SOAKING UP (FINAL PART)

When I started writing this "Soaking Up" series , it was this post that really inspired me and made me want to write about it ... MY SUBURB.

I'm very lucky to now live in a fabulous suburb that is close to the city and my son's school. It has great shopping, restaurants, pubs and cafes, cinema and parks. Just about everything is walking distance, including work which takes me 45 minutes.

Come Saturday and one of my most favourite things to do is soak up my suburb. I always take a couple of hours of "me-time" to do the grocery shopping (I love it!) enjoy a coffee out and read the magazine section of the paper.

My Sarturday usually consists of: After I've dropped my boy at my parent's house I head back to my suburb and do the grocery shopping. Our supermarket is very popular. I often bump into people from work both current job and previous ones. Its not just the locals that shop there.

I often wander up the main street to a wonderful and very authentic continental deli where the owners make a lot of the produce they sell. The owner will encourage tasting of his olives or anything else that you may be considering buying but not sure about. I have an Italian friend who assures me that the olives I buy there are just like his mother used to make. You cant get a better recommendation than that. I often buy their home made almond bread and it tastes SO much better than the mass produced and packaged stuff. My mum and dad love it too as being older they dont eat a lot now but still like to have a sweet treat after dinner. The almond bread is perfect for that.

I have two favourite coffee places (and one more thats just a bit more out of the way) and my Saturday coffee out is a ritual that I dont ever want to give up. The home made stuff (even with a Nespresso coffee maker now) is NEVER as good. I savour that coffee while having a read of the paper and just lose myself in them.

The main street has so many interesting shops both old and new. There are some high end boutiques, a sports store that represents better value for money than any of the large chains, a bookshop (thats still doing a great trade) and many different food stores. Its never boring here.

Its vibrant. Its cosmopolitan. Its the sort of place you can just soak up and never get bored with. Like I said, I'm so lucky to be living here now.

M