The Party Is Over

It’s official, in Australia the party is over. The Commonwealth Games finished this weekend and despite being reported as the second most obese nation, the Aussies still picked up about 700 gold medals. With such a small population, it seems that if you are not chewing on a gristly KFC you must be stood on a podium in Melbourne.

In Adelaide all the car races, comedy festivals and concerts have all packed up and autumn has arrived, a couple of leaves have fallen off the tree in the garden and the temperature has dropped to 27C, (82F). Brrrrr!

But the nights are drawing in, we don’t get dusk or dawn so much, more like lights on and lights off with no dimmer switch. When the clocks change next week, (we postponed it a week so as not to confuse the Commonwealth Games schedules), it will go dark at 6.00pm.

Anyway, all this going dark early stuff means we need to make the most of the evenings while we have them, particularly by the beaches which all face west and have the most glorious sunsets. I swear you see steam as the sun drops into the sea. And there are a few bars to help you enjoy the experience after a paddle along the front.

Despite all this, Adelaide still has something of an inferiority complex and everyone you meet has one question, which is one of the first that they ask, ‘why Adelaide?’
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Deep down they all think you are a little odd and possibly to be avoided. While they stop short of taking your temperature, they certainly keep a watchful eye on you.

I had a meeting with two people from the Chamber of Commerce today and that question was all they wanted to talk about. They soon had the look in their eyes and it turned out to be a short meeting!

There is nothing wrong with Adelaide, sure, it’s not the most glamorous place in Australia, but all it’s missing is a harbour and a harbour bridge. The opera house in Sydney looks like a public convenience when you get up close. It’s the tiles.

The thing is that all the younger locals feel it is their duty to leave the place and live somewhere more in keeping with their youth and ambition. While they all leave to sit in a traffic jam in Sydney or wait for a tram in the Melbourne rain, the city laments the loss of all this young talent while smiling quietly and congratulating themselves on living in a place where you can walk the streets without being run over by a skateboard.

At least that’s what they say about us in Melbourne. But Melbourne has quite a high opinion of itself. At least that’s what they say in Adelaide.

On the home front, Mandy has tried to get into the gardening, after ensuring I had weeded the whole place and cleared the garden of spiders. So far though, all that her green fingers have reared is a mosquito haven. She insisted the huge flowerpot full of water was a good home for the lilies and snails. So, after a crash course in which lotions, sprays and candles work and which don’t, we a have got over their initial onslaught. But at a price. Can anyone tell me what part mozzies play in Mother Nature’s big plan?

Apart from that, we trundle along. A little less like one big holiday, a little more like normal life. Electricity bills, remembering the day for the bins, car tax and weeding the garden…..it’s not so different.

‘Til next time
M&W