Melbourne stuff
When I first visited London in the 90s I was staggered by the scale of it. Not so much physical size, but the mass of people. I remember being at Piccadilly Circus on a Sunday and there were just swarms of people, heading in all directions. I felt like a small town hick who had ... [More]
In the legal precinct (William Street between Little Bourke and Latrobe Streets, for non-Melburnians), there are three distinct groups of people that strike me as common, but whom you don’t see much of in other areas of the CBD: 1. Young men looking uncomfortable in shirts and ties (and sometimes suits) — eg defendants and ... [More]
Second part of the quiz, aimed at Melburnians: Do you recognise this logo? Update 10pm. Thanks for your responses. Watch for a post on this soon. (Maybe it would have been better if the blog post earlier the same day hadn’t given away the answer…)
A quiz for Melburnians and visitors… Do you recognise this logo? Update Tuesday: This quiz is finished. Watch for a post in the next couple of days about this.
Spotted on Hotham Street on Saturday, made of plastic cups stuck into a wire fence… Very clever, I thought. Hope the garage sale itself was half as good.
It’s just not a pretty building, 250 Spencer Street. It’s hard to believe it was ever considered to be so. The Age is moving this weekend, out of this brown monstrosity and into the new building on the other side of Southern Cross Station. Hopefully the move goes smoothly for them, and the new place ... [More]
DFO has moved from Spencer Street to South Wharf. Oh, well done fellas — a move from an easy-to-get-to spot, to some godforsaken new place which nobody can find. Apparently they weren’t happy with their high-profile location, being next to a major railway station. For motorists they also had a big car park underneath (though ... [More]
Remembrance Day. 11am, 11/11/2009. The big picture
Came across this business. They have two branches. They have a Chadstone branch, which is actually in Hughesdale, and they have a Bentleigh branch, which I’ll grudgingly admit is technically in Bentleigh, but is actually on Patterson Road, right next to Patterson station. As I’ve noted before, Hampton East now stretches right the way to ... [More]
Toothpaste. There’s a bewildering number of varieties in just the Colgate brand. This is what the Safeway Homeshop site lists, excluding things like Pump packs and size variations: Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Gel Whitening Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Liquid Gel Icy Blast Colgate Toothpaste 2in1 Max Fresh Cool Mint Colgate Toothpaste Advanced Whitening Colgate Toothpaste Baking Soda ... [More]
Every time I pass this mural in Glen Huntly, I wonder if the grinning face is meant to be anybody in particular. This sounds like brutal honesty to me — perhaps they’re just not that good. Surely this can’t be good for your tyres.
Always interesting to hear the view from an outsider. Melbourne: A Pedestrian Paradise from STREETFILMS on Vimeo. I don’t think I disagree with any of the praises given, and there’s some interesting comments from Robert Adams and others about some fairly subtle design features that have gone into the streetscapes, such as the City Council ... [More]
I’m a bit of a Melways nerd. I got a new (2010) edition for my birthday. They’re no fools, the people at Ausway, putting the new edition out in time for Father’s Day (which in Australia is the first Sunday in September). My 2006 edition will go into the car (where it may get a ... [More]
The saying used to go: You’ve got two chances — Buckley’s and None. I was always told it was based on the homophone department store Buckley and Nunn, combined with the older expression Buckley’s chance, which was probably from William Buckley, convict who escaped into the bush and was said to have had little chance ... [More]
As the city develops, we’re in danger of losing landmarks which are no longer deemed valuable by those in power. Lonsdale House is a recent example, though it’s not gone yet. This is Olympic Doughnuts, outside Footscray Station, pictured in 2007. Since then, most of the surrounding shops have been demolished as part of the ... [More]
A fire in Springvale, to which the CFA responds. C’mon, Springvale. What is this, 1960? East of Westall Road isn’t paddocks anymore. Surely it’s time to re-draw the MFB/CFA boundaries? The metro/country taxi boundaries are similar, aren’t they? Time for an update. Odd. I found a quarterly magazine that retails for $7, but is $44 ... [More]