A cool, wet and cloudy return to work is on the cards for much of Sydney today. There'll be a top of 25 in the city, the bureau reckons, and about 26 in Parramatta. There is a 70 per cent chance of some rain, with the forecast range of between 0 and 4 millimetres.

Patience to be tested

The state government was quick to set expectations for transport in this new year on Monday. They aren't aiming high.

"We aren't sugar-coating this," Transport Minister Andrew Constance said. "This is going to test people's patience.

"I thank people for the patience they have shown over the last 12 months but I want people to understand that the next 12 months is going to be even more disruptive."

Baggy Green devalued?

The final test starts in Sydney today with Hilton Cartwright to debut. If you're a lapsed or a casual fan who can recognise far fewer members of the team than in years gone by you may be noticing something.

Cricket writer Malcolm Knox has crunched the numbers and finds Australia is churning cricketers through the Test team with an unprecedented rapidity.

Second time 'round

Speaking of transport disruptions, it was more than 55 years ago today that the NSW government began tearing up George Street to remove a tram line. Yes, the same street which is currently a construction site for a $2-billion tram line project.

Removal of the tram tracks will be carried out by the City Council for the Department of Government Transport [which] expects to complete the work in six to eight weeks.

Continuous music

Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melynk is one of the world's fastest. He can play nearly 20 notes a second using a technique called 'continuous music' that Caitlin Welsh discovers is part mystical experience.

Individual notes roil and liquefy, the sustain pedal filling any minuscule gaps between them with lingering drones and overtones. The ear can often only just discern the multitude of notes making up the whole, as well as the beauty of the whole itself; the experience is dizzying and hypnotic, and can be emotionally and physically overwhelming.

He'll play the Sydney Festival later this month.

Kids can't swim

The state is in the midst of a dramatic and "unprecedented" period of drowning.

The Royal Lifesaving Society notes about half of all children finish primary school without being able to swim.

About a decade ago, the proportion of students unable to swim 50 metres of freestyle was only about 25 per cent.

Watsons Bay

More than two hundred years since Aboriginal people were driven off land at Watsons Bay, this week marks the beginning of a new walkabout tour of the area.

In Watsons Bay, the 90-minute tours include a traditional ochre ceremony and a welcome to country, a walk through the national park with explanations of how the local Aboriginal people hunted, fished and gathered throughout the area, as well as samples of bush tucker.