But anyhoo, just so you’re kept up-to-date with my whereabouts I’ll keep on blogging. So what’s been going on lately then? Well, Spring is finally here – it reached 36 degrees on Wednesday this week, I think I’ll die of heat exhaustion before the summer. It’s certainly helping keep the atmosphere chilled out, with thongs (flip flops) and summer dresses making renewed appearances, and Bondi becoming a little too popular with the UK backpackers for my liking. It does help make Sydney a much more outdoor city, which is what I loved about it when I first moved here. At the North end of Bondi beach there are some brick BBQs, which you can use for free, so last Monday I wandered down there at about 5pm with some friends, we got some fish from the fishmongers and whacked it on the barbie, had some salad and wine, and watched the sunset over Bondi beach. A lovely way to spend the evening, which I’m sure will be a regular occurrence this summer given that it’s about 5 mins walk from my house, and of course barbecued food tastes so good.
I’ve also been going to the theatre quite a lot lately, as Sydney has a fantastic theatre scene, waiting to be discovered. I saw the Belvoir Theatre production of Holding the Man, an astonishingly moving portrayal of love and death and the AIDS epidemic – beautifully staged with some fine acting. And last week Christina and I met up with two of her Kiwi friends (that’s New Zealanders, folks!) Tim and JJ, and we went to the Old Fitzroy Hotel, where for $25 you get beer, Laksa, and a great play – this time a British play called Love and Money. We then proceeded to get very drunk on Pinot, to the point where I plucked up the courage to approach the principal actor in the play and commend him on his performance (they were all hanging about in the pub afterwards) – he did seem a little bemused but was entirely gracious.
The Italian Film Festival is on at the moment, and as my housemates are both of Italian descent (Fedrigo and Barbato) we’re overdosing on saccharine-heavy Italian love stories (70% of the festival program!) and tales of death and war.
My Chiro/yoga combination is doing wonders for my back, but I still have a long way to go. Work is getting busy again but I’m being very good about not letting it take over my life (wish I’d managed that in London!).
But by far the most exciting thing to happen in the last few weeks has been the introduction of the fabulous lifestyle bible Time Out in a Sydney edition. Taken for granted in London, this has been sorely missing in my newly adopted city, and I am overjoyed it’s finally arrived. I got all nostalgic at the familiar design, and am looking forward to seeing it change the way people interact with this city’s culture and nightlife.
Keep checking out my flickr page as I add more pics of Sydney in Spring.
cx
