Bondi ‘caveman’ moved on

We visited Sydney in August and on our last day in that great city we walked under overcast skies around the cliffs of Bondi Beach.

One of the highlights of that stroll was coming across the belongings and ‘dwelling’ of the Bondi Caveman, Jhyimy “Two Hats” Mhiyles. My boys were intrigued that this man lived in a cave next to and nearby some of the priciest houses in Sydney. His ramshackle belongings spilled out across the grey rock. He had views to die for and he didn’t pay a cent.

The Bondi Caveman's cliff top paradise (Photo by Skinny)

Like the Blanket Man in Wellington Jhyimy had become a local icon. A self styled poet, a harmless and intriguing tourist attraction.

It’s all gone.

Yesterday the Waverley Council demolished his hut, and disposed of anything that looked like rubbish, while keeping in storage anything that looked like a ‘normal’ belonging.

Jhyimy had recently been accused of sexual assault after luring a young woman to his cliff top home. So, now that he’s locked up and awaiting a trial the council has taken the opportunity to pounce and remove all trace of his presence.

Waverley Council mayor Sally Betts denied the sexual assault allegations had anything to do with the eviction, though she admitted the case had probably made it easier to obtain the eviction order.

It seems way too convenient to me. Check out the full story here on the Sydney Morning Herald website.

The Lynx Effect

It reported three days ago that an Indian man, Vaibhav Bedi, is suing the makers of Lynx deodorant and body spray for a lack of the so-called ‘Lynx Effect’.

The Lynx Effect, if you have seen the advertisements on TV, makes a man irresistible to women, particularly long legged beautiful women. If you choose to use the product, and let’s face it, which man wouldn’t given it’s over-powering and seductive qualities, women will fall at your feet like flies sprayed with Black Flag. Come to think of it, the Lynx smell (at least some strains of the range) bears an uncanny resemblance to fly spray.

I fell into the claws of the Lynx via my gym. No, I wasn’t offered it by a male member in the shower room - it is simply provided free to all who frequent MindBody Studio. Because it was free I thought “What the hell?”.

Needless to say I am still with Sugar who, by the way, hates the smell of Lynx. Perhaps Vaibhav will consider mounting a class action for all of us who have hoped for but been disappointed with the Lynx Effect.

Lynx is marketed in India and elsewhere around the world as Axe. Here’s the latest ad currently showing on New Zealand TV.

Skinny in KiwiRider magazine

I haven’t posted for ages. This post could be seen as a bit of a cop-out. Sorry.

But - the posts I made on this site back in March about my journey around the South Island by motorbike has been published in the October edition of KiwiRider magazine.

Page 57 to be exact

$10.00 at all good bookstores and motorbike shops.

Eating in Sydney

I’m in Sydney with the family and we’ve been surprised by how much eating here costs. It may be more to do with the fact that two seven and a half year old boys now eat as much as their mother and father, so we’re feeding (and paying for) four.

Lunches have been in the region of $50-$60, and that’s for paninis, or turkish bread and coffee. Bloody hell!

Tonight though was a rare find thanks to a Lonely Planet guide on Sydney.

We had a day pass on the monorail and so decided to use it at night to head to Chinatown. There were several restaurants listed as being worthy and we chose the fourth one: Golden Century Seafood Restaurant on Sussex Street.

According to our guide the place is a late night favourite (it’s open until 4.00am) with Sydney chefs and hotel staff.

“…lots of fish tanks display your nervous looking dinner…”

It was all true. We arrived early and the place was only half full. We didn’t fancy the fish - as one son perhaps over-stated, killing those fish is ‘evil’.

We opted instead for dim sim, sishuan-style beef (hot), pork ribs peking style, and braised four vegetables.

The food was stunning. The service was exceptional - wait staff were called variously ‘Trainee’, ‘Stewart’, ‘David’ and ‘Johnny’.

The restaurant filled quickly mainly with Chinese patrons (always a good sign) and with Australian businessmen (also a good sign). By the time we left around 8.00pm there was long queue at the door and the huge crabs and fish and crays were being hauled out of their temporary tanks, weighed and sold (cooked) to patrons.

I, we, the whole family strongly recommend it. A$110 for two entrees, three mains, two chinese beers, and a big bottle of sparkling water.

Unlike other restaurants you’re not allowed to leave once the bill is paid. You must sit and wait while fruit, pastry and cookies are brought to your table. A little sign is left to ‘thankyou for your patron’.

Grand Century Seafood Restaurant
393-399 Sussex Street
Haymarket
Hours: Noon to 4.00am
Phone: 9212 3901

McDonalds in Balmoral? No way.

After my weekend posting about the protests against McDonalds setting up shop in Kaikoura Justine from Balmoral made her campaign against McDonalds in her suburb known to me.

Little did I know there are communities around the country fighting to stop this fast-food giant establishing itself.

And the Balmoral people look highly organised indeed. Check out their activity here.

And while we are on the subject, my children have been watching morning TV during their school holidays as a treat. (If I ever have to watch another episode of Ben 10 I’ll scream - loudly.)

McDonalds seem to have moved from advertising the food on morning TV to advertising the games and figurines in an attempt, successfully, to persuade the children to persuade the parents to buy the food.

In my book they are the same thing. The reality is that you can’t get the figurine without buying a burger or a happy meal. Bugger.

Victoria Williams and Vic Chesnutt, SFBH, Wellington

I had the greatest pleasure of seeing Victoria Williams and Vic Chesnutt perform at the San Francisco Bath-house last night. What a joy!

The first few notes are sung by Victoria and tears well up in my eyes. It’s going to be a great concert.

I have known her music since the early 1990’s - and Vic Chesnutt’s since the turn of the century. I confess, I was there to see her and not him, but Vic was a bit like an added bonus.

Victoria Williams has the most beautiful voice - at times a mezzo soprano (just) and at others sounding like a screeching six year old girl. As a solo artist (there was no-one else on stage other than Chesnutt) her piano accompaniement is spartan but perfectly balanced, playing notes only when required, allowing the listener to fill the gaps. Her prowess on guitar was similar. Beautifully haunting and melodic. She swept the small crowd along with her charm and her beguiling sense of humour and graciousness.

Is it obvious I’m more of a fan now than I was when I went?

Miss Williams had not long hopped off the plane - she admitted she was jet-lagged. But there was no evidence of a lack of energy. In her self-confessed muddled state she had forgotten her notebook of songs. So she interspersed each song she played with humming and strumming, while she played with the audience deciding what to offer us next. Long silences were not embarrassing, far from it. Instead they raised the level of expectation as to what was coming next.

Her lyrics are very conversational and rambling, but there seems to always be a definite purpose -  “Happy” is a perfect case in point. After fourteen albums (seven as part of the Creekdippers and seven as a solo artist) she had a lot of material to draw from. It seemed like she would never stop. Every ‘this-will-be-my-last-song’ led to another, and another, or so it seemed. That was OK by me.

Vic Chesnutt took over as ‘lead’ while Victoria remained on stage enamoured with his performance and his music. Vic started the set with a little impromptu ditty about New Zealand and our ‘giant calamari’ - a running joke between the audience and both performers in the latter stages of the night.

He started his set with “The Gravity of the Situation”, one of the few songs I was familiar with. Like Victoria his lyrics are conversational and rambling (in a good way). “Florida” was a request from the crowd, and what a great song. In fact his set was pretty well made up of audience requests. We were only denied a few times, usually because the song was so far back in his repertoire that he didn’t feel confident doing it justice.

This was an inspirational concert.