Congregating on Pitt Street

There has been a Christian congregation for this church close to this site since 1833. Not this building (that came in the 1860s), and not called The Uniting Church (that came in 1977).

With the homeless man camped on their doorstep, I think the words on the plaque are significant:

Believing that change is always possible, we participate in moves towards justice, peace and development for all people every where.

With open heart and mind, and in ways tried and untried, we commit ourselves to this task, believing that 'where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty'.

The long weekend

It is not often I have to use stamps nowadays. For a while now, I have been putting two stamps on letters, figuring the price to have gone up. Probably. But I ran out of my dwindling supply earlier this week. I was a smidge nonplussed to find that I had missed the last two price hoicks and that a standard stamp was now 60c.

So, thinking to future-proof myself, I bought ten of the blighters, and they came in this little booklet thing, with the title 'Long Weekend'. What sort of a country has a stamp series dedicated to the long weekend?

Bloody brainwashing, I think it is. In the City Circle (metro, tube, subway) there are billboards spruiking the value of taking holidays. All work and no play ... that sort of fiddling with the neurones. This new stamp issue is along those broad lines.

There seems to be 5 stamps in the series: Long Weekend 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tweaking the old grey matter to the very end, they don't have a stamp for the Long Weekend 2000s ... 'cause too many people don't take them. Geddit?

I am at least grateful that they didn't include the ubiquitous apostrophe in their stamp subtitles.

Small Bar, Crows Nest

Since the small bar legislation passed the NSW state government, local councils are approving an increasing number of bars to compete obliquely with pubs and clubs. The latter have massive sway with the state government, no matter which political party is in power.

What is the difference? They all sell alcohol.

Small bars do not have draught beer, they do not have poker machines, and they do not have large television screens. They are more intimate.

Yesterday, my son and I went to a small bar, called Small Bar, in Crows Nest. It was quiet, being Thursday lunchtime, but Alastair says it hums nicely during the evenings. The food was delicious, and my Shiraz was mellow-as. For me, a pub is only an option on a Monday or Tuesday night, and only when there is not a major game on any where in the world in any code! There is just one pub close to me which is an exception, The Three Weeds, on Oxford Street. Five Ways, Paddington got its first small bar about a month ago, called Hideout.

I will post on these two establishments over the next week. In the meantime, let's celebrate diversity, small-is-good and the absence of the dreaded poker-machine.

Coming and going - self inflicted pressure

The thunder-storm was building up to the west of her, the temperature about 23C, and my guess is the air was moist and very heavy, maybe 90% humidity. It was early afternoon and Centennial Park was crowded with teenagers from nearby Sydney Girls' High who take cycling for sports afternoon.

There were no pelatons pelotons on Grand Drive at that time. I will have to go in the early morning.

Walk all over it

The Downing Centre is on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Liverpool Street on the Central Station end of the CBD. It houses part of the District Court of New South Wales.


In a previous life, this building housed the Mark Foy's department store. The magnificent mosaic in the foyer, dates from this earlier incarnation. The brothers Foy commenced to trade from this building in 1909 and ceased when the firm went into receivership in 1980. They had installed Australia's first escalator in 1964 - just yesterday! Mark Foy was responsible for the Hydro Majestic in Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains.

The blushing bush

Crowding the edge of the track they flow back into the bush enjoying the respite from drought and fire and exhausting heat. Swaying their blooms in the breeze they clamour that size doesn’t matter being more beautiful than petunia or poppy or exotic polyanthus. Squawking galahs paint the air with garish pink and grey heralding the carpet of boronia and grevillea and spider orchid Which sneak through the leaf litter growing in the crushed sandstone the core debris of the bush humming as the colours sworl the canvas.

Silent rituals of the bush

Gum-trees Stripping Say the need's born within the tree, And waits a trigger set for light; say sap is tidal like the sea, and rises with the solstice-heat - but wisdom shells the words away to watch this fountain slowed in air where sun joins earth - to watch the place at which these silent rituals are. Words are not meanings for a tree. So it is truer not to say, 'These rags look like humility, or this year's wreck of last year's love, or wounds ripped by the summer's claw.' If it is possible to be wise here, wisdom lies outside the word in the earlier answer of the eyes. Wisdom can see the red, the rose, The stained and sculptured curve of grey, the charcoal scars of fire, and see around that living tower of tree the hermit tatters of old bark split down and strip to end the season; and can be quiet and not look for reason past the edge of reason. Judith Wright

Birders - a breed apart

Generalising, birders are frequently aged geeks! I am proud to be part of their rank!

Today I took the Follow that Bird bus with ten other birders, and together with our guides, Janene and Edwin, drove up to Howes Swamp in the Yengo National Park off the Putty Road near the Colo River. In total we saw 73 species, hearing another 19 species. We also saw a Black Wallaby, a Lace Monitor, a European Fox, and numerous butterflies.

Needless to say, I did not see this many species. I am a rank amateur, but will work on my skills until I can see when the bleeding obvious is pointed out to me.

My next birding excursion will be to Lord Howe Island at the end of February. In the meantime, I will practice my skills with some early morning outings in Centennial Park over the summer. I also am desperate to get myself one of those binocular halters, and one of those birding vests. Green with envy I am!

Playgroup

Crawling the floor with a dozen children under 12 months is something I have not done since the '80s when I was a Long-day-care Director. Crawling the mat around one's own grand-daughter is a joy. This was followed by lunch in Tiger Mottle across the road from St George Anglican Church at Five Ways.

Ooo ... I love Fridays.

A soaring dark intensity

This chap, who sounded very Australian, put on a wonderful show at the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park yesterday afternoon, as I wandered home after having lunch in the town with my son.

He fair drew a crowd with his showmanship and superb playing of pieces as diverse as The Eagles to Django Rhinehardt. Bravo!