I can’t imagine how different it must have been in this neighbourhood 30 years ago, but these guys might.

Our photos are usually our own, but this time I’ve included these photos of Darlinghurst in the early ’80s from a new blog called Darlinghurst Eats Its Young.

It’s all punk and post-punk, squats, fun, beautiful and sometimes bleak scenes.

They were put together for a show at the great Sedition record shop/barber/gallery.

This one’s a bottle wall at the Gladstone Hotel squat, on the corner of William and Palmer Streets, Darlingurst.

Madeleine Preston put it together, and took the photos of familiar but alien spots in the inner city, and truckloads of great bands, music makers and artists. It’s quite strange working your way through the posts, but I recommend you do.

The crossroads where Darlinghurst Road meets Victoria and William streets is busy, and there’s no shortage of bright lights. But this weekend, a phone company started projecting ads on the Top Of The Town building, right there, at the intersection.

They’ve borrowed the idea from progressive graffitiists, but I’m not sure. It colonises more of the fabric of this part of town, and the ad was pretty weak. But it’s a fairly non-invasive advertising – it’s there on Saturday night and then it’s gone – and when it comes down to it, I like the neon brightness of Tokyo (or Kings Cross).

A run of 15 to 20 sedans, station wagons and people movers just drove down William Street, Kings Cross, and each vehicle had a bright candelabra strapped across the top.

The battery powered menorahs had signs saying Happy Chanukah. There was even a police escort.

There’s been a lot of talk about the El Nino bringing a nasty bushfire season this summer, and looking outside this morning you could be forgiven for thinking the city is on fire. Except you can taste the dust.

That’s the view up William Street to the Coke sign in Kings Cross.

There’s an orange fog draped around the city. As you can see, visibility’s extremely low, the ferries have been cancelled.

That’s the Horizon building wrapped in dust. Meteorologists say it won’t clear until this afternoon.

UPDATE: According to the SMH, flights at Sydney airport are delayed due to “strong winds and dust haze,” citybound lanes on the M5 have been closed because of dust in the tunnel. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning across the state as a result of widespread damaging winds, which were expected to average over 65km/h, but gusted above 100km/h.

We saw this cute tiger, complete with naiively written caption this morning. It was on William Street, Kings Cross, up towards the corner of Kirketon Road.

On one of those green electrical boxes nearby, we noticed another strike from the same artist. Another tiger, with a speech bubble that said “PONYO”.

Looking at the tag – a reference to the Miyazaki film, I guess – I realised it was the same graffitiist that had tagged my freshly painted apartment building overnight.

All of a sudden, I was looking at these lopsided letters and thinking ‘illliterate’ instead of ‘naiive’, you know what I mean? From graff-lover to Leo Schofield in a second. But what else do you do?

This picture was taken from the fourth floor of the new wing at the Australian Museum, which we visited last weekend.

And this one is from the top of William Street two Sundays ago, just before a massive storm broke.

I took this pic last week – on the corner of Craigend Street and Kirketon Road, Darlinghurst.

I think it has been there for weeks and weeks and even with all the heavy rain we’ve had recently, the vomit stain remains.

There was this rather lovely shop on William Street that sold vintage jewellery. It wasn’t a shop that I walked past; I could see it from our balcony.

I hardly ever went in for some dumb reason. Last Christmas, I was given an owl brooch from there.

Last week, I decided I wanted to buy my new little baby a brooch from this shop, and as I arrived, I saw this note stuck to the door.

It had closed down only three days before and I had missed it!

A couple of days later, the removal vans were out the front.

I wonder where all the great stock will end up?

Easy come, easy go, I guess.

Last month, we blogged about the new planters at the Darlinghurst Road, Victoria Street, William Street intersection in Darlinghurst.

This weekend, they’re gone.

The plants had been looking worse for wear. Some drooping, some gone. But I can’t believe that would be enough to take them away. This is Kings Cross, after all, and, coming into summer, the council must have expected some theft or misuse.

Or, was it just a pilot?

Can Sydney council put on a public art show big enough for big city expectations, yet still creative, representing local artists, relevant to the local community?

Art & About is underway until October 24 at various sites in Hyde Park North, Erskineville Road, George Street laneways, Oxford Street and Danks Street, as well as banners along various city streets, including William Street and Kings Cross Road.

I can see Paddy Bedford’s bright yellow banner from my balcony. If you didn’t know it was part of this show, you might think it was… an oblique promo for some new festival? a summery splash of colour?

(Louise Hearman’s fascinating, odd banners featuring a dog’s head on a black background are up the street near Hyde Park)

Newtown’s 2042: Art on the Street seems to have got locals involved, for something pretty enjoyable.

Not sure if Sydney council’s done it, or even if it’d see that as something to aspire to?