Getting old and degaying

R, I would quite like to see the film called Belfast. It is not a great movie and John Gray of Wales was underwhelmed by it, the Yorkie Pudding bloke and his missus quite liked it. We'll go tomorrow hey, Sunday, to the lovely Como Palace Cinema. No rush. Film starts at 11.50, perfect for us who are not inclined to do early, and you will be home for your nanna nap by 2.30

That was Saturday morning planning for Sunday. We then caught a tram to St Kilda purely for a small brunch and coffee. Along the way we noticed stuffs happening in St Kilda. Then I remembered, Sunday is Gay Pride March. Of course it didn't happen last year because of you know what, but over the years we have been to many pride marches and if you look back at my blog there are many Pride March photos. In earlier days we would gather as large group of friends, lunch, drink and then follow the end of the march to the Catani Gardens where there would be performances, exhibits and lots of fun. Invariably we would run into people who hadn't seen since the last Pride March. 

A couple of times Sister and Bone Doctor marched, along with Little Jo and they also joined us for lunch. One year I think we had twelve people at an outdoor table for lunch before the march. Great times but distant memories. 

R said, our Hair Dresser Friend likes Pride March. She lives ten minutes walk away from Fitzroy Street. 

We both left the question hanging for the rest of the day. Belfast or Pride March?

Late evening R asked me, which do you really prefer to do. I chose the movie. Pride March is hard work and as trams stop running in the area, it is hard to get home. R is not keen on walking distances now and I am not so keen either. There are other trams, but far from direct. 

We caught the 58 tram to the cinema, had a nice brunch beforehand at Laurent.

Belfast was good, although a little dwelling at times. As in all British films I've seen the acting cannot be faulted. The young boy was brilliant, as was whoever played his mother. Her tearful reasons for not moving from Belfast to England was superb. 

Pride March would have been good too, but no regrets about choosing Belfast over a gay outing.

Wednesday, I have to function early for stich removal after last week's face skin cancer biopsies. We are then away for a few days. See you soon.

Transport Tuesday

The train journey between Sydney and Melbourne should take about three hours by high speed train. The flight takes about 80 minutes but of course there is add on time for what you undergo at airports. Most choose to fly. 

Google Maps tells me by car the journey time is nine hours. Leave home when you want to make the trip.

Flight time 1 hour, twenty minutes with many flights each day. You do have to get to the airport though.

Train, one overnight train each day and takes twelve hours. You do have to get to Southern Cross Station though. Maybe the train is modern with all facilities and really comfortable? I don't think so. The train is forty years old. While capable of 200 km/h, the track is so bad it can only run at half that speed for most of the trip, only at times reaching 160 km/h.

Sleeper trains can be good, but what can you see outside the train window mid winter at night??? Just darkness.

In the 1960s Japan started to build its Shinkansen, a high speed train on high speed tracks. In Europe high speed trains link major cities and countries. Aside from Eurostar, England is quite behind. We won't even mention North America. 

Since the early 1980s successive Federal Governments have funded studies and planning into a high speed train between Sydney and Melbourne, paying consultants huge amounts of money. Private companies have shown interest in investing in such a project and have too spent money on proposals. The Melbourne to Sydney line has been patched up but the patch up made it worse, with mud holes where the concrete sleepers that replaced timber sleepers sink into mud because of poor foundation work. 

I reckon if you include the money that has been wasted on studies and plans, patching up the existing system, the lack of revenue from people who would catch a high speed train, we may well be on the the way to significant funding of a high speed train. 

I won't live long enough to see a high speed train between Melbourne and Sydney, but it will happen. 

Forty year old train. Get a new one. Ah, I think they are.

Monday Mural

Joining in with Sami and others for Monday Mural.

While I had heard of King Billy, I had no idea who he was and why he was well known. Wikipedia informs me.

William Baa Nip was born in the centre of Victoria's second largest city, Geelong, on the banks of a then lagoon, now a busy pedestrian, cafe and bar street. Given its elevation, it would have been a fresh water lagoon. 

He was the last native to remember the arrival of white people. He made his money by what we now call busking, demonstrating his traditional Aboriginal skills. Reading between the lines, he was a person who was quite forthright. 

He died at the young age of fifty from tuberculosis, one of many diseases inflicted on our indigenous who had no immunity at all to venereal diseases, measles, small pox, chicken pox, scarlet fever and others including TB.

I still don't know why he was so famous to be commemorated by a mural a century and half plus later. 

A street in the distant Geelong suburb of Armstrong Creek has been named in his honour. The work was painted by Cam Scale in 2014.

Sunday Selections

I'm joining in with Elephant's Child and River for Sunday Selections. Just random photos and I hope I haven't posted any before. That can happen when you get behind with your filing.

A handsome building in Flinders Lane. With the open walkway it reminds of a building in Budapest.

One of the tenants is this rather gorgeous florist shop.

Nice use of what could otherwise be a blank ground.

I think it was long departed hairdressing salon owners responsible for this installation. I 've shown it before but a good while ago. I hope the anchors are checked at times as it has been there a very long time, maybe twenty years or more.

The last of our new E Class trams rolled onto the streets towards the end of last year I think. I don't know what is going on with the doors as many of the earlier vehicles have doors looking like this.

Oh, I do like a nice set of buffers.

Rest easy. The turntable at this station has been kept for historical purposes. 

I thought this was a a Monarch butterfly but it doesn't match the online images. I think it has just hatched down below at ground level, so maybe in its immature state it looks different. Will I paint the balcony edging or will the Body Corporate? I bought the paint. Scrape, sandpaper, prime, two top coats. Manana. Most important, keep my spine at the front of my thoughts.

Cute little sign on the window of a Port Melbourne bakery.

All subject to fines.

1. Riding a bicycle on a platform tram stop.

2. Taking a bicycle onto a tram.

3. Not paying a fare.

4. Not wearing a mask on public transport. 

A ticket checker on platform duties kicked him off the tram. 

Kids and pigeons love this Prahran Square fountain. On a warm day there are many very wet children as they run through the water. Pigeons stay on the periphery but still get wet.

R took a flower arranging course. The person who ran the course was called Morticia something but I can't remember her last name.

Not impressive by world standards but I get a bit excited at such train speeds. 

Suburban just over 72 mph.

Regional just over 100 mph. If only the train between Melbourne and Sydney could run at such a speed for the length of the journey. The road speed limit on the freeway between the two largest cities is only 110 km/h yet the train takes longer.