Well after updating the blog last night I decided to go out to eat. I had my eye on the curry restaurant at Darling Harbour. However it was not to be. The first Friday in December is traditionally the night for the works Christmas party and nearly all the bars and restaurants in Darling Harbour were closed for private functions. So I went to get my beard trimmed instead.
Now I know I am spoilt at home as the same person has been cutting my hair for 20 years and still charges me the same price, but……. $AU50 (>£20) for 10 minutes in the chair to put a blade through my beard and number one through my hair! Went to the markets for a mooch round this morning and noticed I could have bought some clippers for $AU16.50, cut my own hair and then thrown them away! The only good point was that the Chinese barber said that if I wanted to stay in Sydney he could find me one of the girls from his family to marry and he guaranteed me Australian citizenship. I am not sure if he was joking or not.
Anyway after I recovered from the shock of the Chinese barber I went into the shopping mall/entertainment complex to find food. The selection in the food court was fantastic. OK there was a Macdonalds, but there was also Sushi, Chinese, Thai, Traditional Australian (Barramundi and chips or lamb and 2 veg), Italian, Iranian, Turkish and a Mongolian BBQ! So I got my curry, Chicken Thai Green Curry with boiled jasmine rice for $AU 9.50, and very nice it was too. I had a fantastic Italian ice cream for afters, a Starbucks coffee to finish and all for less than the cost of a starter in the hotel.
Got up around 8:00 am. The hotel is full of people in Sydney for the weekend and the queue for bfast was horrible, so I walked across to Starbucks for coffee and a croissant. I then took the monorail to Paddy’s market. Well actually the monorail is circular and you pay a flat fare of $AU4.50 so I took the monorail all the way round the circle and then the two stops to Paddy’s Market. The market is the oldest and largest market in Sydney and runs from Thursday to Sunday. Some of the poultry and fish was far more exotic than it is in Leeds indoor market and the range of pirated DVDs, Watches and Clothing was terrifying.
I then walked the entire length of George Street up to Circular Quay. As happiness is a journey, not a destination, I went to Manly again, this time on the ferry. I have to say though that the ferry to Manly and Manly itself both make me happy. I sat for about half an hour just watching the surfers. If this bloody ankle wasn’t still so bad I would have been down the hire shop for a wet suit and a boogie board, but you can see from the beach how strong the rip is and just walking out through the waves would have torn my ankle apart again.
From the beach I went to the Manly craft market. Now I don’t want to spoil the surprise Sharon & Lauren, but I was looking at some fabulous Australian gemstone pendants. The old man selling them saw me looking and immediately came over to ask where I came from. Thinking he would be like so many others I had met with no English geography, I said “Between Oxford and Birmingham” to which he replied “Warwick and Leamington way?” Turns out that he worked for 40 years in mining and quarrying and lived for 3 years between Cheltenham and Evesham where he ran a Cotswold stone quarry. He was also an Opal miner in the Australian outback for 10 years and worked in quarries and mines all over the world. When he retired he bought a property 160kms north of Sydney. After he had been there a week he was digging over the garden and found some stones in the garden, so he built himself a stone cutting saw to see what they were like inside. Now people bring him stone from all over New South Wales and he cuts polishes mounts and sells it. We chatted for about 20 minutes, but unfortunately apart from the Air Balloon in Cheltenham I didn’t know any of the pubs he asked about. He also told me that a couple of weeks ago he gave that great British poet Pam Ayres a set of his stone table coasters when she came up to his stall in Manly. The following week he received a signed copy of her latest book in the post. He now spends all week cutting and polishing stone, drives to Manly Saturday morning and sells it at the craft fair, sleeps in the car Saturday night then goes to another craft fair in Sydney Sunday and drives home Sunday night. Not bad for a 70 year old.
On the ferry on the way back from Manly it started to rain and when I walked out of Circular Quay a huge thunderstorm started. My coat was at the hotel. So Lauren, next time your Mum makes us pack a rucksack before we got out for the day I bet she’ll say “Remember what happened in Sydney, you got soaked to the skin because you didn’t pack your coat”
Now I know I am spoilt at home as the same person has been cutting my hair for 20 years and still charges me the same price, but……. $AU50 (>£20) for 10 minutes in the chair to put a blade through my beard and number one through my hair! Went to the markets for a mooch round this morning and noticed I could have bought some clippers for $AU16.50, cut my own hair and then thrown them away! The only good point was that the Chinese barber said that if I wanted to stay in Sydney he could find me one of the girls from his family to marry and he guaranteed me Australian citizenship. I am not sure if he was joking or not.
Anyway after I recovered from the shock of the Chinese barber I went into the shopping mall/entertainment complex to find food. The selection in the food court was fantastic. OK there was a Macdonalds, but there was also Sushi, Chinese, Thai, Traditional Australian (Barramundi and chips or lamb and 2 veg), Italian, Iranian, Turkish and a Mongolian BBQ! So I got my curry, Chicken Thai Green Curry with boiled jasmine rice for $AU 9.50, and very nice it was too. I had a fantastic Italian ice cream for afters, a Starbucks coffee to finish and all for less than the cost of a starter in the hotel.
Got up around 8:00 am. The hotel is full of people in Sydney for the weekend and the queue for bfast was horrible, so I walked across to Starbucks for coffee and a croissant. I then took the monorail to Paddy’s market. Well actually the monorail is circular and you pay a flat fare of $AU4.50 so I took the monorail all the way round the circle and then the two stops to Paddy’s Market. The market is the oldest and largest market in Sydney and runs from Thursday to Sunday. Some of the poultry and fish was far more exotic than it is in Leeds indoor market and the range of pirated DVDs, Watches and Clothing was terrifying.
I then walked the entire length of George Street up to Circular Quay. As happiness is a journey, not a destination, I went to Manly again, this time on the ferry. I have to say though that the ferry to Manly and Manly itself both make me happy. I sat for about half an hour just watching the surfers. If this bloody ankle wasn’t still so bad I would have been down the hire shop for a wet suit and a boogie board, but you can see from the beach how strong the rip is and just walking out through the waves would have torn my ankle apart again.
From the beach I went to the Manly craft market. Now I don’t want to spoil the surprise Sharon & Lauren, but I was looking at some fabulous Australian gemstone pendants. The old man selling them saw me looking and immediately came over to ask where I came from. Thinking he would be like so many others I had met with no English geography, I said “Between Oxford and Birmingham” to which he replied “Warwick and Leamington way?” Turns out that he worked for 40 years in mining and quarrying and lived for 3 years between Cheltenham and Evesham where he ran a Cotswold stone quarry. He was also an Opal miner in the Australian outback for 10 years and worked in quarries and mines all over the world. When he retired he bought a property 160kms north of Sydney. After he had been there a week he was digging over the garden and found some stones in the garden, so he built himself a stone cutting saw to see what they were like inside. Now people bring him stone from all over New South Wales and he cuts polishes mounts and sells it. We chatted for about 20 minutes, but unfortunately apart from the Air Balloon in Cheltenham I didn’t know any of the pubs he asked about. He also told me that a couple of weeks ago he gave that great British poet Pam Ayres a set of his stone table coasters when she came up to his stall in Manly. The following week he received a signed copy of her latest book in the post. He now spends all week cutting and polishing stone, drives to Manly Saturday morning and sells it at the craft fair, sleeps in the car Saturday night then goes to another craft fair in Sydney Sunday and drives home Sunday night. Not bad for a 70 year old.
On the ferry on the way back from Manly it started to rain and when I walked out of Circular Quay a huge thunderstorm started. My coat was at the hotel. So Lauren, next time your Mum makes us pack a rucksack before we got out for the day I bet she’ll say “Remember what happened in Sydney, you got soaked to the skin because you didn’t pack your coat”
1 comment:
This blogging business is supposed to be interactive you lot!
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