About me

About me

Don’t you wish your grandparents — and even your great-grandparents — would have written a one-page autobiography summing up their lives? To be handed down for ever and ever. But they didn’t do it. People used to record births, deaths and marriages in the family bible, but they don’t even do that anymore.

Even though I won’t have grandchildren, I’ve jotted down a few autobiographical notes. Outside of me, I don’t know anybody who would be interested. But the fact is, I hold out some faint hope that I’ll be able to read these texts again in my next life. That sounds like a tall order, I know, but it mightn’t be as tall as you think.

So remember — if you scan through these texts and wonder, “Why is she telling us all this?” — that it’s not for you that I’m doing it; it’s for me.

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Me working at my desk, Wiener Neustadt, July 2024. (Photo credit: Birgit Ötsch Photography.)

MY LIFE

I was born in Sydney in 1956. I spent childhood and teenage in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

In 1976 I flew to Europe on a one-way air ticket. I arrived with travellers’ cheques, a Eurail Pass and two suitcases. Back then suitcases had to be carried. Unimaginable today.

Coincidentally at the end of my life, I plan again to have only two suitcases.

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I lived in the longest period of peace ever known in western Europe. I saw the end of the East Bloc and the tearing down of the Iron Curtain. I saw Europe unified and the introduction of a common currency. In later years I saw the flow of war refugees and other migrants into Europe.

At work I saw the end of the telegram and the typewriter. My working life was revolutionized at first by the Wang word-processor and the facsimile system and later by the personal computer, electronic mail and the Internet. My work as a typesetter, secretary and clerk was worthwhile and sometimes challenging. It also paid well.

My family members enriched my life and they still do, even though they’re far away.

I had romance in my life eight times, but those whom I wanted to marry weren’t available, so I remained single.

The toughest skill I ever learned was how to ride a motor bike.

I’ve been to 76 countries, five of which I’ve lived in. I’ve driven a car in 56 of them.

I have a small psychic ability. It’s limited and directed only toward myself.

My other official name is “Pip”.

I expect to live until advanced old age.

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How I came to live in Austria

When I started looking for a job in London in October 1976, I thought the best place to look was in a department store in Oxford Street. So I went to the end of the street and started walking down it. I sensed that wherever I chose to direct my steps, whatever department store I would go into, my choice would affect the rest of my life. I reached Bourne & Hollingsworth at 120 Oxford Street and walked in. I got a job in the Counting House as a secretary.

(Bournes ceased trading in 1984. After some years the empty site was remodelled on the inside while the historical façade was kept intact, and it became the uninspiring London Plaza. In recent years it was remodelled on the inside again, coming back to resembling the old department store again, and it became the Next flagship store, which it is to this present day.)

In December 1976 I was living in Bournes’ staff hostel, Warwickshire House at 60 Gower Street. I received an inner command, a forceful command, to visit Vienna. Immediately I booked a plane flight and hotel. I didn’t know why I was being commanded to go to Vienna. Vienna was famous in my mind, but I still didn’t know why I had to go there, right then and right there.

On returning to London after my short visit to Vienna, I told my colleague, Judy, how much I wished I could live and work in Vienna. Judy told me she had worked as a student in Vienna — at the Creditanstalt-Bankverein on the Schottentor — and there she had learned that there are many international organizations in Austria, most of them located in Vienna. She suggested I get a list of the organizations from the Austrian embassy and apply to them for a job.

So I went to the embassy. The Austrian man who interviewed me didn’t hide his disapproval that a foreigner was trying to move to Austria. He got excited and his voice became high. He got rid of me as quickly as possible — but not before giving me the list.

It was early 1978. I began to send job applications to every organization on the list. I got a polite “no interest” answer from every organization except one: The recruitment officer at IIASA in Laxenburg phoned me at B&H in London and asked if I’d be willing to come for an interview. I was more than willing. I came. I got the job.

I resigned from B&H. They were disappointed. Our supervisor said to Judy, “With friends like you, who needs enemies?” Hahaha. He was only joking, but poor Judy looked upset.

I arrived in Vienna on the Wien–Oostende Express on 17 June 1978. At the Westbahnhof I was met by the IIASA driver who drove me to IIASA’s hostel, Haus Rosner in the Elisabeth Straße in Baden. I stayed there for one month before moving to Vienna.

I lived in a state of disbelief that lasted, actually, for two years.

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MY NEXT LIFE

I’ve had three psychic events or moments, spaced far apart, in which I saw my next life (seven years of it, from age 19 through age 25) and myself (I met my future spiritual self, aged 19), and one other thing, which I won’t mention.

When meeting my future self, the apparition appeared before me and stared into my left eye. The left signifies the future. This meeting lasted one whole second. This meeting bears out what many people think — that in the spirit world there’s no passage of time — the past, present and future are all the same. I saw my own future spiritual body, even though my future physical body hasn’t been made yet.

I saw that I’m going to be outstandingly successful in my working life. As a young person, I’ll have no academic achievements. Maybe they come later in life, or maybe not.

I also saw that I’ll live my next life with a spiritual blessing which, although spiritual, will be discernible to everyone who meets me.

I’m going to become public property to some extent — but that goes with the territory.

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MY LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

• I was living in a country when it gained its independence — Papua New Guinea in 1975
• I learned a second language — German
• I changed my nationality — from Australian to Austrian
• I saw two shrunken heads. The first one was that of an oriental man with a long, intact moustache. It was in the former Concentration Camp of Buchenwald (now a memorial site) near Weimar. The shrunken head had been kept by the Kommandant on his desk. I’m guessing the oriental man had been a Chinese merchant, killed in Africa in the 19^th century. The second head was in the Reptilienzoo in Forchtenstein. This was the head of an African man.
• I heard the sound barrier being broken. This was in Weimar; back then it was in the GDR. East German fighter jets were flying overhead, repeatedly. After the sonic boom, the windows of the shop fronts rattled. This went on all afternoon.
• I witnessed a repossession. One evening I was eating in our local Schnitzel Haus when two men, who must have been bailiffs, came in quietly and started to collect all food and drink. One of them eyed the items on my tray, not yet paid for. They didn’t touch the cash in the till. Although they were collecting all the food and drink, including all the items in the larder, neither was dressed in clothing appropriate for handling food, so it was clear that the food wasn’t going to be re-sold later. The Asian people working in the restaurant were likewise very quiet, not reacting and not obstructing. The bailiffs didn’t speak one unnecessary word. After about 10 minutes, it occurred to one of them to lock the door so no more customers could come in. I sat there eating throughout the whole thing, dumbstruck.
• I broke the law for the first time at age 53. In August 2009 in Amsterdam, I loaded up with space cake and joints of varying strengths and drove back to Austria, crossing five country borders — Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Austria — where these products are or were outlawed. I finally disposed of the products without consuming them.
• I was a member of a live audience twice — in 2005 at the BBC Television Centre in Shepherds Bush for the filming of an episode of Swiss Toni, and in 2016 at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, LA, for the filming of an episode of Young & Hungry.
• I sat in the public gallery of the Old Bailey at the opening of a trial.
• I read War and Peace (the Maude translation). It took exactly 100 hours.
• I heard sap rising. It was in a pine tree in the Rosaliengebirge hills. It made a blub-blub noise inside the trunk. It was loud and I heard it while I was still on the path, before I clambered up the slope to reach the tree. It was on 11 July 2018. I always thought that sap rising was a spring thing, but this was in summer. The tree has since been cut down.
• I nearly blew my mind. I had hiked to the top of Schmittenstein and was lying down, looking up into the sky. I didn’t look at the sky; I looked into it. Suddenly, I saw our planet for what it was — a tiny speck in vast space. We know how isolated we are — we can imagine it, we can measure it, but we can’t actually see it. But on this occasion I actually saw it. I saw the reality of the vast, empty universe around us. There’s no escaping this emptiness. There’s nowhere we can go to get out of this emptiness. It’s vaster than the human mind can handle. In the next moment I would have lost my sanity. Within one second I brought my mind back to firm ground. One moment longer and I would have gone insane.
• I saw the Star of Bethlehem. The “star” was visible for four nights in the southwestern sky in Austria, shortly after nightfall on 21 December 2020. I wanted to see it but didn’t know how. I knew only that I had to get up high, above the wintry clouds and mist. I drove up onto the Pfaffensattel, knowing that at least part of that mountain saddle faces southwest — and sure enough, I got above the clouds and mist and saw the “star”, the Great Conjunction. Other people were there, too. [The magazine Astronomy reports on this: “… Jupiter and Saturn came together in a Great Conjunction in 2020 that was unlike any seen in nearly 800 years.”]

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AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 YEARS

In sum:

I’ve been to every continent and travelled on (almost) every ocean (still got the Arctic Ocean to do!). I’ve stepped upon the continent of Antarctica in the far south and (will soon step upon) the Svalbard archipelago in the far north.

I’ve been to 76 countries and driven a car in 56 of them.

The two ugliest cities I’ve seen are Yerevan and Nairobi. The most littered country is Bulgaria, which also has the highest number of abandoned public buildings.

The angriest drivers are in Jerusalem. The next most irate are in Germany. The calmest drivers, who never hoot the driver in front, are in Belarus.

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In particular:

• I arrived in Europe on a one-way air-ticket. On 31 July 1976 I flew on British Airways from Port Moresby to Brisbane and from there to Hong Kong. After a whirlwind week in Hong Kong, I finally landed at Frankfurt airport on 8 August. This was the biggest step I’ve taken in my life. I was 20 years old.
• As a child and teenager living in Port Moresby, I saw three films based on real life: The Sound of Music (1965), Born Free (1966) and Mayerling (1968). Many years later, without having formed any plan, I found myself visiting these actual sites:
  • I’ve stayed in the former home of the Von Trapp family, a luxurious breakfast hotel in the suburb of Aigen in Salzburg.
  • I’ve been to Meru National Park in Kenya and have stood at the grave of Elsa the lioness.
  • I’ve visited Mayerling in the province of Lower Austria, the site of the murder–suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera. Visiting Mayerling is easy for me as I live just down the road from there. I also worked in Schloss Laxenburg where Rudolf was born, which today houses IIASA.
• I’ve seen two preserved human bodies — that of Lenin in Moscow and the incorrupt body of St. Silvan in the St. Blaise Church, Dubrovnik.
• I’ve visited the Great Barrier Reef, the pyramids and the Taj Mahal. I’ve seen the midnight sun at the North Cape and flown in a helicopter in the Grand Canyon.
• I’ve been to the Eiffel Tower, the Tower of London and the Burj Khalifa. I’ve climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa (before its leaning got halted).
• I’ve visited the Sistine Chapel and the Silent Night Chapel (the latter being a replica of the original chapel that burned down).
• I’ve visited the Alhambra and Port Meirion. I’ve ridden on a gondola in Venice.
• I’ve climbed Ayres Rock and seen Table Mountain complete with “table cloth”. I’ve hiked on the Rock of Gibraltar and through the Samaria Gorge. I’ve seen a cloud-free Mount Ararat from the Armenian side and a cloud-free Mount Kilimanjaro from the Kenyan side. I’ve seen Europe’s highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, from the plane when flying to Baku — the two unmistakable round summits were above the clouds and had permanent snow on them.
• I’ve stood on the Snaefels Glacier and the Potemkin Steps.
• I’ve seen the Mona Lisa, the Statue of David and the Bayeux Tapestry. (The tapestry is actually an embroidery.)
• I’ve visited Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje. Most recently I’ve visited the Zhyrovichi Monastery — the site of the tree and the boulder, and the location of the “miraculous icon”.
• I’ve driven to Borodino and Shevardino (Napoleon’s victories) and to Waterloo (Napoleon’s defeat).
• I’ve been to the birthplace of four world-class villains — Braunau (Hitler’s birthplace), Kolomenskoye (Ivan the Terrible’s birthplace), Gori (Stalin’s birthplace) and Sighișoara (birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepeș), also known as Vlad III Dracul, or simply Dracula).
• I’ve walked through Stalin’s personal train carriage, a green Pullman carriage, armour plated and weighing 83 tons. Stalin travelled by train because he was scared of flying, the sissy.

• With Mum, I’ve visited the Commonwealth War Cemetery of El Alamein¹, where my maternal uncle, Pvt. Cyril Pearson Duel, is buried. A photo of Uncle Cyril is included here.

• I’ve visited the former gravesite of Nipper the fox terrier in Kingston-upon-Thames. Nipper is the real dog who featured in the trademark, His Master’s Voice (HMV). A bank (formerly Lloyds, then TSB) has been built on the site in Eden Street, and the grave is no longer preserved.
• With my sister, I’ve hiked across Austria from east to west. I’ve hiked from Vienna to Mariazell. On a single day, I hiked up Schneeberg, over the top, down to the Höllental valley below and up the neighbouring Rax mountain to the hotel on top. A bionic achievement! I’ve hiked up and over the top of Hochschwab — that, too, on a single day. An Olympic achievement!
• I’ve found edelweiss growing wild, several times and in several locations.
• I’ve stood on the prime meridian at 0° longitude in Greenwich and on the equator at 0° latitude in Kenya.²
• I’ve crossed the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
• I’ve been to the largest city located below sea level — Baku, 28 metres below sea level. I understand the sea level to be measured from the Mediterranean Sea.
• I’ve cruised the Caribbean and transited the Panama Canal.
• I’ve hung on for dear life to the famous airport fence at Maho Beach on St. Maarten, although there was no plane taking off.
• I’ve driven a car in the centres of such challenging cities as Paris, London, Moscow and Istanbul. In Monterey, I drove along Cannery Row.
• I’ve visited Robert the Doll.
• I’ve spent Walpurgis Night on the Blocksberg.
• I’ve crossed Abbey Road on the iconic zebra crossing. I’ve done the Lambeth Walk, and I’ve walked through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the Thames.
• I’ve stood outside No. 10 Downing Street. This was in the late 1970’s, when the street was still open to the public.
• I’ve sampled the water in the Roman baths at Bath; it tasted terrible. This was in 1976 — before any fatality happened — when sampling the water was still allowed.
• I’ve had a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel and a meal in the Café ? in Belgrade. The question mark is the café’s name.
• I’ve hiked up to the Hollywood sign.
• I’ve stood at the execution wall in the former barracks in Târgoviște, where Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were executed by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989. The bullet holes are still in the wall. The outlines of the two bodies are painted on the pavement, and there are two stains on the pavement.
• I’ve visited Europe’s two highest mountain villages: Ushguli in Georgia and Khinalug (Xinaliq) in Azerbaijan. Different websites all give different altitudes for these villages. It’s not clear at what exact spot in the villages the altitude is measured. (The absolute highest villages were Resi and Bochorna, both in Georgia, but they’re no longer occupied. One elderly man has since moved to Bochorna and lives there all year round, but one elderly man doesn’t make a village.)
• I’ve stood on one of the spots claiming to be the geographical centre of Europe — at Polotsk in Belarus.
• I’ve seen the green flash. I’ve seen it twice. The first time was when crossing the Atlantic on the MV Oceana; the flash was really only a dot, visible for half a second. The second time was at the west-facing Maho Beach on the island of St. Maarten; this time it was an actual flash. It’s a challenge to see the green flash — you’ve got to look at the top of the sun at the very moment that it disappears beneath the sea. The two times I’ve seen the green flash were in winter. I tried to see it in summer (in Georgia and in Turkey), but it didn’t occur — the sun disappeared beneath the sea under a cloudless sky, but there was no green flash. So I conclude it happens only in winter. And in my own experience, it happens only over water. Question: Does latitude play a role? Does the green flash only happen between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer? Does it only happen when the sun sets, or also when the sun rises? I’ll google it one day, maybe.

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Very Special Old Places (the VSOP of my travels)

• I’ve been to Bethlehem and the baptismal site on the River Jordan. There was a white dove at the baptismal site. That bird knew it was special! It flew straight to me, landed and waited for its photo to be taken! A white dove! I dropped my bag in astonishment and pulled out my camera, just like every other tourist. (Actually, it was a white pigeon.)
• I’ve visited the House of the Virgin Mary, being an ancient church built over the foundations of what is believed to have been Mary’s house, up in the hills overlooking the distant Aegean Sea, near to Selçuk and Ephesus. I came here on Thursday, 24 September 2020.
• Later on this same day I went to the tomb of John the Apostle, the “beloved disciple”, a well preserved spot in the ruins of the Basilica of St. John on Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, near Ephesus and Izmir. The grave is at ground level, covered by a large flat top made up of marble tiles, flanked by four slim, white, round stone columns.

A few days later I realised that this day had been a Thursday. I’ve noticed that some of the movable feasts are moved always to fall on a Thursday, so it’s like a holy day in the week. So I like to think it was appropriate to go to those two places on a Thursday (although unplanned).

• I’ve seen a part of the skeletonized right hand — presumably the hand he baptized with — of John the Baptist in the Topkapi Museum. Only a part of the hand is there; other parts are elsewhere. (It surprises me that it’s skeletonized; I would expect the hand that baptized Christ to be incorrupt. That leads me to wonder if it really is John’s hand.)
• I’ve worked on a dig (an archaeological site) at Tel Yin’am³ outside Yavne’el near the Sea of Galilee, and I’ve drunk water taken straight from the lake, in a pot that the boatman dipped in.
• I’ve driven through Jericho, the world’s oldest city, in a hire car that wasn’t insured for Jericho. My Israeli number plate was a neon sign for the police, but no-one stopped me. The drive took 20 minutes. My heart was in my mouth the whole time.

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1. El Alamein means „the two flags”. This term is properly transliterated as Alealamayn, according to Google Translate. Many years ago, Ahmed, a young Egyptian researcher visiting IIASA, told me it refers to the Egyptian and UK flags, flying together as a symbol of friendship in a location nearby. The name was bestowed on the location before WWII and is not a reference to the Commonwealth and German cemeteries or flags. ↩︎
2. The meeting point of 0° latitude and 0° longitude is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of western Africa. ↩︎
3. A tel is a settlement mound, where one settlement after another has been built on the same spot, over centuries or millennia, creating an artificial mound or hill. Another term for this is “Neolithic mound”. There’s also one in Bulgaria that I tried to visit but was unable to find. ↩︎