maylands - flight centre
this was the third travel agent to open on eighth avenue, all of them closing down shortly after covid. i organised a big holiday here.
in 2019 i finally did five years worth of taxes and found out that the government owed me eight thousand dollars. i spent it all on a 2 month road trip around the american deep south in a hired toyota carolla. i had the time of my life in the mountains and delta and prairies and weird decaying cities. it was the best time looking at folk art and watching folk music and going to the homes of all my favourite deceased authors. i never booked hotels but primarily slept in hunting campgrounds and wallmart carparks and the homes of kind people i met at cafes.
it was hard coming back to maylands from such excitement. it had felt like the crest of my life and i kept thinking of that silver jews song:
people tell people to watch their scotch
people send people up to the moon
when they return well there isn't much
people be careful not to crest too soon
i am grateful to chantelle from flight center for making all my dreams come true.