I cherish my time in Sydney. The feel of high thread-count sheets, of the luxury of a lay in, of time spent with friends you wouldn't normally see, of the sheer delight of reading in a long, warm bath, of drinking gin and tonics in bed. Thoroughly decadent, but very much needed every so often.
Last night, two of my world's collided. After spending some time with friends at drinks (because my late arrival, lunch was out of the question) I met up with my friend Kaz, who was over from Adelaide for the day doing a speaking engagement and then to catch a matinee. Her flight back to Adelaide wasn't until later, so we had time for lunch
Kaz doesn't know Sydney well at all. She was relishing some time on her own, away from her kids and her normal life.
We agreed to meet at my hotel at 6 p.m. By that time my friends will be on their way home and I'll have had a bit of time to relax. Kaz had to be back at the airport for a 9 p.m. flight, so we had time for a quick dinner.
Kaz is a wonderful friend. Her pool house is known as my place - I stay at her place when we have mason's business in Adelaide. Her family take me in as one of their own. It's very much appreciated. We dumped her cabin bag in my room. And it was there my feelings of world's colliding hit me
We met up at the designated time. As it was raining in Sydney, we found a cheap and cheerful Italian place about two-minutes' walk away from the hotel, where we put the world to rights.
There were some funny emotions as I put Kaz in a cab about an hour later.
"Why don't you take the train?" I asked.
"I don't know Sydney, and I don't know how," she answered.
"It's easy. And cheaper than a cab."
"I can write the trip off to the company."
"Fair enough."
It hit me how much our lives differ. Kaz is married with two lovely tween-age boys. She has a house with a pool and a one-eyed black cat who's adorable, and an editing business and so much more.
Me, I know my way around Central Sydney like the back of my hand. I'm not afraid to navigate different cities - I relish getting around different cities, finding their quirks and excrescences. I think nothing of taking myself off to a lovely hotel in another city every now and then and having a weekend for myself, normally taking in art, or theatre or music (once a cat sitter has been arranged)
And it struck me just how lucky I am to be able to do this.
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