Exit Australia

Hello, I am going back to Slovenia at the end of this week, so here is my last blog from Australia for now. Off to warmer climes!

Commonwealth Games
I wasn't really looking forward to the Commonwealth Games - certainly not as much as Channel 7 was but I warmed up to it. But at times it seemed that it was the Commonwealth Swimming Championships that were on. It was real reality TV at times with some of the achievements. The good thing about the Commonwealth games is that it gives "minor" sports (i.e. not AFL or swimming) some airtime and the opportunity for some mediocre athletes to win a medal.
One thing that puzzled me was how the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique managed to sneak into the Commonwealth. Maybe they just like the English language. If their aim was to attend a sporting event where they had a better chance of getting a medal, it didn't work as they didn't win anything.
I am not sure about beach volleyball.  What's wrong with normal volleyball: too many people on a team?, the playing surface too hard?, or it requires too much clothing? 
I am also not sure about some of the track athletes. One, I am sure, was wearing a large, grey wig. Another had a hair style that resembled Mickey Mouse Ears. Yet another had a sideshow Bob hairstyle. I don't know how this could help your running. One long-jumper appeared to be wearing all his personal jewellery, including an expensive looking watch. He clearly didn't trust security at the Games Village.
A low point was when a Scottish marathon runner collapsed because of the heat and spectators were taking photos/videos of him lying on the ground in pain. I don't know what's so fascinating about a dehydrated marathon runner that needs to be photographed. 

Travelling to Melbourne
I have come down a few times on the the bus and train and it continues to be a source of fascination. Public transport, as always, is the main source. I don't know where people are going at 9am on the train. The train was packed. What time do these people start work? At 10am? I try to avoid seats on the aisle as invariably I get assaulted by people with oversized bags or backpacks. Things don't change either: people staring into their phones as if they are hypnotised and trains being delayed due to unruly drunks assaulting passengers (in the middle of the day). The latest thing they have invented to annoy me is groups of youths sharing "funny" videos on the train. Even when I am waiting at the train station I get targeted: by parents bringing their noisy children to sit near me and by people weaving in out of seats just they can cross in front of me. At a Hoppers Crossing train station, just before the train was pulling in five minutes late there was an announcement that they were running a good service on the line. In Switzerland they would mounted a major investigation into the delay.
And that's on top of the machinations of the Albury train line whose main goal appears to be to run late. One time when it was running late I got on the Bright bus which was full of school kids who appeared to be unable to sit with each other or ddn't like each other as they each needed to occupy two adjacent seats each. On another bus trip they were again an unusual number of people on the bus,  mainly youths. Three of them were carrying on (at 6am in the morning), clearly overdosed on coffee.    
The last time I came to Melbourne I had some tragic news: my barber had to retire due to a back problem (probably because of hauling around those scissors all these years). That's annoying as it's the third time I have had to change barbers in the last 40 years. 

There's also the interesting people. One woman I saw in the city had a "tan" the same colour as barbeque flavoured chips. I also saw some buskers who seemed to be playing what I'd call punk hillbilly blues. It appeared that a key requirement of membership of the band was facial piercings and partially blonde dyed hair. I also saw a cafe called Mercedes Me in the city. I wonder if some of the other car companies are also going to branch into this business. 

Local News 
Apparently, up at the ski resorts they only have two seasons: white and green. I guess that's less complicated and it's easier to tell which season it is without the need to consult a calendar.

The local dairy closed down a while ago but I think it's ironic that the building now houses a brewery.
While I was shovelling some soil on the nature strip, a kid came past and amongst a number of other observations she needed to share with me, informed me she was not my neighbour but just on a play date. When did just coming over to visit your friend become such a formal engagement?

The Autumn festival was on here recently, including the street parade (see pictures below)  - a highlight was Bright's first tow truck. I don't know how they got that running again as it seemed to consist of mostly rust. I also went to the Wandiligong Nut festival (picture below) - that's about the food. Unfortunately, it was spoilt by the continuous planned burns that were going on - seems like they invented these burns for firefighters to get some extra practice.
On local TV saw some interesting things. They had one news story on a fun run in which they showed the start. In the distance you could see someone running who was obviously late for the start or an elite athlete who wanted to give everyone else a start. I also saw an advertisement for a retirement home where one of the facilities was a train room. That confused me until they showed a picture of someone wearing a train driver hat holding a model train.

  
Special Offer!
As I am departing Australia (and working on the second edition as well, for publication later this year) Random Thoughts and Tales is currently available for a special 15% discount. In addition, today only, you can get an extra discount of 10% plus free mail shipping by typing this code: BOOKSHIP18 at checkout. You can order it via the Lulu.com Australian bookstore. You can click here for the direct link to the book.

Some final local pictures...