Cook's River Festival

Sustain festival took place over the road yesterday. It's a showcase for local eco groups plus food and entertainment. It's not a huge event which gives it a good community feel. John, being a postie in Dulwich Hill, ran into numerous people from his beat.

The best thing is being able to get food without having to leave home - I went for the Turkish Gozleme.

The band, The Bakery , were a great mix of humour, reggae/roots beats and spectacle. And there was a lot of them!

My only gripe was with a woman from the State Emergency Service. She was helping to man the SES tent, so I asked her for advice about possible Cook's River flooding. With my home being on the floodplain, it's sensible to prepare for the worst. "I wouldn't buy there. I just wouldn't live there" was her response. I know that the SES are volunteers, but those with no PR skills should perhaps be shepherded away from SES information kiosk.

And if you were wondering, there was a cow there - but no yellow Wellies.

Dead Gran = Savings

Here's a garage sale ad that John found in Dulwich Hill. Obviously a much loved granny .I love the illustrations.

Back Fence

This is not a rural scene, but actually my back fence. It has a great rustic charm that looks great in photos, but is not practical. And of course there's the obligatory cameo by Boulee.

The time has come to sadly suburbanise the perimeter - Colourbond fencing to the cliff. Chris, from next door, I think has been wanting a full fence for some time but the previous owner couldn't, or wouldn't, afford it. I believe that they had some disputes about boundaries.

Now what should have been a single day job ended up having complications. There was very little soil up near the cliff face, meaning a specialist drill was needed to get through the sandstone. Below you can see one of the sandstone cores that was removed from a post hole. It now makes a handy doorstop.

You also get a good view of Chris's chooks - just a part of his avian managerie which includes cockatoos and pigeons.

Art Department

This is the lovely art department, my work colleagues. Jo, Hazel and James. Hazel and James are both Londoners, and Hazel is about to head home as she misses the drizzle and warm beer. Or something like that. James hates drizzle and warm beer, and so is staying put. Or something like that.

Cool Plumbing

 

Here's some quirky plumbing from Milsons Point, where I often swim. If maintenance was easier, I'd love to see trailing plants cascading from the planters.

Murder and Bashing

Excerpt from The Australian:

A TEENAGE boy charged with the murder of a 30-year-old chef cried when he faced Sydney Children's Court in front of his family this morning.

The emotional youth was one of two 16-year-olds arrested yesterday over the murder of Daniel Owen, who died outside his Marrickville home in June.

Owen's body was found in the driveway of a home on Illawarra Road with head injuries shortly after midnight on Sunday June 15.

Shortly beforehand Ms Gay, 26, was struck in the head from behind in Steel Park, Marrickville, by two male youths who demanded her handbag.

Ms Gay, who plays nurse Gabrielle Jaeger in the Seven Network hospital drama All Saints, suffered minor injuries, including swelling and bruising to her head.

Police also dealt with the assault and robbery of a 20-year-old man a short distance away on Illawarra Road on the same night.

Link.

These extremely disturbing events occured in close proximity to my home - the Ms Gay bashing being a few houses away. John and I were home as well, but didn't hear a thing. The first we knew was when the police doorknocked.

My little bit of Marrickvile is sort of out of the way of any entertainment, pubs and the station so is generally pretty quiet; which makes serious crime here even harder to comprehend.

8 Central Avenue

This is where I'll be working in 2010. Pacific Magazines and Channel Seven will relocate to Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh. I can't wait as my travel time to work will be halved, and more reliable as I won't have to catch two trains. This is the start of a twelve storey building.