Even the Buddhist monks are leaving

from w
Last night when we were at Melbourne airport (Tullamarine) there seemed to be thousands of people lining up at counters to catch several planes going in all directions. Why so many? Maybe it is mid-year semester break for students, but there were far more passengers than usual. Even a Buddhist monk was leaving Melbourne! Only a handful seemed to be concerned about catching germs from sneezes and sniffles in the planes - about eight Chinese young people had white masks on.

At one stage I sat next to a young Indian man who had completed his Masters from La Trobe University so we talked about the stand-in, stand-up, sit-down that disrupted traffic in Melbourne's CBD at the weekend. Indian students have been having a hard time with bashings and thefts and they wanted their problem noticed. They are targetted by groups of stupid young bogans - who are racist and see an easy target as these students often work in the night at convenience stores, petrol outlets, and may be alone when they go to trams and trains. It's a nasty turn of events as we consider Australia NOT to be racist. This young man was going back to Delhi to discuss with his parents what he should do next. Return to Melbourne to work, or stay in India?

While we waited to farewell our youngest son for his trip on Air Pacific, I drank a large tub of strong coffee, which for me, was a huge mistake. The caffeine kept me jittery for three hours afterwards!