Melbourne Excitement

It was hard not to get excited this Friday as in front of 100,000 spectators the Los Angeles Rams lost to the San Francisco 49ers, and without knowing the scoring system, it sounds like a score 7 to 27 is a decisive win to the 49ers. A trouncing perhaps.

This made Melburnians very happy. The US football team, the 49ers had been in Melbourne for several days before the match, acclimatising to the weather, around a cool but ok daytime average of 15/59 this week, and of course the time change. The team made itself popular by being out and about around town, spotted my many. Melbourne chalked up great respect for the team.

This contrasts with the LA Rams, who arrived the day before the game, and we never got to know them. All about hearts and minds, and don't forget that.

I suppose it was a coincidence that the match was played on 9/11, or 11/09 here, probably 8/11 in the US. Now that vile creature #47 is claiming he was carried from the site by firefighters, without any trace of evidence that anyone can find. But he is not spoiling my post. 

The match was a great spectacle for our city, although there are only guesses about what it cost our State of Victoria, AU$15 million to AU$45 million. It is, psst, commercial in confidence. I have the view that taxpayers are entitled to know. 

Sister and Bone Doctor arrived at 3pm the evening before to stay the night. They went into town to soak up the atmosphere, and returned at 5.15 for drinks and nibbles and I had invited HH up to meet them for the first time. They were super impressed to learn about her son who was an international Australian Rugby Union champion player, and her daughter's son being a worker at Hobbiton in New Zealand.

I had invited HH to join us for dinner in town but she had tickets to see the stage show musical Pretty Women with a friend. We three dined at the Swiss Club in town and soaked up the atmosphere in the city.

Next morning was an early start as they needed to be at the football venue by 9.00 and we went out for breakfast first, at around 7.30. That totally turned my normal morning upside down, and my arthritis kicked in with a vengeance. I try not to take painkillers, but I did Friday morning.

Eventually by midday I felt ready to go out again, where I visited Hosier Lane to check out the NFL murals. I'll post them Monday.

A woman boarded the tram as I did, with two young boys. She looked familiar. Here is an edited text of what I sent to HH. The woman on the tram was our neighbour for a couple of years.

I boarded the tram below to travel to the city today and a woman got on at the same stop with two young boys. She looked familiar. I thought is it or isn't it? I was guessing the age of the boys and it added up. I was going to get off at Flinders Street to take photos of the NFL murals in Hosier Lane, but they left at the Arts Centre. I made a last minute decision and jumped off too. I still wasn't 100% sure, so with her back to me I called out S. No harm if it wasn't her. She spun around and sure enough, and funny that we mentioned her the other day, it was S and her boys R and D. She has lost weight and looked pretty good. I had a chat to her for a few minutes and then the boys began to get restless, so they went off to visit the Gallery and I caught the next tram to Flinders Street. She and T are living in Mount Martha, and he is working in Emergency at I assume, F Hospital. He was at the NFL match, having caught a bus from F at 7.00 this morning and they were all staying a couple of nights in the city, perhaps nearby. Of course she didn't know about Ray's death so I filled her in but there wasn't much time to chat.  

Anyway, it was a nice little catch up.   

After the match Bone Doctor went back to Geelong Station by train, to take Jo's car home. Sister arrived back here around 5.00 and Jo is in town with friends as I type and she will come here and then Sister and Jo will drive home.

Phyllis has cooked butter chicken, rice and Kosov is heating some roti for dinner and there is enough to share with Sister. 

I suppose we all know a bit more about NFL now, and what we used to call Gridiron, has been a great success. Probably just a one off though, although we will remain 49ers supporters if we ever hear any news about them.

Photos from the evening before:

Flinders Street Station.

               

Note to Bone Doctor

A few weeks ago Bone Doctor stayed after a doctor's conference and then drinks and socialising afterwards. She arrived back here after I had gone to bed. I left her notes on a small notepad. I would just put the original here, and while I don't have much shame in life, I am ashamed of my wobbly handwriting, so I'll just type it.

Note 1: I meant to leave you a wee dram (Scotch) to help you sleep but alas it disappeared. Sleep well, and see you in the morning. There is some port on the trolley.

Note 2: Chuck over the side of the bed whatever pillows or stuffed toys you don't want and cuddle the toy you do like.  

Note 3: If you are hungry, take an old age pensioner's meals on wheels sandwich from the fridge. 

Sister called last night, right as the 6pm tv news began. She has no respect for the life of her older brother. She and her wife will stay next Thursday night before going to a football match at 10.00am, scheduled to suit American tv audiences. 

Let me investigate. NFL, what is that?   The NFL's first-ever regular season game in Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday 11 September 2026

The Los Angeles Rams will play against the San Fran Cisco 69ers 49ers. I still don't know what NFL is. National Football League? Yes. I will guess this is the slow football with players wearing a huge amount of protective gear. I've seen bits of it on tv, and it's even less interesting to me than Australia's own football and soccer. How can you identify a hot and sexy football player in such garb, and helmets, whereby you can't even see their faces.

Different strokes for different folks. 

The Bellarine Pt 2

The walkway to the door of my flat was a little treacherous in the very dark of the night, as the sensor lights were a bit slow to illuminate the path and approach.

The one bedroom flat was comfortable enough and even came with a washing machine.

Bone Doctor thought but didn't say anything at the time about the step up to the bedroom and that I might trip. It wasn't the step up that got me, it was the step down in the morning before it was light. I certainly stepped down very heavily. Only a fool will walk around in a strange place without turning on lights.

The party was from 4pm until 9pm. I arrived purposely late but in time to see the sun setting over Swan Lake. 

The party had a nautical theme. One woman came as Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, with her hair pulled to each side of her head and a floaty around her middle with SS Minnow written around the semi circle. There were some very creative outfits. Mine consisted of a cap, making me look like an old 'salty'. I faked the old part quite easily.

Bone Doctor checked with the Commodore and she was allowed to fly the Jolly Roger on the flagpole. There was only one rule, that no flag could fly above the Australian flag.

I was distracted and missed the sun disappearing below the horizon. It was quite beautiful. 

Paella chefs had been hired who came with their own equipment and set up on the decking and produced two very large paellas, one seafood and one vegetarian, enough to feed fifty guests.

Next morning before checkout, I walked the short distance to the beach. The waves often crash over the sea walls, depositing sand when they do. I was looking toward the point and Point Lonsdale Village.

I  was meeting Sister and Bone Doctor for coffee next morning at the recently renovated Queenscliff Hotel. We sat on the verandah with a slight breeze blowing. The weather for the three days I was there could not have been better for what is still winter. 

I did take a look inside and it is fantastic, with all kinds of area to drink and eat off the main hallway, leading to an atrium at the rear. Accommodation is offered too, but I will guess it would not be cheap. 

We parted ways and I steered Perl for home, or rather she mostly steered herself.

The Bellarine Pt 1

Sister said I could stay at her place, and they have a room and a nice double bed, but I like my own space, so I booked a flat for two nights at a reasonable price for a one bedroom flat the Friday and Saturday nights. Since then, I've taken a wee blog break, but I've read all of you wrote.

The occasion was to attend a party for Bone Doctor's 50th birthday, sensibly timed for 4pm to 9pm for seniors. The venue was the same boathouse where Jo's 18th birthday was held in July last year, when I had the company of Phyllis and Kosov.

I didn't do much upon my arrival on Friday afternoon, aside from walking the few minutes to the beach. The Rip is the narrow entrance to Port Phillip, and ships must have pilots to enter and depart.

 

I offered to take the trio out for dinner on the Friday night as a gift for Bone Doctor's birthday and Sister chose a rather nice Italian restaurant. Funnily, it was in a Victorian era building where Ray and I stayed when we attended Bone Doctor's 40th birthday. I understand the whole building has been renovated, and that's just as well as where we stayed was rather shabby.

Four people, the cost will be about $80, with my mind firmly back in the 1990s. A bottle of decent wine bumped up the price, as did Jo's cocktail and my Frangelico affogato. We ate well, with me having a serve of bruschetta and my main being mussels in a rich tomato sauce, with bread of course. $270 later... I just thought of all the money I've saved by not going out for dinner with Ray once a week. Whatever, it was a lovely meal and such a nice evening. 

We drove to a carpark to see the moon. It didn't disappoint.

I can't remember why, but Sister and Jo dropped me and Bone Doctor back at my flat, and we sampled Bone Doctor's Japanese whisky she'd brought along, which was nice enough, but we then drank some of my Scotch. We talked about everything and nothing, and as the English expression goes, we sorted out the world. She set off for home on foot.

Next morning we all met up for brunch in Point Lonsdale village, with me driving the short distance in my car. I had some rather nice fruit toast with Vegemite, much to the surprise of the foreign born lass when I ordered. She said Vegemite was ok, but she'd never heard of it on fruit toast. I can assure you, it works well, if you like Vegemite. This was the view from across the road from where we brunched.

We went our separate ways and I drove to St Leonards, where I stopped off to watch boats being launched from the boat ramp. It was a very good four boat ramp launching place, but sadly I did not see any boat ramp disasters to film and make me go viral. Some old dude with a heavy foreign accent in a motorised wheel chair engaged me in unwanted conversation. One must be kind to the elderly who want to chat. 

I clung to the coastal road as I passed through Indented Heads and stopped in Portarlington. There were so many nice houses along the way, mostly two storey to take advantage of sea views, with huge balconies. This was a slam on the brakes moment to get out and take this photo, I think at Indented Heads. 

I parked in Portarlington, happily right near a great mural. The old hotel looks wonderful.

I returned to my flat in the afternoon, with this lush and perhaps a little overgrown garden outside my door. The temperature was low, but with sunshine, it felt warmer.

 

I walked to the cemetery across the road. Real estate agents would call it 'sea views' from the top of the cemetery hill. I would call them 'sea glimpses'. The wrought iron gates are wonderful. The supporting pillars, rather plain. 

Cemeteries are always interesting, and this was not an exception. A nice rotunda is a great facility to hold celebrations of deaths.

 

An eighteen year old who died, maybe a lifesaver with the statue indicating a connection. 

 

This grave for a nineteen year old with an engraved motorcycle might indicate Gavin died in a motorcycle accident. 

One month old, and what a lovely site to remember her.

Ruben, one week old, with an eye catching grave.

This 1800s grave was really sad. Three children died at a young age and are interred with their mother, then later with their father. Plagues or wars?

A war memorial at the top of the hill in the most prestigious location within the cemetery, at the top of the hill with the aforesaid sea glimpses.

There was a bush area sprinkled with memorial plaques.

Men are capable of great love, for their dogs at least, and Frank loved his Missy.

With a grave holding multiple people my mind drifted to would I ever see as gay couple buried together? Burials are rare now, so it is most unlikely. But look what I came across! Phillipa who died thirty years ago, with mention of her partner Diana.

 Land has been cleared at the back of cemetery, I guess to add more room for plaques. 

Finally, this is where I am staying, in a three storey building, with a weird layout. There is a modern two storey house behind where I was staying on ground level of this three storey building. Somewhere within what all that seems modern, perhaps 1960s chimneys, poke upward.

Friday Funny

The waiter was deadpan. It was funny to me, but what I think is AI at the end of the guy almost spitting out his coffee, just made it.

I'm away for a few days, and I'm staying next to a cemetery. I doubt my sleep will be disturbed by noisy neighbours across the road, and I'm sure there will be an interesting walk among the dead.  

Catch ya soon, me maties.

The Digital Mess

I am quite organised, even to the point of mostly knowing what I am doing tomorrow.

Jackie in Toronto posted this about organised  people.

Yes, I tick most of the boxes as being organised. Not being organised would give me great stress. Ray was the same. Phyllis and Kosov are terribly disorganised. I never run out of anything, but they do and have to make a last minute trip to somewhere for something.

My email organisation is up to date, as is everything else, with one exception.

In the mid 1990s when we bought our first computer and connected to the internet, someone who I was chatting to on a rudimentary chat site, maybe MIRC, sent me a photo of a bunch of flowers, followed by a dick pic. How amazing that this machine can do that! I saved the photos, and I probably could find them now if I needed to, but it was a downhill slope from there. I saved and I saved, everything. Photos, videos, messages...everything. My oldest email address still operational is from the nineties, a Rocketmail eddress, which became a Yahoo eddress. Not often, but I still use it.

However, over the years I had organised things, almost everything. Photos are filed in folders, stored in the cloud and on an external ssd drive. The problem is that I didn't name all the folders appropriately, and with near two gigabytes of photos, I struggle to find individual photos.

My brother asked me about a photo he had seen of Mother with her four children standing in front of the fireplace at the Dick Whittington Hotel in St Kilda. I just cannot find the photo, but I have now worked a way to narrow it down. He brought his dog Cobber into the hotel, and he was asked to take the dog outside. Cobber died suddenly soon after. So I need to ask him what year Cobber died, and that will narrow the search down to one year. Wow, I've just remember Jo was there, crawling around on the floor crawling around on the floor and checking out the contents of women's handbags. She must have been two years old, so I need to look at 2009. That's so much earlier than I thought.

Or were these two different visits to The Dick. We went there so many times over so many years. Btw, The Dick has a drive through alcohol outlet where apparently you can pick up your Dick Liquor. 

When I have something stored, while it might take some time and thought, I can usually find it.

The afore mentioned guy who sent me photos in the 90s might be this guy. The photo is all of 45 kilobytes.

Beating a child

After Ex Sis in Law and I two days ago looked after the her twin boy grandchildren, my just on four year old great nephews, for about five hours, I've become a firm believer in 'spare the rod, spoil the child'. 

Ex Sis in Law parked in my spare space but Nephew's wife called me about parking? FFS, didn't you work this out before you came. They could have done a drop off and gone on to guest Government House parking. I suggested some all day paid public parking about 300 metres away, and that's what they did. I tried to tell myself that guest parking is not my problem, but I was already stressed, adding to that, there was some furniture to be delivered to them here, adding to that, they had my apartment number wrong and a neighbour on my floor let them in, added to that the delivery apartment number was wrong, with a timeline of 7am to 7pm. I had to visit my neighbour to tell him what to do if a delivery person called him

With their own toys, it took me time for me to realise they had taken Phyllis' toy bus assembly partly apart. Kosov entered the scene and remarked, I don't know where the assembly instruction are. I stopped the bus disassembly but they continued to just 'play' with pieces, 'putting in back together'. Fine, kids will be kids. 

Jass' natural curiosity soon passed and she opened my bedroom wardrobe door and took refuge there. Twin L is quite loving. Twin R is more distant and thoughtful. 

After Fire Fighting Nephew and his wife went off to Government House for him to receive his award, we took the boys on the tram to the Arts Centre, to change to a number 1 tram to Albert Park Beach. We found somewhere for lunch, and then walked to the sand park, a kids' playground on the beach edge. L disappeared while Ex Sis in Law was dealing with work matters on her phone. It is a secure park, but I felt the need to follow L. He was on a rotating platform, standing in the middle. We needed to return to the others but when I asked him to get off, he refused and defiantly crossed his arms and stared me down. Such insolence from a nearly four year old towards his great uncle. Eventually I turned my back on him, knowing the area was secure, and found a comfortable seat to look out to sea, where I saw a long distance swimmer's head bobbing past and a woman throwing a stick into the water for her dog to fetch. Mysteriously was a Spirit of Tasmania ferry sitting at Station Pier.

Ex Sis in Law drifted down to us with boy R in tow. We went back to the other end where they played with with a water flow feature. A man was clearly checking risk assessment at the park, shaking play equipment to test the soundness.

L kept putting his sandy shoes on the tram seat on the way home, with me telling him that I would chop his feet off, was ineffectual. 

Once back home, on the way them being subdued by a very packed tram home, L went off the edge. Even Nanna, whose grandchildren know if she says no, she means it, could not control him. It ended with him lying on the floor screaming and banging his fists. His twin brother looked on with  benign expression.

This is the same as what one of the now nine year old cafe latte twins once did at the same age, and just what now 18 year old Jo did at that same age. 

I say, bring back smacking badly behaving children, to shock them into obedience and be fearful of physical punishment.

Eventually they were all gone and I had a mental breakdown. "Kosov, see that bottle of Scotch? That will be empty by the morning". "No Onndrewww. I will hug you and all will be better".  

Later, a message to Nephew's wife.

Low level stress: "Dear Uncle Andrew. Favour to ask. If you have time next week, would you be able to pick up a flat pack at Ikea for us?" "While I am busy doing old retired person things, no problem. Old people like to find reasons to go out each day, a sense of purpose. It's even more exciting to go out in my new motor car to collect a package. Phyllis and Kosov like going to Victoria Gardens. We will have lunch there, but not Swedish meatballs. They can carry the flat pack." Low hanging fruit, and you would have saved the delivery fee. You should have just asked.

Nephew with his wife and then nephew with his mum on a very special day.