Melbourne stuff
Was out and about on Sunday. It was Clean Up Australia Day. Not apparent that anybody was actually cleaning up, and I saw more scrap newspaper in the street than in quite some time. I know they tend to concentrate on parks and beaches and so on, and often for bigger problems than litter. All ... [More]
It’s not just about people who stand on the right hand side of escalators. There seem to be lots of pedestrians who, in high-traffic areas, manage to block things up and slow people down. Some — and it’s not just oldsters and tourists — will walk slowly in the middle of a path that fits ... [More]
Some pictures snapped in the last few days… I’ve never seen them have to explain what Happy Hour is before Pah, I’m not even going to try Hands up who remembers Stacks of Slax from The Late Show? Alas, they’ve just closed down.
Is airconditioning turning us into wimps? We (and I’m as guilty of this as anybody) go from our sometimes-airconditioned houses in our airconditioned cars or our airconditioned trains to airconditioned offices or airconditioned shopping centres. If it’s not 20 degrees indoors, we’re complaining. If the train is not airconditioned, we’re complaining. If we have to ... [More]
A stone’s throw from the exclusive boutiques of Chapel Street, South Yarra, next to the railway line near the underpass, between a set of signalling control boxes, and sheltered by an overhead structure, is a pile of mattresses, pillows, bedclothes, and assorted objects. Occasionally you’ll see someone there, sleeping or awake, apparently as oblivious to ... [More]
Christmas was the usual combination of family, presents, and too much food. After a day or two of recovery, we headed off for the Melbourne Aquarium yesterday. So did half the city, apparently. It was crowded — perhaps too crowded to be really enjoyable, in fact. But it was spectacular, particularly the “Fish Bowl” and ... [More]
Yesterday it got to 42.1°C (that’s 108°F for those of you in the countries still using that retro measurement), before a refreshing cool change virtually halved the temperature. I was pleasantly surprised at how cool it was inside, given my house is weatherboard and has no airconditioning. At its hottest, the thermostat reported 30°C, and ... [More]
Smoke has descended on Melbourne, from the bushfires elsewhere in the state. Down in the shopping centre this morning, the haze over the street was noticeable. Marita commented on how bad it was. “Yeah”, I replied. “It’s like a mix of smoke and fog… they really should have a word for that.” Later I had ... [More]
One of the better sides of globalisation is the huge range of literature of all types is available anywhere in the western world. Amazon and their ilk have meant I can (for example) order that obscure Beowulf graphic novel my sister craves for her birthday — even if the result is that Amazon now believes ... [More]
I’ve lived in my suburb just over a year now, long enough that I’m getting to know the local Bentleigh shops a bit more now, and a few of the shopkeepers know me. For instance, the drycleaner lady recognises me, though like a TV news captioner, she misspells my name, and I can’t be bothered ... [More]
Level 2 water restrictions are now in place in Melbourne. Judging from the FAQ, some nitpickers have been asking questions: What if I donĂ¢ââââ¢t have a house number? Where there is no house number the property is considered as an Ă¢ââÂŹĂĹevenĂ¢âââ⢠numbered house If I live in an even number am I disadvantaged by not ... [More]
As someone who has lived in the Bagel Belt for most of my life, I’m somewhat shocked to hear of the alleged racist attack on a Jewish man in Balaclava Road last Saturday by some mindless idiots on a football club trip. The operations manager of the football league involved said: “It was a trip ... [More]
I was on the tram. A man in a nearby seat looked rather familiar. Was he someone I knew, or an undercover ticket inspector noticing I hadn’t bothered to re-validate my already several-hundred-times-re-validated Yearly ticket, so the tram company beancounters would get their flawed and meaningless statistics for the month? He got up. “Daniel, how ... [More]
A few notable signs on my recent travels… Seems like a reasonable request. I don’t want to know what might have prompted this one. Quick! What does it say? Every time I pass this one my eye catches a word that isn’t there. (By the way it’s next to the Indian/Italian place.) Oh, speaking of ... [More]
You may have heard of it, well here it is in the flesh. Spotted and snapped “in the wild” last week on my handy-dandy mobile phone camera… The official Neighbours tour bus, roving the city looking for English tourists to whisk out to Vermont South where they film the show.
I rather like the design of this Warholesque tram. It’s to celebrate 100 years of electric trams in Melbourne, even though the first electric tram in Melbourne ran in 1889. It only lasted 7 years though, so I suppose this one can celebrate 100 consecutive years of electric trams. But that would sound a little ... [More]