Cup cakes

Display in the window of a shop specialising in chef's equipment and commerical kitchen goods. These "cookie jars" make a colourful addition to the mainly stainless steel and white goods.

Newtown - designer graffiti?

Inside the button shop

This is where yesterday's door led. It is a treasure house of the most beautiful buttons, many vintage 1950s and 1960s.

Closed today!

What a pity this shop with the intriguing door handle is closed today...we'll have to come back tomorrow to see what's inside!

Never mind, there's still plenty to enjoy on a stroll along King St. It's a good day's walk if you do the full length, stopping for coffees and browsing shops along the way. Lots of second hand bookshops attract me.

One of the things I love most about Newtown is that EVERYONE is here - it isn't just representative of ONE group of people. There are oldtime residents, students, Goths, political activists, gays and lesbians (and yes, please feel free to walk hand in hand and show affection to your same-sex partner), young families with kids in trendy jogging strollers, Pacific Island immigrants (the Greeks and Turks of a previous generation having mainly moved on, but there is still the large Greek Orthodox church), conservative protestant Christian theologians from Moore College (who now own the building which when I was a student at Sydney Uni in the 1970s was a pub with the best beer garden - the White Horse) , public housing residents, famous right wing shock jocks (Alan Jones), people with electric blue of flourescent pink hair, the tattooed and pierced and dreadlocked....it's truly eclectic.

Newtown coffee shop

Newtown is an inner city suburb not far from where I live. It's been gentrified over the past 20 years or so, and now houses more cafes than you can contemplate, African hair salons, two community theatres, an art house multiscreen cinema, a thousand Thai restaurants, vintage clothing shops, retro furniture ... The shops are a delight because it's a long, long strip of individual shops along King St - no shopping mall, no chain stores (or very few). At the northern end you find Sydney University, and large houses - it's the most gentrified. At the southern, St Peters end, thinks are still a little bit grungier, although change is very rapid. In the past couple of weekends I've been there I've noticed a few shops being gutted and re-fitted.

Today I went to buy a new filter for my Moka espreso coffee maker. Allegro is a Newtown institution, and sells some of the best ground and roasted coffee in Sydney. It also retains its beautiful shopfront, and delightfully 1960s interior click on the photo to see the wallpaper and wall tiles!).

Developer's goals

In Sydney, it's often said that property developers rule. This sculpture is located in one of the most controversial development sites in central Sydney in recent years - World Square. For many years it was a huge ugly hole in the ground.

This sculpture is called "The Challenge". The attached plaque says:

"The bull, a mythological beast, is the embodiment of spirituality and symbolises the qualities of strength, endurance and tenacity necessary in meeting the many challenges encountered in achieving success.

OSW Properties, the developer of this site, admires these qualities and applies them in setting it's [sic] own goals in the development industry."

Maybe its first goal should be to learn to use its correctly on public plaques. Own goal, OSW Properties, despite the bravado.

Al-Zahra Mosque

This well decorated entrance is to Al-Zahra mosque in my suburb. It's a Shi'ite mosque, with adherents mainly from Lebanon, but also many Iraqis (and others I guess). It was established in 1980, certainly the first Shi'ite mosque in Sydney (and it may still be the only Shi'ite one; not sure on that).

Unlike when I lived in Turkey, however, you never hear the call to prayer.

It's also rare to hear church bells in Sydney , something I remember fondly from living in England. Noise laws I think.

Australian Coat of Arms

This rendering of the Coat of Arms is found on Law Courts in Macquarie St Sydney. You can find a full description of it here.

The kangaroo and emu are pretty obvious. In the shield in the middle, from left to right, top to bottom:

• cross of St George and lion (New South Wales)
• Imperial crown and Southern Cross (Victoria)
• Maltese cross and Imperial crown (Queensland)
• Australian piping shrike (South Australia)
• Black Swan (Western Australia)
• Lion (Tasmania)

The star above the shield is the seven pointed Federation Star - one point for each of the six state and one representing the territories. The circular thing is representative of a wreath.

Public Education

The billboard on the left is sponsored by the NSW Teachers federation, the union representing public school teachers. It has no control over the billboard on the right...I think they look like Great Kids.

Vanishing icons: the Holden Monaro GTS

The Monaro was made by Holden, the Australian branch of General Motors from 1968 to 1979. It was a rev-head's car of choice. I pass this lovingly restored example on my walk to the station each morning. I especially love the "Monaro Parking Only" sign!

Wikipedia has some more info here, and there's a history of the Monaro, including this model, here.