Ellen Parsons

What better way to keep warm than with a book and latte in hand? The hybrid bookshop-café is the perfect place to eat, read and chat in an unhurried and cosy environment – these are our favourites.  

Daily Blooms founder Courtney Ray worked for eight years in finance before starting nighttime floristry courses as a creative outlet. After big life changes – getting married and having children – she decided she didn’t want to go back to her job, and so she chose to turn her love for flowers into a business. Two years on and the 32-year-old is expanding her Melbourne-based reach to Sydney. Ray grew up on a farm in Victoria and says she was surrounded by flowers in and outdoors. Her style is wild and bursting with life. “Our bouquets never look absolutely perfect and pristine,” she says. “Our bouquets are going to look a little bit wild, out-there and organic.” Each arrangement is made up of locally grown, largely organic and Australian native flowers and foliage, wrapped in brown paper and hessian. Flowers are selected each morning, straight from the farmer to the customer. They offer one bouquet style per day at $35, and when the flowers run out that’s it for the day. “As soon as you receive flowers, cut one or two centimetres off the stems. Make sure the vase you’re putting them in is really clean, and put them in fresh water, replacing the water daily if you can.” Daily Blooms have set up a warehouse in Camperdown and all of their online orders for Sydney are created using buds sourced from Sydney Flower Market. They offer free delivery within the CBD and a few inner city suburbs, and bunches are delivered Monday to Friday before 5.30pm. If you’re looking for a weekly sub

This little book-nook in Caringbah is the avid reader's dream. It looks like an average café from the outside – but venture to the back and down a few stairs and you’ll find ornate red and purple velvet armchairs to lounge in. The café sells focaccias, wraps, quiches and a huge range of fresh or toasted sandwiches, made to order. There are rows of dark wood shelves piled high with books, all of which are secondhand. Plus, if you buy a book and bring it back, (in good condition) the Book Station will credit your account with half the original price.

This hidden gem is a busy hub for locals. The big windows provide the perfect place to bask in a patch of sunlight and enjoy a long, leisurely breakfast. There is a big shelf of second-hand books for sale – an eclectic mix of Dan Brown to self-help books and thick encyclopaedias. The breakfast menu is the protagonist here. Highlights include the three-egg omelette with goat’s cheese, bacon and cherry tomatoes; the Surry Hills with poached eggs, maple bacon, fresh avo and rocket; and Corn Fritters with relish, poached eggs and sour cream.

The weather over the last few days has seen most of us spending the weekend huddled indoors – and for good reason. Over 85,000 homes and businesses lost power in Sydney, the Central Coast and Shoalhaven over the weekend. More than 500 people were evacuated, and the SES responded to over 9250 jobs and carried out more than 280 flood rescues since the beginning of the storm on Wednesday. Check out some of the snaps of the storm from the people who ventured out and braved the torrential conditions. Collaroy beach was pummelled with massive waves, causing erosion of up to five metres of the shore line and decimating the residents' front yards.   Awful devastation for these people at the end of our street. #collaroybeach #collaroy #northernbeaches #northern_beaches #warringah #beach #beachfront #stormy @timeoutsydney A photo posted by Monique Tyacke (@moniquetyackeartist) on Jun 5, 2016 at 5:09pm PDT    Manly Beach was closed as waves as high as ten feet crashed on the beach and Corso.     ... Seems the worst is over though... But #Sydney got hit hard by the #storm over the weekend - that is just an impression of the incredible force the wave had during this storm - a lot of damaged was caused by it, looks like nobody got seriously injured and hurt though (thank god!)... We are still without electricity since almost 24 hours... Let's hope Monday gives us some normal weather back #sydneystorm #manlybeach #manly #manlystorm #bower #shelly #shellybeach #wildweather #weathergon