It’s the name of the Bendigo cafe where I was meant to have breakfast with a work colleague while in town earlier this year, but unfortunately the stars didn’t align. It’s the phonetic spelling of the Danish word Hygge meaning ‘comfort’, ‘warmth’ or ‘cosiness’ which has had quite a bit of airplay over the past year (and been the subject of a number of different books). It’s a concept that encapsulates a bit more than that – think catching up with friends at home, drinking mulled wine in front of the fireplace, dinners by candlelight. Despite living in a cold climate, the Danish are amongst the happiest people in the world so I think hygge is something we can all learn from.
It was interesting to read too about warmth in a different context, apparently people of influence are both warm and strong – qualities that some of the world’s great leaders like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama exemplify.
As for me, we found ourself car-less this weekend so decided to put some hygge in action by riding our bikes to Funkie Brewster cafe in Davies Street Rosanna to meet local friends who live in the surrounding area. Funkie Brewster had a write up in Time Out the other week and while I opted for the sweet potato waffle with kale instead of the almond and blueberry pancake stack, it was a fun thing to do on a fairly cold and grey winter’s afternoon. The undercover area at the back has some bigger tables and a cubby for the kids to play in and there was a passing parade of young families with babies and toddlers, which reflects the new generation of people moving into the area.
Speaking of the great indoors, the Finders Keepers market is on this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton – I keep missing them but will have to go along to one at some stage.
The 10th annual Open House Melbourne is also on the weekend of the 29 and 30 July (look out for the special printed program available from Readings) and some of my work buildings at La Trobe University are open to the public including the Centre for AgriBiosciences, the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science and the Mont Park Terraces precinct. My pick would actually be the Spanish Mission-style Ernest Jones Hall in the Mont Park Terraces precinct as well as the Modernist building by Robin Boyd, the A.D. Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies. If it’s a sunny day like today then the campus walk From the paddock to the Agora (also the name of the 50th Anniversary book) would be a beautiful thing to do. It’s not quite the groovy co-working space like The Hub opposite Southern Cross station in the former Mail Exchange building where Mr Rosanna is lucky enough to be working at the moment, but I don’t take working so close to home in the leafy environs of the University for granted.
Miss Rosanna 