One cold winter night, on my way to have dinner with friends, I got stuck in traffic. There had been an accident at the lights ahead. As I sat there in the dark and the wet, waiting for the mess to be cleared, I glanced across the road. There on a noticeboard outside a rundown weatherboard church was a message: Unless you change direction, you will end up where you are going.
It’s a sign, I said. Ha-ha! But I had already taken the message to heart.

Paul Carter was born in Warwickshire, England, and trained at Guy’s Hospital in London. He migrated to Australia in 1976 and has been a country GP in Lancefield in Central Victoria for the last thirty years.

He lives with his wife, Gilly, on a farm in the Macedon Ranges. Apart from spending time with Gilly, his practice, farming, and writing, he also enjoys sculpting and portrait painting. He has eleven beautiful grandchildren, all of whose names he can remember.