Loved it! A big, enjoyable book to curl up with.

On its way to TQD via the Australian m-bag.

Right this time I am not winging it. I have googled Milpitas. This is what I found out: Postcode 95035. There seem to be a couple of major routes going nearby...237, 880, 680. It looks to be part of the greater bay area metropolis. From memory the airport is down that way somewhere. It also claims to be close to or even part of Silicon Valley. How is that for 5 minutes on the web?


I have not done NJ yet. This is off the top of my head: airport near NYC, casinos, Donald Trump, Marci, Bruce. And that's it really.

Now the book. It is a well worn novel off to TQD. She may tell you two about Sydney where she lives. A truly great city. I think Marci has been there. Has Jamesmum?

TQD has this and Stiff coming. I shall fill out a 3kg bag with these two books and a couple of M bag selections and maybe one or two from my BXing pile.
Thanks TQD for joining in the fun.

Thanks to everyone involved for getting this one to me! Wheeee! I'm going insane, surrounded by toppling books! But what a way to go.

Hmm, something about Sydney, eh? Well, we've got a beautiful harbour smack bang in the middle of the city, which I get to see every day from the train going across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (One advantage of living in the inner west and working in the north!) I can even get a good glimpse of the famous sails of the Sydney Opera House if I'm on the top floor of the train and stand on tippy-toes!

I'm in the inner-west of Sydney, on the outskirts of a trendy suburb called Newtown. Newtown used to be super scruffy and only the poverty stricken and students would live here, but it's all been yuppified. (I'm sort of one of the yuppies, unfortunately. Decent income, so I can afford to support the local bookshop and gourmet eateries and go to the nicer pubs, when I have the time.)

The goths live near me, and so most of my local shops have a very black colour scheme. I'd say it's a colourful neighbourhood, but if you've ever hung out with goths, you'd know that's not really true. Black, black, black, purple, black, black, black, black, red, black, black, black. (Not dissing the goths though, I wear enough black myself!)

And apparently Australians aren't having enough kids (there was a big brouhaha about it a couple of years ago), so Newtown has decided to help out. For every goth, there are ten prams. I'm really not kidding, it's a great big small-child social centre. The parks and playgrounds are all being redone, the pubs have creches (well, almost), babycinos are everywhere! Fabulous place to live at the moment with a small child of our own!

Sydney for me is home, and I never want to leave here. (Although if I ever want to own a home of my own, I might have to think about moving somewhere cheaper. Maybe Adelaide, hey newk? :)

TQD a yuppie???? Never. Surely

Only a "sort of" yuppie. :)

I have the University education and the well paid white collar job and the upper middle class upbringing. And I'm willing to pay the exorbitant rents that have pushed out the scruffy people and shop at the naice shops. (I'm a sucker for expensive delis and bookshops. Boy, am I a sucker for bookshops. Our local fabulous bookshop throws a party every six months for the top customers with nibbles and champagne and goodies and I've been on the invitation list three times in recent memory. Oh boy.)

I also rent, use public transport fanatically (hey, how else am I going to get any reading done?? can't read and drive!), cut my own hair, proudly wear clothes that any sensible person would have donated to charity years ago, drink domestic beer, march in protests, watch ABC/SBS (for the americans: think PBS) because I can't stand advertising, and mourn the loss of the local music scene to poker machines.

I think I'm just confused somedays. :)

But I do have to admit that I am one of the people behind the yuppification/gentrification of this neighbourhood! (Not that you would be able to tell by looking. I think today's clothes have more holes than not! Yay for work-from-home days!)

And newk, this is not the bookcrossing forum. :)

nah it's not the forum but it's fun!!
says newk going mad trying to make links work in journal messages

Turns out this is a duplicate copy on my shelves. And I've had it for far too long!

Will release at meetup (bookdrinks!) tonight.

Happy reading!

Picked up at the Sydney October 2010 MeetUp. I've read a couple of other books by her and hope this one will be as good a read.

Hey folks, I kind of like the description of towns and lives in this set of journal entries! I live a little bit further along the train line from TQD (4 stops to be exact), in Summer Hill, a little less trendy and no (few and only on Saturday night) goths.

Released as my Secret Santa gift at Sydney December BookCrossing MeetUp.

Just realised I didn't write a journal entry on how much I liked this book! Thank you all!