Demystifying "The Thing"

If you are a regular reader of this Blog you may recall back in May 2008 I mentioned "The Thing". You may also recall that at the time I was reluctant to broach the subject, and that I said I would reveal all soon. Well, that soon is now about 6 months later, and indeed about 3 months since "The Thing" took place. In actual fact "The Thing" will perhaps not be as exciting or intriguing as some may think. And no, it is not an addition to the family!

"The Thing" was simply, and certainly by no means am I trying to downplay the event nor the near nuclear fallout effect it has had on our lives, my wife and I immigrated to Australia.

This was not a rash decision. Nor did the process take place overnight. Indeed, this was about 18 months to 2 years in the making.

So why leave SA? Our reasons were and are numerous. But mostly we were wanting more security, both in the economic and personal sense. Unfortunately SA, due to the extreme poverty in Africa, has become governed by thugs and violence. While I am not referring to the current government, because I believe the pre-'94 governments were little different, I cannot help but wonder how a man who sings about and dances to revolutionary songs about his AK-47 could possible be fit to govern the jewel of Africa. Naturally there are many more reasons which I will not discuss here mostly due to space, and it becomes almost easy to find them if one becomes negative enough and justify the decision.

Of course I have to add, that I have always wanted to leave South Africa. My mother reminded me of this when I broke the news to her that we had decided to start applying for permanent residency in Australia.

So why Australia? When we decided to leave SA, we put together a shortlist of countries we were interested in moving to, and realistically could move to. The final 2 being the United Kingdom and Australia. While my wife has family in the UK, we decided on Australia - mostly for the way of life, but also the weather - my wife is very much a summer person.

So why the secrecy? Well there was and was not secrecy around this. For one thing, the decision to pack up one's entire life, particularly if you are fairly settled in, is difficult enough. Talking about it and sharing it with one's friends is just as hard. Then of course there were also professional reasons. We took a decision not to tell anyone about our intention to move. One of the reasons for it was the negative impact it potentially could have had on our careers. My wife worked for a rather temperamental (mostly just mental in my opinion) woman who in all likelihood would have instructed her to leave immediately had she told her of her intent. In my case, I was up front with my boss as I needed the references for my visa. However I decided it best not to repeat it in modelling circles as it could have unsettled the status quo of the site I was managing, and cast doubt and unsettle vendor relations.

So what has this got to do with a scale modelling Blog? Probably nothing. But, this is my Blog, and it may also serve to inform all why there has been such a slow down in my modelling of late, as well as my decision to resign from Historicus Forma.

Over the coming days and weeks, I will probably be discussing more on the move to Oz, our experiences as well as a very brief comment on my decision to resign from HF.

Oh, and just for the record: my modelling stuff has arrived in Australia, and I am reviewing figures again. I have however decided to become a little more subject focused. I have decided to return to my roots and my own interests, and thus will be focusing on Roman and WW2 subjects again. That said, I also have a modern Russian figure set lined up for review. I also have several projects lined up for 2009 already, but I would prefer not to discuss them until I get going with them.

More soon. See ya later.