Back to Balmain

Long before Louka was even thought of, long before I even met Graham, I used to live in Balmain. Today I thought I'd go back and see how much it had changed.

The first change to strike me is that now you have to pay for parking, and it's not cheap. Of course that wouldn't have been an issue when I lived there. I had to race to Woolworths and quickly do the shopping to get some change, because when I arrived I only had change for 20 minutes parking. I got back to the car and put another six dollars in the meter, giving me another two hours. Then we went looking for lunch.

We walked past the unit I'd last lived in. It hadn't changed much, though the garden had grown and the lattice didn't look as new. Then round the corner was a little eat-in/takeaway shop called Ciao Thyme. The name might be groan-worthy but the food was good. I had three salads and the best banana smoothie I've had away from home. And Louka made a complete mess of herself, me, and the corner of the shop where we sat.

Then we strolled around the main shopping area, past the church where the markets are held on Saturdays. Many of the shops have changed, but some are still there, like the wonderful bakery (which now also sells cheeses and other gourmet goodies), Victoire. I bought a rhubarb tart, which was delicious. The milkbar is still there, and the greengrocer that always has such a wonderful display of flowers and fruit. Brays books now has a second store devoted to children's books. But Louka was getting restless by this time, so I couldn't spend much time there (and anyway I was afraid of running out of parking time).