Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

I'd decided to stay at Jayne's one more night at first the only intention I had to to get a curry meal at Tamara's in Newtown. But in any event things went differently.

Jayne left for her volunteer work by train, and rather than go immediately to Newtown (which is an easy thing to do on that line) I decided to visit the Casula Powerhouse next to the station. Every time I came down to visit Jayne, I'd see the changes as renovated this from a gutted shell into an art gallery. But I'd never gone in and had a look. Had to wait around until 10am, but it was worth it (that's another post).

After I'd thoroughly extracted all the culture I could from the gallery, I hopped on the train to Liverpool for lunch. Originally I'd been going to have that in Newtown, but after visiting the gallery I realised that Liverpool was a huge melting pot of cultures as immigrants from India, Sri Lanka, Fiji, the Philipines, Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere had settled there. If I was going to find a good curry anywhere other than Tamara's, it was going to be here! I did, at a place called a "The Little Curry Shop" which was a takeaway place with a couple of tables. I knew it was good when I saw some women in saris come in and order food. And it was good.

I spent a good while window shopping around Liverpool. There are two parts to this area - Westfields and the rest. Westfield shopping centres are franchised mega shopping complexes that seem to be everywhere in New South Wales. There's one in the Newcastle metro area at Kotara - and by there being only one, it's a treat to go to. But the one in Liverpool is one of many, and could be anywhere. According to Jayne, the further away from Westfield's that you get, the more particular are the shops, and she was right.

The rest of Liverpool is quite a mixed bag. I found a number of fashion places that specialise in Indian and Pakistani clothing, where if I wanted (and I do) get a sari that would look good on me - however, wear a sari in Barnsley? I think not.  There were all sorts of food shops selling all sorts of cuisines. There were heaps of "discount import shops" and I bought a couple of whirligigs, two graphic novels (the unexpected pair of Lux and Alby sign on and save the universe and Assume Nothing: Evolution of a Bi-Dyke) and assorted other stuff from there. Overall, I loved it!

In the afternoon I did end up at Westfield's, to watch Newcastle at the Greater Union. Like Death race the day before, this seemed to be a film I need to watch. An Australian film set in the title city (though you barely see much of it except Mereweather beach), but really about a drama in a family of surfers (Surfest is big here). I'm not into surfing at all, but the film did a credible job of sharing just what the attraction was for the main characters. There's a death in this film and part of it is about grieving. Needed to see it.

After catching the wrong bus back to Jayne's I had dinner with her family and we watched Sweeney Todd on video. Finally, someone else who loves the film as much as me! Fell asleep watching some other film called Swordfish, and later when trying to watch Pan's Labyrinth.