I have long thought that Adelaide is underrated as a city.
After living in London for five years and travelling to other cities in Europe, US, Africa and Asia I have always been content to call Adelaide my home. Many others do not, exhibiting the classic Adelaide Cringe and happily bowing to the perceived superiority of the Eastern states.
"Adelaide is boring" they moan. But I believe being bored is a state of mind, not an attribute of a place.
For a long time I have felt that Adelaide hides its highlights very well, burying event announcements on small signs at busy street corners and in classified advertisements in newspapers that are no longer read.
Several years ago the government funded a local community group to set up a website to list Adelaide events, but this initiative failed because the group was not interested in looking at ways to collect event information.
After exploring a few dead ends I eventually located a website that I thought went some way to putting their finger on the pulse, and subscribed to its newsletter. It gave me some good ideas but I decided I could do better, and started writing for Weekend Notes myself in May under the profile name Dave W. It has been a blast!
Today I reached a milestone - 150 articles in a little less than 6 months.
Not only do I now have tens of thousands of readers every month, but I have also seen the website improve and grow and provide me with even more ideas of things to do. My days are never boring, and it's hard to find time to do things I should do (like housekeeping!). Instead I am out meeting people, attending events, exploring new places, and tasting foods that I haven't tried before. My writing also gives me enough pocket money to buy new toys like fancy cameras and electronic gadgets which I love.
I hope that my articles on Weekend Notes give other people as much pleasure as it gives me in writing them. In some small way I'd like to think I'm making Adelaide a less "boring" place.
