I absolutely love Flinders Lane in Melbourne. It is a hive of activity and a nexus for those who work in the south-central CBD. Running the width of the city, it changes the further along you walk, with each area having its own unique identity and persona. My favourite stretch runs from Elizabeth Street to Swanston Street:

This block has it all – cafes, shops, regular buskers and my favourite, the City Library. When I had toothaches for a few weeks, I stopped at the chemist for Panadol.

I walk down this lane most days at lunchtime (when I get one) and read the paper, often just watching what goes on. There are a few of us regulars who do this and we acknowledge each other with a subtle head tip, even though we don’t know each other and have not spoken. We are the Silent Flinders Observers.

I’ve seen a few B-grade celebrities along here, including Laura from Australian Idol 3, Dr Eric from The Secret Life of Us and Peter Berner, of Backberner and The Einstein Factor.

I’ve see homeless people asleep on the path, both pitied them and been a bit freaked out.

Last week I was standing against the library wall, reading the paper, when a girl came skating down on rollerblades. She was going super fast and was not in control of herself. As she got to be directly in front of me, her arms went flailing back and she fell, angry and embarrassed. The poor lass mustn’t have been too hurt though as she sprang up and skated off straight away, albeit with slightly ruddy cheeks.

When I was on holidays for two weeks a little while ago, I began to miss my little stretch of the city and felt at home that first day back, strolling along as though I were Lord Mayor of a small strip of bitumen.

It’s a great little area and I hope I’m always working close enough to drop by regularly.

This has almost got to be staged – even so it’s gold:

I spent Sunday with my little brother, the youngest. He’s almost twelve, which is half my age. We’ve never lived together as he’s a half brother; my Dad’s son.

I hadn’t seen him in around 10 months so I was quite nervous. I wasn’t sure if he’d be angry at me for that and I wouldn’t have blamed him if he was. So I arranged to watch him play his 50^th game of footy and to spend some time at his place afterwards. I trekked off and hoped for a good day and some quality time.

My worries turned out to be completely unfounded. We did the footy thing and back at his place we hung out his room talking and catching up. Afterwards we had a kick of footy in the backyard. Having a kick, I could see he was trying to impress me with every kick and mark. It worked, he’s not a bad player, in complete contrast to me.

We had a good day, thankfully. It was all because he wanted to impress his older brother. There was no anger at all, just brothers having some fun.