Happy Holidays

I've already complained to Yarra Trams about public announcements and now I will complain about our ABC national broadcaster, tv, radio and the internet about the use of Happy Holidays instead of of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

There is the blindingly obvious that many people are not on holiday, as you who are are served by someone in a restaurant or pay at a petrol station for your fuel. Happy Holidays is such a middle class wish, taking no account of those who serve you and collect your rubbish while you are having Happy Holidays. Lordy, in Australia there are poor and or lonely people who have a miserable Christmas and certainly no happy holidays.

After forty years of workplace Christmas parties with Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and Hindus and their children, I don't think any had an objection to the Australian cultural celebration of Christmas. Most Australians are not religious and Christmas fun is just our culture. 

Yet ABC with the political correctness (I hate using that term) of Happy Holidays, the ABC also has dinosaurs like McNamara who see no future for electric cars and questions whether electric storage batteries actually work. 

Jesus effing christ. It does my head in. Maybe I need to change to ABC Classic (music). Perhaps there I will be wished Seasons Greetings, which I will be quite happy with. 

Not Monday Mural

It's just a sign but a very famous neon sign at that.

Pellegrinis is a very well respected and popular coffee bar in Melbourne and opened in 1954 by two Italian immigrants, the Pellegrini brothers. It is said to have had the first Italian style coffee machine in Melbourne. Perhaps. Others claim the same honour. Its neon sign is very old and very much catches eyes when lit at night.

Initially its customers were Italian immigrants but it became part of the exploding Melbourne coffee culture and became very popular with many people.

The business was bought in 1974 by Nino Pangrazio and Sisto Malaspina. Tragically Sisto was stabbed to death out on the street when he intervened after two others were stabbed by as I recall, a man who had serious mental health and drug issues. He was shot dead by police. It was a shocking crime and Sisto was given a State Funeral, which is no small deal for as small business operator.

On the landing of our level is a photo of Pellegrinis interior. It is only meaningful to those who know Pellegrinis. The seats of the stools are red vinyl and it would have been nice if they could been red in the photograph while keeping it as black and white, but still it is a good photo.

Lakes Entrance 2013

Some bloggers post photos from ten years ago and I kind of mean to that at some point. But this is a one off coincidence, taken ten years ago when we took a road trip, staying with a friend in Lakes Entrance and then visiting southern New South Wales. We stayed in motels along the way. It was a great holiday. 

Current resident of Lakes Entrance, Sparkling Merlot, rekindled memories of our boat trip to the Metung pub for lunch with lots to see and note while cruising along. There was an informative non recorded commentary by the captain.  Here are some photos from back then.

We took a break in Sale on our way to Lakes Entrance. A new roundabout had been built somewhere and our plug in sat nav device showed us driving way out in a paddock as we travelled the new roundabout. We were quite amused.

We checked out an art gallery recommended to us.

I am not sure if this was in Sale or Lakes Entrance. Actually, it was LE as we took a drive around the hills behind the town with our friend. We had a lovely seafood meal on a pontoon afloat on the lakes. 

I've no idea where these couple of photos were taken.

Lake Tyers. There was a man standing on the hotel roof trying to get a phone signal.

Some views from somewhere in Lakes Entrance, I think back west from the town. 

Strangely I never took a photo of the pub itself. I think this was the decking at the front.

Ah, I did take a photo of the pub.

Back in Lakes Entrance I think.

Every year a swan used to nest on a busy public footpath lakeside. Dogs on a leash would pass by without concern.

The gap at the top of the photo must be the entrance to Lakes Entrance.

A little bird feeding on our friends balcony.

The next day we left Lakes Entrance to visit the Buchan Caves. I have no idea where we went from there, but photos will tell the story.

A Fraught Friday

We met 16 year old niece Jo at the station and spent several hours with her town, and an hour or so back home. What a day. We were exhausted. A burst water main in the city saw Swanston Street trams out of action but we worked our way around that. It was a good day, but nice to have a drink before and after dinner.

You can't tell it is cheap sherry served from a Waterford crystal decanter but that is exactly what it is.

Scotch and nibbles after dinner must mean all food groups have been covered. 

Friday Funnies

Sometimes I come across much humour on the www, sometimes not. Aside from what Bob posts at times, often bleak humour, there hasn't been much of late but this amused me. I am Margaret when the detail is important, but my idea of what is fact and what is important is rather different to R's, and yes I did recently correct him on how many years we have been together. I'm always in trouble!

I am sure the lovely real Margaret in Tasmania is not like this, is she? 

The revolting kiddies

Teen age children have been out on the streets protesting against the invasion of Gaza by Israel. Once I was an ignorant young teenage supporter of Mao Tse Tung and the communist party in China. Naïve idealism, at best.

Most of my schoolmates were uninterested in such things as world politics but for some reason a few of us were. I was influenced by a fellow student, one Morag Mason whose older brother was studying at Monash University, which was probably the most politically active Melbourne university back then. I was given a copy of Mao's Little Red Book. I didn't read it. I was too busy sitting on top of my wardrobe chanting Hari Krishna.  We loved the Ford Cortina with the peace sign tail lights.

I don't have a problem with you if you are moderately religious, religion is just not my thing. Australia was riven by the Protestant and Catholic divide and even in my young years, I remember being at the 'mixed' Trafalgar swimming pool, hearing my older school mates chant Catholic dogs, sitting on logs, eating maggots out of frogs. The Catholics had a verse to chant to call back. Children are led by adults and there weren't Catholics in our family. Nothing was ever said, but we were just different to them. Even so, my parents were good neighbours with the Catholics on the farm next door to us, just not quite friends. Young people would simply not understand the Protestant/Catholic divide of my childhood. I think after the election of God Gough Whitlam, the divide just disappeared. Catholic or Protestant became of no interest to anyone. 

What we all wanted was world peace. Isn't that what the ignorant Australian children are protesting for. They seem to be unaware of the murder of innocents in Israel, the rapes and the abductions by Hamas. But by golly, isn't Israel having revenge against the innocent people of Gaza, dead person score way in Israel's favour. Israel has oppressed the people of Gaza for so long. 

The ignorant children here are not protesting against Israel. They are protesting against the killing and the injuring of children of their own age. Even as I was so ignorant, as they are, we all hate war and the killing of humans, especially if we feel empathy.

Religion causes so many problems in the world and this graph is interesting, stolen from Bob perhaps. I take a little pride in Australia being red on both counts. Let's keep it that way. 

Just another Choosedy

We had a very pleasant few hours with our Friend from Japan. We brunched at the perpetually busy Brunetti's  in Flinders Lane, busy for good reasons, then visited the reindeer at the Town Hall. More on them later. We walked past  the Myer Christmas window display last week and the queue was at the extreme. That was peak children viewing time. The queue was very short by about 1.30. The anatomic display this year was all about Bluey, apparently influencing US children to use Australian vernacular and slang, if not accents. We've bought a great niece and a great nephew Bluey pyjamas for Christmas. 

Then on to Federation Square to the Christmas decorations and Christmas tree. It was warm and very humid. A cold drink was called for so down stairs we headed, because the lift was not working, to Federation Wharf  and Riverland. We chose our different refreshing alcoholic drinks. It was so nice to see her and we chatted like we had seen her a month ago and not two or three years ago. She thinks she may like to return to Melbourne in her retirement but it is all quite up in the air. 

The effect of the refreshing drink was wearing off and I was feeling hot and bothered in my hated humid warm weather. It was time to head home. Four hours out were enough. 

A couple of updates.   

Coincidentally Jim of Sydney - City and Suburbs daily photo blog today posted a photo of this sculpture which we have seen. It is by the same artists as the sculpture I featured yesterday. The artists are Gillie and Marc and their website tells their interesting story. As I remember there are two or three of their sculptures at St Kilda Sea Baths which I have shown you back in the mists of time. 

Snap, Send, Solve update. I received an email acknowledging that the reports had been sent, and another when the messages were opened and a message that it had been sent to the appropriate department. I checked the rubbish bin yesterday and all was good. I expect the offending telephone wire connection post will take longer but I do know my complaint has been read by someone at Telstra.