Parochialism

It's a busy week at work and my Beloved is back so I'm not reading much at the moment. I did buy a groovy looking guide to Melbourne called "the History of Now" which has a potted history of its development and cute anecdotes about early citizens and lots of excitingly laid out pictures. So far, so funky.

Until the Sydney-bashing started. Melbourne has better food, better parks, better drinking water, more farsighted planners, more Victorian buildings, more Vince Colosimos. Melbourne dresses better and reads more than Sydney people.

Yawn. I know this song. The chorus goes "Sydney people DON'T CARE."

I grew up in Brisbane, which has probably the most one-eyed parochial citizens in Australia if not the world. People describe it as "God's Own Country" without a hint of irony and obsess about what the southerners think of them. Truth is, they're not.

Strangely, both Brisbane and Melbourne claim to be the world's most liveable city. Fine, if it's going to make people decide to move there and get off my train.