Your seasons flow from one to the other in a beautiful, seamless pattern. I can predict what will come next as we glide from frosty mornings to freezing, sunny days, and then to the gales and rain of Spring, punctuated by blossoms and poplar fluff, leading to warmer days when all i can think about are beers on a verandah somewhere. You're full of surprises, in your occasional torrential rain or long-lasting droughts and dust storms, and my adoration for you grows whenever you break with tradition - particularly if it's an unseasonably warm day in August, or a breezy day in February to cool us all down.
Your views are no accident, and I can't help but marvel when i gaze across lake and trees to catch glimpses of the Tower or House. A long street frames the view from another angle, and there's no doubt that this was intentional. I have spent many a long hour studying Taylor and Majura from Ainslie, and spotting landmarks in all directions from Red Hill. You remind me constantly of your natural and constructed wonders, and the ingenious use of the natural shape of your landscape to create space and vistas that everyone can share.
You house my friends - you shelter and protect them with your cocoon of privilege and awareness afforded to the children of professional, educated people who have brought up their families to take an interest in and enjoy following the big issues debated in the House on the hill. You cultivated a population to include like-minded people with whom i feel more at home and at ease than any group i've ever met in all my years in all my home towns.
Your wide-open spaces relax me as i travel between different parts of town. Intersections, roundabouts and traffic lights give way to open roads passing between sheep paddocks, and any traffic anxieties (as few as they are) give way to sighs of relief and uninterrupted cruising - even if it's only for a few minutes.
The intimacy and comfort of a city with a small-town heart are evident in all corners of your sprawl. Even when shopping on the other side of town, one will probably bump into someone familiar, or find a charity sausage-sizzle being held for a group you recognise. As we grow and change together, there will always be somebody to reminisce with ("Do you remember when Electric Shadows was closing down, and all the great films they were showing?"), and some exciting new place to discover. Everyone's spent a hot January day at Big Splash, everyone's played Pooh-sticks on the bridges in Commonwealth Park, everyone's tried to break into Floriade after hours (haven't they...?)
I miss you. You hold my soul, and i have felt adrift since leaving you almost two years ago. What was i looking for? Perhaps just the chance to expand my experience and to appreciate my home a little more, because even back then, i knew you were the one for me. I can't wait to bring my English lover home to you - knowing you will help him to know me even more, to understand my journey and my passion for my home. I await the day i crest the hill over the Majura Road exit, and see that Tower and those mountains, and feel the joy i've felt on so many homecomings before.
