To the Outskirts and Suburbs

Sydney, Australia May 7 to may 14, 2005

Tuesday, May 10th 2005. To the Outskirts and Suburbs

I made that call to my friend and former colleague yesterday. He lives in Rooty Hill, a suburb about one hour out by train from Sydney City Center. He was out when I called. The daughter was the one who answered the call and she said that the parents have been waiting for our call. Indeed, when I called again later, he was excited, and we arranged to meet in Rooty Hill train station in the morning.

When we arrived at Rooty Hill our friend and his wife was waiting at the station. We were just as excited as they were for this meeting. It has been quite a long time since we last met, although we communicated by eMail several times since but it was rather rare when we do. So, we were looking forward to this meeting. They have not changed much and were very cheerful. They brought us to meet their son-in-law, who works on 12 hour shifts and was off from work today. They later showed us the other daughter’s house and then proceeded to their own house, an apartment within the town limits of Rooty Hill and just a walking distance to the railway station, shopping mall and all other town facilities.

They brought us to lunch at a local club and later took us to the shopping mall. We met quite a number of elderly folks at the mall. Apparently it is a common practice for the elderly folks, the retirees, to hang out at the shopping mall. It’s a comfortable place to hang out. It is exactly the opposite in Kuala Lumpur. The elderly folks stay at home while the young ones hang out.

We left Rooty Hill a little later in the afternoon. We had dinner in the hotel and retired early.

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Sydney, Australia