I ❤️ Love Sydney.Reasons to Love .

On bus no 333 back to Bondi after a day out .

Behind me is a conversation in German, in front a group of young women conversing merrily in Spanish, hands moving and laughter.This bus is filled with a variety of languages, accents and looks: the girl in the beret sprinkled with chunky pearls, thick black plaits poking out from underneath, the man further down the aisle, tattooed and hooded, the very English older couple sitting opposite. All sorts of looks. Spanish/ Iranian //Chinese ? Australian ? It’s late afternoon so plenty of business suits and office wear as well .

Love the multiculturalism

Cosmopolitan, multicultural, call it what you will. A vibrant, young peopled city. At least in the areas we’ve been in these few days- Bondi, Paddington and, today, Manly. So, especially after a QE cruise it’s uplifting to be around younger people. Also to be able to just walk .

Bar and cafe staff are young and smiley, restaurants, hotel receptionists , shop people. Smiley.

Apart from youth and multiculturalism, I like the architecture. There is variety in style, different levels and shapes, colour and texture. Here in Bondi anyway the newer buildings are fronted by older ones, facing the sea with large windows and balconies. The streets are wide and the tall trees and green slopes create a surreal landscape.

Older buildings have been renovated or used as they are, especially to show art. And there is so much art here, accessible. All along the Bondi seafront are some of the Heads On photos. An international festival based in Sydney, there are more than 500 different photographers showing their work in outdoor exhibitions, major takeovers and large scale installations.

The photos stretched along the entire seafront . This is a photo from brochure though – chilly morning when we were here, and not so many people .

We went to see others in the Reservoir Paddington. There are thousands of photographic works from all over the world displayed in venues throughout Sydney. Themes of homelessness, refugees and war; also feminism, motherhood, culture and the environment.

An entire inside space hung with photographs. More outside. Here the focus was on war,injustice , displacement but also resilience and strength.
This was only one small part of the collection.
Entry to Reservoir
Like a mini version of the Colosseum
Stained glass windows in the restaurant at Central Station ( good coffee there too )

So this morning we’re at Central train station about to depart from this bold, brash, clever city. On the way here early in the morning I did glimpse the other, not so bright, side of life here. A part of any city: people dressed in shabby black or worn work boots, women going home after a cleaning job, an old man plastic bag in hand carrying bottled water and his lunch,the humdrum movement of our days.

You might think as you read the earlier praise of Sydney paragraphs ‘ all very well for the wealthy and beautiful.’ ( I can hear you think that ) Maybe I am a romantic. Maybe.

But I don’t live here. Soon enough to be back in a different life.

Looking out of hotel window at Bondi beach this morning . Bye.

My exciting life : Bondi Pub Altercation

Now, if I were a Helen Garner I would ask the guy over from me what happened? Then I would have a whole, interesting and insightful story. But as it stands, or writes, all I have is a few glimpses of the start, a climax and the cleaning up. Not really a denouement. Oh, I did make an ‘ aside’ comment as I walked to the bar to buy another happy hour wine : ‘ well that was dramatic’, to which the quite ordinary, rather stunned looking guy replied ’ Yes’ and looked stunned still.

From where I sat in this Bondi pub I watched a blonde, fit looking 40 ish man find his stool, lay out the cutlery carefully next to his red wine , and look around. I did think , well he’s waiting for someone. I was distracted then by the T V behind him showing bits about some woman convicted of some murder ( no sound). Next time I looked a woman in jeans and shirt , ordinary, nice looking, was alongside him and they were talking quietly. Distracted again – ploughing into my pizza- a very loud crash. I glanced up to see the woman locking eyes with the man for an instant, then turning slowly and striding out to the lift. Leaving a mess of broken glass, food and red wine on the floor.

He stood just looking at the mess. Hiatus. Bar staff rushed out and began sweeping and mopping. Like 2 staff, quite a mess.

Half an hour later and the quiet guy is sitting in front of his replaced ? meal and sipping his replaced ? wine. Looking thoughtful. .I really want to know what the altercation was about .

Why did she throw all their food and wine 🍷 onto the floor.It was all so silent before and after. Is she his partner ? Had he just met her ? What did he say? Or not say .

I’ll just have to conjecture. And you know what,?Whatever I come up with will be wrong. There’s always more to a story.

Sleeping Rough

It’s 8.30 am and I’m pushing my grandson down South Terrace in Fremantle, just up from the station. Already I have passed 3 sleepers. Huddled in doorways, in alleys , emerging from the night sleep and blinking in the morning light, or blankets pulled over heads. Some have left their posse to start their day, leaving a bundle tied up on the ground in the shadows. Others are pushing a shopping trolley down the mall. Towards the toilets maybe, or to sit on the benches placed in straight lines under trees .

Left their bundle to get some coffee ?

Small gatherings of people are in the square, coming out of the Civic Centre or simply meeting up and walking through arm in arm, chatting.

I think , what would happen if we just let those ‘ homeless’ to sleep in the corners of our street , with maybe blankets available,opening toilets early , maybe having a place where coffee is available ? Would we have more rough sleepers than we do now ?

Just as I was thinking , well there’s a general quite happy atmosphere around the square, people meeting and greeting, sitting quietly on benches or walking on, there was a loud yell from a guy striding across.Several very loud shouts and a lot of gesturing and swearing. It seemed his noise was not directed at anyone. It was just an angry cry against the universe,

I walked on with my grandson still asleep in his pusher. A few other people gathered around the angry one and the morning peace became just noise and a series of exchanges across the square .

I have just finished Alan Carter’s Heaven Sent, a novel which is set in Fremantle and revolves around homelessness and the problem of dealing with people fairly and responsibly.( Incidentally a good crime novel with his likeable main character, Detective Cato Kwong)

The book did make me think, yet again, about how I would live in the street, how I would survive. I also recognised that the street people contribute to Fremantle some of its character, it’s colour and difference. But. ….

Such a pity that homeless people can’t be just a version of myself , minus the money and possessions I have. Why can’t they be more like me. The yelling and swearing of that guy threw me.

West Australian sat 29 Oct

Yes , it could , I concede. Homelessness could happen to me . But I have to say , because that’s what I think, the possibility is low.

The pervading narrative of homelessness is ‘ it can happen to anyone’, alongside the lumping of all street sleepers into the category of helplessness . Probably some people do belong there. But the other side of the coin is the resourcefulness, the strength of a community, the caring for each other.

Packed up

I sound like I believe ‘ the poor are always with us’. Not so. I just believe that the it can happen to anyone/collective responsibility narrative is better than “ get them away from here”, but ….words make us feel better.

Cruising : QE2 here we come !when I’ve packed

So it’s actually more difficult / stressful/ annoying getting stuff together for a 8 day cruise in local waters than it is to prepare for a 6 week walk, here or overseas.

For the latter the parameters are clear, it’s weight all the way as it’s going to be on your back . Walking trousers. A couple of t shirts, long sleeved shirt, slip ons to change into , undies, gortex jacket and thermal top plus all the paraphernalia of sun cream/ feet cream/ moisturisers . Hat. Maybe some vitamins and a small first aid pack and a book or tablet . Mobile phone.

For the cruise there’s the addition of makeup, more shoes, more undies, more clothes. Shoes to walk in, shoes to dance in, shoes to run in ( to counterbalance the food) , clothes for formal wear – dance evenings, dinner- proper active wear for the gym and strolling around deck looking cool, shorts that don’t show my bum or the fat on the top of my legs, it may be warm enough to wear them. Leggings for the cold, warm jacket for evenings , a warmer jacket for the very cold, tights to wear with skirt or dress, etc etc . Laptop. A couple of books.

In the end a high probability that half those dresses, shoes, skirts and tops will not be worn, I haven’t worn high heels for at least 2 years . I can’t remember when I last wore a dress . So right now I’m wondering :why ? Why am I travelling on a cruise ship and why am I taking all this gear ?

Last pack ! Ready to go

I’ll answer that tomorrow. Today I’m just boarding the QE2 and departing Fremantle for Sydney

QE 2 waiting for me

Gym Resolutions

My favourite ( only ) gym

No it’s not what you think ; resolving to get to the gym regularly.

My resolutions relate to how I conduct myself in the gym.

I will not make ‘ old people noises’ while lifting weights, getting on and off the elliptical, speeding up on machines. In fact I will not make those noises at all.

What noises ? you ask. Sighs, breathing heavily, expelling air with a loud Phewww or huhhhh. Farting, even quietly.

I will not swear as I try for a heavier weight, put one down after a set, nearly miss the step getting off a machine, or trip over the weight I have left on the floor ( things have moved on in twenty years as most gyms now are nice places. Anyway it’s not acceptable for an older woman to use an expletive especially the F word ).

I will not roll my eyes at someone , usually female, creeping along on the stepper at a snails pace while talking at a hundred miles an hour.

I will not feel resentment, gradually rising to anger, towards someone , usually male colonising 2 bits of equipment. They place their towel on one and sit on the other, for ages .

I have to admit that some of these small annoyances are a result of NOT getting to the gym regularly enough. It’s called projection . The noises one is because I’m getting tired of someone alongside me asking “ are you alright”? as I breathe as one is supposed to breathe lifting , or saying encouragingly “ that’s right, you’ve got it”. It’s because I’m older and a woman . Men of any age can groan and yell and sweat and fart , but they are exercising good and hard .

No noises . Look how well I’m moving !

But despite the above, I recommend gym work. For strength, and getting rid of the petty stresses of our lives. Sometimes aggression. Mostly quiet people here, intent on getting on with things. So go along. Just don’t make too many old people noises if you’re an older woman .