Hopetoun

I have many fond memories of the Hopetoun Hotel but I’m faintly surprised that it lasted as long as it did. I think I first saw a band there in 1986. For comparison, I wonder how many music venues in Sydney from 1963 were still in operation in that year? The old Capitol Theatre, perhaps. This post puts things in perspective.

Seasons

Sydney has four seasons by courtesy of the first English settlers, but these have never really reflected the actual climate of the Cumberland basin. It’s time to change all that, and what better time than ’spring’?

Winter (Anzac Day – July)

Climate: not very cold

Traditional activities: working

What Happened to Summer? (August-October)

Climate: rapid alternation between Winter and Summer I, often in the same day, or hour, accompanied by strong winds and hailstorms

Traditional activities: complaining, forgetting to bring your umbrella

Summer I (aka The Silly Season) (Melbourne Cup – Australia Day)

Climate: too hot, except for Christmas Day, when it rains.

Traditional activities: drinking

February (February)

Climate: carcinogenic

Traditional activities: heatstroke, bushfires

Summer II (March)

Climate: still too hot

Traditional activities: barbeques, cleaning patios and driveways with garden hoses

Easter (Easter)

Climate: hungover with a chance of chocolate

Traditional activities: “It’s lovely once you get in”

Dust storm II

Dust storm

More photos at The Red Sydney Project

Black locust, white flowers

A grove of black locusts growing along the banks of the Cooks River at Undercliffe. They burst out in masses of white blossom for a week or so in spring.

What’s happening?

The Quay

I got closer to the busker on Circular Quay, unable to make out his instrument, and thought perhaps he was simply begging. Then I saw that he was reading a glossy catalogue for expensive digital cameras. This Great Recession is going to be confusing; so many people were already dressing like bums.

Other imaginary performance art buskers at the Quay this morning were smoking cigarettes, taking photographs of each other and of a somewhat confused seagull, and sketching the Rocks as seen from Bennelong Point.

There were also two classical sea monsters holding up the Customs House clock but they are too high up for passersby to be able to throw coins to them so I think they are doing it out of love.

Presto sign, Granville

Birds of the Sydney area

Dingy ibis Cantankerous and vindictive scavenger, commonly found in waste skips and culverts. The dingy ibis has the remarkable ability to thicken the surrounding air with vapours from its scent glands; without this increased local density, its scraggy wings would have insufficient purchase on the atmosphere and it would be incapable of flight.

Lesser grate An easygoing and gregarious bird, common in marshland but also encountered in suburban backyards, disused tram depots and nightclubs. Its cry has been compared to the sound of a tin bucket being dropped into an empty well.

Rufous rufus Shy, goateed honeyeater with a melodious, wistful call, often accompanying itself on the mandolin.  The rufous rufus can be distinguished from the variegated or common rufus by the fact that it is much more rufous.

Bell’s pterodactyl Nocturnal and secretive, little is known about this “living fossil”. Its call is a deafening antediluvian screech at four o’clock in the morning. Roosts just outside bedroom windows.

Como

When I’m off the Internet [tr. not at work] America goes away [tr. goes back to childhood levels, viz. it's on the telly a fair bit but that's about it]

Como Pleasure Grounds, despite a name which suggests a certain Regency seediness, is a wonderful place for a picnic. The weather today was perfect: sunny with just the right amount of chill in the breeze.