Missing Adelaide...

There are moments in life that for some reason are strange to witness. Seeing a co-worker run for the first time. Yeah, weird. Watching someone’s dad eat an apple. You’ll never be able to un-see that. Or watching anyone over the age of 30, blow candles out on a birthday cake. It is a facial expression that you rarely see.

For me, it was watching all of my belongings being loaded into a truck to be taken back to Perth. I never imagined I would be saying goodbye to Adelaide. Then, every day for a year I felt uncomfortable for some reason and I wasn’t sure what to do. The same kind of feeling you get when you’re watching TV with your parents and a steamy sex scene comes on.

I knew what the problem was. I was missing the one thing I loved. Adelaide.

See, I miss things. In every aspect of my life. Like four out of five P.T sessions, I would miss those. Any party I was invited to for the past 10 years, I was guaranteed to be missing. But the thing I have missed more than anything in my life, is living in Adelaide.

I loved it.

Of course, everyone loves Adelaide for different reasons. For my mum, it’s that in Gawler Place there are three chemists. It’s like her Disneyland. Instead of her taking home some souvenir Mickey Mouse ears, she comes home with a microwaveable wheat-pack and some foot cream.

Yes, there is sooo much to love. The amazing festivals and art exhibitions, the rolling vineyards of the Barossa and McLaren Vale. The short drive to explore the beautiful Adelaide Hills. The Botanic Gardens are amazing too — not just for the types of plants that when pronounced sound like a spell from Harry Potter, but because I can drop my mum off there and know I’ve got four hours before I hear from her. These are all things I miss for sure.

Here are just a few of the other things I missed being away from Adelaide…

I miss all the nurses at the Lyell McEwin Hospital that delivered 360 babies in one month.

I miss the old man at the end of my street who thought he knew me, and gave me lemons from his tree whenever I would walk past.

Of course, when life gives you lemons,y ou end up with a lot of lemons.

It’s the guys you see wearing old vintage hats and braces over their shoulders carrying battered suitcases around on East Terrace. You spot them and you know straight away that the Fringe Festival is here. That, or Oliver The Musical is showing at the Festival Centre and the cast had some time off to explore the East End.

I miss the combination smell of Lynx Java and Lynx Africa wafting in the breeze at the Adelaide 500.

I miss hearing about what Kate Ceberano is up to every second day in The Advertiser’s Confidential section.

Image credit: adelaidenow.com.au

I miss the BOING sound you hear every-time a bus ticket is put in the machine the wrong way. Who would have thought a sound made to be funny could end up so irritating?

I miss watching the axe-wielding men who compete in the wood-chop at the Royal Adelaide Show. Huge men with beer guts who are surrounded by wood chips during the day and potato chips at night on the couch.

Its quite difficult to list all the things I missed about Adelaide. Just as difficult as singing along to the Macarena, without moving your body. It’s actually impossible. Try it right now.

So I moved back here to live and finally I feel at home again. Everyday I’m reminded by the little things why this is the place that brings me the most joy.

Soooo, I’m Shane Lowe…