Hollywood never had it so right – there’s no place like home. Instead of a quaint Kansas cottage though, if I clicked my ruby slippers, I end up in the shoebox they came from. Living in an apartment can still be a home though – albeit with good and bad experiences. With a few tips, anyone living in close quarters can survive and thrive.

A home is more than just a place to sleep – it is a retreat to leave toothpaste uncapped, and fridge doors plastered with whacky magnets. The ability to relax in peace is why having a home is so important – whether it be a caravan, a typical house, or an apartment. The difference lies in how does each mode of abode affect sanity and relationships.

Even if you’ve never lived in an apartment and never will, it’s interesting to know how to handle being in small spaces with other people, such as when on a camping holiday, or squashed in between strangers on an aircraft.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducted a survey in 2003-4 that listed 76% of Australian households are houses with three or more bedrooms on separate land, leaving 11% of the 7.7 million dwellings as apartments. Units or flats can vary in size, and for this article, when I talk of apartments, I do not mean penthouses like in Homes of the Rich and Famous with their three floors each with a butler and gilt caged elevator. No, I speak of buildings somewhere in between the dreary Soviet apartment blocks and those ritzy doormenned supermodel lofts – limited privacy, limited space and no garden.

So why do people live in apartments? There are two reasons; lifestyle choice and financial constraints.

Those who live in apartments by choice are like people that buy sports cars: it’s for lifestyle not practicality. And just as hard to fit a set of golf clubs into. Apartments are located in high-density areas, offering nightlife and proximity to work and transport. The other reason why people live in apartments is money, or lack thereof. Unlike Europe, Australia has plenty of land to clutter up with giant houses. But to afford a house in an area where take-away meals are more than just cardboard boxes – and I don’t mean the packaging – one needs the bank balance of an escaped rogue trader. Having a double income isn’t necessarily a help either. The ABS states that an average of 2.51 people live in a household – creating a frisson of friction when a romantic element is involved.

There are difficulties in maintaining sanity and relationships no matter the circumstances of apartment living – it’s not all martinis in dressing gowns and top-hatted doormen – the reality is a shoebox of sardines, lives and stuff crammed into a tiny space like excited TNT molecules in a test tube. The results can be just as explosive. Ever wonder why Big Brother has a massive studio house? That’s because if the contestants were all in an apartment, the series would last a week before they killed each other in a frenzy of crazed angst.
Close proximity to other people affects all senses; you see more, smell more, hear more, and bump into each other or table corners. Mystery is the ingredient to relationships as is vanilla to ice-cream. Proximity living means no mystery; you hear every expulsion of air from any possible orifice from one’s beloved. That’s why movie stars need mansions in Beverly Hills. Because they need to keep up the mystery that yes, even Brad Pitt suffers the effects of a double garlic and onion shwarma.
Even ignoring the shudder-inducing irritations, there’s always the day-to-day impracticalities of apartments; similar to trying to play beach cricket in the space shuttle. Inviting heaps of people over for parties threatens to cause structural damage to the balcony not even big enough to swing a cat. Walls are chock full of bookcases, shoe racks, cabinets, cupboards, or shelves. Doing laundry becomes a logistical planning activity resembling a Beijing back alley; hanging sheets over chairs and the television. Which, if you can’t see, you might be able to hear nextdoor’s DVD collection of Dad’s Army or a stereo output of Johnny Cash. Meeting them in person (the neighbours, not Johnny) there’s always the awkward side glances in the lift as you comment about the flickering light and avoid the issue of overhearing last night’s loud domestic squabble. To escape the tirade, a long poke around at the potplants on the balcony was required, deluding yourself that the corn might grow, and there might be enough for one meal. In the distance there lies the greenery of the home-owners and their laden lemon tree, envying the gin and tonics they would have on their spacious balcony.

That said, the grass is always green when there’s grass. Having an apartment has advantages – no hayfever-inducing lawn-mowing or fingernail-staining weeding. Just pay the body corporate every quarter and some other sucker prunes the rosebushes that double as a burglar deterrent.
For the most part, apartments are also more secure – it’s a lot harder to break into a window when falling involves concrete and multiple fractures. Deciding to redecorate an apartment might only take a splash of paint on a feature wall and voila, you’ve gone from French Provincial to Warhol Modernista.

Whether you’re in for the long haul or just biding time until housing prices fall (hah!), how do you survive apartment living to keep sanity and relationships intact?

—Sardine Survival —
+++Saving Sanity:
Tips to make the most of your surrounds with efficiency

-Storage: getting stuff out of the way means less things on which to bruise shins. Swedish home décor company Ikea has a great range of utilitarian shelving to store all that random stuff.
-Downsizing: unless your wardrobe has a slip lane into Narnia, consider what you really need in an apartment. The whipper-snipper you bought using American Express points last year will only become useful for trimming ear airs because that’s how old you’ll be before being able to afford anything with a hedge.
-Rationalising. Just because you like a vase/picture/book/clock doesn’t mean you should buy it. It’s not like there are walls to hang it on anyway.
-Practicalities: Laundry: do smaller loads and use an indoor drying rack. The TV antenna can only hold so many pairs of socks.

+++Rescuing Relationships:
Tips to interact with others, and maintain romance with your partner

-Personal Space: keep the peace with space, whether it be an afternoon alone, or an escape room to shut out the blarings of the Simpsons. Take up a hobby – separately.
-Romance: just because you’re at home, some basic personal hygiene considerations still apply, such as shaving legs in another room, shutting the door to pee, and limiting garlic intake.
-Neighbours: Don’t make friends and don’t make enemies. A simple hello in the lift is enough for them to think you’re a nice enough person to spare late night party noise.
-Friends: only invite as many people as you have chairs.

Living the high life in a high rise needn’t be a low down. Apartments can be just as homely as a house, without all the hassle. With a few considerations and ingenuity, clicking those ruby slippers will still bring you home.

 Farmers Market brings exclusive Mediterranean flavours to Canberra

 Using their Mediterranean culinary expertise and impressive experience, owners of multi-award winner Pilpel Fine Foods have developed an exclusive range of exotic flavours for the Capital Region Farmers Market visitors.

 Pilpel Fine Foods produces dips and soups which are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and contain no animal fat, preservatives, artificial colours or flavours, representing an ideal option for vegan and vegetarian people.

 Pilpel Fine Foods, the Hebrew word representing the whole capsicum family, was founded in December 2004 by Israeli couple Dari and Yehiel Kaplan who came to Australia in 1989 in search of some international experience.

 “My husband was a chef in a five-star hotel in Israel and wanted to become executive chef, but to do so he had to get international experience. We were both a bit young and crazy and just decided to pack our bags and come to Australia. We’ve never looked back on that decision,” Dari said.

 The Kaplans had been owners of a restaurant and catering service for 15 years when they decided to start Pilpel Fine Foods in Bondi, NSW.

 “The catering and restaurant market is very demanding and we needed a new adventure. Yehiel loves creating new products and so we saw a perfect niche market with dips and soups. With my graphic design background, I could create beautiful labels for our products too,” Dari said.

 “We started with six dips sold in deli stores and independent supermarkets. Within nine months we had entered David Jones. We now have 13 dips in the range and we introduced soups and pesto last year,” she added.

 With four kids, four employees and on average 13-hour daily shifts, the Kaplans have found time to travel to Canberra every Saturday for the past two years to sell their products at the Capital Region Farmers Market at the Exhibition Park.

 “When we first started our business, some of our friends moved to Canberra and started talking so highly of Canberra people that we thought we had to try the Farmers Market,” Dari said.

 “It was the best decision we made. The Farmers Market has put us on the map, so to speak. Customers saw the consistency in the quality of our products and started visiting us every weekend. We now have strong contacts and good support in Canberra,” she said.

 Dari said Capital Region Farmers Market is the only market she visits with her husband who has developed a range of products exclusively for Canberra residents.

 “We like having direct contact with Market customers and getting their feedback. We can understand what they want and have a much more hands-on approach on our business,” Dari said.

 “Throughout the years, some of our customers have started asking for specific products and so we have developed a whole range of products strictly for the Farmers Market, which includes marinated olives, antipasto, curries, marinades and cheese spreads.

 “We bring a lot of our Mediterranean background from Israel to our products whilst always keeping an Australian twist to our recipes. We use Australian produce as much as possible. This way, we’re giving back to Australian farmers and residents.

 “We have formed close relationships with a lot of the customers and some of them now buy our new products without even tasting them first simply because they trust us,” she added.

 The Sydney Royal Fine Food Show awarded Pilpel Fine Foods 10 medals for its dips in 2006 and medals for all its soups in 2007.

 “Food experts predict that in the next few years, Australia will have the best food in the world which will be made of a combination of Mediterranean, Australian and Asian flavours. This obviously works for us,” she added.

 Pilpel Fine Foods has also introduced non-vegan pesto under the brand name Darikay.

 The Capital Region Farmers Market has over 100 stalls and is open every Saturday morning at the Exhibition Park (EPIC) from 8 am to 11 am.

 The Farmers Market is a genuine farmers market, offering a diverse range of fresh food and agricultural produce straight from the producer to the customer. There are over 100 market stallholders each Saturday morning selling everything from fruits and vegetables to specialist organic products, meats, breads, chocolate, wine and olives.

 All funds generated from the Market are fed back into regional communities and other projects chosen by the Rotary Club of Hall which founded the Market in 2004.

 For more information on Capital Region Farmers Market, visit www.capitalregionfarmersmarket.com.au.

  Released for Capital Region Farmers Market by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations (www.drpr.com.au)

 For further information please call Kim Larochelle or Nicola Rutzou on (02) 9413 4244.

Last November the Canberra Youth Theatre Actors Ensemble wowed audiences in its sell out installation-based production Comfort. Comfort was recently listed in The Canberra Times as one of reviewer Alanna Maclean’s 10 favourite theatre productions for 2007 in Canberra, stating it was “youth theatre at its best and most imaginative”.

This year the CYT Actors Ensemble will be engaging audiences’ with a production about community. CYT has commissioned Ross Mueller, a Melbourne based playwright, to adapt Markus Zusak’s award winning novel The Messenger to the stage. Mueller has recently submitted the first draft and CYT is preparing to audition its Actors Ensemble who will play the key roles in this major production.

The Messenger is a darkly humorous, thought provoking and moving story that reminds us how difficult it is for some young people to find their place in the world. In the current climate of self-preservation and self-absorption The Messenger is a timely narrative about engagement. It is a story for our community, all communities. As Ed himself states: “Christ, it’s deafening. Why can’t the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments I ask it many times. Because it doesn’t care, I finally answer, and I know I’m right. It’s like I have been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask. The answer’s quite simple: to care.”

The CYT Actors Ensemble meets every Saturday and is for 18-25’s who are passionate about developing core skills in acting and theatre making. CYT is committed to providing young adults with opportunities to learn about the craft of acting and explore the boundaries of theatre making. It is run by the Artistic Director, Pip Buining, with guest tutors who specialise in voice, movement and physical theatre.

Auditions for the CYT Actors Ensemble will be held on Saturday 23 February. Applications for the Auditions close on Monday 18 February.

For more information call the CYT Office on 6248 5057 or email [email protected]