Memories of Adelaide
Oct. 19th, 2003 01:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swestrupAs we sink into fall and the leaves are turning colors, and it gets cold here, I can't help but remember what it was like at my Grandfather's place in the Grange suburb of Adelaide, Australia, when I last visited so long ago.
The house was never anything spectacular, just an old 3 bedroom bungalow with an extension for the toilet, which was added sometime as an afterthought to replace the outdoor privy. But the house had location, location, location. I'm told that Grange is a pretty fancy place to live nowadays, but the last time I visited, some 18 years ago, that was just beginning. Still, the house was just across the street from the beach, making it trivially easy to go for a dip whenever one wanted. Adelaide has LOTS of beach, so even in the heat of summer it was never too terribly crowded. If one wanted, one could walk south along the beach for a few blocks or so and get to the Henley pier which (if my memory hasn't failed me) had some sort of permanent fair going, with bumper cars, cotton candy and the lot. Behind my Grandpa's house the ground sloped down at a 45 degree angle, making his garden tricky to traverse. But, because of that, the cricket fields behind the house were always in full view. Thus, when the world cricket matches were being held there, Grandfather had the equivalent of a box seat. There was a corner store and a fish-and-chips shop just a couple of blocks south of the house, so it was never a big deal if one needed to grab something to eat quickly. Behind those shops was the local commuter train stop, so getting to and from downtown Adelaide was trivial.
To the north of the house was a huge artificial salt-water lake. It was something like a 20 minute walk to get to the far end of it. After that walk though, you would end up a rather nice modern shopping mall with all of the amenities. I also vaguely recall that heading west from that mall would take you to the port of adelaide, which was worth visiting, although I cannot now remember why.
But, above all, I remember the heat. I remember leaving Westmount with 2 feet of snow on the lawn and the temperature dipping to -20 C, and arriving at Adelaide airport to 37 C weather, and being told we were lucky, the week before it had reached 45 C. Still, it was a dry heat, not the sauna bath you get here in summer. It would take a week of being very cautious how I dressed when outside, and how much sun exposure I let myself have, before I would turn brown all over and be able to go for walks and explore the, to me, exotic architecture and gardens in the area.
Back then, I would have happily moved to Adelaide in a heartbeat. Nowadays I would hesitate. Australia doesn't agree with me politically. The government there seems to have gotten more and more conservative over the last twenty years, and so I don't think I would be happy there anymore. After my Grandfather passed on his house became the property of my Aunt, so I don't know if its even there, but I still long to visit again sometime, and see how things have changed.
The house was never anything spectacular, just an old 3 bedroom bungalow with an extension for the toilet, which was added sometime as an afterthought to replace the outdoor privy. But the house had location, location, location. I'm told that Grange is a pretty fancy place to live nowadays, but the last time I visited, some 18 years ago, that was just beginning. Still, the house was just across the street from the beach, making it trivially easy to go for a dip whenever one wanted. Adelaide has LOTS of beach, so even in the heat of summer it was never too terribly crowded. If one wanted, one could walk south along the beach for a few blocks or so and get to the Henley pier which (if my memory hasn't failed me) had some sort of permanent fair going, with bumper cars, cotton candy and the lot. Behind my Grandpa's house the ground sloped down at a 45 degree angle, making his garden tricky to traverse. But, because of that, the cricket fields behind the house were always in full view. Thus, when the world cricket matches were being held there, Grandfather had the equivalent of a box seat. There was a corner store and a fish-and-chips shop just a couple of blocks south of the house, so it was never a big deal if one needed to grab something to eat quickly. Behind those shops was the local commuter train stop, so getting to and from downtown Adelaide was trivial.
To the north of the house was a huge artificial salt-water lake. It was something like a 20 minute walk to get to the far end of it. After that walk though, you would end up a rather nice modern shopping mall with all of the amenities. I also vaguely recall that heading west from that mall would take you to the port of adelaide, which was worth visiting, although I cannot now remember why.
But, above all, I remember the heat. I remember leaving Westmount with 2 feet of snow on the lawn and the temperature dipping to -20 C, and arriving at Adelaide airport to 37 C weather, and being told we were lucky, the week before it had reached 45 C. Still, it was a dry heat, not the sauna bath you get here in summer. It would take a week of being very cautious how I dressed when outside, and how much sun exposure I let myself have, before I would turn brown all over and be able to go for walks and explore the, to me, exotic architecture and gardens in the area.
Back then, I would have happily moved to Adelaide in a heartbeat. Nowadays I would hesitate. Australia doesn't agree with me politically. The government there seems to have gotten more and more conservative over the last twenty years, and so I don't think I would be happy there anymore. After my Grandfather passed on his house became the property of my Aunt, so I don't know if its even there, but I still long to visit again sometime, and see how things have changed.
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Date: 2003-10-19 08:34 am (UTC)*grin*