September 2021 – Notes from a Big Island

WWW – WHEN the WORLD is WATCHING

September 23, 2021 Neil Life

The one in which Neil thinks he’s turning Japanese… Faster, Longer, Higher, Stronger. Tokyo. It’s 25 years to the month since I first visited Japan as a young location sound recordist for the BBC, covering several stories for that long-gone popular science programme, Tomorrow’s World: a broadcasting institution that came out of the wonderful Science…

Hi, I’m Neil Hillman and welcome to this digital potpourri of travel writing, starting with the move of my wife Heather and I from our home city of Birmingham, UK to our new home in Brisbane, Australia. With no fixed agenda or range of topics to cover, this is a journal whose intention is to free-flow words over the screen in a hopefully entertaining, possibly informative and at times, maybe, even an educational manner. Two out of three would not be bad, but I make no promises… This is basically our story as it unfolds, it’s shared with you first-hand and it starts with some of the history leading up to us leaving the UK.

To tell you a bit about us, Heather is a haute couture trained seamstress, who truth be told, can actually turn her hand to almost anything. She does however seem to specialise in emigrating, having done so four times between the UK, New Zealand and Australia. She promises this time will be her last.

Conversely, I am an emigration virgin, a writer for hire and the author of two books and several academic papers on sound for film and television. I have also spent a working lifetime as a film sound professional, recording on location and travelling the world extensively at other people’s expense… Having to now do so at my own expense has come as a huge shock.

Month: September 2021