A Random Walk Down William Street
15/06/2012 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaYesterday Izzie decided not to be too adventurous in her travels. Instead of running off to some far flung location would simply slink about in the city and visit the cute little bookshop cafe discovered last week and go in search for others of a similar ilk
The weather was seriously unpredictable. After a week of rain and storms it was all sunny and gorgeous. Was very tempted to stay slinking about in the garden but had to go to the central bus station to get a dodgy travel card replaced. It just died two days ago without any warning and been feeling so lost without it. Not just for the 15% discount on fares but using such a card means that you don’t have to be constantly searching for loose change.
Had a sudden craving for golden coconut rice which is on offer at a little take away just past the northern border of the free transit zone. The place called Sparrow is a very cheap and cheerful Indonesian eatery aimed mainly at students. Should have gone for the gado gado as Izzie is a total peanut junkie but picked the mushrooms instead. A bit bland but the yellow coconut rice was just as tasty as ever. Indonesian spice options seem to consist of nothing, chili overload or satay sauce. Only one of those is of interest to Izzie
It was then time to slink down the side streets en route to the main shopping strip north of the city. One of these called Lincoln Street was full of old houses with lush green gardens and a very intriguing and mysterious beige coloured tower. It was in an Art Deco style and looked from first appearance like a war memorial or an outpost of some Masonic temple. It turned out to belong to the Department of Water and had been built in 1941. It could hardly be a storage tank as it was far too elegant for such mundane purposes. Maybe it is filled with filters. It would be one seriously impressive water cooler.
On the opposite side of the street was a cute corner store with tables and chairs outside. It looked suspiciously like a cafe. Pity that it was still raining as it would have been a beautiful and tranquil place to sit out in the sunshine staring up at that most mysterious monument.
Inside was a gorgeous old fashioned cafe with old cupboards and dressers, lots of cushions and cosy nooks and even a church pew for sitting in. But there was seating inside for only around 12 people. Izzie picked the last empty table near the church pew but it was not long before the big fat red squishy armchair became available.
There were water jugs, daily newspapers, toilets and a magical atmosphere so aside from being a little bit small, it ticked all the boxes for a proper cafe. Resisted the lure of the daily doom and gloom and devoted the time there to squiggling a few cards to friends and sorting out ideas for August’s alphabet soup stories.
Against better judgement got a second mug of coffee. It’s not that the coffee was no good or the place not nice and anyway by that time it was pouring rain so was hardly going to venture out on the stormy streets . Too much caffeine is likely to make this serpent all psycho and jittery so that was the main reason to restrain the addiction.
But closing time came too soon around 4pm. Too many of the good cafes are day time places. So next stop was the shopping strip at the top of William Street and the long walk down to Govinda’s and the cafe in the rather arty New Edition book store.
The north end of William Street aside from having the only gun shop that Izzie has ever seen in the city also features a lot of very strange art and design stores selling very expensive kitsch and retro stuff. It is like taking a trip back to the 1950s. There were a lot of stationery kind of things, especially pretty pencils and wannabee Moleskine style notebooks and journals.
One of these shops had a large poster in the window. It declared “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted” The inner goblin was insatiably curious about the other contents of such a store. Soon came across a shelf with some very elegant decks of cards. One had pyramids and leaves on the reverse and another had some very gorgeous serpents slinking in two trees. Designs like these are just the sorts of things you expect to find on a tarot deck but these turned out to be normal playing cards at tarot deck prices.
$15 is rather a lot for a deck of playing cards no matter how beautiful. After all aside from the quality of production, it is really only on the backs and the Ace of Spades where they need to do any serious art work.
After this den of iniquity it was time to walk past the mosque and the old location of the previously visited Sparrow eatery.
Could not possibly go past the enormous Prime Products store without stepping in for a sniff. This is one of those Asian supermarkets specializing in Indian foods and artifacts. Probably the best place to go for a fix of Bollywood movies.
Aside from pouches of lentils and other ready to eat meals which are less than half the price you’d pay in the mainstream supermarkets, they also have an excellent selection of spices and dried goods. Picked up a kilo of broad beans for only $3 and will be planting them in the next day or two after a few hours of soaking.
It is such a pleasant experience reading the list of ingredients on the Indian precooked meal sachets. The most dubious thing you are likely to find is palm oil or salt. There’s none of this generic ‘spices’ nonsense either. Every single one of them is listed - fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, chili, ginger etc etc.
Then there are the assorted Chinese and Vietnamese stores. Found a couple where the specialties are tofu and noodles. They make a point of saying at the front of the store that most of these products are produced right here in Oz.
It is particularly amusing that both the Indian and Chinese groceries stores at this end of town have bags of peanuts and soya beans made in Australia whereas all the mainstream places import their nuts from China and soya beans from there too or even worse - from the USA
While the street where all these places are located is officially called William Street on all the maps, it is colloquially known as the Ho Chi Minh trail
It is certainly one of the most interesting streets with lots of unusual munchies and grocery stores. Such a pleasant change from the boring and predictable monotony of the two major supermarkets
Did eventually reach the end of William Street without getting too waterlogged. Notice for the first time how the new BHP building on the other side of the railway line so dominates the skyline. There’s a whole bunch of yuppie restaurants and bars opened there now where they will probably not let you darken the door without proof of ownership of at least 2 iron ore mines.
It was sheer craziness to visit the newly relocated Urbanistar cafe in the corner of the book shop especially as they do not do decaffeinated capuccinos or any other kind of coffee.
But not a big fan of paying coffee prices for pissy little tea bags in a cup. Not that they had them even if the serpent was so desperate. Should have just slinked on by and got straight to the Hari Krishnas for a fix of lentils and rice.
While the coffee was delicious and milky with no trace of cheap and nasty bitterness and is only 3 bucks a cup dine in, it was the third cup of the day and did not long to make its presence felt
Was a blubbering neurotic wreck by the time of getting off the bus and did not manage to calm down until slinking into Cyberia. Worked out that online surfing or squiggling is one of the few things that can switch off the caffeinated crazies or amorous advances from assorted dementors.
It really is time to dust off that Chaos magic book and to begin refreshing some of the various tricks and techniques to prevent or at least slow down a complete crash. Three days in a row it has happened now. It is just getting completely ridiculous.
Too much constant vigilance is not always a good thing.
The weather was seriously unpredictable. After a week of rain and storms it was all sunny and gorgeous. Was very tempted to stay slinking about in the garden but had to go to the central bus station to get a dodgy travel card replaced. It just died two days ago without any warning and been feeling so lost without it. Not just for the 15% discount on fares but using such a card means that you don’t have to be constantly searching for loose change.
Had a sudden craving for golden coconut rice which is on offer at a little take away just past the northern border of the free transit zone. The place called Sparrow is a very cheap and cheerful Indonesian eatery aimed mainly at students. Should have gone for the gado gado as Izzie is a total peanut junkie but picked the mushrooms instead. A bit bland but the yellow coconut rice was just as tasty as ever. Indonesian spice options seem to consist of nothing, chili overload or satay sauce. Only one of those is of interest to Izzie
It was then time to slink down the side streets en route to the main shopping strip north of the city. One of these called Lincoln Street was full of old houses with lush green gardens and a very intriguing and mysterious beige coloured tower. It was in an Art Deco style and looked from first appearance like a war memorial or an outpost of some Masonic temple. It turned out to belong to the Department of Water and had been built in 1941. It could hardly be a storage tank as it was far too elegant for such mundane purposes. Maybe it is filled with filters. It would be one seriously impressive water cooler.
On the opposite side of the street was a cute corner store with tables and chairs outside. It looked suspiciously like a cafe. Pity that it was still raining as it would have been a beautiful and tranquil place to sit out in the sunshine staring up at that most mysterious monument.
Inside was a gorgeous old fashioned cafe with old cupboards and dressers, lots of cushions and cosy nooks and even a church pew for sitting in. But there was seating inside for only around 12 people. Izzie picked the last empty table near the church pew but it was not long before the big fat red squishy armchair became available.
There were water jugs, daily newspapers, toilets and a magical atmosphere so aside from being a little bit small, it ticked all the boxes for a proper cafe. Resisted the lure of the daily doom and gloom and devoted the time there to squiggling a few cards to friends and sorting out ideas for August’s alphabet soup stories.
Against better judgement got a second mug of coffee. It’s not that the coffee was no good or the place not nice and anyway by that time it was pouring rain so was hardly going to venture out on the stormy streets . Too much caffeine is likely to make this serpent all psycho and jittery so that was the main reason to restrain the addiction.
But closing time came too soon around 4pm. Too many of the good cafes are day time places. So next stop was the shopping strip at the top of William Street and the long walk down to Govinda’s and the cafe in the rather arty New Edition book store.
The north end of William Street aside from having the only gun shop that Izzie has ever seen in the city also features a lot of very strange art and design stores selling very expensive kitsch and retro stuff. It is like taking a trip back to the 1950s. There were a lot of stationery kind of things, especially pretty pencils and wannabee Moleskine style notebooks and journals.
One of these shops had a large poster in the window. It declared “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted” The inner goblin was insatiably curious about the other contents of such a store. Soon came across a shelf with some very elegant decks of cards. One had pyramids and leaves on the reverse and another had some very gorgeous serpents slinking in two trees. Designs like these are just the sorts of things you expect to find on a tarot deck but these turned out to be normal playing cards at tarot deck prices.
$15 is rather a lot for a deck of playing cards no matter how beautiful. After all aside from the quality of production, it is really only on the backs and the Ace of Spades where they need to do any serious art work.
After this den of iniquity it was time to walk past the mosque and the old location of the previously visited Sparrow eatery.
Could not possibly go past the enormous Prime Products store without stepping in for a sniff. This is one of those Asian supermarkets specializing in Indian foods and artifacts. Probably the best place to go for a fix of Bollywood movies.
Aside from pouches of lentils and other ready to eat meals which are less than half the price you’d pay in the mainstream supermarkets, they also have an excellent selection of spices and dried goods. Picked up a kilo of broad beans for only $3 and will be planting them in the next day or two after a few hours of soaking.
It is such a pleasant experience reading the list of ingredients on the Indian precooked meal sachets. The most dubious thing you are likely to find is palm oil or salt. There’s none of this generic ‘spices’ nonsense either. Every single one of them is listed - fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, chili, ginger etc etc.
Then there are the assorted Chinese and Vietnamese stores. Found a couple where the specialties are tofu and noodles. They make a point of saying at the front of the store that most of these products are produced right here in Oz.
It is particularly amusing that both the Indian and Chinese groceries stores at this end of town have bags of peanuts and soya beans made in Australia whereas all the mainstream places import their nuts from China and soya beans from there too or even worse - from the USA
While the street where all these places are located is officially called William Street on all the maps, it is colloquially known as the Ho Chi Minh trail
It is certainly one of the most interesting streets with lots of unusual munchies and grocery stores. Such a pleasant change from the boring and predictable monotony of the two major supermarkets
Did eventually reach the end of William Street without getting too waterlogged. Notice for the first time how the new BHP building on the other side of the railway line so dominates the skyline. There’s a whole bunch of yuppie restaurants and bars opened there now where they will probably not let you darken the door without proof of ownership of at least 2 iron ore mines.
It was sheer craziness to visit the newly relocated Urbanistar cafe in the corner of the book shop especially as they do not do decaffeinated capuccinos or any other kind of coffee.
But not a big fan of paying coffee prices for pissy little tea bags in a cup. Not that they had them even if the serpent was so desperate. Should have just slinked on by and got straight to the Hari Krishnas for a fix of lentils and rice.
While the coffee was delicious and milky with no trace of cheap and nasty bitterness and is only 3 bucks a cup dine in, it was the third cup of the day and did not long to make its presence felt
Was a blubbering neurotic wreck by the time of getting off the bus and did not manage to calm down until slinking into Cyberia. Worked out that online surfing or squiggling is one of the few things that can switch off the caffeinated crazies or amorous advances from assorted dementors.
It really is time to dust off that Chaos magic book and to begin refreshing some of the various tricks and techniques to prevent or at least slow down a complete crash. Three days in a row it has happened now. It is just getting completely ridiculous.
Too much constant vigilance is not always a good thing.
