Life in the Burbs

Sydney city centre is what most of the tourists see. But if you live in Sydney, you are most likely to live in one of the suburbs - the burbs. Most of them are low rise and many contain wonderful vestiges of another era.

I'm staying in Glebe which to my ear always has echoes of The Archers. It's only a short bus ride from the centre but seems a world away from the high rises of downtown Sydney. Here there are small arcades of shops, architecture on a very domestic scale, where quiet, tree lined streets are flanked by balconied houses, with tiny front gardens burgeoning with shrubs and flowers. It is quite different and distinct from any other city I have visited and makes Sydney so curiously special. It isn't that its old fashioned but it does have a spirit that has survived the modernity of the city and which seems to speak volumes about the way Australians in this city make their lives.