The Home Front

Phyllis asked if I could take them our for a drive on Friday afternoon. He mentioned Point Ormond again. They both didn't have to work and I had only had vague stuff planned, so ok. They slept late, then both showered. While they body hygiene seems scrupulous, they don't shower every day. When they do, it will be a twenty minute shower. 

Phyllis said at about 2pm, we are going into RMIT in the city. I replied, you wanted to go for a drive. Either he had forgotten or he thought I had. 

We went for a drive, down Hotham Street and past the investment flat we used to own, to Balaclava, along Carlisle Street, then past the house Ray and I lived in before we moved here, down Chapel Street to Brighton Road and then to Glenhuntly Road with Elsternwick to our left as we turned right into Glenhuntly Road, through Ormond Village and on to Point Ormond. We walked up to the trig point, then down to a rock seawall. Their overt physical affection for each other was on display and I kept  looking at other people to see if they were noticing, but no one batted an eyelid. 

On to St Kilda where we parked in Woolworths underground car park, and bought a couple of things for dinner, as I had been commanded to cook! 

Back home via the Esplanade, Fitzroy Street, Lakeside Drive and Albert Road.  It was after 4.00pm, my rest time. 

By 5.40 I was in the kitchen. Phyllis had cooked exactly as I asked, 1.5 cups of rice. I am used to dealing with one cup of rice for two people. Half a cup more needs more spice and other ingredients. There weren't frozen peas for the fried rice. It will be less colourful, but still ok. 

The trouble with successfully cooking fried rice, they always want it again. 

Once the kitchen was cleaned, Phyllis embarked on his blueberry muffins cooking, made from scratch. They aren't too bad, but undercooked, although nice on the outside. He doesn't know the oven. It is a hot Italian oven, so once preheated, it cooks quickly.  For mine, if your want to cook muffins, buy a muffin mix box at the supermarket. 

I've trained them so well to use the dishwasher rather than washing dishes under a running tap. What won't fit in the dishwasher tonight, will fit in the dishwasher tomorrow. Rinse and repeat as required. 

Me snapping Kosov as he  snaps me.

A failed case

Travelling takes its toll, and did on my computer tablet case that I kept in my backpack when we visited England in 2023. One of the plastic corner brackets broke off. It's not that I was careless, rather just a a risk of travel. Then I think it was when I stayed at Sister's on The Bellarine when the other bracket broke off. I need a case as it acts as a stand for the tablet, with the broken one having magnetic strips to hold the screen in two different positions. 

It was still quite usable.

We shopped for the case after I bought the tablet. I thought the price of $35 was outrageous for what it was, but Ray said, oh you poor old man with no money and you can't afford a case for your new tablet. 

So yes, I bought the case. But now it was broken, I looked online at local shops, including the big blue shed, and it was still around the same price. 

I looked online at where else I could buy a case by mail order. There were some very cheap options and after my third try at looking, I found one I liked. Not so cheap. I could have received free delivery if I signed up for something, but nah. 

Including the delivery fee, it was about $25. The product is excellent, better than my old one. 

I can see why people buy online, and local retailers need to take notice. I like to look at things before buying them, and I couldn't in this case, but it turned out very well. 

You can see the broken top corners, and the magnetic strips on the base to hold the screen in position. 

The new one is better designed, with the deep grooves to hold the screen in place, and the strong top part. I am very happy. The delivery was ok.

More on mail order. I looked at several places in the city to buy a new letter opener. I don't know what happened to my old one. It just vanished when I rearranged things when I bought the stand for my desktop monitor. One day it will turn up. I could not find a new one and so I looked online and there were plenty. In the meantime Kosov lent me his pocket knife, but the sharp blade did not work as well. I ordered a new letter opener online and it duly arrived, and then that evening, Phyllis marches in with a new letter opener he found in souvenier shop. So now I have two! I don't receive much mail now, but when I do, I like to open an envelope with a letter opener and I have done so for years, with the openers nice neat cut at the top of the envelope.  

Missing Train lines

Meeting under the clocks is a classic Melbourne expression. Hels wrote about Flinders Street Station a couple of years ago, and its importance to the citizens of Melbourne. If you were catching up with a friend or relative in the city, you would meet under the clocks mounted over the steps at Flinders Street Station.

In the early nineteen eighties, the clocks were to be removed, maybe they even were, which lead to outrage and the government backing down and reinstalling the clocks, after converting them to electrical operation. 

Formerly they were operated by a man, yes always a man, with a long stick to adjust the hands for the next train on various lines, as well as drop down boards, showing a bit more detail, such as 'Express South Yarra to Malvern', which I don't think happened back then. As a young teen, I think the train used to stop all stations from Oakleigh to Flinders Street, but with often a wait for a platform in the railway yards before the City Loop opened in the 80s. I learnt the stations off by heart. 

So, lets have a look at the clocks. I recently saw a photo of the clocks from the early 1980s and the one on the far left was for the Lilydale line, which as was noted on the sign, change for Healesville. From the date on the photo from when the line was cut back to Lilydale was a few months, so it is forgivable for it still to be mentioned on the sign.

All is good with these clocks, except St Albans is now Sunbury and Broadmeadows is now the Craigieburn line.  

Not all trains had clocks at the main entrance, so to the side are clocks for other lines. 

But two lines are missing, the Epping and Hurstbridge train lines, the former now known as the Mernda train line. Why is this so?

No doubt it is to do with Princes Bridge Station, which I think was platform connected to Flinders Street Station, and just on the other side of Swanston Street. I remember it as being quite horrible and feeling a bit snobby about those who had to use the station. The trains served places very alien to me. 

Federation Square was built where the station sat.

 

So yes, those two train lines used a different railway station, but it was connected to Flinders Street Station. 

There weren't protests when Princes Bridge Station was demolished, and no doubt it had its own clocks to display train departure times. I must have used the station as I remember it smelt bad.

Coming down and going up

You know you are ageing when you see buildings being demolished that you remember being built. In this case, it is a good thing. The demolished building was a cheap hotel. I can even remember the Bayview advertising for new staff for its opening in the mid 1980s, I think.

I could have done a whole lot better with the progression of demolition, but no matter. Here is what I took.

The two lower buildings are joined.

I have better views. 

As was the case when the hotel was built, so too is the old mansion still a protected building. 

Meanwhile looking towards Fawkner Park, a large and bulky 70s or 80s office building was demolished and a new apartment building is being constructed.  The new building obstructs less of my view than the old building did. 

Along the grand boulevard of St Kilda Road, office block buildings are coming down and apartment buildings are rising. Very expensive apartment buildings now, unlike the comparatively cheap seats where I live. 

I didn't mind but Phyllis got it wrong

Mostly written Sunday night.

I normally go to bed at 11pm. If I am not in bed by then, Phyllis leaves his bedroom, stands over me and says BOI, bedtime. It is a good reminder of time when one can be caught up in the world of the internet or television.

Last year I did not adjust well to the end of daylight saving, waking an hour early. I turned off my alarm this year and woke up an hour later, fully adjusted to the end of daylight saving. 

I heard it on the wireless, so it must be true that heart attacks drop by 20 odd percent on the morning that daylight saving ends. Conversely they increase by 20 plus per cent when daylight saving begins. 

Twenty minutes ago, Phyllis just did just stand over me, suggesting it was my bed time, at 9.58. I replied, Phyllis, you haven't corrected your beside clock for the end of daylight saving time, have you?

The penguin post yesterday was very much a last minute post, as I had been out, dining with Sister, Bone Doctor and Jo at the Victoria Hotel, where they stayed the night, with their car parked here in my carpark. They were seeing comedian and former ABC radio broadcaster Sammy J at Melbourne Town Hall, They had plans for the next day, but never really followed through with them. The hotel breakfast for what they could choose from was a bargain at $25. We all had burgers the night before for $22 each. They then shopped for a dress for Jo, for a school formal event. I'll leave the photos up for 24 hours. She chose the black dress for the event and the red dress, because I told her she looked fabulous and it was beautifully designed and made. The one she didn't buy was nice too. 

I lamented to them that I felt unable to travel. I just feel so impotent about planning anything. They suggested I stay with them for the forthcoming anniversary of Ray's death but already Ex Sis Law has suggested a picnic for the day. I don't know. Bone Doctor has a two day conference in Sydney mid year, and asked if I would like to go with her. That might be good, to at least go with her but stay on longer than the two nights she will stay. I will stay at their Bellarine Peninsula abode mid year for a week to look after their cats. 

Not bought.

Oh yes, very nice.

And the little black dress. 

A laugh

At least the 10% tax on the penguins of Heard and McDonald Islands has given us a laugh in the extraordinary world within we live.

Jackie in the threatened country Canada's city of Toronto posted a great collection of memes about Australia's territory islands. The more stupid the US administration is made to look, the better, and to use American words, boy is it looking pretty damn stupid. 

https://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2025/04/penguins-rule.html

Sunday Selec.....or Tales of Kosov

I don't think about our Friday and Saturday night all night limited public transport service. Kosov had to start work at Doncaster at 9pm until 1.30am. It was his first night there and he said it was so busy. Apparently there was a large party who had booked for 11.30pm until 12.30am. Who would be up at that hour to feast on pancakes? Weird. (Old man talking)

Kosov was thinking of Ubering home as there wasn't public transport. He didn't realise he needed to look at the next day for public transport in the early morning. I spent half an hour checking public transport for him, and gave him details. Phyllis went out to meet him after work, so clearly he knew about night public transport. You know, late night public transport is just wonderful for people who can't possibly drive and need to work at odd times.

He was home for a couple of hours and then by 6am he went off to his next job, a Bundoora hamburger place, to which he could catch a train/bus or a tram. 

Phyllis again went out to meet him at the end of his shift, and they arrived home at 4pm. Kosov looked like crap. One of his eyes seemed to be looking in a different direction. Maybe his contact lens had slipped. He was exhausted. He slept for a couple of hours and Phyllis fed him and me, and off he went again to work in Bundoora. 

There is nothing wrong with their work ethics.

At least Phyllis was home tonight to reconstruct and serve my tuna mornay dinner. 

Oh dear. The Lego train has come to grief. It has grown in length, and miniature Lego dinosaurs are appearing. My rule that there is one shelf on the shelving unit for their use is being ignored. I care not. I did clamp down on an extra cactus, now in their bedroom, more things on the bench beyond the train, and stuffs sitting on the filing cabinet. Surfaces sweetie, surfaces.