Snowflakes and spiders

On Monday there was a slight trace of a gentle perfume in the garden, I thought it was maybe the grapefruit tree next door but on Tuesday morning the whole house was full of a heavy, rich perfume and flowers had opened overnight on the tree at the back door and one in the street. Not as sweet as star jasmine, but stronger and every bit as lovely. No idea what the tree is called. And later the ground underneath was covered in white blossoms with more petals falling like snow. The bees love it too, you should hear the buzzing.

However, with gardens and undergrowth inevitably come……SPIDERS! Anyone who knows me will know I’m petrified of spiders (except daddy longlegs and small jumping spiders) and I’ve been wary each time we’ve come to Australia expecting them to jump out at me. In the yard out playing Oisin casually said ‘oh there’s a cockroach’ which didn’t worry me. BUT……. Look again, it was actually a fairly sizeable huntsman tearing up and down an outdoor cushion Jen was shifting. Just as well I was two meters away. It took a couple of attempts to kill it and the dead body was pretty big. Scary for sure, and I was too scared to even move or scream.

Flowers and trees are really vibrant, beautiful colours all around the area. Ashfield is a fairly old suburb, Jen and Vince live in an 1880’s workers cottage with a few similar cottages in the street. Many houses are brick, some have lovely tiled paths and entrances, some are in good nick, others falling apart. There aren’t many terraces like you see in the inner city, and there are a lot of three- and four-storey newer apartment complexes. Jen said a lot of the area has been rezoned to allow higher density housing so I guess in ten years the suburb will look a lot different.

On Tuesday the boys were in day care, Jen and I went shopping, we left Pete at home – he was happy doing a few jobs for Vince so went to Bunnings for a couple of brackets so had to try out the café (no Mitre 10 here) and even used a self-checkout which we both try to avoid. And so did I at Uniqlo. Technophobes!

We went by train and I noticed the mystery man on the side of a building, don’t know who he is but he looks as though he’s being seen through slightly opaque glass, it’s a great sight.

Shopping was great, so many shops, so much choice, I’d forgotten what it was like to live in a big city. I’d been looking for shoes and found them reasonably easily, bought a dress, top and jumper so came home happy.

We had a wander round the Queen Victoria Building – QVB – beautiful stained glass, high ceilings, Victorian tilework, saved from demolition some years ago and now full of high-end shops. On previous visits we’ve had high tea there, a real treat if you have time.

It was so nice to spend a day with Jen, just like old times when we lived in Singapore.Read more