Bobby. wrote on Apr 15
th, 2024 at 11:27pm:
Karnal wrote on Apr 15
th, 2024 at 11:23pm:
Bobby. wrote on Apr 15
th, 2024 at 11:14pm:
People - wasting away in paradise.
Know it well, Bobby. The Summer of '82, the Woolloomooloo squats, the Manzil Room, French's on Oxford Street, Dr Wong's, gelatos at Bondi Beach.
Mandrax, Buddha, heroin, Panadeine Forte, many old friends, long gone. Those were the good old days.
And now it's full of people stabbing each other for no reason.
Christians. We warned you of this. A secular utopia fueled by automation and cheap drugs, we said.
Extend the dole to all who want it, no fortnightly forms. Rake in the mining royalties and fund the arts. Let anyone who wants occupy all the empty inner city warehouses.
Gentrification didn't help. The rise of Hillsong, the Howard years, fire regulations, pokies. Times changed. Values changed.
But for a decade there, things were all so beautiful. Now?
Sydney's unrecognisable. I remember a time there, when you'd head into the inner city, find any old house with a party, and rock. Empty pockets. You'd carry some drugs, a harmonica, or a story. You'd come back with stories.
If you ever needed an easy place to crash (and I mean crash), there were always the Indian Pacific sleeper carriages at the Everleigh rail yards - sheets so crisp and white.
But you didn't sleep for days. You'd wake up on Tamarama or even out at sea - that happened once. They were different times.
Today, Sydney is just another big, gentrified city full of walls and churches and people looking at their phones.
I know. I'm one.
Look how young Midnight Oil were. Ah, the good old days.