Rooty Hill

Back when I first came to Sydney, some 10 years ago, people would talk about Rooty Hill. They would ask if I would live there. At the time I thought they were talking about some Christian religions as I knew the north east was the home to groups like Hill Song and the Latter Day Saints (though I suspect that these may be the same). I also know a few sikhs who live out that way. There is also a Hindu temple in Westmead. But mostly I though they were making a social status statement, for do not the westies live out that way? Then again this week people asked me again if I would live out there. Of course the answer is yes. I do not hold these bigoted intolerances. Though I choose to live in Marrickville as it is affordable and close to work. So today, out of curiosity, I looked up Rooty Hill on the internet, as the some people seem to also have a hatred of Muslims. Guess what I found, a mosque. This is just so very sad.

Dubbo and Yass

People in Sydney react very strangely when I talk about the towns of Dubbo and Yass. I wonder why. Dubbo gets a much bigger response. It is on no….

On a similar vane, apparently Broken Hill is a very suitable place and Bourke is not.

an ode to sheep

In theory this should apply equally to Melbourne as it does to Sydney, but people in Melbourne think it is funny, so do I, people in Sydney do not and are very narrow minded.

When I speak of sheep, I am mostly talking about the ones with 4 legs and who are impossible to herd properly.

I used to work on a farm, for a short while I lived on one, but mostly I worked as a visitor, initially to my grandfather’s farm, later on my uncles and also on our own. While I mostly worked with cows, sometimes I work with sheep. So when I talk about sheep I really talk about sheep. I have herded them, castrated them, injected them with vaccinated them, and docked them. I have included a video from youTube on docking. It is perhaps the most gruesome thing I have ever done in my life. I mean, I have castrated lots of calves and sheep with the rubber ring gadget, but chopping of the tails of sheep is something again. My uncle had a gas powered knife. It was gas powered in that it has a gas hose to a bottle. The gas fed a burner that was on all the time. The burner made the blade hot. The hot blade cauterized the wound. I have not actually every slaughtered a sheep, this is more on the grounds of not being in the right place at the right time. I have seen the dead carcasses hanging up from their hooks.

The second definition I would use for sheep is an anglican one, though I guess it applies to other christian religions. If the lord is the shepherd, then the people are his flock, they are the sheep. This comes from the lords prayer which I used to have to read out so much when I was a child.

One of the funniest things I saw was in a comedy show in melbourne, in Fitzroy, while waiting in the foyer to see the Doug Anthony All Stars, the entire crowd started baaing. But i digress.

The use that people in Sydney seem unable to escape is that sheep mean prostitutes. I am guessing this, but it seems to best fit their view. I think that they really need to stop hating prostitutes. It counts in my eyes as bigotry and I am saddened by such a view, especially when it comes from those who have been oppressed by mainstream society themselves.

Cheese

I like cheese, french people like cheese, Melbournians like cheese, Sydenysiders do not like cheese. That is very very sad

traffic problems

People in Sydney are perhaps rightfully concerned with traffic problems.

1. One man, in Paddington, was very concerned with traffic in Parramatta.
2. Another man, in Penrith, was concerned and wanted to put up cameras in high traffic areas.

Living in a prison

A long time ago people, in Melbourne talked of living within glass walls. To give the impression of having freedom, while not having that much freedom. The Melbourne I remember as a child was one of high brick walls topped with barbed wire. But most of these walls have been pulled down. This is a good thing. But Sydney is going the opposite way. Everywhere you look fences are being erected. It is more like living in Long Bay Prison. Sometimes you have to wonder if there is any difference to the outside as compared to the inside.

men from manilla

people in Sydney have a strange aversion manilla in the Philippines, and in particular, men from there. I fist noticed this in early 2000. It has become stronger over time. some people have quite a strong phobia. It sounds like it may be racism. I am not sure. It is weird.

cosmopolitan or multicultural

One thing I always liked about Melbourne was how multicultural it was and how far it had come in this regard to when I first arrived there in about 1969. So it was a bit of a culture shock to step back in time by arriving in Sydney. Here are a few things that have been said to me while I have been here.

1. An old and wise jewish man from the north shore once said Sydney is not Multicultural, it is cosmopolitan.
2. Another man in the Eastern Suburbs said that multiculturalism was dead.

Other people in recent times have tried to tell me that Sydney is multicultural because it has many cultures. I think that they do not understand. Sydney is many cultural, but not multicultural. That it is has many cultures but there is massive segregation between them. They are separate. I think that to be multicultural the cultures need to go into a mixing melting pot to produce something that is both a composite of the ingredients and something more. It is the next stage beyond many cultures.

Hairy Backs

People in Sydney have this bizarre dislike of people with hairy backs.

taxis

Before I lived in Sydney, I used to travel here frequently for work. I have never liked traveling by taxi and I have always though sydney taxi drivers are the worst in Australia. The reason is that they would try and determine if you were from Sydney. If you were not they would take you the long way. But I knew enough from all my times here to know that I was going the long way. I did not know enough to say which was the short one. So they would sometimes ask, which way do you want to go. Eventually I learned to say, via canal road. They would be upset. What upsets them even more is to say that I wanted to go the shortest way.

Here is the typical drive from Sydeny Airport, to Burwood, which is where I used to work. There are three paths:

1. Path one is the google maps path. In peak hour it is the worst because it takes at least an hour and a half. Only once did a cab driver try to take me this way. Cost using todays cab fares: $3 + $28.28 (15.8km) + $44.66 (58 minutes stuck in traffic) = 75.49. Note that in the wee hours this is the best route.
2. Path two is the way the cab drivers would want to go. It is a fast and easy path. There is rarely traffic. But it is also the longest. Cost using todays cab fares: $3 + $32.76 (18.3 km) = $35.76. 
3. Path three is the short path. It is the way the person who drove every day form Mascot and sometimes gave me a lift would drive. Generally it did not suffer traffic problems: Cost using todays cab fares: $3 + $22.55 (12.6 km) = $25.55.