I, on the other hand, wear regular office clothing to my regular office job, live in a rural area where Gothic atire is not advised anyway, and where country music is the second national anthem. But I like a lot of the things most Goths consider de rigueur - Sisters of Mercy, Siouxie and the Banshees, Dead Can Dance, etc. I also like the darker TV shows such as X Files and Millenium, horror fiction (especially vampires), gargoyles, Gothic jewellery with bat motifs etc, and black Gothic clothing which I enjoy wearing whenever the opportunity arises.

I harbour some decidedly ungothic characteristics, including an interest in canoeing and hiking, New Age music, and some Reggae. But there is hope for me - I hate country and western music! Goths are supposed to be dark, moody and angst-ridden. Forget it! I'm too busy enjoying life and am disgustingly cheerful. Even early in the morning.

How did I become interested in the Gothic scene? For a long time I never gave it much thought. But I have been giving lectures on vampires for years and found that discussions of vampires in connection with the Goth scene have become much more frequent. And on the internet, the two topics are almost inseparable. My curiosity meter went up and up, finally redlined, and I had to check it out.

The opportunity arose last year when Anne (left, who I met through the Transylvanian Society of Dracula), took me to a meeting of the Gothic Society of Canada (based in Toronto). I loved it. The atmosphere was great, the people were fun, the clothing was gorgeous, and for the first time I met other people who liked the same music (especially Sisters of Mercy) that I had been listening to for years.

It was the Gothic Society's "Show and Tell" night. Various members of the Society brought interesting things to show and explain to the rest of us. These ranged from a slide show of a gargoyle art gallery, to a Pressed Fairy book. From an intricate piece of tatting (similar to crochet but much more delicate and harder to do) that took an inch an hour to tat, to an antique sword.

For the rest of the evening, conversation ranged from the objects we had seen to almost anything else you care to imagine. I was hooked.

Thanks to Anne, I attended the Annual Gothic Society Picnic in June 1996 and had a great time. When I returned home and showed the pictures to friends here, we decided to have our own Gothic Picnic in Nova Scotia the next summer.