THE QUINTESSENTIAL SYDNEY SUNDAY

ONE DAY into my time here in Oz, I will write about it shortly. First, clearly the day to travel out of the US to Australia (Oz) is Thanksgiving Day and this may well be true for the reverse direction. After a most pleasant and enjoyable Thanksgiving Dinner with longtime friends out at Walnut Creek, I took the Bay Area Transport train out to the airport, with hardly anyone on board. The airport departure halls were very thinly populated; when I got to the United Airlines Departure Gate, once again not many folk were in sight. As I had adopted a leisurely approach to boarding, I thought most had already boarded (as indeed was the case) but the coach section was only half full. I scored three seats from the aisle to the window and was able to enjoy five hours of good sleep,  considerably shortening the tedium of the almost 15 hours of hours of confinement on the flight.

The flight delivered me into Sydney around nine on Saturday morning and it took only two hours to be united with my Sydney family. I got as  much sunlight as possible on the first day to adjust to the local tempo. It really helps to arrive in the morning to have almost the whole day getting about. Even so, I crashed early in the evening being overwhelmed by a good three hours sleep.

And so to Sunday morning…when we all went off to Bondi Beach around eight. My two grandsons are enrolled in the Surf Life Saving Club and were involved in organized games and training exercises. I was suitably ‘slipped, slapped and slopped’ with T-shirt, hat, and sunblock and survived the four or so hours of exposure.  How pleasant to watchwatch these activities and observe the variously garbed (and not so garbed) several thousand Sydney-siders disporting themselves in on the sand, in the surf, and under the sun. As I remarked above, a typical Sunday morning for the many Sydney folk who live near the beach. A contrast to the sub-zero temperatures and possible snow showers today back home in Corning!

The only mar, later in the day,was the news that my son, while on his scooter, was brushed by a car cutting a corner on a narrow road.  He sustained minor abrasions and a very nasty skin tear just above the elbow.Luckily, his scooter is still serviceable. As an owner of not a few motorbikes, most of which I fell off at one time or another, I well know that one’s first thoughts fly to the bike! It was not until late in the evening that we caught up on the details, when he returned from outpatient care.  Fortunately, desipte the narrow space, he took effective evasive action and avoided more serious injury.

Sydney continues with visits with friends and family and then it is off to Adelaide