The sun rose spectacularly this morning but now it is raining
My Woolies order is due in about an hour from the time of writing this post (8.30).
My mind has been on Cronulla in the 1960s lately
Though I left in 1970, of course I returned from time to time. So there is much on Ross Myers’s Ramdarook channel on YouTube that I can relate to. And the beach scene in The Gong was similar. I taught people with hair like that, not to mention the now cringeworthy trousers I wore myself, nor to mention the almost transparent Indian shirt…. And I smoked… No, the dreaded weed but rarely, though there was plenty of it in The Gong in those days… But cigarillos and kreteks as well as the standard B&H…. And, alas, a pipe!
Sky and his violin come to the Fringe with a fascinating background. He doesn’t have the expert training from a young age that many other violinists do, giving him a unique playing style. Originally from China, Sky was a professional dancer until the age of 30. He then became a hairdresser for several years before turning to the violin. What is a common goal among these career choices? Sky wants to “make people feel beautiful and happy.” He doesn’t say another word aside from that, and he didn’t need to. Sky’s outstanding talents on the violin speak for him.
Video in celebration of the vitality and colour of our multicultural society. Every image on this video is from my own life, work or observation over recent years. Dedicated to all those who have pledged “loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey” and to the rest of us who just happen to have been born here.
Two people believed to have been sleeping rough in the former hat factory have not yet been accounted for.
Seventy years ago
This photo appeared a few days back on Facebook. Yes, the man on the left looks amazingly like our present Prime Minister — but this is the 1950s and in fact way back then I knew this part of the world rather well. I had just started at Sydney Boys High and the trams from Eddy Avenue went up this part of Elizabeth Street before diverting down Randle Street, where that hat factory stood, to join Chalmers Street heading for Cleveland Street down which they went to the school stop.
That Oceanic Cafe was still going in the 1990s looking very down at heel and with hardly any customers that I ever saw, serving such delights as lamb’s fry. The same ladies who ran it in the 50s were still there.
And 70 years earlier
Had you looked west from that spot you would have seen not Central Station but this:
It is most likely that Jacob Whitfield, my convict ancestor who arrived in Sydney in 1822, was buried there, though there is no firm record of this. Many of the records are lost. See my series of family history posts, particularly on Jacob.
In the 90s and noughties I passed this spot countless times
I lived further up Elizabeth Street from 1992 to 2010.
Elizabeth Street and Devonshire Street intersection looking towards the Dental Hospital and Central May 2009
A vlog that has covered the fire really well — Abandoned Oz
#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful - for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
All abandoned: Chernobyl / Pripyat, Nara Dreamland, Anti-Zombie Fortress, Japanese Sex Museum - and many, many more! Plus: North Korea Special - 2 trips, 16 days / 14 nights! As seen on CNN...
Neil's Commonplace Book 