each little beach has a pool
4 minute read
I've spent the last few days in Sydney. I came here to see Arca perform at the Opera house, and figured I might as well make a weekend of it. I had such a good time last time I visited Sydney, I wanted to see the art galleries and spend more time in the city. Tonight is my last night, I have an early morning flight back to Naarm tomorrow.
It's been a great trip experience wise. Arca was very cool to see live, I spent all friday at art galleries, and I had a lovely catch up with a friend E from Argentina on Saturday.
Me and E walked from Coogee to Bondi, a much longer walk than I expected, but beautiful. The Sydney coast has lovely form, a mix of small bay like beaches and rocky cliffs. Each little beach has a pool built beside it for swimming. They really know how to do coastal life here - Melbourne is embarrassing in comparison. That being said, I think the sea here has a certain temprament that allows it. Alive enough to enjoy, but not destructively powerful.
We talked the whole time. I feel very flattered that she spoke in spanish from the get go. I'm sure I've said this before, but I am very proud of not just the language comprehension I maintained from when I first visited, but also the improvement from then. When someone is confident enough in my ability to speak spanish that they launch into it without so much as a "preferís inglés o español?" it's validating. Even more so with E - She's a qualified legal translator and works as an english teacher here. Her english is impeccable.
Enough fawning over my own language accomplishment, part of this trip is about turning to my next "big thing". I need to download the necessary forms for a Portuguese working-holiday visa, and make a list of the requirements. It asks of me the one thing I struggle to give any task - an organised approach to administration. I'm confident I can overcome this challenge.
After the first night here I went back to the 10 bed shared dorm I'd booked in the interest of saving money and had the worst sleep I've had in a long time. There was the night club downstairs, which rumbled bass through the foundations of the building, and worse than that there was a snoring roommate. It wasn't a loud snore, and not the worst I've heard, but it was enough to make sleep difficut. I cycled between headphones and a repeating "red noise" track I used in 2018 to help with G's snoring when we travelled together. Compounding issues, I haven't fully healed from being sick the other week and if I'm honest, I'm still sick now. It appears to get worse when I'm run down or stressed, so I spent the whole night struggling to sleep with a sore chest and throat, googling sore chest symptoms and luxury hotels. I forfeited the rest of the hostel bill and booked a private hotel room at a budget hotel (thankfully talked myself out of the luxury hotel) in Darlinghurst. It was the right decision, last night I slept like a log.
Yesterday, between walking a lot and the good sleep, I saw yet another show at the Opera House. The Middle East (An australian folk band), Aldous Harding (Gothic Folk from Lyttelton) and Explosions in the Sky (instrumental prog rock). I booked the tickets in great part because I thought "I might as well do something on Saturday night", and also off the recomendation of a friend who has good taste in music. I knew the first two acts, and Aldous Harding is a favourite of mine - this was the 3rd time I've seen her live, but Explosions in the Sky was a new experience. Not only new but, as it turns out, a bit of a marathon. They played an entire album, and then a few more songs, for what was a 1hr 45m long set. I cannot imagine having this much stamina on an instrument. Good show, good way to get to know a new band. Also, good light show.
Today I walked about Surry Hills - went to a couple of cafes that had good reviews. There's a downside to using a popular website to find a good cafe - everybody else did the same. They were all very busy. At the second I got a takeaway filter coffee, served from a novel self serve faucet. I sat in a park for a while on some stairs in the sun. There was a slight breeze, autumn leaves drifted down, and skimmed across the concrete. It was serene and sublime. I went to the Surry Hills Library and wrote a long overdue email to grandma, with photos from the thailand trip and my two latest poems. I didn't love how I'd written the email, but on reading back it was better than I realised. Now I'm in a gastropub, writing this journal entry.
With the way my health is going I'll have a few more quiet evenings this week, I'd like to follow up this entry with a backlog of thoughts, literature, and other shit stuff. I've been doing a lot of work implementing my own little js scripts for L System grammars and a pixel based turtle interpretation strings. I'd like to record it here.
listening to
questions
- What to do now that I am full to the brim?