Happy tenth anniversary Melbourne. Not that it’s how any of us imagined it; of the many favourite things I listed on our second anniversary, I can do two things right now. Two. Three if you include spring.
I’ve just watched my team lose an AFL final, alone, on what should be the first weekend of my cricket season. The main excitement of daylight savings is that there will be more daylight
for bemasked, bedistanced park picnics of less than two hours with a single
household.
We had a grand old nine and half years to start, nine and a half years that brought me the best of friends, the best of cricket clubs, my own piece of Melbourne airspace, friends that came and went, a tree, a cat - and a plague. The last 6 months have been tough, we know that. We know now that most other people won’t ever know that. Maybe our lockdown isn’t technically the hardest – but can you imagine Melbourne without coffee or books? – but it has been the longest and my god. The Melbourne winters were already long.
Fine, there are more than two things I can do. For starters, I can still get take away from a surprising number of the food and coffee vendors on the original list. The tiny villages along tram tracks and high streets are more tightly knit; I know the names and family stories of the Mexican place, the chicken place, the interesting bottleshop. More local cafes know my name and order, and who even knew that was possible?
I know my neighbourhood more, and the privilege of living here – though can't quite claim I’ve done all of it. My new-ish apartment building nestles alongside a sadly abandoned anarchist club – of all the times to go missing! - and around the corner from ghost-signed mixed businesses that are now houses and bookshops that are also houses. Not to mention the other bookshops that hand deliver birthday presents even in harshest lockdown.
It’s been worth it, Melbourne. If you’d told me a decade ago what I would live in nine and a half years for six months of lockdown, I would have taken that deal. Ten years ago I moved here because I loved the place, because things happened, and because the people were interesting. These few months have stripped back some of what I’ve accumulated in the meantime, and reminded me why I chose this.
Happy anniversary, Melbourne. Here’s to the next few decades holding half of what this one did (hopefully the half without a plague).
