The view from my chair at the hairdresser - the best of the best?

This is a photo of one of the most iconic bridges in the world

Below it sits arguably the best-located public swimming pool in the world

And following the relocation of my hairdresser three weeks ago

I believe here I may be sitting in the best-located hairdressing chair

In the world

Pure Evil

My friend Simone put me onto these. Bad girl.

Oh, they look angelic enough with their simple chocolate coating.

But their heart is revealed to be a Ripe Raspberry*.

These are only for true sinners and are available here.

Resistance is futile.

*not to be confused with real raspberries, these ones are all artificial colours and flavours and guaranteed bad for you.

Becasse they're Beautiful

Becasse, Sydney. Thursday 31 July 2008 11.29pm

Sydney-siders flock to Justin North's CBD restaurant, Becasse, for the excellent food.

But I think the custom-made Swarovski crystal chandeliers make the trip worthwhile in their own right.

The Book Tourist's Guide to Australia

I asked and you delivered. Here are your choices for the books that would give a visitor an insight into the social fabric of your Australia.

Sydney Suburbs:

Cronulla beach culture: Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey
Surry Hills before it was gentrified: The Harp in the South by Ruth Park
Western Suburbs: Ten Things I Hate about Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah (young fiction)
North Sydney, Lane Cove (plus Canberra & Malvern, Vic): Dead Set by Kel Robertson (crime fiction)
Eastern Suburbs, esp. Bondi: The Les Norton books by R G Barrett (popular fiction)
Early Urban Settlers plus a glimpse of boarding school in the Blue Mountains: Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (written 1894)

Melbourne Suburbs:

Bayside: Sunnyside by Joanna Murray-Smith
Northern: The Murrary Whelan Novels by Shane Maloney (crime fiction)
St Kilda Road, Inner City in the 1920s: The Phryne Fisher Novels by Kerry Greenwood
Brunswick Street in the 90s: The Crocodile Club by Kaz Cooke
Suburban share house (poss. set Carlton, Fitzroy? Williamstown?) 1960s/70s: Monkey Grip by Helen Garner
Acland St, St Kilda: Cafe Sheherazade by Arnold Zable
St Kilda and the seedier side of life: Candy by Luke Davies
Williamstown & Kensington: The Watcher on the Cast Iron Balcony by Hal Porter
Suburban professionals: Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman, Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman

Perth:
1950s suburbia: The Shark Net by Robert Drewe
1960s suburbia: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
The 'iron ore state' from 1950s-1990s: Floodtide by Judy Nunn

Central and Remote Australia:

Malaya, Alice Springs, Burketown Qld: A Town Like Alice by Nevile Shute (set late 1940s)
An epic of Aboriginal Australia in the Gulf Country: Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

Other Rural Australia:

Rural WA (Narrogin): A Fortunate Life by Albert Facey (memoir set around late WWI)
Rural WA (Albany? Lancelin?): Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Goulburn, NSW: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin (1901)
Mt Macedon area, Victoria: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (early 1900s)
Beachside country towns near Melbourne: The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Queensland:

Apart from Carpentaria above, the recommendations we have are to listen to Jimmy Barnes and Shannon Noll (for Townsville) and to watch Muriel's Wedding. Oh man, did I have to type that?

Although there was also a suggestion to read the Nick Earls novels for a taste of 1980s Brisbane.

One International Entry:

Melinda suggests that Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns gives an insight into small town Georgia.

Thanks for your entries! If you have thought of any more books that give an insight into your local social fabric let me know.

*photos by me from our trip to the amazing red centre in 2007

What is "the book" for your town?

John Berendt's masterpiece of social interpretation "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is simply known as "the book" in Savannah, Georgia. It is full of descriptions not only of the famous city but of some of the more interesting characters that live, or lived, there. If you haven't read it I recommend you do. If you have any questions I'm sure Melinda, our bloggy-friend and Georgia native, won't mind answering them (isn't that right, Melinda?)

Reading this book made me wonder what book/s give an insight into the social fabric of the town I live in. I came up with the following:

For southern suburbs beach culture: Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette & Gabrielle Carey

For an insight into the history of the once slum, but now gentrified, Surry Hills: The Harp in the South by Ruth Park* (actually, anything by Ruth Park)

Actually, I'm struggling here. Perhaps longer-term Sydney-siders would have a better insight.

What book says the most about the social fabric of your town, city or suburb?

(Leave your suggestions in the comments below or email me at doyouspeakamylanguage[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll post a list in a few days, you know, as a service to prospective visitors to your place.)

*pic from here

It's official, I'm special (collections, that is)

On Tuesday I went on a little excursion to here,

which has its less fabulous official entrance around the corner here.

I went to pick up this. A special GOLD library card.

Anyone can have a BLUE library card but at the desk I mentioned that I had heard there was a GOLD card, and how could I get one please? What would you be needing it for? asked the clerk. Research, I said. Research? oh, well that's different. Here, have a GOLD card, it's for special people, oops, collections.

Then I took the weekly tour of the library. I was the only one on it. So special.

Sydney, Tuesday, early afternoon

View from Philip St, 1.40pm

Approaching Circular Quay, 1.45pm.

There is talk of pulling down the Cahill Expressway because it cuts the city off from The Quay. True, it does, but I'd miss the fabulous view of the The Bridge and the Opera House while driving home from the airport.

Home by Ferry, 2pm

To GPS, or to UBD, that is the question

Earlier this year I gave Firegazer a GPS for his birthday. An inspired choice which has provided me with hours of entertainment.

It's a little like having a bossy aunt in the front seat telling you to turn left, right or to take the second exit from the roundabout. Occasionally you feel like throttling the bossy aunt as she calmly tells you to 'keep left...then take the right exit'. And yet, like a bossy aunt, it has more lifelong knowledge than you and knows that by taking one exit of the freeway further than you think you should will actually get you to the Homebush carpark faster; and when you misunderstand her instructions she calmly asks you to perform a u-turn or recalculates to get you back on track.

But is she better than the Sydney UBD (paper directory)? With the UBD I spend five minutes plotting my journey taking note of landmarks on the way. I know that the road I want is the third left after the traffic lights and that if I go past the swimming pool I've gone too far. By the time I reach my destination I have committed the whole journey to memory. I could retrace my steps, and I could go there again. With the GPS I am so busy being told by the bossy aunt to keep left, turn right and keep going straight that I don't look out for the little details that help me memorise the route.

Something tells me the UBD might be better for me but I'm too scared to break it to the GPS, I'm scared she might tell me off.

Two Dames Pass in the Early Evening

Early one February evening two Grand Dames of the Sea head out to sail

QEII

One old, and on her last voyage

Queen Victoria

One young, and on her maiden voyage

They salute each other with much horn blowing as they pass

and half of Sydney came out to watch

Syd-Mel-Syd Without Maccas

Those of you venture out onto the Hume with children will understand the allure of the McDonald's Service Centres. Clean toilets, a babychange area, a playground - all vital to a successful schlep between Sydney and Melbourne. But can you manage the drive without stopping at a McDonald's? We are certainly veteran McDonalds customers on these trips. Where else serves food for both adults and children, has clean toilets and a place to run amok for a few minutes?

On our recent drive to and from The Great Southern City we failed to stop at a Maccas - and survived. Here are my reviews of the alternatives:



The Jumping Jumbuck Cafe
Euroa, Victoria

We first stopped here attracted by the promise of a devonshire tea. We were not disappointed. This cafe served your favourite beverage with large scones and loads of jam and cream. Sandwiches can be made to order and there is a decent choice of homestyle cooking. Clean toilets, a car park but no playground - kids could run on the lawn in fine weather.




The Submarine (and Submarine Cafe)
Holbrook, NSW

This is Submarine Town. It's 4 hours drive from Sydney, there is no major body of water nearby... but still there is a submarine. Great place for the kids to play and now there is a cafe nearby.




The Dog on the Tuckerbox
5 miles from Gundagai, NSW
Famous NSW landmark. Rumour has it that the dog didn't "sat on the tuckerbox" - he actually "s*at on the tuckerbox" but that wouldn't make for a family friendly monument. The old kiosk here has closed down but a new place selling food, fresh fruit & veg and souvenirs has opened nearby. It's a little rundown but has plenty of places to run.

The Bakery of Goulburn

Goulburn Service Centre, NSW

This is relatively new. Co-located with Maccas and Subway it showed promise as a healthier alternative. I don't think they have the mix quite right yet (too many pies, not enough salads) but the Turkish Bread here is delicious. Great toilets but no playground. However, the kids were more than happy to jump on and off the low wall out the front and the Big Merino is over the road.

So, you see no need to stop at Maccas - unless of course you can't go two hours without an un-happy meal.

Ferry Trip, anyone?

Taking a ferry ride is one of the best ways to enjoy Sydney's beautiful harbour

...maybe not today.

Photo sourced from here

It's Raining!

We here at the EasternMax residence do not water our garden. Current water restrictions do not allow any automatic reticulation systems and hand-watering is only allowed on Wed and Sun. In any case we can't be bothered watering, so we just don't.


We haven't hand watered for over 12 months (with the exception of Grandma's therapeutic watering session while staying here last summer) and it hasn't made ANY difference. It's not that we have a particularly water-wise garden, in fact we have a very traditional lawn and flower bed arrangement.



Despite the drought elsewhere Sydney coastal suburbs get enough rain to keep any established garden happily growing. Nevertheless, we had not had any rain for several weeks until this morning and the garden was looking a little dry. I was just about to collect grey water to throw on the lawn and then IT RAINED.


Having a no watering policy makes life a little simpler and certainly makes us appreciate the rain when we get it.

"Our favourite park" by KelpieBlossom* and Padawan Learner

Dear Family and Friends,

Our favourite park in Sydney is the "Spiderweb Park" (AKA Bradfield Park Playground) in Kirribilli. It is very new. A rusty set of swings used to be there. Now there is a nice playground with lots of big rope "spiderwebs". It is under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and you can see the opera house.




It also has a great game of twister!

and two big trees for shade, a harbour-bridge rocker and somewhere for little kids to play

It's not the biggest park we go to but it has the best view.

We hope you will come to visit us soon so we can take you there!

Love KelpieBlossom* and Padawan Learner

*Kelpie has asked to change her alias to KelpieBlossom.