Mooching around

Well I’ve not blogged for a while – not sure why, as I’ve been pretty good about blogging most weeks since I got here 10 months ago, but I’ve been settling into a pleasant life routine, and enjoying the sunny Spring weather. I guess I’m starting to feel like life is very normal here, at least for me now, and so am struggling to think what might be interesting to my UK readers. I mean, you lot aren’t blogging about your daily routines, going to work, going to the cinema, meeting friends in the pub, mooching around. Life here has become my ‘real life’ and I’m starting to forget the things that made up my daily life in the UK, and forgetting what elements of Australian life seemed strange when I first arrived. So I guess next time I visit Europe, I’ll rediscover those things that are different, and England will become the country that feels ‘foreign’.

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.

Snapping a surfer while enjoying our BBQ


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.

Latest immigrant to Australia

Keep checking out my flickr page as I add more pics of Sydney in Spring.

cx