An enjoyable encounter

As the sending greeting cards dies off, businesses selling cards have reduced, so I normally buy mine now in Myer department store, where they have a decent selection. I went into Myer yesterday to buy a card for my friend's ninetieth birthday and there were only nice 90 year old lady cards. BAD is not a traditional old lady type. I bought a card with roses and a nicely patterned set of tea cups, with the the 90 on the card face. There was nothing else. She probably would have preferred a rude card.

Of course when buying a birthday card, you feel the need for a new winter shirt, as winter is about to end here. Tommy Hilfiger at  half price! 

I recognised the person I paid, an older woman.

She: Are you visiting the city for the weekend?

Me: No, I live in the city, well St Kilda Road.

She: Isn't the street tragic now?

Me: Err, in some ways, yes.

She; All those beautiful old mansions destroyed.

Me: Yes, including the beautiful Illoura.

She: I'm 85 and I began here as seamstress when Myer used to make some of its own clothes.

I was gobsmacked at her age revelation.

 

She: One of the other female staff here used to make deliveries by taxi after work, the taxi paid for by work, and she lived in Beatrice Street, off St Kilda Road and she make sure she was near her flat at the end of her deliveries and be dropped home. Are you near there? 

Me: No, closer to the city. So if you've worked here so long, you must remember Freddie Asmussen?

She: My mother worked here too. We both knew him. 

Me: He was quite a character.

She: Oh yes. In his older years he used to swan around the store with Dame Merlyn. 

I then left her to her job. 

Freddie was an outrageous queen who worked his way up the chain at Myer by his talents and cultivation of his betters. He became Dame Merlyn Myer's favourite and would decorate her mansion for dinners and parties. The (I am sure gay) lads who worked under him were known as Freddie's boys.

Back in the 70s and 80s, if you met a guy for a casual hook up, if asked where you worked, you might have said Myers. 

PS, the store name was changed from Myers to Myer I think some time in the 80s or 90s. 

Australia's Trove has some information about him. 

From a website, 

The windows first began in 1956, created by Freddie Asmussen, who was the head of the display in Myer. Instead of filling the windows with the usual range of gift giving ideas, Asmussen instead decided to showcase something completely different for the Christmas windows. Creating the very first Myer Christmas Windows theme, “Santa and the Olympics”, which celebrated the Olympics, the technological marvel of television, and of course, Santa! Asmussen designed a new Christmas theme every year until his passing in 1974.

And another: 

The hidden saint of Myer's was the late Freddie Asmussen. To call him a window dresser is to say Michelangelo was a ceiling-painter. Freddie, a confirmed bachelor (as they used to say), used the Myer's windows as a series of proscenium arches framing the theatre of his miraculous mind. The Christmas windows were his annual festival, when snow and tinsel and reds and greens and elves and reindeer and Santa manifested themselves in ever-changing combinations that drew people from as far as Upwey or Alamein. At other times, Freddie was only slightly more restrained, allowing himself a few Renaissance touches while avoiding the Rococo.

Balloons pass by

I had forgotten about these balloon photos. I don't like to boast but they aren't too bad at all. The balloonists that morning had a great show.

"Sun arise, bring in the morning".

My Wednesday

Tuesday was a bit queer. My appointment for an MRI scan was at the strange time of 5.50pm. The Alfred Centre was very quiet but it was clear MRI scans were happening for a couple of others. The thirty minute scan is not pleasant but I was out of the hospital before 7.00. I picked up pizza for dinner on the way home. Once again The Alf did well for me at no charge. 

Wednesday this week was my chosen day for a longish public transport trip, so I visited Coburg. After a tram to Melbourne Flinders Street Station, my intended train at 11.32 was cancelled and it was twenty minutes before the next train. I would have thought off peak, train services would be quite reliable, and there not be cancelled trains. I left the station and returned in time for the 11.52. If you just missed the 11.12, it would be a long wait for the 11.52. Train services in a city of 5 million people should be every 15 minutes, at least. Ten minutes, excellent. 

The main street of Coburg is Sydney Road, once the only main road from Melbourne to Sydney, and at the top end is the mega busy with traffic and noisy Bell Street. 

I found a shop where I bought a doner kebab which I ate at an outside table, while watching the passing parade of Greeks, Italians, Turks and others from the Middle East. The kebab was stunningly delicious and too large for me to finish. I got close. The bag your meal will come in has check marks for your preferences to be ticked.

I then walked around a corner into the traffic closed Victoria Street, where so many people were sitting, eating, drinking and lounging about in the bright winter sunshine.

The law that says smoking is forbidden at outdoor dining tables was ignored. A number of Middle Eastern women could be seen smoking too. I sat at an outdoor table where there were signs on the table that smoking was forbidden and smoked, enjoyed a cup of coffee.

I knew the time of train to return home and slowly wandered back to the almost new station. 

It was a pleasant outing, and to be among people and environs that I would not normally meet where I live.

It's the economy, stupid

This lamp was found by Ray many years ago in a long gone interior decoration shop in Port Melbourne, some twenty years ago. While not bespoke, which I will never have, it is an individual and you are unlikely to see one the same. We both liked it. The red is fabric and I don't know what the white colour is made of, but it's very fragile and flakes off easily. The white seems like reptile scales. 

The lamp began with incandescent frosted light bulbs and at some point about ten years was fitted with LED lamps. I thought they were fluorescent until I removed one a few days ago. The bulbs seemed to be getting dimmer, which can happen with LED lights. 

I took one bulb to the chain lighting shop and the helpful young man tested it and said it seemed ok. Maybe my eyes are failing. He said, you could replace the 6 watt LED bulb with a 7.1 watt. Ok. I showed him a photo on my phone of the lamp, and he said, ah, you need two bulbs. Yes, I do.

That's $24. Ouch, for two light bulbs. He did stuffs on his screen and indicated, wait. You can buy a pack of three for $15. I'd lie if I said I hesitated. 

Are you one of our regular customers, Sir? I gave him my phone number and he found me. Sir, there is a  discount, making the three bulbs, $13. 

Economics sure is puzzling at times. 

Given over about thirty years, with buying four combination light and overhead ceiling fans at about $400 each, plus various lamps, and light bulbs, I would guess we would have spent over $2,000. In today's dollars, maybe $4,000.

I am a happy customer. I took a peruse of modern lighting and noted that the over ten year old spare bedroom bedside touch lamp is still available. 

Dinosaur Park visit

Kosov thought we were just going our for a driving lesson with Phyllis at the wheel. After about 10 kilometres of motorway driving, he said he was becoming suspicious about what was happening. 'Kosv, you will have to socialise!' 'No, Ondrewwwww. I don't want to.' 'Don't worry, you will enjoy being social this time.'

Oh dear, there had just been a shower of rain before we arrived less than an hour later and the potholed gravel carpark was a muddy mess. I was glad my car was already in need of a wash. I imagine the carpark is dusty in dry weather. That's my only criticism of the attraction, but asphalting would cost a fortune. At under $20, I thought it was a bargain.

Kosov had spotted the Dinosaur Park sign as we swung off the road. He was clearly excited to see the sign, and did not know what to expect.

Geese were pestering for food but we didn't buy a bag of appropriate food. Someone else did and I watched them. 

Kosov knew at least three quarters of the dinosaur names once he sighted them. I am not sure if this is a proper dinosaur. They were all well labelled with lots of useful information. Many dinosaur fossils were found in Australia. I also noted Mongolia, Netherlands and northern Africa. Truly though, I have minmal interest in dinosaurs. 

It seemed like dinosaurs, or some of them, had a cloaca, like a bird. That is waste and eggs come out of the same hole. 

"Kosov, these sounds that we are hearing from dinosaurs, how can scientists know what sound they made." 

"Ondrewwww, by fossils they can work out flesh and understand what sound they made by the shape of their throats."

We had some food and drink from the cafe. It was ok.

Some of the models had blinking eyes and moving trunks, as they 'breathed'. 

Most of the dinosaurs were animatronic but I think animated. 

I think there may be some children having nightmares after seeing the quite scary dinosaurs. 

The skies darkened and light rain began to fall. Hail suddenly fell, just as the little train, included in the price, we had boarded was ready to depart. The hail lasted less than a minute.

Amazingly a couple of minutes later, clouds disappeared and the sky turned blue. It was a very cold day though, about 12/53. I think the horn blowing is to sound activate the dinosaur movement. This clip is about 1.30, taken as we rode around  the park. 

Quiz answers

 

1. Stanley Park, Vancouver. The totem poles are made by Canada's indigenous people. 2015

2. Cologne Cathedral, Germany. 2014

3. Parliament in Budapest, looking across the Danube from Fisherman's Bastion. 2014

4. Cape Town, South Africa, looking down on the city from Table Mountain. 2018

5. Outside Trump International Hotel and Tower, New York City. 2015

6. Looking up at the twin Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2012

7. Below the peak of Mount Fuji, Japan. 2010

8. Dunedin Railway Station, south island, New Zealand. 2019

9. The 25th of April Bridge, also known as the Tagus River Bridge, crossing the river of the same name in Lisbon, Portugal. Almost behind the second pylon is the monument The Sanctuary of Christ the King. 2017

10. Kings Cross Station, London. 2019

Sunday Selections

Along with River and Elephant's Child, here are my Sunday Selections, random photos as usual. 

I just came across these photos from back in 2011 before we had the kitchen renovated. An accident had happened and I have no memory of it. On the upper bench a vase of flowers often sat. 

I miss the old sink. The new sink is now very deep, a back breaker. It appears one of us has knocked the vase over and made rather a mess and the vase is broken. I see a less that full bottle of the demon drink. Perhaps that was indirectly responsible for the broken vase. 

Such things come and go in The Highrise. The lads are fickle creatures, and their bedroom is becoming seriously full of 'stuffs'. 

Phyllis really excels with pastry and makes all kinds of delicious things.

Tradie Brother gave me a bag full of his own grown feijoa fruit. They aren't my favourite, and Kosov wasn't keen but Phyllis liked them, although he only had the occasional one. Refrigerated, they lasted at three months. 

I am no longer Andrewwww, but Ondrewwwww. Ondrewwww, do you have some cotton balls? Yes Kosov. The interest here is the brand Farmland, which was a Coles supermarket in house brand for many years. The brand name has long disappeared, maybe back in the 90s. I suppose your cotton don't go rotten once it's processed. 

Phyllis made a cake from scratch, and it was very tasty and nicely decorated. I think it should have risen though. I know a little about cooking, and a bit more about cakes, but he didn't seek my advice.

Unionists having a go at our anti Labor Party tabloid newspaper. Up top,  "Is that the truth. Or did you read it in the Herald Sun". A Murdoch owned paper, of course. 

Last week I was in a small shopping centre and a shouty man came out of a tobacco shop telling no one, what kind of tobacco shop doesn't have cigarettes or tobacco. I turned to look inside and it looked like a normal tobacco shop. The sign on this vending machine outside the shop amused me. There must have been a dog incident in the past. Interestingly in a YouTube series by Philip Mallis, Union Square shopping centre was featured this week past, 5 More Retro Shopping Centres in Melbourne. 

Ravens rarely perch anywhere up so high, and certainly not on my balcony. The photo was taken through very dirty glass. Roger Raven is giving me the evil eye. 

So many photos in the last two days. I'll give you a rest and be back on Tuesday, maybe with dinosaurs.