Melbourne stuff
Sometimes it’s easy. You pass someone in the street, or see them on the tram, and they’re instantly recognisable. A soapie star, a reknowned actor, a government minister, or some other high-profile person. But what about all those countless people who pass you by who are not recognisable? Who are they? How many movers and ... [More]
Ah, Easter. The time when — as one relative once clumsily described it — we celebrate the death of Christ. The sun is shining down between the buildings. I leave a batch run going on the computer at work, and walk up a block to my mother’s favourite book shop, to buy a gift voucher. ... [More]
Part I. Many years ago I had a Ren And Stimpy CD. It’s the kind of CD you buy because for a couple of weeks in 1993 you were kinda amused by the TV series. So you coughed up $25 and listen to it maybe once all the way through, and maybe another track or ... [More]
Bills arrived so far this week: 2 Awaiting payment: 3 Letters for other people that have arrived in the postbox this week: 2 Telemarketer cold calls since I changed phone numbers and got a silent line: 0 Number of e-mails in my inbox at home: 238 At work: 165 Smoke alarms at home: 2 Requiring ... [More]
It started with a little rain, gushing down the sides of the train. When we got to the next stop, in the sudden quiet you could hear it hitting the window, and people began to look up from their newspapers and books. It was pouring down in almost a surreal manner, making ripples on the ... [More]
The ticket inspector on the tram the other week was incredibly polite “Thank you very much” when he noticed I had a yearly ticket. He wasn’t to know that I’d bought it on the last day of last year to avoid the price rise, saving about $200 in the process. The guy in the desk ... [More]
If you get the chance, check out tonight’s MX, page 17. If you missed it, here’s a scan… See it bigger here. They edited it a tad – the “We’ll all be old or pregnant one day” bit originally added “Okay, maybe not pregnant.” So it sounded rather more bizarre than intended. But fun stuff. ... [More]
Saw something being filmed at Richmond station platform 1 today. When a train pulled in, a woman in a suit walked along beside it in front of a camera, several times until the director looked satisfied and they packed up and went home. Probably an advert or something. Also seen at Richmond station, posters for ... [More]
I think it was Alexei Sayle who described people who regularly protested outside the South African embassy in London against the Apartheid regime. When Apartheid finally crumbled, they were shocked that they’d actually won, and didn’t know what to do anymore. Over in my little corner of activism land, three of us slogged our guts ... [More]
Spotted on North Road the other day, a letter missing from a the big sign atop a hot chicken restaurant, making it: RED ROOTER. Hopefully the kids didn’t know why it was so funny.
Too damn hot yesterday. And last night. I’m going to go evaporative cooler shopping. There’s a parent at the school who looks like Billy Connolly when he was in his beardless phase, complete with the windswept and interesting long grey hair. But he has an Australian accent. There’s another parent at the school who looks ... [More]
There’s always the odd one(s) out. At 9:30 this morning on the train into the city, it was the couple with the baby. Something about them was different. If you were to have categorised everybody else in the carriage, they would have fallen into: professionals going to work – many of the blokes in ties, ... [More]
A long time school friend’s mum died of cancer on Thursday. Such a horrible thing for their family, all I can do is pass on condolences from my family. Film crew blocking off Hardware Street on Saturday, making me more late for lunch than I had previously been. Crowd control consisted of a woman in ... [More]
Tintin In America (1932): A comic with a message. Page 29 – within hours of oil being discovered, the local native Americans are booted out and an entire city is built. There is a bit of Tintin in America where the discovery of oil sees the development of an entire city overnight. The QV project ... [More]
I was wandering around Melbourne University on Sunday. Oh, sorry, it’s notMelbourne University, is it. No no, it’s the University Of Melbourne. Yeah. Great. I had gotten off the train at the Central Station of Melbourne, and caught a tram up the Street of Swanston. I was looking for the South Lawn. It had looked ... [More]
The second Melbourne Flash Mob in action (pic by Troy Boulton). What was interesting was that just before the earthquake signal, a woman asked why we were all waiting. Following Flashmob etiquette, we said we didn’t know. When it started, she joined in anyway. Picture this: You’re a young woman, perhaps about 20. It’s Saturday ... [More]