saturday
a little portuguese street fair in petersham. at which i queue at a stall for half an hour for five grilled sardines. there are many people in the queue… in fact there may be three or five queues! or no queue. whatever the case, there are more people than there are grilled sardines. where is jesus when you need him? there is a very stressed out portuguese woman behind the counter, who walks to the pavement out back and talks fast and gesticulates wild to a man with coal-blackened hands fanning a large barbeque on which sit two grilling cages with many sardines tucked inside. the man is very much like nicolas cage's character, the baker, in “moonstruck”, and now he is grumpy and throws his hands about too, and says words like “finish!” and “no sardines!” and “(insert low growling noise)”. but in the end there are sardines, and damn they are tasty and sticky in the teeth with fish oil, and they are devoured quickly except for the strange lung-like things we find inside, and washed down with two bottles of portuguese fizzy, sumol, one orange and one pineapple.
sunday
a two hour ride on the early train up to the blue mountains. sunny and cold! excitement about a tasty hot breakfast we would have! disappointment with the extremely unsatisfying breakfast we got instead! climbing down many steps cut into the mountain to little nature tableaux with such names as “vera's grotto” or “witches leap”! waterfalls! lizards! wondering if maybe the peoplemover back up the mountain would cost, like, $30! deciding to climb back up the mountain! on our puny human legs! feeling my lungs grow to an alarming size, as though they would burst from my chest cavity! thinking that death could not come soon enough! seeing the three sisters! stopping at a bakery and matt choosing a cream donut, a sugar coated thing about the size of a softball, sliced open on top and filled with whipped cream and half a maraschino cherry… and a slice of cheesecake, and me getting a steak and mushroom pie, heavy as a small child! a park, a meadow covered in bright yellow flowers! a scary experience eating the cream donut, so scary we eventually give up eating it and try to feed it to the magpies instead! failing to tempt the magpies, and tearing up the last few bits of claggy dough, and throwing it at bees for target practice! walking to leura! losing our way! finding a short cut! by the side of the windy road, with no proper walking path, and four wheel drives speeding by! it takes maybe twenty-five minutes but feels like two hours! we will never speak of this again! train back to sydney! everything bathed in golden light! a lovely day is had by all!
