family closure and disappointments

so i've been in stink-town now for two weeks and to be honest i haven't really minded it. this is only because i've been hanging with my family and one of my best friends. if it wasn't for them i would have spent the last few weeks in melbourne crashing on people's couches and just being a drunken lunatic. my brother and sister, who are both in high school, have just gone back to school this week so it's been cool to sit around watching tv, mucking around and basically annoying the crap out of both of them. it was funny to note, however, that as soon as i was back i went from being a somewhat adult-acting 28 year old to going straight back to stereotyped big brother. i've stayed up late chatting to mum and dad, and now the kids are all back at school it's been wonderful to sit around and talk to them. i haven't been able to do this for ages as i lived in melbourne and worked on weekends and pretty much had a separate life to them, so the two week stint has been very welcomed, especially because i don't know when i'll be back from germany, or even if i will be coming back.

my extended family i haven't seen much of. my nan and pop both live in stink-town, as does my aunt, but i did think that i'd see them more than i have. i've seen my nan and pop twice, which isn't too bad, but i haven't seen my aunt once, except for her popping her head in the door while i was asleep one morning to say hi before leaving. it is a slight disappointment. although i have been informed that this can be explained - everyone thought that i was staying alot longer than i am. i have no idea where they got that impression from, as everyone knows that this is a hugely rushed and spontaneous trip and that i would never spend too long here. not because i don't like being with my family mind you, but more because i fucking hate this town. hopefully i will see more of my extended family before i go.

my home town

i thought i'd write a little about my home town, melbourne. i love this city. so far it is the one place that i really consider home. most people who know me don't realise that even though i grew up all over the place; sydeny, brisbane, the sunshine coast and a small stint in ballarat, i was born here. some of my earliest memories of life are in melbourne. (NB some of these dates are probably wrong, memories are designed to fade and with them the accuracy of time)

i can remember being in grade one at mill park primary and it snowing. getting half the day off from school to build a snow man with the neighbour's kids and when it started to melt we decided to try and eat him. i still have a picture of that snowman somewhere. crooked nose, demented eyes and a lopsided head that made him look sassy and slightly angry. i can remember sitting in the backyard one night with mum and dad watching a comet fly across the night sky. this was in the early eighties and i want to say it was haley's comet, but i don't know much about astronomy and it could have been frank or sandra's comet for all i know, but for now i'll say it was haley's comet cause that makes it seem less like a faded memory. i also have these remembrances of good ol' franco cozzo's furniture add. anyone who's ever lived in melbourne should know this man and love him. he's the old school john so. i can remember him inviting everyone down to his shops in bruns-a-wick and foot-as-gray. i was delighted when i moved back to melbourne after 15 years missing in action to find him still trading his wares on the tv, even using the same quote, 'megalo megalo megalo! grand sale, grand sale!' (if anyone can tell me where to find a copy of his ad i would be in heaven)

now though, i have different memories of melbourne; going out to some funky underground club and coming home at 10am, working in the centre of the CBD and the craziness that seems to go hand in hand with it, brilliant coffee in little laneway cafes that could rival anywhere in the world, finding sweet-as fashions in a strange tucked-away stores. ahh... melbourne - king of all that a city could offer. there's a reason it won the world's most livable city, not once, but a few times.

the reason i'm posting about melbourne is that i went photo-taking the other night around the CBD to show my german friend where i live and just to have some photographic memories when i leave and it made me feel so homesick. there's just this vibe you get walking around melbourne that is unlike anywhere else i have ever been to. brisbane makes me wish it were bigger and more exciting, ballarat takes me back in time, the sunshine coast always made want to reach for sunscreen and sydney always made me wish i was in melbourne. (sorry sydney, but IMHO i'm not a big fan. i like my cities with character, not an obvious need for global attention.) there's just this general feel in melbourne that's full of wonder and excitement. something to do with the fact that the longer you're here the more you realise that there is way more to find, see and do and that you've only just scratched the surface.