from the south 12

G’DAY from Coburg.
November.
With only one more assignment to submit, the university year will soon be over & I will be qualified to teach maths & science in this State of ours. And I’ll be doing so at Brunswick Secondary College from 30 January next year. I’m very happy about this.
There are many reasons why this is the best school for me right now: I feel it is a terrific fit with me both personally & professionally - AND it’s a 15 minute bike ride away along the Upfield line track. The concrete path, sprinkled with broken glass in places, runs alongside the train track. My daily commute will take in the back of the Brunswick tram depot, the mayhem of Moreland Road junction, parkland at Moreland station, the confusing, narrow, dense pocket of life at Anstey station, the cyclone fencing & factories of underbelly Brunswick and the Brunswick City baths.

Rapt to be close to home, especially as Catherine is now coming up to 20 weeks pregnancy (half way). Stephanie had her first birthday recently (picture - introduction to chocolate cake) & now a little sibling is on the way. This household is already so full of life; I can’t imagine where will put any more…Looking forward to finding the room & living this life very much.

Stephanie is teaching herself balance. She has been cruising around on two legs, holding onto furniture, for a while now. And lately she has started to stand up in free space. Walking will be next. Watching & helping her learn is awesome.

Sometimes on my travels around Melbourne, it feels as though I’ve stepped into a timewarp. Riding around Brunswick & Carlton, especially, where I’ve left so much of myself over the years. Walking through Barkly Square, or past the Kent Hotel. Or riding alongside Princes Park. Remember jogging that path with Titta & trying to maintain enough breath to hold a conversation? Remember inventing soccer ball-golf there with Brent & Catherine? And sometimes the ghosts of the past materialise in front of me. Jess & Nicko standing there outside Safeway last Sunday, talking about trips & nights out. And my Coburg life of a dad and a house and all seems other-worldly.

How many different versions of ourselves are out there in the world, I wonder…? What is the Carlton-me doing this Saturday night? Is Brunswick-me involved in the election? Coburg-me will be walking down to Sydney Road later today to visit the library & to buy a block of Italian parmesan, wheeling the pusher that carries Stephanie.

And what of Fannie Bay-me? We had a visit from Top End mates earlier this week, who stopped in for 2 nights. That was not only a timewarp, but a spacewarp too. Walking with them the streets of Coburg was a strange sensory experience: my expectation was for stifling humidity & glimpses of pandanus; instead we had callistemon in flower, and a coolish wind. Great to meet their little boy. Babies appear in this story with some frequency these days.

Time warp conditions prevailed one hot Saturday recently, when I rummaged through the cupboard for my set of cricket whites; I was rolling out again. Had the emergency phone call on the Thursday night: “we’re short, can you play on Saturday?” Thankfully it was a 1-day match as my joints were seizing up after only 40 overs in the field. Sent down 8 probing, high pace, high quality overs (well, it was 8 overs, anyway) for 1/26. We lost. I couldn’t walk properly until the following Wednesday.

All is well here, water crisis & climate change notwithstanding.
Cheers to installing an energy efficient globe in your place today.
adios amigos, dave.