Local adventuring and ghost sign hunting

Luke and I did some exploring (aka ghost sign hunting) in our local area today. When we were stopped at the lights at the intersection of Dandenong Road and  Chapel Street, I saw part of an old sign lurking on the side of The Astor Theatre.

I only had time to take this one photo. The word at the top has to be Thursday, and I'm guessing it was probably advertising a weekly event at the theatre...Maybe they had Thrifty Thursday back in the days when Tight Arse Tuesday would have been too vulgar?

We headed on to Elsternwick, and wandered along Carlisle Street. There were a few old signs. 

 Holt's Big Bargain Drapers

 Self Service

 It's a long way fromTexas...

 Bike manufacturer Malvern Star was founded in Melbourne in 1902. 

It's now New Zealand-owned, according to wikipedia

 Sennitt's Ice Cream

We made a spur of the moment decision to visit Rippon Lea, the National Trust-listed mansion in Elsternwick. Neither of us had been before. It was built in 1868 and is the largest surviving 19th century suburban estate in Australia. 

We had a furry companions as we walked up the path to the house. 

 Leafy

I like the lamps

The front entrance

Taken from the front steps

There's a little sun dial near the foot of the stairs which appeared to be the favourite hang out of a tiny spider not much bigger than a house fly.  When I trained my camera lens on it, the spider assumed its aggressive stance...which was kind of cute. Sorry, spidey. You didn't scare me.  When I passed the sun dial later on, the spider was still there.

In the fernery (supposedly the largest in the
 Southern Hemisphere)

 There was a garden full of dahlias and
some of the blooms were huge

    

Like peas in a pod

 The lake

Synchronised duck diving

 We didn't go into the house, in case you were wondering

We also visited the St Kilda Botanic Gardens, another first for both of us. They're quite pleasant. 

 

Rainman

And then on Barkly Street in St Kilda we came across this milk bar - Jerry's - with fantastic ghost signs.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the spare battery for my camera, so had to use my phone for these shots, so they aren't great. 

The back of the building. Icy cold drinks on the right,

 but I can't work out what the rest says

 A closer view

I love this. Insist on Swallow and Ariell's biscuits and cakes.

Insist! It looks like it's been re-painted at some point

 

  

Oh, before Luke and I set off on our adventure, we had brunch on Chapel Street and bought some books at the Salvo's op shop. I got two books for $4 - Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, which was first published in 1930. I'm interested to see if his views are still relevant 80 years later. The other is The Prodigal Tongue: dispatches from the future of English by Mark Abley. 

Speaking of books about language, I'm very slowly making my way through Let's Bring Back...The Lost Language Edition and I found the word for canoodling I spotted when I was flicking through it in the bookshop. It's 'firkytoodle'  - to cuddle or fondle. Hehe.