People

Australians are very friendly. Of course like anywhere in the world you run across those grouchy unhelpful types but generally they’re very friendly. So friendly in fact that the last few times I’ve been out with Charles other men have been piping into my stories. Like the day I took the train home with him and since the 5:08 had been cancelled we were all terribly squished into the next train. I was telling a short story of the comical announcer guy on the train in at Binda station, and the man standing right next to us piped up with a comment about Binda as did a man five people deep. And yesterday when Charles and I went for coffee and we were going up an escalator I was commenting on how I’m basically used to it but sometimes it’s still a little strange to be doing everything on the left hand side. They don’t just drive on the left but also stand left on escalators or walk on the left side of the sidewalk, which I’m reminded of every time I feel like I’m caught swimming upstream. Like on an escalator, which is on the left, you stand left and walk right. Anyway the man behind me piped up and made some strange comment about people in Queensland not being all that smart. Victora Bridge which takes you to and from the South Bank, has a white line going down the centre for pedestrians to keep left of. And if you’re walking behind someone who is too slow for you then you overtake them on the right, like you would in the car. It’s quite orderly I thought.