Southside

Last weekend was a long one here in WA with Labour Day on Monday (at my count they have one more public holiday than NSW – they have Foundation Day when we have Queen’s  Birthday and Queen’s Birthday when we have Labour Day – c-razy!) Of course, when you are unemployed (or between jobs, as the Fella prefers me to call it) public holidays tend to lose meaning ‘cause you know it’s just another day off without pay.  But weekends mean adventures with the Fella, so that is much preferable to weekdays. We packed a lot in to our long weekend. Highlights include refreshing beach swims, reading the paper in the park, an excellent session at the Writers Festival with David Finkel about his book The Good Soldiers, our first step into the world of yum cha in Northbridge (thumbs up there too), and the discovery of a North Fremantle burger joint which sells the best burgers we have ever eaten (no exaggeration) next door to a cute bar which lets you BYO burgers (yay!)

 

But perhaps the most exciting event was the discovery of an IGA supermarket in South Fremantle which is open until 8pm on weekends. “It’s like living in a real place!” I exclaimed without a hint of irony. This occurred after realising the previous weekend that Coles and Woolworths close at 5pm. I said, 5! This is to the distinct disadvantage of people like me who decide what to cook and shop for ingredients in the hour or so before eating dinner. And also caused me to mutter very uncharitable things about WA’s  attachment to archaic Sunday trading laws.

I went to a Greens meeting last week and met some lovely folk (including three other English teachers – typical) and spent a few afternoons volunteering in the office of MLC Lynn MacLaren. A good way to get out of the house and feel a little useful.

Our current temporary abode is in North Fremantle. We spent last week in South Fremantle, discovering its delights – just down the road from our new house. Turns out it’s a great area with some very important features: a second-hand bookshop, art gallery, Vietnamese restaurant, pubs, tea house, patisserie, yoga centre, wholefoods cafe, and a beautiful beach with a shady park and cafe. Isn't that list a shameless revelation of my priorities! Not to mention these spontaneous explosions of sunflowers everywhere. 

My final piece of news is that we finally have a moving date confirmed – this Saturday. Hurrah! We are incredibly excited at the prospect of being in our own place with our own stuff. Oh, glorious stuff! The Pusscat will join us shortly after (fingers crossed for a minimum of plane-induced trauma), at which point I will attempt not to smother her.