25th Day - Sydney ( Canada )

Today was very cold with a chilly wind and odd showers. We docked in Sydney at 10.00am and after checking emails and doing the Blog in the terminal , decided to walk uptown and check the place out. I guess it really is just a village. I wandered into a shoe shop but didn't find anything I really needed so off we went again. There were quite a few shops now empty and we were talking to a local who told us that 3 of the local Catholic Churches were closing down shortly even the main one here in town. It is a lovely building and very well maintained. She said as soon as the young ones graduate from school they have to leave to find work as the industries which were around, such as coal mining, have all closed down. It does seem familiar to home, doesn't it? There was a lady called Ruth McNeill singing (busking) on the dock and as I watched from the comfort of the ship (only about 14deg outside) I wondered if she might be related to Rita MacNeill but apparently not. However I did find out that Rita passed away about last November. Surprise surprise! I did go into an Op Shop type store and bought a jumper. Now I have washed it and finding it difficult to get dry! Oh well! When Eric was sitting with IPad he found some other Australians from Rocky. They were going for a walk up town also but when we came out of the terminal she was sitting in a wheel chair with medical and security people around as she had slipped and fallen on the steps and damaged her ankle. They were to take her for treatment so I don't know what resulted. They told Eric they had a Sunday Mail and would leave it at reception but haven't yet. The sun finally came out just before we pulled away. Our entertainment last night was titled Unforgettable and we heard lots of well known show time numbers which were really well presented by 6 very able singers. After we sat in the lounge and listened to the Jazz trio whom we really enjoy. In the next lounge a very talented song man was singing the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber - wow! He was to do Barbra Streisand from 11pm but we couldn't wait that long.