An evening out

It seemed curious to have a dinner party on a Monday night. I say dinner party, but it was five of us who were invited, and I was the only guy. The invitation came from our Tasmanian friend's ex partner, our friend who is here for her annual check on her heart transplant, now 20 years ago. How traumatic the time was, but she had the best care possible at St Vincent's public hospital in Sydney where the transplant was performed. The heart of a young man killed in a car accident saved our friend's life.

My Hairdresser Friend came too. I was going to catch a tram and then walk, and she had made a desert, so thought about driving herself. I asked Phyllis if he would be free between 6 and 7 to drive us and he was, so that worked out well.

The mother of the ex of our friend lived in what was then the tallest building in Australia, I think called Q1 on Queensland's Gold Coast. When her husband died, she moved back to Melbourne into her daughter's home, our friend's ex. The mother was becoming very old and began to behave strangely. She saw a gerontologist, who discovered the huge number of pain killers for arthritis she had been prescribed were affecting her brain. She improved after the pain killers were reduced, without a noticeable increase in levels of pain. But eventually her care became too much for her daughter and she went to live in a care home almost across the road.

The home of the ex is a thirty year old three bedroom unit, and very nice it is too. She has such good taste and has renovated what she didn't like, and had a pergola built at the space at the side. The slat angles and lighting are all controlled by remote.

 

Before a traditional home is built, women should have the say about where power points are located and how many there are. Maybe some men could plan well enough.

In the side garden and the front garden were heaps of clivia in full bloom. 

We had nibbles and drinks and chatted away. The dinner was snapper fish fillets, doused in an overpowering tamarind sauce that killed any taste of the fish, with rice and a dressed tossed salad. 

Over the dining table hung a single pendant light bulb in some kind of rattan cage. It looked nice enough, until I noticed the actual light bulb was filthy. My eyes kept going back to the filthy light bulb. Maybe you know the feeling of when you want to straighten someone's wall picture frames. I wanted to get some chemical or hot soapy water onto the light bulb and make it crystal clear. 

The ex made a cheesecake from scratch, nice enough, and my Hairdresser Friend made a rather curious dessert from scratch that was quite stodgy. We did have a nice night, in spite of talking about periods and 'putting in the rags'. I was very complimentary to the ex for her nice home, for dinner and her very cute dog. If only that light bulb could be cleaned... 

Phyllis had messaged me to ask how we getting home. I replied, 'By cab or Uber, unless you are free to pick us up'. He did come and take us home.

I knew I was not in a good state once home. I felt very hot before I got into bed, and sure enough, something I had eaten had not agreed with me. I slept for ten minutes and woke up, boiling hot. Repeat the same until about 5.00am and I then fell into a proper sleep. I experienced the same years ago when we used to dine at cheap Chinse restaurants. I have no idea what triggers what is clearly food related.

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 world of garden

I took the lads to Garden World for an outing a couple of months ago. I had not been there for over twenty five years and it is whole lot larger than it was once. It is partly display but of course is a retail outlet. There's a decent cafe, with a liquor licence. I am not rally a cactus person but the displays were amazing. Here a few too many photos.

Phyllis and Kosov bought a carnivorous plant but it can live on water and soil nutrients. They are not great at looking after plants and I don't interfere, but the plant has survived. 

The Flora

The Mother's Day flowers we bought after Mother's Day are some two weeks later still in the vase. They survived the heating and while they don't look great, they are still alive with most blooms looking ok.  Truly amazing longevity.

An interesting thing happened with pink flowers that were, it became obvious, dyed. 

The dye filtered down down the stems into the water.

Then the dye in the water filtered up the stems to previously white flowers, giving them a touch of pink. Isn't nature marvellous! Well, not quite nature alone.

Wednesday Bits

Does #47 ever visit the west coast of the US? 

Phyllis bought some flavoured maple syrup and didn't like it. You need real maple syrup Phyllis, Queens, from Canada. OMG, it was AU$10 for 275ml/9.3oz. That's CA$10.00 too, US$7.00, GB£5.00, €6.00. This seems a bit excessive to me. I don't remember it being so expensive. 

Kosov's parents sent this cat hut for Jass, but she's never used it. She must have heard I was going to take it to the charity shop, and so has used it a couple of times in the last week. While I was having my annual hearing test today, Kosov sent me a clip of Jass in the hut.

I don't normally buy mixed flowers for home, but a week after Mother's Day, this bunch was 75% off the full price, so $8. They have lasted a week, and still seem ok.

"Kosov, I don't like this gory dinosaur display". I need to make my opinion sound stronger.

 

I went to the bank yesterday to sort out money to pay for my new car, and then get a bank cheque. As staff was ready to print the cheque, I said stop! I realised the figure I was given to pay did not allow for the $1000 deposit I had paid. I returned today for the cheque with the corrected amount to pay. I pick up the car on Friday. It seems like Kosov can come with me, but Phyllis is working.

My car still has the scratches on the side. The first quote was outrageous and where I went for the second quote never got back to me. Through the books, the car repair would cost $4200 I think. The new car business said, although your car is in excellent condition and low mileage, it will cost us about $1500 to get the scratches repaired, and so that devalues the trade in value. I did get a better trade in price than I thought I would. I'll take some pics of my current car tomorrow and the new one once I pick it up. Although a different colour, the body is the same shape.

Later edit: Kirk mentioned that Jass wasn't in the cathouse. I was sent a video of Jass in the cathouse. She went in late today, so here is a photo of Jass in the cat house.

Pranks

Potted petunias become lanky quite quickly. One year I cut them right back and the plant did regrow and flowered again, but recovery to full bloom took about six weeks, and by then the weather was cooling and its time was soon coming to an end. 

This year I've tried a different approach, by cutting off the longest flowering stems back to a tiny leaf at a branch. I might take two stems off each week and it seems to be working. New flowering stems are growing where they were cut back. 

For no real reason, instead of throwing the newly cut flowering stalk off the balcony, I put it in this pot, and if i can remember what River said, the plant is a crown of thorns.

My action reminded me of my Tradie Brother who used to visit Mother and put a plastic or silk flower in her garden plants. Mother was amused, and I was caught out at times, absently minded noticing the odd flower and then later wondering what this strange flower was in a bush. 

Tradie Brother was and still is quite a prankster. Many years ago he had a piece of wood about 1.5 metres tall, say a few feet. Think of a very fat garden stake. It was painted with blue and white horizontal stripes, looking a bit nautical really. Evenly spread notches had been cut into the stake. Quite mysterious. "Bro", I asked, "What is this stick for?" And another notch was cut into the stake.

Missing a tram

My intention was to catch the number 12 tram to South Melbourne. I had just missed one and the next scheduled was about ten minutes later. I walked along a side street to the next tram stop, instead of just waiting. It was quite rewarding. 

From a distance, the exterior of these two houses in this photo looked like painted bluestone. Much of inner Melbourne is built in bluestone, including many, many cobbled lanes. What we call bluestone is basalt rock, or lava rock if you like, formed many thousands of years ago when Australia had active volcanoes. It is a very strong and tough rock.

But hey, this is fake bluestone. It's just a facing material that looks like bluestone...not very much upon closer inspection. Frankly, the houses looked ridiculous. 

Modern housing is nicely integrated into older housing streets. 

It appears ivy has been let to get out of control. Never let your Ivy roam freely. She will get into to trouble and cause you trouble. 

Not a complete plant takeover, but getting close. What a huge home for some rich ****er. 

The clipped kentia

You can see how large the palm was in the photo below. I was think of cutting up the root ball to divide the plant and start again with one third of the plant. So  much work! After seriously considering all advice and constantly staring at the plant, one evening quite late at night, I got busy with the secateurs and gave it a trim. 

I am quite happy with result. Once it begins to grow again as the daylight stretches out, I will note where it is growing and maybe another frond will be removed. 

Royal Botanic Gardens

A month or so I met up with my friend Wombat after she had taken a tree tour of our Royal Botanic Gardens. The park is huge and so good, but it is built on the side of a hill, and as I no longer stride along, a bus conveniently dropped me at the lower part of the gardens near the cafe where we ate and drank coffee. 

We walked through the lower part of the gardens and then Alexandra Avenue to St Kilda Road but I did ask for a break along the way. It was further than I thought. 

It was a great catch up and here are a few photos. This is the Anderson Street Bridge over the Yarra River, with its now widened footpaths, blocked to vehicles aside from bicycles. I can remember driving across the bridge more than once in my car a few  decades ago.

Across the lake, once teaming with eels but where have they gone? You can boat on the lake in a punt propelled by someone in Edwardian costume. I think Ray and I did so many years ago.

A little romance in the gardens.

Birds in the shade.

Lilies and duckweed dominating the waters here.

We took a break here, at what I think were horse troughs. We worked out what all these pillars were for, but I can't remember. Horse tethering posts, I think. 

We had propped ourselves up on a rock or horse trough, and it was a slow dawning to me that we were sitting opposite two dykes, one of them breastfeeding a baby. 

After all that energy expended, my meal prepared by Phyllis was most welcome to replenish my fat reserves. 

I bought a new range hood today. It will be delivered and installed next week and the old one taken away. It is just a simple electrical fault with the old one, but it would be visit by a tradesperson, then the wait for the part, then the repair, to what I think is a 15 year old range hood. The original range hood went out with a very sparkly bang, rather like Boud's microwave has just done. I try to remember Ray's words, 'it's only money'. 

Tales of Phyllis

Kosov was at work, so it was just Phyllis who I took to the big green shed, Bunnings hardware store, for charity fund raiser sausage with onions on top (controversial. Should they be on top or the bottom?). Phyllis declined the sausage. He thought it would be like a hotdog. 

He decided it was his turn to choose a balcony annual, and I really wish I had gone to the posh plant nursery in Surrey Hills. Most of the plants on offer looked like they were the leftovers after everyone had bought the best. We bought a purple pansy, which should be ok. Purple and mauve are Phyllis' favourite colour. 

It was then on to Port Melbourne's Bay Street, for coffee and cake. Phyllis bought a small pizza, and I as gay man, naturally bought a slice of lemon meringue pie. We both had coffee and then Phyllis bought a cake too. 

Phyllis was looking his absolutely girliest, wearing wide flowery pants, his nails beautifully painted, with plenty of bling and a new wrap over his shoulders. 

The back story. At the bakery there are two baristas, both of which Ray and I used to like. One is East European, cute with an almost shaved head. I would guess Latvian or Lithuanian. That is an educated guess. The other I think white Australian, and in summer when he wore tight shorts, well the rear view of him was rather impressive. It helps that they are both really nice guys too.

Well, the last barista I mentioned complimented Phyllis on his outfit and look, and then young female staff joined in with compliments to Phyllis. Phyllis was over the moon with the compliments. I full know what people think when they us out together. Ah yes, younger foreign born with a rich sugar daddy. I need a tee shirt, He is just my tenant. But that would be a lie. While Phillip and Kosov are my tenants, boarders, lodgers, whatever, they have become important in my life, and that was not what I was expecting. I know they will move on one day, but... I don't want to think about it. 

Phyllis attended Uni today, which is rare, everything is mostly online, and then later passed the final part of his driver learner permit test after visiting he VicRoads office and he now has a driving learner's permit.

I will suggest he has a couple of professional driving lessons by an RACV approved driving instructor, and I need to check my car insurance to ensure that a learner can drive my car. 

I was having my afternoon rest in my bedroom and about 5.15 Phyllis and Kosov arrived home. I could hear rapid fire voluble Tamil being spoken loudly. Somethings up.

I ventured out from my room and there much ado, with Phyllis having lost his phone. He soon went out to check where he has been. Later he went out to buy a new cheap sim card, so he could lock down his bank account. He was stressed, Kosov was stressed, and naturally I am stressed for him. He borrowed Ray's phone, but soon gave up on that. The big problem with getting his phone back is that the battery was flat. I hope some kind soul will charge up his phone and call the number that is not locked on the phone. If your memory is good, he lost his phone last year, the day before he returned to India to see his family. He got it back just hours before he was due to depart. 

He came to the kitchen just before 7.00 to prepare my meal. I told him to forget it. I can do it myself. He seemed relieved. 

I gave him comforting hugs and assured him even if he doesn't get his phone back, it is not the end of the world. Believe me, I know similar after my Google account was killed.

Ah, the kiddies keep me so occupied. Yes, my insurance covers him. He said he first wants a couple of driving lessons from me. I said not. I found a nice looking RACV driving instructor of Indian heritage. After a couple of lessons, then I will get his learning driver up to the needed hours. For a few years I taught people to drive, albeit not cars.

Tonight I called Tradie Brother for his birthday. He left his phone on his car roof two weeks ago, and it has not been returned after I guess falling off. Oldest Niece is sorting out a new phone and logins for her dad.

Here are a few photos of food Phyllis has made or improved.