The previous post was getting a bit long so I have started a new one!
This begins on 9 December with a drive to Altona for birding and retail therapy. The birds were quite good, the weather and insects rather less so. There were a lot (~100) of Pied Stilts, but as far as we could see no Avocets nor Banded Stilts.
A couple each of Common Greenshank and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Both Godwits were present (but not photographed).
Regular waders missing included Red-necked Stint and Pied Oystercatcher. A large flock of Whiskered Terns were loafing (and 178 counted on two images).
Leaving the beach we attended North Altona mall and then hit the Westgate Freeway. This was the first time we had done this since the Tunnel opened and I didn't realise quite where we were relative to the start of the tunnel. Quite soon we were in the Tunnel. I had intended to visit it sometime soon, just not right now. Out the far end and with a little prayer and a u-turn we were heading towards the Kingsway. The idea of the Tunnel is to carry a lot of traffic from Geelong and the M2 away from the bridge: on this trip there was next to no traffic in the Tunnel but the approach to Kingsway was (as usual) chockers. We made it home.
Later in the afternoon I felt the need for an exercise walk and Frances suggested Seekers Way as a destination. So off I went, with the temperature at about 30oC with odd spots of rain falling and my Myki card in my pocket. I got there as proven by this sign
I wandered down the street (above the sunk Dandenong Road expressway) to find the house in which Judith Durham lived (and I think where the band rehearsed: it is the leftmost of these two tiny places.
In view of the weather I decided to use my Myki from St Kilda Junction and seized the chance for a few snaps of the street art. The first two are at street level.
What follows are in the system of subways under the maze of major roads in this area.
I am unsure if I would walk through these paths after dark
Versions of this face also appears in a lot of the art near the Prahran Arcade.
The final snap for the day came later, with sunset peering through the overcast.
A quiet Saturday and Sunday
I spent a fair bit of the day peering at the TV watching the English Cricket team self immolate. Oh dear, what a pity.
Around 2030 hours Mr Sun gave a somewhat colourful performance. I had expected a totally orange sky, but the lower bank of cloud cancelled that.
After grand-daughters departed I passed time watching the Poms hang around, for far longer than they should have been allowed to. I was surprised at how much time the coverage devoted to the antics of the so-called Barmy Army (I have renamed them as the Nutter Navy and concluded they are like children on food colouring: ignore their tantrums and they'll eventually go away).
Later in the day a storm arrived with low cloud
... and eventually a good serve (14.2mm) of rain.
By 2030 it had stopped raining but still a solid overcast.
More music
These
two guys seem too good to pass on. And that turned out to be an excellent idea. They started busking in Bourke Street years ago and although they are touring musicians (and Aria Winners) now still like to do a Christmas gig on the streets of Melbourne. This year the busker-manager of the City Council asked if they would like to shift to a site in City Square near the Town Hall Metro Tunnel Station. Apart from anything else they didn't have to worry about audience-tram interactions
!I'm a sucker for a pooch in the audience.
Jack in particular played a wide range of instruments. Note the tambourine on the ground played with his foot (Pat used a pedal to play a baseline on a drum).
Gotta have a didgeridoo: this pops up again in the second set.
My guess was 300+ in the crowd. Who were very much into the music, and kids were used to ferry donations to
Childrens Garden collected in the traditional open guitar case. (Revenue from CD sales was also treated as a donation to that cause.)
This is in their second set (both went for 45 minutes rather than 30, but this is busking not a scripted formal performance. Jack is playing the didge but also holding a harmonica for Pat to play
!In the SMH article linked above Jack refers to going into the audience to beat on stuff: in the first set it was pavers, here it is the leg of a wheelchair I think.
And here it is the case of Pat's guitar
!The woman in the orange skirt was from the busker unit and was off assistance to me in getting through to the CD purchase and signing area. Obfuscation beats AI
!At one point there was a discussion about Jack getting a wireless electric guitar for a song. He rushed off to the truck to get it and the woman with long black hair helped get it going, Pat meanwhile was singing "These people have got places to go to ....."
Overall it was a really excellent show. Thank you Pierce Brothers and thank you Melbourne City for facilitation of the event.
Prahran on Christmas Eve
I went to Prahran Market on Christmas, with some foreboding after a friends post about the situation regarding bread and seafood at Preston Market. Here is a greeter on Commercial Rd: I refer to it as a Raw Prahran.
This is the start of the seafood queue.
It breaks to allow folk in to the rest of the market and then resumes inside.
Here is the queue for Q Le Baker.
Getting closer.
A subsidiary Q Q.
In view of the weather I decided to use my Myki from St Kilda Junction and seized the chance for a few snaps of the street art. The first two are at street level.
What follows are in the system of subways under the maze of major roads in this area.
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