Having a poor sense of direction is, unquestionably, a disadvantage in life as well as dance. Even with the assistance of Google Maps I often look at my phone to find the blue dot that is Me moving completely independently of the suggested route. While I was in Sydney, you can be sure that much time was wasted walking purposefully away from my intended destination.
So.
This is a tale of a Thursday late-night shopping expedition that took place in early July. My time in Sydney was drawing to a close and there were several shops I still wanted to visit/revisit, including Uniqlo and Bloch (for the uninitiated, a dance store) in the CBD, and a delightful looking yarn shop in Newtown called The Granny Square. After much internal debate, I decided that my post-work shopping destination would be the city because the trip home would be shorter.
Having inspected the Uniqlo coats, it was time to navigate to Bloch. Now, in spite of my inadequate sense of direction, I am a Very Frequent Shopper at Bloch and so had a vague sense of where to head. I strode through Strand Arcade, emerging at a crosswalk, which promptly displayed a green man. Even though my confidence was waning, I took advantage to cross the street. On the other side, however I didn’t know whether to move left or right. Not wishing to come to a complete halt amidst the swarming Thursday night foot traffic, I ducked into a handy alley to check my old friend, Google Maps.
Having established my location in relation to Bloch, I looked up and saw a modestly glowing sign above a glass door. I can’t remember the exact wording but it was something like “Knitting café and classes”. Like a moth, I was drawn inexorably towards the light, not really expecting much because it all seemed so unlikely – knitting classes in the CBD? Plus the door looked pretty tightly closed.
As I got closer, however, I could see shelves of yarn, and better still, shoppers browsing the wares. A tiny yarn shop! Right in the city!*
Opening the door, I discovered that the shop, Morris and Sons, opens out into a veritable Aladdin’s Cave of cheerily coloured balls of wool, alpaca, cashmere, mohair, cotton… a cornucopia of woolly goodness.
Unable to contain my excitement I approached a staff member to share my joy. When I mentioned that my intention had been to head to Newtown for my yarn fix, she replied, “That’s our sister shop! But it’s much smaller, you definitely don’t need to go there if you’ve been here.”
Perfect. And all thanks to my direction-free brain.
*For those of you who don’t know there are few independent craft shops of any kind remaining in Perth, city or otherwise. To my dismay, my favourite yarn cafe, Woolly Lattes, closed some months ago.