i remember my first trip into the western suburbs of sydney,at the time i was competing in athletics having travelled down with the qld team,i was a naive 17 year old from the conservative suburb of taringa,brisbane.
we had family friends who lived in fairfield so i thought i would visit them,i hopped on the double deckertrain at central and for the duration of the trip i proceeded to shit myself,to me it was hell,i was just waiting for some westie to give me the bashing of my life,or some druggie to hold me for ransom.
this wasa world i had only seen on american tv,i remember going through the train stations like redfern which had old car tyres acting as pot plants,mac donald town and other funny names which i thought would be my final resting place.
when i arrived in fairfield i said to my mate ken,you moved from caloundra to this,and his reply was something like you get used to it.
now when i look backat it, you always feel safe in the area you live!!!!!!
cheers pepe
ps,i never caught the return trip back,i chose the safety of my mates car.
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