Robot Claw

We traveled to Sydney today, via a hired car. The trip was luxurious and delivered us right to our hotel.

We’re staying in the one just in front of the tower (in the above pic) and overlooking the park. Our rooms are quite fancy and have park views, and we’ll be very comfortable the two nights we’re staying.

First we stopped by the cathedral, where mum lit the traditional candle.

Outside I snapped this quick shot of what I think might be a statue of Gandalf…?

And then we got down to the purpose of our trip: shopping. Mum hasn’t been in Sydney for years and I’m here to navigate, help her shop and take care of the food situation. We filled several hours today easily, and I don’t doubt tomorrow will be nonstop as well!

Oh and the Vivid Festival has begun. It’s mostly at night since it’s light based, so I’ll be leaving it until I return to Sydney once again before I travel home. However today I stumbled upon one installation, the Rainbow Room, which is a mirrored room full of lights near Chinatown. A friendly girl shut me in (alone) long enough for me to snap a few trippy photos 🙂

Lazy day today, mostly taking care of some tasks to assist mum and preparing for our trip to Sydney tomorrow.

I found the time for a walk later in the day, to the antique shops near mums. There are fewer now than there used to be, but they’ve become somewhat extraordinary in terms of the weird ephemera they contain, such as a giant display of cassette albums in one of them.

And if prerecorded music isn’t your thing, they also had a load of blank cassettes!

If cassettes are too modern for you, the other store had a large collection of phonograph cylinders! These weren’t priced so I don’t even know if they are for sale, but it was amazing to see so many together.

The same store had this lovely display of uranium glass. It was illuminated with a black light, and phosphoresces due to the presence of uranium in the glass (which means it is slightly radioactive).

I considered buying one, but even the smaller pieces are expensive and would be difficult to transport.

I feel these stores hide treasures that I need to find. I’ll probably return when I have a little more time 🙂

When I was young, did I think days like today were cold as well? Or was it true, since (as a child) I ‘didn’t feel the cold‘ that I wasn’t as bothered even then? At any rate for me today was glorious, and yet almost everyone else I saw was bundled up and hurrying inside.

I walked the Fernleigh Track today, as I do every time I’m here. It wasn’t busy and the birds were happy to see me, chirping loudly as I walked along.

I navigated the tunnel without being murdered, and exited the track at Kahibah. As I walked the streets toward Charlestown Square I walked past the little shop we used to buy lollies, fireworks and Star Wars cards. A bit further on was our old church, almost unrecognizable now the tiny shrubs have grown into magnificent gum trees. I stopped in at Charlestown library, which is now more computers and multimedia than books (and doesn’t even have a sci-fi section any more) and eventually made my way to the Square and lunch.

Even though I’d been walking almost two hours by now, I had found my second wind! The Square was obnoxiously busy so I quickly departed to walk home. This was madness of course, but I didn’t hesitate in my decision. It was about noon now and the weather was wonderful: about 60F and warmer in the sun with a very light breeze.

I walked past the cinema on the hill, and what used to be the arcade where I once played Snow Bros for hours. Continuing along the highway I walked past the old home of a friend whose name I’ve forgotten, and then turned down the too-steep Madison Avenue down to Kotara. The walk was easier than expected, and I now know that the time GW and I did this 30 years ago was less an accomplishment than I have always thought (except for the fact we used storm water drains).

I had a very brief stop at Westfield Kotara (to buy bread, a snack, and bandaids for my bleeding foot) and continued on. It had been about four hours now and over 20,000 steps but I still had energy in abundance! So I decided on a detour to a local toy/hobby shop and the Maccas across the road.

I neglected to mention I was laden with stuff. I’d made purchases at each mall and at the toy shop and I had a stuffed backpack and shopping bag. I must have looked like a hobo at this point, but it was only a short twenty minutes or so back to mums.

In total I walked for about six hours and just about 30,000 steps. It was a good walk 🙂

I bought one of these:

These have been around since I was a youngling, and were always a special treat when we were kids. Here’s what it looked like out of the wrapper:

First of all we observe the ice crystals and the fact the nose is coming out of the bottom of his right eye, but if we ignore that we concede he’s mostly accurate to the packaging, down to the bullet hole in the top right of his hat. I don’t remember the chocolate backing from when I was a child, but I’m sure it’s always been there.

So how does it taste?

In a word: awful. Even overlooking the fact I dislike chocolate ice cream, I found the texture of the ice-cream to be weirdly soft and dusty and the chocolate on the back tasted hideous. Luckily Sue was happy to eat the chocolate and handed it back with only the strawberry ice-cream left:

Even this was awful. The taste was marginally better than the chocolate but it had the texture of popcorn chicken, which is to say more like tofu or aerogel than actual ice cream. As this point this frozen novelty was pretty much the worst ice cream I’ve ever eaten, but it still had the bubblegum nose and this could turn the entire thing around…

But… it was abysmal. The ball (which seems smaller than when we were kids) was more like compounded powder than gum, and tasted of pez or sweet tarts (ie. awful). I suspect this is that sort of sweet that starts as candy and turns to gum in the mouth, but the taste and impression of eating it was so terrible I had to spit it out. When we were kids this was a bubblegum nose, not a weird lolly that (maybe?) turns to bubblegum after a while!!

Ultimately this frozen novelty was an absolute fail. I hated the taste and texture of the ice cream, the chocolate backing and – worst of all – the nose. I’ll never eat one of these ever again, and perhaps even my fond memories from childhood are now erased. You can guess my score!

I walked and walked today, to and then along the sea.

Merewether was gusty and chill, and the waves roared over the sea wall behind the baths. Only a few brave souls were swimming and they didn’t look comfortable!

The paddle pool was sheltered from the waves and glasslike. It looks quiet and peaceful but as I was standing there the crashing sound of the waves behind me was ceaseless. I like this photo and may one day use it in a lecture on reflections.

I walked on past Bar Beach and Cooks Hill toward Newcastle Beach. The surf was powerful and the beaches were empty of all but a few surfers. I walked past more giant apartment buildings that have sprung up along the coast, and thought about how the Newcastle of my youth is mostly gone. But the beach never changes, and the above photo is virtually identical to others I have made 10 or 20 years ago and probably also identical to those of 100 years hence.

To commemorate my coastal excursion it seemed only right to eat some fish and chips for lunch. This ($10!) serving was much more than I needed and I overate. It’s a good thing I walked and walked today, to burn it off.

Remember all the stamps I bought at the stamp show? Over several evenings I pre-stamped them onto postcards and the above photo reveals just how many I needed! I’ll leave it to you to decide if I went overboard 🙂