Typical Sydney summer's day

I have come out to try to catch up with Brazilian friend H but  find interestingly that Positive Life NSW has restructured and H has decided not to re-apply, seeing the writing on the wall obviously. H. always  said it as he saw it and no doubt he saw it was time to leave. I happen across the new CEO and the person in  H's job and catch up with the latest over their lunch time. The AIDS industry is so big and the wages so lucrative now the people who have these jobs are very well qualified and actually live ina relatively   stress-free situation, in nice offices in downtown Sydney, Darlinghurst, right in the centre of gay Sydney. I am very glad I am no longer part of this scene which I suppose I was, but forty years ago and the world was a different place.

Coffee on Elizabeth St

Strollers in  the sun...

A quick hit...

...in Strawberry Hills

It is sublime weather today, not humid, but perfect, and certainly a seductive way to experience Sydney. The coffee was great too and I have drunk more than enough caffeine for today.

I see the life that this beautiful but crowded city has to offer and why the people are flocking here in spite of its expense, but it is cheaper than Wellington btw. and the coffee is just as good, so I won't have to travel too far to get my fix although I doubt Gosford has the same baristas.

So as with so many things in life, the French have said it before, 'Plus ca change, plus ca reste pareil', i.e. Things always stay the same, even if in Paris today they think their worlds have collided with the latest news of four Jewish French dying in a Kosher Supermarket killing by Islam extremists.

The Jews are always suffering and they are certainly used to it, not meaning that it is just or right, that's just the way it is.

Dinner with the family is now locked in for tomorrow night, with the ever-welcome Annie coming to leaven the atmosphere which can be somewhat charged with the two elders being on opposite sides of the political and religious spectrum. It may be an interesting dinner, who knows?