I swear, in the 11 days since we started our honeymoon, my phone has never been this busy. It’s ridiculous. I’ve even gotten sick of the Bowser theme ringtone that Ted gave me, as cool as it is. I swear, you’re never as popular as you are when you attempt to go away.
Tanja and I had a late start due to one of us having a big ole sleep-in, but then we went to Koko Black chocolate café and started the day with a Belgian hot chocolate. Then it was off to Federation Square to see the Rennie Ellis exhibit. For those of you not in the know (and too lazy to Google search) Rennie Ellis is a former journalist who had been candidly photographing Australians on the streets, on the beaches, in pubs, at sporting functions, and even in Kings Cross for roughly 40 years. His shots are sincere, often funny, but all very interesting. We bought the book for the exhibit “No Standing, Only Dancing”. Check him out if you get a chance.
After that, I was starving, so we stopped at a middle-of-an-alley café for proscuitto-capsicum-and-olive pizza for Tanja and a steak-bacon-and-onion sandwich for me. It was strange. The cafes (all 8 of them) are all along the edge of the alley, and the tables are in a shared clump in the middle, with a space between the tables and the cafés for pedestrians, so the waiters are ducking people to get to you. Loud, and the woman next to us liked her cigarettes, but fun and good food. Then shopping and browsing. I got two CDs (after MUCH deliberation, putting back about 10), Dignity and Shame by Crooked Fingers and Electric Version by the New Pornographers (a Canadian band Neko Case sings with). I also saw a book called “I’m a Lebowski, you’re a Lebowski” which examined the cult following of the film The Big Lebowski. Looked cool, but too expensive. We then found a comics/sci fi/nerd store called Minotaur (like galaxy, but with 20% more nerd) and I geeked out for a bit. I got the 3rd Buffy Season 8 comic, and the first two Ex Machina trade paperbacks. Tanja also found the original book of The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. Again, I put a whole heapin’ helpin’ of stuff back. Self control, thy name is Lucas.
Dinner was at the laksa place at the base of the apartment building. I had a mixed laksa, and Tanja had a duck broth with noodles and pork wontons. Very good. We then picked up some yogurt for the strawberries we had at the apartment and headed back.
I’ve got a theory about pedestrians in Australian cities. Now, in Sydney, people tend to put they heads down and bull through, often knocking into you, your arm, or your bags. It’s a trait I dislike. I recall last time I came to Melbourne, I remarked that people seemed to respect personal space more and no one hits you. I’d like to revise that slightly. No one hits you, that’s right, but they constantly SEEM as though they’re about to. If you’re walking along at a good clip and stop to tie your shoe and look back, you’ll see a whole throng of people nearly run into you, then leap around you without actually touching. Similarly, we were leaning against a wall downtown, sorting out our shopping and I saw a man and his companion walking towards us on a collision course. We were there before he appeared. He saw us. He made eye contact. They continued walking closer, and closer, and then stopped dead a few inches from me, with a confused look. I returned a look that said “Well?” and he stepped to the side and kept going. So Melbourne pedestrians ignore others just like Sydneysiders, but they just handle near-collisions better. So basically, if you’re in Melbourne, and someone cuts you off walking and looks like they’re going to hit you, don’t worry, they’ll pull some gyration and miss you. Unless you gyrate to avoid them. Then you throw off the whole dynamic. It’s like dividing by zero. The universe implodes.
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