Berry NSW Markets 2021

 

Before 9am, the nearby roads are beginning to be full of the parked vehicles of market visitors.

The Berry markets are held monthly on the first Sunday of each month.  Closed during the Covid 19 year until October, it has bounced back with more stalls, predominated by arts and crafts, clothes and fresh produce.

Australian succulents are ground displayed in a region more of bush than urbanity than Big Smoke Sydney. around two hours away by road.   For the price of under a quality cuppa, one can take home something natural with texture and not needing much care.   Several people were observed getting big sized pots with plants that can adorn the pergola, corridor or front door.

A bird bath that looks more like a cooking Wok in a stall with unusual metal craft.   As in any outdoor market, there can be gems to enjoy looking and savouring.   Some are new, some are hard me downs but it is always a pleasurable adventure.

A captivating miniature wind wheel that responds to Nature's moods.

It reminds me of the spirit of the Australian bush and outback, with ingenuity echoed in crafting, practical usage in things installed around the farm and with a background of a blue sky as generous as the the country itself.

A rather stylish version of the coffee cart, based on the caravan lifestyle and in colours that did not escape my eye.   There was only one other barista coffee place in the markets, perhaps alluding to the several fixed venue cafes at the nearby main strip of Berry, which has attractions like crafted fabric and furniture, household gifts, hipster styled burgers and sandwiches, window shopping opportunities, a pub lunch and little malls with unusual products.

Different fresh producers and retailers do turn up at these Berry markets - and I find they can be unique in their offerings.   The standardised quality and variety of produce from supermarket duopoly players has not impressed me, so when I can, it is always a good day out checking out supplies nearer to the source, in all their different shapes, feel and freshness.  There was a hard working young man doing his chores at this veg and fruit stall  - he made sure the laid out produce was arranged properly, refusing their supply and generally keeping an eye on everything else while his colleagues collected payments from customers.

There was a couple specialising mainly in tomatoes of several varieties.   Their wares instinctively looked so much better than what we mostly get in city scares and franchised large stores.  Interesting enough, I could not locate any lemons in any stall that Sunday.   We had nice freshly made mango fruit juice at Common Ground on arrival.  There were not many cooked food outlets in these Berry markets, though there was a friendly Aussie bloke offering samples of Thai food, a couple selling Shanghai dumplings, another couple offering Dutch pancakes and profiteroles and the always there Turkish Gozleme stall. 

The doggie obviously had no interest in getting a sack of organically grown potatoes.   It was very unusual for me to come across stall selling only a single fresh produce.   Good to not come across plastic bags and also a very clean and uncluttered outdoor market, with some measure of social distancing in this Covid age.   Lots of four footed furry pets were seen enjoying a rather sunny outlook on the morning we visited.

The highway south from Wollongong to Shellharbour and Kiama - construction is being carried out to improve this busy thoroughfare leading further down the South Coast of NSW.  It is just over an hour's drive from Wollongong to Berry.

Smaller sized gourmet loaves made by the Common Ground Bakery form inland Picton NSW, near Campbelltown and the start of the Hume Highway to Melbourne and Canberra.   It is common practice for stall holders to come from various parts of Greater Sydney in these bush markets.

Not Post Apocalypse, But It Can Be

 Around a year after the reported arrival of Covid 19,  we walked around the main street of a most familiar stomping ground - one of many comparable suburbs around Australia.  This one is served by a functioning rail station, albeit a secondary line outside a capital city.  The years leading to 2020 has seen a spike in small retail outlets, mainly in food, grocery, coffee, basic health services, household needs and nothing too fancy.  I did note that this micro economy was mainly based on consumption and a quiet lifestyle - and not so much on investment except in constructing more residential units.

The future of an economy, big or small, need not be fully tied to its past.   What sustained in history can no longer be relevant.  Changes coming in the future need to be worked out to take advantage of them.  The Covid 19 year has not been kind to the viability in spending at small businesses, which do form the back bone of the Australian economy.  It underscores the urgency for innovation, transformation and longer term planning in what we do at various levels of our personal lives, the health of our community and the financial growth of society.

Walking down on the still well maintained pavements (several had in fact been upgraded by Council recently), I observed that some long standing shops had gone, but replacements still are mired depending on personal consumption.  The long standing chemist near the main set of lights has gone, but the pub still is there.  The suburban version of a bank branch, ethnic culinary restaurant and medical centre all survive, but the travel agent is closed.  There is no significant sign of the future possibilities - are there shops writing analytical programmes, experimenting with new business models and tapping into cost wise customer interaction platforms?  We still depend on petroleum to drive us, our food supplies and online orders of purchases.  There are more solar panels on roofs in this neighbourhood, but mostly we still have an energy supply grid that relies on coal, monopolistic players and political demands.

For a long while, I reflect on the state of business in that suburb in early 2021.  A cafe has turned into a barber shop, a corporate child care business has been swallowed up by a bigger rival and one of the existing chain supermarkets is getting more shabby.  On the brighter side, the Returned Service League has renovated and improved its operations, while vehicle traffic on the main road - Princes Highway -shows the return of more paying customers.  Underlying like a strong thread of commonality are signs of ageing of society here -  with medical related services vying with cafe activity.

There is also an increased presence of franchised and chain business operations, with names that started in the nearby Big Smoke and replicating its operations for new markets in areas with growing residential population.  Does it mean better service?  Not necessarily, as staff can be put under more pressure, delivery can become more impersonal and performance  is watched like an eagle to achieve revenue targets.   What retail banks went through in the past 30 years at the street level is now beginning to be happening with other retail businesses.

Disenfranchisement of the work productive young can be forecast in such a suburb.  Schools are busy but their graduates look to greener pastures outside this suburb. The nearby university has learnt in a disturbed way the over reliance and non diversification of its student markets from overseas.   The regional town and area is not earmarked for any exciting specialisation in growth of a forward looking technology.  The region grew because of extraction of natural resources and it still depends on such income.  The place is not in any ruling Government's macro plan to provide any public services.  Without any medium and longer term vision, the region has become more residential than pro-active in improving its lot.   Even its city centre landscape has evidently become more reliable on stamp duty and Council fees than something more promising.

Potential advantages of the region - a clean environment, human talent and development of businesses of the future - are under played.   I would not say this area has been caught in a time warp, but neither is it moving forward to move out of its usual problems and issues.  Somehow I suspect the attitude is more inward looking than asking "Why Not?".   Does the region want to grab an opportunity not to be an appendage of the nearby capital city?   Does the region not want to utilise the unique offerings of its hinterland?  Does the region just want to be content to be a sea change for people?

What Do You Read For Leisure These Days?

 In an age of information overload, increased screen time and competing media seeking your attention,

what do we read for leisure these days?

Or do we even  think of going for the written word as an option.....

We get visual clips, often brief ones, shared with us from the social media network.

Photographs can truly be better than a thousand words in conveying so many things.

We have access to virtual and true computers in varying sizes in the course of a day's routine - the smart TV, tablets, mobile devices and desktops.

I baulk at times at having to read long passages of messages, as if I really do not have the time to saviour them, even if some of them can still be inspiring, humorous or useful to know.

Then there are those long PDFs in small font, not user friendly when we read them on the mobile smart phone when on the go between appointments in public places.

Moments When Our Fingers felt the Paper

Long ago, many individuals thought first of grabbing the newspaper after waking up - and like having a Linus blanket from the Peanuts cartoon strip, these same persons would be holding the print in their arms.

These mornings, it is a better bet they are seen either holding their hot beverage or mobile device, rather than any newspaper.  Or their sports gear!

Not slowly, but surely, the printed medium has significantly dropped its utilisation of wood plantations, naturally growing trees and Nature's growth product.

Where societies and consumers may be using less paper, we are increasingly dependent on more electricity and better performing Wi-Fi, not just to read, but to run our gadgets, critical systems and life routines.  If there is a water or natural gas supply cut, we can still react better than when electricity and Wi-Fi supply problems arise for households, commercial outlets and community grids.

When things do work, we still may have exchanged convenience for higher vulnerabilities and risks.  We pollute the environment when we continue to practice the throw away mindset  - this time it is not recyclable paper but more challenging chemicals, toxic metals and unrecyclable materials.

Choices Have Narrowed, The Pleasures Have Been Diluted

The number of periodical publications in Australia has significantly dropped over the past 30 years.  Local magazines are mainly been confined to lifestyle, speculative and low level content.  Just walk into any newsagent and it is so evident.  The revenue contribution from publications to such newsagents has gone down so much they have wisely taken up being outlets for banks, Australia Post and other ventures.

Even from overseas, the extent of publications that used to criss-cross the world every day on air and sea transport have come to a sorry state.   Yes, they now are transmitted in cyberspace.  Changing parameters in the viability of the news publishing trade, kicked off by falling advertising revenues over several years, have come in addition to the challenges from media platforms that can reach actual and potential customers simultaneously in the blink of the eye.  Not only are traditional publishers feeling serious transformation of their business, but the number of mega owners behind so many mastheads across the Globe have become the privileged few.

Seemingly eternal publications like TIME, the Australian, The UK Times, the South China Morning Post, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the Straits Times and the Wall Street Journal are still operating, but most of them under different owners.  Not many remember other titles like the Asia Magazine, The Bulletin Australia, the Australian Business Review, LIFE and People as they are no longer publishing.

Do reflect on when we came across more independent reporting, boldly proclaiming information and data that most mainstream newspapers avoid?  These days such boldness become so rare in view of rising financial costs, litigation and less liberal political tolerance.   When they do arise these days, they are small outfits, always online and so like the guerrilla on the fringe.  Many publications, whether toeing the line of the powers that be or not, ask for donations from online readers  - hence this has led to the subscription payments required if you want to read more than just the headlines.

One of the key features of an Enlightened and more tolerant world is the freedom of expression across the country in newspapers churned out in small towns and various regions across a country.   What do we get these days?   The merger of television news channels news with online publications and print mastheads under the same eventual owner has instead led to the uniformisation and greater editorial control of news content.   The concept of supplying news around the clock - instead of at a set time every evening when everyone gathered around the living room - has diluted the enjoyment of jointly sharing the experience of finding out significant news developments.  And mind you, who gathers much in groups these days, as we are encouraged to go into more personalisation routines, even before Covid?  It can be so disheartening to watch newsreaders read out the same lines of news repeatedly on media.

Increasing Regular Use of our Eye Power

Most of us utilise more of our ears and eyes, less of our muscles, sense of smell and agility in our contemporary lifestyle.   The urbane will not even go out to get their meals, they have it delivered to them.  Think of your own personal lifestyle - your eyesight is vital.  Gaming, communicating, doing business, etc.

Perhaps stimulating our eyes to a more diverse and stimulating set of profiles each day becomes important.   Switch from bright white light screens to calming greens and blues of the outdoors.  Our eyes are more significant now for identification purposes in public places,  Still, the written word can be the most common use for our eyes - texting messages, clicking an option or when stimulating our minds for further thoughts.

So perhaps my question at the very beginning of this write up - what do we read for leisure these days - can be redundant.   We are increasingly reading all the time, so when we do not have to, we better do other things.