city bingo: mailboxes and snail mail

I may have gone on about tiny mailboxes too much - no explanation (at least not based on land, culture, history etc.) Does give the snails some extra roughage.

city bingo 4: sales staff wearing their coats indoors (1)

Can't decide if this city bingo item is a bit too easy for Sydney-siders, albeit only at this time of year, since it expresses a phenomenon so ubiquitous that locals probably don't even notice it as odd.

Although we have had some sunny days, there is definitely a noticeable chill in the air and the nights demand hot water bottles and thick blankets. I may have gone on before about the lack of heating in this city during winter (I write this huddled up to a small convector heater in my office which is doing a losing job against the cold coming through the windows). The most noticeable side effect is the range of usually elegant outer garments that people who work in shops and cafes start wearing.

Here, at the Infinity Bakery in Victoria Street (one of my favourite breakfast takeaway spots), I am now served by people in coats. 

more city bingo 1: ineffectual mail receptacles (3)

P, meanwhile, became a contributor to city bingo – like me he now has a large number of letterbox photos from Sydney.

city bingo 3: traffic controllers (1)

Have found another category for Sydney city bingo – traffic controllers. Australia does not feel like a place with much unnecessary over-manning, but it does seem to have some particular over-bureaucraticised routines (a point I will be returning to). Whenever a bit of road in Sydney is being dug up, or closed for some sort of construction activity  - however minor the effects on vehicular movement – several people in hi-vis jackets stand around with signs and take their job very seriously indeed. I have already been told off on a number of occasions for not making big detours to avoid (non-existent) traffic problems. These are definitely people who are both alert and happy to interfere.

city bingo (not): old-fashioned

Have been thinking about how to extend Sydney city bingo, but struggling to find good examples. Just as a reminder, the idea is to choose things that are particularly distinctive to here but not so ubiquitous as to be easy to locate. 

Something I keep noticing is how weirdly old-fashioned the school uniforms here look to me, but am aware of being careful taking photos of children (got asked what I was doing for this one, and explained that I made sure I did not get faces…).

So not a good category, if the ultimate aim of city bingo is to get loads of people playing it.

city bingo (2): more humorous signs (2)

Took the ferry over to South Perth to investigate where I stayed 25 years ago, and walked past this restaurant/hotel, with a sign that says - 'The Windsor. It Just Sounds Fancy.' Love it.

city bingo - more on letterboxes

Been a pretty wet and windy (if humid) week. Proving my point that sydney letterboxes do not seem that fit for purpose...

city bingo 1: ineffectual mail receptacles

City bingo was invented some years ago ( we used to play it in Moscow). The idea is to find things that absolutely define a particular place. Not so obvious that you find this thing on every street corner, but not so obscure that you cannot really argue the case for it's specific 'cityness'.

So here is my first proposal - the utterly undersized and unfit for purpose Sydney letter box. These, even most new ones, are incredibly tiny so that even standard letters often stick out or fall out (this in a place with torrential downpours).  It is not merely circulars and free newspapers that end up lying about in the street, but bills and bank statements. The nice thing is that everyone seems pretty relaxed about this, which can make me feel like an over-anxious security freak.