Christmas Card Day/Homemade Gift Day/Weary Willie Day/Pastry Day
2004-12-09 @ 8:13 p.m.

The sun's still out right now. If I migrate, I'm moving to a place with long summer days and long winter nights. Last night's French movie was Les Misérables, but Victor Hugo's novel was relegated to a subplot that mirrors the main storyline. It's more like a World War II story, and how the experiences of the main characters find parallels in Hugo's novel. It all comes back to the central idea that there are just two or three sad stories which re-enact themselves in men's lives. This is borne out by the fact that a father-son pair are subjected to false accusations and imprisonment, half a century apart. It was a nice movie, but very, very long.

Spent the day wandering about the streets of Melbourne, a place I like much better than Sydney. Melbourne feels more down-to-earth, less flashy and showy than Sydney. The trams are an interesting change from the usual parade of buses and subways you find in most metropolises. The city has been able to maintain and extend its tram network, thanks to sound road planning right from the start. Think Raffles's Town Plan. There's 200 km of tramline at present. I think I'm going to enjoy this half of the trip better. Oh, and Virgin Blue has nice aeroplanes! There's something peculiarly oppressive about the cabin air in SIA aeroplanes. The downside is that you have to pay for refreshments on Virgin Blue. At least we would have on this domestic flight, not that we bought any.