If you’re a Sydney-sider and you’re told you’re going to “Christmas in July at The Carrington”, you immediately think of The Carrington Hotel in The Blue Mountains. Though my memory is a little sketchy, I remember once doing that. Indeed, it’s the first thing you’ll find when you Google search.
But my neighbourhood of Surry Hills has a Carrington Hotel also. For years, it was a dodgy local. Then, it had a re-imagination as Annie’s Bar, a drag venue. They went upmarket a few years ago, with over-priced bottles of wine, pricing me out of contention. Now, they’ve settled on being a “friendly local” with reasonably priced meals and drinks.
And this year, possibly for the first time, they did “Christmas in July”. “Understated” is how we described it tonight, with some Christmas lights, some party hats, and some mulled wine. But the food was excellent, and so was the company, so overall a great way to spend Sunday night.
Christmas in July at Surry Hills’ Carrington HotelChristmas in July at Surry Hills’ Carrington Hotel
The only “downer” to the night was the discovery the once-wonderful Hughes Gallery on neighbouring Devonshire Street has moved upstairs, replaced by a dull, over-priced clothing store. It was always such a wonderful thing to be able to walk along the street and take a peak at the amazing new works on display.
When I called my friend Sue in Melbourne for a weather report this morning I’d already packed my bag. I didn’t really think I needed to ask if I should bring a jacket but something deep inside me thought I should. “Yes you do, it’s twelve degrees outside and I’m driving to work with the heater on”, she told me. I was silent for a moment. And then I began laughing nervously. “My how things can change so very quickly”, I thought to myself about the weather in Melbourne. Welcome relief, I’d imagine after what they’ve been through.
I’ve come down for a face to face meeting for work tomorrow. Taking advantage of this, I’ve decided to spend the night before with Sue, which is a lovely bonus. It’s actually my first flight since arriving back from overseas and I’d forgotten how much hassle can be involved in travelling by air. And by that, I don’t just mean the security screening. When I arrived at Sydney Airport, I went straight to the automatic check-in terminal and was issued with my boarding pass in a matter of seconds. After that you would have though it was reasonably straight-forward to walk over to the baggage drop-off and well, drop of my bag. Unfortunately, however, there was only one operator available for the fifty-plus people in the queue. Eventually, they gave us another operator, but that didn’t seem to make much difference. When I finally made my way towards the front of the queue, I quickly realised passengers were probably a major part of the problem. It seemed whenever someone was about to put their bags on the transporter belt, they suddenly needed to be opened and checked several items. And various items needed to be transfered between the two sets or luggage. One woman I noticed zipped and unzipped her bags three times, looking for something and then checking for something else. And then I noticed another syndrome in the queue where the very next person to be called up, suddenly finds themself in a trance-like state and seemingly unable to hear the calls for “next please”. Oh, and don’t get me started about those people who hog the aisle as they pack and unpack everything in the overhead lockers, while a crowd of people awaits taking their seat. Do you think the grumpy old man gene has set in, or is this frustration more common?
On arrival, I discovered my taxi driver had a “chip on his shoulder” about Sydney. “I’ll bet you’ve got more people working up there in Sydney than we do in Melbourne”. “You know, Melbourne is actually the cultural capital of Australia”. Yawn. After a while, I actually said to him, “You know most people in Sydney think Melbourne is a great place and we love visiting friends and family down here”. At first he seemed a little shocked by the revelation. And then I told him, “You know this Melbourne-Sydney thing? Well, we NEVER talk about in Sydney.”. Stunned silence followed. We then had a conversation about the relative merits of Moomba and Mardi Gras (same weekend), and finally he realised I didn’t have two heads after all.
After work, Sue and I wandered down the Docklands Area for a bit of a look. And then after some discussion, settled on a meal at a cheap and cheerful place in St Kilda. Sue will remember the name of it, I’m sure. When my plate of lasagne arrived, I wondered at first if I could possibly eat it all. But you know the way pizza looks impossibly large when it arrives and suddenly you’ve consumed a whole one? Well, this lasagne was the same. “I haven’t had a glass of lambrusco in ages. Gosh it tastes good”, Sue commented further over dinner.
After dinner, we headed over to Chadstone Mall, which Sue told me was heavily promoted as “the largest in the Southern Hemisphere”. “What, larger than the one in Nairobi?”, I laughed to myself. And so while Sue looked at some boots, frocks, handbags and jackets (and bought a children’s toy), I was more interested in checking out glasses frames. Thanks to everyone for the terrific feedback. I feel much more confident about what I need to do now.
And then it was back home, a small amount of television watching, and time for bed.
It’s Sunday evening. It’s been a warm day in Perth. I’m sitting on the balcony of the hotel I’ve been staying in. I hope the people on the cruise boat down below don’t mind that I’m sitting here, wearing just shorts, and sipping on a glass of wine. Because frankly, the last week has been super-super-busy, and if they do mind, I don’t care.
First, there was a reasonably intense two-day work conference in Sydney (with associated socialising/working at night). Then on Tuesday night, there was an evening flight from Sydney to Perth, arriving in Perth at 9.30 local time (after midnight back in Sydney). That was followed by a two-and-a-half-day work conference in Perth which involved a lot of training, a lot of talking and some after-work socialising where we continued to talk about work. I figure I did my 38 “rostered hours” in record time this week.
Maralinga by Lin Onus at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. A stunning work about the atomic tests conducted in Australia during the 1950s. A young woman holds tightly to her mother, as the winds from the blast from the explosion. A shameful part of our history.
“A week of highs and lows” is how I described the week to a colleague and friend in a text message. We were both supposed to go to another work-related social activity on Friday night, but by Friday afternoon/evening I was exhausted, and so I retired to my hotel room. Though I could have gone back on Friday, I decided to tag on a few extra days in Perth at my own expense. It’s such a long way to travel (five hours), that I figured I couldn’t miss the chance for some friendly catchups, a bit of tourist exploration, and some relaxation.
Aside from yesterday’s food tour, I also paid a visit today to the Art Gallery of Western Australia and caught up with a friend for lunch today at Little Creatures. So yeah, despite the busy times I’ve experienced over the last few weeks, I feel like I’ve had a weekend. I feel quite relaxed. I’m catching the red-eye back tonight (leaves Perth at 11.35 pm, arrives Sydney at 6.55 am), so I’m hoping for a sound night’s sleep. Hoping…
Normally we would have lunch with extended family at my sister’s place, but we broke with tradition this Christmas. This year, we went to my niece’s place to have lunch with her new extended family.
In the last twelve months, she and her boyfriend have cemented their relationship with the purchase of a house together. And so while Christmas normally is associated with the extended O’Brien Family, today I got to meet her new “in-laws”: mum, dad, a couple of sisters, a couple of nephews and so on. Although there was some apprehension about meeting new family, and putting on a good show (to try to fool them into thinking we weren’t a combination of The Simpsons and The Griswolds), I soon concluded “families are remarkably similar”.
There was much food to be enjoyed, including two varities of ham, as the extended families were all asked to bring along some plates of food. There were also Christmas hats and a blow up Santa which was the centre of attention for a while.
And then the phone rang. It was a bloke from a commercial radio station, LBC, asking if I’d chat with them about it was like to have Christmas in Australia. They’d obtained my name and number from a colleague who recently moved back to the UK. “Sure, why not?”, I told the producer of the overnight show presented by Cristo Foufas.
I spoke to him for 5-10 minutes at 3.05am UK time, about where I was, what the temperature was like, what clothes I was wearing, about Australian Christimas traditions, and about Cyclone Grant. We also had a bit of a giggle about how their morning show presenter was also called James O’Brien, and how I’d chatted to him on the radio back in 2004. I had a look to see if it was available as audio on demand, but it doesn’t seem to be.
One of these people was in Swedish pop group ABBA, the other was in Swedish rock group, Europe. Can you pick?
Anyway, after lunch we sat around and chatted for a while, and even did a bit of video watching. And that’s when I made a remarkable discovery. We were watching a “one hit wonders” DVD which included 1980s Swedish super group, Europe, with their song “The Final Countdown”. I always knew they were Swedish, but had never seen the video clip until today. “That’s the town hall” I said. “That’s T-centralen”, I added to the amusement of family members, as I pointed out the gratuitous Stockholm imagery in the clip.
But the biggest surprise? I’m sure the lead singer had exactly the same haircut as Agnetha Faltskog from ABBA during her mid 80’s “rock chick” phase.
Late this afternoon, we took a visit to the cemetery to visit mum and dad. It’s odd to think it’s 30 years in June since my dad died.
Normally on NYE there would be two or three parties in my apartment block (of 32). But last night, as we’re in COVID-lockdown in Sydney, there was barely a peak from my neighbours. The only neighbourly noise I heard was from a group of people walking down the street at about 1.00am. They were on their way home.
Going home at 1.00am? Gosh, I remember going out with friends on NYE and arrving home on January 3rd. I was much younger then. These days I much prefer going to bed early. As I listened to ABC Radio (my job) and ABC TV’s coverage of NYE, I struggled to keep my eyes open. (That’s no reflection on the content, just that I was a little tired).
Even today, in the city, there weren’t many people around. I had to go into town to buy a replacement kettle. As I wandered around, I saw small groups of young people, but mostly it was fairly quiet. Even Oxford Street, which would normally be “party central” on New Year’s Day was quiet.
George Street, Sydney
I called in to my local pub, and spoke to the security guard. He’s a big boofy guy from the Pacific Islands who works hard (in a couple of jobs) to support his extended family. “I was in bed by 10.30”, he told me.
I spent a fair bit of the day asleep. It’s been raining on and off, and so the desire to stay in bed has been strong. In between I’ve been watching a few things on Youtube. In particular, I quite like languge podcasts.
“The Swedish Lad” (Martin) has a terrific piece about the new words officially recognised in Sweden this year. Though it’s mostly in Swedish, you’ll be able to follow it, as many of the words are definitely “of the times” and sound like the English language equivalent. It’s worth turning on the subtitles (CC), as you’ll also see descriptions of the words in English. Some of these are words or phrases I’ve never heard before in English. I sent the video to my Swedish teacher, as I thought she might enjoy it. Heaven knows what she’ll think of “kemsex”.
The other language podcast I regularly watch comes from a Canadian bloke who has hundreds of videos about languages. Normally, I really enjoy his work, but was a little disappointed with this one. It’s about 3 or 4 minutes before he acknowledges there was a history of Australia prior to 1788, and even then it’s a very brief mention of some of the MANY words from Indigenous languages that have been absorbed into Australian English. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of words where that’s happened, and I thought it would have been a more interesting path to pursue than to repeating 1950s/1960s cliches about “Barbies” “Chrissy” and “Arvos”.
And then the other thing I’ve been watching today is “I, Claudius”, the classic BBC drama from the 1970s/1980s. I fondly remember watching it during my high school years, and I remember reading the books by Robert Graves.
Although it’s forty years old, it stands up remarkably well. It’s very “theatrical” in style, in the sense it could have been a recording of a stage play, but the script and acting are very good.
Over dinner, we talked a little about our memories of the lunch we enjoyed at the world-renowned Noma, when it operated briefly in Sydney. With only a limited run in Sydney, it was something we had planned several months for. And even now, eighteen months later, I still remember almost every detail of the experience.
OystersPigs Ear
Dining at Aløft in Hobart was probably the first time since then, since the three of us, had enjoyed a “fancy meal” together. A lot has happened since then. Most notably, Damien and Kristen are now living in Hobart. And so when I told them I was coming down here, they immediately suggested dining at a restaurant they had been keen to try but hadn’t gotten around to.
With spectacular views overlooking the water, the restaurant also enjoys terrific service (like genuinely good service that was neither too attentive, not too distant, with waiters and sommeliers who seemed to genuinely know what they were talking about), as well as genuinely very good, flavorsome, interesting food.
Menu
The only thing we didn’t really enjoy was the fried chicken, and that was only because it was messy/difficult to eat. Along the way, we enjoyed some cocktails, some sake, and a terrific “orange wine” from France. The degustation cost $75 per head.
“This may be your last chance to see the markets in this location”, our guide, Nori told us today. After about eighty years at Tsukiji, the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market is moving at the end of next year to make way for a venue for the Olympic Games, being held in Tokyo in 2020.
Although it’s often said one of the “must do” things about Tokyo is to get up early (three or four in the morning) and to line-up to witness the excitement of the seafood auction at the market, that’s not really “my kind of thing”. But I do love food, and I love learning about the culture of a country through food, and so I booked to take part in the Tsukiji Fish Market Food Tour.
Over the course of three and a half hours (starting at 8.30am), we wandered around the markets, and tasted dried bonito, Japanese tea, fresh oysters, fried fish cake, sake, and also witnessed the art involved in making Japanese omelettes. And I learned so much on this tour. I never knew, for example, fish with bigger eyes were the ones which you’re most likely to found in deeper water (though of course it makes total sense). I’d also never seen the wasabi plant before, and noted when I shared the photograph earlier today on social media, many others hadn’t either. The tour ended with sushi at a stand-up restaurant called Chiyoda Sushi
Tokyo Fish MarketTokyo Fish MarketTokyo Fish MarketTokyo Fish MarketReal wasabi at Tokyo Fish Market
There are quite a few of them around Tokyo, and Nori described them as places where you can obtain good sushi at reasonable prices. I thought it was probably the best sushi I’ve had in my life, to be honest.
Nori was a really great guide: knowledgeable, friendly, and with a sense of humour. He told us he also worked as a part-time primary school teacher, and was a member of the Japanese defence force, and so he was also very good at keeping us on track, and stopped us from getting run over in the hustle and bustle of the market. I also think it helped our group was small: only four people, a Chinese woman, a stay at home mum who home-schools from Singapore with a real passion for Japanese food; and a young couple from the United States, with a young child, and with a passion for travel and food also. At 9,000 yen (about $90 AUD), I thought the tour was excellent value and would highly recommend it to you.
After lunch I came back to the hotel for a siesta. I’m quite partial to the siesta as a general rule, and with the continued warm conditions in Tokyo (another day above 30 degrees), it just made sense.
Later this afternoon I headed off to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to watch the sunset. Weighing up the different options for a sunset view, I decided on this building over the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Sky Tree. One of the observations I’ve made over a number of years of travel, is that when it comes to views, you shouldn’t go “too high”. I think you’re always better when you’re high enough off the ground to still be able to see the ground, and the people below. And yes, it was great. An added bonus was good views of Mount Fuji, located about 100km from Tokyo.
On arriving back at the hotel tonight, I had a simple meal. For a couple of days I’ve been intrigued by the restaurant/bar below simply called “Ham and Cheese, Beer and Wine” (the four basic food groups, surely?). So I popped in there, where I had a sausage and a glass of rose which was delicious, or as I learned to say today… it was oishi.
