There was a time when I would pack my bag and jump on a plane and fly halfway around the world to a new job in as much time and with as little thought as other people would take to walk to their local store, but things have changed.
Our daily morning walk leads us past a sign that points up the Clyde Mountain and reads "51 Braidwood" which keeps reminding me that Braidwood is just fifty-one kilometres away and that I should visit it.
The Braidwood I used to know from my weekly commutes up and down the mountain is now already twenty years old, and much would have changed. Looking at the website of the Royal Mail Hotel tells me that the publican has changed. The previous owner used to have a big billboard on the outskirts of town advertising "ACAMADATION" which prompted me to call in, order a beer, and point out the misspelling to him. "I know", he said, "and I won't change it. It makes people like you call in and order a beer!" It became a standing joke between us.
but, with today's inflation, it's hardly worth the price of another beer
Braidwood's unofficial name used to be Deadwood but it became better-known and more visited after they had shot three movies there: the rather dreadful movie "Ned Kelly" with Mick Jagger in 1970, followed by the two coming-of-age films "The Year My Voice Broke" in 1987 and "Flirting" in 1991. Someone went to the trouble of retracing the location shots in both Braidwood and Bungendore and put them on YouTube:
As I mentioned in my previous post, after my beer at the pub I always called in at the small butcher's shop next door which sold all sorts of German goodies, from "Leberkäse" and "Bockwurst" to "Fleischsalat". I suspected the owner of being German but when I asked he told me that he had served his apprenticeship with a German butcher in Sydney.
Alas, the butcher is no longer there, but Braidwood now has its own Vinnies shop which makes a visit even more pressing. Knowing how much time I spend in Vinnies shops, we may even have to stay overnight which means I may have to book some "accomodation" at the Royal Mail Hotel.
I'm working on it!
