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I had a short, fortuitous two-week house-sit in inner Sydney city Paddington in December 2015.

Fortuitous as it fitted neatly in between five weeks in Holsworthy and the subsequent five weeks in Bankstown.

Paddington is a wondrous conundrum of a paradox wrapped up in an enigma with a little mystery sprinkled on top. It’s home to many of the upper middle class entitled semi-demi noveau rich that you’d expect to find in the electorate of the conservative Prime Minister of the country.

And yet it’s also home to a fantastic bohemian set, mostly foreign-born, and it was these people I met by the truck-load over just two weeks — in the streets, in shops, in bars. For a loan traveller, I rarely find myself alone in the inner city. (Suburbia is a bit of a different story.)

“Neville” is a lovely dog though a bit of a challenge at times. Groomed to be a guide dog for the blind, he didn’t make the cut, partly because he refuses (mostly) to go up and down stairs, though as I found in our short time together, this was a bit of a selective trait.

He also was not keen on entering into darkened doorways, a fairly common characteristic whereby a canny animal refuses to enter into a space if it doesn’t know for sure what its exit route is.

Nevertheless, with a little smoke and mirrors, and a little misdirection, I got him to accompany me three times into the Grand National pub which allows dogs in the front bar.

Here’s my reference for this house-sit:

For three weeks in Nov/Dec 2015, Bill Quinn was our house sitter and dog sitter.  In that time he kept the garden in excellent condition and left the house neat and tidy.

With our dog, Bill took him on walks regularly, showed care and kindness to him and kept him engaged and well fed.

We are happy to recommend him.

Alex and Irene, Paddington (NSW)