If you've noticed an even further diminution of my usual glacial work-rate over the last week, that was because I was on holiday, and strictly forbidden to work. (Except, of course, for this delightful diversion.)
We were house-minding in Darlinghurst, a short walk from Taylor Square, its ever-shifting 24-hour population of gym-toned gentlemen, and its unpredictable fountain.
The house we were minding is a tall terrace, with thirty-three thigh-strengthening stair-steps between the living room and the bedroom.
All that healthy exercise does lead you to a view, though.
The view from the top loo is pretty decent...
...though necessarily hemmed in by the walls of the house and its neighbour.
Go up yet another flight of stairs, though, and you can walk out onto a deck that covers the original roof.
(The original-size version of this stitched panorama is rather enormous.)
The house used to be a boarding-house, and the current occupants are doing a huge renovation, ripping out major sections - like the toilet-and-shower block on the ground floor, for instance - and turning the building back into a normal house.
The "ripping out" part of the renovation is pretty much done...
...but the "turning it back into a normal house" part is, I feel fairly safe in saying, not entirely complete.
There was also a cat.
12 January 2009 at 3:11 pm
"The ground floor toilet & shower block?"
"...back to a normal house?"
*sigh* they bought an old brothel, didn't they. Heh, about 3 months ago I worked a stone's throw (well, Darlo, so a broken bottle's throw) from where that is.
Cat is a good idea - one of the reasons we moved our office from Darlo was we got tired of rats eating through the power cables & living in the fridge / server / plotter. Or dying on my chair (eww). We shared a back lane with a couple of restaurants I would NEVER EVER eat at - we saw into their kitchens on a regular basis.
Over the 4 years I worked there, I saw (the results of) only two murders. Oh, no three - that strange woman turned out to be murder after all. Got attacked by tramp with broken bottle once, and the knife-weilding Ice addict missed, but did damage my hat the bastard. The record for police attendance with 15mins (for the break-in, presumably donut shop / Tropicana was shut), though usually they took 45mins for emergencies. It's a looooong walk down to King's X! Food poisoning three times - chicken place, pasta place, pub. Car vandalised once - spray paint. Tramp urinating on sofa once, during office move. Colleague killed in hit-and-run motorcycle accident outside office - once. Brother's friend stabbed in chest by anonymous addict - once. Illegal building works in neighbour's terrace caused flooding of our office - twice. Boss threatened in street by well-known 'Colourful Sydney Identity' - a few times, but before I worked there, and before 'Identity' had untimely demise.
Can't really say I would call staying in Darlo a 'holiday' more a sort of endurance test.
12 January 2009 at 3:42 pm
Regrettably, no such local colour presented itself to us, if you don't count the occasional free-range crazy dude, and one hooker.
If the house was previously a brothel, they camouflaged it pretty well as a place where people just lived in the rooms. Especially the bloke who lived, and smoked, and cooked, in the topmost room, the walls of which were rather thickly coated with the result before the current occupants took to them with angle-grinder and snow-shovel.
Who knows what might have been going on in the place 50 years ago, of course. Perhaps the multiple ground-floor toilets were put in when it was a cathouse. But I don't think it was in recent years.
12 January 2009 at 6:44 pm
You can see my place from the panorama shot. You should have said you were in town, we could have had a beer at the Lord Roberts!
(And corinoco, I've been living here for well over four years now and haven't had nearly that much fun. I would like to, er, "silence" the demented old bastard who regularly "sings" at unsociable hours though).
12 January 2009 at 9:51 pm
Hah, yes. You can see my place from there too.. Look for the bright orange center right.
12 January 2009 at 11:36 pm
Like the cat.
The URL for the eMac article is deceptive, by the way, giving the impression that you were merely rebuilding emacs, the famed oversized editor, which is quite easy.
13 January 2009 at 5:28 am
@corinoco: couldn't have come up with a better argument in favor of America's 2nd Amendment if I tried. Thanks.
13 January 2009 at 5:31 am
Coderer, sounds good until you realize that the nutjob with the knife probably would've killed 'im with a .38 instead...
13 January 2009 at 6:06 am
Doubtful. A little research tells me that in Australia, at least, an illegal handgun is about $1,500-$5,000 of their dollars. Even here in the States illegal guns still cost many hundreds of our dollars, while knives are for all intents and purposes free. And shot-dead is still as dead as stabbed-dead, so in the end the argument is silly anyway.
13 January 2009 at 9:09 am
Free-range hooker? Or cage raised?
13 January 2009 at 10:01 am
Red, true enough, just doesn't take as much skill to kill with a gun, and skill is definitely something this fellow lacked.
13 January 2009 at 10:15 am
Red October - not a silly argument. You're saying it's easier to defend yourself with a gun than a knife, he's saying it's easier to kill someone with a gun than a knife.
Weapon proliferation in any form is a bad thing.
13 January 2009 at 12:17 pm
I dare say it's also easier to accidently kill someone with a gun. It's hard to miss a person with a knife and end up plunging it into the head of the guy in the shop across the street.
13 January 2009 at 12:40 pm
Lovely panorama.
Sorry you thread got hijacked, but I carry a gun legally in 15 states in the US. I train my son in their use, and I have never had to draw my weapon in anger, but If I do I am positive that I will be the one walking away from the encounter.
13 January 2009 at 2:20 pm
"...I have never had to draw my weapon in anger, but If I do I am positive that I will be the one walking away from the encounter."
Please correct me if I am wrong here. But doesn't that negate your argument?
If you draw your gun "IN ANGER", your words, doesn't that seem like a problem?
The whole guns plus anger thing seems to be a problem, no?
13 January 2009 at 6:08 pm
Interesting that every second thread ends up as a discussion of U.S. gun law.
Maybe it's the name of the weblog...
13 January 2009 at 11:50 pm
When a Military unit, or vessel etc fires on the enemy in battle it is said "to fire in anger" I was using that definition. If some nutjob tries to rob me or harm my family I will see that he dosen't, just stating my point of view.
14 January 2009 at 10:53 pm
Are you, like me, also an obsessive stair-counter, Dan?