Saturday - 031107

This is Saturday! It seems likely I shall get to the cinema after all!

Colin has to pop out for an appointment so I have come to the internet cafe again.

It has been said to me that there is not very much writing on the blog. As I responded: 'that is because what I would put on there I don't want people to know.'!

Seriously, though, the pictures tell the story of how great this City is, to paraphrase Dame Shirley.

That said, one week in, and it being bad weather outside, I do have some time to type more than I have before.

The first thing I would say is that Sydney is nothing like I expected it to be - in a good way. I envisaged high rise, modern, glass and steel and while that exists there are lots of low rise, old, and stone and brick buildings. It does feel weird to have all these reminders of Blighty in what is, after all, a foreign country. It also feels strange to think that Her Majesty is also The Queen here. How often, I wonder, does she think of the other prime ministers she has - is it 14? - when the British one turns up for the weekly audience to bleat or orate away?!

I was almost overpowered initially by the general friendliness of people in shops (Mary aside). This came as something of a shock to an anti-social person such as myself. Very often the shop assistants ask: 'How are you?'. 'Like it is any of your business', I wanted to respond at first; but haven't done so - yet.

I have to say I can't recall hearing 'G'day' uttered once but what I have heard a lot is 'how's it going?'. For my response, refer back to the last line of the preceding paragraph.

Nightlife: this is nothing at all like London and again not at all what I expected it to be like. Compared with London, there is hardly any nightlife at all and some of the bars are well let's just say interesting. Example: in one last week, I saw a barmaid wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with: 'b(e)low job'. Indeed.

Pints here don't exist - what the British know as a pint comes in just over a half pint glass. And there is no difference between beer and lager - as I found to my cost last night. I asked for a beer and a lager and was presented with one glass of liquid. When I asked which this was - the beer or the lager - I was greeted with: 'what's the difference?'. 'Quite a lot in England, but I don't know here, sorry.' [Actually, given my drinking habits I don't actually know if there is a difference between beer and lager in Britain but assume there is given the difference in spelling if nothing else.]

Loose change: when you go in a shop your change is rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents. So, for things priced $1.99 you actually pay $2. So why the hell do they mark things at prices such as $0.99?!

Immigration: there are lots of Asians and some white Australians are quite racist towards them. Strange really when you consider the whites themselves are immigrants - and native destroyers; but there we are. My response has been the same as it is in Britain: how would this country run without its immigrants?! Who would work in Starbucks? Who would work in the takeaways? Who would janitor the apartment blocks? And who would the brightly coloured gentlemen have to go out with? I have seen surprisingly few black people: three men and one woman from what I remember.

Right. The big question: would I come back? Yes, yes, yes, to misquote Lady T. In fact, I really don't want to leave. Either happily/sadly, I am now too old to get a visa easily. Working holiday visas (I think that is what they are called) are not given to people over the age of 30. As I said to Colin why didn't he move here sooner?! To move here now I would need to have a skill and find an employer who would be willing to sponsor me. This is the way Colin got in. Apparently, there are shortages of market researchers and recruiters. I don't think my previous interviewing experience would be enough so I might do some personal development training at a recruitment agency!!

I can't say I expected to feel like this when I was travelling here but more or less straight away I knew this was a place I could live - despite the flies which are very irritating. I think a lot of it is due to the common language. It often feels like I am in Earl's Court although the Aussies there are not as well behaved as they are here!

And despite the lady doing the commentary on the cruise talking almost exclusively about the property prices of the houses we sailed past (!), this is not a country as stuck up and uptight as England, or at least I don't get the impression it is. As Iain said, there is an optimism here. You can feel it is a young country. You don't get that feeling in England, or at least I don't. I do think England is finished. It it weren't tired, cynical, pessimistic, all the shocking and demeaning things that have happened there in the past few years would not have happened.

Perhaps I am succumbing to a touch of 'the grass is greener' syndrome!

Perhaps I have had a touch too much sun!

Ah, yes, the sun! This is the thing, above all others, that Sydney has to offer!