What I've Been Doing This Week

Monday was Lindsey's birthday. I went to The Fox for a birthday dinner. After dinner, instead of walking to the tram stop, I walked in the opposite direction to the Victoria Park railway station and came home by train. I hadn't done very much during the day and thought a bit of a walk would be a Good Thing.

On Tuesday I met Wendy for lunch. There was a bit of confusion about where we were meeting. At the Food Hall on Collins Street near my place. Alas - Wendy thought I meant that food hall over there. I meant this food hall over here. Fortunately, we worked it out and eventually managed to have lunch.

We went into town, intending to visit Daiso and Kmart. Alas - the Daiso next to Kmart was closed for stocktaking. So we went to Kmart anyway. I had something to pick up. Then Wendy went home to her place and I came home to mine. I went to the supermarket for a few supplies and then took the opportunity of a lovely afternoon to sit by the harbour for a few minutes to watch the water and the boats.

On Wednesday I went into work for the morning to cover someone who was sick. While I was there I bought a small tool kit in Kmart, which has a pair of pliers, some Allen keys, some screw driver bits to attach to the screwdriver handle - and some other things that I am not sure what to do with. In the evening I went to my Japanese class.

On Thursday I took the tram out to Ikea to collect a small step ladder, stopping on the way at Bunnings for some screws. I am struggling to shorten the screws which came with the cupboard door handles, which themselves have holes which are almost infinitesimally too small for the existing holes in the doors. This "small" project is starting to become rather troublesome!

I met Lindsey, Ian, Freyja and Simon in Henry and the Fox in the evening. I have to say that my burger wasn't as good as my steak frittes had been the week before. The chips were good but the burger was a bit - uninteresting. It was just a patty with cheese on a bun with a couple of bits of pickle and some salsa. Australian burgers nearly always come with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion included. Without them, the burger was a bit bland and dry. I'll order salad on the side if I go again.

Friday saw me borrowing Lindsey's car from the flat and then driving to Ballarat. It was a glorious day for an adventure. I met Pat at Eclectic Tastes for brunch. I had not heard of this place before and it was rather nice. It's by the old cemetery, near the lake and the food was lovely. Pat had an enormous waffle with ice cream and toffee banana. I had corn and zucchini fritters which were delicious.

Then Pat went off for her afternoon activities. I visited the Wendouree Bunnings in search of more pliers and more screws, drove around the lake which we hadn't visited last weekend, and then went to Mount Clear to visit Amanda, my Hairdresser. Then I took the car back to the flat and came home.

So I have been busy this week. I am quite looking forward to a quiet weekend.

In the meantime, this is what my housemates have been doing:

Very busy, as you see!

Docklands, at sunset on Thursday:

Tuesday Morning Musings

I went into work on Friday, after my online Japanese class and a quick tidy of the flat. I needed to do the June rosters. Also, I was heading to Ballarat with Lindsey after she finished work.

It's a while since I've been in Ballarat, apart from a quick visit to see my hairdresser, which doesn't really count since all I did was take the train up, have my hair cut and take the train home again.   Lindsey said she was going, so I hitched a ride.

We stayed at Hill House overnight and on Saturday morning we: did another Japanese class; went to the Farmers' Market; had brunch at Tim's Toasties; visited the former Mushroom Farm in it's new location and under it's new name, the Ballarat Farmgate Shop; went to Bunnings; went back to Hill House to pack the car; came home.

The tomato man at the market, Tim at Tim's Toasties and Tania at the Farmgate shop remembered us. We remembered them too.

So, Ballarat Farmers' Market, we meet again:

Likewise, Tim's Toasties:

It was a good day. I enjoyed my visit. 

I'm going back on Friday, but that will be another smash and grab haircut raid.

We came back via the surgery, where it proved unexpectedly difficult to park. Early last week someone had randomly stolen the surgery's wheelchair. An odd thing to steal, in my view, although they are quite expensive to buy.  Lindsey still had Stella's wheelchair in her shed so we took it down with us and dropped it off at the surgery. It's tucked away in my office for now.

It was quite difficult to park around my place as well. There was a football match at the stadium but that shouldn't account for all the one and two hour spaces being full. Lindsey dropped me off in a 10 minute spot and I took as much as I could carry up to my place. Lindsey then found a space and followed me up with the rest of my stuff. She had a cup of tea and then, foolishly but unwittingly, left to go home just as the football finished 😂

I went out to the Collingwood Bunnings on Sunday on the tram. The Port Melbourne one is closer but not as easy to get to, especially on a Sunday when the buses don't run as often. I want to replace my cupboard door handles, which are rusty and a bit tatty. While I was there, I bought a sausage from the sausage sizzle. I tell you what, you get a better class of sausage at the Collingwood sausage sizzle than you do in Wendouree or Delacombe. Big and juicy and tasty.  I need to get some pliers to adjust the size of the screws before I can fit the handles. I did not know that this was a thing, but apparently it is! I came back via the Spencer Outlet Centre so I could get some stuff to take to Japan. Lindsey was there, having gone for a hair cut. We had a quick lunch in the food hall while we were there.

One of the things that has interested me is that, when I moved into my flat, I brought with me stuff I already had, or I bought new, smaller things, all of which would replicate the house in Eilish Court, but on a small scale.  This has not gone entirely well. The Docklands flat has its own energy, vibe, ambience. It isn't a smaller version of Eilish Court. It doesn't want to be. So, for example, my parents' blue lamp, which fitted quite well in Eilish Court, doesn't fit here. It is too tall to sit on a table, too small to sit on the floor as a standard lamp and doesn't fit the style. I have bought a wooden standard lamp and a plant to go where the blue lamp was. It is moving to Freyja's place.

I brought Tony's electric piano with me, with the intention of learning to play it as a retirement activity. I even made sure that there would be room for it in the bedroom. I have been here 9 months. It has not once been plugged in. I didn't use it much in Eilish Court either. I really want to put a comfy chair in its place so I can sit and read, or watch the harbour while drinking tea and maybe eating biscuits. The piano is going to Wendy's place, as soon as we can work out a way of getting it there.

There were things I bought as I arrived that have quietly moved out again and been replaced with new things that seem to fit better.

My flat is taking on a personality all of its own although some of the things that I brought or bought are still here and have settled in comfortably, such as my oak dining table and the free standing kitchen island that I bought just before I arrived.  

I think we are settling in well together.

Clouds at Sunset

Wednesday (and a look at Thursday)

Wendy came around on Wednesday so we could sort out who is going to look after Brandy and Whiskey during my forthcoming return to Japan.

We were going to go to the food hall in the Collins Square tower for lunch, but as we walked out of Victoria Point I noticed that Rana's Bakery was open.

I have been watching that shop, next to Dokutoku, for some time. It had advertising saying that a bakery was coming for months. Nothing happened. Then I noticed that it was being fitted out, then that it looked nearly ready. Turns out it opened for a soft launch on Monday. Once they get themselves sorted out it will have a proper opening and they will offer more menu choices.

It serves, at the moment, Middle Eastern calzone style sandwiches, pizzas pastries. I very much enjoyed my "meat pie" flavoured toasted "calzone".

I will definitely go there again.

Obviously, we didn't make it to the food hall. Next time!

Lindsey and I had been discussing recently that since I moved to Docklands Brandy hasn't been as vomitty as he was in Mount Helen and Whiskey hasn't been as constipated. This meant, of course, that Whiskey promptly became VERY constipated. I had to take him to the vet. But which vet? There isn't a vet clinic in Docklands. People seem to go to Lort Smith in North Melbourne,  to a vet in Port Melbourne, or they use the Your Home Vet facility. Which I might have done except they didn't have an appointment available until Monday. That seemed a little long to wait. So I booked him in to Lort Smith for Thursday. But they rang and said it should probably be an emergency consultation on Wednesday afternoon.

I put him in the cat carrier, which I sat on a dining chair. I turned around to pick up my keys - there was a BANG. And the cat carrier was now upside down on the floor. This was a bit disconcerting. He seemed to be ok.

I summoned an Uber and off we went to the animal hospital. A couple of hours and over $300 later he was restored to health, none the worse for his fall from the dining chair. We came home in another Uber.

I did not go to my Japanese class on Wednesday evening.

Thursday cats, apparently in sound health:

This was the chair the cat carrier fell from.
He doesn't seem to hold a grudge against it :D

Lindsey contacted me on Thursday. She was doing a flu vaccine clinic. Did I fancy meeting in a pub somewhere  early in the evening for dinner?  I thought that could probably be arranged and suggested we try Henry and the Fox, which I had never been to but whose name I had noticed on a map at some stage.  Following last Thursday's visit to The Builder's Arms which was very busy, I took the precaution of booking a table.

Henry and the Fox is less than a 15 minute stroll from my place and it's rather nice. Also, rather busy

Drinks menu

Remarkably tasty steak and frites

Walking back home across the Bourke Street footbridge

Somewhere else to add to my Places to Eat list. Not everywhere that I go makes it onto that list. There are some places that I simply do not feel the need to go to ever again. And other places which were ok, but there are other, better places to go so they don't make the cut.  Henry and his fox are definitely on the list. I would put The Builder's Arms on it but Lindsey isn't as keen. It can go on the substitute list for now.

Busy - In Bursts

After my adventures on the #19 tram last Thursday, I hopped on an #86 tram and met Lindsey in The Builder's Arms in Gertrude Street Fitzroy for an early dinner.

It's a long time since I was last in The Builder's Arms. At one stage it had changed its menu to Mexican or Spanish or sone sort of national cuisine and we just stopped going. (I've just checked back in the blog, and it seems it was Chinese cuisine.) I knew it had reverted to a more international/Australian menu but we had never checked it out. 

Last December Jim's daughter Jeanette and her husband Matt had given me a Good Food gift card for my birthday. I found it in my wallet when I was swapping everything into the new one I bought at Ambience (my Myki card nearly got thrown away but I realised it was missing in time!)

I checked the website to see where I could use the gift card and found that the Builder's Arms was one of the options. So we went there. It was extremely busy, to say that we got there at 6pm on a Thursday. We were lucky to get a table. The menu is quite small, mostly standard pub food. But it is a very high quality. My cheese burger was one of the best I've had and the chips were lovely. Lindsey thought it was a bit on the expensive side, but it was more or less in line with what we've been paying in other inner city suburbs' pubs. I  would go there again.

I did pretty much nothing on Friday. I have no idea where the day went. I did do some online shopping but I don't think I left the flat. I certainly didn't leave the building.

I did leave the building on Saturday. I went into the city, to Big W to collect a new soda stream. My previous one was still working but it was beginning to look a bit sorry for itself. I think it was probably around 8 or 9 years old. Stella and Tony gave it to Jim and me not all that long after we moved (back) to Melbourne and I've been here nearly 10 years. It was bent along the bottom and a bit tatty. Anyway, I decided to get a new one while I still have a work income coming in. After I collected it and visited Dan Murphy, I strolled back down Swanston Street and picked up some chocolates and souvenirs to take to Japan and came home on the Flinders Street tram.

It rained on Sunday. Proper rain. The first proper rain we've had in ages. It seemed churlish to be annoyed by proper rain but it did make shopping at the Alphington market a bit of a challenge. My tracksuit bottoms got very wet. I met Lindsey on the train and Simon at the market. Freyja was working so was unavailable. After buying vegetables, cheese, condiments, Lindsey and I both came back to my place. The rain settled down and then stopped so we walked around the harbour to have a closer look at the Steve Irwin Ship4Good. 

This boat is substantially larger than other boats around it, even the larger cruisers. The Enterprize was away for the weekend, so I couldn't take a comparison photo. But it completely dwarfs the Tramboat, which was around on Sunday lunchtime.

We had lunch in the Urban Alley Brewery, which was pleasant enough. It is a convenient pub if you happen to be over in The District shopping centre and fancy a pub lunch -  and much better food than the local Tap, which I do not feel the need to visit again, even if it is only a 6 minute walk from my place.

It had started to rain again while we were eating and a tram arrived at the tram stop as we approached so we hopped on. It's only three stops from there to my place - but it was raining and I had only just dried out from the morning's adventures. Anyway,  public transport is still free right across the state. Might as well take advantage of it.  (And we were in the CBD Free Tram Zone so that trip is always free.)

Today I have prepped all the vegetables I bought yesterday and tidied up a bit. I am expecting a technician shortly to check if the existing fittings for the bedroom blinds will accommodate the new blinds. I need to go to the supermarket at some point. And there is a meeting of the Garden Club at 6pm. It's supposed to be in the garden but I have a feeling that we may deploy the rainy weather location (in the foyer). It is not raining right now but clouds are beginning to gather.

And so another week begins. I am trying to impose some order on the days so that I don't wake up in 10 years time and wonder what I've done with all that time. I fear, however, that indolence and procrastination may well win 😆

Tram Challenge #19. Flinders Street to North Coburg

It is convenient when the tram challenge runs across somewhere that I actually need to go.

Not that I needed to go to North Coburg, but I did want to go to Barkly Square in Brunswick. I had ordered something to be picked up from the Kmart there. the easiest way to get there by public transport from my place is a tram into the city, then a route 19 along Sydney Road. I decided to do the entire route so I could add it to my tally.

I spent a lot of my young adulthood in and around Carlton, Parkville, Brunswick, Fitzroy, so the route is familiar to me.  I worked for a time in the Coburg library and occasionally in the Brunswick library. Freyja and Simon have lived around some of the bits of Brunswick that the tram passes by. It was fun. It was also a nice day for a random tram ride. I don't recall having taken the tram right to the end of the line before.

I am surprised on some of the routes by how little there is at the end of the line. What made anyone think to carry the tram line out to North Coburg? There is very little there. I would have thought a more natural terminating point would have been Bell Street. Which only goes to show how fortunate it is that I am not a town planner in charge of designing tram routes!

From the junction of Elizabeth
and Finders Streets

to Bakers Road, North Coburg

Back on the tram, heading back into the city.
It filled up as we reached Coburg and Brunswick

There wasn't much else at the terminus

I haven't been to Barkly Square for a very, very long time. I used to go there when I lived in Garton Street  and then in Pigdon Street in North Carlton. It has grown substantially since then. It is, in fact, a proper shopping complex with a large Kmart and a Coles and a Woolworths right next to each other. 

I am hoping to get a number of the tram routes covered this year. Public transport in Victoria will remain free until the end of May and then will be half price until the end of the year, which will cap my daily travel at $3. Mind you, it's only $6 at full (seniors') price. But free and a daily cap of $3 is even better

Things I've Seen and Done

Victoria Harbour continues to surprise.  I was working on something at my dining table when I looked up and saw this:

I was definitely surprised. I was surprised that it fit under the Bolte Bridge. I was surprised that the harbour was deep enough for it. I was surprised to see it at all. It absolutely dwarfs the Enterprize. It moved very, very slowly and eventually berthed next to the Enterprize.

I got my binoculars for a closer look and discovered that it is or was the Steve Irwin 77. And despite me wondering if it had somehow turned the wrong way and come into Victoria Harbour by accident, I found that it was here by design. Ship 4 Good

I was quite busy last week.

I went to the Fox for dinner on Monday evening. A small number last week; just Lindsey, Freyja, Simon and me.  

A leisurely stroll along the harbour on my way home

I went into town on Tuesday and played with a few shops and came home on the city circle tram, for no good reason other than that I could.  

This is a very dangerous shop!

Assaulted by a new wallet

I sat by the harbour in the sunshine for a while on Wednesday afternoon and went to my Japanese class in the evening. I did my online classes on Tuesday and Saturday mornings.  I do 5 or 10 minutes using the Drops app every morning:

Lindsey came round on Thursday afternoon for pre-dinner drinks.  

Sun setting behind the Melbourne Container Port

On Friday someone came to give me a quote for new blinds in the bedroom. All three blinds were quite frayed along their edges and one of the chain cords had broken. I might have replaced the lounge room ones as well but they're still in quite good condition and since the replacement bedroom blinds are almost identical to the existing ones there didn't seem to be much point at this stage. I'll do the lounge room ones when the need arises. The quote was quite good and I have paid a deposit for the new blinds.

I met Lindsey in town on Saturday for lunch and a wander around the shops. It was ANZAC Day so the shops were closed until 13:00. It was quite busy in my bit of Docklands in the morning. People were wandering around and enjoying the sunshine, other people were fishing. There were boats on the water. I got into the city pretty much on 13:00 - and it was packed. Absolutely packed. Too packed. After lunch and a bit of a wander around, we came back to my place for a cup of tea and an escape from The Madding Crowd.

Yesterday I met Lindsey at the Alphington market. Freyja and Simon had gone to Horsham on the (free) train so weren't available. Lindsey had come in her car; I went back to East Melbourne with her and then borrowed the car for the rest of the day. for I was on my way to Macedon for lunch with Chris, John, Irene and Gillie.

Macedon was packed. People had gone by (free) train or by car to admire the autumn leaves along the Avenue of Honour. There were parked cars everywhere. I know that Macedon and Mount Macedon are both very beautiful when the autumn leaves make their appearance. but so are many other places. I do not know what the special attraction is that Macedon holds.

Fortunately, there was parking outside Chris and John's place and we had a very convivial afternoon with delicious food and plenty of conversation.

Today I have done very little. I have done some ironing and I have prepped all the veg that I bought yesterday I have taken the food scraps down to the dehydrator. I have done almost none of the other things that were on my list of things to do. I have brushed Brandy, but only because he practically insisted.

There won't be very much to put on my "What I Did Today" list at this rate.

Having been surprised by the arrival of the big dredger, I was also surprised when it immediately disappeared again

I was about to take the rubbish down shortly after it arrived, when I noticed a little tug boat turning the dredger around. I watched for a bit but had to get on with things so took the rubbish down. When I came back, the dredger was gone. I wondered, briefly, where it had gone and then more or less forgot about it. I figured it would turn up again eventually.

The Enterprize came to play instead

I noticed, on Thursday afternoon, that it was beginning to get very dark, very early. I looked around to see why and noticed that both cats were sitting up and looking intently out the window. I looked too. And decided to shut the windows. They don't open very far but there was rain sheeting in, almost horizontally. Lindsey had not long got back to her flat after our tram adventure to Port Melbourne when the rain hit. The storm had reached East Melbourne. It was quite an intense  and short lived storm. It was also very localised, mostly around the city centre. Reservoir, which is only about 10km away, didn't get any of it.

The rain did not clean my windows (although it did wash some of the dust off).

After the storm

The weather yesterday was lovely. So I went for a walk, along the harbour and round to The District. I needed to go to the East West Supermarket and also visited Woollies while I was there. 

Glow in the dark marker buoys
outlining where the Central
Pier used to be

Pontoon boat with more marker buoys ready to
go out

Friendly neighbour

Marina

And I have found the dredger. It's over by the new tower blocks which are being built at the end of Collins/Bourke Streets

That makes sense. It did seem odd that they would go to all the trouble of bringing it into the harbour only for it to turn around and go straight out again.

I met Lindsey in The Quarterhouse for an early dinner.  She had come back from Ballarat on the train and suggested meeting for dinner. In the event she came back on an earlier train and went back to the flat but came back into town anyway. The pub was busier than I had expected it to be. It's usually fairly quiet on Sunday evenings. I had forgotten that the football season is back underway and there were matches in the stadium. Plus, it broadcasts sports events in the main bar.

We sat in a quieter, out of the way corner where it was much calmer

I was a bit surprised over the weekend to find Whiskey sitting on the cat tower. Brandy often sits on it. Whiskey - almost never.

It's a glorious morning. The sun is shining. There is no wind. The harbour is as calm as a millpond. I should consider the possibility of getting dressed and going out somewhere!

Tram Challenge #109. Collins Street to Port Melbourne

The 109 route runs from Port Melbourne to Box Hill, past the flat in East Melbourne and also past Victoria Gardens, where Ikea is located. Lindsey had suggested that we take it to Box Hill yesterday. I thought, given that the weather was rather nice, that it might be an idea to go the other way to Port Melbourne. So we did.

We picked it up at the tram stop outside Southern Cross Station, on the corner of Collins and Spencer Streets. I think it's about 3 or 4 km to Port Melbourne from there

Most of the route to Port Melbourne follows the old railway line. You can see remnants of it, especially where it becomes a light rail track rather than a more usual tram track. Some of the tram stops look like former stations. The final stop clearly is a former station. The ferry to Tasmania used to leave from Station Pier (it now leaves from Geelong) and cruise ships still stop there. I think naval ships might also use Station Pier - there was what looked very much like a naval vessel berthed alongside it. The container port is now on the other side of the river, in the Port of Melbourne.

You can see that the building was once a railway station

Waterside restaurants

Station Pier

Looking across to the container Port of Melbourne

Port Melbourne used to be a bit of a dive. It is not now! There are lots of green spaces and cute houses and expensive apartment blocks. I have only been there once in recent years, to visit Bunnings which is not by the ferry port. Many years ago I caught the ferry to Tasmania, which doesn't really count as visiting Port Melbourne. I will definitely go again. There is a large, sandy beach. There are restaurants and pubs and coffee shops. There are also shops, although we did not go and look at them. 

We randomly chose the Exchange Pub as somewhere to have lunch. And the food was lovely. The staff were friendly and cheerful - but also a bit pushed for time. There was a large lunch party in the main dining area and I think there were not really enough staff to cater for the rest of us. My food arrived well before Lindsey's, and the plate of seasonal greens we ordered didn't arrive until we were about to leave. They didn't charge us for them and apologised mightily. We brought them home and forgave the mismatch in the meal timings.  If I happen to be in Port Melbourne for lunch I would go there again

We need to do the Box Hill leg of the route now.