Nicholas Quirke was surprised to find there was a touch of England in the Melbourne air on 30th January. After the battering rain last night there was a breeze and dullness to the day which made him feel like he was back home. Typically as this was an unexpected turn in the temperature he was inappropriately dressed is a short sleeve shirt and he felt the cold. Strangely, though, for the first time since his arrival in Australia he had changed into long pants. As he was revisiting The Triennial exhibition he decided he would call in to ‘Pack and Send’ to look into sending some stuff back home and Iighten his load. The Store he needed was not where it was supposed to be and he found himself walking a mile out of his way. He really didn’t know how much his belongings weighed or what size box he needed and after his rough estimate he was quoted £350. He was quite proud that he didn’t flinch. ‘Well that’s not going to happen’ he thought and smiling left the store. It was much quieter in the Gallery than on his first visit and he had the opportunity to enjoy all 4 floors of the exhibition space. He noted though that the key exhibits were constantly crowded, with even adults playing rough with the oversized skulls whilst the rest of the exhibits were rushed past.There were some really lovely sights including a Tiepolo he had never seen, a room dedicated to Chinese art which was empty of people, and an amazing room dedicated to the Aisian designer Guo Pei . He had also prepared himself to take his health care receipts to Medicare and the hospital had given him directions. Of course the next hour was spent trying to find this mythical location and found it about half a mile away from where he was told. ‘Here is form. Come back at 8.30 in the morning’. He then thought he would check the post office and see if it might be cheaper sending through them. The GPS directed him to a location in a Shopping Mall and he was relieved to find signs telling him exactly where to go. Oh, no surprise here,  it was closed and moved somewhere else! When he found it he bought a box and trudged his way home and packed what he definately didn’t need into the box. He walked into the city again to Cumulus bar, where he was to meet Kia his ex flatmate, now living in Melbourne. She was looking great and had plenty of news to share. He was particularly excited to hear of her and Agappi’s plans to build their own home. The theatre wher Kim and he were seeing ‘Strangers in Between’ was downstairs from the bar, which he noted really was downstairs, an everdescending 4 flights. He was a little dissapointed in the play which had been written in 2004 and did not have a lot to say about current social mores, and he was critical of the direction but he enjoyed the performances and dialogue. They did not stay to meet the actors as Kim had a very early start. An early night for all.