Wordy Wednesday….

All this talk of houses & buying has reminded me of our first buy – a teeny weenie little one bedroom unit in North Sydney. I found a couple of photos of it a few weeks back…. it really was so small – compounded by my bower birding, which itself was at a chronic stage, due to my rather close proximity to many, many, many glorious Opshops & hard earned Borders bucks burning a hole in my pocket.

We loved living there (almost getting teary just thinking about it now… *sniffles*), it was an amazing location with everything at our fingertips. The Boy could walk to work & I had about an hour shaved off my travel time to get to Bondi Junction, with pleasant diversions along the way, like a wander around Town Hall in the mornings, enjoying the bustle, a coffee, a spot of early morning shopping.

It was a pleasant stroll to Lunar Park, or too a plethora of great restaurants at Milsons Point, where we could get a take away meal and sit under the Harbour bridge to enjoy it. A stroll across the bridge to The Rocks was not uncommon. Circular Quay, with it’s Museum of Contemporary Art, street performers & kitschy restaurant where the menus are printed in a newspaper, was a favourite haunt of mine.

I’d go out on Friday nights with my friends and be able to make it home in a cab quicker & cheaper than ever, enjoying the bright city lights on the way.

I shopped at the markets in Haymarket, dragging my Nanna trolley through throngs of people to find the cheapest bananas, enjoying the hawker’s pleas and the busy energy of the place. I’d wander for ages in the Asian supermarket, wondering at everything exotic & stocking up on mock chicken nuggets.

Glebe & Glebe markets made me incredibly happy. Those of you in Sydney will know how great Glebe markets are, how nice the vibe is, how interesting the stuff is… Glebe markets are my kind of markets, and Glebe my kind of place.

Ah.

City living.

Sydney living.

Now, we are going to be living in a three bedroom house (hopefully… contracts yet to be signed, butterflies have taken up permanent residency in my stomach!), still small, but not that small, and my Opshopping….?! Well, there may not be as many Oppies here, but the few that are here serve me well! I am able to buy furniture, something unthinkable for our tiny unit.

I have no Borders bucks… or even a Borders, but we live simpler now. No longer is every second meal bought out, no longer do I buy new clothes a couple of times a week, just because they are there, and no longer do I want or need to.

Now, I have a gorgeous, crazy, energetic, cheeky daughter. The coolest little kid I’ve ever come across, who makes my life pre-Punk seem almost lacklustre. I laugh every single day, get more hugs than I can count and feel so very blessed and lucky. The Boy has to work less, and gets to spend quality time with the child of ours, out and about in the country air.

I can look forward to a time when I can take Punky back to Sydney – the city where she was born no less – and show her the sights. I remember the excitement of visiting Melbourne when I was a kid here, I think Sydney in all her glory for a will-be-country kid will be unforgettable. Taronga zoo, The Harbour, more sushi than she could eat….!

Everything made that much more special by it’s otherness, and sharing it with people that love you more than anything else in the world.