New phone, flowers, tree love

Flower meadow, Birrarung Marr

I got a new phone on Sunday. I dropped my old one last week and smashed the screen, and since it's a few years old and showing signs of age, I replaced it rather than have it fixed. It's a more recent model of my old phone - I stick to what I know so I don't need to grapple with learning to use a new gadget. It's like I never even changed phones. 

It has a pretty good camera, which pleases me. I took this photo of a flower at Birrarung Marr on my way home from work on Monday.

 Buzz

I found out today the National Trust has a Register of Significant Trees in Australia, which allows you to discover unique and interesting trees near you (and further afield). There's a few in my area I didn't know about. I think I have some more trees to visit...

Clearly I am among tree lovers here in Melbourne. The City of Melbourne (my local council) has developed an urban forest map which catalogues 70,000 trees within its boundaries. Each tree was assigned an ID number and an email address as a way for the public to notify the council of damaged trees, but people have been emailing the trees with messages of appreciation and concern. And the council has been replying to them on behalf of the trees! Wonderful!

JBPM: day 17

I really love having my back scratched. Luke just gave my shoulders and upper back a good scratching and it was amazing. I reckon I could have my back scratched for an hour the way most people have massages. 

It was a cold day today and it started to rain at lunch time. Bad timing, rain. My boss came back into the office and declared that it felt like 5 degrees out there and we should avoid going out if we could. I hadn't had lunch and I was hungry so I had to go out. I dithered in my warm office for a little longer then got up to get my jacket. And the rain had stopped and the sun was out again! Good timing, me.  

As I walked back to work with my sushi a pair of women came out of a restaurant on to the rain-slicked path. One looked up at the clear, blue sky and exclaimed, "Where did that rain come from?" Her friend said, "It's Melbourne, Chris."  (Melbourne is commonly said to experience four seasons in one day.)

I went to the pantry for the peanut butter when I got home after work and was disappointed that it was gone. Luke must have finished off the jar, I thought. Before closing the door, I moved the sugar to a higher shelf and there was the PB, hiding behind it! Yay! (I wonder if Luke put the sugar there in an effort to save the last of the PB for himself? Ha!)  

Sharing the love

A friend who is visiting Melbourne in June (hello, Wendy!) asked me for tips on things to see and do here, apart from visiting the La Trobe reading room at the State Library. The dome is  already at the top of their to-do list so of course I like the cut of their jibs. I recommended a bunch of things I thought would appeal to people for whom the dome is a must-see. I could have gone on and on, but it was late and I had to go to bed.

It was really fun thinking about all the things I love about Melbourne that I think others would also enjoy.  Maybe I should become a tour guide? I would never* tire of traipsing around the city pointing out all the things that I love about it. Melbourne doesn't have Sydney's breathtaking natural beauty. It's very nice, but its true charms are less obvious. I'd get a real kick out of helping others discover what makes Melbourne great. (*OK, maybe it would be a bit tiresome on a wet winter's day.)

I now have four whole days off work. Wooh! Tomorrow I plan to sleep in and go to the gym and not much else. Then on Friday morning we're off to Venus Bay. The weather's actually going to be fairly decent too.

A woman at work I've never met before complimented me on my hair today. A few weeks ago a barrista asked me what brand of hair dye I use. I said I don't know because the hairdresser colours it, and she asked if I could ask next time I'm at the salon. It makes a nice change from people who look at me as if I have two heads!

Dazzling splendour mark II and a day off

 The tower of the Manchester Unity Building

The Manchester Unity Building on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets is one of Melbourne's architectural gems and it's about to get even more awesome. 

According to a story in The Age today, a dentist bought the first floor of the building in 2003 and has been progressively buying more of it to house his dental practice, and restoring it as he goes - including bringing back the lighting installation on the tower. 

The MU Building was completed (in record time) in 1932 and unveiled in December of that year with a light show, which The Argus newspaper described thusly: 

For the first time, the ornamental turreted tower, and the flag surmounting it, leapt out of the dark in dazzling splendour, illuminated by hidden floodlights from all sides.

Leapt out of the dark! In dazzling splendour!  Haha. There's going to be more leaping and bedazzlement on the eve of the AFL Grand Final on 28 September when the new tower lighting is turned on, accompanied by fireworks. 

I've been inside the MU Building and it's a beautiful space. You can see some of it - including the boardroom and the stairs leading to the top of the tower - in the video accompanying The Age story I've linked to above.  

The ceiling of one of the lifts in the MU Building

The dentist - Dr Kia Pajouhesh  - also appears. His passion for the building is obvious and endearing. What a wonderful thing to do - spending your own money to restore a building that's not only your place of business, but also a building loved by so many. If only some wealthy businessperson would do the same for the Nylex clock...   

I have Friday off work. I'm taking an annual leave day just because. Luke and I are contemplating driving down to Queenscliff and catching  the ferry across to Sorrento. Neither of us has been on the ferry before. This really should be remedied. 

Beautiful Melbourne, stormy, distracted

Here's some beautiful videos that have been posted by a couple of my Twitter friends. 

The first is a timelapse video of inner Melbourne. 

The second is a timelapse of storms shot near Melbourne. Awesome cloudage! 

Chasing the storm from Nathan Kaso on Vimeo.

Speaking of storms, we had a very brief storm this afternoon. There was rain, hail and a few thunderclaps. It only lasted about five minutes and then the clouds cleared and the sun came out again.  Actually, the rain lasted a bit longer. I was in the boardroom at work and out one window there was sunshine and rain, but out the other window it didn't appear to be raining at all! It was weird. 

During the meeting I was distracted by a small segment of rainbow that I could just see out the window and also a little slice of the sun-sparkly Yarra reflecting off a glassy building on the south bank of the river. Fortunately the meeting didn't require much input from me. 

Another find via Twitter - what Dr Seuss books would be called if they were titled according to their subtexts. 

NB For those of you who read Gleeful via email, I noticed the other day the videos don't appear. If you want to see the videos, click on the title of the blog post, which is a link to the blog itself. 

Cookin' with creative juices, robots, spring eve

This is a (rather tall) cupcake for one of my lovely loyal readers,

Margaret, for her birthday today. I'm sure it tastes better than it looks.

Another beautiful late winter's day full of glee. I got up early again. Again! My brain woke up even though my eyes didn't, and then the neighbours started hosting a monster truck rally in their backyard (or whatever), so going back to sleep was out of the question. But when it got to 2.00pm, it only felt like 5 o'clock. Noice.

I have been lurking in artsy craftsy shops again - Handworks on Chapel Street and Eckersleys on Commercial Road in Prahran. I adore Handworks. ADORE it. If I could, I would marry it and have its babies (I was going to link to its website but it's under construction and does not capture the wonderland that is the store at all). I've purchased supplies for yet more projects. I'm going to make some of these in a palette of blues and purples. I was competent at making paper lanterns and those Christmas chain bizzos at school so they shouldn't be a challenge.

I've got ideas for more creative stuff too...(mostly not stuff I've seen on etsy.com!).  Not just making crafty stuff, but writing and photography projects as well. I've had to start jotting down notes (well, putting notes into my phone). This week has lit a fire under my pot of creative juices. They are on the boil. I hope going back to work doesn't take the pot off the heat, even though it will obviously eat up a lot of the time I have to make stuff. I've wondered this before, but maybe I should go back to working in a creative industry, if not an actual creative job? (I don't think anyone will pay me to make paper hearts or button brooches)

I also bought some chocolate-scented stickers and a set of fridge magnets that are like the keys to an old fashioned typewriter. You can leave little messages on the fridge for people (more fun now I'm not a singleton living alone).

I saw a robot on Greville Street!

Speaking of robots, I bought this T shirt last night... 

(Aside: Gosh, a lot of my gleeful stuff this week has started off with "I bought...". But I do believe spending money can contribute to happiness. It's all in how you spend it, not necessarily how much you spend. End of aside.)

I bought (!) the new book The Fix by one of my favourite writers, Nick Earls. I think Dr Seuss and Philosophy will have to go on the backburner for a wee while. After I paid for the book, the sales assistant folded my long receipt in half and in half again, and handed it to me with a smile. (What's with the long receipts you get these days just for a single item?)

The city was buzzing with people enjoying the winter sunshine this afternoon. The atmosphere was delightful. It could be my imagination, but I think I can smell the scent of jasmine wafting through my window as I type this...

Another new fave word: velvet. It sounds lush and soft and luxurious. Another one of those words that sounds like what it is.

Check out this awesome photo gallery of a double rainbow over the city this week. Absolutely stunning, and fantastic photos too. I wish I'd seen it with my own eyes.

I'm going to the market at the Abbotsford Convent again tomorrow, with Marian, the twitter friend from NY via Auckland. She wanted to go to a Melbourne market and I thought that would be perfect - there's the art and craft market, but also a gallery, artists' studios  and, of course, the star of the show, the fabulously crumbling gothic convent, all in expansive grounds that can have you forgetting you're so close to the city. It's meant ot be another gorgeous day too. Yay.

Also - more new fantastic old signs (see my other blog for pics).

Big glee, big book, no fart

Another gleeful day of not working. Another gloriously sunny and mild late winter's day in Melbourne, with magnolia and jasmine bursting into bloom all over the place. Another personal best in the Global Corporate Challenge - 23,470 steps so far today. I'm a perambulating machine.

In major gleeful news, I saw a new dietician today who thinks I might not need to do the extremely difficult allergy elimination diet I've been attempting for the last 31 years (not really, but it feels like it). She's fairly confident my worst food intolerance symptoms will improve by following a diet that only cuts out foods containing problem sugars (e.g. fructose).  It's SO much easier than the other diet. I can eat in restaurants. I can buy my lunch. I can eat a wider variety of tastier fruit and vegetables. I'm so happy about it. That damned diet has become my nemesis.

I went to the Chapel Street Bazaar after my appointment and bought a little green specimen vase the same as one my mum used to have. She got it when she was a teenager and kept it until well after I'd left home, but it got broken, which she is still a little sad about. I'm going to send it to her. It's not the same as having the original, but it's better than not having it at all.

I nearly bought a 1950s unabridged edition of Webster's Dictionary at the bazaar...partly because it was ENORMOUS and, as you might recall, I have a thing about big books (and words). It was in remarkably good condition for its age and well priced, but I decided it was a substandard dictionary because it didn't include the word 'fart'. Unabridged, eh? Pfffft.

You might think fart was excluded because it's vulgar, but when I was a kid we had an ancient dictionary - all yellow pages falling out, old book smell, the works -  and it not only included 'fart' but it defined it thus: an explosion from between the legs. An explosion! From between the legs! You can imagine the mirth that ensued when my brother and I read this. It makes me laugh now. It was also a little too heavy to lug home, especially with the other stuff I was already carrying. But after seeing the 1888 ad for Webster's on Wiki page, I kinda wish I'd bought it now. Webster's unabridged dictionary: a library in itself.  Maybe it will still be there when I go back. With my nanna trolley.

I bought myself an Etch-A-Sketch. But you probably know that already if you looked at the photo above. Hours of fun for only $15 at Big W. I'm practising drawing robots.

Instead of taking a known route from the dietician to Chapel Street, I walked up Williams Road and found this cool old Coca Cola sign.

Coca-Cola - Be really refreshed

  

And this fabulous ramshackle house. You can't quite see it in this photo, but the house has a name (as old houses often did). Its name is Haven. While I was looking up and appreciating the irony, I was listening to Boy and Bear singing, "Come dancing in the garden of my haven, won't you dear?". It's freakish how often the music I'm listening to provides the perfect soundtrack for what I'm doing.

It was getting towards sunset when I was walking home along the river. I stopped to take some photos of the view towards the city from a little jetty thing down on the river...and didn't stop...well, I did eventually because it was dark and I was hungry. I took 155 photos of the city,  the Our Magic Hour art installation, reflections on the water and trains crossing the Yarra. I walked home excited to see if the photos looked as good on my laptop as on my camera display.  I was not disappointed. Yay. Now to choose a few to blog...

 Part of the Our Magic Hour installation atop the Sportsgirl building

AAMI Park and the city

Walking: it's ace

 

Walking is something many able-bodied people take for granted. Indeed, it only occurred to me recently after a comment from a friend how much walking enriches my quality of life: so much of what I write about and photograph I see while I'm on foot. 

Gillian (hello!) commented in response to one of my posts on this blog (or was it Girl in Melbourne?) that there was very little that escaped my gaze. I replied that writing Gleeful and having a photo blog have trained me to take notice, particularly of small things. Then she said she missed so much because she was always whizzing by in her car.

Of course! I hadn't given that a lot of thought, but it's so obvious. I've never owned a car and I've always been a walker, especially in the last six years living on the fringe of the CBD. I walk to and from work most days, I'm often out and about doing stuff on weekends and wandering the Botanic Gardens, the city or the inner suburbs with camera in hand.

If I lived in the suburbs and commuted to work, my blogs would be vastly different.  I suppose it's a combination of walking a lot and being fortunate to live in such a picturesque part of the Melbourne.

If I didn't walk so much in my little part of the world,  I wouldn't see all those birdie couples nearly every day (the plovers, the swans, the ducks) or the flying foxes at dusk. I wouldn't be able to closely observe the elms beside the river transitioning from season to season, to smell the musty aroma of wet autumn leaves on the ground.  I wouldn't be able to admire the reflection of the city lights on the Yarra every day or take in the view of the CBD from my various favourite vantage points. I wouldn't have seen dolphins or jellyfish or fish in the river. 

I wouldn't have so many photos of old painted signs around the inner suburbs of Melbourne. I probably wouldn't even have developed an interest in them at all. I wouldn't know Melbourne -  its laneways, hidden charms and beautiful buildings - as well as I do if I experienced it mainly by car or public transport, and only came to the city for work. Feet were made for exploring; cars were made for getting places quickly.

Walking has deepened my connection with my town, and helped me feel closer to nature despite living less than two kilometres from the centre of the city. It allows me to slow down, to stop and take things in.  Walking...it's awesome.

Sunshine, rolling, long weekend

 

Another gorgeous winter's day in Melbourne. My walk into the city this afternoon to go to the gym (again!) was very pleasant. The autumn leaves are still falling. I saw sleepy ducks and children rolling down the big hill at Birrarung Marr.

  

I have asked to take this Friday off work, which would give me a four-day long weekend (and two four-day working weeks). Can't wait. It's too hard to go away (even overnight) while I'm on this allergy elimination diet, but a day trip or two is on the cards.

I've been on the diet for two weeks now and I'm finally making some good progress. Yay! At last!

The Gleeful Omnibus. Vrooooom!

Artwork atop the Sportsgirl building in Richmond.

At last the interwebz have told me what this is!

Tsk tsk. I haven't blogged in nearly a week, but it's not because there's been a lack of glee in my life. Not at all. There's been loads of glee. LOADS of it. I'll start with today.

I went shopping on Chapel Street with the intention of buying some quirky homewares for my flat. I ended up buying three original My Little Ponies (one wears a tiara! Another has little pink glasses! Just like real ponies!), a giant bubble blowing wand, rainbow gel pens, the cutest notebook, a beautiful postcard by an artist called Art and Ghosts, a gorgeous colouring book and coloured pencils. Yes, ALL for me!

The colouring book is called Lolo isn't Lonely Anymore - "When Lolo's house is sold, she must move far away from her beloved city to the country. Everything is different, and at first she is very lonely, but soon she learns to listen and look, and finally starts to notice all the great things that were there all along".  The story speaks to me (it's a little bit like this blog really) and the illustrations are lovely. I hope I don't mess it up when I colour it in!

A trio of cats sunning themselves in a bookshop window

I walked home from Chapel Street along the river. I don't often walk along that stretch of the Yarra, but it offers some great views of the city, including this lovely vista. I just happened along at the perfect time of day.

And then I noticed a fairly well-concealed rough path heading down to a jetty on the water so I went down there and it was beautiful - the view of the city at sunset and the almost-full moon and Our Magic Hour sign reflecting on the water. I love you with all my heart, Melbourne.

Secret spill

I have been wearing new ankle boots all week. They're very comfy and I love them...although I did fall over in them at work BUT NO ONE SAW ME! How 'bout that, eh?! 30-odd people in my department and I fell over out of sight. Go, me! (If Frisky falls in the office and nobody sees her and nobody hears her, the bruise on her kneecap shall be proof that it did happen!)

Speaking of work, there's been a re-shuffle in my group and after Easter I will start working for one of my favourite people in the department. She's awesome - very funny and so lovely. I'm very happy about being her minion. Our first task shall be to work out how to buy gin on her corporate Amex.

The not-very-early birds 

For the last week or so on the way to work, I have passed Mr and Mrs Plover hunting for their breakfast on the same stretch of riverbank. I like seeing them every day. They're another addition to my free- range menagerie of birdy pets. I've seen them catch a few worms too. This proves that the saying about the early bird is wrong. You heard it here first.

I've also seen possums, two scampering rats, and a native water rat (rakali) swimming in the river (at night, not on my way to work).

We've had some very damp weather this week, but I find it hard to be glum about it when I can look out my office window and see a huge blanket of dark grey cloud suspended over the city, waiting to dump its load. It looked quite apocalyptic, but fantastic (sorry, no photo).


MORE comedy!

Luke and I went to see comedian Mark Watson last night (at the Forum again). I loved it. There wasn't a lot of discernible structure to his stand-up, but he's face-hurtingly funny, the crowd interaction was great and, like David O'Doherty, he has such a likeable stage presence. And five minutes before the show was due to start he was sitting on a couch in the foyer chatting to punters and having his photo taken!

Cute Satan

I saw Satan in the city last night when I was waiting for Luke. Two Satans in fact. A man-sized devil and his mini-me devil sidekick. MIDGET SATAN! (yes, I know midget isn't PC, but it's funnier than LITTLE PERSON SATAN!). Midget Satan was tiny and adorable. He chased a girl with his pitchfork and she ran away squealing. What a sook. (I think they were promoting a Comedy Festival show.)

The leaves are starting to turn colour and fall. Yay, autumn!

Tomorrow I'm having brunch with a friend I haven't seen in ages and then we're going to Daiso, which I'm told is like a Japanse $2 shop. Can't wait!


Sneaky important bit hidden at the bottom

There's a boy that I like and he likes me too!

River reflection of Our Magic Hour

Graveyard Train, hidden, perforated

Graveyard Train was fantastic at the Spiegeltent tonight! I loved it. Not as much as I loved Wagons when I first heard them play, but still quite a lot. There's seven guys singing (often in a man-choir fashion) foot-stomping country songs about death, mortality, mummies, monsters and ghosts, accompanied by slide guitar, steel guitar, banjo, a washboard, harmonica and double bass. Oh, and the hammer and chain. Yep, one band member's primary instrument is a big chain which he whacks with a hammer. Quite effective.

It was an appreciative (and extremely varied) crowd and a lovely venue.  I just downloaded their latest album and I'm listening to it now.

My boss took me out for lunch today to celebrate me becoming a permanent employee. We went to Tokyo Teppanyaki, which is down a corridoor in a building next to the Athenaeum Theatre on Collins Street. I had no idea it was even there! How very Melbourne... 

This afternoon I helped make up the name tags for attendees at a seminar at work tomorrow, which involved tearing along many perforated lines. I find tearing along perforations very pleasing.

I walked Melbourne

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

I saw this passage by TS Eliot on a banner at the State Library's Mirror of the World exhibition this afternoon after I finally finished my self-guided Walking Melbourne tour, and I thought it was apt. I have now visited and photographed every single one of the 235 significant buildings and landmarks in the National Trust guide, which also means I get to cross something else off my 101 Things To Do list.

The final section of the tour took me to the north-west corner of the CBD, the area I had been working in until last Friday, so I now know the history of some of the old buildings I had previously admired and photographed.

That part of the city has some of the city's oldest buildings, including St James Old Cathedral which is the oldest building in Melbourne (not imported from overseas). Construction began in 1839, although it was moved from its original location to a site opposite Flagstaff Gardens in 1913.

There's also this little house and shop on the corner of King and La Trobe Streets, which is one of only a few pre-gold rush buildings left in the city.

  

After I finished my walking tour I popped in to visit the State Library (if you've never been, this is truly one of Melbourne's best hidden gems. Go!). I admired the wonderful domed reading room and also visited the smallest book and the largest book on display in the Mirror of the World exhibition. I always look at them when I go there.  

The smallest book is the Midget Encyclopedia, a collection of tiny books smaller than matchboxes which are accompanied by a weeny magnifying glass. Today it was open to Q for quagga. The largest book is the awesome Birds of America by renowned naturalist John James Audubon. It's massive and open to a different page every time I go. (According to the State Library website, its copy is one of only 120 known copies in the world.)

The dome

I also visted the Cowen Gallery at the library. I'm not sure if they were there when I visited last, but the gallery has on display the last notes written by Burke and Wills before they died.

As well as looking at significant buildings, I also lurked about city laneways taking photos during which I saw three different renderings of the Rolling Stones tongue motif in two different alleys (probably all by the same person) - on the same day that I was to see Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (which was great, although Mick Jagger's er...pantal region was distracting). 

Walking into the city beside the river this morning I saw a bird pecking at something on the path. I thought it was a large beetle at first but when the bird took flight at my approach, I bent down to have a look and it was a tiny crab. It saw me looking at it and it adopted a fighting pose with its little claws thrust up at me. Feisty!

My Girl in Melbourne photo blog has 49 followers. Thanks guys! One more for the half century...

And that's it for day 1 of NaBloPoMo.

Convent, coincidence, compliment

I love that someone's tried to spruce up this

 grimey city alley with hanging plants

How great is the view when you're going up the hill on Studley Park Road? I don't get over that way much, but I've caught a bus to Kew for appointments the past two Saturdays and love to look back towards the modern city towers over the the brooding, medieval bulk of the Abbotsford Convent (anyone who follows my Girl in Melbourne blog will know the contrast of old and new is a photographic fetish of mine. Sorry, no photos from today).

I haven't been to the convent in years. In fact, the one and only time I've been was back when it was disused and on the verge of ruin (my then boyfriend was an extra in a low-budget movie made by a friend of a friend, which was filmed at the convent. My bf was Henchman no 3 or something). Now it's "fast becoming an important arts, learning and education precinct" with regular farmers', art, craft and design markets. There's a couple of markets on tomorrow and since I'm going to be in Fitzroy tomorrow to visit the Centre for Contemporary Photography...well, it's gonna be another big Sunday out and about for me. Ace.

Coincidentally...

I was reading my book When We Think About Melbourne on the bus today and just after I came down the hill on the way back into the city, I read this passage about award-winning Melbourne writer Helen Garner's classic Australian novel Monkey Grip (which I re-read earlier this year):

"Garner's fiction is famously close to lived experience, but what does it matter where the line [between fiction and non-fiction] is drawn when it produces passages like this from Monkey Grip on cycling down Studley Park Road: '(H)alf a mile of steady, inexorable downhill run. I let go and flew down it in ecstacy, head thrown back, mouth open, feet at a quarter to three...the wind pushed at my front, the mudguards rattled so fiercely I thought the machine would fly apart... on my left the convent low down on its mediaeval banks, ancient trees shadowing its courts...' The writing is so evocative, so grounded in place, that I can just about feel the wind on my face and the ground rushing by beneath me." 

Not quite as exhilarating on a bus, but it's pretty cool to be reading about a place in a book you've literally passed through moments before.

And, yes, it didn't escape my notice that I'm reading a book about Melbourne which has a chapter about books about Melbourne. It's like watching a TV on TV.

"When the writer's subject is their own town, the result is often dismissed as thinly disguised autobiography - not proper fiction...And yet they say: 'Write what you know.' And let's be honest, it can be a lot of fun to read about what you know. If evocative writing is the art of revealing to the reader what they had only dimly felt, evocative writing about Melbourne reveals what makes the city feel like ours..."

The author (Jenny Sinclair) also mentions the pleasure of location-spotting in books set in your own town and the sense of ownership and recognition it produces. Yup.

She likes how books set in Melbourne are written from a place of "deep intimacy with the city". And that's what I'm enjoying about her book.

Anyhoo, enough of that...another little coincidence. Today I was listening to Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs' song Escalator as I went up an escalator at Myer.

Complimentary

The dude at the DVD store complimented me on my choice of movie tonight. Go, me. Yeah, I was a little bit pleased. I probably wouldn't have been if I was a Blockbuster customer, but I go to a tiny independent place on Swan Street and for some reason I'm flattered when they approve of my selection. Probably because you can tell they're movie buffs, not just pimply kids trying to earn some spending money. (I borrowed Cool Hand Luke, if you're wondering. It's my cult movie for the month).

My big day out

Last night I set my alarm for 9.00am and when it sounded, I turned it off before deciding I wanted another half hour's sleep. But I accidentally reset it to 9.30pm and I woke up without an alarm AT EXACTLY 10.10am. On 10/10/10, people!  What are the chances, eh?

Anyway, I was a bit slow to get going, but I did eventually emerge from my flat into an absolutely stunning spring afternoon. I walked to Collingwood and Fitzroy and wandered about the backstreets and the main roads with my camera, enjoying the grunge and the diversity.

I live in a suburb marked with the prettiness of affluence, and while I do like that, it turns out that I love urban decay. My suburb is also very vanilla, and Collingwood and Fitzroy certainly have a lot more flavour.

If I ever have to leave my flat, I'm definitely moving north of the river. Maybe I could find a place to rent on the street in Fitzroy I wandered into today that shares my last name? I never knew it was there!

From Fitzroy I headed into the city via the Carlton Gardens with its fabulous fountain, and then to the NGV's Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square where I visited Stormy Weather, an exhibition of contemporary landscape photography, and a couple of other exhibitions. I liked the landscape photography the best, especially the work of Nici Cumpston. 

It's been a long time since I've been to the Ian Potter Centre. I really like it as a space - it's so light and airy and geometric, and the recessed windows scattered around are like art works in themselves - you can't help going up to them to see what you can see framed in them.

I caught a tram home (I'd been on my feet for nearly 5 hours), pottered about for a while, then walked back into the city beside the calm, black river for k@osmos  in the Alexandra Gardens, which was pleasant. From where I was sitting, I could see a little smile of a moon hanging between the Arts Centre spire and Eureka Tower.

And now to bed.

Reading, exploring, discovering

I haven't told you how much I've been enjoying the book When We Think About Melbourne: the imagination of a city by Jenny Sinclair, have I? Well, I am rather enjoying it as it happens.

The author's affection for her city is palpable, and it's great when people love the same things you do.

This part resonated with me:

"Loving novelty for novelty's sake is considered a vice, a source of weakness for those who chase it. Isn't there, though, something excusable, even worthwhile, about a turn of mind that lives to learn and be surprised; of synapses clicking together to form inner landscapes like so much Lego; of a mind that can watch a new road - even a humble suburban road or a country-town side street - unfurl with the same avidity as a teenager watches a movie?

"We walk on the same footpaths to the same tram stops, turn off at the same intersections, day after day...we go up and down the same escalators, state out of the same grubby train windows at the same factories turning their backsides to the raile lines. Even so, when something new appears in the landscape, we can find it hard to say what it has replaced or if it's really new at all...

"Going to new places expands the mental map as well. Kew boulevard winds aroung a hill and when I ride there I'm always looking outwards to the city. Off the Boulevard, there are suburban streets which fade into the unknown. After fifteen years of cycling on that road I turned up a service road...the functional brick buildings either side of the road were all closed up. Behind and around them was an almost wild open field, a grassy space I hadn't even known existed."

I know that feeling! When you take a different path and discover something great you never knew was there. This is the spirit in which I do a lot of my wandering - the anticipation of finding new things is almost as fun as the discovery itself.

(On a side note, last night when I was reading the book, I had a major moment of deja vu. I know I've read these sentences (the ones I've italicised) before somewhere: "A teacher [at a Howard Arkley exhibition] standing before a fluorescent image of a triple-fronted brick veneer home told a group of schoolchildren as if he was reading the news - 'Many suburban housewives feel they're trapped and can't get out' - I had to stifle the urge to interject. Many people feel they're trapped and can't get out - not just housewives." Where? WHERE did I read this?!)

Big day out

I'm planning a day out and about in the sunshine tomorrow (it's going to be 25 degrees! Yay for spring!). I'm going wandering over Collingwood/Fitzroy way with my camera because I need fresh fodder for my photo blog, but also just to explore and maybe discover new things.

Then I'm going to check out the numerous free exhibits at the National Gallery of Victoria, which include some photographic works, and at night I'm going to see the closing night performance of k@osmos, which is part of the Melbourne Festival (and no doubt eat poffertjes). 

It's all happening!

The view from Swan Street Bridge last night

It's Friday! J arrives tomorrow! Melbourne is abuzz! Not because J is arriving, though I'm sure it will be happy to host him. (I'm excited about him arriving of course.)

It's Grand Final Eve - tomorrow is a big day for this town, powered as it is by AFL fever (that and caffeine). It's a great time to visit Melbourne - the weather's starting to warm up a little, the Fringe Festival is on and the International Arts Festival kicks off in a week or so as well. So much to see and listen to and do!

Ah, I'm firmly in the grip of Melbourne love right now...well, more firmly than usual.

Visitor, strong and hot (er...)

I love the old bluestone, cobblestones and brickwork in this alley near my office

My US friend J arrives on Saturday. Yay. It also happens to be the biggest event on Melbourne's sporting calendar: the AFL Grand Final. Not only will I get to enjoy the atmosphere of the day, I'll be sharing it with an out-of-towner (I hope the Collingwood fans don't scare him).

I like it when I'm at the gym and I have to adjust the weight on a machine so that it's heavier, not lighter. It doesn't happen very often, but I'm happy when it does. Wooh! I'm stronger than that last person!

How ace are hot water bottles, hey? Much better than wheatbags, if you ask me. One morning last week when I woke up, my hot water bottle was still slightly warm, SEVEN HOURS after I got into bed with it.

The kindness and compliments of strangers

AAMI Park twinkling and basking in the glow from the MCG

I had a gleeful to start to the day. I got to the train station and was about to put my coins in the ticket machine when I noticed a thoughtful person had left a still-valid Metcard there for someone else to use. Me! Yay, free ride!  

I often leave my valid ticket for others, or offer it to someone who's about to buy one, and it feels nice to perform a little kindness for strangers (especially when you get to see their reaction). It's just as nice to be on the receiving end.  Little acts of kindness are ace. 

More glee

Tonight when I got home I had an email from a subscriber to my photo blog who said seeing my photos had made her and her husband want to visit Melbourne. I was thrilled. It's always wonderful to get a compliment, but to me this is the highest praise I could get for my photo blog. I'm rapt that my love for Melbourne has rubbed off a little, that my photos have acted as ambassadors for the place I love. I want to open my window and yell, "Melbourne, look what I did for you!"

Happy birthday, Melbourne!

I took this photo tonight right near where John Fawkner berthed the Enterprise 175 years ago today

Today was Melbourne's 175th birthday and in honour of the occasion, here's a list of things I love about my adopted hometown:

* The Royal Botanic Gardens

* The Yarra River (yes, I know it ain't pretty, but it's such a constant in my life that I can't help feeling fond of it).

* The State Library, particularly the La Trobe Reading Room

* The Athenaeum Library

* The beautiful old buildings, especially the interiors of 333 Collins Street and 382 Collins Street, the  Olderfleet Building (also on Collins Street) and the old Melbourne Safe Deposit Building on Queen Street

* The buzz about town on Grand Final Day

* The view of the city from Swan Street Bridge

* The new sports stadium, AAMI Park, especially when its lights are twinkling

* St Kilda on a gloomy day

* The Astor Theatre (and its moggy)

* Morell Bridge near my house

* The Nylex Clock (when it's working)

* The terrace houses of the inner city

* The backstreets of Richmond

* The alleys, laneways and arcades in the CBD

* Chapel Street Bazaar

* The Windsor end of Chapel Street

* Readings Bookstores

* It was briefly called Batmania and also Bearberp!

* The Moomba Festival - because the name means something like 'up your bum!' in an indigenous language

* It has a swimming pool named in honour of Prime Minister Harold Holt who went missing at sea in 1967, presumed drowned

* There's a lane named after legendary rock band AC/DC

* Bumblebee trams

* The old lamps on Prince's Bridge and along Federation Wharf

* The view down Bourke Street from the Queen Street intersection

and loads more things that I'm too sleepy to think of right now... (Apologies for lack of links - Google is your friend).

A sunny day out in Batmania^

Great building, old brickwork and fading sign, Chapel Street

After a grey start, it turned into a glorious winter's day today. I went for a very long work from Windsor to Richmond and then home, part of it wandering through the quaint-meets-gritty backstreets of Richmond. I love Richmond.

The sun and exercise made me so toasty I not only took my jacket, off but pulled my sleeves up as well. Ah, the first kiss of sunshine on winter-white flesh is a delight.

Other good bits about today:

* I enjoyed people watching on Chapel Street as I lingered over lunch.

* I indulged in a hot chocolate and a raspberry and chocolate mousse at Ganache on Toorak Road. The mousse was almost too pretty to eat.

* I added to my library of books about Melbourne with Jenny Sinclair's When We Think About Melbourne: The imagination of a city. Flicking through, I read this snippet:

"...Chapel Street is a promenade banked wall-to-wall with cars and the South Yarra types who walked there (purple-haired old ladies, gay boys with French bulldogs on leads, confused and muttering mat-haired homeless men, groups of girlfriends swinging bags from boutique, stiff suits with real estate agents inside them) were an endless dumbshow, a never-ending stream of life I loved to feel part of."

Yep, me too.

* I discovered a row of small galleries on a non-descript side street off Church Street. Always something to discover when you get off the well-worn path.

*  I made a quick detour to the gardens and sat on a park bench as the late afternoon sun sank lower over the lake and a chill crept into the air.

*  I smelt spring. It's nearly upon us! 

*  I picked up two DVDs to watch tonight (including The Shining). I have the flat to myself, my pyjamas on already and a pizza on the way.

^ Melbourne really was briefly named Batmania after its founding father John Batman (pronounced BAT-mn, not Bat-MAN). It's both a disappointment and a relief that it didn't stick.