Back in Melbourne

After 11 weeks away - 3 and a half in Europe, 7 and a half in China - I am back in Melbourne.I did miss Australia. Smiles, efficiency, clean air; a general rationality to things.But coming back from 7 weeks in Tianjin - the third city in China, 11+ million people, a potential new financial centre for Asia Pacific - I am in a shock when people here say - 'Tianjin - where is that?' Educated people. Policy people. Literary people.In the first few days, it made me slightly depressed - that place I invested so much energy in discovering, is it really so meaningless? Now it makes me more angry - 'hey, wake up, that's where our neighbours live, that's where Australia's customers live; that's where new migrants come from - at least, look at a map once in a while'.But well, these things take time.Meanwhile, thefakechina.wordpress.com is still going.