Now it's observation day. I've had enough time in Melbourne to make a satisfactory few comments based on my extensive 4 day experience.
1. Is it just me or are things way more relaxed down here? People walk slower. I have literally seen two people rush in my entire time here, one was a girl who's agenda for quickened pace will remain a mystery forever more and the second was me, realizing I was overdressed in a bogan/casual shopping centre I did what any woman in a blazer does amongst trackies... Pretends she's just come home from work and rushes through the shopping to get to some other place. Of course it was ridiculous. Everyone saw what I was up to, you can't hide your unnecessarily speedy habits here you sydney-sider. They said to me with their eyes, which stared at me blankly and then kind of just went back to choosing yogurt really slowly. Today I wore a jacket and yes it's summer, and yes it was more like a woolen coat and my goodness was it amazing to do that mid summer. Anyway, the point is that this jacket had pockets, which I made a point to thrust my hands into purposefully when meandering through towns and streets and gardens. It really helped me to slow down to the pace of a regular Melbourne local. The benefits I am still reaping.
2. Roads are fantastic. I've used my car to get around so far mainly because I am staying at an inconvenient distance away from those delightful trams, but gee have I been rewarded. Driving around is so brilliant and straightforward here. It's not tangled, or illogical. The city and outer city grid is just wonderful, I can almost do away with GPS at this point. The way people use their bikes and have their own lane is seriously great too.
3. Roads continued... Slash let's just take a whole dot point to talk about u-turns. Seriously. Why the Bek do we not have these little helpers in Sydney? In fact, Melbourne has so many of them that at the rare occasion you can't slip a cheeky u-turn it's signed. It's the best. Main roads, mini roads, big roads... So so handy.
4. Victoria - the garden state. Now, this is a personal connection and may not be one that the state is attempting to make directly, but the amount of greenery and maintained garden here is phenomenal. Every street divider - lined with symmetrical shrubs and swaying trees. Every round-a-bout; manicured. Streets; lined with trees. Everything is fricken lined with trees and I just adore it. Maybe that's what makes it so nice to drive everywhere.
5. Fashion. Now, is it just me or are the streets of newtown and surry hills filled with fashionable folk? As fashionable as it may be... It's always somewhat contrived, I don't know, it's just a vibe I get when I see blue overalls and green Hawaiian shirts mixed together with brown boots and black socks with pink stripes. Here... It's just as quirky but it's a little more honest to me, people just seem to be wearing what actually looks to be genuinely comfortable. And they pull it off. No pretense.
6. Road rage/general beeping. Is either hilariously inappropriate or just plain vital. In Sydney, as you have most certainly experienced is just rude- all the time, the people of Sydney are angry things that find getting in their car and rushing off somewhere, their hands just ready and waiting for a moment they can slam it down on their horn to let off some steam. In Melbourne, I've experienced three beeps, one was a taxi doing something dangerous and illegal at night (wow what?). Two was when I was at a right hand turn, in first, holding my car at friction point on the accelerator and clutch ready to slam into action when the light went green... And the moment it did, the ferocious Toyota rav2 behind me beeped me as if my reaction was not swift enough. Three, I put my blinker on and started to merge almost into a car traveling directly beside me, this was a very helpful beep, which went on for a long time, even after she was well over 5 meters ahead of me, It was almost as if she didn't believe me when I stopped merging onto her the moment she tooted, well actually she didn't believe me for quite a while, even when it was physically impossible for me to merge onto her because I was well behind her. But I let her have it, we almost died because of my blindness. Well in Victoria.
Ok no that's a lie, a guy in a glossy blue ford falcon xr6 honked at me, only to get my attention and say to me through our open car windows 'you know the speed limit is 70 here...' Ah yes, as I was pulled out of my daydream I realised I was only doing 50km/h. I never do that! I am always the one tailgating and being a general nuisance to drivers doing anything below the speed limit. Is that what those slow guys are doing? Is this how they feel, just completely relaxed and caught up in their own thoughts. He sped off. And within about 500m it became a 50 zone and I laughed. Not because he was wrong, but it was just ironic.
7. Oh yes and this brings me to the point of Melbourne shoes. As I was unconsciously doing 50 in a 70 zone, I was completely distracted by a lady walking up the street with lime green high tops. They were amazing and got me thinking 'and! Why the hell must everyone have terrific and quirky shoes!'. It's true, people of Melbourne do have fantastic footwear. It's bright and colorful and just plain old fun. People must be able to tell that I'm from Sydney because my shoes probably bore them.