A deaf man could tell I was Australian

I was given a contact from an Australian friend to visit a young architecture practice in Zürich west.

Being very ‘un-Swiss’ I turned up unannounced, without an appointment, spontaneous.

On the way, my hands were full with my portfolio, two large bunches of flowers, laptop and bag.  It took me a few moments to grab everything and get off the tram when I reached the destination, and it seemed the tram had stopped to wait for me. But no, as soon as I alighted, there was a young man with his large suitcase, stuck in the doors, with a broken leg he was on crutches unable to wedge himself out of the doors.

So I approached to help him.  Dragging his suitcase, (and also carrying my flowers/laptop/portfolio/bag), I asked where he wanted to go. With a  Swiss accent, in perfect English,  ‘now I want to go to Brisbane!”.

What is the story? Well the man had a hearing aid! He was deaf! The only person who could tell I was Australian was a deaf man.