Suburb #80 Reid

I have been having suburb withdrawals lately after a very busy few weeks and a horrid  flu...so I decided to enjoy a nice sunny day this weekend and do one of my favourite suburb's Reid on foot. One day I will live here - whether I rob a bank or marry a rich widower - but until then I am pretty lucky to live nearby and walk though here often on my way to civic.

Reid is one of Canberra's oldest suburbs and named after Australia's 4th Prime Minister and first High Commission in London, George Reid - known as 'Yes-No-Reid' for his position on federation. He was apparently a complete smart arse and 'perhaps the best platform speaker in the Empire'.

The streets in Reid are named after Aboriginal words.

Reid is just across from Civic and the gorgeous Glebe park. It starts with the not so beautiful Bega flats above and the nearby Argyle apartments with their lamp posts from Narnia..where I spent some of the happiest times of my twenties...

But keep walking and it is as if you have wandered into an English village - think green hedges, large majestic cedar and conifer trees that were planted in the 1920s, roses, gorgeous gardens, cute heritage houses...oh and the smell of great wealth but hey you get that.

Hedges in particular are everywhere due to the no front fence policy when the suburb was built.

I have a brochure published for public servants back in the day to encourage them to come and live in Canberra. It shows them 22 types of houses that the Federal Capital Commission had available for them to choose from . I love that you can walk around Reid and see these drawings come to life with the different styles of houses.

Some Reidians have tried to give their suburb a more modern feel - including by covering their houses with modern art - how awesome is this!

A sense of history, nevertheless, pervades the whole suburb....with Canberra's oldest Church, St John the Baptist, also found here. For non-Canberra-ites, you would have see Kevin Rudd waxing lyrical about his religious beliefs out the front of this church.

Reid also finishes alongside Anzac Parade - that is, the road up to the war memorial, a dramatic avenue filled with memorials to Australia's war dead.

At about this time I realised that perhaps doing a whole suburb on foot was not such a good idea...so I wandered up to the Reid oval and had a nap in the shade for a bit while the Telstra Tower hid behind a pole nearby,

Thank you Reid - you know I love you, alas it was such a sunny day, I don't really think I did you justice in terms of photography, but that is OK, because I don't really want to share you with others :p