An old git rants about the weather

After a lost evening, we were up early and ready for the promised tour around Sydney courtesy of Joe and Debs Chadwick, who have a wonderful house high up in Vaucluse on the coast. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures at 9am were replaced by a brisk southerly wind, plummeting temperatures and scudding cloud by 9.30. Sydney, which the day before in the sunshine and with the bustle of a Saturday, was one of the best cities in the world, turned into a dull and unremarkable place with the arrival of poor weather. We were driven up the coast in search of a hearty breakfast, where we eventually found space at Bill’s Place in Paddington, although we had to seek shelter from the wind inside. By that I mean that someone was producing a great deal of wind outside.  It seems a Sunday tradition that all Australians go out for breakfast as almost all the cafe’s were packed. Bill is apparently famous as a chef down here and has written books on cooking. You may be forgiven for thinking that you may not need too much advice on how to cook grubs and insects, staple food for indigenous Australians,  but they have moved on. Bill was able to cook my sweetcorn fritter on a bed of spinach with a green salsa side dish to perfection and as a result,  it must rank amongst the best breakfasts I have ever had.

Touring the smart Sydney suburbs in Rose Bay, Watson’s Bay and Bondi Beach was very a pleasant and we stopped at Doyle’s the famous seafood eatery for a beer, as by that time the sun had passed the yardarm, but again, too much wind had an impact so it was not the experience I remembered from 10 years ago when I was last here. Then, I had raved about Doyle’s but yesterday it looked tatty and uninteresting. I must be getting old. I have a picture taken yesterday of Clovelly Beach when it was sunny, which is a totally different prospect.

Clovelly Beach in Sydney, when it was sunny and warm

Lured back to the city, with under two days to go before we leave, and with”Chuckle Brothers and “Lady in Waiting” Surtees fresh in from the Barrier Reef, we headed out to introduce them to the Rocks area of Sydney where we are staying and happened upon The Vintage Cafe for dinner.  Soon I shall be back basking in the comparative warmth of an English winter, and back to extolling the benefits of opening an account with Currencies Direct, but until then I am determined to “enjoy” the summer weather here in Sydney. It is just that  don’t have enough clothing to keep out the cold. Global warming? Pah!

The exchange rates when I was last in Sydney were roughly Auz$3 to the £. Now they are nearly Auz$1.50 to the £ with the result that everything here is now horribly expensive. It is utterly ridiculous that we can buy Australian wine back in the UK cheaper than we can here, and the restaurants are particularly to blame, Auz$60 for a half decent bottle of Shiraz takes a lot of the fun out of it.

So, last full day in Australia and we have not yet seen Darling Harbour, which sounds like a place my style guru, Mr Humphries might enjoy (if he was free),  and that reminds me that there is a gathering at La Kavanou in Valbonne for the launch of a book by A Somebody on Thursday between 3 and 6. Mysterious? why not pop in if you are in the area to find out?

Chris France

@Valbonne_News