life in elizabeth bay

The café in the bay near K’s flat used to be a fabulous – and typically Sydney - breakfast joint. It then got taken over by the hipsterish Miss Chu’s and did Vietnamese things for a bit. But then she over-extended,  went into voluntary administration and so it has been shut for a while. Now it appears to have been taken over by an Irishman and a Scotsman (apologies to them is this is wrong). They have an enthusiasm for slightly peculiar items in this context such as penguin bars and (I think) tunnock’s teacakes. And last time I went to get a flat white, at about 8.30am, they were just advising a customer that mushroom soup with sherry would be available very soon. 

possum

I did go arhh when I noticed this possum which appears to live in the garage. I know I should think of them as equivalent to squirrels (which of course make many people go arhh but are in fact vermin who repeatedly and infuriatingly dig up my balcony veg patch by shinning up digital cables to get to the 3^rd floor)

But just look at those huge, sad eyes and those cute, ridiculous ears.

veg patch

With the new tenants next door, I have been taken off gardening duties – there are now agents who will get someone to mow the grass and do the weeding. Not sure if this is a sadness or a relief. I have not adapted well beyond the British type of gardening that mainly requires the gentle coaxing of plants into life and production.  I am not good at the hack and burn, the fiercely contested competition for space between human and vegetation, usually involving a baking sun, enormous and potentially dangerous insects, much thorny stuff, and things that grow so quickly you can almost see it happen.

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.