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 texter 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!

The article was originally published on Brag Magazine