Gypsydom

It's just 16 for me.

My list begins in Bristol followed by Baulkham Hills. (Love that juxtaposition.) Is the Gold Coast exotic? A 20 year stint in Eastwood (Syd) did nothing to help my total. Mid list we have 4 towns in Northern Ireland including Derry and Holywood (shame about that missing L) as well as Bath (almost coming full circle at that point.) Since returning to Oz there are such diversities as Cremorne, North Parramatta and Glebe amongst others.

You've got a few years on me though DA. Give me time.

I dislike moving. Maybe I have too much stuff, but I disliked it as a child, too, so I've tried not to put my children through it too often. That makes my list quite short - 18 to 20 depending on whether or not you count different houses in the same area separately.

Nowhere exotic - just a collection of suburbs in three different countries wrapped around short stays in London and a near-idyllic childhood in a village in NE England.

'just 16'...?

If you don't count moving around the same city, my list is 3. Possibly 5, given I can't really remember the details of holiday homes my family had, long ago.

Carlton, VIC, Australia
Korweinguboora, VIC, Australia
PaloAlto, CA, USA
Morphett Vale, SA, Australia
St. Lucia, Qld
Roma, Italy
Gambugliano, Italy
Reggio-Emilia, Italy
Noumea, New Caledonia
Whyalla, Australia

So far in 28 years

21. I forgot (how I wish I could forget) the broom closet on Hangar Lane in Ealing I existed in in 1985. Perfectly situated to capture all the noise of the main road, main line out of Paddington, and above-ground tube, yet the guy in the room next door still managed to make more noise than everything outside.

Oh my goodness, a travelogue, what a fabulous idea! I wonder if I could find a publisher or someone to sponsor me on one of those trips......?

I think my count is 16, not counting moves within the same area, or 35 if you do. I wont list them all, but here are probably the most notable ones......it's such a long list when you write them down, suffice to say I am now an expert bag packer and housemoverer!

- West Ham, London, UK
- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- York, UK
- Bombay, India - before it changed it's name to Mumbai
- Wagga Wagga, NSW
- Shepparton, Middlesex, UK - the start of my backpacking period
- Trafalgar Square, London (yes, actually lived and worked in a pub right in Trafalgar Square - special!)
- Battersea, London, UK
- Caracas, Venezuela (a glorious 3 months living with the folks after 2 yrs of slumming it as a backpacker - was spoilt rotten and absolutely loved it)
- Hawthorn, Melbourne
- Canberra, ACT - various places including in State Circle.....just 4 doors down from The Lodge and across the road from Parliament House!
- Fitzroy North/Brunswick East, VIC

Heh, divorced parents is kind of cheating as that doubles my number of living venues for many years... though, I must say I've tallied up a fair few since moving down to Sydney on my own:
1. Lithgow, NSW (formative years)
2. Bankstown, NSW (deformative years)
3. Tamworth, NSW (Address 1)
4. Coonabarabran, NSW
5. Tamworth, NSW (Address 2)
6. Tamworth, NSW (Address 3)
7. Armidale, NSW (Boarding school)
8. Armidale, NSW
9. Uralla, NSW
10. Glenmore Park, NSW (Address 1)
11. North Ryde, NSW (Address 1)
12. Homeless for three months... do bus stops, parks and university vending machine rooms count?
13. Epping, NSW (Address 1)
14. Epping, NSW (Address 2)
15. North Ryde, NSW (Address 2)
16. Glenmore Park, NSW (Address 2)
17. Macquarie Park, NSW

Some interesting mysteries above, like Italianfrancese's move from Noumea to Whyalla and TMc's move from Bombay to Wagga Wagga. I'm sure there's a fascinating story behind each move, which is why Jane Clifton's book will probably sell well.

As for me, I'm a stayer. I bunker down. Given the one-month-plus eligibility rule, my background (apart from a few surprises) looks comparatively dull:

Maffra, Vic
Mornington, Vic
Nagoya
Yokohama
Parkville
Carlton
Seattle
Copenhagen
Elwood
Carlton North
Fitzroy North

I've lived in two houses in Epping as well.

Born in Moree, I spent my first months in Collarenebri, and then moved South to Moss Vale, where a couple of years were spent. Dad's job as a cop ensured constant upheavals, and so the next few years took us to NSW's Central Coast and then to Dubbo.

We eventually returned to the Southern Highlands of NSW and then, chasing the sun, moved to Cairns only to find it all too humid. So craving the cold we returned to Bowral, Sutton Forrest, and then Willow Vale, where my family finally settled.

I, however, refused to stay still and as soon as high school was over, I took the first plane to Italy where I lived in Monza, Saluzzo, and then Pinerolo.

University took me to Wollongong, and then on exchange I spent a year in Pau, France, where I fell in love, not with a Frenchman, but with a Canadian. I followed him to Toronto and learnt what cold really means.

After the Canadian jaunt, English teaching led me to spend a year in Tours, France, and now that's over I find myself back in Willow Vale.

So Collarenebri to Willow Vale via the Po and Loire valleys and the Golden Horseshoe, for a total of 24 houses in 26 years.

Well, I lived - boarded - in Maida Vale as well, opposite Lords, in a house where Doris Lessing's mail still came and upstairs could be heard Arthur Lowe (Dad's Army) speaking to his wife in a cultured voice. Studied in Soho (English language teaching!). Used to be amazed that you could actually walk between many of the places on the Monopoly Board. Also lived in Moree and Armidale .. and too many other places to count.

One month or more makes it an interesting list and brings out my wanderlust again - maybe Uruguay? I'm also curious about the link between gypsies and word players. I had not thought obvious but maybe there is a weird connection.

Total for me is 24, mostly in UK and Melbourne, but a few more interesting including:

Kiev (Ukraine)
Limassol (Cyprus)
Monaco - I was technically staying in France as was across the road from the Monaco stadium on Cap D'ail, but as I was working in Monaco I'll claim the exotica

Archangelsk - arrived on May 21 to massive snow storm - snow covering the 6 foot deep potholes in the road and snow drifts blocking the driveway to the hotel so we had to clamber over them with our bags to get in. A month later and longest day of the year - I remember watching the sun rise and set - it never fully made it below the horizon and the most glorious sunset/rise on the river of Archangel. True heaven and almost made up for the Russian sense of austerity which means curtains never meet over the window by at least a foot.

Vladivostok - 3 years and really nothing to say...

Three new contributors in the space of one forum: maybe a blog record. Welcome to all three itchy-footers, and hope you find some fun in the Storms, puzzles and posts down the track.

The best I can do is 18, the first nine taking 21 years, the latter nine the rest of my 68. Mostly Victorian addresses, but a few UK, USA and NZ tossed in for good measure. Not overly peripatetic.

However it does include two five-week trips back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, circumnavigating the world by sea - not quite sure what you'd call the "address.".