My pal Murray, with his usual perspicacity (like all my closest and wisest friends, Murray is a Pisces), soon makes me admit that what I'm really looking for by moving to Australia is a girlfriend and that this is a pretty stupid reason to emigrate to the other side of the world...
Nonetheless, there are other reasons...
In Sydney, I get a ferry across the harbour and lay on the beach at Manly watching the minor-celebrity presenters of Australia's Girl-TV sunning themselves in their expensive bikinis and expensive sunglasses, bejewelled navels flashing in the sunlight...
I eat fresh Thai food in an enormous, cavernous restaurant in Newtown...
On Sunday, for irony's sake, we go to Eurofest and watch Germans in lederhosen slap their thighs and twirl their Mdchen, then head out to the distant suburb of French's Forest and take a bushwalk, where we see kookaburras and cockatoos in the tops of the eucalyptus trees. Later, over a dinner of squid and eggplant, as the dusk starts to fall, the possums come out to feed...
It's all pretty wonderful...
The journey home was somewhat more eventful than the journey out...
We lost auxiliary power in Singapore, and then, when we did take off, a baby in the next row screamed and wailed and bawled for about an hour, struggling against its seatbelt and pummelling its mother as the rest of the plane cast angry looks in its direction. Later, when the brat had finally gone to sleep and the seatbelt signs were switched off, I noticed that the mother herself was crying, exhausted and aggrieved at the ordeal she had been forced to put herself and her daughter through... and I felt bad for my dirty looks...
But all of this was nothing compared to what awaited me in Britain. As the wind was blowing at 45 knots in Newcastle, I experienced the roughest and most frightening landing I have ever known...
What's striking is the speed with which my Australian experience has receded from my mind upon my return. When I was in Adelaide, I liked it and thought I wanted to move there. Since I've been back I find it hard to invest this thought with any reality. It's as though I can't project myself back into the past or forward into the future. More precisely, it's as though, when I'm in Newcastle I can't imagine living anywhere other than in Newcastle, but when I'm in Adelaide, I can't imagine living anywhere other than in Adelaide, and when I'm back in Paris next week, I won't be able to imagine living anywhere other than in Paris...
This is strange because, for years, I had thought that my biggest problem was my inability to live in the moment, my tendency always to project myself two or three steps ahead... It's almost as though I have reached a kind of critical mass in my thinking-towards-the-future, and now, when I try to think ahead, I only get a few tentative steps before falling back into the present with a shrug...
Is this what I wanted?
Anyway, back in Newcastle I was guest of honour at the first monthly dining club organised by HD, Atsuko and HD's biker buddy and middle-aged Geordie David. Also present was recently-redundant Korean lecturer and closet harpist Miye. It was pleasant enough, but Jeez the cuisine was disappointing after all that Australian fare: the sea bass dry and the vegetables soggy and over-cooked...
So, but anyway, Adelaide have now officially offered me the job and I am officially thinking about it. If I am leaning towards staying in Newcastle, I know that's only because I'm in Newcastle at the moment and if I were in Adelaide, I'd be leaning towards going over there...
This one's gonna take some thinking about, yo.
Nonetheless, there are other reasons...
In Sydney, I get a ferry across the harbour and lay on the beach at Manly watching the minor-celebrity presenters of Australia's Girl-TV sunning themselves in their expensive bikinis and expensive sunglasses, bejewelled navels flashing in the sunlight...
I eat fresh Thai food in an enormous, cavernous restaurant in Newtown...
On Sunday, for irony's sake, we go to Eurofest and watch Germans in lederhosen slap their thighs and twirl their Mdchen, then head out to the distant suburb of French's Forest and take a bushwalk, where we see kookaburras and cockatoos in the tops of the eucalyptus trees. Later, over a dinner of squid and eggplant, as the dusk starts to fall, the possums come out to feed...
It's all pretty wonderful...
The journey home was somewhat more eventful than the journey out...
We lost auxiliary power in Singapore, and then, when we did take off, a baby in the next row screamed and wailed and bawled for about an hour, struggling against its seatbelt and pummelling its mother as the rest of the plane cast angry looks in its direction. Later, when the brat had finally gone to sleep and the seatbelt signs were switched off, I noticed that the mother herself was crying, exhausted and aggrieved at the ordeal she had been forced to put herself and her daughter through... and I felt bad for my dirty looks...
But all of this was nothing compared to what awaited me in Britain. As the wind was blowing at 45 knots in Newcastle, I experienced the roughest and most frightening landing I have ever known...
What's striking is the speed with which my Australian experience has receded from my mind upon my return. When I was in Adelaide, I liked it and thought I wanted to move there. Since I've been back I find it hard to invest this thought with any reality. It's as though I can't project myself back into the past or forward into the future. More precisely, it's as though, when I'm in Newcastle I can't imagine living anywhere other than in Newcastle, but when I'm in Adelaide, I can't imagine living anywhere other than in Adelaide, and when I'm back in Paris next week, I won't be able to imagine living anywhere other than in Paris...
This is strange because, for years, I had thought that my biggest problem was my inability to live in the moment, my tendency always to project myself two or three steps ahead... It's almost as though I have reached a kind of critical mass in my thinking-towards-the-future, and now, when I try to think ahead, I only get a few tentative steps before falling back into the present with a shrug...
Is this what I wanted?
Anyway, back in Newcastle I was guest of honour at the first monthly dining club organised by HD, Atsuko and HD's biker buddy and middle-aged Geordie David. Also present was recently-redundant Korean lecturer and closet harpist Miye. It was pleasant enough, but Jeez the cuisine was disappointing after all that Australian fare: the sea bass dry and the vegetables soggy and over-cooked...
So, but anyway, Adelaide have now officially offered me the job and I am officially thinking about it. If I am leaning towards staying in Newcastle, I know that's only because I'm in Newcastle at the moment and if I were in Adelaide, I'd be leaning towards going over there...
This one's gonna take some thinking about, yo.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
Congrats on the offer, regardless of whether you take it or not. Perhaps it is time to start a new adventure?
I think all children should be tranquilized before getting on the plane. I freak out badly when flying, so having screaming child A, plus those kinds of winds. AGGGHHHH!
~cheers