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 Juan Mann started the "Free Hugs" movement which has now been adopted in several places around the world. Here he is "off duty". Here's a wikipedia article on the Free Hugs movement, and here's Juan's own site (JuanMann.tv)Have you ever been moved to hug a stranger?
 As the sign says:  Lunchtime office workers play ball games, take part in fitness groups, box, run, or just lie on the grass and relax (or like your loyal correspondent walk and take photos) in the lovely spring sunshine. (Yes, there were more men than women running around, but there were also women being active - boxing, fitness class, running....I just didn't get any decent pictures!) What did you do at lunchtime today, or plan to do?
 Very sad news arrived yesterday. Alan Waddell, aged 94, who has been such an inspiration to many died at 3am yesterday morning. Alan had been in poor health for a few months. In 2002, after his wife of 60 years died, Alan took up walking, and set himself the task of walking every street in Sydney's 232 suburbs. His adventures have been resorded on his website Walk Sydney Streets, with the help of his sons John and Graham. In an interview Alan said: "I know that Marj wouldn’t have wanted me to just sit around and give up on life, so I started walking some nearby streets and it grew from there.” Walk Sydney Streets will be maintained into the future by his family, as a backlog of photos is posted; it is sure to bring many more delights. Farewell, Alan - you brought fun and whimsy, a wicked sense of humour, and a sense of old-fashioned, priceless wonderment into many hearts, including mine. I never met Alan face to face, but I always had hope that one day our paths would cross in real life as well as the cyberworld. His memory will come with me as I pursue my own projects on foot around this city we share such a love of. My condolences to Alan's family who are part of the universal family of the blogosphere. The Sydney Morning heral tribute to Alan can be found here.  Thankyou to John for permission to use the photos from Alan's site
 These two ladies were taking it quite slowly. I fancy the woman on the left (a sister? daughter? friend?) is keeping a wary eye on her companion's progress.
 As I walked through Farrer Place in the city yesterday morning I saw all the bike couriers who wait for jobs there. Farrer Place has the huge Education Department building and 41 storey government tower facing it, so there's probably plenty of work. I introduced myself and these guys were Ok with me taking their picture. I told them I thought they should be over in Beijing winning gold medals for Australia, cos this year's cycling team went from 6 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze medals in Athens to 1 silver this time!
 What were my son and his friends doing in my boy's bedroom last night? Watching a DVD on his portable player! (The grown ups had the TV glued on the Olympics.)
  Wrap With Love is a not for profit organisation motivating the knitters of Australia to make beautiful, colourful wraps (blankets) to send to people wherever they may be cold. They have sent 157,000 Wraps to people in over 75 countries. From their Sydney warehouse , over forty non-denominational and non-political aid agencies distribute them to those in greatest need. They have no annual membership fee and rely on an Australia-wide network of caring volunteers to knit, transport and assemble Wraps. Every year Sydney radio station ABC 702 holds a "knit-in" at its studios in Ultimo. The whole huge atrium is taken up with people (99% women) knitting and crotcheting together the thousands of squares. And having lots of fun, laughing, chatting and enjoying each others' company, as you can see! This year it was held on Monday 1 August. I would have shown you it then, but it was theme day. My friend Maureen from the gym and I both knit, and are plannign to go along as knitters next year. Part of the entertainment was a percussion duo, Aurora Percussion. They had the knitters percussing with their needles, and singing along with their Rap (For Love). I managed to take a video of the end of the rap.
  Some Falun Gong practiotioners were out and about garnering support from the Catholic World Youth Day participants recently. With some success as you can see above! 
 The success of people-intensive events depends on the hard work of so many behind the scenes workers. This city of Sydney worker was picking up rubish in Hyde Park to keep the area clean for the Catholic World Youth Day revellers. Today is, apparently Ratcatchers' Day. I hope this young woman doesn't have to deal with any rats! It's also Pi approximation day in countries that use DD/MM/YY format for dates: 22/7
I had intended to go up Sydney Tower today and get some aerial shots of crowds following the pope's progress as he "officially" arrived in Sydney (He's been here since Sunday). Unfortunately, there was a wait of at least an hour and a half to get to the top. Lots of young Catholics had the same idea! So, I wandered through Hyde Park, looking for some photo ops, and ended up right at the fence opposite St Mary's Cathedral. The crowd was one deep, so I then decided I would call this post "I did but see him passing by..." and wait with the faithful, as a faithful Sydney blogger, to witness his arrival. After all, there really was only one event in Sydney today. Here's a pic I took of myself. Waiting.
 Here's a pic of the excited (?) crowd.
 And here's a pic of the cathedral, with Apollo seeming to be pointing towards it. The side door we were facing is under that middle tower:
 It wasn't too long before the masses started to realise that in a triumph of unfortunate planning, il papa was going to arrive in the dark. Maybe it should have happened an hour earlier? Had someone forgotten that it's dark at about 5pm in Sydney in winter? Mutterings began about whether mobile phone cameras would be up to the job of snapping the pontiff as he drove slowly past in the Popemobile. I busied myself trying out various settings on the camera, taking and deleting pics furiously as I tried to decide which setting might cope with both darkness and a slow-moving vehicle. I phoned home to ask someone to turn on the TV and check where he was.
A ripple of laughter went around the crowd (which was getting a bit antsy) as one wag commented that this probably wasn't the popemobile.
 Then the helicopters overhead increased in number (about 5) and proximity, one even coming quite low. And a group of cars whizzed past at high speed at the end of the road. I THINK the blurry streak of light you can possibly see behind the telegraph pole was perhaps the popemobile. Or part of his entourage. Someone said it was anyway, so I clicked off a snap.
 We waited for the motorcade to round the corner, do a loop around the cathedral and come past us. A group of "official" pilgrims stood on the cathedral steps facing us and waited - at least people around me said they were the official pilgrims' greeting party.
Then a big burly cop with lots of stars on his shoulders came past and said "That's it folks, he's not coming round this way!" Some people thought he was joking and started to laugh. But big burly cops with lots of stars on their shoulders don't joke about these things.
The crowd was left to disperse.
As I was standing right near the merchandising tent, I had to go past the entrance to leave the park. There was a huge queue of people waiting to get inside. It was crammed full so they were only letting a few in at a time. I spoke to a couple at the head of the queue. I asked if they were seeking solace in retail therapy, and it appeared they were... Moral: Next time, look more closely at the official route map. * with apologies to Samuel Beckett
Fountains are always hold a strong attraction for young boys. Hassan and Mahommed and their dad, originally from Senegal, were having a really fun time playing at the Archibald Fountain. Their joy was infectious. (Dad was happy for me to photograph his boys). Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney claimed the day the pope arrived in Sydney that western nations need to populate or perish. He claims that "No western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable, no Western country..." Australia's population is growing. Thanks to lovely young people like Hassan, who was born here, and his family who have made Australia their home. So what does Cardinal Pell really mean? Does he mean white Catholics aren't having enough babies? Australia is a far, far better place for its multiculturalism than it ever was before. Sure there's occasional conflict, but tell me a society, even heterogenous where there hasn't been conflict - Us'es and Thems? George is also a "climate sceptic" (an interestingly divergent view to that of his pope), which makes his views even more interesting. Does he discount population pressures as a problem, or maybe he's just concerned about population growth in non-western countries?    
 What's made these boys so joyous? Answer to yesterday's quiz: One group is Artemis (Diana) the Huntress, another Theseus slaying the minotaur, and the third must be Pan - the young god of the fields and pastures. Click on the photo and expand it and I think the clue is in his right hand! Sicard, the sculptor, wrote: " Apollo represents the Arts (Beauty and Light). Apollo holds out his right arm as a sign of protection, and spreads his benefits over all Nature, whilst he holds the Lyre in his left hand. Apollo is the warmth which vivifies, giving life to all Nature. At the touch of his rays, men awake, trees and fields become green, the animals go out into the fields, and men go to work at dawn.
The ancient Pliny adored the sun, symbol of Life. It is on this account that I wished this figure to be the chief one in the memorial.
At Apollo's feet the star of day is indicated by a semi-circle, of which the rays spread out in jets of light (the rising sun). The horses' heads represent the horses of Apollo's chariot. Out of their nostrils the water will fall into the first basin, to fall from there into the second, and run away into the large basin.
The large basin is divided into three groups. One represents Diana, goddess of purity, of peaceful nights, symbol of charity; the ideal which watches over mortals - all that stands for poetry and harmony. The second group symbolises the good things of the earth - it is the young god of the fields and pastures, of the pleasure of the countryside. The third group represents sacrifice for the public good. Theseus, vanquisher of the Minotaur. The spirit triumphs over bestiality. Theseus delivers his country from the ransom which it had to pay to this monster. It is the sacrifice of himself for the good of humanity. Between these groups tortoises throw jets of water. "
 I know 1 May was numbers theme day, but I couldn't resist this collage of footy numbers at my son's game!
 A great big THANKYOU to everyone who stopped by yesterday to wish SDP a Happy Birthday. Here: have a piece of cake at the party!  Above:Even more people from the past year. They get bigger if you click on the collage, or follow the links below to the individual posts if one takes your fancy. Moving from top left to bottom right: Theme Day: red - 1 July 2007 - The daily commute Central Station Busker- 12 May 2007 - Chinese puppeteer These boots were made for golfing - 14 June 2007 - driving range, Tempe We're happy little vegemites - 26 June 2007 - Vegemite in a Surry Hills cafe What, no cars? - 26 April 2007 - Crossing the road on a cloudy, windy day Turkish bread and vegemite for Anzac Day - 25 April 2007 - my grandparents' wedding photo Labor Party Conference - 28 April 2007 - lobbying for public education Sunday morning fishing, Tom Ugly's Point - 5 Aug 2007 Lights, camera, action - 30 June 2007 - filming in a Surry Hills cafe Wedding photos - 24 Sep 2007 - Mirambeena Regional Park Boys at the hairdresser - 30 May 2007 - Chinatown Catching some sun - 23 June 2007 - Sunning in the Chinese Gardens, Darling Harbour Golfers, Little Bay - 24 July 2007 Seeking Inspiration, Glebe Point - 21 July 2007 Lyon Daily Photo in Sydney - 31 July 2007 - Sally meets Cedric and Angelique Peaceful protest - 23 Nov 2007 - student protester Beach Games - 12 Oct 2007 - kids playing on Ramsgate Beach Yuck factor 100% - 9 Oct 2007 - squeezing zits Backyard Sunday - 28 Oct 2007 - Tom at backyard bbq Democracy was served - 24 Nov 2007 - voting in the federal election Taste, Surry Hills - 14 Dec 2007 - pre-Christmas lunch Santa Bunny - 21 Dec 2007 Happy 14th Birthday - 21 Jan 2008 - Homebush Aquatic Centre Beers in Newtown - 4 Feb 2008 - Sat arvo beer in Newtown Saturday sport - 12 April 2008 - the agony and the ecstacy
 In the past year I learned how to use Picasa to make a collage. When deciding how to illustrate a 2nd birthday I looked back at the photos I have posted in the past year, looking for my favourites - not necessarily the BEST, but my personal favourites. In doing so I realised that my favourite photos are those which speak something of who we Sydney-siders (and in a couple of instances non-Sydney-siders) ARE. What do we do? How do we live? What do our faces and actions tell us? So, I give you 16 photos of people doing things, that somehow seem characteristic of US in all our diversity. Thankyou to EVERYONE who has spent their time coming and looking at my snaps, reading my rants and leaving comments and generally engaging in this wonderful global community made possible through technology. I hope to be still going strong same time next year. From top left to bottom right (click on each title below to see the original post): Bronzed Aussie - 2 May 2007. Surveying the surf at Cronulla Trusting Cyclist - 27 May 2007 - cyclist on way to work, Surry Hills BYO Nargile - 16 July 2007 - family picnic at Garrison Point Carp catching at Birrong - 28 June 2007 - clearing waterways of pest fish On yer bike, Glebe - 16 Aug 2007 - youthful exuberance Belly dancer - 27 Aug 2007 - Surry Hills Recycling audit - 20 Sep 2007 - becoming more educated about recycling Guest Workers in Australia - 28 Sep 2007 - protest about unfairness Community Shed, Deloraine - 6 Nov 2007 - meeting Brian Wading through cement - 28 Nov 2007 - remaking the footpath Amy and Christina get ready for Christmas - 7 Dec 2007 Reading in the bookshop - 28 Dec 2007 - an activity close to my heart! Washing the catch, Mossy Point - 10 Jan 2008 - SDP on holiday on the south coast Straya Day, Carss Park - 26 Jan 2008 - youthful new Australian citizens, and Aboriginal dancers representing ancient culture Lots of fun - 29 Jan 2008 - what would my collage be without some swimming! Please indulge me - I am going to have a 2 day birthday party, and do another collage tomorrow. Please do return if you have time.
 According to the young man on the megaphone: 1. Taxpayers pay teachers' salaries. (True: for public school teachers) 2. 90% of taxes paid in Australia are paid by Liberal Party* voters (manifest nonsense, and one would hope for better from someone with ambitions to be a politician in this country) 3. Ergo, teachers who belong to the teachers' union and who don't support the Liberal Party are shooting themselves in the foot. * The Liberal Party in Australia is the conservative party. These 12 or so young people are members of the Young Liberals, and they staged a "demonstration" today outside the building of the public school teachers' union. It was very funny. Their megaphone work needs a little work, and their grasp of facts helps one understand why their party is not in government nationally, or in a single state! But they were very polite.
 Discussing a lunch rendezvous?
 The agony of a missed kick for goal (never mind, there were also successes!) Chances are if you're a parent, you're familiar with Saturday sidelines ... Mouthguards in, last minute words from the coach, and we're back on after quarter time:  Australian Rules footy is only played in, well ......Australia. It's a fast flowing, running, kicking game. If you're a visitor to Australia from late March to September you should try to catch a game.  ... and if you're not on the field yourself, there's usually some action BEHIND the posts 
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Juan Mann started the "Free Hugs" movement which has now been adopted in several places around the world. Here he is "off duty".
