Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas if you are of that bent. If you aren't then hold your breath and it will quickly pass. I'm holding my breath and hope it disappears, after great family get togethers for Christmas. Go figure. It is my culture, nothing religious for me.

I didn't take too many photos for Christmas when out and about but here are a few.

A gay former acquaintance lives at Prahran Central with his partner. I wonder if this is his Christmas decorated apartment balcony.

Melbourne's Christmas tree at Federation Square.

Viewed from Flinders Street Station.

Commercialising Christmas by City of Stonnington in Toorak Road. Yes, ok, that horse bolted a long time ago.

At Melbourne Town Hall.

A new underground train tunnel is being built under Melbourne into the north west of Melbourne and south east very near us. This in neon was on the hoardings.

On the other side of street I took this short video.

Prahran Square.

Choose your side to sit and hope you have made the right choice.

Getting into the Christmas spirit.

Closer to home, our building's Christmas tree.

Even closer to home, in our home. No one aside from us has seen our tree.

I love this creation by R.

Many years ago Ex Sis in Law decorated these light bulbs and gave them to us for Christmas and each year they come out.

Still in the family, at ABI Brother's. Murrella was the name of my grandparent's house and the name in wrought  iron was on the front of her house. It moved to Mother's house when her parents died and now adorns ABI Brother's house where Mother now  lives.

Cut the Red Tape

We need to cut red tape for businesses to get our economy growing, thus create jobs and get our country moving again.

Every so often you will hear a politician spout this or similar and at times they act and cut red tape and what is the result?

It can often end in tragedy. 

The Grenfell Tower fire in London where it all went so horribly horribly wrong. 

Local government monitoring of construction of buildings red tape cut and handed over to private inspectors resulting in, while not a tragedy has resulted in people losing tens or hundreds of thousand dollars. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/cracked-towers-spark-widespread-safety-fears-about-high-rises-poll-20200106-p53p7n.html

Private companies overseeing construction of tram platform stops built by private contractors in Melbourne? A great idea. https://twitter.com/9NewsMelb/status/1336611866576089091

Is your impression of Australia it is a very safe country, aside from our tourist killing creatures? (While drop bears are native Australian animals, they have no tree preference and can drop from any tree, including an elm, oak and maple) We are a first world with very high engineering and safety standards. You will find rheams of rules and regulations but who enforces them?

In the 1970s when I jointly owned the motor car service station with my step mother, about every six months a government inspector from Weights and Measures would visit and measure that the quantity of fuel dispensed from the petrol bowsers matched what was displayed on the pump. I remember they used to also check supermarkets, butchers, fishmongers and greengrocer scales. Now red tape has been removed, none of those pesky inspectors checking your honesty and I expect such businesses check themselves and upload their findings. (Any knowledge River?)

Australians trust that our safety standards are of the highest order, as did Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozbeh Araghi and not connected to them, tourist Cindy Low. Photo from ABC.

To put it bluntly they were mashed up in the mechanism of a ride on the Australian Gold Coast theme park. A private amusement ride company self regulating? Yes, let's get rid of all red tape of government regulation and let there be no government regulatory inspections of safety standards. Not really what you would expect in The Great Southern Land.

  

The Highrise Flora

We usually buy a bunch of flowers on Fridays at South Melbourne Market. If we are lucky they will last a week but that is a bit rare. Even the worst performing cut flowers, flag iris anyone?, last until Tuesday and then we are flowerless until Friday. Flowers last the least time when the heating is on midwinter.

This week we have a plethora of flowers. 

Ok, I just happened to take a photo of last weeks flowers and it was in the folder for this post.

Gladdies bought Friday. Probably at their best this Tuesday evening. Not sure any more blooms will open.

R's sisters in England sent this lovely bunch. It is so nice. There is even holly in there as I felt the prick my hand brushed past. Mother asked how it was transported and still looked so fresh. At least she knows her geography, if not how the international flower delivery system works.

I would not have done this to my own brother without asking, but R said 'ABI Bro in Law, secateurs please', and R promptly snipped off some of ABI Brother's hydrangea blooms, along with some rosemary and mint. 

Changing Rooms

An American bloke wrote about being naked and exposed to others in an open sports shower room in his school years. Now in his senior years he feels like it was child abuse. Public nudity was so wrong and says he has serious issues with exposing his early naked self to his schoolmates. Perhaps he could sue the school? (I read this some time ago and failed to save a link)

Duh, get over it love. We were exposed all the time in public showers, at the gym or the pool or other sporting events. We were perhaps too young to know if we were straight or gay but we all looked at each other and noted the differences. Some of us, ok me, might have looked harder than others. Fats Aitken wasn't called Fats because of his build. The very nerdy Big Hangers got his nick from some reason.

Japanese and many Europeans aren't at all bothered by public nudity.

I have kind of overcome it now, the thought that all Americans are very prudish. I know differently now, but I am a product of seeing Darren and Samantha, and the newly married Mike and Carol with three children apiece, all sleeping in separate beds. Clearly Mike and Carol would not have a joint child without some divine intervention, or a The Postman Always Knocks Twice moment.

Bad ABC

Two important reports were handed down today, one into how our State Government failed with its hotel quarantine system and the other how badly our Federal Government nursing homes performed during the height of the pandemic, leading to many deaths. Both were absolute chaos but of course in these modern times you will  not see a minister of The Crown resigning in disgrace and shame.

Never mind that New South Wales has a COVID outbreak from seemingly a member of an international flight crew and this is after our country, aside from returning quarantinees from overseas, had around 40 days of no COVID. We killed it through harsh measures but the virus is free again.

Our ABC Radio covered the matter well enough today. I was looking to ABC TV 7.30 current affairs programme to give these matters some colour and analyse. But, it seems 7.30 shut down last Thursday. This is really not good enough. Our ABC would reply to a query, sorry but budget cuts and allocation of recourses. 

Naturally politicians are aware of this and that is why such reports are handed down as the media goes to sleep for the week before Christmas.

On such an important day surely Our ABC has a kitty to fund a special edition of 7.30. As a forty year supporter of Our ABC, I am not happy.

Monday Mural

Joining in with Sami and others for Monday Mural.

Writer of graffiti on buildings and a serial tagger,  Sinch has been dead for a number of years after he was killed while skylarking on the roof of a moving train. Could this mural really be by him? I don't know and I can't be bothered checking. I've seen his name elsewhere written falsely.  They are nothing wonderful but better than bare brickwork on a utility building in Centenary Reserve, Port Melbourne.  

Handsome Man Quiz Answer

I've no idea who the Anon is who correctly guessed the photo was of a young Sir Ian McKellen. Whoever you are, take a bow or curtsey. I know an easy way to find out such things using Google Photos. I have been the victim of a hoax though. I read last year somewhere that Sir Ian had died but it is not true. While doing my usual ten second research for a post to get his birth and death dates, I found out he is alive and possibly well. (1939-....) Apparently he died in 2017 too.

Sunday Selections

I am joining in with Elephant's Child and others for Sunday Selections, this week is just randomness.

We visited Altona Village/Beach for brunch. I hadn't noticed these metal cut-outs before.

Part of Pier Street has been turned into a summer mall and The Esplanade has been blocked and a block to the east has also been turned into a mall.

A cheery sight when we were locked down.

My birthday present from R in October. Well, it did have the appropriate bottle within.

With an interesting interior to the box.

For children to play in I suppose.

This unwelcome proselytising book was placed in every residents' mail box. If it was a novel, a book this size might cost $20. The religious nutters have way too much money. Straight to the recycling bin. 

We bought the dress on the left for one of the twins for Christmas. Look at the featured dress! Almost an old ladies crimplene evening dress. Who would dress a girl in that. 

There hasn't been a horse sighting in Commercial Road outside The Alfred Hospital as far as I know for decades, so the water supply to this horse trough was switched off but I can remember when it worked. The floating ball automatic refilling mechanism is protected behind the white barrier.

The changing background of the rather nice Koornang Road, Carnegie. We were visiting our travel agent.

Found on the internet. Pretty cool, hey. (I hope I haven't posted this before)

Nine months after panic buying began as COVID arrived in Australia are the toilet paper hoarders dumping their excess? 

I remember shoe lasts being rather different to this.