Readjustments

Lawn mowing of nature-strips. Beer cases carted through the streets—underarm, a-shoulder and high on the chest  ($70+). Gay couples. Dogs, even more numerous since the pandemic (in some cafes they were prohibited in garden areas). Sophistication of street advertising and graffiti (exponents of the latter were not jailed in this country). The slowing of the traffic and the courtesy (since the advent of the pandemic?). Absence of litter & littering (esp. marked from time of first departure). The ageing—numberless worn faces, bloated faces, in some cases catastrophically wasted over the decade. Like Singapore now, the old model cars of earlier years were almost completely disappeared. Likewise the former varied housing on the western side of the city (the inner West at least), all going/gone; gentrification, home pride & beautification all off the scale. Halloween spider webbing like a virulent infestation (front yard decorations may now exceed Christmas). Tattoos. (By contrast in Kelantan State in the North of Malaysia recently banned and China currently attempting the same with their influencers.) Participation in the reality tv show featuring the immediate neighbours with their beer slugging all-nighters on the veranda, jokes & light patter until hours after dawn. (After endless appeals, mercifully restrained the last few months). A horse race that stops a nation. (It had not been forgotten of course during the absence, but returned to immediate reality here the confrontation was like new discovery. The Australian football grand final now has also the preceding Friday designated a public holiday in the State of Victoria.) Luscious mown sporting fields that appealed to inner bovine instincts. (Dogs particularly relishing in the play of fetch-the-ball that was flung from the plastic slingshots). The scopes & drones that sought to capture the birdlife along the creek and wetlands. (Simple photography by contrast was much less in evidence.) Dark faces that were almost unknown previously over the lifetime, outside Fitzroy & Collingwood—in this case the new aspirational immigrants from the Sub-Continent. (Few of the current generation would credit the earlier whitewashing.) Having become a stranger in one’s own street was odd too, though recalling early years of the migrant settlement perhaps not so very much. Little jolts re-crossing old paths: where Johnny Miller was killed outside the primary school (possibly the accident having been witnessed and subsequently buried along with like horrors); Severn & Francis Streets where Bruce Miller’s father died in another smash; Reed Street’s old hag with her piled washing lecturing a bad boy for some forgotten misbehaviour; the block by the Circle where Momo Jovetic had a house burnt down for the insurance—originally the land had been planned to be used for a large Serbian Community Centre, only the perimeter wall of three courses ever completed. As the summer approached the beach umbrellas, bikinis and adults engaged in water sports. Much too many matters to mention. The loss of boundless health & energy another kind of adjustment.

 

NB. After eight years roving Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia.