I have started a new term of English classes at Thai Welfare in the CBD and enjoying it muchly. The class is small (4 students) and the materials that I use at this level are not exactly riveting, yet still it's a worthwhile project. A small class clustered around a couple of pushed-together desks is intimate and there is nowhere for either the teacher or the student to hide, so in some ways, it is easier to teach a class of thirty set out in a proper classroom.

After the Liverpool Street class has finished I sometimes like to wander the busy streets of Sydney, an activity that means tussling with hungry well-dressed lunchtime crowds, who pour ceaselessly from office buildings. Like all modern cities, Sydney bustles and shines and creaks, so it's a wonder the pavements can handle the sheer foot traffic. This is also a time when trams are being reintroduced to parts of central Sydney, so major roads resemble quarries and available space is further squeezed.

One delight from my Japanese past happened a few weeks back when I popped into the George Street Daiso. There in the fridge I saw bottles of Dekavita, a drink I had not seen nor tasted in a dozen years. Back when I was living in Sanda, I would often stop at a vending machine to buy a bottle, the cold, sweet, slightly medicinal taste a contrast to the summertime heat.

And now, here it is, close at hand, for the meantime.