I've just returned from a week's respite up on the Central Coast of NSW. This former haven of relaxed beachside living has seen some dramatic changes over the many years my family has holidayed in the area...and most of them aren't that great but here's a collection of thoughts, random of course, but they seemed important at the time, so indulge me...
I miss being 16 but there is no way I would go back
On my numerous beach days I was subjected to the inner most thoughts of the 16-18 year old psyche as numerous groups landed on the beaches around me...ahhh to have a life once more where the controversy of the day was what happened at the formal after party and where one would go for schoolies. As I watch their awkward interactions I realised how most of us deep down are still 16 at heart but also feeling a world away from their cares and worries.
They paved paradise and put up parking lot OR my version of the multinational that swallowed the little guy
This is the story of a local shopping strip, an IGA and the car park that now sits on its site. I won't go into a chorus of 'paving paradise to put up a parking lot' and I will admit, I did enjoy being able to buy my usual yoghurt brand...but surely when Coles moves into your holiday area...it's no longer a small out of the way destination. It's serious urban (coastal?) sprawl. And I'm not sure I like it. I mean, for the people who live there it's probably most convenient to have a Coles open to midnight where you can pick up your Jalna...but will the awful Coles bakery kill the local bakehouse where if you get there after 11am all the sticky buns have been sold but pies are only $2 after 2pm?
What is it with the smiling at people?
Everybody smiles and says hello as you pass them...I'm not complaining, only I think I spoke to more people in the past week than I have in the previous 3 weeks in Sydney. And actually wished them well. Good morning to the man whose campervan blocked the access to my accommodation. Hello pregnant lady with toddler at the ocean pool...hello man fishing on bridge as I ran past you...(you probably thought I was crazy running the lake circuit)...
The smell
And I don't mean a bad one...rather there is something so quintessentially holiday- smelling for me when you get paper-bark mingled with a soft breeze coming over the lake front mixed with the slightly dense humidity when you are just over a row of bushland to the ocean...
Miles of beachfront...no one there...bliss.
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