Architecture

This 1930s building is just around the corner from where we are staying in Potts Point. It reinforces the point that is often made, which is that many Australian houses are poorly insulated against both the heat and the cold. Just look at those windows.

I also learned a bit more about the Sydney late Victorian terraced row houses, of which there are many examples around here and in Redfern where the University is located. Many are small workers' houses, but others are larger and were intended for the new professional classes then emerging in the city, as it expanded. This was over lunch with a colleague, who said that she and her husband managed to buy one such house in 1981 with two junior salaries, just when they arrived. Two senior university salaries would no longer buy such a house, at least in the gentrified parts of town, such has been house price inflation. They are still in their house, although they've renovated and extended it since, thus themselves contributing to gentrification.

It was a pleasant and interesting lunch, but that was as good as it got today, because by that stage I was starting to feel quite odd. A few days ago, I decided that this persistent hip pain was probably the onset of a bout of sciatica, and so it has proved. The pain now runs right down my leg, resolving into pins and needles in my foot, following the exact line of the sciatic nerve, as far as I can see from readings online. However, rather than rely on self-diagnosis, I got some advice about getting a doctor's appointment, which I managed - for a price of course - at half an hour's notice. I've been given some stronger anti-inflammatories which will hopefully do the trick, and advised to do no lifting or bending. My attempts to stretch my limbs and muscles in order to relieve the pain have probably been doing more harm than good. I'm already feeling better - psychologically at least - because I've had a diagnosis.

Tomorrow I shall take it easy - at least physically speaking.