Saturday in Melbourne. A list of five potentials. No.1 a definite winner. Stone’s throw from the beach, art deco, spacious, floorboards. To ensure optimum reception, I drove a long way down Glenferrie Road to drop off my application form. Fingers crossed.

 Waiting to see another appartment near the beach. It had already been leased. I have my heart set on Bluff Avenue…

There was a lot of driving and a lot of getting lost and then turning up where I wanted to be. Inexplicably. Somehow I got to the other side of the city and somehow I got back but there were moments when I was on the way to Ballarat and then in some endless tunnel that I really wondered where I would end up and had no sense of direction at all. But then I recognised places and I was ok. And then I bought a car. It’s French. By the time I eventually got home, the lighting wasn’t flattering for the 7 year old silver fox. Tomorrow is another day.

A lot of walking. Tram to Chapel Street and coffee. Walk down Dandenong Road. A real estate agent with a funny growth on his eye that I didn’t want to be seen staring at but which I couldn’t help staring at, a tiny flat on the top storey, smaller even than the bach by the sea. Back down to Chapel Street, the bank and the phone. A walk to Wellington Street, another small flat, no growths. A walk to Argyle Street and a promising art deco space. Green tiles in the kitchen and wooden blinds. Could a big red couch go there?

What makes spicy almond and coffee vodka ‘absolut traveller’? The places you’ll go, transported by such an odd combination of flavours. Seemingly there’s a whole world out there to discover.

I’ve heard there are troubles of more than one kind, some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat and I’m ready, you see and now all my troubles will have trouble with me.
Dr Seuss

Tomorrow the Melbourne chapter begins…