Today, for the first time in what felt like years, I went to the central business district of Sydney. It was all very grown up. I put on a black dress. I dug out my old 'ad girl' handbag and I left the three little misses at three different venues to enter the Sydney world of corporate workers, shops upon shops and bus-loads/cruise-ship liners full of tourists.
The reason for this small adventure was very dull; involving form filling, a dodgy cup of tea (over strong and too small) and an endearingly awkward banker-type asking questions about cancer, dementia and skin lesions. Life insurance, boring but important. Although hopefully not.
But once that was done I was free to spend two hours sauntering through the city that I have chosen to call home. Sydney. The name immediately conjures up images of sparkling water, the opera house sails and that bridge. It is all definitely still there, in all it's glory, and time doesn't make it any less impressive. Looking out across the harbour to the majestic opera house (what a visionary Utzon was) brought back all my first impressions of the city.
In many ways it doesn't seem that long ago since I arrived here for a two year adventure. A funny, brown serviced apartment on Hyde Park overlooking the next door office block, an evening walk through increasingly empty streets to be greeted by that view. But my first sighting of circular quay was actually 14 years ago, when the pound bought you two and a half dollars and the toaster building was still an architect's dream. Time flies, doesn't it?
I ambled fairly aimlessly, much as I had done as a newly arrived Pom, wandering along Pitt Street Mall and wondering where the sunshine had gone and I happened across the new Westfield Centre. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. It is dark and confusing and a bit soulless. Give me the ageing piano player in David Jones any day.
I took the 1.10pm ferry back to the 'burbs. That was what clinched it. I don't get tired of this city. I love it. I love the view you get into the homes of the rich and famous as you scoot round the harbour on the water. I love that fact that Sydney has welcomed me and got into my blood and become home to our family of five. As the ferry reversed away from me and I headed back to my car, I decided that I would start writing about Sydney. It will be a very personal view of what life is like here, a slice of my life in Sydney, but I'd love it if you came along for the ride.
