I'll talk about work when I can summon the enthusiasm to spend my spare time writing about it. As for the new home, well let's just say my original decision to move to the suburban hell that is Chatswood was a moment of madness. My Clapham Common of this trip.
If ever I got a reminder of why living slap bang thank you mam in the middle of Sydney was a far better option, it was this weekend. Before I go into more depth about mardi gras, I will briefly summarise my movements...
Got up Saturday morning. Blisteringly hot. Walked into the city. Did some shopping. Walked to the harbour. Drank outside the Opera House. Walked through the Botanical Gardens and home. Sunbathed with a bottle of wine in the park over-looking the harbour just outside my flat. Had a doze. Walked to the Mardi Gras parade. Walked to the after party. Walked home from it. Slept. Walked to the pub. Walked home. Slept. Walked to work.
I'm not walking everywhere because I've discovered a new hobby. Just about everything I need, want and do is just a stroll away. After so long suffering London public transport, this is a godsend to my overall quality of life.
Anyway, back to mardi gras. As I have posted on here before the Sydney event takes on far greater significance than it does in London. Here people travel from across the world and Australia to be part of it. Here it is the highlight of the year for gay people - something they talk about for ages and reminisce about for longer.
In London it has become something of a let down. The parade starts too early in the day, nobody goes apart from a few Peter Tatchell-esque militants and lots of Japanese tourists look on in bemusement. This is then followed by an over-priced party, normally in Finsbury Park, which is basically just a day out for people in the provinces. London-based gay people increasingly shun it, complain about it and resent how clubs use it to ramp up prices in the evening. To my mind it has ceased to be an event that has any meaning to gay people living in London.
Whilst that sounds like I'm being down on it and bigging up the Aussie equivalent, it is in a perverse way almost a positive thing that it has got to this. I won't pretend for one moment that Britain is some kind of liberal haven that events like mardi gras don't matter any more. What cannot be denied, however, is that things are a hell of a lot better than they are in Australia.
The Aussies have a pretty poor record on gay rights compared to comparable nations. There is more to fight for here. A lot more. And I don't just mean legally - Sydney is the only city with a large gay scene in Australia, and yet it is far, far smaller than even Manchester - let alone London. Picture being gay in a city like Brisbane, the third largest in the country and with a population of more than 1.5 million - bigger than anthing outside London in the UK - and yet with a scene that actually has less going on than is the case in Norwich. And picture being in a country so fucking huge that to even get to the nearest vibrant scene you have to board a plane for several hours.
Everyone will have their own opinions, but to my mind it is this sort of environment that gives the Sydney Mardi Gras its special place in the calendar and that increased sense of importance to people.
I have a good time, although the after party is a pretty atmosphere less affair at the Murdoch owned Fox Studios next to the Sydney Cricket Ground. And it's $130 a ticket - roughly 50 quid.
This party also gives a very obvious indication of how drug fuelled the scene is in Sydney. And by that I don't mean people having a few pills here and there. The drugs of choice here are Crystal Meth and GHB. I'm not saying these aren't big on the London scene, because they are, but I have never seen so many people carted off in ambulances as I do at this party.
Later I am told the OD rate had been tame by comparison to previous years...
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