just the facts, mann!
a little -- well, a lot -- about me
The obligatory statistics: I was born on October 27, 1948, at about 5:15 in the morning -- which makes me a double
Scorpio -- stand six feet tall and weigh in at about 175 pounds (1.83 metres and 80kg), the weight and waistline varying with whether I've been having one of my occasional fits of enthusiasm for the gym. The eyes are brown, my beard is grey, and what's left of my hair is probably white now -- I don't know, I haven't seen it for years.
I was born in Sydney and can't imagine any place I'd rather live; but I can't really describe myself as a dinki-di Aussie. My father was English but born and brought up in China, my mother Australian; and between them they gave me blood from just about every country in Europe. Dad's job meant I spent my childhood in various parts of the Orient (I was actually conceived in Bangkok) and though the family came to Australia in 1960 in time for my high school years and I've lived ever since, I still speak the British English I learned as a child -- and the food with the childhood memories tends to be based on rice....

I've been a keen gardener since I was a small child -- I planted my first rosebush in my mother's garden when I was about 10 -- and it was the love of gardens that led me to train in architecture and then become a landscape architect. Even in my University days when I was living in digs I usually managed to make at least a window box, and I've made real gardens of my own in Canberra, Adelaide, and Sydney. The present one here in Sydney is my eighth, not counting those I've made for other people in my  nearly 25 years as a landscape architect. (I've lived, worked and practised in Sydney, in Canberra and in Adelaide.)  Sure, it's tiny -- 47 square metres all up -- but I don't find that frustrating. I've gardened on the grand scale, and after a working week talking and writing about gardens and gardening, the last thing I want to do is spend the weekend chained to a big garden.
There are other things to enjoy in life!
click on the picture to visit my real-life garden
Such as good food (I like to cook and to eat out),
wine (I actually drink very little, which allows me to keep a good cellar) books, books and more books -- and music. Classical music, everything from Hildegard to Henze, though my great loves are Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and above all J.S. Bach. It was in the hope of playing Bach myself that I built my harpsichord back in 1983, though I don't practise nearly enough and my repertoire still remains embarrrassingly tiny.
But there's no doubt that wrestling with the notes opens your ears to music like nothing else can.
It's a Zuckermann Flemish Double -- signed 'Roger Mann'
I hate talking in public about my personal life, and all I'm going to say here is that I'm a life-long bachelor and happy to remain so -- though I have given my heart in the past and am open to the possibility of doing so again.  Who knows?
But in the meantime I'm happy and secure in the love of my family and friends. And my cat -- though as I write I'm still recovering from the loss of two very much loved feline companions within the past twelve months and biding my time before welcoming a new one into my life.
In Canberra back in '82 or '83, in the days when I had hair.
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