BMX Bandits

While it’s been sad to see forlorn pictures of an empty Melbourne CBD, the upside has been renewed suburban life. While my friends Nikki, Luis and Jonno from local businesses Cinch Training, The Pioneer Cafe and Valiant Barbers are all doing it tough at the moment (they’ll definitely be diamonds by the end of this), I hope they may be heartened by the fact that there are so many locals working from home and I’ve never seen so many people walking my local streets and neighbouring parklands. The city’s loss has been suburbia’s (and regional areas) gain but my hope is that Melbourne returns to all her glory in time. The MSO Leaps and Bounds virtual performance last week was uplifting to watch and my heart goes out to the many performing artists who have lost their work this year.

Chei Wen bar image via Shop in Ivanhoe

I went for a pretty warm and windy run at Rosanna parklands yesterday and was laughing to myself after seeing a couple of teenage boys sporting massive mullets – it’s been like returning to my ’80s childhood growing up in Bulleen (and I’ve heard roller skates have had just as big a resurgence as bikes). The BMX track has been in high demand and for those of you following the 2020 Tour de France – you might be interested in knowing that SBS commentator Matthew Keenan grew up in Rosanna and still lives locally in the area.

Chei Wen bar image via Shop in Ivanhoe

I had a meeting this week with another local – La Trobe alum and Paralympian swimmer Sam Bramham OAM who owns Chei Wen bar in Ivanhoe and Fly Lie bar in Kew. He’s quite the character and like many high achieving individuals I deal with he’s also highly charismatic, but I have been more impressed by his philanthropy (he’s an Accessible Beaches board member) and his positivity despite his trip to Tokyo 2020 not happening (nor his associated speaking gigs) and COVID-19 impacts to his hospitality businesses. The mark of someone’s character is how they behave in the face of adversity and like many people he’s risen to the challenge and focussed on what he can do.

Image via Fly Lie Bar Facebook page

I spent this morning at my current 5km southern border meeting my bestie Jules at Tatin bakery to pick up a takeaway coffee at the Bulleen Road shops before doing the Koonung Creek Linear Park trail walk along the Eastern freeway. It’s been good to get out and about after hitting a bit of a low point during the week reaching the 6 month working from home milestone with 3 months still to go before Christmas, without a proper break. I’ll try not to complain as I’m lucky to still have work, which keeps you accountable and engaged in other ways, but it has definitely been hard to keep going. Like most people, I’m committed to staying the course until things open up late October, but it has been an exercise in resilience and I hope you are also hanging in there.

Image via Tatin Facebook page

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