Meus Parem Locus

Another weekend in Melbourne finishes, and another period of wistful longing to move there begins.  I keep banging on about it to everyone - I'm always asked the question WHY I love it so much and have always answered with the same broad statements without actually really thinking it out.   This time I went with a view to try and figure out the reasons with a little more specific clarity.   I've tried to separate the tangible from the subjective, but I may have mixed this a little as the crossover can be vague (like that last sentence)

Specific

1. City Design: I love the CBD and the extended inner-city grid system.  I love the wide tree lined boulevards and the ease with which they flow and integrate with trams and cars alike
2. Architecture: a mix of old & stately, and new & daring.  Grand old buildings restored and maintained sit comfortably beside or under challenging and interesting structures and shapes that provide visual stimulation at most CBD streets.   Inner city suburban grandeur mixes with funkier & trendy shabby chic with ease and style
3. Trams: love them love them love them
4. Parks & Trees: they are dotted around everywhere and lush and green.  I am aware that Julian Clary also liked this feature of Melbourne, and would like to disassociate myself from his reasons for admiration :)
5. Climate: I like real seasons.  I know a lot of Australians don't seem to get that, but I like my summers to be warm or hot and my winters to be cool or COLD.  I like the visible changes to my environment in the transition seasons of Spring and Autumn.   It grounds me.   

Non-Specific

1. Vibe: yes I know it's a cliché for Melbourne but the reality is it is there and easy to find.  It's not self conscious.  It's not try-hard.  And I pick it up and feel it whenever I am there.
2. Social: another cliché perhaps, but the small bars, laneway restaurants and intimate cocktail lounges are soooooooooooo much more appealing to me than loud, brash booze barns.   I'm too old to get excited about standing in some huge crowded bar with ear bashing music that I don't like, yelling to my friends and getting bumped around by the constantly moving and shifting crowd.  
3. People: don't seem to be so self obsessed or cliquey.  (this is a very subjective view I know - but it's just how I perceive it.   Attitude is noticeable by it's absence in my experience).  Theatre, live music and comedy festivals engage the citizens in a way not seen by me here.
4. Ease of movement: using trains, trams and buses to get around, the city and it's features just seem to be so accessible.

Of course, the undercurrent throughout all of this is an implied comparison to my current home of Sydney.  And of course, that does feature in a lot of the points above, and I could now rattle off a load of reasons why I am over Sydney and my frustrations with the city and State of NSW in general.  But that would be no surprise to anyone so suffice to say there are a few key reasons why I don't think I've ever really connected with this place.  

First - I'm not a beach person (mostly).  One of the key reasons for living in Sydney is the amazing beaches right on our doorstep.  But this has never been a drawcard for me.  Second - it's too pocketed.  There are parts of this city that I love to spend time in but getting there/getting back is a nightmare or bloody expensive.  Third - whilst Sydney has probably the most beautiful natural harbour of any city in the world, unless you live near it (rich) or use a ferry to get across it regularly (lucky), it's somewhat too easily forgotten.  And beyond its glamour and appeal lies a hotch potch of dead CBD streets and raucous superpubs around The Rocks or George Street that attract unattractive groups.

And yes maybe I would like a change.  How many further reasons or analysis should one engage in before a decision can be made on a reasonable level of consideration?  

So a great weekend in many respects, not least of which forcing me to define a direction and point of view on this topic which has lingered with me for years.  Here's hoping I can now activate this ambition someday.

Iceland makes the right decision

If I choose to invest my money with a foreign-owned institution, and that institution should subsequently go bankrupt, am I therefore entitled to demand the citizens of the related foreign nation owe me my money back?   Citizens who for the vast part had nothing whatsoever to do with the business dealings of the institution?   

Hi there, and welcome to todays' burning issue for discussion. :-)

That's the question that Iceland has once again grappled with, and once again has given a resounding NO to the answer.  And I 100% agree with that decision. Where should the buck stop?  Liability is strewn all over the disastrous schmozzle that was the Icesave scheme in the UK and Netherlands - from the customer who accepted the risks (consciously or not) of placing their money with a foreign bank to the UK & Dutch governments that allowed the bank with a horrific risk profile to operate in their country, to the Icelandic government for failing to regulate the bank and it's ridiculous extravagances at home.   

Nowhere in this jumble of responsibility do the citizens or taxpayers of a country appear.  So I applaud the Icelanders for their two fingers up to the system again.   They will not be spared the shit that the system will force them to endure as a result, but the expectation that a nation should just rollover and "take it" because "that's what should be done" in the eyes of the other countries is indefensible.  

If only Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who forced the legislation to a referendum, could have done the same for Ireland...

A week passes but the aching does not.  I will revisit the dentist on Monday - whilst the gums are very gradually healing the bizarre (and extremely painful) toothaches from nearby untouched teeth are debilitating.  I have not had pain like this since I don't remember when.  My brain tumour operation some 6 years ago was a breeze by comparison.

So last night I decided to hell with it all and went out for a a Friday night beers with friends session - my first since the operation.  I tried to use alcohol as a pain reliever but failed to drink the amount required.  With aching returning I took my leave early and came home to knock back two panadeine forte and some water.    Apparently famed for aiding deep sleep, panadeine forte do not provide such relief to me in general, but I assumed with a few drinks this might finally happen.  It did not.

I lay in bed in a hallucenogenic haze for a few hours before finally drifting off.  I dreamt weird stuff (as you do) including Windows error messages blipping up warning me about things related to my life - some true, some not.  I even got up at one stage and tried some to put some Oil of Clove on the sore teeth (an ancient remedy apparently) but it made little impact.  And, so I soldier on...

Listen to me - you would swear there's nothing else happening in the world.   All moan moan poor me.  But the thing is, when something like this happens in our first world, safe & protected easy existences, they do become all encompassing for the mind and body.  And my worry is that there is only so much ibuprofen, codeine and paracetamol this mind and body can take.