Australia #5 A Snapshot

I'm sitting writing this at ten a.m. in the sitting room of our Airbnb house - a little Victorian terrace, in the once notorious (but now up and coming) Surry Hills.

The girls left early this morning to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. As I write I guess they are firmly attached to a rail and miles up in the air above the Parramatta River.  Outside the sun is shining, the washing is drying.  A bird is pecking up the crumbs I threw out from my breakfast toast - a moment ago he was squabbling with his friend on the flat roof of the kitchen extension, reminding me of the pigeons that scrabble around on the glass roof of my friend Doreen's conservatory in Halse.  In the park behind the yard, a mother is encouraging her small son as he learns to pedal his bicycle. Her shouts of praise end suddenly as there is is the inevitable bump of the bike hitting a bin, and the child's screams.  Like any mother anywhere she soothes him, and then tells him that the only thing to do is to get back on and keep trying.  That this is the only way to learn.

Sydney is, in so many ways, just like England.  Even the summer is like a lovely English summer, a cool breeze tempers the heat and it yesterday we woke to rain.

But it is also very, very different.  There is much more room here. In general the roads are wider, and the traffic less fast and furious. The trains are almost empty, as are the pavements. Here, if you go shopping, all the shop assistants want to talk to you, to know where you're from, how long you are staying - the purchase of clothing is secondary to getting to know you. There's no hustle and bustle. None of the desire to rush everywhere with your head down, tutting in annoyance when people cross your path. 

I find I am liking this place more and more. I like its 'can-do' attitude. I like the laid back style. I like the way families go to the beach after school. I like the way perfect strangers engage you in conversation and wish you a pleasant stay in their country. 

Last night we went to the opera - for only the second time in my life. The setting of Sydney Opera House is definitely posh, but the opera itself (The Barber of Seville) was hilarious, and brilliantly done. It was wonderful and we came out to the warmth of a Sydney summer evening feeling relaxed and happy - Australian even!