Land of Maddy's

I decided to venture out for lunch today and figured out that despite the fact that Aussies are a fun, loveable bunch of blokes, they are still people, and people can be annoying.

Let me explain... I find people live in their own little world where no one else exists which means they are oblivious to everything going on around them. Now if it were one or two people it would hardly be noticeable. However, when there are hundreds of people milling around it is rather noticeable and dare I say a nuisance? I do my best to keep to the left but find it challenging to avoid the numerous people who have their heads down because they are looking at their mobile phone (there are a tremendous amount of iPhone users here) and to make it worse, are wearing headphones. People will stop without warning or simply stand in the middle of a busy sidewalk. Sounds trivial but when you are trying to get somewhere it can be frustrating to continually be body slammed by people who look at you dumbstruck because they didn't see you coming. It's a lot like playing dodge ball without the ball. This is probably karma trying to teach me patience. For some reason, I have trouble relaxing and going with the flow (it would help if the flow would pay attention to where it was going and even better do it quickly). It's a lot like walking with my niece, who has no sense of personal space or direction. You can be the only two people on a rather wide sidewalk and I will guarantee that she will step on your feet and run into you several times. It takes a lot of patience and, well... we won't go there.

On the bright side, I had no meetings and actually spent the day working in my room (not that I'm caught up). The sun was out and despite the foot traffic, it was nice to get out for lunch and an afternoon coffee break. I was even treated to a firework show this evening - the start of the winter festival in Melbourne (I must say it was a little depressing to seem them putting in an ice rink by the river today).  But I'm looking forward to the weekend and moving into an apartment. Hotel living gets old, even a nice one. I may even cook to celebrate... whoa! Now that's something new. Maybe there is something in the water but I'm anxious (desperate?) for a home cooked meal.

PS - The title is a tribute to my niece, Maddy, who lives in a world where there is no such thing as personal space nor is there a need to be aware of others who may be around. Think "bull in china shop." Enough said.