Things I miss from home (a moment of self-indulgence)

1. Bourke St Bakery fig sourdough, proper milk, sushi, really good coffee, Ocello cheeses and Thai food.

2. I miss the sea and the harbour. I miss the smell of the ocean all through Sydney.

3. Efficient and functioning office equipment – computers, printers, internal networks, internet connections. Access to LexisNexis and HeinOnline for research. You don’t realise how smoothly everything just works in a place like Mallesons till you go somewhere where it really doesn’t.

4. Walking down the street and being completely anonymous and unspectacular. Being able to be private in public.

5. Walking down the street and not having to scan other people constantly for unusual and potentially threatening behaviour.

6. Walking about at night time altogether.

7. I miss picking up a phone and calling one of my friends or my Mum or my Dad or one of my siblings if I want to, just to hear what’s happening. I miss my sisters, I miss my brothers, I miss big family dinners with the whole family and I missed my little brother’s 18^th birthday party.

8. I miss lying next to someone at night. I miss hearing my partner’s heartbeat and feeling his breath against my skin.

9. I miss having Saturday morning brunch at Book Kitchen with one of my besties.

10. I miss my bookshelf (and the books in it). I didn’t bring enough reading material.

11. I miss leafy European trees lining Paddington streets and the smell of native Eucalyptus in the bush.

12. I miss the rain. It’s dry season here. I’ve been here for seven weeks. It’s drizzled once, for about ten minutes. I miss the smell of asphalt and the Australian earth after the rain.

13. I don’t miss Vegemite. I made sure to pack a jar.