The SKINNY BUILDING

Earlier this week while taking a different route to work (well, I get bored with the same old route), I came across a skinny building. Sometimes streets make triangles because our town planners back then may have had this strange little moment and thought, "someone might just build a skinny building here".

Someone did!!!!

The building is the International Order of Rechabites in Melbourne.

What a hideous order that pledges to "Drink no Wine" - not something I would want to have anything to do with!!

Middle Park and Albert Park - Melbourne

Today I rode my bike with friends to a cafe in Middle Park today - its a suburb of Melbourne on the bay. Middle Park and Albert Park are two of our early inner suburbs (4 kms from the CBD) with some great architecture. Middle Park and its neighbouring Albert Park are both Heritage Conservation areas due to the buildings from our early history. The wide leafy streets of the suburb were part of of some very forward thinking by our early town planners.
Below are photos from early last century.

Next weekend, Albert Park, the neighbouring suburb will host the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix which I expect will thrill the local residents to no end. Since the inception of the F1AGP, there has been a strong local lobby group to have the event stopped but to no avail. ($$$$$$) However figures are never released of what this event costs the tax payers of Victoria.

I've been busy lately - OK!!!

Yes, I know, I've been missing off the radar for a week or more but I've been busy lately - OK!!!

Work at work, work at home - where does the time go.

I enjoy blogging, you meet nice people, you enjoy that little bit of voyeurism, looking into their lives, sharing yours. Sharing where you live. You know I pass so many interesting places on my 50 km journey to work each day, BTW that's 50 km back home as well. BUT I'm too busy to stop as I admire the buildings, the people I pass, people commuting to their 8 hour day.

This week we had our annual ride to work day - not me, I'm in my metal womb because who wants a 100 km ride to work and home again. So my day consisted of a drive to South Melbourne for breakfast, coffee and fruit toast, a latte and a read of the Melbourne Age newspaper. I like the Age, it has great articles and Thursday has the week's Melbourne tellie guide.

After brekkie at the cafe, I almost passed a building that has intrigued me for ages - but this time I parked the car and took my iPhone for a photo shoot. 

The building sits on a corner and displays "ghost signs" that beckons you to imagine what went on inside over a century ago. What remedies did they sell? Did they work? Cures for 3d, miracles for 6d.

I did a search but Scott's Balsam is still a mystery to me at sixpence.

Rhubarb pills for hot flushes - how many for threepence?

A Walk in the City

It's a long weekend here in Melbourne. Why? Well you might well ask, the answer confuses me!
We celebrate the second weekend in June for the Queen's Birthday. Most of you would realise that it's not really Lizzie's birthday, that's passed. I really don't have an explanation as to why we celebrate on this particular weekend. It is the opening of the ski season so maybe we just need a long weekend to get to the Alps. Not much snow at this time of the year really but it does give those Skiing folk a chance to play merry I guess.

As we parked and alighted from the car, I took this photo of architecture in Elizabeth Street.
I must admit that Melbourne has some great architecture - although we have destroyed a great deal as well.

As for Sue and I, well the bathroom renovation saga slowly grinds along but we thought we might just pop in to the Melbourne CBD. As you know, we call the blog - "Melbourne - Our Home by the Bay", but really, we are around 20 kms out of the city proper. We hardly go to town and although it has much to offer, we realised today that we are not big city people. Our retirement dream of Launceston on the apple isle of Tasmania is looking a little more promising after today.

I said to Sue that I would like to wander down the historic arcades of Melbourne. Royal and Block arcades take you from Bourke Street to Collins Street and you can continue down the laneways to Flinders Street and the Yarra River.

We parked the car at the top end near Bourke Street and then entered the Royal arcade from Elizabeth Street. The Royal Arcade was built in 1869. It has a high glass roof and the most magical shops. Towards one end of the arcade it has the mythical figures of Gog and Magog and between the two is a huge clock the charms on the hour.

As you walk through Royal Arcade you pass by the mythical figures above and into Collins Street. Across the road is the Block Arcade. To the right just happen to be a red Ferrari parked outside (where else but) Tiffany and Co. Obviously on on our budget it was but at least worth a peruse. Block Arcade has this black and white mosaic floor and above a glass and wrought iron canopy. It reminds us of the covered arcades of Paris. In fact further up Collins Street is known as the Paris end of Melbourne.

Shabby and need a need paint job, this building is in the laneway of Little Collins Street.

And next door to the one above is this building - if you enlarge you will see it reads - "The City of Melbourne Building", why I do not know!

Block Arcade I believe gained its name by the fact that early Melburnians would promenade around the block in the late 1800s, early 1900s. A little further on as you walk towards the Yarra and Flinders Street it becomes a much more bohemian with little coffee shops and some very creative graffiti.

Don't get us wrong, we love Melbourne, but today told us that a change is in the wings. Melbourne is a great city for the young but for us - we need a tree/sea change. After escaping the big smoke, we drove down to Middle Park, a suburb of Melbourne not far from the bay. There's a special little wine bar there that I've taken Sue to on various occasions. A very nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc awaited us and I purchased a Tassie Pinot Noir to go with the chicken dish she had in mind for Sunday night's meal.

 A Sunday night movie and off to bed - YES, tomorrow is a holiday day....

BLOCK ARCADE

1940 Cyclists in Melbourne

What a full weekend - My father is still with us until Tuesday and we are off to the top end of Tassie the following day.
We'll be posting daily while down there so keep tuned.
I have to say that Jack has taken up all our time and he's really enjoyed being here and what we do together has been a personal joy.
His life has been  is dominated by our sport of cycling. Jack brought down a photo of him and his cycling buddies riding back from a training ride through Melbourne CBD in 1940. After their training ride thay would stop somewhere in Swanston Street for Malted Milk shakes.
In those days we had two defined racing seasons - winter for road racing and track racing in summer.
You may notice from the photo that the "boys" were riding their track bikes - no brakes, no helmets and definately no LYCRA back then.

Jack is in the second row to the right in this photo - his brother Les, my uncle to Dad's left.
Now tell me, what chance did I have of not being engrossed by the sport?

Like Jack, the sport has given us many experiences and friends - last Saturday night I took him to the indoor velodrome for the last big meeting of the season - he loved it and was reunited with the many people who know him.
He flys out Tuesday to the Gold Coast, Queensland - in 4 weeks he celebrates his 92nd birthday.

That's Jack second row to the right in the photo - He's still got a great head of hair at 91.

I've been asked by our good friends in the Loire about "Wednesdays in France" and I can tell you that its still ongoing - I have a post prepared but with the "Old Fella" staying and work, I'm lagging behind.

The Australian F1 Gran Prix in Melbourne

Only this week, I took a short cut to work by Albert Park Lake. In a few weeks time, the Australian Formula  1 Grand Prix will be held and the sound of F1 racing cars will be heard through out the Melbourne CBD and surrounding areas.

Back in the 50s it was the venue of the AGP but was banned by the Liberal Government - it was brought back to the Park in the 90s by the Libs - how quickly the Pollies forget.

Anyway lets return to the story - part of the road was blocked and so I was sent on a detour that took me on the actual home and finishing straight. The high guard fences were going up, the grand stands had been erected and the track walk-overs were all in place.

2013 will commemorate 60 years since that 1st Australian Grand Prix on the Lake.

Hooning down the finishing straight, I was passed by commuting  cyclists.

The crowds stood to their feet to congratulate me on my win in 2013.
Yes, I was having a Walter Mitty moment!

HAVAGOODWEEKEND

Where I grew up

Its been some 30 years since I moved to the Melbourne Bayside area from the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Having my father stay a long weekend with Sue and I gave me sometime to reflect on my roots. I was born in Preston, a northern suburb of Melbourne. Initially it was called Irish Town. The early settlers came from Sussex in England and wanted to call it after their home city of Brighton but Melbourne already had a Brighton which was located on the bay. Preston was their next choice.

Taking Dad back home we decided on catching up with friends who have just bought a home nearby the old district - yes it has changed.

Preston was my birth home - later we moved further up the train line to Reservoir.

I often cycled from home through this intersection - not the traffic signals to the left hand side.

By a strange coincidence, their home is just around the corner from where I almost bought a block of land in the early 70's. The asking price back then was under $2000 and a reasonable home would have cost $8000 to $10000 to build.
At the time our family home was most probably only 2 kms away from that block. The land was under development and although the estate was surveyed in the 1918, it was still acres of farmland, mainly dairy and paddocks with some roads just going in. I remember distinctly that it was called "Merrilands Estate" and it was survey by a Saxil Tuxen who went on to do further work for many other government bodies. He took over his Danish father's practice around 1913 after his father's death.

The Real Estate agent took us to the block but was a little confused in locating it. So he unravelled the original Estate drawings. They were in a roll form with two pieces of doweling with the parchment attached at each end. The drawings showed a grand community with a Town Hall, Police Station and Post Office located on a huge roundabout. Behind this civic centre were the recreational fields designed for Football, Cricket and Cycling. On the outer section of the football field was to be a flat cycling velodrome.

Our second home was on the Merrilands Estate - not too far away was the Edward's Park Lake, an early playground for us kids with a bike. Edgar's Creek meandered through the Merrilands Estate until it was contained by a small spillway to form this lake.

Later as the population grew, the lake and the park developed to offer several form of recreation such as sailing, rowing and if brave enough, swimming.

This earlier postcard gives an impression that it was nearly a swamp. This was taken from the top end as the creek filled the lake.

We passed by these roads and grounds today and some of the sections intended by Tuxen are there, albeit in a more modern theme. The civic buildings never appeared. By the time the area was being developed in the 70's and 80's, there was no need for them. Remember this Estate was designed before much of the area had been developed but it got lost in time and as more land was required, it was opened up.

Edward Street was the main shopping centre of Reservoir and it ran down towards the Edward's Park Lake.

Initially the district was given the name of Reservoir as the area had three reservoirs constructed in 1864, 1909 and 1913 and was used to filter Melbourne's water supply from the Yan Yean catchment area, some further 30 kms further north at the foothills of the mountain range.

High Street in it's different forms runs from Melbourne to Reservoir.

I enjoyed growing up in the district, school, sport, friends gave great memories but as we grow,we change, move on. Our horizons grow, we develop and change the way we think. Although a wonderful rush of memories returned, our life in Mentone by the bay brings a lifestyle that would be hard to trade.

Houses with Names

What do you call your house - we call ours a home.

Many people do give their home a name. Older homes in the inner Melbourne had names above on the facia of the house. I sometimes wonder who named the house. Was it the first owner or was it the builder of the day. Most apartment blocks have a name, something that supposedly adds a bit of prestige, that is until it becomes old and run down.

What was the influence for these names?
So many questions without answers!

So I said to Sue, "Let's take a drive along Beach Road and see what names we can see on the houses".

Venezia Court - I looked most of the buildings up on the Internet to see if I could find where their names may have come from. Venezia Court has a one bedroom apartment for lease currently at $450 per week. You can walk across from the apartment directly to the beach.
Sorry - no Gondoliers there.
Many of the apartment and home names along the beach roads of Port Phillip Bay tend to have an influence from Italy. Our Suburb of Mentone takes its name from the city of Menton on the French/Italian border. This influence seems to carry through from our suburb to Port Melbourne.

San Remo we all know is in Italy. This apartment was built after WWI in what I'm told is the Arts and Crafts style based on the Californian Bungalow theme.



Taranto apartments may have its origins from the Italian city on the Gulf of Taranto.
Not much more than I can add to that.



Although here in Bayside Melbourne, Woy Woy is on the NSW central coast. During the 1950s, Spike Milligan's parents moved from the UK to this quiet town established in the 1820's.
Spike would often visit his parents and Woy Woy to relax from the show biz world and even described it as the largest above ground cemetery.



L'Avenir I'm informed means something like "In the Future" and I believe there's a hotel in Paris and Brussels by the same name.



Again the Italian influence is evident with Capri - the island off the coast near Naples.

I had no idea where the origin Singara came from until I did a Google.
Singara was a fortified post in Mesopotamia which was captured by the Romans in 114.
So there - I guess another Italian influence albeit a little convoluted.
Not sure why David stands under the porch though!

Kiora is a grand old building on South Rd Brighton Beach area.
Built in the late 1800s it later became an exclusive girls school.
Today it is heritage listed and is an apartment house.

Just prior to starting the search for house names we decided on coffee and a snack at quite a nice Patisserie opposite this grand old building in Bridport Street, Albert Park.

So back to work tomorrow with the next post in our Wednesdays in France almost completed. We leave Thenay on our way to Sancerre.

So far - 64 photos of France and only 301 to go, or with Leap Year did I miscalculate?
http://frenchtravelswithmywife.blogspot.com.au/

Birthday Boys as Christmas draws closer

Al and KT celebrate their birthday.

Can you imagine having your birthday so close to Christmas? Two of my bike buddies celebrated anther year of life at the Sandringham Yacht Club, just a few kms down the road from home. It always reminds me of the time back in 2006 when we spent an over night stay in Menton on the border of France and Italy.

We sat on the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the Mediterranean ocean. The scenes from the Sandy Yacht Club are very much the same.

No white Christmas for us in Melbourne - Blue skies, and 26 degrees predicted for Christmas Day. As I call it a day it's still 27C now with a low of 17C in the morning.

Monaco - no, just the Sandy Yacht Club.

How come this place is not crowded on such a lovely day - maybe they are doing the last of their Christmas shopping?

Two more sleeps before Santa arrives and people enjoy the beack with their children and dogs on the beach beside the Sandringham Yacht Club.

As Christmas draws closer (two more sleeps) we think of our son Andrew who is currently in Morocco. I know that many of you out there are also a long way from family at this time. A time for phone calls and emails and maybe a call on Skype.