Here's Looking At You

by


There is a section in Melbourne's MX - Australian version of the Metro, where people can write in to 'Here's Looking At You'. People write in anonymously to someone they either met, spoke to or saw on Melbourne's public transport. It is romantic, random and intriguing. I believe it breaks everything down to it's most basic truth; a search.

I check this section every day. It is at the back & I flick to it as soon as the bleach blonde punk with stretchers at Melbourne central station hands it to me at 16:50pm.
I read this religiously for two reasons. Firstly it restores my faith in humanity. Secondly I hope that someone has spotted me and wants to send me a message, give me a compliment or ask me out for coffee.

I know this is pathetic. I also know I am loved. But I still, vainly, check it every day. It makes me smile to see all the individual messages of hope and light people send to each other. Without knowing even the other person's name, they send this signal out into this huge city in the hopes that person with whom they had a moment's connection will respond. Occasionally someone will reply with a message, usually asking for more details. I have yet to read a message which tells of what happens next. Were they disappointed? Did they meet under Flinders St clocks at 6pm last Wednesday? Did 'tattooed guy' find his 'asian beauty'? I think that's a book I will write one day.



I read this one when I first arrived in Melbourne and it has stayed with me ever since. I want to be this couple. I want to be the kind of couple who share their fish and chips and hold hands. I think we all do. I also think this section of the MX is the closest most of us get to a 'movie' kind of moment. So reading it every day, for me, restores hope that romance isn't dead and that
 'The world isn't a bad place after all.'