THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING

Apologies to Mr Milan Kundera. In a few days I will be moving to Melbourne. As far as moving places goes the mov isn't a big one. However as someone who doesn't go on holidays, the longest I have been out of Sydney (unless you count being out of my mind as out of Sydney) is about a week.

I'm really looking forward to the move, but there are things I will miss. Obviously my friends and family (particularly my nieces and nephews). But some of them are small things like going to get me lunch when I am at work, and everyone there knowing me and knowing what I order. The group of 13 very Large crows who live near my place who I will often just sit and look at on the weekend. The buildings and trees that I see on my way to work from the train. Even the trains that rattle past my window every 5 minutes. Why will I miss them? Because they are reassuring, things that I can count on that provide some sense of stability in my life. But sometimes we need to take risks and move from that stability. Besides, I will inevitably create that stability in my new environment anyway.

In my last job, I was told to keep track of the thank emails I received from members to use in performance reviews. Invariably you would build up 6 to 10 of them. I decicided to do the same with this job. After almst 3 years I have over 300. It's nice to know that you have made a difference. It is also nice to know that you will be missed by those members, which seems to be the case given the responses I have received. Similarly it was nice when at my last Greens meeting most people came to the pub for a farewell drink.

Oh well, bye Sydney, hello Melbourne.