Cheap and cheerful

Despite the fact that I barely get to see the inside of my new house due to my current looooong working hours, it’s rapidly becoming home, and I’m so glad I made the move.

My new home

I’ve quickly succumbed to the call of the beach, and am living on a quiet little street close to Bondi Road, with Christina (ex-LFF graphic designer and all-round Lovely Person) and Ruth (yoga teacher, bright-eyed, hippyish, seems fab if a little dappy) and I’m finally starting to feel settled in Sydney.

The local swimming pool

Little London on my mantlepiece

We have a great selection of local shops, delis and restaurants, and we’re 5 minutes walk from the beach (not that I’ve had much time to venture down there of late). We have a huge garden with a vegetable patch, but the weather has been particularly autumnal recently, so we’ve not had chance to enjoy the garden much. Christina’s friend Martin is an arborist, so we’ve booked him to come over for lunch on the first fine weekend we get, so he can overhaul the garden and teach us what to grow.

Our garden - view from the sun room

The neighbours seem friendly – on one side are a somewhat argumentative couple who keep strange hours (he’s a sound engineer and she’s a nurse) who have an over-enthusiastic and friend-starved pit-bull puppy who’s broken through the fence on more than one occasion, and on the other side are a selection of Europeans with bikes and guitars who we don’t see much of. My local breakfast establishments of choice are Gertrude and Alice (bookshop/café combo who do great museli) or Katapo (hidden gem of a café with a fantastic range of mismatched sofas).

My morning commute (finally a decent 40-minute cycle) takes me through the stunning Centennial Park – think Roundhay Park or London’s Hyde Park – which adds a note of tranquility to my hectic days. Plus, Noreen you’ll be pleased to know I share my cycle path with Sydney’s skaters – have finally found where they hang out. I have also discovered that Sydney is much, much hillier than London, and I shall have buns of steel before too long. Hurrah.

Morning commute through Centennial Park

My Easter weekend has been very low-key. The weather has been bloody awful – one minute deceptively sunny clear blue skies, the next minute it’s pouring down with rain and you’re soaked within 5 seconds, unless you take cover under the shop fronts with all the other thong-wearing beach types until the shower passes. (Note to UK readers: thongs = Aussie for flip-flops before you get your hopes up). On Friday I went to Hoyts Entertainment Quarter (like an out-of-town multiplex/shopping/restaurant thing: think Trafford Centre only less tacky) to sample their ‘La Premiere’ experience. This is where you pay outrageously inflated cinema ticket prices for the pleasure of enjoying unlimited popcorn, a pre-screening lounge area away from the riff-raff, and food and beverages (including alcoholic) delivered upon request to your seat. Oh, and the seats were so luxurious and huge that my feet didn’t touch the ground! Luckily Nick (SFF colleague) and I didn’t need to pay a cent as he used to work there, plus we were purely there on the grounds of ‘research’ to ‘test’ the recently-refurbished art-deco style lounge. Hmmm. The new swords-and-sandals epic movie 300 seemed the perfect match for the experience, but I was somewhat disappointed. Not by La Premiere, which was a charmingly lavish experience, but by the movie itself. I was expecting to sit back and enjoy the romp, but it was all-too-obvious that the whole thing was filmed in front of a blue screen, and the only thing holding my interest for the two hours were the deliciously well-sculpted abs on all 300 of the scantily-clad Spartan warriors. Not quite enough to redeem it above one star out of five from me though.



Another reason for my lack of a social life is that I’m achingly skint at the moment, having blown all my money in the entire world on a new bed. I decided that an investment should be made in this area, despite the fact that I’m trying not to acquire lots of ‘stuff’ in Australia, as sleeping well is imperative, and a good bed is a long-term investment. I did make sure I bought one that can be taken apart and shipped back to the UK, should I need it to, and a mattress than can be folded. The bed is from the Natural Bedding Company, and is being built at the moment in their Erskinville workshop by a guy called Sam, made to my specifications from sustainable Australian wood and stained to the shade of my choice (how cool!). Plus I’ve invested in an alarmingly expensive mattress, made from 100% organic natural fibres (latex and wool) with no nasty chemicals, and guaranteed for 25 years. So I might have no money but at least I’ll sleep soundly once it arrives.

For those of you who know her, my friend Ros who lives in Paris has recently had a baby girl, called Chloé. Mother and baby both doing fine, and Fab has sent pics of little Chloé – she is adorable! Congrats to you both.

cx