Dear Santa

So... I´ve been particularly good this year. I was hoping you could help me out with a few things? I really, really, really would love to be the proud owner of a goat. Yeah, a goat. Actually, farm animals in general. Ducks, pigs, chickens and a donkey.

You see, I don´t actually need them, but I know you´re big on presents. So I thought rather than you getting me things I don´t need (socks and knickers three years in a row?), you could get me farm animals? Yeah, I know I don´t need farm animals, and let´s not even get started about where they would go in my shoebox apartment. But get your elves to have a look at Oxfam Unwrapped. Just make a purchase for me, and the present will get sent onto somebody who needs it more.

Got it? Okay great. Merry Christmas

I often find myself in conversation with friends, debating the merits of city-living. Despite growing up in a small coastal town, I'm now unashamedly addicted to the urban metropoli. But until a conversation a few days ago, I must admit my arguments were fairly weak. I'd muse old faithfuls like:
"... just so much going on, lots of energy, loads of different people...". And although they were true, even I didn't believe that they were the reason for my love affair with high density living. They were why I liked it, not why I loved it.
My best friend (from the opposition 'I don't love the city' team) proposed, "I'm glad I don't have to live in London. I'd prefer to just visit for a couple of days at a time and then get the hell out of there."
" Well of course you hate it then. The best thing about living in a city is that you get below the surface. You find the little places tucked away that you begin to know and love and can call your own." And there it was. My light-bulb moment. By finding pockets of wonderfulness, you eek out your own existence and can fight that feeling of being so small that you're overwhelmed by hugeness. Phew...
It's less about George St, in Sydney's CBD, more about Booth St, Annandale or Gould St, Bondi. It's the cafe run by a bunch of Kiwis that serves the only good coffee in London, the knowledge of which is passed like gospel, from ex-pat to ex-pat (when you come, we'll tell you!). It's the amazing Turkish restaurant we only found because our washing machine broke and it was next door to the Laundromat. It's the skinny barista, with beautiful eyes, in a cafe on Abercrombie St, whom I flirted with shamelessly each morning on my journey into Sydney Uni. It's the guy pictured up here, in the middle of Tokyo's 35 million inhabitants, on an outrageously busy shopping strip in Shinjuku, chilling on the pavement, selling his hand-illustrated postcards. These small diamonds in the roughs make no parking in Bondi, the tube at peak hour, living in shoeboxes and millions of neighbours so much easier to love.
And that's it. I don't have anything in particular to plug, or point you towards. I just wanted to share this little epiphany. What's the pocket of your city that makes it all worthwhile?

Today is Interntional Buy Nothing Day. You might buy nothing because you're totally broke, you know, credit crunch and all. You might refrain from purchase as a mini personal challenge, do you really need that bag? You might opt out to make a statement, saying that you're not bound to the retailers and their cunning advertising tricks. You might desist because you understand that a society addicted to shopping is negatively impacting on a planet under pressure. Or maybe you could care less and splurge, it's your money, you earnt it. I'm not here to preach.
I'm not even totally convinced. I'm not sure that one day where you buy nothing is the best way to combat excessive consumerism. A 'Buy Nothing Month' or 'Buy only What you Need', maybe. But I do think it's a start. Whatever you do tomorrow, buy or not, I hope that at least you consider your purchase. Do you really need this? What is its impact? Do you care?

I just read the below post and felt a little ripple of homesickness. ***Sigh*** The beginning of the Australian summer. Music festivals galore. Long sunny Sunday arvos at Bondi. Spontaneous weeknight beers. Thongs, skirts, singlets and sunnies. Spare a thought for those of us bunking down for the long UK winter ahead. At least those friendly peeps at Modular seem to have us in mind. While (for the first time in musical history) the line-up looks astronomically better in Oz than in London, Nevereverland will be bringing a little bit of sunshine over here NEXT WEEKEND! Quick! Get your tickets here before every other Aussie in Shepherds Bush beats you to it.

Google may be Goliath when it comes to searching, mapping and stalking, but it has an Achilles' heel. Gasp! The big 'ole behemoth can only find me one song at a time. I want lots of music, all at once and I want to play it now! Is that too much to ask? Enter Seeqpod. The search engine and music player in one. Seeqpod scours the net for mp3s and videos and all you need to do is add them to your playlist on screen. Easy huh? It's like the mixtape Google wished they had.

Thought radio documentaries were for grandparents and rhetoric-sprouting university lecturers? Think again... Australian music's messiah, Richard Kingsmill, presents a musical journey through the landscapes that have shaped the lyrical literature and melodic musings of many an Aussie muso. Wide Open Road, the four part series, rocks the Suburbs, hits the Road, surfs the Coast and gets stuck to the pub Carpet where our fave bands grabbed early inspiration for their later stellar careers.
As part of Aus music month, the series starts on Triple J and Radio National from Saturday. But for those of you in the 21st century know how, why don't you just go and listen to it here