This is the view from the guest room of my brother’s townhouse. He lives in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne that has become very popular with people wanting to live near the heart of the city. This popularity has led a number of people to sub divide their land and build two or three new structures on a block that originally had one house. As a result the houses are very close together and you definitely feel like you are living in an urban neighbourhood. The upside is that you are close to everything, including public transport.

There was once a time when I would have happily lived in this type of neighbourhood but with children it becomes a little more difficult. I am now more aware of the benefit of wide open spaces and good supermarkets and have less of a need for the restaurants and bars that come with a cool inner city suburb. I feel very old all of a sudden. Sigh!

While in Melbourne we took the opportunity to catch up with a number of old friends, most of whom have had children since we last saw them. Although it took him a little while to warm up, Thomas had become fast friends with Gemma by the end of our visit. Here they are enjoying the olympics together. They later had an indepth discussion about the moon and the stars as they gazed out he window together. So cute!

Can I just say how nice it was to be in Australia during the olympics? I would have almost entirely missed seeing the Aussies at their best if I’d been watching the games from Portland. With all the American superstars to watch, the Aussies don’t really get a look in. I loved having the opportunity to cheer them on, even if the TV coverage wasn’t brilliant (my brother complained about that ad nauseum).