As I wrote, McMahons Point might have become my home after my return to Australia in 1985, had not the grit and grind and grunt of Sydney finally driven me away! And yet just minutes away from my apartment on busy Blues Point Road there are several peaceful spots that make me forget the big city around me.
Not that I had sought them out in 1985; I had been far too angry and frustrated then with myself for having come "home" instead of enjoying for many more years my expatriate lifestyle in Greece and elsewhere.
I only discovered these peaceful spots during my recent visit as I turned a corner and, like by some magic wand, the noise of busy Blues Point Road was gone, and in front of me was Sawmillers Reserve and beyond it the ever-changing panorama of beautiful Sydney Harbour.
And there were other tiny pockets of peaceful greenery that could make you forget the city: Mitchell Street Reserve ...
... and Mary French Reserve. Whoever Mary French was, she must've liked dogs and children. And the adjoining little cottages and terrace houses without a backyard now have a backyard and thank her for it!
There was so much more to explore such as Wendy's Secret Garden at Lavender Bay and the Lavender Bay Parklands, but the early risers were already lining up at the Breadworks Café, and I was happy to join them.
Sydney in 1985 had certainly been a low point in my life, but it is during those low points that we gain our strength. We understand white shadows because we compare them with dark colours. We appreciate life because we experience fear, death, and dark moments.
Paulo Coelho wrote: "There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there." Long before Coelho, the Greek Philosopher Aristotle believed that everything happens for a reason, if only to grow and to learn.
Have I grown and learned? Well, I've certainly grown old, which made me feel contented to sit in the early-morning sun at the Breadworks Café and enjoy an early-morning coffee with a buttered croissant.
