Valentine Cheapskate

Yesterday we took a trip into town with Ronald and Jane to visit Paddy’s Market and the Sydney Fish market. The first destination is a large warehouse filled with all kinds of cheap goods, mostly of Chinese manufacture, that masquerade as Australian souvenirs. That is probably not a very fair description, since there are some legitimate Australian vendors in attendance, one of which was selling Akubra hats. These hats are the equivalent of the Stetson brand in the United States, and of course I was drawn to their stall. Fortunately for me, Jayne was captivated by the offerings of some eastern style cotton dresses in a stall just a few removed, and we encouraged one another to make a purchase. To make a long story short, Jayne ended up with a purple cotton tunic-pants-dress sort of combination, and I got a “Pastoralist” style brown felt hat. I do not believe either one of us has experienced any buyer’s remorse to date. After leaving Paddy’s, we went to the Fish Market where we battled a huge crowd to order some fish and chips. Afterwards, we went to a fish counter and purchased two salmon steaks, which we had for dinner tonight. Excellent stuff.


Today we rode the ferry into the city to see the Anne Liebowitz exhibit at the museum of contemporary art, but since they wanted fifteen buck each to see it, we decided to just tour the museum’s other exhibits once we got there. They were incredible, including a three screen DVD animation presentation that was absolutely beautiful. We then went to the Rocks, Sydney’s oldest neighborhood, where we patronized a pub for lunch, saw one of the oldest standing buildings of Sydney, and toured another museum dedicated to the area’s history. Since it was Valentine’s Day, I was somewhat in doubt as to what I could do to observe the holiday’s meaning with Jayne. Not to worry. While walking in one section of stores we saw a large candy piece fall spontaneously from a confectioner’s shelf. I heard the proprietor behind the counter groan that he would have to sally forth to pick it up, so I quickly scooped down, picket it up, and restored it to its proper place on the shelf for h8im. He was so pleased he i8nveted me to pick out a lolly from his stock, which I quickly did; a heart shaped lolly with “I Love you” printed on it in frosting. This was, of course, promptly presented to Jayne. Then, in a continuation of our good fortune, we crossed George Street on the way back to the ferry and found lying on the ground a perfectly good white rose, still wrapped in florist’s paper. This had to be the cheapest Valentine’s Day ever!