Smokeless in Sydney

Had a gorgeous weekend after a much more successful week in my new job - thank christ! After the first week I didn't know how long I would cope in an environment as exciting as a monastery but things have brightened up. I was astonished to be engaged in small talk with a number of my office neighbours and almost floored when I was invited out to a lunch where the people seemed fun, witty and dare a say it - entertaining. Thank god. Maybe they all came across my blog on the net and felt guilty about neglecting me......

The weekend was luverly, went out on Friday night to a rather swanky bar in Surry Hills where I am pleased to report that Sydney seems to be finally embracing a more Melbourne ethic when it comes to design. Gone are the cold, white, glass and chrome dentist surgeries that typified the Sydney bar of the past and hello to kitsch but stylish wallpaper, cushions, couches, warm low lights and atmosphere. The very best bit is that all bars in Sydney are pretty much non smoking now so after a night out with friends boozing and eating it up I came home NOT smelling like an ashtray, amazing.

Went to the Sydney Writers' Festival on Friday arvo which was great if a little overcrowded, got locked out of the travel writing session cause it was full and had to content myself with sitting on a plastic chair outside listening via a speaker, felt a bit pathetic really. On the Saturday I took Eduardo in and after explaining to him it would be horrendously crowded we walked straight into a book launch to be greeted with the sight of a half empty room of only 40 or so folk and then we were loaded up with complimentary glasses of red wine and hordeuves, was a pleasant surpise and was a very nice intro back into Sydney, wine in hand, looking out across the dark waters of the harbour and across to the sparkling lights of Luna Park, such a pretty city.