If you want to get a sense of what Marrickville is truly about, simply head to local grocery institution Banana Joe’s and check out the community notice board.

A side note: If you want proof that community is still thriving offline, these boards are the very best place to visit. The IGA in Stockton, Newcastle has an amazing one which I used to read regularly when dating a girl from there; the highlight was a notice for a missing cat. A few weeks later it was still there, but with a texta cross through it, and “found, dead” scrawled over the top, a bleak IRL update.

Anyway, behold the below examples of what #MRCKVL is truly about.

True Inner-West poets don’t reprint an A4 black and white poster each month with the new date on, they simply scribble over it each time with the new information. This is a living document, like the constitution.

This is the spiritual corner of the notice board, bringing together disparate strands of religious practice, kiddie-craft, and musicals based on Reese Witherspoon works.  “It’s warmer together” is a beautiful sentiment.

Some proud Mum simply hung her daughter’s Dora The Explorer colouring-in up above the notice board. Pretty sure I have the sexes right in this example, although I have no concrete evidence of this. This makes “we’ll stick it on the fridge” seem like “we’ll toss it in the bin.”

Mindfulness-based stress reduction, for when those moments your inner child (or actual child) won’t stop communicating with you.

Missing budgies rarely return, but don’t tell Angela.

Question: Does Angela have both a light blue and a pale grey-blue budgie, both named Billy, or did she simply allow for those ornithologists with less sensitivity to colour?

Does $130 seem steep for a lino-cutting class?

Follow Banana Joe’s on Facebook to miss the entire point of this article. Oh, and don’t accidentally buy the raw milk!

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