Remembering Agnes

Agnes emigrated to Australia from Scotland in the 1970s. She was single but she had been in a relationship with someone called Bob. She knocked several years off her age and obtained work as a chambermaid at the Windsor Hotel, yes a posh Melbourne hotel and it still is. 

Mid 1970s she joined the tramways as a conductor at South Melbourne tram depot where she and Ray met and they became life long friends.

She spoke with what I now know as a posh Scottish accent, and it was magical to hear her speak. 

She lived in a rented flat in a block called Cremorne Court on the extremely busy Punt Road, Richmond.

She and Ray eventually became assistant conductors, boarding busy trams to assist with collecting fares, but they managed to sneak time off for coffee and shopping, never being discovered missing by their supervisors Misters Jekyll and Hyde, as they called them. In the afternoon they would be stationed in Russell Street to sell tickets to the queues waiting to board tramway buses towards Doncaster and Templestowe.  They carried a machine that dispensed tickets with the wind of a handle. This meant the buses could quickly load as the driver did not have to take fares, and the bus would be smartly away. Rinse and repeat for the a couple of hours.

She retired at government pension age, then perhaps 63 for women and at the urging of the union, received compensation for her chest and breathing issues caused by inhaling diesel fumes from the the buses, never mind that she smoked forty cigarettes a day. Along with the then retirement gratuity scheme, she had enough money to buy a modest flat in Murrumbeena. 

We helped Agnes move, and she was a hoarder and a voracious reader. There were even books stacked in her toilet. We got rid of so much of her hoardings, but I can't remember how. 

She was very happy in her Murrumbeena flat, and unless someone invited her out, she was content at home with her cigarettes and books. She did stop hoarding once she moved. She had less opportunity to do so where she now lived as there weren't all the Richmond shops nearby. 

At our home in Prosper Parade, Glen Iris, we were hosting a family barbeque, with us all sitting out on the timber decking under the shade of the massive jacaranda tree, growing in our neighbour's back yard.

We had to come together to celebrate my birthday. Simultaneously, the fat in the barbeque caught fire with flames a metre high and the telephone rang. Ray answered the phone while I and my step father dealt with the fire. 

The phone call was from a neighbour of Agnes, who remarked that he hadn't seen her around for a couple of days and she wasn't answering her phone. Ray called the police, who forced an entry and Agnes was found dead in a lounge chair with a book on her knee. 

Ray had met Agnes' sister, who lived on Bribie Island off the Queensland coast.  The sister immediately cranked up when informed and said, Agnes has a will and her money and property are left to me. I know Agnes had a sister still in Scotland, so I am not sure why she wasn't due something. But isn't that just so sad that it was the first thing the sister said, and she was very aggressive towards Ray, as if he was going to steal from Agnes.

I think that would have been about 1991.

Along with her friend, Pat O'Haire, who lived in a lovely flat overlooking Hedgeley Dene Gardens in Malvern, Ray and I scattered Agnes' ashes in the rose garden at Springvale Crematorium. Pat was a very funny woman and there was much hilarity as Agnes' ashes were thrown into the wind, rather than downwind.

So here's to Agnes, and wouldn't you like someone to compose almost an OB about 35 years after you died. I found all these when sorting through Ray's stuff after he died. 

With George Harvey, a Mormon and not gay as the church would have disapproved, but he was as camp as a tent.  

Monday Mural

Sami hosts Monday Mural and I am joining in with her. 

Nothing too wonderful this week but I like the images.

Sunday Selections

Along with River and others, here is my Sunday Selections.

Those who drive on the left are a clear minority by area, but if you calculate by populations, with quite a number of Asian countries including Japan, and then Oceania, southern Africa, and India, the difference closes markedly.  

Jass frequently changes her sleeping places and at the moment she has taken a liking to my bed. She is in the mood of not seeing anything.

Why did I take this photo, and then crop out the man and enlarge him for a closer look. Odd, and I don't know where I was. 

The Bryant and May match factory in Richmond. While I can see the clock tower from my balcony, it isn't visible in the photo. I believe it is now apartments.

I was in Seddon and these are typical Victoria workers cottages, and we lived in similar in Balaclava. They have become desirable homes and most will only have the Victorian facade and maybe the entrance hall. The rest will be very modern, extended and opened up at the rear.

There was quite a mix of housing in the street, old and new.

The Fig and Walnut Cafe where I had a bite and coffee. It was nice enough.

Seddon railway station and surrounds.

I don't know where I was when I took this photo.

I think this is an Aboriginal Art Tram,passing by in front of my building.

While we knew it as the Boer War Memorial, it has been renamed to perhaps the South African War Memorial. During construction of the Metro Tunnel, it was dismantled with each piece being numbered, cleaned over the period of a few years and re-erected, and it now looks brill.

Looks like I was somewhere a bit posh. I can always check, matching the photo date with Google Maps history, but it's a faff. 

The dollars and the pence

No one wants their house to burn, and I do feel sorry for the family, but...,

the fire was started in the two storey house by an electric go-cart. Now I am making assumptions but if you can afford a two storey house in Eltham, to breed five children and afford an electric go-kart, you can probably afford home insurance in case of fire, yet they did not have such cover. Naturally a gofundme has been set up.

At my great niece's birthday weekend before last, there were quite a few families who came along and bought their lunches and for their children. From my observations, it would have cost a couple with three children north of $150, drinks included, say a jug of Coke. My two gin and tonics cost $26, and my meal $32. It is a nice venue and the service was good, but it wasn't cheap. 

With a friend whose birthday it was, we had coffee and cake and the total cost was nigh on $40, just in a cafe. 

I'm not crying poor but as people moan on about the cost of living, there doesn't seem much of a sign of it affecting their spending. 

While I'm on about money, just over 60 years ago Australia switched from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. This clip to educate us about dollars and cents was released by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Friday Funny

I don't like videos that insert text to insist that you watch to the very end, but in this case you must. It was the final few seconds that really cracked me up.

The personal

I had new venetian blinds installed in the lounge room last Friday. The old ones had a couple of bent slats at the door, one when Mother went out to smoke on the balcony and closed the door on the blinds, and on the other side of the blinds, where I stood up from the lounge chair and fainted and fell against the blinds. I had them cleaned about 18 months ago, and the man said they would not stand up to another sonic clean. They are 28 years old, so they've done ok. An internal part on one important blind broke, which pushed me to get them replaced.

Sadly for the money spent, no one will notice the new blinds, six of them, but I see them and I did it for myself, and for Ray, who would also be pleased. 

I had a nice afternoon tea with my friend Bunyip to celebrate her birthday, the afternoon after the blinds were fitted in the morning.

Phyliss and Kosov were out both days at the weekend, socialising with female friends. Sunday I wanted to visit the shops at Port Melbourne, so I took the car, and stopped off at the big green shed hammer shop for a charity barbeque sausage in a slice of bread with fried onions. I did't even go inside the shed. Then for coffee at the Port Melbourne shops and I bought a couple of things.

Car parking at the South Melbourne Central Aldi car park has become difficult on Thursdays, often being full by 10am. It never used to be but it is now. I needed a plan B to reduce my parking stress. Let me try Tuesday. South Melbourne Market is not open either day, so I thought Tuesday would be quieter. It wasn't. Phyllis and Kosov came, well Phyllis drove and we were just lucky and found a space quickly. Soon after the red car park full sign illuminated, instead of showing in green the number of spaces available. I need a plan C. 

The barista where I have been buying coffee for quite some time, the one who winked at me a while ago, has left after seven years, wanting to get out of hospitality. I'll miss him and his attractive Italian accent.   

I blame Ballarat because about ten days after visiting, my car displayed a map of all four wheels with tyre pressures and one was low on air, 27 whatever. It should be 34. Phyllis and Kosov were with me and I showed them how to pump up a tyre at a service station, a servo as it is called here. Two weeks later it had lost air again and Phyllis pumped it up this time at the servo. Yesterday I took it for repair and I waited an hour for the repair in a nice air conditioned waiting room while it was 34/93 outside, with free coffee and cold drinks. A small piece of steel was pulled from the tyre and I guess the hole was then plugged. How much did this cost? No charge. When I need new tyres, that is where I will go. Nice work Bob Jane T-Marts in Port Melbourne.

How do my old lounge chairs look? Ok for a struggling person? They are a bit saggy in the seats, but still look reasonable. There are swing out footrests and the backs recline. Phyllis put them on FB Market Place, for free. I called a charity shop and they weren't interested, even though they welcome furniture. I put them on my FB for free. No one wants them. Phyllis and Kosov said they could carry them, and picked them up to check.

So they will go in the hard rubbish collection when the next happens. This Friday, the new lounge chairs will be delivered. There is space for the old ones to stay until the rubbish collection. I've spent so much on my home over the last year or so, and much of it not really visible, but the new chair assembly will be noticeable, I hope in a good way. 

I haven't checked this post, so it is just raw.

Monday Mural

Sami and others participate in Monday Mural. This is a mural I snapped while Marcellous drove me around inner western Sydney last October under brilliant blue skies. Only later when looking at maps did I work our where we had been.