Today we started our day at the City Gym and then did laundry back at the apartment. I walked over to pick up our opera tickets while Terri managed the wash. Familiar establishment along the way.
The tickets would be at the opera house on Thursday but we have dinner also and I wanted the tickets before we went. The ticketing agency was about a mile walk in the opposite direction of the opera house. A very warm and sunny day here.
Today we planned to shop at the Queen Victoria Building. Lots of high end shopping in this late 19C building.
We stopped at Joe Bananas. I liked the silk jacket in the window. The salesman said that they only made two of those jackets, a 44 and 42. He gave me the 42 and said the sleeves would be a bit short. The jacket fit well and felt great. As I looked in the mirror he said that Elton John buys his jackets here. I braced myself for the price. $8500.00 I didn’t asked if that included alterations. Back on the rack it went. There aren’t enough Jazz Festivals at the Grand left to justify this.
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https://www.joebananas.com.au/products/jacket-1380
Many, many stores in this classic building. None seemed to be hurting for business. Lots of people here. It’s the middle of the afternoon. Does anyone work? Maybe they are all tourists.
As we walked back through Hyde Park, the regulars were out. A group of folks practicing kickboxing? A group that looked like they were fighting with short pieces of pipe. Maybe they were choreographing a musical fight scene. The “Pipe Fitters Strike Back” ? The boys were practicing landings on their skateboards. A new guy stuck his arms straight ahead, did a squat, then stood up with his arms remaining straight ahead. He did this over and over. Not sure if he was listening to music or just imagined it. Maybe he conducts middle school band and is practicing his crescendo move? Many were on the grassy areas of the park recovering from their exhausting day of living.
There are some homeless here but very few compared to San Francisco or Seattle. They are almost always sleeping. Probably tired from an all night search for a fresh piece of cardboard. The few that are awake are holding up signs that tell us how much their rent is per week and have a container with some coins in it. I don’t mind a charitable contribution, I just want something back for it. I did offer a large contribution to a homeless man on Michigan Avenue in Chicago some years ago. Can you guess his response after I offered the condition of picking up all of the cigarette butts along the block he was on?…