This Is The Story » Melbourne

Dwarvish maps

StooJ — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:36:26 +0000

Dear Australia Post

I’m sorry no one was in receive our parcel last week. You thoughtfully left a card with information on how to pick it up from your parcel depot, complete with a little map.

Small map to find the local AU parcel depot

Which caused me no little confusion. In Melbourne, there are several streets with the same name. So when I see a map with a Chapel street running left to right, I think it runs from East to West.
Melbourne is not Middle Earth.
I am not a dwarf.

May I request a future redesign of your cards with standard mapping practices in mind (north goes at the top) for us poor people who haven’t lived here long and think there might be two Chapel Streets.

Cheers.

Stoo

Leonard Cohen plays Melbourne

StooJ — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:13:26 +0000

I sent a text to my mum last night along the lines of “Guess where I am!”. But then he came back on stage again and I didn’t see her reply.

Leonard Cohen in concert 2008 (courtesy of wikipedia)

Yes, Gin & I saw Leonard Cohen live last night at Rod Laver arena (where the Australian open was, by the way). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; after all, the guy is now 74. What I wasn’t expecting was to be blown away.

He was magnificent.

In incredible voice, backed by a superb band and up alongside Sharon Robinson (10 New Songs, Everybody Knows, Waiting for the Miracle etc) and seeming to have a brilliant time, he skipped onto the stage and gave a marathon 3 hour set.

And at 74, he still has women screaming their love for him.

Still more HEAT

StooJ — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:07:33 +0000

Melbourne still struggles under an oppressive heat, although it cooled of a little this evening. With all the air-conditioners and fans being abused throughout the state, the power grid has started a programme of rolling blackouts. Areas of the city get their electricity cut off for around an hour at a time to reduce overall demand.
I spent most of the day stuck in horrible traffic jams under an unrelenting sun. The car’s thermometer recorded 50°C, right about the time I ran out of water and had to find a towel to mop up the pool of sweat collecting on the steering wheel. Since the temperature hasn’t really dropped below 40°C in three days (and nights) the city feels like it’s going into meltdown. It is incredibly difficult to sleep in the heat, and tempers are fraying everywhere. Melbourne drivers, anxious at the best of times (although not as bad as Sydney drivers I’m told) are becoming positively belligerent while Melbourne’s seemingly random traffic restrictions (no right-turns in places I could right-turn into last week, with accompanying unsigned and round-about diversions), all at a snails pace in searing heat did little to improve my mood.

The search for a place to stay didn’t progress very far either. After reaching the other side of the city, I discovered the keys for a flat hadn’t been returned yet by previous hopefuls, and after an hour and a half of waiting I gave up and came home. We’ll head out tomorrow and try again.

With no electricity this evening Gin & I had a blissful few hours outside in the cool change (29°!) without worrying that we should be glued to computers researching places to stay and programming to do. We’ll get back to real life tomorrow, but for now it’s cold shower time.

Looking for a place to stay

StooJ — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:35:52 +0000

Although Gin & I are staying in a pretty nice place just now, we’ve realised that we both want to have somewhere to ourselves. So, I’m house-huntin’.

Having never lived in a big city before, I’m not sure how Melbourne compares to other places so this may be the norm: 15 minute viewing windows.

We find a place we like and there will be only one opportunity to view the property, usually between 17:00 & 17:15 on a single day. Now, this isn’t just a booking for us. This is for anyone who wants to view the place. Can demand be so high? It took a month and a half before I rented my flat in Scotland out!

Also, filling in forms and trying to keep them sweat-free in 46°C heat is not a lot of fun. The heat continues.

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Distance swam today: 1km

HEAT

StooJ — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:35:58 +0000

It is probably appropriate that the inaugural Australian post will be about the HEAT.
Anyone in Scotland will undoubtedly be aware of the temperatures here this week; since they have all been following the tennis rather closely.
When I talked about Australian temperatures in Scotland, I was often treated to a disbelieving look of “nowhere gets that hot!” Today I feel vindicated! 48.2°C in Victoria today, while Melbourne hit a mere 45. That is 113°F.
I’m pretty sure that after a few days of unrelenting heat (it’s still 32°C/89.5°F and past midnight) will wear off the sweaty shine, but the novelty still makes wandering around outside frankly hilarious. Who knew that your ears could sweat?

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Distance swam today: 1km