The first installment of Mike’s two-part interview was published in the Mail last Friday, August 28.
Jade Jungwirth
Then COVID happened.
“It was a mad thing that, looking back on it, doesn’t seem quite real, like we watched a movie with us in it, doing all these weird things, like queuing for toilet paper and going out for walks once a day. It felt like a zombie apocalypse meets rom com!”
After working out of their tiny little cottage for a year, the pair got their house appraised. With numbers higher than they anticipated, they sold up.
“We decided to chuck the cards up in the air and move to Chewton,” he said.
“I’ve been working from home in Chewton for the last five years, but every job is finite, and this year in April they said, ‘Time’s up ‘, and they paid me a decent amount of money to not come to work anymore.”
Unsure what his next career move will entail, Mike decided to spend some time volunteering.
“I’ve lived in the community for five years, and I haven’t really put much back into it. I’ve always really admired the people that do, that selflessness of waking up in the morning and saying, ‘I’m going to do things for other people,” he said.
Heading down to the Castlemaine Community House, they soon put him to work in the Community Lunch kitchen.
“I have loved it. The other volunteers are predominantly Castlemaine natives.
“Online, there is a bit of friction from the OG Castlemaine natives and what they call the blow-ins, and apparently we’re responsible for all the world’s ills, but the team at Community Lunch are lovely and have been super welcoming, and I haven’t had a single bit of friction about being a blow-in,” he said.
“There’s lighthearted stuff which is obviously part of the Aussie psyche, taking the p**s out of each other.”
Mike’s other volunteer initiative is writing for the Chewton Chat, and as a self-confessed grammar pedant, he also proofreads the monthly newsletter.
And the all-important questions:
What are your philosophies in life? The golden rule (treating others as you want to be treated) is a pretty good one. Also, I quite like the idea of, ‘You miss every ball you don’t swing at.’ I like to try different things. Some things I’ve tried I’ve regretted the outcome. Some things I’ve tried and I’ve not regretted the outcome, but I’ve never regretted trying. It’s very easy to be frightened of change. When you see opportunities, really have a look at them. That’s why I’m sat here 10,000 miles from the small town I used to live in, on my own, in a small apartment in England.
What hobbies do you enjoy? Woodwork. I’ve made a lot of the furniture in the house. I started when I moved here. One of the caveats of moving here was that I wanted a workshop, and she has carte blanche in terms of decorations, which she has very much done; she has a good eye.
I also have a studio downstairs where I make music. I play electric guitar. I was in a band in Melbourne. The band had a song called ‘I want to die in a Franco Cozzo bed’; it was a great tune and it even ended up in the ABC documentary about him!
Who are your three dream dinner guests? Paul McCartney; I’m a massive fan. He’s contributed enormously to culture and music in the last 60-something years. A 19th-century British explorer called Richard Burton, who was a bit of a childhood hero of mine. He did all sorts of wild stuff. His life, which I was exposed to as a young chap. His life was very much an opportunity- go and grab it, but he did it in a very, very different world. Some of his attitudes are on the nose by modern standards, but having a conversation about the commonalities between past humans and current humans would be a very interesting one. And me mum. She would have been 80 yesterday. She was probably the funniest person I’ve ever met.
What are you reading at the moment? Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World.
Finally, what do you love most about the place you call home? Community. I could live here without the community, and it would just be a building with a good view. It’s lovely. It’s welcoming and super non-judgemental. I’ve made some great friends around here. Two weeks into moving, we dropped off notes to all our neighbours inviting them around for a party and we haven’t looked back.