Paperwork
Yesterday trickled like water through my fingers. Our first job was to set up the dining table; the perfect surface to get everything together for the annual tax return. We sorted 12 months worth of receipts into categories ready for data entry and then the motivation to complete the task evaporated.

Spring’s just around the corner
Already the flowers on west facing magnolias are changing from magenta to pale pink while some maple trees haven’t fully shaken off their leaves from last year. Early flowing jasmine buds, tinged with pink look ready to set loose waves of intoxicating fragrance upon the streets of Sydney.

The beautiful blue skied sunny day typical for Winter in Sydney could not be wasted by staying indoors. Following a couple of false starts we walked with Stan from Lewisham, through the suburbs of Petersham, Stanmore, Newtown and Erskineville. We stopped briefly at parks and trees for Stan to mark and connect with our route.

Relief from the dusty road
After walking for five kilometres we were ready for lunch at Bitton, a French inspired cafe in Alexandria. An outside table and a bottle of Baron Edmond de Rothschild Les Laurets, Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion were the perfect accompaniment to slow roasted pork shoulder with fennel slaw and a salmon burger. We did not really need the bread and pudding with sauce Anglaise or rhubarb tart, but it is still Winter after all!

Following lunch it took just over one hour to walk home through Erskineville, Newtown, Marrickville and Petersham. An afternoon nap and the satisfaction of a ten kilometres round trip were the perfect tonic to ease my hot feet.

View toward Erskineville from Bitton Cafe.