So a new chapter. Melbourne. Have to confess it was a relief to leave Bondi, if not Sydney. My last overnight in my pokey little Bondi place and I nipped out for a smoke, came back up, unlocked the door to my room and the key jammed in the lock - on the outside. 9.30 in the evening in a building where the street door was off its hinges for 'repair', leaving an open door frame! Call the owner who flaps and says she'll call her handyman, but maybe I could jam something against the inside of the door 'for now'. Are you kidding? I tell her to call me within the hour if the handyman calls back, and then call the hotel I stayed at and book a room. Mad dash rush to pack, just finish when a knock at the door. Handyman. He fiddles with the lock and calmly informs me that if I turn the lock to ten o'clock, the key will come out, and anyway it's a good neighbourhood etc. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
One more shower in the race-against-time bath and I fled, bag and baggage yesterday morning, loaded up the rental car, had a quick mooch around Bondi Beach as it was very sunny (first time I had actually seen it!) and headed for the airport. Quick flight down, courtesy of Quantas (they served curry as the inflight meal!), picked up another rental car (which I couldn't start - in Australia, manual transmissions won't start unless you have the clutch fully depressed - who knew?) and drove to my Melbourne accommodation. A far cry from the dubious delights of Bondi, lovely old house run by two 'gentlemen sharing', and made to feel very welcome. Sat and nattered with them over alot of semillon sauvignon blanc, and discussed the arts, internal and external communications (Sally one of them is a comm's person for Melbourne Arts Centre!), film and tv (the other was a tv director and in the 60s a black-and white minstrel in London!!), travel, 12 years of running a guest house and so on.
There had been talk of me driving down to Philip Island to see some marathoniers who have congrageted there at a big motorsports event but looks like that won't be happening now. However, still have three folks to see here plus seeing another old friend from 20 years ago. Also I want to explore a bit and carry on writing. One place I want to see is Hanging Rock (of Picnic At Hanging Rock fame - fantastic film from Australia's best period of film-making) but otherwise just mooch about and see what I can see, as a first time visitor to Melbourne. Have already noticed the old architecture from the late 1900s everywhere. Apparently, with the Australian Grand Prix happening next weekend, many roads are closed (I shall miss it by 2 days) so traffic is a bit chaotic. No matter.
It's a blue sky without a cloud, I get to do laundry tomorrow (blessed relief!) and as I now have some odour-eaters for my stinky shoes, I'm happy and good to go. Ah the simple things are always the best, if you ask me!
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