You missed a bit ... up there on the right

The Castlecrag shops are, to me, much nicer than Northbridge

He startled me, bent over double as I was. plumbing a line along the Lilli-pilli trying to determine if those limp pink leaves were making like the hedge of my dreams. But his quip endeared him to me, as much as his ear-to-ear grin. Self-deprecating, I can get. I can do this lower-north-shore transition, you know. I didn't live on the upper-north-shore for twenty years, without some of it wedged under my fingernails. But, I still want to be 'naughty' and wear my khaki beanie, my grey-coat, my spattered canvas high-tops, and pull my cadee. And so I do. Pull my cadee, that is. Up to the local shops, which is an undulating 12 minutes away. No matter how I dress, my money is still the same colour, even though it is now laundered by the Department of Human Services.

On the other side of Edinburgh Road to 'The Quadrangle' is a small ribbon of shops that would not be out of place at Five Ways

Decline and fall

Tucked in behind Five Ways, at the rear of Gusto's Brasserie, is a narrow woebegone alley, sign-posted White Lane. Filled with natural debris and human detritus, it started life as a service lane for the 'night-cart', morphing gradually into motor garaging. As her age catches up with her, the 1888 building is sucked to her knees by rising damp, and the inevitability of dust-to-dust.

The Ruby Slipper

Tapping my way around through Five Ways, I pay heed to the uneven footpath and the shards of old building materials that litter the way. The path that I know so well during the day, presents challenges in the evening, for me and my walking cane. But the flower shop is not far down, just over a bit of a rise, and around a slight curve.

La Patine du Paddington

What is a patina exactly? Classically, it is a corrosion of metal that adds a texture to a surface, eg the green on a copper bell. Increasingly, it is used to indicate long standing behaviours of age and use which result in a "deterioration" to a surface. Deterioration being the 'in' mode!

I have taken you for an extensive swing around Paddington Five Ways before. This building (from the 1890s) is smack on the round-a-bout and is a Thai restaurant. I think this is a decor that the managment is encouraging, which suits my taste. Around the doorway, you can see stencils of previous incarnations, eg 'registered milk venor', indicating that this was a typical corner store. I will go into the role of the corner store in the Paddington of the 19th and early 20th century next week.


I was trying to think of other words that could be used to describe this effect on buildings, and came up with: speckle, flecked. stipple, motley, potpourri, verdigris, farrago, salmagundi, hotchpotch (or hodgepodge) mismash and melange. Some suit more than others.

I quite like this - but I have liked all three that I have shown this week. Not to everyone's taste, I grant, and I suspect I would not want it in my living room. What do you think?

Five Ways (5) - the hub

To complete the pattern, to come full circle, show all the spokes on the wheel, by rights, today's post should have concentrated on Goodhope Road. Neah! Bit boring: just houses, no perspective. So, let's look at the hub around which this part of Paddo revolves.

It is quite a piddlng little round-a-bout, but sooo much nicer than a set of lights. Ad the streets around here are so narrow and so windy that there is not a lot of hoonery (put that in your vocab-pipe!).


See the harbour glimpse in the shot immediatly above here. If the day were sunny, and the sky blue and the water shimmering .. ah ... bliss. But we have the grey end of the Cyclone Yasi tail.

I told you the buses were not designed for this intersection. All buses travelling east take this trajectory. The ones travelling west seem not to have the same issues.

So, to the right of the pub is Broughton ST, next to Gustos is Heeley Street, In front of the four gaudy terraces is Glenmore Road. Between the chicken shop and the angular chemist shop is Goodhope Road, and in front of 'A fish called Paddo' is Glenmore Road (east). We have come full circle.

Five Ways (4) - Glenmore Road (West)

Standing outside the chicken shop looking up the escarpment.

Glenmore Road is the spine that runs through the heart of Five Ways. Now they don't teach THAT in medschool! It accounts for two of the five ways.

Standing outside the Royal Hotel looking west along Glenmore

Mostly FW is eateries: chicken, pizza, fish, waygu, pub, Thai, French, 4 cafes. Plus supermarket, two grog-shops, two hair-dressers, a chemist, dry-cleaners, newsagent, and two art galleries. And for some reason, a bridal shop.

It is thriving.

Standing 100m back along Glenmore and looking east to the hotel

Five Ways (3) - Heeley Street

Looking down Heeey Street to the FW intersection

Dominated by its topography, Paddington snakes sinuously across and down the escarpment, carved by pristine watercourses from the antiquity of Gondwanaland - watercourses now forced underground.

There are a number of small (expensive) shops on Heeley, viz cellar, hair salon and niche cafes as well as a KU preschool

To say it is not a pooor area is probably an insulting understatement. The terraces are old on the outside due to heritage restrictions, but internally they are worth millions. Land, however, is at a premium and people 'live on the street'; hence, the cafe culture, and the plethora of playground equipment and handkerchief parks, which once were single terraces.

People are still wedded to the motor car, even this close to the city, although my guess is that it is evenly divided between private car, bus and foot. Even using my stick, I can be in Hyde Park within 30 minutes.

Looking from the FW intersection up Heeley Street

Five Ways (2) - Broughton Street

Just before entering FW proper which is ringed with pedestrian crossings

As I intimated yesterday, Five Ways is the tiniest of little round-abouts. Glenmore Road runs into it from the west and out from the east, accounting for two of the ways. Broughton Street runs across and down the ridge from the south-east heading toward the city. Here the Royal Hotel built in 1880 is on the right.

Looking back up Broughton Street

This last shot gives a good idea of the steep narrow streets that comprise Paddington and which run down the escarpment to the harbour. The escarpment provides excellent views of the waters of the harbour in between wrought iron terraces and the feathery leaves of jacaranda trees. It is a contining thrill to hear the deep horn of the visiting cruise ships as they traverse the harbour to dock at the OPT.

A longer view down Broughton Street with the red letter box small in the distance

Five Ways (1): A fish called Paddo

He slouched on the pine'n'chrome bench, threw the scalding coffee down his throat, and watched the latte-set scurry by. He'd go into the pub by-and-by, as soon as the buzzing in his head eased. He only went in there, you realise, for the nutritional value of the counter-lunch.


In his squalid forty years on this planet he had seen mighty changes come over this mangled intersection, where the 389 bus had not a chance in hell of manoeuvring the round-a-bout and just ploughed over the top regardless. As a kid he'd lived in a run-down terrace up off Olive Lane. That was before all the arty types invaded the neighbourhood and make it sought-after. This was the time when Five Ways consisted of a pub (The Royal), a church (St George's), a chemist, a milk bar, and even an old cinema which has given way to a fruit & veg market.

He had to go. The smell of the fresh baked sour-dough and the sizzling white-bait was doing his head in.

Australians are a faithful mob

These are not British Bulldogs. Nor are they French Bulldogs. I think they are Pugs. They appear to be of Chinese origin dating back centuries.

This pair was waiting outside the grocery shop at Five Ways, Paddington, about 9 o'clock. I have seen them about many times before. Many people in my area, select 'designer' dogs of small stature, often opting for two.

Today is 'Australia Day' upon which we celebrate European settlement of our land. The indigenous people have lived here for milennia. Europeans settled here in January 1788, establishing a series of colonies under the British crown. These disparate colonies federated under a constitution on 1st January, 1901.

It is forecast to be very hot today, ranging in the city from 33 - 39 C. I have chosen to cover the 'Welcome Morning' ceremony in Farm Cove commencing at 8am. Story tomorrow.

The morning milk

6am

The pigeons do not startle ready for flight as I wheel the corner at Five Ways to tramp up Heeley Street. They claim the early morning as their time: the air is damp, and cool; the latte-set stirs under the covers; people movers snooze in the garage. The pigeons wait, but not too patiently.

Having cleaned up the crumbs of yesterday, they bill and coo anticipating the arrival of Madeleine and Gaston, for it is they who throw open the shuttered shop, slide a batch of croissants into the oven, and double ristretto the first two coffees of the day. The pigeons clatter their claws on the footpath, expectantly.

Once aromas like this permeate Five Ways, people and their crumbs are not far behind.

12 noon

Cafe - Tiger Mottle

Meandering down Heeley Street after returning my library books (and paying my fine!) I was mesmerised by the sun glinting off the waters of the harbour down below. Five Ways is my local High Street/Main Street/shopping strip. It is a delight.

The folk at Tiger Mottle were very welcoming and provided unassuming service. From the blackboard, I chose the Trout with poached egg, on a roast pumpkin pattie all on a bed of wilted spinach and avocado salsa. Very yummy, And their double ristretto on Golden Cobra beans produced a coffee so to my liking, I had two.