As I was out spotting Mardi Gras carnage this morning, I came across something I had not noticed before.

It’s on Crown Street, at the foot of the “No Stopping” sign outside Urban Uprising, near the corner of Campbell Street.

A cement sculpture of a teddy bear and a mobile phone. They are fixed to the pavement.

Does the bear say “culture?”

Or perhaps “vulture” or “sculpture?”

Intriguing.

We missed the parade last night, but headed out this morning to take a look at the carnage.

Feathers, glow-sticks, flags, head-pieces, goon-bags, discarded shoes, more feathers.

They were all spotted on surrounding streets – Bourke, Crown, Palmer, Burton.

Oxford Street was looking remarkably polished.

More so than those kicking on.

This linocut kid holding a spray can is up on the corner of Jesmond and Crown Streets, next to the Blank Space gallery.

On the other side of Jesmond Street, this sticker covers a Telstra box – a comment on Telstra’s practices, a general comment about telecommunications/electrical infrastructure, or just a random surface to paste something on?

This spaceman is near the corner of Mary Lane and Albion Way, Surry Hills.

Paste ups occupy pretty much the same spot in the hierarchy of street art as tags. Quick to get up on a wall, and often barely sketched out, they rarely rise above their function.

For a while the only creative, really original paste ups we saw were from Jumbo and Zap. They’ve been quiet, so it’s good to see new characters pop up.

You can see this big face on the corner of Arnold Lane and Goulburn Street, in Surry Hills, just behind Crown Street

The old BPM record shop (now Record Store/Machine Musik) wall’s a regular canvas for legal street art – check previous signatures from Anthony Lister and others on the curb.

The current piece is by Brad Eastman – Beastman. He’s part of the design/art scene in Sydney – and as well as founding the online publication We Are The Image Makers, and designing skateboards, he’s shown work at galleries like Oh Really, Stupid Krap and China Heights.

It went up six days ago, according to @recordstoresyd. Watch it go up in this slideshow.

I do love a good stoop.

Stoop is actually a Dutch word, meaning “small porch.”

East Sydney and Surry Hills have many a great example.

These are along Foveaux Street, between Crown and Bourke Streets.

These stoops are on Crown Street, between Stanley and Liverpool Streets.

Our apartment building lacks a stoop. I think I would enjoy sitting on the stoop, if we had one.

A couple of years back, the Pop Shop, on Oxford Street, shut its doors.

I noticed the familiar faces of owners Angelo and Robert in Blueprint, on Macleay Street, earlier this year.

And then today, walking down Crown Street, between Campbell and Albion Streets, I noticed this:

They’re back!

So I ventured back to the Maltese cafe for a trial of the malt shake (with just the tiniest squirt of vanilla flavour). Now I don’t know if that first shake was so good because of all the build up and time between shakes, but I think my shake craze might be over. Don’t get me wrong, the dude makes a very decent malt shake (and for $2.50, it is quite a score), but the magic was gone for me. Then again, I am quite a faddish person.

Having just completed nine months as a pregnant diabetic, I was totally up for a vanilla malt milkshake.

Well, I found it surprisingly difficult to locate in this neighbourhood; the whole ‘malt’ ingredient threw most café operators.

…but find one I did, and really, when I think about it, I should have headed straight there – it was screaming MALT – the Maltese Cafe, on Crown St.

And it was glorious. And you can get two sizes of shake, and let’s be honest, a small one is all you need before you get that bloated, way too much dairy feeling. And it only cost $2.50!

When my search was proving fruitless (or rather, maltless), I considered getting an Oak Vanilla Malt from a convenience, and hell, that would have set me back $2.50.

I am planning a return next week, but this time I will request no vanilla essence, just vanilla ice cream, milk and malt. Oh j’attends avec impatience. Stay tuned…