We're off to the city

Today, we are off to the city for a couple of appointments. We don't often go to the city centre these days. The parking is expensive. There is public transport, but it takes almost an hour to get there just one-way. The shopping no better really than the average shopping centre. Pollution is more rampant compared to the suburbs, when you consider the concentrated traffic between the buildings and smokers aplenty! There is talk of the Queen Street Mall going green in the future with more plants, etc and also as far as I know and hope... no smoking.

Now that most places are no smoking indoors in Brisbane, when visiting the city mall, walking through it's walkways has become a dodge-the-smoke and hold-your-breath experience for me whenever I go there. Of course, it has also been a task to dodge the slow movers. There are always slow people in front of you where ever you go, who are clueless to the people behind them who walk with a purpose. And they always seem to be in the middle of everything. Do you think they should create a walking lane/zone just for slow people?

Also, in the city you see some of the less fortunate that aren't quite so obvious when in the suburbs. The homeless in the city, some of them look like rubbish pickers with their fluorescent reflector vests, selling the 'Big Issue' magazine - never really bought one, so not sure what is in it. Usually, we just give them a few dollars here and there when we go pass them. Sometimes we're selective. I know.. I know.. homeless is homeless. But if they look like they are more hardworking, standing up to sell their mags, and appear as if they are more likely to do something positive with the money given rather than splurging it on a pack of 'smokes', I'm more likely to help those people, than those who look like they couldn't be bothered to work to sell their mags and look like they are smokers. But mostly, I just feel sorry for them, try and remember how fortunate and blessed most of us are, and just give without trying to analyse it too much. After all, we want to teach our kids to be kind and giving, and mindful of what they have. We want our kids to grow up with a sense of helping people.

Anyway, what we are really going to the city today is for Scott's work and then after that we have an appointment at the Allergy Pathway clinic for Isabella. As some of you will already be aware, Isabella developed eczema from 3 months of age. After several months of trial and error of different potions and lotions, we finally sought the help of this alternative therapy that strives to manage peoples allergies and intolerances. All sounds a bit hocus-pocus, but of those we have tried, this really seemed to work. After a few months of it, Isabella's eczema continued to improved and now, she only has traces of eczema you can see. I'm not going to go on about it, cause it would take me the whole day and I'm not very good at explaining things, but if you are interested, check it out at Allergy Pathways