in stillorgan. The bus in question didnt even have 1 ...

When my company moved to our new office (Christmas 2007), I rang the phone company, ‘Telstra’, to get our phone lines moved from the old office to the new one. The phone lines changed over on the right day, apparently without any problems. Four months later, we realised that some of the bills hadn’t shown up. After hunting around, we found that some of the bills had gone to the old office. Others had been sent to a director’s home address. He rang Telstra. The male assistant immediately noticed we had money outstanding on our account. ‘I can’t do anything with your account until you pay the outstanding bills.’ ‘The reason we haven’t paid them is because you’ve been sending them to the wrong address. That’s why I’m calling.’ ‘Well, it must be some problem with the account address,’ replied the assistant. ‘Yes. [That’s what I just said.] We sent Telstra a letter two months ago, advising you of this information. We asked you to update your records so that the accounts would be billed to t...

I just finished Thomas Kohnstamm’s book, ' Do Travel Writers Go to Hell ? I found myself rushing home from work to read the next chapter. The way he lived his life and the method of research he used to write LP’s guide book for Brazil were great - for shock value. Being a travel writer myself, I understand how difficult it is to get all the facts straight, especially when you’re only visiting a place for a day or a few hours. In my own book, 'a few Drops short of a Pint', I wrote about sharing a house with a guy called 'Marcel'. 'Marcel' had moved from France to Dublin, to live with his Irish girlfriend. According to me, she dumped him after a short time and moved out. But when 'Marcel' read my book, he emailed me, saying: "Marcel left his Irish girlfriend at the time [not the other way around]!" I also attacked two consulting engineer companies: the ridiculous Dublin-based one that I worked for, and a major worldwide organisation that reje...

Today I dropped in on one of the Travel Writing classes run by my editor, Lauren Daniels, at the University of Queensland. I talked to her students about my book, 'a Few Drops short of a Pint', and the publishing process. Lauren's class asked some great questions and I really enjoyed the morning. I truly believe that writing is a skill that can be learned. I certainly wasn't born with the skills myself! Here are some key things that helped me get there:- a) I had something to say, and I wanted to take the reader along with me. As Lauren said, the manuscript began as 'my story'. It evolved into 'our story', and then became 'the story'. 'The story' becomes much bigger than the author. In my case, the manuscript took me to places I hadn't expected at all when I'd began. b) I got some education in the area of writing. I attended adult education courses and found a good coach to guide me. c) I started writing down whatever rubbish I co...

The office I work in is located above an X-ray and Imaging centre, and a Doctor's practice. Because the local Council won't allow large or numerous signs on new buildings, it isn't uncommon for people to get lost and end up at our door. Annie, our secretary, usually redirects them to the right office. Yesterday, she walked past my desk. 'There was a man at the door who wanted to give blood. I said to him this was the wrong office. He said the sign downstairs was pointing up at our office, so this must be the right place. He wouldn't leave. I think he must have thought I didn't understand what kind of office I worked in." "Well, we can take his blood if he really wants us to," I replied. "Ask him to sit down and say someone will come out shortly. And let's leave him there for hours," added a colleague, smiling. "You're missing a new opportunity, Annie. Ask him which vein he wants the blood taken from and then prick him with ...

I was one of the lead structural engineers that worked on the busway from Queen St to Roma Street in Brisbane. It was opened on 4th May 2008 by the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh. I was proud to see how well the project had been put together, and very happy that so many people come along to see it. I'm certain the busway system will transform Brisbane's traffic issues in the next few years.

Thanks, Mary Ryans Kerryn and I were in Paddington, Brisbane on Thursday night to talk about 'a few Drops short of a Pint'. It was a great night. 38 people came along, and listened to me practise my newfound gift of the gab (I kissed the Blarney Stone for the first time last year). Mary Ryans put on the wine, OJ and food. At the end, Stef (Mary Ryans event organiser) gave a timely speech to the audience: 'It's really tough for new authors to be noticed, so if you like the book, please tell all your friends about it." Thanks to all of you who came along. Hopefully I can return the favour sometime, to those of you who are writing your own books.