PiO and Preston

PiO in Main Street Preston. Photo: Julie Clarke (c) 2017

I haven't been on a train for about four years so this morning I decided I would go to North Richmond station and travel somewhere on the Hurstbridge or Epping line. I asked the only person on the platform where she was going and she said Preston. OK, so I'll go to Preston. About half way there was an announcement that the train would be travelling at limited express to Epping where neither of us wanted to go. I began to get nervous because I knew I would have to visit the toilet rather soon and was relieved that the train stopped at Preston.

I vowed I wouldn't be taking the train back home since it destination couldn't be trusted. I walked for about 1K to the tram stop in Main Street and on my way ran into PiO who I hadn't seen for about twenty-five years. I mentioned him in the piece that I wrote on Concrete and Visual Poetry in Australia on this blog. PiO didn't remember me, but is apparently still making concrete poetry and his book Unusual Work is in Readings. I enquired about his sister Thalia, who is also still writing. It was a pleasant surprise to run into him as Preston is not an aesthetically pleasing suburb.

I took the tram from Plenty Road and got off in Smith Street to have lunch, I had been talking to a young man studying Chemical Engineering on the tram and relating my small adventure to him. I'll remember his wise words 'you have to become comfortable with things that are uncomfortable'. Of course, easier said that done. It took about three times as long just to get to Fitzroy. Anyway, I took another tram into the city and walked through Treasury Gardens. What a beautiful Melbourne Spring day! All is well.