Ghost's Place

You find me this morning at Ghost's Place in Northcote.  Her people are in Aotearoa / New Zealand and I am sharing cat sitting duties with a friend of theirs. Ross is not available - he has gone to Aotearoa with Freyja and Simon.

Sunrise over the Dandenongs

I wonder if I can push the door open
far enough so I can go out?
Spoiler: Not this time

I came over on Saturday, more or less at lunchtime. I have no idea why but the tram was jammed and Bourke Street was packed. Gertrude and Smith Streets were unexpectedly busy. I had intended to get off the tram at Queen Street and take the bus to Northcote but there were too many people for me to get off with my (little) suitcase. This wasn't a major problem. There are plenty of options for getting off the tram and connecting with the bus. I got off at Clifton Hill, by which time many of the people had gone.

Ghost was very pleased to see me - or, more accurately, the supply of cat treats. She had plenty of biscuits in her bowls but she was impatiently waiting for cat treats.

I was reunited with Ziggy the car and drove to Station Street for a visit to Oasis, the Lebanese cafe and grocery store. Chicken shawarma for lunch, spanakopita for dinner.

Lindsey came over mid-morning on Sunday and we went to the Alphington market, which was also on the busy side. Mind you, the weather was very pleasant all weekend. Sunny, warm but not too hot, light breezes. There had been some rain overnight so everything was fresh. We had lunch at Kissaten and then went to the Bunnings in Fairfield. I needed a new toilet roll holder and, while I was there, I picked up a mature tomato plant, plus a mint and a thyme plant. The tomatoes in the community garden are finished and it is possible that I might get some tomatoes from a plant on my Sunset Strip. It's called a "winter garden" on the floor plan and it gets very warm. I'll test it to see how well it does as a "winter" garden. Mind you, it is still summer and March is often reasonably warm. See how we go.

I went to work on Monday. I am working on Mondays and Thursdays for five weeks while Mike the Practice Manager is away, then I am planning to take my long service leave. It is VERY confusing for my poor brain, working on Mondays and Thursdays after so many years of working Wednesdays and Fridays. I am struggling to remember what day it is and where I am supposed to be. This is further complicated by my overnight stays at Ghost's Place twice a week for two weeks. I am paying very close attention to my online calendar.

Tuesday morning view from my place:

I came back to Ghost's Place yesterday, this time catching the bus from Queen Street. It was a real (bus) trip down memory lane. The bus goes through so many places that I have lived in, hung around in, studied in throughout so many different stages of my life. 

There is a bus stop right outside Ghost's Place, which is very convenient. 

I must remember that today is Wednesday and that I have a Japanese class in the city at 5:30. I need to get back to my place and sort my cats out before that. But it's only 8:00 so there is plenty of time. I shall have a cup of coffee and ponder the day ahead.

Ghost, pondering the sunshine:

Another Sunny Day, Another Lunch Out

I found, yesterday, that even after one physio session, I was walking much better than I have for ages. Walking properly, not hobbling, not stepping gingerly. Walking. Almost striding.

When the tram driver, after inching slowly, slowly, slowly along Collins Street stopped at a tram stop and said: "There's quite a long queue of trams ahead. We will get going eventually, but if you're not going far it's probably quicker to walk" - I got off the tram and walked to my 5:30 Japanese lesson without thinking twice about it. Not bad, after one physio session.

It's not been quite so good today. A bit niggly. I had a second session this morning, which didn't hurt quite as much as the first. My knee isn't quite as happy as it was yesterday, but it didn't object to a lunchtime walk over to the Berth/Cargo restaurants with Lindsey, nor to the walk back.

We ate in Cargo, this time. We got there just as it opened and had our choice of tables, by the window, next to the water. Lindsey had an open souvlaki (not pictured). I had a capricciosa pizza, which didn't look as I expected (I didn't expect the anchovies to be quite so plentiful, nor quite so big, nor even quite so fresh) but it was very delicious.

I have added Berth, Cargo and the Urban Alley Brewery to my list of local eateries to visit again.

For some time now I have been watching little round, orange boats bobbing around on the harbour. Every now and then I wondered what they were doing. Then one afternoon, recently, when there were several of them out having fun on the water I enquired of the Internet: what are these creatures? It turns out that they are Aquadonuts and they are, in effect, floating picnic or barbecue tables. You hire them for a couple of hours, you fit up to 10 people inside them and you either have a picnic while you are bobbing around on the water or you can have a barbecue. You provide your own food and drinks and you can hire barbecue equipment if you are so minded.  We absolutely have to do this one day!

Aquadonuts, waiting for us

The Japanese class on Wednesday evening was good. There are six students, one of whom wasn't there. Of the others, one was born in Australia but with a Japanese mother; one is from Korea; one is from Canada but born in Serbia; one is Swedish and then there is me. The sensei is from Nagoya. I've moved from level E3 to E5, which is a better fit. I have done the material we covered in class before, but it's the kind of thing that I go over and over, whenever the opportunity arises. It's about the level of the online classes that I do. The material was new to the other students but our language level is very similar. I think I am going to enjoy these classes

A Long Weekend in Summer

It was very hot on Saturday afternoon. The morning was reasonable so I dropped to the supermarket for a few supplies. Then I pulled the blinds down, closed the windows and sat out the afternoon with the air conditioning on until the temperature dropped a bit in the evening.

Sunday was much, much better. Lovely weather, lovely temperature. I didn't go to the Alphington market because I had bought the makings of a fruit salad and a big green salad on Saturday so didn't really need very much at the market.

There was a message on the Garden WhatsApp group to say that one of "Urban forest" beds had been burnt overnight. Hard to say what had caused it. It had gone up in flames at around 10:15 pm so not likely to be a natural combustion. It might have been arson, although that was one of the smaller beds. Might have been a lit cigarette, I suppose. The CCTV cameras outside the entrance of the building don't reach that bed, although the stadium might have cameras pointing that way. Fortunately, no real damage had been done. Unless you happened to be the garden bed

I made my way to the Queen Victoria market side of town and met Freyja and Simon in the Bobbie Peels pub for a Sunday roast

Roast pork for me

Vegan and vegetarian nut roast for Freyja and Simon

Happy lunchers

Then we wandered down to the QV market. I don't go there very often. It is very big and I find it a bit intimidating. How to choose which stall to buy things from? How to choose what to buy? How to find things? However, Freyja had noticed my desire to buy some black garlic and had had a search to see if any of the stalls stocked it. She found one that did, so we located that stall and I bought some. (Although I have also ordered some flavoured butters online).

We were near to the newest of the Melbourne City Libraries, Narrm Ngarrgu (Which means Melbourne Knowledge in the local indigenous language) so we went in for a look around. It's lovely. Spacious and open and friendly with a glorious rooftop garden (which was closed to the public on Sunday, but which we could see through the windows and doors). It doesn't have the view that my local library (Library at the Dock) has, of water and boats and the Bolte Bridge, but it does have rather nice treetop views and you can see down along the market.

I nearly ran across Freyja and Simon again after we had parted company. They called into the Tokyo Hometown supermarket on their way home. I oh-so-nearly hopped off my tram and called in there too, but decided that I didn't really need anything and would call in another day.

Yesterday was a national public holiday and Wendy called around later in the morning. We wandered around to The District and had lunch in the Urban Alley Brewery, which I hadn't known about until somebody mentioned it on one of the Docklands' social pages. There are a lot of eating places around the Wheel in Docklands. It's not a food court, as such, more a collection of cafes and restaurants. I've eaten in the ramen shop several times but not really explored the other options. The pub is rather nice and my teriyaki salmon was lovely - both to look at and to eat. 

Wendy's chicken caesar salad was
ENORMOUS

It was beautiful weather for a potter around and people were out and about enjoying themselves. Today is forecast to be ridiculously hot. It's not too bad at the moment but the temperature is expected to rise to the mid 40s as the afternoon goes on. I went to a physio appointment at 9:30 and it was lovely weather for a stroll along the water. I do not think I will be going out this afternoon though. It's meant to drop back to more sensible summer temperatures for the rest of the week - but I do not expect that this will be last of the 40+d temperatures.  We have February yet to go!!!

A Busy Week

 I've had a busy week so far.

I went out to North Fitzroy on Monday afternoon to visit my podiatrist and came back via Melbourne Central. I had bought some sample butters at the Christmas food market and really, really liked the black garlic butter. According to the butter-maker's website, it was stocked at the Pantre Asian grocery in Melbourne Central. Alas - it is not. That producer goes to some of the markets I go to, so I'll ask them the next time I run across them. In the meantime, I could, of course, make my own black garlic butter. If I could find a supply of black garlic. That shouldn't be hard, if I keep my eyes open for it.

On Tuesday afternoon I went to my first class at the KonichiWhat Japanese language school. It's a fairly new, quite small  Japanese school and is in Collins Street. I could walk there but, being lazy, I took the tram. I had done an ability check before I booked my class but it quickly became apparent that I was in a class that was too easy for me. I already knew what we were doing and the other students did not. I have changed my class to a more advanced one, which will be early on Wednesday evenings. I've looked at the course material and I know some of it but not all of it. See how we go.

I will, of course, keep doing my first thing in the morning, twice weekly online classes which I very much enjoy.

I went to work on Wednesday.

Lindsey came around on Thursday and we walked around to the Newquay Promenade. Two of the heritage ships had been moored over there for a couple of days and I wanted to go and look at them. As you walk down the promenade there is a fish and chip shop on the waterside, plus two restaurants.  There are restaurants and wine bars on the other side of the promenade but they don't tend to be open at lunchtimes. The two waterside restaurants, Berth and Cargo, are very similar in appearance and have similar sorts of menus. We decided to try Berth and then Cargo another time.

We had a table next to the water

Lunchtime view

In addition to their regular menu, they also have a lunch menu, with all items a flat $25. This was my steak sandwich. You really can't complain about what you get for $25!

Then we went to look at the heritage ships. The Enterprize and the Alma Doepel were there. I'm not sure where The Wattle has gone. They had to leave their berths on the other side of the harbour at the beginning of January.

The Enterprize and the Tram Boat

Alma Doepel

We might have gone for a wander in The District before heading back to my place.

This was my view this morning as I walked along Harbour Esplanade to catch the tram to work

There are often people rowing on the harbour first thing in the morning but it's usually eights. I don't recall having seen lots of one and two person rowing boats at that time in the morning before.

This, in contrast, was Austin's view as he drove to work this morning

Today marks five months since Brandy, Whiskey and I moved into our flat. I no longer feel as though I am living in a holiday flat, especially now that I've cosied the flat up a bit. But I am still very much enjoying the waterside, city lifestyle

Tram Challenge: Route #35, City Circle

 

The City Circle tram is a W class tram that more or less circumnavigates the free tram zone in a clockwise direction. It was intended as a hop on hop off tourist tram and was free long before the free tram zone came into being. It starts and terminates outside The District shopping centre.

I catch it quite often, at least for bits of its route. It is one of the trams which stops outside my place on the way back from the city. On its way to the city, I catch it from The District, or sometimes from Central Pier if I am heading to Melbourne Central or to the Queen Victoria shopping complex. I often catch it if I am coming back from that end of town and am not in a hurry

I was surprised when it turned up on Christmas morning when I was heading to the zoo. I don't know why I was surprised - I knew the trams were running to a Sunday service but I had just assumed that it wouldn't be running. It was. And it was very busy.

It's nearly always very busy! Tourists love it. It takes a leisurely route around the CBD, with a commentary on what there is around it and where you can visit if you get off at the next stop. 

My only problem with it is that the steps to get on and off are quite steep. It is definitely not an accessible vehicle! So far, I can manage.

I have caught it the whole way round a couple of times now, just for fun.

The Week That Was

I have absolutely no idea why, but when I took the washing out of the machine on Monday morning there was a puddle of water next to it. I sorted out the washing, mopped up the water and then set about investigating where the water had come from. This required that I move the washing machine. It did not want to move! So I woman handled it out of its cupboard and checked the hoses, connections, pipes, draining pipe, everything. Nothing was wet, apart from the floor. So I shrugged my shoulders, pushed the machine back and ran the towels through that I had used to mop up the water.

No further water appeared. A mystery!

My right knee was not happy about all of this. It's been grumpy on and off for a while now. I suppose really, it's been grumpy on and off since I was about 15 years old.  It is especially grumpy after being required to help move the washing machine.

I took it to The Fox on Monday evening for dinner with Lindsey and Ian, a couple of long standing friends of theirs, and Freyja and Simon,  and had a remarkably nice seafood platter.

View from my bedroom window,
as I was on my way to bed

I reached this milestone on Drops
on Tuesday morning

I had ordered a second, larger rug for the lounge room, which arrived on Tuesday morning. I moved the original rug into the bedroom. I laid out the new, larger rug in the lounge room. I assembled the cabinet which had arrived the previous week. I attempted to attach the cupboard inserts which I had also bought. Their assembly completely defeated me, so I put them aside, thinking that I might return them to Ikea. Later I watched a video showing how to assemble them. It didn't seem that complicated. I will give it another go.

Wednesday, I went to work

My knee continued extremely grumpy, despite liberal applications of voltaren, the wearing of my knee brace and even taking ibuprofen. My hip decided to go out in solidarity.

I made an appointment to see a local physiotherapist, but not for a couple of weeks.

On Thursday I accompanied Lindsey to pick something up in the Eastern Suburbs and then we went to the Chadstone Shopping Centre. It is a very long time since I was in the Chadstone Shopping Centre. It was big then. It is ENORMOUS now.

We ignored most of the shops and visited Mini Maru, Daiso, a magnificent Asian supermarket, and had souvlakis in the food hall for lunch.

I was hobbling by the time we got back to the car 😢

I went to work on Friday

I took things fairly easily yesterday. I had to go to the supermarket because I was out of wet cat food and I did not wish to face Feline Fury when there was no tuna mornay for Sunday breakfast. There is never tuna mornay for Sunday breakfast for me, but Brandy and Whiskey seem to expect it. 

Well behaved neighbours on my
stroll to the supermarket

I went to the community vegetable garden for some supplies for (my) dinner, and came back with carrots, two tomatoes, silverbeet, spring onions and thyme

And I made this for dinner:

I had some feta, filo, snow peas and mint in the fridge so used them as well as the garden produce to make this not-spanakopita. I was a bit heavy handed with the mint but otherwise it was delicious. Carrot sticks on the side.

Afternoon view from my dining table

I am heading to the Alphington market in an hour or so. Will be interesting to see how my knee behaves. It's quite happy at the moment - but then again, it hasn't been required to do anything so far this morning

Weekend

We had the predicted cool change on Friday evening. It wasn't a big, dramatic one with thunder, rain and the temperature dropping 20d in 30 minutes. It was nice and gradual, with a bit of wind, a slow drop in the temperature, and no real thunder until nearly 5am on Saturday morning. This did wake me and the cats but I was due to get up at 5:30 anyway so it wasn't much of a disturbance.

Coming into work on a Saturday morning tram was blissful. It took 15 or 20 minutes less than usual. The tram wasn't full. It was all very calm. Although I certainly noticed the drop in temperature as I was walking to the tram stop. There was a tiny hint of rain in the air. And you could smell the smoke from the central Victorian fires.

It was very quiet at work. It often is during January. The phone hardly rang. Pathology was quiet. The doctor finished up 45 minutes early for lack of patient interest. Pathology ran out of victims 30 minutes before closing time. All was calm and peaceful. 

We should have more Saturdays like that!

It was a touch disconcerting on my way home when the tram suddenly turned right towards the tram depot. There is only one tram route that goes from Bundoora to Docklands and I didn't pay any attention to the route number when the tram turned up. I just got on and sat down. Had I paid attention I would have seen that it was an 86A, which means there is a diversion of some sort. The depot is almost the only place the tram can divert, until it reaches the city. I quite enjoyed my diverted journey but it did feel a little as though the tram had just gone rogue. (I checked Yarra Tram's social media later and found that we had been avoiding some sort of accident on Smith Street.)

Yesterday was a glorious day. Warm but not too hot, fluffy clouds, blue sky, light breeze. A perfect summer's day. I didn't go to the Alphington market because I didn't really need much. I don't have enough vegetables to last until next Sunday but I have enough to be going on with. I cleaned the flat instead.

I am aware that I should be careful what I wish for. Very careful! You may remember me complaining, whinging and whining about the carpet in Tani; dull purple colour, impossible to get the cat hair and dust out. Had I stayed, I would have replaced it with hard flooring. I have hard flooring in my flat. It is easy to sweep. It is not easy to get the cat fur up; it blows around all over the place and gets everywhere. The new rug captures it well. There is much less cat fur blowing around. And - bonus - it is really easy to sweep the cat fur up with my soft broom. Given the amount I swept up yesterday, less than a week since the rug arrived, I am astonished that Brandy has any fur left!!!

I might buy a hard brush and see how that works.

My bedroom, Sunday lunchtime.
I am considering buying another
blue and yellow rug for in here

New rug, doubling as a
snooker table for the cats

Yesterday afternoon continued glorious. I was watching the water sparkle in the harbour when it crossed my mind that I could go outside and watch it from the water's edge. I don't need an actual reason to go out and potter around. I can just, you know - Go Outside.

So,  I did.

Victoria Harbour, sparkling
in the sunshine

Looking from the ferry dock
to my place (circled)

Looking towards the library
and the new tower blocks
(Still being built)

My nearest tram stop
And a rather large stadium

The city council has started preparing to replace the wooden pylons on the promenade and has blocked off the boardwalk.  You can still walk along the paved area to the library and the new tower blocks

Irony alert: There are exactly NO trees between the fence and the water's edge. It reminds me of the exact same sign they put up on the fencing when they were chopping down the trees on the reserve in Eilish Court as they were preparing it to become a small housing estate. 

Monday morning view from my bedroom:

And now the morning is getting on and I have things to do. Amongst them, I must actually go to the library rather than looking in its direction. I have books to return.

The Week (So Far)

This has been a funny week from a routine point of view. I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday and will work tomorrow. Tuesday and tomorrow were/are cover for people who were/are unable to come in. It isn't a problem, but it does throw my routines out. Japanese classes, for example, have to be fitted in. You can only carry so many over each month, otherwise you lose them.

So I did my regular Tuesday Japanese class and then headed in to work. Usually I leave sometime between 7 and 7:15 but on this occasion it was just after 9. I don't know where all the people were going on the ferry, but as I wandered past the queue to board looked like this:

Although, having said that - I do know where they were going. They were going to Portarlington or perhaps to Geelong. But what were they all going to do when they got there?

I left such questions by the harbour and took a tram to work where I had a pleasant day.

Wednesday was forecast to be very hot. I had arranged that Lindsey would bring me home in her air conditioned car. Yes, the trams are air conditioned and yes, the walk from the tram stop to my place is not very far but I did not want to walk it in 40d+ temperatures. It wasn't too hot when I went to work, after a supplementary Japanese class. Quite pleasant, in fact. The temperature rose as the day progressed. Various patients changed their appointments to telephone consultations so they wouldn't have to come out in the heat. Probably wise. Anyone who ventured into the clinic more or less froze. We turned the temperature on the air conditioning up but even so the doctors were heading to the kitchen or toilet to run their icy fingers under hot water and were wearing jackets or cardigans. It was cold in my office. The reception staff were shivering. And we could do very little about it. It was almost a pleasure to walk out into the 40d carpark at home time. Nice to feel hot rather than frozen!

A (brief!) cool change came through during the evening. Lindsey and I met for brunch on Thursday in a new-to-us cafe on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy called Arcadia where we had a really rather lovely Big Breakfast. Often when you order a Big Breakfast it is far too big and quite a bit gets wasted. This one was a perfect size and very tasty. The iced chocolates were rather nice too. Chocolatey but not too sweet

Then I came home and Lindsey went to Portland on the south west coast of Victoria.

This was the fire rating map for Victoria today:

Even if you aren't familiar with the fire danger ratings I'm sure you will agree that this is not a map that evokes feelings of comfort and joy. The weather forecast for today was awful: mid to high 40s, strong, gusty winds, possible dry thunderstorms. The fire danger, as you see, is extreme (orange) or catastrophic (red). There are warnings for severe weather and for extreme heat.  I haven't ventured outside today. I didn't need to go to work and, although I could gone out, I felt that it would be wiser to stay inside, unless I went out early. But I had a Japanese class 8-9 and then sorted out some rubbish and some donations to the clothes bin and the free to a good home shelf. By the time I had done all that the temperature was climbing and  I thought it much more sensible to take today as a down day. I have had the windows shut, the blinds down and the air conditioning on at 20 on a low fan. According to my weather app it's 43d outside but it is 28 in my bedroom and I think about 25 in the living room, which is where the air con is. It has got quite windy as the afternoon has progressed but I've got a draught excluder against the front door so I can't hear or feel the wind. It's not too bad inside my flat, though I think it's probably quite horrible outside.

There are large fires burning in parts of the state. I am very glad to be in the "concrete forest" that is Docklands and not in leafy Mount Helen. Not that the uncontrolled fires are near Ballarat but they very well could be. Moving out of a designated bushfire zone wasn't a major factor in my decision to move to Docklands but it was a contributing consideration. It takes quite a lot of the anxiety out of horrible fire days. 

I think that I am not the only person who decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed at home today. It is very quiet on Harbour Esplanade for a Friday, even during the school holidays.

As part of my "stay at home and avoid the heat and the wind" strategy I decided to clear out the fridge. I found some buttermilk, nearing its best before date. Plus I had defrosted some salmon a couple of days ago which I hadn't used and I had some grated cheese that I thought I ought to use before it became mouldy. I also had a tube of tomato and vegetable paste that was easily in date but which I had opened a few weeks ago. Plus, I had some prawns in the freezer, some flour and bicarb in the larder, and some garlic and herb powder in the flavour cupboard. So I made some soda bread dough which I used as a base for a lunchtime seafood pizza (I cooked it in the air fryer so the flat didn't get as hot as the oven would have made it.

It was satisfyingly tasty

Now I just need to remember that I do not have my usual Japanese class tomorrow morning and I DO have to go to work