MERRYLANDS

MERRYLANDS
(Dated 8 August 2015)
 



It's amazing what you miss when you're not looking. Let me explain.
I had to run a few errands down at Merrylands today so I rolled out the Mazda and headed for Main Street Central. Now I'm not a frequent visitor to the shops at Merrylands as I normally only use the joint as a parking spot before catching the train to the city. But my mission was to roam around Stockland Mall and various establishments up on Merrylands Road.
What immediately struck me as I walked was the huge diversity of people doing exactly the same thing as me. And there were lots of these people who looked different to me.......... in terms of attire, height, gender, skin colour and waist measurements..... maybe other defining criteria too, which I now can't think of. I must admit that I have noticed this before on my infrequent visits to Merrylands but certainly not to the extent that I witnessed today.
As an aside, I don't think the public schools in the area will be closing anytime soon. The number of strollers I dodged was amazing.
Some pundits refer to a 'golden age' here in Straya (late fifties/ early sixties) when we were more visibly homogeneous. Of course, such an age never really existed because we already had lots of people with Italian, Greek, Chinese, Maltese and Lebanese backgrounds back in those times.
Smarter punters see the 'golden age' as in the future........... tomorrow, so to speak, and there is some merit to that. But, to me, that mythical 'golden age' is firmly in the here and now.
Anyway, here's the thing and I reckon it's really tops. In my travels around Merrylands today, I don't think that the citizens fitted in with me. Rather, I accidentally fitted in with my fellow citizens and nobody bloody noticed or even cared.
We live in the best of times.


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