These Are A Few of My Favourite Things

The germs that got their mitts on me a few weeks ago have come back for seconds.

I. Am. Not. Happy.

Sickness and I have a push-pull relationship. I pull myself out of its fug and it pushes me back into it. It’s like a freaking tug of war. Some time ago, it pushed me into ME hell for two years.

But hello. I ran a marathon. Isn’t that supposed to mean I’m healthy now? Fit?

I am particularly unimpressed to be ill right now because not only is it summer and there are Lots of Things to Do but I have an overseas trip to plan.

Yes, that’s right. An overseas trip to a wide brown land.

Australia! I’m comin’ home.

Ill or not, my excitement is growing. Apart from all my loved ones that I’ll be flinging myself on, there are many places that I’m looking forward to visiting. Places laden with memories; good times and bad. Places that I’ve never been to and always wanted to try. Places that might mean nothing to you but everything to me.

Sydney

Sydney has always confused me with its ghetto-like urban sprawl and wannabe mentality. This time round I hope to make some sense of it. Apart from seeing my dear Grandma and some friends whose kids I plan to kidnap, we are going to Sydney so I can visit Glebe Markets. I am a market aficionado and Glebe is one of my favourites since I stumbled across it in 1998. Back then the hostel I stayed in stunk of pee. This time round, I'm not even bothering with accomodation. I'm going straight from the airport. From a 22 hour flight. I'm not kidding.

So that's Day One. What else?

The Brett Whiteley gallery

Hanging out with the parrots and trees on the North shore

Maybe the Sydney City to Surf, if we can be bothered

The Royal Botanic Gardens so we can witness all the fruit bats nesting in the Moreton Bay fig trees before they fly off at dusk

In these lovely trees are lots of....

...bats!

Breakfast at some guy called Bill's restaurant

Lots of second hand (people call it “vintage” just so they can add an extra £20 to the price tag) clothes shopping in Surry Hills and Darlinghurst.

A wee jog around Centennial Park perhaps

Some fishing with the friends whose kids I’m kidnapping

Maybe a jaunt to Newtown.

That’s Sydney. Done.

Melbourne

I love Melbourne. I love it more now that I don’t live there. It’s the perfect city for me from a distance with its amazing food and coffee, great shopping, integrated demographic, cultural riches and diverse nightlife. I have a long list of must-go-to’s in Melbourne:

Camberwell Markets

Queen Victoria Markets

St Andrews Markets

Pellegrini's. Oh, Pellegrini's...



CERES – best organic brekkie in town

St Kilda sea baths

Shanghai dumpling place on Tattersalls Lane, my kitchen away from home

The Latrobe Reading Room at the State Library. Quite possbily the reason I moved to Melbourne in the first place.



Northcote, Elwood, Balaclava, Fitzroy, Thornbury, Yarraville, Footscray, St Kilda, – all places I formed a bond with

Hosier Lane to check out the latest graffiti art. Melbourne has the best graffiti art and has done for years. Far before Banksy became all the rage.

The Astor Theatre; the best place to watch films in art deco decadence



The Ding Dong Lounge and Northcote Social Club. Melbourne's live music scene is amazing. These are just two of the many places to go see some great acts.

The Supper Club. Oo la la

Melbourne’s laneways – the secret, charming heart of the city.



The food.

The coffee. Oh my god, the COFFEE!

I could go on but you get my drift. I have a lot of memories I want to revisit in old Melbourne town.

And then to Perth.




Beautiful, natural, isolated Perth. A frontier city perched on the edge of the Indian Ocean with a Mediterranean climate. Relaxed, quiet, beautiful and clean.

My hometown.

A Magic Place

I was telling my friend how I bumped into my favourite artist, Paula Rego at the shops the other day when she suddenly announced:

London is a city where you can be single.

Startled, I took stock for a moment wondering if she was trying to tell me something. Unperturbed she carried on.

Its a city where there is so much going on. So much for everyone. It embraces you and anything can happen. You can be alone in this city and you'll be ok.

I understood what she meant. Its true. London is a city of possibility and change. Of shifting boundaries, ordinairy miracles and open embraces. It welcomes you. Somedays when you walk down the street, you can feel the buzz of the city flow through your bloodstream. London wants you to tap into her heartbeat so you can be in sync with one another. She calls out to you in so many different ways. If you live here you will have days where out of the blue, you will bump into your childhood icon at the shops. Where a stranger chases you down the street to give you back your umbrella that you left on the tube. There will be days where you despair at the weather and the grottiness. The lack of space and how it takes an hour and ten quid to go around the corner. London also requires you to be a people person. If you are not interested in, and curious about people and by that I mean the human race, then you best get out.

Underneath all the dirt, miracles and crowds lies a city with a raw brilliance which has been created through a fusion of time, population and coincidence. You know this is so because as a citizen, you can feel it.

Not all cities are great. Some are only great for periods of time before they sink back into obscurity. This is London's time and I'm glad I'm here to witness it. To be a part of the pulsing heart that is this great city.

London I Love You

I've been in London just over three years now and there are so many sights that I just have not bothered to go see. The Tower of London. Westminster Abbey. The Houses of Parliament. The list goes on. It's never been a thing of mine to go see stuff just because you should. For me it's about seeing what you're interested in. When I go to a new place for the first time, I love to check out the day-to-day spots. The supermarkets. The pharmacies. The cafes. The bookshops. This might make me a cultural cretin but at least I know what the deals on soap in the local hypermarket are that week.

That all changes when you have overseas visitors. When you are being a host, all local nuance is lost in favour of hauling out the big guns. The big, should-see stuff.

I'm lucky at the moment to have some friends staying with us who are making their way around the world. They are truly a delight. They are the best guests we've had to date. Fun, erudite, stimulating, easy going, appreciative, thoughtful and independent. I want them to stay longer but I cannot compete with the languid shores of Thailand which is their next stop.

But I digress. Since they've been here, I have made up for all my past nonchalance. We have gone to the Tower of London. Westminster Abbey. The Imperial War Museum. I have been with them to spots that I know I would never have gone had they not visited. And it's been great for me. For now I am interested and engaged with some of London's should-sees.

Visiting the Tower made me want learn a lot more about English history for I realised I know practically nothing. The beauty of being outside Westminster Abbey as the bells chimed was a wake up call for me to actually go inside one day. The Imperial War Museum blew my mind; their exhibition of the Holocaust has relentlessly dug into my brain for good I think. The same day we walked past Brian Haw holding his lonely, one man vigil outside the Houses of Parliament. At that moment the quote that thudded like a drumbeat in my head throughout the Holocaust exhibition increased by 100 decibels:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [sic] to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

Sometimes change happens in increments; bit by bit so slowly that you do not notice. But over the last few days the changes in me have been big and swooping. Very noticeable and so very right. Getting on the tourist wagon has made me realise just how much I love London and how much more there is to get to know about her. How much I enjoy showing her off to new visitors and that for me to do this well, I need to know her past better as well as her present.

Oh London. The longer I'm here, the deeper our affair becomes.