I miss Newie

I made a quick side trip into Newcastle during my flying visit north over the weekend and felt a surge of love for the city.

I dropped my sister at my parents’ place in Lake Macquarie and hooned into town to make a surprise delivery of Drinks Digest goodies to my beer loving friend Katherine.

Timing was tight. It was 11.40am when I left Lake Macquarie and I needed to be back for a 12.30pm lunch booking. I figured 40 minutes was plenty of time for the round trip.

It wasn’t.

I may not have chosen the most direct route. I went via Merewether Heights because I wanted to drive past the beaches to get to The Hill.

It felt good to follow the familiar streets and see how the suburbs were evolving. A house I’ve always admired near King Edward Park is on the market, but I’ve decided the street is too busy.

I want some peace.

Oh, and the price guide is $4million. For a place that needs renovating. On a noisy corner. In Newcastle. Blimey!

There wasn’t time to seek my friend Katherine out, I just thrust two boxes into her son’s arms and dashed. I headed back along King Street, gawping at all the redevelopment in the town centre. It’s looking fabulous.

Mum let Pippi’s know we were running 15 minutes late due to my little/big detour, but I was glad to have made my nostalgic trip.

I miss Newie. It felt easy and comforting and familiar.

Sydney is chipping away at me. I’m weary of the constant, frantic treading water that is required to keep yourself afloat in the big city.

I walked the dogs at 6.30am yesterday, dashed to the gym to deliver the young’s forgotten work clothes and drive her to the school gate, worked from 8am to 6pm – including a dash for a few hours into the office – raced to Harris Farm for some fruit and veggies and whipped up a taco salad for dinner before cracking on with some freelance work, then packed the dishwasher and headed to bed.

The philosophy of Marie Kondo keep echoing in my head: “Does it bring me joy?”

Hmmmm …

Well, there were moments of sparkle in my day. I love the location of my new office in The Rocks. If I had spare multi millions I would be buying myself a terrace or an apartment there as my city pad. The area has changed so much over the years, it’s gorgeous, filled with quaint pubs and wide streets, overlooking both Barangaroo and Circular Quay.

I wandered down from the office, past the Harbour View Hotel (where one of my favourite teenage movies was filmed – Starstruck) and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Hickson Road Park for a filming segment with the Tourism Minister with Sydney Opera House as a backdrop.

Not a bad way to spend an hour! And so beautiful.

In the afternoon, DD dropped by to fix my side gate, which had taken a hammering in the storms. We were both too busy with work to have more than five words to say each other, but I got to hug him and see his spunky face.

And my taco salad was pretty yummy.

But I felt pretty worn out as I headed to bed.

I think we’re all struggling a little with the world being so unpredictable right now.

Running away isn’t the answer. Imagine what would happen if we all did that? Even more chaos.

But I wonder what we will learn from it all and how humanity will evolve.

In the meantime there is another big working day for me to tackle. I’d better get cracking on it.

Song of the day: Bob Hudson “The Newcastle Song”