50 gleeful posts...and a great day out

This is my 50th Gleeful post. Hurrah! The glee-spotting and recording has been rewarding and fun - it has helped me to see and appreciate my world with fresh eyes and encouraged me to look for bright spots on gloomy days. So yay for that!

Of course, having people read it and take the time to comment makes it extra-special. I especially like it when someone says I put a smile on their face - that is surely one of the best simple pleasures in life - or shares their gleeful experiences with me. So, a heartfelt thank you to all of you. You make me gleeful.

Anyhoo, enough navel gazing.

Sunny Sunday

I've had a great day today. I enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate at a cafe on Spring Street in the city with my friend Anthony before we visited The Impermanent City exhibition at the City Museum in the beautiful Old Treasury building. The exhibition, subtitled "The rise and fall of Melbourne's skyline" features photographs and models of 11 notable buildings that have long been demolished, and their "ghosts" which can still be seen today.

My favourite was the Australian Building (above), which was the tallest building in the country when it was built in the late 1800s, and held the title of Melbourne's tallest building until 1957. Although described as 'the epitome of the architecture of Marvellous Melbourne', it was modernised in the 1940s and knocked down in the early 1980s. Parts of the side walls are still visible on the buildings that flanked it.

In the museum's gift shop, I picked up a copy of Walking Melbourne, a National Trust guide to the CBD's historic and architectural landmarks. I looked up one of my favourite buildings at 333 Collins Street and discovered it was narrowly saved from demolition in the 70s. What the????!

It's a comparatively unassuming building from the outside, but inside the ceiling is a jaw-droppingly stupendous ornate dome (below). The thought that it was slated for demolition almost hurts.

I'm looking forward to wandering the city with the guide (and camera) in hand. I might do that on my month off work at Christmas.

After that, Anthony and I walked to Little Collins Street to check out the remnant brick wall of workers' cottages that were featured in the above exhibition. The cottages were home to the city's poorest inhabitants but were knocked down in the 1890s. The wall fronting the street was spared and now forms the back wall of the garden of the exclusive Melbourne Club (the snooty men-only hang out of business bigwigs and politicians). You can still see on the wall where the windows were bricked in. We lamented that we'll never get into the garden to appreciate the full splendour of the massive elm trees whose lush canopies soar above the high brick perimeter walls.

List writers' delights

Then we visited Metropolis Books, which I'd never been to before. You won't find the latest Dan Brown best seller there - it's a collection of books on art, graphic design, architecture, photography, fashion, popular culture, film, music and the performing arts, plus a nice sprinkling of quirky reads. As an inveterate list writer, I was very tempted to buy Listography Journal - our Life in Lists. It's an illustrated "guided journal" for creating "a unique autobiography entirely in list form". You can compile lists on topics including greatest accomplishments, best friends, favorite food, guiltiest pleasures and greatest acts of kindness. Maybe next payday...

Oooh! I just discovered the author, New Yorker Lisa Nola, has a website at http://www.listography.com/ which enables you to create a database of lists on anything your listaholic heart desires! I can put my ever-expanding list of books to read on there! Cool bananas!

Then we went to JB Hi-Fi so I could buy the Dead Letter Chorus' debut album The August Magnificent. (I got too impatient waiting for it to hit iTunes.) I've only listened to it a couple of times, but it is indeed magnificent. One of the lead singers, Gabrielle Huber, has a gorgeous voice.

And all this under beautiful sunny skies....Aaaaaah.

How was your weekend?

A day off...and the awesomeness of Wagons

Aaaah, public holidays. Ya gotta love em. Today is Melbourne Cup Day, a day off for the horse race that is the pinnacle of the city's spring racing carnival.

It's dubbed the "race that stops a nation" but it didn't stop me lazing away the entire afternoon in the gardens in the sun (and er...eating a Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate bar while reading about the evils of the sugar!).

I had a nice sleep-in this morning after a late-ish night out last night to see the Wagons gig at the Northcote Social Club. I was not disappointed - it was sensational. I absolutely loved it. I can't pick a highlight, it was awesomeness wrapped in stupendousness and rolled in chocolate sprinkles.

I plan to see them again at The Famous Spiegeltent in a month, which will be a double delight - great music and a special venue.

The support acts last night were pretty good too, especially Sydney's Dead Letter Chorus (below). I'm totally loving Aussie music right now.

Melburnians, what did you do with your day off (if you got it)? Anyone been to a great live gig recently? What about to the Spiegeltent?