Sunday Selections

Well, here we are, another week gone and it's time for Sunday Selections again with River at the helm. 

Mine aren't random this week but show an impressive sound and light show I saw at Melbourne Town Hall. I was there for about thirty minutes in total. The action was on the main floor of what I guess is the Town Hall ballroom. As I was leaving, the door person asked if I enjoyed the display and I said yes, and she then directed me to the stairs to climb to the balcony. I've been up there before. She asked if I could manage the stairs, and there our relationship cooled, as I felt like slapping her. I exaggerate, and there was a lift which I noticed later.  

From the balcony I had an overview of the display. But first a photo of Jass I took around the same time. 

I am not sure which photos were taken from above and which were taken at ground level. No matter. You get the idea. The music was themed to whatever the lights were doing. 

The music was loud, and it needed to be to create the atmosphere.

It was a little unsettling at times, as I heard the sound of Martian laser guns that I remember from the 70s or earlier.

Slipped in was some music from the movie ET, a film that made me cry. I just searched for ET and a question people had asked, 'Is the movie ET a true story?'. God help us. 

The ballroom is quite lovely.

Browsers

I updated the desktop from Windows 10 to 11. It was quite painless, but there are some changes that I will adjust to in time. The first evening as I moved the cursor to shut the computer down, the button had gone. How do I turn it off, safely without just pressing the physical on/off button? 

I found its very discreet placement, but I wonder what was the point of changing its placement.

I was at my pharmacy today to buy my drugs. I used my last Covid test kit when I came down with this cold. My goodness, the kits now test for RSV and flu types A and B as well. The wonders of medical science. I don't have to test to know I have a common cold. 

The news today from Hungary was joyous to hear. The extreme far right leader Orban has been voted out of office. Restoring Hungary to its former progressive status will take some time, and I don't know enough about the new leader to offer an opinion beyond what I have said. Graphs indicate it has in many ways performed poorly against its comparative counterparts.

Can you believe about two months after my car had a punctured tyre that was a slow leak, I now have the same tyre punctured with a slow leak. This time I can see a piece of wire protruding from the tyre. If I pull it out, I am sure the tyre will quickly deflate. I have to fix that today. I am sure Phyllis picked up the metal somewhere in the outer areas when I allow him to take the car one day a week for work. He was prepared to take the car to get the tyre repaired, but the tyre repair place said they could not fit that in. When I had the last puncture fixed, I wasn't charged. I wonder if Phyllis would have been charged, although they probably have the record of my car stored in a database. So, yes, I wonder if young dark guy would have been charged when the old white guy wasn't. Believe me, if the job was the same and he was charged, I would make it rather uncomfortable for the Australia wide chain. 

While I didn't think doing anything physical today was a good idea, I did manage to wash my doona cover and put it back on the bed. My doubled over summer sheet that I use instead of the doona from about October to April was washed, dried and put away. I washed it with the doona cover and it balled up inside the doona cover and did not dry properly, needing another half an hour of the washing machine drying cycle. 

Photos improve blog posts.

Sunday night chicken soup for dinner, guaranteed to cure a cold. It didn't but it was rather nice and did no harm.  

Kosov is trying to make Jass into a lap cat. I don't think she ever will be, but she does love him.

Lacking energy on Sunday while I was dying from a common cold, I still managed to have a wander at the Sikh festival at Federation Square. Ah, the mysteries of southern Asian men wearing turbans. There was even a display showing how to put one on and wind hair into the scarf. 

 

Ignore the subject line. I never got around to talking about web browsers. However, I put yesterday's mural post into AI and I am informed it is a Banksy work, in Park Street, Bristol. Yeah, nah. 

Viva Gibb Photography

Is that Blogger/Compose "Paragraph" drop down menu new? Hang on, the whole menu has changed, I think. Interesting.

Some of the exhibitions at the Town Hall City Gallery are excellent and some not so excellent. This one I thought was in the former category, and I loved it.

Of course no one has taken such photos better than late Rennie Ellis, but he was very well known. Viva Gibb isn't but deserves to be with her photos mostly of people she came across in the streets where she lived. Such folios are easy to create in our digital times, but are they being now? The ordinary needs to be on the photographic record. 

While clicking on the photos creates opens the photos at a larger size, if you right click and open the photos in a new window, that will give decent sized photos.

In my opinion these two photos are brilliant, and perfectly lit.

A brief search finds a good photo of Viva, and some information. Is that a joint she is holding in her hand?

"Working with a Rolleiflex medium format camera and a 4×5-inch Graflex Speed Graphic, she developed and printed all her own work."

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.

Sunday Selections

River and others participate in Sunday Selections, as I do but not every Sunday.

Jass showed great interest when this toy arrived in the post from Temu. Lordy, the rubbish P&K order at Temu. She was never inclined to pursue it, but from a raised position, she liked to monitor it carefully. Today, she just ignored it and went off to another room.

The problem with it is it stops after five minutes when it could be under furniture. There is a second one but it is under a bed somewhere, and I ain't gettin' down to find it. A phone charger gives it too much current so I charge it via the desktops USB outlet. This is on its slow setting. 

It is always exciting to see balloons fire up their gas burners.

Can you work out what this map shows? New Zealand is the only yellow country, and Australia and England have something in common, and I think Ireland should probably be green too, or do you disagree with that from your Irish people experiences. Later edit: Think of a swear word.

And as Sandra Cox says each Wednesday, I didn't know that; in Australia men's shoe measurements are in UK sizes, as is New Zealand's, but women's shoes in Australia use American sizes. Why? I am a 9, which I guess is nine inches, a very satisfying number.

Disability

Today is International Day of People with a Disability. This piece by my friend James O'Brien is well worth a read.

The Victorian State Library also published an interesting read, showing a photo of a woman from olden times who could sew with her feet. In the post, I really liked seeing the very obvious joy de vivre of the two people in wheelchairs, the photo taken by the marvellous but late Rennie Ellis. 

Town Hall Trippy

I think the 'experience' was open for three or four days, and it was a few minutes of my time, and obvious to me, a few minutes of the time for others. 

I'd forgotten that Melbourne Town Hall is such a wonderful place.

If I say anything about the massive organ, it will trigger some people. 

I had to edit this video because as I went to turn the camera off, I hit the button to switch to the front camera, capturing some old bloke whose visage did not impress me. I trimmed it off. I also forgot about turning your phone sideways for a wider view, does not translate well as a video clip. 

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.

A nothing kind of post

I haven't come across anything hilarious this week for a Friday Funny. Only the mildly amusing. 

From what I can see,  as usual (see capybara, see One way Ticket to the Moon) I've missed the boat on what young people have been up to. Apparently last year it was Blue Monday. Ok, while checking some detail, I realised I posted about the same dance once before, ten days before my life changed forever. Never mind, a bit of fun. 

Oh what a doll

Phyllis' parents sent this with Phyllis as a gift to me when he returned from his visit to Chennai late last year.

I've spoken to Caroline, Phyllis' mother on the phone, and Kosov's younger sister. I think both families know the lads have good accommodation and a caring old aunty.  

So this was a gift from Caroline and her husband, a Kathakali dancing doll. Such dolls are all over India and have many different names but this one is special, and given what it cost, I think it is handmade and bought at a local village not far from Chennai. 

It has a rollie poly base, with a male and female body and face. I often give it a push to make make it rock back and forth as I walk past it. I am quite fond of it. 

The Grammys

Oh yes. You heard right. I am nothing if not a diverse blogger. Actually, I have no interest in the Grammys. I don't know how to describe Troye Sivan beyond him being an attractive young gay Australian man, whose on stage behaviour when singing, can be quite provocative and very out there. Good on him for rattling some chains. 

When I saw he attended the Grammys, I wondered what he wore, which sent me to the red carpet photos. Here are a few red carpet photos I saved, from The Age.

Troye Sivan. His Prada suit is ok, I suppose. The scarf is not.

We are left guessing as to whether Lucky Daye has a muscular chest or bitch tits. I've never heard of him. 

Avery Wilson was looking very gay in his colourful jacket.

But, who is this with his head in a castle? I may have clicked on a photo of Justin Bieber on FaceBook, and I was then flooded with his photos, then the algorithm stopped sending me Justin photos and thought Jayden Smith was more to my taste. Yeah, he is ok, with a pleasant enough face that doesn't need to be hidden in a box. His clothes are not normally as conservative, with or without a box on his head. 

At least I know who this is, Will Smith. His slap encouraged me to take some interest last year. His outfit is good. 

Olivier Rodrigo. I said pet, I said love, I said pet, I said love, by exposing so much, you have spoilt the mystery and desire. 

The very elegant Ingrid Michaelson was my pick for best dressed. The fabric is great and the pattern, stunning.