Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A bag of tricks, part II

As I walked down the steps towards my destination the two little bag birds tweeted sweetly on my shoulder. Much to my relief I saw the "cafe open" sign. Phew. Sydney gals don't like to go anywhere that doesn't have an adjacent cafe. Libraries, bookstores, pools, beaches, supermarkets, schools, parks...and here, a cafe with deck chairs overlooking Blue Heaven. How handy.

You see those chairs in the left corner of the deck, they have a big sign next to them which reads "Reserved for bloggers. Please enjoy at your leisure, and thank you for filling in your comment box as you exit."

I walked in, paid my $5.70 fee, hehehe, bar-gain, took 4 strides forward and looked to my right. Sculpture!! Art!!

Looked straight ahead. Jetty!! Fisherman!!

Looked to my left. Blue Heaven!! Botanical gardens!! Navy ship!!

The bag birds immediately took in the remarkable view, basking in the sunshine. Their tweets sounded a bit Germanic all of a sudden, and they seemed to be saying "Ja vol, sunshine oon Yanuary very very gut." (Ok, I don't know ANY German, don't judge me).

Then I swam. Twenty laps. Which is a hell of a lot for me. As I swam I chanted "I glide through the water like Miss Fish. In fact I AM Miss Fish, Miss Fish and I are twin fish slipping through the water." Then an elderly man swimming breaststroke overtook me. There's a lot of training ahead of me before I can join the shoal. Dammit.


But the bag birds didn't seem to notice.



They were too busy sun-baking while reading the paper.

8 comments:

Mary said...

Twenty laps!? Twenty?

You are a dead set legend.

Anonymous said...

Eleanor, you ARE a fish. And I mean that in the nicest way. I can just imagine you in that blue water, gliding along, while the sun sparkles all around you.

That pool is a dream...the views...the deck chairs...the cafe (!)...the sculptures...the naval yard...the fisherman(!)...everything. Perfection. The Aussies have got it down.

Gimme a sec to get my goggles, swim cap and bathing suit...and I'll be right there.

Sigh. If only.

It's snowing again in Germany. *Sob*

Esti said...

Oh, my not even in my teen I swam twenty laps, ha, ha... I'm jealous of the birds, sun baking and reading the paper... how lucky!

Duyvken said...

This is my favourite pool to swim in because the beauty distracts me from how bad I am at swimming laps :-) I look forward to reading about what you do tomorrow.

That One said...

Ahh...sunshine. Blue skies. Blue water. What a combination.

Snowing here in Michigan again. High today is 10. Tomorrow's high? 7.
I love this weather but wish I had my own Frau Mueller to help me add a protective layer of blubber for warmth.

alice c said...

I am so STOOPID. I read this post. I think "I have seen that bag somewhere before". I rack my brain. I bang my head on the table. Then I remember...

Of course if I had clicked the link on the previous post I could have saved myself a LOT of worry.

Sömsmånen said...

One of my childhood heroines was Australian Shane Gould (I read a book somewhere about her determination and victories, never seen the girl actually swim)speaking of legends.

Soft Rock Mama said...

Now, that is a fantastic day.
Great story.
Wow! what a pool. I have never seen anything like that. And, oh my gosh, the views!!