cakap cakap...KL or Melbourne?

Selamat Pagi Malaysia.

Yesterday I was in the city...Melbourne city...walking, minding my own business...and enjoying the fact that at 75 I can still go ka sana dan ka sini under my own steam. Though I must confess that walking is now, no longer what it used to be. These days, when I walk...when I take a step forward... I am conscious that I need to do it consciously.

Let me explain. There was a time, not too long ago, when I could walk without thinking about it. Walking got me from point A to point B. No sweat. Not anymore. At 75, when you walk, you make sure you put one foot forward and then follow it up with the other foot....and while doing so, you make sure that you lift your foot just high enough off the pavement so that you do not stumble or trip over the smooth flat pavement or your other foot. Don't ask me how I can stumble over a flat, smooth pavement, but 75-year-old guys do! You need to pay attention to walking. If you see an old guy walking and seemingly deep in thought - not really - they are just concentrating on walking and making sure they do not stumble or fall as they walk. So perish the thought that there are dirty old men walking around the Mall looking at all the girls passing by...they are more focused on NOT stumbling or tripping over their own foot, than looking at the girls.

I like walking around Melbourne City without a purpose. Looking for a McDonald's to have lunch is not a purpose. It is a necessity when you need to eat...but it is still enjoyable.

The nice part about going on these walkabouts is that you hardly see rich people in the city. I am sure there are lots of rich people in Melbourne...but it is hard to spot them when you are walking around in the city. As you walk around the city, you realize that everybody around you is like you. Middle class or call it whatever class you want...but really...everybody is so middle class. They wear the same clothes as you. Eat at the same place as you. Shop at the same place as you. Have the same cars as you. Nobody stands out. You do not stand out. When that happens, you feel good because you feel that you are like everybody else. It is a good feeling to have!

This does not happen in KL. Anywhere I go in KL I see people richer than me and I see people who are poorer than I am. Hell, I do not even know if I am richer than the guy next to me, or if I am poorer. It is depressing to think that the guy next to you has much, much more money than you because you saw him arriving in a Mercedes and had the valet parked his Mercedes. You arrived in a Grab. Then you look at the Valet and you know that you do have, marginally, a bit more money than him. Just the act of arriving at BSC in Bangsar, in a Grab, the other guy in a Mercedes, the valet, and the other rich people milling around the entrance waiting for their Mercedes to pick them up....all this is very depressing...and that is only in the first few moments of arriving at BSC. By the time I leave....the whole experience is depressing and serves only to remind me that life is never meant to be fair....in KL.

That is the difference between KL and Melbourne. If truth be told, I am happier in Melbourne than in KL....but then...Melbourne does not have good Chicken rice and ice kachang. So I am conflicted....