Sunday Selections

River and others post Sunday Selections. Here is my bloomin' lot this week.

There are saucepan lids for my forty year old saucepans. No need to use my best china.    

Phyllis, what have you done to my gleaming and sparkling saucepans?

Yes, just what you want to see as you open your fridge first thing in the morning. Is it Julius? 

Cats prefer running water as it won't have bacteria that still water might have. Think creek as against stale water in a puddle. 

In the living/dining area, there are fourteen seats of various varieties, yet these two often choose the floor. Kosov has had a head shave since this was taken and looks much better.

When entering my apartment, tradespeople offer to take their shoes off. I say, don't bother. It's fine. That's a polite way to act. Truth be told, just check for shoes taken off at the door as a guide, as Phyllis's and Kosov's guests did. 

Another photo of the old and the new, taken on my return trip on the 58 from the zoo.

Today I will go to town to buy some new more comfortable walking/daily shoes. Mine look ok, but they aren't comfortable even after adding an insole. Yes, I went for the cheapest. This time I won't. Later I am meeting my Indian friend who is the same age as me, and my Hairdresser Friend at a gay hotel for a Sunday afternoon drink. We may kick on for some Asian food in Victoria Street, Richmond.

I suppose I am still alive as I do keep doing things.    

Buildings

Now housing a number of a bars, this fine 1899 Albert Park building was once called Red Eagle Hotel, earlier Windsor Hotel. A stroll of a couple of hundred metres and you are at the beach, and there are many cafes and restaurants nearby. If you want to have a decent drink at a bar, the number 1 tram passes by.

My father banked with the E.S.&A Bank. English, Scottish and Australian bank, I think. It went on to become the ANZ Bank, Australia and New Zealand. I'd never noticed this sign remnant until recently. Below it says, The E. S. & A Bank Ltd Administrative Offices. 

 

The tv programme The Block took on this building some years ago and the show's participants renovated the building, including the installation of a hanging vertical garden, which died soon after the show ended.

The garden was resurrected and has been kept looking healthy for a few years now.

 

As I returned from a visiting the zoo by the 58 tram, I noticed this old building in a rather prominent place. How much longer can it last before its demolition and another shiny tower is built on the site. 

I'm not moving

Just to note about Friday Funnies, suicide is not funny, and I expect the late Sue who was a volunteer at the suicide prevention telephone service Life Line, would not have approved of of the post at all. Nor is it now funny to make fun of people with strong phobias. But having said that, I did think they were funny.

Diagonally across the intersection below me, The Muse apartment building is close to completion. I really like the interior finishes, which look restrained and classy, rather than opulent and gauche. Check out some interior photos here.

It seems to be only 3 and 4 bedroom apartments, and seems to be 1 bath room per bedroom, and 3 car parking spaces per apartment. At least one three bedroom apartment has four bathrooms! This so goes against the City of Melbourne's quest to reduce car parking spaces in buildings, or ban them altogether. 

There is no doubt it is a lavish building. Just the expense of the external landscaping is mind blowing. There are only 40 odd apartments in such a huge pair of buildings. That doesn't sound like increasing the population near public transport hubs, another current government ideal. 

A neighbour told me the 3 bedroom apartments, some even have 4 bathrooms for 3 bedrooms, are smaller in size than ours, that is my own 3 bedroom apartment. 

Prices start at AU$4.1 million, US$2.8, €2.48, GB£2.1, and for a penthouse around AU$10 million. Where does this filthy wealth come from?

But oh, the two car park exits. They will take forever to get anywhere. From the Toorak Road exit to travel in the opposite direction along Toorak Road will take five to ten minutes. To travel towards the city from the St Kilda Road exit will take just as long, as they move from the service road to the centre lanes, and then u turn at traffic lights. In a location where there is good public transport, trams will be a much better option for a local trip, but of course rich people despise public transport used by the great unwashed.

Here are a few photos, the first of the exterior I've already shown you.

This being of what was unveiled last week, taken from my cheap seats balcony. Two pools with a different colours. It could be wall and floors of the pool are different colours, but I'd like to think one is fresh water pool and one is a salt water pool. Or maybe one is for laps and one is for leisure, and grand child friendly. 

Lovely birch trees, and there are a lot of water features nearby, yet to flow.

I should know the name of these trees are. AI told me the wrong address of the property and was not helpful with tree identification. I am now thinking they may be golden ash. Nice.

This is not the main entrance, the main being in St Kilda Road, and much grander than the Toorak Road entrance, along with being set back from the street. I could have taken a photo of the main entrance but I would expect a guard to appear if I stepped across a threshold. 

I am not sure of the purpose of this small area.

From Toorak Road looking down to the main entrance and foyer.

The Big Screw

While I've seen buildings being constructed from my home, I've never actually been able to look down on the work site. It seems once the old building has been destroyed, dirty soil mixed with chunks of concrete are removed and fresh clay looking soil brought in. I'm sure the front end loaders just move the fresh soil from one place to another and then move it back again.

Meanwhile holes are drilled, full lengths of circular reinforcing steel inserted into the holes and then concrete is poured down the hole. Most interesting.

Here is the long drill.

And look!

The whole screw is now underground.

For some reason I've always confused the German and Aboriginal flags, when they are really aren't alike at all, although the three same colours are used. The first is the Aboriginal flag. During my skinhead/mohawk phase, I wore a military like jacket with a German flag patch. I now understand how that didn't send good signals. In my defence, I had no idea about the patch on my jacket. I hadn't noticed it until someone remarked about it.  

On the barrel of the concrete mixer you can see the Aboriginal flag.

On the opposite side of the barrel is the Australian flag. The other flag represents Piave, the concrete supplier based in Port Melbourne and has been around since 1993.

The Argus, aka my battery soldering building

The electronic shop where my bollard battery wires were soldered was within The Argus building. What is The Argus, you may ask. Well, The Argus newspaper operated out of this very handsome building, purpose built in 1926. 

In the late 90s or earlier 2000s it was abandoned, although obviously still owned. That is when my nephew and a couple of mates 'investigated' the building. One night they reached the top and took photos and perhaps put them out on whatever social media was around then. 

The Argus was a Melbourne morning newspaper, first published in 1846 and closed in 1957. It's main competitor was  the very conservative The Age. The Argus was less conservative and became quite liberal at some point in its life. You can read more about The Argus at Wikipedia. 

Who owns the building now? The Melbourne Institute of Technology is a private education company. Here is a snip from Wikipedia. We can be quite grateful to Mr Ghale for the renovations and recreating it as a viable and I assume profitable building. At street level there are many different businesses. I might just venture inside the main building one day, if I can. 

In 2004 La Trobe University bought the Argus Building for $8 million with the intention to redevelop the building to house its legal and business schools as well as a ground-floor shopping precinct.^[6] Owing to the high estimated cost of renovating the building, La Trobe University sold the site for $15 million in 2010 to Shesh Ghale, owner of the Melbourne Institute of Technology, who converted the site into its Melbourne campus which re-opened in October 2016. 

All links in this post were my work. While I was a little impressed by the Blogger's linking feature, you can't single click to remove the links. You have to do so link by link yourself. 

A scandalous building disaster

I remember when this building was constructed and I didn't like it much. The developer breached the height limit by over one metre above what was shown in the plans and was fined a small amount with the appropriate government minister Robert McClelland quite untroubled. He was a  shocker of old school arrogant conservative politician. Shame on him, and he is still alive at the age of 91.This was at the time when evil Victorian Premier Kennet in the 1990s had privatised building inspectors roles, and it was signed off as ok, even though it clearly wasn't.

It is in a very dominant location at the corner of Commercial Road and Punt Road, South Yarra, and is called South Yarra Square.

I don't know of any other similar building in greater Melbourne being as bad as this. I feel so bad for the innocent and naive who may have bought into this building, and the original buyers. The apartments are clearly unsaleable, with them being only good for tenants, if tenants don't mind the fire risk and the risk of building collapse. The next time you hear anything about deregulation of  building inspections, be afraid.

From the blog of Rohan Storey.

My photos, taken very quickly between trams.

Crass commercialism

I've showed Federation Square before, but something stimulated me to again take photos. Some people like me took time to like the space. Some continue to hate it, but generally, it has been embraced. Even Hels after some period of doubt, came to like it. 

Earlier this year, advertising and mammon overcame style and part of one of the lovely aspects of the square was spoilt. I think the ad was removed before its expiry period by way of public outrage.

I got out and took some pics.

The atrium is lovely, with all the special shapes.

I like the quirky exterior.

The small cobble stone  colours are so beautiful, as paving goes. They are a bitch for prams, wheelchairs, and the feeble.

 

Aside from the forecourt. the rest of Fed Square is friendly to the less abled.

I've seen the space filled with hundreds of people at times.

I love these shapes. 

The design of the whole square  is so interesting.

But then the outrage happened, a covering up of an aspect of the building by crass and huge advertising. I think it was contracted to be there for two months, but the public outcry saw it quickly removed.