A trip to Melbourne

I've been in Melbourne for the last ten days, and it was a great trip. My next post will have pictures.

I had a six a.m. flight to get there. Sitting, in the departure lounge, I watched the sky lighten as the sun came up. Sitting, next to the window in the plane, the sun cast long shadows across the runway. As the plane took off, I watched the mis-proportioned shadow of the plane race alongside me, and move across the fields by the airport as I left the ground. I stared at that shadow as it grew smaller and smaller, until it was just a smudge on the landscape. Then less. Then nothing. The plane no longer cast a shadow.

On the way home, the plane was delayed an hour leaving due to wind. I was listening to Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion as the plane taxied, and I left the ground just as In The Flowers musically exploded. I don't think I would've minded if the plane had exploded too - it felt like poetry.

My friend Rose picked me up in Christchurch. "You look beardier", she said.