Bad Hair Day

Today we took our first trip to the beach. Ella loved it and cried loudly when removed from the water, though the sea was freezing, which was a surprise as the air temperature was 34 degrees. The heat is a bit of a shock to the system and we all feel sick, including Ella, who is a bit off her food and keeps retching. We are also suffering from bad hair. I've posted a picure of Ella's, but mine is still hard for me to talk about so I'm keeping it under my hat.

I think Ella may have developed scurvy as a result of eating rubbish food for the past week (the low point was a Starbucks blueberry muffin for breakfast at Hong Kong Airport), so last night we went out to Coles supermarket as I was determined to make her some proper food and home cooked cheese sauce.

Coles is nothing like Sainsburys, Asda or Tesco. It’s not even as good as Somerfield, but it appears to be Australia’s leading supermarket chain. They still wrap meat in paper and there is a lady on the car park who checks your receipt for free parking. I suppose one day she’ll wake up as an automated barrier, but for now she’s in a job.

It would have been a surreal experience at the best of times, but the heat and jetlag combined to make for quite unusual purchases, none of which can realistically be combined into a meal. We have also noted, to our cost, that the plastic bottles of milk aren’t sealed with the foil thing under the lid. Hence if you lie them in the fridge, they leak all over the place. I spent half an hour removing lamb chops from a tray of milk this evening as well as washing the bottom of the fridge.

The other thing we have noticed is the number of independent retailers still in business on the high street and elsewhere, which is such a different situation than we have in the UK. Today we went to the Westfield Shopping Centre at Bondi Junction to get out of the heat, (Sydney’s answer to the Trafford Centre - the food court in the 5th floor has a great view of the harbour bridge). The place is full of designer shops (Max Mara etc) and yet has an independent butcher and fishmonger. I wonder what the situation will be in 10 years time, or does Australia’s isolation help it sustain small businesses like this?