So I have lived in Melbourne for a year and a half now. I have properly enjoyed the move, and city life has engulfed me fully, involving study, work, sport and social life. On the weekend, it was the first time since May that I had visited my hometown of Mooroopna. It opened my eyes to something that I wasn't entirely aware that I was missing out on.
Any regular readers may remember my Yes-man returned to England earlier in the year, leaving me without any certainties when it comes to who will be accompanying me on a night out. When this happened, I thought that I had something good that was coming to an end, and I'd been lucky to have a mate who would always be up for a good night. Now I realise that that's the way it should be.
My mates in Mooroopna take it for granted that on a Friday through to Sunday afternoon there will be a few people to have a beer or play a round of golf with. It came to me that I have distanced myself as a mate from a group of people who do everything I ask for in a mate.
Obviously the physical distance is the biggest reason why I have but then there is the cold hard fact that I have done what too many country kids do and get caught up in the city (not just Melbourne either). Its not that self-actualisation thing of giving back to the community you grew up in, its much more self-centered in the fact that I just miss my mates. Anyway, my foreseeable future remains in Melbourne with a possible overseas stint studying so for now, any Mooroopna visit will remain brief and boozey.
