23 Reasons I like living in Sydney

By Pete Dixson



* I've finally stopped being the guy from Tasmania living in Melbourne, and have become the guy from Melbourne living in Sydney.

* People notice me when I drive sensibly and courteously.

* Nobody notices when I drive irresponsibly and rudely.

* People are too busy being nasty to Queensland registered cars to notice my Victorian number-plate.

* I don't feel secretly anxious that I'll be found out when I affect an intellectual distain for "football" and all things related to it - Rugby League really is awful, and it's quite alright to hate it.

* They show the AFL live all weekend, except, thank god, Sydney Swans games.

* And, living in Redfern, I have a legitimate right to jump on the "Save South Sydney RL" bandwagon. Oops.

* I don't have to wear my daggy faded fluoro longs - it's bike shorts weather all year round.

* People don't think I'm somewhat odd to ride a bike to work, they think I'm very brave.

* Folks still think I look like a bicycle courier, but that means they steer clear of me because they think I'm that Sydney-bike-courier extra bit crazy.

* Even though the food here is cheaper, Sydney people think food in Melbourne is better.

* There's not one but two kinds of Pizza - Turkish AND Italian.

* Saying "thank you" in Korean really impresses the staff at Japanese restaurants.

* I can stay at home to watch the Olympics on TV, because the government is telling people to do just that, instead of having to catch a strange virus from the cat (like last time) to get away with it.

* And, the Olympics will be an excuse for just about *anything.*

* Redfern Steet is in Redfern, Stanmore Road is in Stanmore, Marrickville Road is in Marrickville, Concord Road is in Concord, Enmore Road is in Enmore - streets in Sydney are named after the suburbs they're in, not suburbs miles away like in Melbourne - where Brunswick Street is in Fitzroy, Fitzroy Street is in St Kilda, St Kilda Road is in South Melbourne, Mebourne Road is in Williamstown, Williamstown Road is in Port Melbourne... and Sydney Road is in Coburg (!)

* "Station Steet"-s in Sydney often actually have railway stations in them.

* Not cleaning my car is regarded as a legitimate theft deterrent.

* You get to find out how much jet planes really do get blown sideways as they come in to land (at least in safe Labour seats.)

* At least some of lyrics of the old song "The Cicada that ate Five Dock" now make sense to me.

* I recognise some of the places in Patrick White novels... and Colleen McCullock novels.

* I got to laugh at how it took Tom Cruise five minutes to get from La Perouse to South Head by motorcycle in "Mission Impossible 2"... since it takes longer than that to cross Parramatta Road in peak hour.

* Visitors from overseas actually know that there's a city in Australia called Sydney.

!!!!!