Icelandic architecture

What do you know about Iceland? I don't know much. It's cold but not as cold as Greenland. It has volcanoes. Over the years, I have learnt a little about Iceland from bloggers. 

Yorkshire blogger Tasker walked in Iceland in his younger years. https://taskerdunham.blogspot.com/2021/07/walking-in-iceland-1-to-reykjavik.html

Travel Penguin in Washington has visited twice, and would like to revisit. https://travelpenguin.blogspot.com/2025/07/foodie-friday-what-i-learned-in-iceland.html

Most recently the country was visited by Jackie and John from Toronto, and while Jackie's account of the trip and photos were marvellous, this photo really grabbed me. 

Hallgrimskirkja Church in Reykjavik is an absolutely stunning piece of modern architecture. You can see more of Jackie's inside and outside photos at https://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2025/06/iceland-day-3-reykjavik.html I urge you to take a look. 

Friday Funnies

Just a few memes that have amused me and I've grabbed as I've come across them. Sorry if I downloaded it from your blog...not sorry. You got it from somewhere. 

Lunch and a puzzle

By popular demand, I have now included the photos. Most of this was a copy and paste of my notes as I looked at each photo, and I didn't intend to include the photos, as my friend has the photos to refer to. But here they are now.

I had lunch with Wombat in town yesterday. It was a such a nice catch up with someone who I have a long history with, maybe thirty years. 

She had three photos with her that she couldn't remember when and where. Here is a paste of what I could work out from the photos.

Photo 1.

First Domain Interchange opened 1986.

Interchange doesn't look new. W class trams dominate but 1 Z class at interchange siding to make a return journey to West Coburg.

The tree leaves look very fresh and full, so I suggest the season is spring.

It's been raining and there is significant flooding on the inbound service road. I don't recall water pooling there.

BP House doesn't seem to have been converted to The Domain. The conversion was completed in 1995.

I suggest the photo was taken in 1993, or maybe 1994.

Photo 2.

The trees appear the same and the roadway and dome of the synagogue is wet. Photo taken on the same day. A Z class tram is visible in St Kilda Road.

I can't see anything useful in this photo.

Photo 3.

The dominant Australian Unity building was in Albert Road. I can remember seeing it from Kingsway, especially when we used to go to the long gone Palmerston Hotel. I'd be outside in the beer garden taking in some fresh air and looking up at the building.

I conclude in spring about 1994 you were in a high rise building in St Kilda Road between Park Street and Dorcas Street, with unobscured views to the east, south and south west, and there had been heavy rain. You were about 29 years old. Channel 7 studios were in Dorcas Street and it was perhaps the tallest building in the area at the time.  Lol, were you on tv? In the audience for a game show? 

But no. That doesn't add up. I can't remember the tall buildings now at that location, but it clearly was tall. 

Point Lonsdale 1

The first of two posts, I think, about my time away on The Bellarine.

I know they are not called catteries anymore, but I can't remember the correct name. I picked up the cats along the way to Sister's. The boarding place was very nice and post surgery where I can't lift weights for a time, they put the cages in my car. I still had to take them out, but that was ok. They were happy to be home but demanded food, which I denied to them until their usual dinner time.  

The first thing on the morning after I arrived, after showering I discovered I didn't have any clean socks and jocks. I had brought absolutely everything with me, except for those. I took a trip to the Geelong suburb of Leopold, Geelong being the second largest city in Victoria, as Leopold had a K Mart, or was it Big W. No matter. I just wanted a few pair of both. Once there while brunching, I noticed a Bonds store, so in I went and bought a packet of underwear, five pair, and three pair of socks, but I it was suggested if a bought a second lot of socks, both pair would be discounted by 45%, so I did. I wear size 9 shoes, so 6-10 socks should fit but they were too tight around my ankles, leaving a serious depression in my skin. Later I gave the six pair to Kosov. I will guess that once again the Bond's staff did not point out to me that they are women's socks. 

Is there any place of interest around Leopold? Not really, but I headed for a place where I had seen signposts to for years and never visited, it being Point Henry. I'm afraid it wasn't terribly interesting. 

Looking towards Geelong, worth embiggening. 

Brisbane Ranges in the distance. 

I love this port control tower. It needs to be saved.

It is quite a long pier but locked off after the aluminium smelter Alcoa closed down operations in its nearby factory.

The pier is longer than this photo captures.

I can't say it is a pretty place.

But there were heaps of birdlife and croaking frogs. I posted some photos on FB and Bone Doctor commented that Jo's driving instructor had told her the area is a gay beat. Hmm, that explains the solitary men in cars, who I had noticed. Nowadays, car window tinting prevents you from seeing the child seats in the cars. 

Sister and Bone Doctor have replaced their very old solar panels with new ones, better located to catch the rays, and with a battery. 

I found this fascinating. On the top left are the solar panels, top right the public power grid, where power travels back and forth, bottom left the battery level, and bottom right, the home and what it is consuming. It was cold, so I had the heat pump running, which meant the consumption level in the home was higher than it otherwise would be. I kept checking the panel, and getting excited when the battery level rose. 

The battery level at a glance. 

I bought take away coffee at Point Lonsdale Village and watched the waters while well wrapped up.

The boy cat, who is the most friendly, and always ready for affection.

But at times he does bully his sister, who I will show properly in another post. This ended up being quite a decent spat. 

As I said, it was cold. I used the heat pump all day, and for a quick warm up in the morning, a small inbuilt gas heater. Just one button to press to turn it on. I switched off the Economy mode. I have no guilt about using more heating than they would if they were home. I saved them a lot on cat boarding fees.

But as I later heard, I did not water the plants sitting on top of the heater. I assumed they were fake and there wasn't an instruction to water them. What happened is that at least one, maybe more, became cooked by the heater. Who the **** has live plants on top of a heater in the middle of winter when a guest is staying?

Book clubs and sheet stains

From The Guardian, a story about book clubs breaking up. This isn't about whether people in book clubs don't read the chosen books. 

Karen Stillman, 47, a North Carolina native, has first-hand experience. “For over a year, four women would turn up to our book club without having touched the book, saying they hadn’t had a chance to read it. These women are all retired! How did they not have the time?”

Karen must be a working person, and she has no idea about how busy retired people can be. Where is all this spare time I am supposed to have? I have zilch, and I can't fit into a day everything I want to do. Oh for some boredom with nothing to do. I needed to get that off my chest.

On to other stuff, about Phyllis and Kosov staying with me at sister's. Sister, Bone Doctor and Jo parked here while they had a night in town, I think for Jo's 18th birthday. A slap up dinner, a visit to the theatre to see Beetle Juice. Jo had dressed up for the occasion and looked terrific, especially when she had her photo taken with Eddie Perfect. He looked so handsome in the photo. 

Now to the personal. It is a bit of a battle to get Kosov to empty the recycling bucket into the big blue bag to transfer it to the recycling bins in the basement. I've told them before that I don't want to get up in the morning and see the recycling bag sitting near the door, but it was again, so I told them again. I noticed next morning it was sitting in the toilet. 

As Bone Doctor et all were departing to the city for fun, I asked Bone Doctor if the blue bag was still in the toilet. She said no, but it gave her an opportunity to say that when P&K slept for two nights at her home, the sheets were a bit messy. 

Shit! And that was what she intimated about messy. 

I told Phyllis later that night, and pointed out that I was embarrassed and I was disappointed. He seemed puzzled.

The next morning I woke to find a long note on the desk. It was along the lines of Phyllis wanted sex but Kosov did not feel comfortable doing so in someone else's bed. The marks on the sheet were from eating chicken gravy, what I would call chicken curry, in bed. They do that here at home all the time, eat in bed. P&K were very apologetic about not leaving the bed clean, and so they should be, whatever the marks were, and asked me to pass on their apologies, which I did do the next morning with an explanation. P&K's personal hygiene is beyond reproach. Later, I received a return text from Bone Doctor to thank me for sorting it out, and no problems.

Whatever, my immediate family has never fallen out, and I will do everything to ensure it never does.

When Sister was here, I asked if it would be ok for Phyllis and Kosov to attend Jo's 18th family birthday party, and with a slight hesitation, Sister said yes. After the sms from Bone Doctor, she later messaged to ask if Phyllis and Kosov could make a curry for Jo's birthday party. Of course they said yes. 

P&K and myself are in a relationship of a kind. It is not sexual, it is not romantic, and I don't have words to describe it, but I like it. Who knows how long it will last. It will be as sad day for me when it ends, if it does in my lifetime.    

Monday Mural

I am joining with Sami and many others for Monday Mural. 

Erin Patterson has been convicted of the murder of three people and the attempted murder of another, all members of her extended family. Her method was to add death cap mushrooms to a meal of Beef Wellington. 

Bone Doctor grew up in the area where Patterson lived and her parents still live there. With her father being a GP and her mother a nurse, both retired, they knew some of the victims. It was a very sad business. Emotions towards Patterson can vary, but we have to remember that she is a convicted murderer of a number of people. 

This mural features a caricature of Patterson near Victoria Market in Melbourne, painted well before Patterson's conviction, and after being found guilty, the word GUILTY was added by the artist.

Sunday Selections

While Elephant's Child won't be joining us this week, I am sure River will be up for Sunday Selections

Ray struggled with matters of tech at times, don't we all, but if I didn't know about something, he battled away until he made things work, but with little patience. I heard some bad words at times. He had three sets of earbuds, one for Bluetooth to his tv, so as not to disturb me at night, another for his phone and tablet Bluetooth and I don't know what the other set was used for. He also had a charging pad for his watch, phone and one set of earbuds of the same brand. 

A while ago I visited a small exhibition of small photos in a small space. The photos were only 15x10 (6x4), so not really impressive at that size. I quite liked these.

More to my liking.

Stark beauty after a bushfire. 

Val's was in Melbourne's major thoroughfare, Swanston Street, the busiest tram street in the world. It was much loved.

This usually happens in Autumn. 

Good ole Fitzroy, and a popular hotel.

People patiently waiting for a sandwich at the Fitzroy institution, Nico's. 

Phyllis and Kesav discovered this Fitzroy business and it is certainly cheap. I took a look see, and if they have what you want, it will be a bargain. The business takes on stock as donations or cheap prices from manufacturers and retailers of stock not wanted and perhaps nearing its use by date. 

Speaking of Phyllis, he wasn't satisfied with the plain appearance of this bottle. 

Two or three trams in succession will move this crowd of  MacRob School girls. It can be a struggle for people leaving the trams. 

Readings is a treasured Melbourne book retailer, and the top greeting card amused me.

Speaking of treasured book shops, so too is the Hill of Content, and after over one hundred years of operation, it had to move, just a short distance up the hill towards State Parliament House. A novel way of moving the books was undertaken.