What is it about Bondi? Put the name in a TV show and it's guaranteed to attract attention: Bondi Rescue and Bondi Vet. Say you live in Bondi and people don't usually ask, "Where's that?" Choose to visit the beach on a hot summer's day and you share it with thousands of others who have decided it's the place to be. Bondi, what is your allure?
Simple. Bondi is full of beautiful, young people who flock to its shores from all around the world to bask in its sun. Young people that walk the streets bikini clad or in board shorts, with bronzed skin and perfect, toned butts and bods. So, for a society that worships at the shrine of youth and beauty, it's understandably one helluva popular place.
Not that it's all youth, beauty, pert tits and ripplin' torsos. I live here, after all, and I walk anonymously among the young, cool and hip shamelessly older, uncool and unhip. I'm a thorn among the roses and oh, it's sweet bliss.
I wouldn't trade the wisdom of my years for youth and beauty. Oscar Wilde was not wrong when he said, "Youth is wasted on the young." Broody, moody and intense is how I'd describe my youth. I had a great bod but was too self-conscious to enjoy its beauty; I was too focused on its faults. It's only now, when I look back at photos of myself when I was in my 20s, that I think, "Shit! I was hot! I'd fuck me!"
Well, damn if I'm gonna look back at photos of myself in my 30s and 40s when I'm 80-year-old duck and think the same thing. When you reach my age, you realise that beauty has more to do with a healthy mind than a youthful body. At least that's the conclusion I've reached, and I'm gonna stick with it.
Not that I don't appreciate and admire the youth and beauty I see every day on the streets of Bondi. It's fresh, it's lovely, it's sexy...but I neither want it nor envy it. Unlike other people, I don't worship at the shrine of youth and beauty. I worship at the shrine of life and recognise that each life stage has its blessings and its challenges.
Besides, the older people around Bondi ain't too harsh on the eyes either. Bondi beautiful...it's superficial, it's light, it's fun. Look under the surface...well, that's a topic for another time.
5 comments:
Rachel, you are right in your write. Beauty is like youth, fleeting and temporary. The heart and soul of a person is much more attractive than just looks. However, youth is the time for beauty, before the demands of the real world kick in so I am quite happy for the next generation to glamorise and accessorise, just as long as they realise, like our generation did (most of us anyway), that there are so many more important things in life.
Paul
PS: How on earth could you ruin a perfectly good blog by mentioning those 2 dreadful shows???
Hehe...I know, I know! Put Bondi in the title of a show and it seems you don't need much else to capture the imagination!
And what you write about youth is true. I certainly don't begrudge youth their beauty. In fact, I want them to embrace and celebrate it, and not, like myself, only recognise it in hindsight! I love youthful beauty, and hope it is never wasted or abused.
Hey Rachel, I spent my childhood in Bondi, till my early teens, and I have to say Bondi of the late '60's and 70's was quite a different place altogether. It was working class/bohemian/transient and it had a soul. The little block of flats which I called home were a microcosm of humanity - Indian family downstairs, elderly lesbian couple next door, and a mad bunch of dope smoking, Mini-moke driving pommy's next door that my mother befriended, and where we hooked up a pully between our upstairs kitchen windows to exchange sugar, tea and whatever late night needs were required. The beach was still busy, but it felt like ours, like our home, and we gladly obliged the Japanese tourists who asked for photos of us little bronzed Aussie girls. I will always love the Bondi of my youth, simply because it wasn't aware of itself yet, wasn't too cool or too fashionable. It was not an expensive place to live, consequently the sense of community was based upon shared experiences that had nothing to do with the price you paid for your house, the school your kids went to, or what you did for a job. I miss that. We had a mermaid on the rocks at the north end of the beach, and the natural beauty of the coastline is etched into my psyche and my soul forever. But she will always be beautiful, my Bondi Girl.....
PS. Emily gave me your blog site. I met you once at Pams, and would be lovely to connect again some day.. Great blog,,,,
So so true. I wouldn't go back to my 20s again either, despite the pre-baby body that I found a way to endlessly criticise. Beauty is much more than skin deep.
x
Libby, thank you for your wonderful story about your childhood in Bondi. I loved reading it! There is still a bit of that Bondi here, of course, if you stick around long enough and click with the genuine people... but, unfortunately, it has lost some of its down-to-earth roots. The wealth in the area is ludicrous... but thank god the transients keep it somewhat real. Some rich dudes have high hopes of turning it into something like the French Riviera... ridiculous! Hopefully the GFC has turned them off somewhat.
I'll miss Bondi when I leave, but I look forward to connecting with a smaller community when we move up to Bellingen later in the year.
Thanks, again. I'm going to look for that mermaid next time I'm down at North Bondi (well, at least its spirit)!
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