In the beginning...

This is an extract from an early email I wrote:

"The best idea I think, will be to write when I am tired, because that is when the whole idea was conceived and it is probably the best time to slip the ideas past my conscious mind.  

I had a very strange experience the other night. I was very tired, sitting rather aimlessly at my computer, as I often do when too tired to think properly, and at some stage I 'came to' to find myself typing out this letter.

As soon as I started wondering what I was doing, and what I would say next, the inspiration left me, so in the end I settled back into my stupor and continued typing. And that was the beginning of my email series on Australia! 

I am chronically ill and my brain is finding a creative outlet despite me.  The likelihood that I will tire of the idea is quite high I might add, because everything I do lately begins to pall after a few months because I am enduring 'enforced' seclusion. It has a curious effect on the psyche. But enough of that!"

Here is a copy of the original email.  It was sent using AOL, with a blue Comic Sans font - my trademark at the time!

Subject:    My Latest Idea
Date:    22/04/99 8:46:31 Central Australia Standard Time
From:    ozEkoala
To:    Friends Far & Near

  Dear email-friends,
I am writing you all a generic letter tonight - something I rarely do except if it is a routine task ( like informing you of yet another new email address! )
I have nothing much to say but want to keep in touch and let you all know how much I appreciate you... from the people I have frequent contact with to the people I have the odd chat to occasionally.
I have wanted to be a bit of an 'ambassador' of Australia to you because the majority of you have shown an interest in things Australian. I was discussing this the other night with my sister and brother-in-law, who have lived in and visited the US, and they confirmed that Americans as a rule have quite a liking for Australia, but not much of an idea about the reality of the place - more a caricature promoted by films like Crocodile Dundee!!
Occasionally in a burst of inspiration I have written a few lines to some of you about different aspects of Australian life and culture, but they have been few and far between, I am sorry to admit.  It takes a certain type of concentration to write off the top of my head about Australia, and the times I have written something, it has always been in response to specific questions.
My idea originally was to be a penpal who was informative and interesting, but I feel I have fallen short of this goal somewhat.  I tend to be informal and friendly, which is all very well, but it doesn't lend itself to being informative!  I appreciate the way you all seem to have accepted my style of writing, and even welcomed it in some cases, but I felt it was time to satisfy your expressions of interest in things Australian, so I have decided to work on a few emails with a bit of substance for a change!
I will probably send them in the same way as I intend to send this - as a generic sort of email, which is not nearly as satisfying for me, as I like the personal touch, but be assured that I am thinking of you all as individuals as I write and not as an impersonal project!! And I will also answer any questions individually if you ask them - but they do seem to have dropped off, probably because you have all given me up as a lost cause in that department!!  I hope I can redeem myself in your eyes through this effort on my part, and give something of value to you all at the same time.

In my first 'edition' I will tell you a bit about the central-northern city of Darwin. If for some reason this idea makes you cringe and you have no interest whatsoever in hearing more about Australia let me know ( I will try real hard not to be offended! ) My husband has proofread the rough draft of my planned first edition and he says it is well-worth reading, but then again he is known to decidedly biased in my favour! So, look for an email marked 'Darwin - Let me outta here!' in the next few days, which should give you time to get back to me with a warning that if I start bombarding you with some Aussie culture via email you will start to block email from me altogether!  Of course those who know me a little better by now will immediately realise that 'bombardment' is an overstatement, as I am best known for my erratic email habits rather than my regularity!   This will be an interesting experiment.

OK then. Looking forward to it. Hope you are, too.

Ooroo Cobbers 

(note: that is rather an old fashioned expression meaning seeya later friends - it was the best I could do for an authentic Aussie farewell at short notice. Everything else that I thought of writing, I find is rather universal now. Either we are copying you ( or you us ), but more likely the world is just becoming a 'smaller' place and we are speaking the same language more than ever these days!)

Now that I have my explanations out of the way,
let's get on with the story!  Sighs of relief all 'round!