it's great to be back (again)
the jet lag hasn’t been too bad - i’ve felt like collapsing at about 5.30 in the afternoon over the last three days but this passes after about half an hour of sticking pins under my fingernails and toenails to keep me awake and I’ve been sleeping through most of night, although I seem to be visiting the toilet about 50 times during the wee small hours (and when i say wee, i mean it in both senses of the word) - funny that…I don’t recall drinking a small reservoir at any point over the last few days - k. was up at about 5am this morning and yesterday, clicking away on the computer - the tiredness during the day doesn’t seem to affect him at all, the little hyperactive swine - today is his first day at work and he headed off for a meeting at circular quay bright and breezy at 7.30 this morning, leaving me in a state of semi-consciousness with bags under my eyes that closely resembled our, as then unpacked, luggage
looks like we’ll be spending a fortune on wireless broadband - after two days in internet cafes we’ve realised that we’ll actually spend more money in these places than if we get a home broadband connection - but it’ll be a lot slower than we’re used to and time will have to be carefully rationed - how uncivilised
our apartment block is slightly to the left of the harbour bridge, if you’re looking at it from the south side of the bay, and just a few minutes’ stroll from the waterfront - we’re on the 12th floor and from the balcony you can see the bridge on the left, the view then sweeping right inshore, past circular quay and darling harbour and then over the wooded northern suburbs, with the water in the bay dazzling as its small choppy waves reflect the intensely bright sunlight during the day, which also shines on the white sails of the yachts anchored in the lagoon below us and on the planes which fly across the stretch of cloudless light blue sky from the north, the qantas logo clearly visible on the tail sections of many of them as they make their descent towards the airport - looking down there is a small amusement area on the waterfront with a ferris wheel and a rollercoaster with single carriages racing up and down and around the tracks, accompanied by the gleeful screams of teenagers and kids - it’s called luna park and looks very pretty when it’s illuminated after dark (as the pet shop boys sing, ‘in luna park it can’t be dark too soon’)
last night there was an unexpected fireworks display somewhere in town and we stood in the twilight, looking across to the skyscrapers and towers on the south side of the bridge, the twinkling lights from the moored ships and boats and waterfront buildings reflecting in the edges of the dark water lapping against the quaysides and rocky shorelines of the bay - we watched the multi-coloured explosions of light over the cityscape, with k. snapping away happily on his samsung - I felt like putting on handel’s music for the royal fireworks and sipping champagne, but i had to make do with diet coke instead
on saturday we took the train from milson’s point, over the bridge and into town, where we did a ‘refamiliarising ourselves with sydney’ walk, taking in all our regular haunts such as the ornate queen victoria building, which I love - not only is it a fine example of victorian architecture, it also houses the abc shop with its fine selection of brit tv dvds - we took photos of the imposing amp tower promising that this time round we would go to the top to take in the views, then we crossed over to the main pitt street shopping area where, courtesy of virgin mobile, k. felt more at one with the universe again after getting his mobile phone connected - in the park on elizabeth street we took shelter under the trees from the scorchingly hot afternoon sun - on a bench near the classical-style fountain, with it’s statues of mythological scenes such as a naked muscle-bound theseus slaying the minotaur, we watched saturday afternoon wedding parties posing unnaturally for stilted photos and giving wooden performances for obligatory videos
in oxford street it was good to see that one of our favourite singapore chain restaurants, the japanese fast food joint, yoshinoya, had opened an outlet - i had one of their large beef bowls, my first one in over two years, and enjoyed pleasant thoughts of singapore - we sat outside eating our food, with occasional exclamations of ‘i can’t believe we’re back in sydney yet again’, which is our mantra whenever we are back in sydney yet again - the usual oxford street parade passed us by - tight-clothed gym bunnies, mincing twinks, campy queens talking too loudly, guys cruising for like-minded individuals to hook-up with for sex, couples of all persuasions holding hands and kissing, scary-looking homeless people smelling of urine and talking manically to no one in particular and early party-goers, decked out in a variety of fancy dress costumes with garishly-coloured wigs, heading off for the first drink of the evening
we walked past places which have a special significance for us – betty’s soup kitchen, where we were once forced to seek refuge when we accidentally got caught up in the pushing mardi gras parade crowd a few years ago, unwisely trying to cross oxford street in the wrong place to get to a friend’s apartment for pre-party drinks - taylor square where we would meet up with friends to walk to the mardi gras party at fox studios, ‘in bed with madonna’-style, singing ‘holiday’ - the site of the old oxford hotel (no longer there) where we would mix with the harbour city bears on their friday night social - king steam where we would sometimes sleazily end up after a night out on the town, or before a night out on the town - the midnight shift video bar, where we would watch a crowd of tough looking men’s men suddenly throw their butchness to the wind and dance with gay abandon and high campness to madonna and kylie - a restaurant halfway up and behind oxford street where i spent a pleasant evening having dinner with i. on his first visit to mardi gras in 2002 - an evening which stands out in my memory as the first time i’d actually had a proper conversation with him since we’d met five years before - i am quite reserved with people when i first meet them, but that one must be a record even for me
so we’re in sydney again, but this time for two months instead of the usual week - it will be interesting to see if i’m still as fond of this place by the end of december as i am at the moment having just arrived
looks like we’ll be spending a fortune on wireless broadband - after two days in internet cafes we’ve realised that we’ll actually spend more money in these places than if we get a home broadband connection - but it’ll be a lot slower than we’re used to and time will have to be carefully rationed - how uncivilised
our apartment block is slightly to the left of the harbour bridge, if you’re looking at it from the south side of the bay, and just a few minutes’ stroll from the waterfront - we’re on the 12th floor and from the balcony you can see the bridge on the left, the view then sweeping right inshore, past circular quay and darling harbour and then over the wooded northern suburbs, with the water in the bay dazzling as its small choppy waves reflect the intensely bright sunlight during the day, which also shines on the white sails of the yachts anchored in the lagoon below us and on the planes which fly across the stretch of cloudless light blue sky from the north, the qantas logo clearly visible on the tail sections of many of them as they make their descent towards the airport - looking down there is a small amusement area on the waterfront with a ferris wheel and a rollercoaster with single carriages racing up and down and around the tracks, accompanied by the gleeful screams of teenagers and kids - it’s called luna park and looks very pretty when it’s illuminated after dark (as the pet shop boys sing, ‘in luna park it can’t be dark too soon’)
last night there was an unexpected fireworks display somewhere in town and we stood in the twilight, looking across to the skyscrapers and towers on the south side of the bridge, the twinkling lights from the moored ships and boats and waterfront buildings reflecting in the edges of the dark water lapping against the quaysides and rocky shorelines of the bay - we watched the multi-coloured explosions of light over the cityscape, with k. snapping away happily on his samsung - I felt like putting on handel’s music for the royal fireworks and sipping champagne, but i had to make do with diet coke instead
on saturday we took the train from milson’s point, over the bridge and into town, where we did a ‘refamiliarising ourselves with sydney’ walk, taking in all our regular haunts such as the ornate queen victoria building, which I love - not only is it a fine example of victorian architecture, it also houses the abc shop with its fine selection of brit tv dvds - we took photos of the imposing amp tower promising that this time round we would go to the top to take in the views, then we crossed over to the main pitt street shopping area where, courtesy of virgin mobile, k. felt more at one with the universe again after getting his mobile phone connected - in the park on elizabeth street we took shelter under the trees from the scorchingly hot afternoon sun - on a bench near the classical-style fountain, with it’s statues of mythological scenes such as a naked muscle-bound theseus slaying the minotaur, we watched saturday afternoon wedding parties posing unnaturally for stilted photos and giving wooden performances for obligatory videos
in oxford street it was good to see that one of our favourite singapore chain restaurants, the japanese fast food joint, yoshinoya, had opened an outlet - i had one of their large beef bowls, my first one in over two years, and enjoyed pleasant thoughts of singapore - we sat outside eating our food, with occasional exclamations of ‘i can’t believe we’re back in sydney yet again’, which is our mantra whenever we are back in sydney yet again - the usual oxford street parade passed us by - tight-clothed gym bunnies, mincing twinks, campy queens talking too loudly, guys cruising for like-minded individuals to hook-up with for sex, couples of all persuasions holding hands and kissing, scary-looking homeless people smelling of urine and talking manically to no one in particular and early party-goers, decked out in a variety of fancy dress costumes with garishly-coloured wigs, heading off for the first drink of the evening
we walked past places which have a special significance for us – betty’s soup kitchen, where we were once forced to seek refuge when we accidentally got caught up in the pushing mardi gras parade crowd a few years ago, unwisely trying to cross oxford street in the wrong place to get to a friend’s apartment for pre-party drinks - taylor square where we would meet up with friends to walk to the mardi gras party at fox studios, ‘in bed with madonna’-style, singing ‘holiday’ - the site of the old oxford hotel (no longer there) where we would mix with the harbour city bears on their friday night social - king steam where we would sometimes sleazily end up after a night out on the town, or before a night out on the town - the midnight shift video bar, where we would watch a crowd of tough looking men’s men suddenly throw their butchness to the wind and dance with gay abandon and high campness to madonna and kylie - a restaurant halfway up and behind oxford street where i spent a pleasant evening having dinner with i. on his first visit to mardi gras in 2002 - an evening which stands out in my memory as the first time i’d actually had a proper conversation with him since we’d met five years before - i am quite reserved with people when i first meet them, but that one must be a record even for me
so we’re in sydney again, but this time for two months instead of the usual week - it will be interesting to see if i’m still as fond of this place by the end of december as i am at the moment having just arrived
posted by Tallulah Showerhead at 6:24 AM
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It is the Final of the Australian Idol 2006 this weekend. So sit back and relax on your (me envious) balcony for the display of fireworks at the Sydney Opera House this coming Sunday (26/11) starting from 7:30pm.
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