The hills of home.

The village of Keilor was a quaint little (mostly rural) speck on the map about 10Km from the (then) north-western fringe of greater Melbourne when we first settled here just before xmas 1972. The so-called urban sprawl was in its infancy at the time with Keilor one of the early mass housing developments ... in our case, an estate almost entirely comprised of the many new project home models being marketed by A.V. Jennings. A +/- 21 sq, home on a standard suburban block set us back $21000 and change, The reason we moved here was to get me closer to my work base at the brand new Tullamarine international airport, which shares the plateau known as Keilor Plains and was/is only about 10 mins by car from our home.

Keilor village itself is situated on the flood plain of the Maribyrnong river and, is completely surrounded by really steep hills carved into the plain by the water-way over millions of years. Most of the early housing developments were concentrated on the plateau overlooking the town ... but, most of the escarpment is now also fully occupied with mostly very huge and expensive 'mac-mansions'. Not  a little of their current worth was probably consumed in the elaborate foundations required to compensate for the steep gradients.

Why am I rabbiting on about the 'hills of home'? Until recently, a small mixed business shop was part of our particular estate. It went out of business, no doubt because this area is over supplied with large shopping complexes all within 10 mins drive of our estate. I confess, I never used the little shop much during the 40 something years of its existence ... except to buy a daily newspaper. Now, one has to negotiate the 'hills' going to the nearest newsagency in Keilor village, because it is only a little over a kilometre as the crow flies and thus, not worth starting the car just to get a paper.

Keeping me very fit for my age tho'!