May 21, 2005

checking in as best as I can

I'm in the global city of Sydney this weekend for some meetings and to make arrangements for a new job. As I have a few moments off this Saturday afternoon I went wandering through the inner city from Darling Harbour taking in Ultimo and Glebe.

It has been a decade or so since I've been in Sydney. My life has been Adelaide Canberra Melbourne. Sydney has changed beyond recognition, the familar landmarks have gone, and it looks a lot cleaner. Presumably the Olympics did that. The harbour really sparkles on a glorious autumn day. Sydney would have to be one of the more beautiful cities of the world.

I noticed that everybody is hanging on the street: they live on the streets in inner Sydney in the resturants, markets, pubs and shops. So many young people are walking the city despite the very heavy traffic. Glebe looks and feels very bohemian.

I went to check out Glebe Books and Fish Records. The hotel---the Novotel in Darling Harbour--- charged $10 for 45 miniutes.

Glebe Books was very disappointing. They had few books on Heidegger or Nietzsche in the philosophy section, and nothing on French philosophy in the 1930s and 1940s. The global city is not much of an improvement on provincal Adelaide. Heidegger is not in fashion in post modern Sydney--it appears to be borders, security, immigration and human rights.

I'm now posting from an old internet cafe in Glebe. The connection is so slow at the Internet cafe (they do not sell coffee or food) and, as the computer keeps jamming (or freezing), I cannot do the links I wanted. So the post cannot be finished. I'm giving up and walking back to the hotel for dinner with friends in Darling Harbour.

So I'm forced to just check in here. Nothing will posted until I get back to Adelaide late on Sunday.

Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at May 21, 2005 05:45 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Conputer? Gleeb, and Fish? Gary, are you taking the pis? How's the weather down under?

Posted by: Matt on May 21, 2005 11:16 PM

Matt,
no. It is gorgeous autumn weather in Sydney and across southern Australia with no rain, even though we are going into winter.

It was impossible to write a post from the internet cafe with links in it. I did my best. But what I'd written it kept on gobbling up. So I could not write a post about my impressions of the bohemian student culture of inner Sydney.

I will try and reconstruct the post.

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson on May 22, 2005 10:47 PM
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