On a late Friday afternoon, after a week of wintry rain, the residents of Macleay Street in Sydney’s Potts Point are walking their miniature dogs past neat piles of crunchy plane tree leaves on the footpath. People are browsing the windows of antique stores and bookshops. Old world cafes offer enticing pastries. The late afternoon sun winks through the narrow gaps between art deco apartment buildings. Elderly neighbours, tipped in leopard print (leggings/scarf), greet each other. It’s a serene scene.
“All this was way grottier when I first moved here with my wife Khym years ago,” says Richard Fidler, the radio host and author.
