Sunday, March 22, 2015

Melbourne Diary II

Day 2: March 16, 2015 : Monday

Have to get used to the five and a half hour time difference. Had a really good night’s sleep and woke up to time on my mobile showing 7.30 AM. Whoops!  Way past lunch on Aussie time.  Hustled, only to find my cousin still asleep.  My mobile had automatically adjusted to local time because Vodafone was roaming!! So now my watch is on Bombay time and the mobile on local.  Then came fixing up the wifi.  Adjusted settings, entered passwords. No go.  Shrugged, left it and hoped everyone would assume that I’d arrived safely. At 2 am local time, the mobile went crazy.  The wifi had kicked in and the WhatsApp messages were pinging away. Answered all of them and then went back to sleep. Emails and Facebook are back on track. I’m connected.

My cousin’s friend had lost her husband the day I arrived, so we went on a condolence visit. That was familiar.  The world over, it seems, friends gather, chatter about memories and shared experiences.  I was the ‘new’ element and introductions were made and everyone was really friendly.  Funeral arrangements were discussed and sympathies exchanged.  Australia is a country of immigrants – everyone there had come from somewhere else.  A mini United Nations!


Picked up stuff for the house on the way back.  Discovered the $2 shop. Went a little crazy. Came home and chatted.  Exchanged family anecdotes, some new, some known and some quite startling. Wondered why I was being offered dinner so early and then realised that it was dinner time!! Got acquainted with Rikki and Peachy – the plumhead and cockatiel – my cousins much loved birds.  She really is a bird person. And she has a garden with a bushy chilli tree and curry patha. Roots, literally!

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