Tuesday, December 11, 2007

A lifetime ago

Well, it's been a while since I last added something. There are so many things happening that I could vent my spleen to but will leave that for another day.

I am now in Melbourne and have been since the middle of October.

It shouldn't surprise me that all is not what it seems. Melbourne, a marvellous city, a great city, was my childhood home. It's been nearly 10 years since I last lived here and before that another four years.

I knew a very different place back then, back in the 70s and 80s; a place where the inner suburbs were affordable for up and comers, for those who worked hard and scratched and scraped to afford a respectable postcode.

I remember a place that, through innocent eyes, could do no wrong. A place where you could kick a footy in your street (save for the cars that would occasionally get in the way), somewhere you could play cricket and smash the odd neighbourhood window. Only metres away there was a church, a milk bar and just around the corner there was a small park. This was a place where you would say hello to anybody, you would make friends with other kids who lived nearby. You could even buy cigarettes from the milk bar on credit and they'd only cost $2.40 for a pack of 20. Coca Cola came in a one litre bottle, you could buy ice cream by the scoop and 50 cents of mixed lollies was a gold mine for you but a nightmare for the milk bar owner.

I was fortunate that I went to school locally and had a number of friends who were only a short bike ride away. You could drop by unannounced and just hang out for hours. Some of my more affluent friends had pools and tennis courts, even a PC, so we whiled away the hours swimming or hitting a ball or playing old school VGA games. As long as you were home before dark all was well.

Many of my friends have moved away yet just as many have remained. I hope to reconnect with those I have not seen in 10, 15 even 20 years. There are those I did manage to keep in contact with on a regular basis and I hope they can continue to be a part of my life, my Melbourne, our Melbourne.

My Melbourne (it will always be that to me) had old trams and trains with character. It had houses and city buildings with grand architecture, with history. It had Fords and Holdens and the odd Japanese import. Mercedes, BMWs and Range Rovers were status symbols. Volvos were in abundance. Melbourne was a part of you just like the footy team you happened to support. Just like your family who provided for you and gave what it could.

My Melbourne has changed just a little. I have not been back long enough to determine whether it is for the better or not. On regular visits I thought it had. It's what you don't see when you are no longer a resident that will leave your mouth agape. As a tourist Melbourne is one of the most fantastic places to visit in Australia. I haven't met one person who says they don't like the place. How could they when they have at their disposal a multitude of world class sport and sporting venues, fabulous restaurants and entertainment galore by way of art galleries, museums and other exhibitions?

Melbourne as per the vision of 10-15 years ago has slowly shifted west towards the old Docklands area. There is still a lot of work to be done but to date it is fairly impressive yet somewhat clinically sterile. While there are some quite large apartment buildings the area still lacks for solid infrastructure though that is coming. Tram routes have been extended to the region, a supermarket is a year away and one of the top 4 banks, ANZ, is moving its headquarters there in the next two years. It is expected this will stimulate growth.

The changing face of Melbourne. Who remembers the old Allen's Sweets factory where Southbank now stands? There's that monolith of a money sucking venture in Crown Casino just along the way. The train lines to St Kilda and Port Melbourne have been dormant and converted to light rail. Heck, Melbourne even has an Aquarium now and the overbridge that would have run adjacent to it on Flinders Street is no more. Spencer Street station is no more, replaced by a more modern, buzzing structure known as Southern Cross.

What about the hideous, brown Gas & Fuel Corporation and SEC buildings that stood along Flinders Street up near Russell Street? Once upon a time the No 70 tram stopped just adjacent to where Transport Bar is. The Epping and Hurstbridge lines terminated at platforms where Federation Square lies. Jolimont railyards were rationalised so that about 44 tracks were condensed into 12.

What does one make of the trams and trains? Long gone are the W class trams only to be seen on very 'special' routes. Taken over by people movers that have no character let alone sufficient seating. The old 'red rattlers' and blue Harris trains have been put out to pasture. One could only imagine the compensation claims and law suits if they were still operational. The odd Hitachi trains [the silver ones] still trundle on and even the Comeng version are over 20 years old. Nowadays they (except the Comeng) have been replaced by lifeless, grey looking beasts. The state government no longer operates the transport system having sold it off along with the power companies. Still the trains do not run on time. Nothing has changed there.

Flinders Street, once the domain of many a subculture of wannabe graffiti artists, rockers, rude boys, punks and skin heads, has been transformed. In their place are myriad vendors and 'improved' facilities. I could tell you a few stories of the late eighties, early nineties. Of the characters, the less desirable elements of society and their struggles for an identity, a belonging and togetherness. There were the National Front and Neo Nazi skinheads, rockabillies, psychobillies, rude boys in all shapes and sizes and of course the punks and punkettes. 3174 and DMA were notable graffiti gangs of the times. One such former 'artist' has a brother who used to play footy for Collingwood but that is by the by.

All had exteriors that had you believe they were tough buggers but there was a vulnerable side to all of them. This was not often exposed but underneath the tough veneer there was a decent human being trying to get out. I befriended and was acquaintances with many of these people. Some had endured many hardships and others were from good backgrounds but looking to find themselves and break out of the stereotypical private school mould. I wonder what these people made of themselves. Have they found success, did they travel the path many expected them to? I sometimes wonder whether some are still alive. Sadly during that period I came to see about half a dozen of these young people pass away from overdoses, suicide and nonsensical accidents. Whatever fate was dealt them I have always hoped they went to a better place.

This was, and is, a side to Melbourne that so many inhabitants do not or choose not to see. People, as is their wont, can live in ignorant bliss of the underbelly of society, the rogue elements, the less savoury aspects that make up this great town. We only have to remember the gangland murders, the William Street shooting, Queens Street, and the murder of two police officers in Walsh Street, South Yarra. I don't raise this to make a link because I can't legitimately make one but to highlight that there is so much more to this city than meets the eye.

It does bring me to raise a concern around the disposition of many locals. Generally know as friendly and laid back, a simmering tension is more and more evident these days. People - discourteous, selfish, time deficient - are seemingly getting angry more often. There seems to be more crime, more physical and sexual assaults. I read with alarm that one person was assaulted because they inadvertantly looked in the direction of their attacker, nothing more nothing less. Multicultural Melbourne seems a less tolerant society. Racial tension is still alive and well.

In spite of this, to many Melbourne is about shopping, galleries, good coffee, markets and Australian Rules football or the AFL. It is the latter that sweeps up the city and engulfs it for at least six months of the year, if not more. It defines a Melbourne winter, consumes it. Seven days a week for nigh on 40 weeks of the year. Not much else exists. Try telling someone there is a Rugby World Cup on or the Storm are on the verge of a premiership. It is parochial, it is fanaticism, it is Melbourne.

If you don't follow or support a team you are looked upon as an outcast. You are obliged to take part in the office tipping competition and be a resident expert for your team. You might not have played the game to any great level but you know more than the coach, the selection committee and of course the players. It is always going to be 'our year'. The new dawn, so often the false dawn.

You always come across someone who has an 'in' at a club, a 'reliable source'. There are those who go to watch their team when time and circumstance permits, others who prefer to follow their team in the comfort of their own lounge room. And of course, there are those who are the 'tragics', the ones who go to every game, sign up as members. They yearn for yesteryear, forever holding a romanticism and desire to return to the glory days of this or that.

I support Collingwood. It has been a lifelong love. It has brought much joy and equal amounts of heartache. Collingwood, for the uninitiated, are loved and loathed. They purportedly have millions of fans around the world and a Magpie Army the envy of most AFL clubs. Their fans are said to have toothless smiles and are uneducated. People would be surprised at the number of well healed business men and the like who have Collingwood as their club. Though, it should be remembered their fans and the club are born of the working class, born of the Britannia club, formed in 1892.

I was introduced to Collingwood by my grandfather, my dad's father. It could have been Carlton or Richmond but thankfully not. My first games in the late seventies were at the MCG. It was not until the eighties that I was introduced to Victoria Park - Collingwood's home ground - and the terraces in the outer. My love for Collingwood deserves its own piece and I will duly oblige in the near future.

Melbourne is football in winter but it is also a smorgasboard of sport throughout the year. It is the sporting capital of Australia, if not the world. It hosts the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open, top class golf and of course the Boxing Day cricket test.

I was fortunate to be able to attend this year's test. To each his own but test cricket at the MCG to me is the pinnacle of sports watching. I had not been to one since 1997 so took every opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and continued to marvel at the beauty that is the old lady, the MCG. The new stands are simply fantastic and the new MCC Members' section is now befitting such an esteemed and famous club. I remember frequenting the Members' area when it was run down, had the worst seating and viewing was somewhat suspect. Not any more. The history and tradition lives on in a new superstructure.

With everything that Melbourne has to offer it was once voted the world's most livable city. You can see why. Sure she might not have a world renown harbour, bridge or opera house like Sydney but she doesn't need it.

Irrespective of what is on offer she will always be My Melbourne. I just hope that the day doesn't come when I no longer belong, that change hasn't been so irrevocable and stark that I can no longer recognise it as the familiar place I know. My decision to return was partly based on being in a position to enjoy all that is available. It was partly based on going to the footy [some people will understand that, others will just scratch their heads]. It was about coming back to what I know as home. Home IS where the heart is and that has always been Melbourne.

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