There's No Place Like Home (Pt. III)

And so you’re probably thinking that with this questioning of exactly where home is, that this would be an opportune time to do a cheesy thing and quote Peter Allen by saying “I still call Australia Home”. Well, it would be correct to a good extent, although I’m still not sure where in Australia that would be. I now have yet another city in Australia where that just may be...

Sydney: Touching down around midday and after being collected at the airport by Mark, it was back to his and Jen’s place for an afternoon with them, Mum n Dad to meet Oscar. Oscar is the little fella on the right here. Mark and Jen’s brand new son (as of 4 days before my above mentioned landing). He is also my nephew. Being about a week old meant that he didn’t do much, but it was kinda cool to meet him even if he won’t remember.

With Mum n Dad departing in the late afternoon, the three of us (Mark, Jen and I) relaxed with some takeaway before Sheryl arrived to while away the evening over a few wines. We eventually left Mark n Jen to it and headed back to Sheryl’s where we had a nightcap or few as we caught up on what we’d been up to since we’d last seen each other - this was shortly after high school if you’re curious, so at around 5.30am we called it a night after talking up a storm.

The next day saw a very tired Sheryl head in to work a bit late, while I spent the day with Mark, Jen and Oscar. Okay, so not much with Jen and Oscar as they went through that first week cycle of sleeping, feeding, etc... but Mark and I managed to catch up for a bit and succeeded in puting some of the baby gear together - feeding chair and other items.

Later, Sheryl and I left them to it to go and have dinner in Glebe. We then had a couple of drinks in a nearby tapas bar and continued where we left off the night before. I honestly don’t think I’ve spent so much time talking with someone before. To be fair, it has been well over a decade since we’d seen each other, despite renewing contact about a year ago.

How come we were suddenly catching up like this, you ask. Simple really... As Sheryl lives about 10mins from Mark n Jens’ it made sense to take up her offer to stay there instead of being nearly an hour up the coast where Mum n Dad were staying...

Thursday saw Mark, Jen, Oscar and myself head that near hour up the coast to see Mum n Dad - how’s the view from the apartment they were staying in? Nice work Pete!! All up a very pleasant family day together til the late evening after dinner. Oscar was incredibly well behaved right up until he woke up part way through the drive home - he then showed us just what a non-behaving baby can be like... I know it sounds wrong, but I’m glad I wasn’t staying there the night!

Friday turned out to be a very relaxed day - Sheryl and I had a late breakfast in a nice cafe in Glebe before strolling down to the nearby shopping centre. Have I mentioned how good the warm sunny weather had been yet?? Anyway, we spent a couple of hours poking about while I picked up all the items I had been requested to collect for those friends back in London - Mint Slices, Cheetos, CDs, a drinks tray with a kangaroo on it, etc... Later, after going through a new second hand furniture shop, it was the discovery of banana bread over a coffee in a nearby cafe/bookstore. “in” a cafe is probably the wrong term as we were outside in a palm-treed courtyard at the back of the bookstore. But, I digress... the banana bread - about an inch thick, toasted and buttered was pretty impressive! That evening we had a casual dinner in a nearby pub followed by a nightcap (or few).

Saturday began in pretty much the same way as Friday but at a different cafe. This time with an art gallery - lunch/breakfast... pretty much the same thing. Hell, it was a Saturday and you don’t have to get up early on Saturday if you don’t want. Anyway, after a bit of a domestic afternoon, we headed off to Frase, Tine & Klaer’s for dinner. You may remember them from my trip to Copenhagen earlier in the year. We met Mum n Dad there for a late afternoon and evening with dinner. A good night together. On the way home, Sheryl was happy to drop me off in the city to be able to catch up with Tony, Tommy, Col, Clarkey and Horsey for a few hours before heading back. Again, we spent the evening chatting away while watching Rage, or whatever late night music video programme was on...

Sunday, was yet another sunny day, so we headed to the Opera Bar at Circular Quay for lunch and to just spend the day lazing in the sun with a few wines. This is where I took the photo at the beginning of this post. A perfect day with barely a cloud in the sky. With the sun going down, we made our way back to Mark n Jen’s for dinner and a funny night of all sorts of stories. A good evening for my last night (for a time) in Sydney, and Australia, for that matter.

Monday saw Sheryl leave for work while I headed off with Mum n Dad for an early lunch in a tree covered courtyard of yet another cafe. After this it was time to head to the airport and the flight “home” to London. Several movies later (The Boat That Rocked, He’s Just not that into You, Star Trek, Kung Fu Chefs and High Fidelity if you’re curious) and I was touching down in London on a cold and overcast 9C morning...

Home? For now it is, but while I’ve never thought of Sydney being such a place it’s now quite on the cards that it could be...