Sydney Day 5

I Crawl from bed and walk into the bathroom, god I am so sick of this bathroom and I have only been here for four days. The bathrooms are poorly maintained , the hand basins are crazed, liquid soap bottles have a crusty accumulation of liquid soap on their nozzles and the towels smell brakish and are rough to the touch .

When I leave the room the housekeeper’s storeroom is open and there is linen in the corridor. I can see the housemaid is in a room at the end of the corridor vacuuming.

I walk into the lift it is small, old fashioned and wood lined. As the lift decends I can hear creaking sounds and air rushes past the outside of the lift.The door opens and I can smell cleaning fluids and hear voices. I Smile at the receptionist and depart through the sliding front doors.

Outside the air is humid, I can smell cigarette smoke and car fumes and I can hear the sounds of cars.

Walking past the Hong Kong restaurant next door I see a cat and wonder about the chance of it becoming part of a stir-fry.

I catch a tram into the city and a bus to Elizabeth bay house

I ask the bus driver to tell me when we reach the stop and a little latter he loudly shouts has the guy who wanted the stop for Elizabeth bay house got off. I say that I haven’t got off and he says that I should get off here.

I Walk down the street till I reach Elizabeth Bay house

I Walk through the front door and purchase a ticket and choose single adult entry but not the guided tour option.

I am told that I should watch the video in the library. The video is Loud noisy and not very informative. This video detracts from the experience of the house it is so annoying.

This is a beautiful house that has miraculously survived when every section of the surrounding area has been over developed.

What is fascinating about this house that when I stand in the stairwell I can believe that the house is still surrounded by a grand garden and that the house is miles from nowhere.

Walking through the house and looking through the various windows from different angles one creates a range realities.

Standing on the top flour at the front of the house ones looks down on Elizabeth bay, not a house in site and I imagines jumping up running down the spiral staircase through the garden to the shore.

Standing in the cellars staring up the sandstone steps up at a 1939s block of flats and I can imagine a barmy night leaning against a wall enjoying a quite smoke as the people party on inside.

The people follow the guide as she tells the story of the house they are like poltergeists unwelcome intruders into my reality and so I turn them into ghosts.

I walk down down to the shore after leaving the house and realise that you cannot walk along the beach because it is privately owned .

I head back to town and purchase dinner from the Hong Kong resteraunt next door and inspect the anatomy of the meat in my meal as I eat it.

I drink red wine and coco cola and listen to a couple on the oposite side of the road shout at each other

Make a call at 12:30 and am in bed by 1:00

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