tales from an ordinary world

2000-10-29

Apollo Bay is a nice little country town by the sea, I've been there or through there a handful of times before, and this time a group of us drove down to mourn the imminent marriage of a friend. Soccer on the beach (I'm still sore as I write this on Monday evening, I'm so out of shape), a night at the pub, more drinking back at the lodge, and the harsh daylight of the morning after that's somewhat eased by a filling breakfast at one of the new cafés that've been sprouting up on the main street. It's a pleasant place to be.

But the country driving. I'd missed it. Landscape sweeping by, Kookaburras sitting up on the wires watching you pass, the view of the ocean unfolding as you come around another bend, and so on. The anticipation as you head down the long straight "Road of National Importance" towards Geelong, because you know once you get through there it gets more interesting. Seeing a kestrel madly flap its wings as it hovers above a field. On the way back towards Geelong on some relatively minor connecting road, passing a sign pointing towards the "Anglesea complex for heavy vehicle endorsements". It's a whole different world, but all the same it's a nice feeling when you see the city buildings for the first time, heading back up the Westgate Freeway.

In the car, we listened to :

• Mr Wizard and Come on in, by R. L. Burnside.

• dubnobasswithmyheadman, by Underworld.

• Effector, by Download.

• The Grosse Point Blank soundtrack.