Croydon, has everything. (Croydon, post code CR0 that is, not postcode 3136. No offence, Nath). Well, almost everything. Coffee? Hmm........ We’ll get back to that.
At the end of Masons Ave (where our apartment block is) is High Street and by turning left or right, you gain vastly different benefits. Our new neighbours on the 7th floor framed this perfectly for me when I met them borrowing a Phillips Head screwdriver to set up our new TV stand. “In the day, go right, at night go left.”
Every single day, we turn right. Pete does this at 7am, on the way to East Croydon station, bound for work. The boys and I do this much later after we have prepped for the day and I have decided on the proceedings. Mostly, we follow the same path. Past Tesco Express (our local milk bar), through the Surrey Street fruit & veg market (copping a wonderful earbashing of London accents yelling “Paand a bow’l, paand a bow’l!” for yummy fruit and veg) and down the hill towards Wandle Park. We return via various shops with my daggy market trolley and stock up for dinner and the next day. When we get home I ring my little school bell, sing the national anthem and home schooling gleefully gets underway for the next hour or so. Actually I do NOT have a bell (it’s true!) and sometimes there is actually glee. The order of the day changes but you get the gist.
Several evenings a week we turn left. We are partial to going out after dinner for dessert, and there are so many restaurants, bars and pubs around, we pick one and try it, and so far they have all been great. Going right would mean havin’ it large with the locals and that’s not my cup of tea now, really. Not mid-week.
Our apartment is great and has all that we need, is new and we have made it a home. Considering most nights it sounds like the opening credits to ‘The Bill’ outside with the cop cars zooming by, it’s nice to be safe, 7 floors up.
On our ramblings around Croydon we have discovered lots of useful places to go and things to do. 3 great parks complete with playgrounds and trees to climb, shops by the truckload, and joy-oh-joy, a Buddhist Centre literally 3 mins walk from our place so I have started up yoga again!! But it’s not all rosy. Oh no, there is something disturbing. Very, very disturbing. I cannot express how much I need to find GOOD COFFEE! Actually, that’s not fair. The coffee itself can be okay and fair trade coffee is abundant if that’s how you judge your hot drink choice but is anyone actually a barista? In my sister’ home there lies a coffee making device that definitely gives me my fix, but not on the street. Na-ah. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nufin’. I have been picking places at random looking for a diamond in the rough, trying to not judge the place by the exterior as they may still surprise me. But considering the fact that often I am met with such a look of complete bewilderment when I ask if they have soy milk that I back peddle madly pretending that I mispronounced ‘semi-skimmed milk’ – crazy foreigner – and get whatever they offer me. Actually, the other day I was so determined that when I heard an Italian accent in the street I almost stopped the guy to ask him where he goes for coffee. Almost...
For everything though, there is always an opposite and in the case of coffee in Croydon, its opposite is Sangria. The Spanish influence here is massive and there are Spanish restaurants everywhere, so after a movie night out we dined on tapas and shared a jug of Sangria Blanca which was delish. (Well, the boys had lemonade.) Then we had another jug the next night at a different restaurant and again, yum-o. So there you go!
I actually sometimes feel like Melbourne is right here with us, like we’re living right in the CBD. Barring the coffee, there are all the myriad of shops you could want at your door, no need for a car, parklands and even a tram service!! My friends & family aren’t here though and I do miss everyone... plus my lovely little stove top espresso maker. Oops, did I say that out loud?
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