There was a time, during the 90s and 00s, when Oxford Street, Darlinghurst was a fairly buzzy, lively place to visit.
Bars and restaurants were full, even on quiet nights of the week.
But then the licensing laws changed, and people went online to meet others. And then, COVID.
Oxford Street is still pretty buzzy on Friday and Saturday nights. But when you go for a walk at other times, you’ll see the reality of lots of empty shops.
Maybe it’s the rents? Maybe it’s the changing nature of how we interact and shop? Are we moving to a more online way of doing all of those things we used to go to shops for? It’s likely all of those things, and more.
I went for a walk along Oxford Street this afternoon, and these videos pretty much sum it up.
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve heard about plans to “revitalise” Oxford Street.
In the weeks (and now months) since Nancy’s death (the reason I came back to Lismore), we’ve uncovered various bits and pieces of history. There are lots of photographs, a sprinkling of newspaper clippings, and some interesting memorabilia.
We’ve named the latest discovery, “The Disaster Files”, as it’s an album of newspaper clippings about the floods we’ve had in Lismore over the years, along with a handful of photographs.
Famously, Nancy was determined not to leave her house during the 2017 flood because she “had lived through plenty of floods before this, and saw no reason to leave this time”. It’s worth noting the last “big flood” she had endured was in 1989, when she was about thirty years younger, not as a woman aged in her 70s with limited mobility!
These three photographs below tell a story of South Lismore for which there seems to be limited photographic evidence. Most of the photographs I’ve seen of the floods in Lismore have tended to be of the town’s central business district. Yes, there’s quite a lot of photographs of South Lismore from more recent floods, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot from earlier floods. For the most part, I think that’s because South Lismore has, generally speaking, been a poorer suburb, and so people often didn’t have cameras, or couldn’t afford to get film developed.
1974 flood in Lismore : we think Nancy’s car is in the floodwaters outside the South Lismore Railway Station. As a number of people have commented on Facebook, people used to park their cars at the railway station, thinking it would be safe.1989 Lismore Flood. We think this photograph shows the back gardens (flooded) of houses at the bottom of Union Street, South Lismore.1989 Lismore Flood : this photograph was taken from the front door of Nancy’s house at 15 Union Street, South Lismore, looking towards the railway viaduct. Looking back the other way.
The other great discovery was an article about the time when a car crashed into Nancy’s house.
The article fails to mention Nancy, concentrating instead on her former husband, Alf. We don’t talk so much about him anymore, for reasons best not gone into.
South Lismore Car Crash, Northern Star (date unknown)
Interestingly, the article was written by Emma Tom, a local woman who went on to fame and success as a journalist with both the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. These days, she’s known as Emma A. Jane and her biography/website describes her as an “Australian professor, author, and journalist.“. I must check her website to see if this story is mentioned in her CV :):)
As I wasn’t in Sydney for World Youth Day in 2008, I somehow missed the erection of a statue of Pope John Paul The Great (he used to be just JP2) in an area of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. According to the inscription, it was a gift from the Italian community of Sydney. I’m not sure how I’ve missed it previously. Certainly it’s not as prominent as the statue of Saint Mary MacKillop (Saint Mary of the Cross), but it did catch my eye as I made my way home from the Art Gallery of NSW.
Although not in the same numbers as World Youth Day, there were big crowds at the AGNSW today. There were a couple of big attraction exhibitions including the Qin Shihuang Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses. People were lining up outside the gallery to get in, lining up to purchase tickets, and then lining up to see the exhibition. It was great to see so many people in the gallery.
We were there for lunch and for a meeting of the art collection group – Hawkesbury One – that I’m involved in. For our group the most exciting thing happening this year is an exhibition of our collection at the Newcastle Regional Gallery. For three months, the work we’ve been hanging in our homes will go on display in a public place. There’s a lot of work to do over the next few months, including documenting our story in a short video (that’s my job), but it’s very bloody exciting nonetheless.
Beyond that, nothing else to report except I watched Melodifestivalen #4 and remain confused by my feelings about this latest edition of the Swedish finals leading to Eurovision.
Pope John Paul The Great at St Marys Cathedral in Sydney
Today, my blood sugar levels spiked, reaching a notable high compared to the relatively stable readings I’ve maintained for the past month or two—typically within the range of 5-7, which is considered normal for someone with diabetes. However, tonight’s reading was 11.2, still somewhat within an acceptable range but higher than my recent norm.
Reflecting on the day, I began by considering my dietary choices. Unlike my usual breakfast consisting of coffee, fruit (mostly berries) with yogurt, and porridge, today I skipped the porridge. The decision to opt for a takeaway souvlaki salad bowl for lunch, including the deliberation over the accompanying pita bread, played on my mind. While I’ve been cautious about consuming pita bread, online research suggests it’s generally okay for diabetics.
A mid-afternoon coffee paired with a couple of Scotch finger biscuits struck me as a likely culprit for the elevated blood sugar levels. Then, after work, I enjoyed a glass of red wine.
I hadn’t necessarily needed to go into the office today, considering my official return next Monday. However, certain tasks required an office environment, and with the water in our apartment block turned off, it seemed practical to utilize the office space for a day.
Also today I knocked up almost 6,000 steps, catching the light rail to and from home.
Returning to work after a prolonged absence meant catching up with colleagues and addressing pending tasks, undoubtedly leading to a series of potentially stressful conversations. This, I suspect, significantly contributed to the rise in my blood sugar levels.
Interestingly, an academic paper titled “Stress-Induced Diabetes: A Review” suggests that stress can release hormones that elevate blood sugar levels.
Seeking insight, I reached out to a friend of a similar age who has managed diabetes for a decade. His wise advice emphasized not worrying unless elevated readings became a pattern on stressful days. He recommended incorporating relaxation exercises into my routine and managing stress at work. He also reminded me that I might be setting too high a standard for myself and urged me to take a step back, acknowledging that this transition back to work is a process with its ups and downs.
I appreciate his perspective and will strive to manage stress more effectively while being mindful of the demands I place on myself during this return to work period.
In the meantime I’m listening to some of my favourite music, and will head out for a lovely night on the balcony, enjoying the best that life has given me a second chance to enjoy.
PS
A few hours later, after relaxing, listening to some music, a brief nap, and a very diabetes friendly dinner of sashimi, and my blood sugar level is back to normal at 4.8, which means I can have some desert before bed, consisting of half a pea, some blueberries and some yoghurt.
“You’re so dodgy” my friend said to me when I told her how I’d once jumped the queue to get into the Marigold in Sydney’s Chinatown. “If you go up the escalator, there’s a goods lift which takes you to the kitchen area, and you just walk through”, I told her.
We were on the verge of taking it, as we waited for close to an hour to get in for our 10 am booking. There was some kind of weird arrangement where you joined the queue if you’d made a phone booking but could go straight to the top of the queue if you’d made an online booking. WTF
The lengthy queue was no doubt a response to the recent news Marigold was closing only a few weeks short of their fortieth anniversary.
A former colleague and I had recently had lunch there, celebrating in a similar way, but we had gone to the top of the queue because he regularly booked larger functions there. You can understand my frustration of having to wait?
After an hour of waiting, we were close to the end of our patience. Only a few metres from entering, the queue stopped, showed no signs of moving, and we started to see online bookings enter ahead of us.
I went upstairs and checked out the goods elevator.
But finally, we decided it made more sense to look elsewhere. I walked across the road, got a table immediately at Emperor’s Garden. The only delay was from the people in front of us who didn’t know how to use the check-in. Seriously? After eighteen months they still couldn’t tell the difference between using the app and taking a photograph!?!?!
My friends joined me shortly afterwards and within minutes we were seated and eating.
My tip for Sydneysiders? There are more places for yum cha than Marigold.
Such beautifully presented tofu. Blue Wok is my local Thai where I’ll often pop in after work for take-away, or a for a brief meal of just a few entrees. Love it.
Blue Wok Tofu
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While I wouldn’t describe it as a sad deserted street, it is not the lively street it once was. Yes, revitalising Oxford Street…..five years or more.
That looked like hard thirsty work. I hope you found somewhere to keep your fluids up.
I expect covid accounts for a few of those closed shops. Earlier the licensing law changes had a big impact.
Once (say 1980-2010) almost every gay man would have an “Oxford St phase.” Now youngsters can more readily find like-minded others simply amongst their acquaintances generally. There is less need for a gay ghetto and residentially it probably has moved anyway because of the general gentrification real estate cycle.
It’s not really possible to disentangle the other effects of rising rents and the supplanting of of bricks and mortar with online stuff.
From memory much if not all of the northern side of Oxford St (your second video) is owned by City of Sydney Council, so regeneration is more than usually up to them.
The last shop on your first video (southern side) is actually moving to 34 Oxford St.
All the best for your ordeal today under the knife. I hope you didn’t let them palm you off with panadol! Now’s the time to get some superior drugs prescribed.
They’ve given me recovery drugs which my niece, a nurse, described as “the good stuff”.
Re Oxford Street. I think there’s also the fact we’re in transition to a more home-based economy it seems. That said,I would like a few more restaurants that didn’t only involve hamburgers. Yes, you’re right re City of Sydney, and one of the terrific things they’ve done in recent years is open up the empty shops for art spaces.
While I wouldn’t describe it as a sad deserted street, it is not the lively street it once was. Yes, revitalising Oxford Street…..five years or more.
That looked like hard thirsty work. I hope you found somewhere to keep your fluids up.
Hehehehe. Afternoon walk only.
I expect covid accounts for a few of those closed shops. Earlier the licensing law changes had a big impact.
Once (say 1980-2010) almost every gay man would have an “Oxford St phase.” Now youngsters can more readily find like-minded others simply amongst their acquaintances generally. There is less need for a gay ghetto and residentially it probably has moved anyway because of the general gentrification real estate cycle.
It’s not really possible to disentangle the other effects of rising rents and the supplanting of of bricks and mortar with online stuff.
From memory much if not all of the northern side of Oxford St (your second video) is owned by City of Sydney Council, so regeneration is more than usually up to them.
The last shop on your first video (southern side) is actually moving to 34 Oxford St.
All the best for your ordeal today under the knife. I hope you didn’t let them palm you off with panadol! Now’s the time to get some superior drugs prescribed.
They’ve given me recovery drugs which my niece, a nurse, described as “the good stuff”.
Re Oxford Street. I think there’s also the fact we’re in transition to a more home-based economy it seems. That said,I would like a few more restaurants that didn’t only involve hamburgers. Yes, you’re right re City of Sydney, and one of the terrific things they’ve done in recent years is open up the empty shops for art spaces.