City To Surf

7pm Saturday: Listening to the hum of the helicopter, scoping the area, practising for tomorrow.

6am Sunday: Lying in bed listening to them towing cars in preparation for the City to Surf.

11.30 am: My trusty bike lets me slip past the traffic jams, through the police blockades, and weave thru the random, messy pedestrians to get back home, while masses of race finishers and friends stream out from the beach along Campbell parade.

12 noon: Hearing the clippety-clop of mounted police on patrol.

2.30 pm: Listening to the fairly incessant hum of that TV helicopter finally flying away.......No, wait, it's back again.

From the Bay to Breakers in SF in May--where I went along for the sport of spectating, lured by promise of fantastic costumes--to the City to Surf in Sydney in August--where I pass thru it just to get home; a commuter now, no longer a tourist.