Life & Experiences
Do you remember “Eric The Eel?” If not, Eric Moussambani Malonga, who was from Equatorial Guinea, was a wildcard entrant at the Sydney Olympics. He had never swum in a 50m pool before, and after a couple of false starts, and moments when it seemed like he might not have been able to finish the race, he eventually finished the heat as a lone swimmer in close to two minutes.
The memory of Eric flashed through my mind as I went for a swim at Melbourne Baths.… Read the rest “Lazy Day in Melbourne”
“Ding Ding”. I smiled when I heard the familiar sound of a tram. After a long absence, light rail (trams) will soon return more prominently to the streets of Sydney. Although we’ve had them for a while around the casino and the Inner West, they’ve been absent for decades from the main CBD, and around the neighbourhood where I live, Surry Hills. I’m within a few metres of the new tram, so I’m getting to know the familiar “ding ding” sound very well.… Read the rest “Melbourne Needs Hills”
I’m normally asleep before take-off. Within seconds of switching off my mobile phone, my head can normally be found bobbing from side to side, probably to the annoyance of the person sitting next to me. And there is always only one, as I have a preference for aisle seats. I don’t want to be the one who has to ask for permission to slide through on my way to the toilet. Instead, as the person who falls asleep, I’m generally the one who the permission is asked of.… Read the rest “Movies, Food, Friends and Travel”
A decade ago, or maybe more, I went into the “wrong toilet” at an Irish bar in Darwin. “Mna, that sounds like men, and fir, that sounds like female”, I thought to myself. In reality, it was the other way around, as I discovered, seated, when female voices appeared in the cubicles next to me. In these days of unisex toilets in many bars in Sydney, it doesn’t matter so much. But there was absolutely no doubt in my mind, as I entered the bathrooms at Melbourne’s Red Spice Road restaurant on Tuesday night, as you’ll see from the photograph below.… Read the rest “Visiting Melbourne”