This is a tale of two cities. And my heart belongs to both of them.
I grew up in a weatherboard home in Melbourne’s Elsternwick. Two brothers, a dog, a bike, a garden out the back and a verandah out the front (no rocking chair that I can remember). I watched Couch Potato in the morning and Hey, Hey at night. I touched the water wall entering the NGV, danced across the red carpet at the Arts Centre, got interactive at Science Works and saw Wind in the Willows in the Botanical Gardens many times. Yes, a poster girl for Melbourne childhood. As I grew older I watched The Secret Life of Us, gobbled ice cream on Acland Street, scurried through the city’s laneways and touched the water wall entering the NGV. Today? I drink cider on rooftops, fondle the silk skirts at Gorman, sit for hours in exposed brick wall cafes and still… touch the water wall at the NGV. Definitely a Melbournite.
This is one city.
The second city subtly stamped its way in to my life early on too…
Threaded through the experiences just mentioned were quaint influences of a colonial past. I laughed at the Monty Python boys, listened to Tumbleweed Connection, fell in love with Hugh Laurie and romanticised a university life at Cambridge. My heart flirted with London before I ever got there.
Two years ago I went to London for ‘three months’ (this was the plan but I ended up staying two years). I discovered so much more than what I knew. London, a city that is both neon and ye ol’. It has hot new restaurants and old underground pubs. A music history bouncing from its buildings and a music scene bouncing people from within. Great big round abouts and tiny cobble stoned lanes. Women (and men) who wear heavy eye-liner and heavier gumboots. London, a city of quirky royalty and pretty thugs.
The beginning was tough. I cried for weeks thinking that my parents would one day find me frozen at the core of some ever-present snow man, kept cold from the ever present…cold. But with time I made it my home. I found my favourite cafes, bus routes, pubs, streets, shops, markets, love(r)s and book shops. I found a ‘family’ of friends that joined me to music festivals, long drives and nights that lasted til daylight.
The second city became home too.
After visiting Melbourne for the summer and regaining my once freckled nose (previously painted translucent white by London’s sunless sky), I will be returning to London. 2012 will be a year spent in city two, writing to the place I’ll always call home – dearly adored city one.
For now I cannot wait to indulge, revel and sprawl in both. To eat vegemite on toast with the queen.
Image credits: Kathryn Sprigg
