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Great Expectations
Posted on 2009.11.02 at 20:47Current Mood:
35C today!
Current Music: traffic
Two weekends ago I walked the 25 minutes from my end of Newtown to the back end of the old Tooths Brewery (aka CUB Brewery) site on Broadway (a stalled major apartment building project) to attend the sustainability fair in Chippendale. The fair was held in a narrow street behind the main brewery site, now mostly demolished apart from a couple of 'iconic' buildings - the huge chimney stack, and the Federation sunrise building (can't find an online pic, tho' there surely *should* be one).
Anyhow, the pleasing thing about the new development is that while building is stalled thanks to the GFC, the developers are doing the right thing by the Chippo community and allowing them to use various other Edwardian buildings and vacant spaces for art galleries, workshops and a new fresh food co-op, as well as supporting the sustainability fair.
I went with great expectations, and was a little disappointed, having let my expectations get away from me. Part of the problem was getting there too early. The fair kicked off at 10 with a welcoming speech from our vaguely goth/punk/lesbo-look mayor, & having walked the distance faster than I expected, I was there in time to clap & cheer & note that she had on jeans, a windcheater and sneakers & no sign of her spiked dog collar. So of course, I was way too early for all talks, workshops, guided tours of local galleries etc.
More disappointing was the fact that the street gardens were nowhere visible, which if I'd seen last year's media release I would have known weren't there in Kensington St. I have yet to find them in the back streets of Chippo - I couldn't find them on my way back from the fair.
But, on the plus side, I got to meet the original Sydney guerilla gardeners (be warned the vid is not what it says, but worth a look anyhow!). I also bought lotsa lovely organic vegs, and some really cheap veg seedlings for my balcony garden - snowpeas, silverbeet and Asian salad greens. And chatted with farmers and gardeners. And met the innercity knitting group who invited me to their next monthly meeting. And I had a lovely peaceful wander home through Chippo & Darlington
Last Saturday was Halloween, and the last surviving goth community in Australia (possibly the world), which flourishes in Enmore, put on their annual Under the Blue Moon festival. I dressed all in black - floor-length skirt, longsleeved seethrough top, topped with black lace camisole, & the darkly purple punk earrings. Had anyone asked, I'd have said I was 'Goth Grannie'.
But, as ever, I arrived to early & my friend was too busy managing the charity shop to come, after all. There were stalls, and there were a few people in really brilliant long silk dresses, and cobweb lace gloves and stockings, a few vampires, and a smattering of the usual everyday goths. But no action! The best part was waiting for the
the horse-drawn hearse to take off down the street. Of course it didn't look quite like this postcard, but much more beautifully sombre, and the horses were very patient with all the costumed people determined to have their photo taken with them.
Next weekend is Newtown Festival. No risk of my getting there too early, though, as I'm going with my friend L, whose distinguishing feature is an ability to be late for anything.
Anyhow, the pleasing thing about the new development is that while building is stalled thanks to the GFC, the developers are doing the right thing by the Chippo community and allowing them to use various other Edwardian buildings and vacant spaces for art galleries, workshops and a new fresh food co-op, as well as supporting the sustainability fair.
I went with great expectations, and was a little disappointed, having let my expectations get away from me. Part of the problem was getting there too early. The fair kicked off at 10 with a welcoming speech from our vaguely goth/punk/lesbo-look mayor, & having walked the distance faster than I expected, I was there in time to clap & cheer & note that she had on jeans, a windcheater and sneakers & no sign of her spiked dog collar. So of course, I was way too early for all talks, workshops, guided tours of local galleries etc.
More disappointing was the fact that the street gardens were nowhere visible, which if I'd seen last year's media release I would have known weren't there in Kensington St. I have yet to find them in the back streets of Chippo - I couldn't find them on my way back from the fair.
But, on the plus side, I got to meet the original Sydney guerilla gardeners (be warned the vid is not what it says, but worth a look anyhow!). I also bought lotsa lovely organic vegs, and some really cheap veg seedlings for my balcony garden - snowpeas, silverbeet and Asian salad greens. And chatted with farmers and gardeners. And met the innercity knitting group who invited me to their next monthly meeting. And I had a lovely peaceful wander home through Chippo & Darlington
Last Saturday was Halloween, and the last surviving goth community in Australia (possibly the world), which flourishes in Enmore, put on their annual Under the Blue Moon festival. I dressed all in black - floor-length skirt, longsleeved seethrough top, topped with black lace camisole, & the darkly purple punk earrings. Had anyone asked, I'd have said I was 'Goth Grannie'.
But, as ever, I arrived to early & my friend was too busy managing the charity shop to come, after all. There were stalls, and there were a few people in really brilliant long silk dresses, and cobweb lace gloves and stockings, a few vampires, and a smattering of the usual everyday goths. But no action! The best part was waiting for the
the horse-drawn hearse to take off down the street. Of course it didn't look quite like this postcard, but much more beautifully sombre, and the horses were very patient with all the costumed people determined to have their photo taken with them.Next weekend is Newtown Festival. No risk of my getting there too early, though, as I'm going with my friend L, whose distinguishing feature is an ability to be late for anything.