Archive Page 2

You know that dude who’s always trying to sell/give you a copy of The Green Left, like EVERYwhere you go, Redfern Market, Glebe market, Central station, Broadway, like everywhere.

You know him, right? Kinda weedy looking, pretty youngish, I suppose, but has one of those faces that means he could be 14 or 40 and you wouldn’t know. He has a scraggly little beard that he’s been growing since before Kurt Cobain topped himself.

I used to think I must’ve known him in Newcastle cos he just looked so familiar. And then I realised that I just saw him all the fucking time, standing there politely, holding a copy of The Green Left.

So, I walked past him twice this week, both times on Abercrombie Street, but he wasn’t giving/selling The Green Left. He was on his way to or from a rally or something, hurrying along with some bearded old dude who could’ve been his dad or his mentor or his lover. Who am I to speculate?

The first time he was holding a placard in support of Aboriginal rights. The second time the placards were all wrapped up in brown paper. Secret placards.

But both times we walked past each other it was near the Carlton Brewery site. Fuckn dude is EVERYwhere.


The compromise

27Nov09

Running down Wilson Street yesterday afternoon, I passed a man walking his dog while reading a book. They were going along at a nice easy pace, and they both seemed incredibly content. It’s heartening to see two creatures reach a happy compromise for their needs.


Quoted in this week’s Central mag, Roller Derbyist Simone Boudoir expresses surprise that most of the other Roller Derby women are from around Newtown.

I don’t know why that is; maybe the girls from the Eastern Suburbs are a bit princessy.

Yeah.

Ooooo-kay.

Or maybe, despite what Hollywood movies might try to tell you, Roller Derby is the second dykiest sport in the world (behind soccer) and Newtown and surrounds is the dykiest area of Sydney. Just maybe.


The tussle

18Nov09

Battle of the sexes, oh battle of the sexes. Women, men, Venus, Mars, emotional, logical, desire, desired, strength, beauty, brutality, sympathy.

This and that and blah blah blah, what nonsense it all is.

There is no battle of the sexes, only the occasional tussle between various genders.


Two very small boys stopped me as I was walking past the corner store.

‘Hey, have you got 10 cents,’ one asked me.

‘What?’

‘I need 10 cents to give to the shopkeeper.’ He held out his very small hands, in which were icecreams and chocolates.

‘Nah,’ said the other boy. ‘We need $2.’  He was also holding chocolates and icecream.

I took out my earphones. ‘So what do you need?’

‘Ten cents.’

‘Nah! $2.’

‘No!’ said the first boy, turning on the other. ‘We only need 10 cents.’

‘Well,’ I said, taking out my wallet. ‘Here’s 20 cents.’

2 bucks tenThanks,’ said the boy, and he ran into the shop to pay the keeper.

‘Can I have $2?’ said the other boy.

‘No,’ I said.

‘Well, how about a dollar?’

 

‘No,’ I said, and put in my earphones again.

One of those boys will go far, but I wonder which one?


Boozing on the pavement is not just for plebs. It’s not some bogan or homeless thing. I mean, sure, maybe if you’re drinking Hollandia in Blacktown, or sucking on a goon bag in Summer Hill.

But here in Newtown, we do it classy.

Pavement boozers

And nothing says classy like a nice flower arrangement on the table.

Flower arrangement


* Hi love, how are you?

% Good thanks. How about you?

* Great. What can I get you?

% I’ll have a Coopers Pale.

Pour

* That’ll be $4.50.

% Oh!

Pleasant surprise. Looking at watch.

% Is it happy hour?

* No, our beers are always this price. They just get more expensive after 6pm.

Pause

% So it is like happy hour, just a really long one.

Pause

* I suppose so

% Or later on it becomes sad hour.

Pause

* Maybe


In the hope of keeping him quiet for a few hours Freddy & I have bet Randolph [Churchill, son of Winston] 20 pounds that he cannot read the whole Bible in a fortnight. It would have been worth it at the price. Unhappily it has not had the result we hoped. He has never read any of it before and is hideously excited; keeps reading quotations aloud ‘I say, I bet you didn’t know this came in the Bible “bring down my grey hairs in sorrow to the grave”‘ or merely slapping his side & chortling ‘God, isn’t God a shit!’

Extract, letter from Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford, 12 November 1944


He stopped me in the street and he said “Hey love, sorry to bother you, but I had a car accident… and I can’t work anymore… and my wife died… and my daughter’s got cancer… and I can’t afford to pay the bills…”

I laughed and laughed.

“Oh god, mate,” I said. “Seriously. What’s your real story? What do you want?”

His crinkled grey face crinkled some more as he smiled, and his eyes twinkled a little.

“Aww, nothing,” he said. “ I just want some change.”

“Then why didn’t you just say?”

“Oh people, you know.” He waved his hand to show me the people, the footpath, the street. ”They always want a story. They want a story for their money. You gotta have something to tell them.”

“Well, here’s $3,” I said. “It might get you half a beer, or maybe half a meal.”

“Thanks love,” he said. “Have a great night. See you round.”

“Yep, you too,” I said, and I walked home to my warm bed.

But I woke up in the night and I thought, what if he did have an accident? What if his wife really did die and his daughter really does have cancer?

How can I laugh about that?


There are many reasons to love the Eveleigh Farmers markets on Saturdays. The bourgeois buzz, the fresh food, the tasty treats.

But I really love the friendly people. Like the cute dykey girl who gives free samples of apples. Or the nice flower lady who didn’t laugh at me when I asked her the name of the flowers I’d bought.

 

Daisies

 

They’re daisies.