Chill days for me while Em is working hard

I didn’t not write a blog yesterday as it was an easy day, and not many scrapes to be got into… I know that will not last!

I was awoken, not by a dawn chorus, but by the neighbour hoovering the garden…. It is not even astroturf…. Enough said.

Emily was working from home for the day, and in her lunch hour we went on a walk (forced march!) down the street in Newtown so I could get a better look around, and I was enticed by promise of a fantastic bakery at the turning point….  The bakery did not let us down - I had a bacon and cheese quiche and Em had pumpkin and feta quiche - they were fabulous!  Miss Lily’s Bakery (what3words soil.riches.credit) - if you are ever in Newtown - pop in!

One thing I have noticed is that NO-ONE jaywalks here, they all wait patiently for the little green man to appear, and only cross at designated crossings - I mean, safety first after all… Em says it is illegal to jaywalk - not sure I believe her, given that she said the walk we did the other day was an easy walk.... 

We also called in at the Super8 shop so Em could buy some film for her camera (I know! Old school!!) and let me tell you, there was a queue out of the door for this place - it seems film, like vinyl is back.

To find one old camera/film shop is something in itself - but there are actually 3 in a row here - and rent is not cheap in Newtown, so it seems the trend is real...

We called in at Em’s favourite plant shop - whose name I cannot remember right now, but was a beautiful oasis of calm and greenery.  They host classes in making terrarium which look pretty cool, so that might be an option one day when Em is working in the office.

We passed this house

and I have been daydreaming about buying it, but when I looked up the listing it is listed as a commercial property (8 studio flats as opposed to one family house) and is open to offers so no price listed - looking at other propertie3 in the area though, a 5 bedroom house close by has just sold for £1.7m AUD which I reckon is cheap (approx. 2AUD =1£) for only being 20 minutes from Sydney Harbour!   Maybe I will become a property mogul….lol 

Every other store is a ‘Vintage’ store, which essentially is old clothes being sold for exorbitant money and next to the ‘vintage’ stores are charity shops, which is where all the ‘vintage’ clothes go to die when they don’t sell in the Vintage shop.  Who doesn’t enjoy a good root around a vintage/charity shop?  Especially when I am constantly thinking - ‘oh, I used to have one like that’! 

We rounded off the chill day with a trip to the cinema - it was budget Tuesdays, all tickets $13 rather than the normal $26.  I was very intrigued by the wine list on offer.... 

Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling - what a movie!  It has been all over my social media newsfeeds, which would normally mean it was going to be rubbish and needed the hype, but it was fabulous.  Funny, poignant, a bit sad, but actually, really great.

One thing that was NOT great were the snacks!

Em got popcorn - they only seem to do regular popcorn - we did not get the option of sweet - so in need of sugar, I opted for maltesers - you cannot go wrong with maltesers.....WRONG! Australia, what have you done to Maltesers????? They were awful. The wrong texture, the wrong taste - just wrong. They were so bad that I did not eat them, and neither did Em - never been heard of before. I might start a petition!

Today I walked down to Em's gym with her while she went for a Pilates class in her lunch hour, and mooched my way back up King Street primarily to find a coffee shop to sit and watch the world go by.... but I got sucked in to the 'vintage' shops along the way and lost an hour :) I wanted to find somewhere to get a drink, but I just could not decide where to go - there is just too much choice. All kinds of food is on offer here, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mexican, as well as the obligatory Italian and Greek places - but you know when there is just too much choice you cannot decide? I ended up back at the very first coffee shop Em took me to on day one, and very nice it was too. It is called Shenkin (what3words chains.cafe.pages) and I whiled away what time I had left until Em caught me back up watching the world go by from a prime seat in the window. 

To give you an idea of the vibe of Newtown... this is where everyone comes for a night out - but not just bars/clubs - I passed two Theatres today, and there is a late night bookstore, and Em and I are going to give this a try next Monday...

(yes, the sign was in the window of a 'vintage' shop, but that is not where the poetry slam is :))

Tonight we jumped on a triple decker train

and headed off to the CBD (Central Business District) so that Emily could buy more camera equipment, and to have a wander around the harbour. It brought back memories of the last time we were here.

I am sure this will not be the only pic of the SOH....

We had ice cream by the harbour and were serenaded by buskers - one of whom sang tunes from Phantom of the Opera, so that was cute.

I do love a cityscape at night. I even managed to channel my inner Emily - it is a well known fact that I will wait for 20 minutes for everyone to get out of my shot, and Emily will wait 20 minutes for someone to walk into shot..... but I managed to get some people blurred through my pic - you are never too old to learn a new trick!

We came back to Newtown with the intention of going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, but I don't know what it is about a Wednesday night, but everywhere was really busy - we ended up at a dumpling place, called Best Gourmet (what3words storms.fines.icons) but it was not best or gourmet - I do not recommend it at all. I think the problem was that they forgot about our order, so many people who came after us were served their food first, so when we got the deep fried squid, it was inedible. The dumplings were ok though. Emily would not let me tell the staff about the squid.... NOT recommended! 

Anyway, home for Emily to play with her new camera flash gun and I am flying solo tomorrow as Emily has to go to the office - no doubt I will get lost and chaos will ensue....