Those CBD malls in Melbourne

Hi there

There are three big malls in Melbourne CBD and lots of alleyways and lanes that house quaint little shops and cafes.

I could walk from one mall to the other quite easily.

Quite easily?  Well, I'm not too sure about that.

I was lost in one of them.  I think it was Emporium.  But where was the exit/entrance?  Had I escalated up?  Down?  Was I on the same floor I arrived on?  I hiked around the floor.  And around again.  I went down a floor, then up a floor.  All the shops were posh, the products expensive.  I was too scared to look in a window in case I got charged a look fee.

Ah, here was a concierge!  If I've spelt this right (or even wrong), I know the word is French.  In a  normal average mall, the counter would read 'information'.

"Hello. (darn, perhaps I should have said 'bonjour'?).  Could you tell me where the exit is please?"

"It's behind you."

Of course it was.  The same thing happens to me in supermarkets.  After I've been searching for the product for what seems like hours, I finally ask an assistant and I'm told the product is behind me.  It's a talent I have of miraculously being able to stand in front of the exact thing I want but not realising it's there.

above:  Inside a tiny section of the Emporium (I hope!) Mall.

Commonwealth Games Gold

Hi there

I was in a mall in Melbourne.  I looked up to a giant tv screen.  And there were the ladies of the New Zealand hockey team joyfully jumping, laughing, hugging each other, screaming and crying in excitement .  They had just won a gold medal.

In huge type running along the screen were the words "Congratulations, Australia!"  And in smaller type,  "silver medal winners."

Give us a break, Aussie ....

Things I dislike

Hi there

In life, there are two things that I have always hated with a passion:  soup and scarves!

On my last day in Melbourne when the temperature dropped down to 12c from 30c, and the wind was worse than in Wellington, and the rain was non-stop thundering down, and I was plodding through the Queen Victoria Market with sore feet and cold bones,  I gave in to both of my dislikes.

I bought a scarf.  I got myself a bowl of soup.

Ooohhhh, yes, the scarf was so so so cuddly, and the soup gave my insides a deliciously warm feeling .  Suddenly my world was better in a nice rainbows and roses sort of way.

Have I been converted?  Who knows? It's hard to break a 50 decade aversion.  Tune in on the next really cold Wellington day.  The story continues ...

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below: another pic of Queen Victoria Night Market:

Wellington taxis

Hi there

My plane from Melbourne was running late and it got me home to Wellington about 1 am.

I had to go through the usual stress and worry over getting a taxi.  Drivers hate me because I live about a four minute drive away from the airport.

During those four minutes, last weekend,  my taxi driver told me that he'd been waiting in line an hour and a half for my lone plane to come in and that he could have been getting a bigger taxi fare from people who lived in the outer suburbs -

"But I'm not complaining," he said.

Well, dear reader, he not-complained five times on that short journey.  Even as I paid him, he was still telling me, parrot-like, that he was not complaining.

I was so ashamed that I had taken up so little of his time that I gave the driver a $5 tip.  But  I'm not complaining.  Much.

###

More Melbourne pics:

below: my dessert plate at Observatory buffet restaurant

below:  walking along South Bank, I came across these structures

below: at the Viking exhibit, Melbourne Museum.  Weapons.

Melbourne Australia

Hi there

I've just returned from 5 days in Melbourne.  Five of the hottest April days ever in Melbourne.  Here's a quick take on my holiday:

.     Was lost a lot.  About five hours a day walking in the heat.   Stiff painful legs and feet.  Groan...
.     Saw "Beautiful" : the Carole King musical.  "Let's write a new song," says Carole - the audience claps, sings along, and yells uproariously.  Then we're on to new scene which starts off with "let's write a new song" and audience claps, sings, and yells, etc, etc. And so on and so on.
.     Went to wrong theatre for the Carole King musical, and without map or knowledge I ran panicked for 45 minutes through the streets of the city, finally located the theatre within one minute of curtain-up.  It would have been a three minute walk from first theatre.
.     Visited Victoria Market.  Very tacky but somehow hypnotising.  Bought a small backpack.  Plus a fruit tart, a meat pie, and a vanilla slice.  Whoopee, I'm on holiday, no dieting.
.     Went to the zoo.  Last time I visited there I had been covered in lemurs when I was in their enclosure.  This time, not a sign of one.  Didnt see one otter, one hippo, one chimp.  I spotted the rear of a tiger, and the hide of an elephant.  Last time there'd been a herd of elephants, including babies.  I was hot and grumpy after being lost getting to the zoo, and so I stomped (plodded?)  away from the zoo after 40 minutes. (temper, temper...)
.     Went to the Vikings exhibition at the museum.  Great, but not spectacular.  Why isn't each item labelled how old it is?
.     Walked my feet off through the main CBD mall buildings.  Especially on my last day when the heavens opened and I couldn't get outside.  It's fortunate all the malls and arcades sort of bleed into each other.
.     Stayed at the Causeway Inn on the Mall which was in the Bourke Street Mall.  Couldn't be more central.  Hotel so-so.
.     Had buffet lunch at the Conservatory Restaurant at the Crown Casino.  Ate 15 oysters on the shell.  Yum.
.     Wasted $10 and 45 minutes on 1 cent pokie machine at casino.  Got back $10.80.

above:  the river

below: Queen Victoria Night Market.  It was huuuuuge.

Above: a daytime cafe in one of many lanes.

below: view from Conservatory Restaurant

above: a daytime lane full of cafes.

Women's Make-up

Hi there

I'm watching, on television, some of the Commonwealth Games from the Gold Coast in Australia.

Women's make-up has certainly changed over the years.  The swimmers' eye make-up and lippy were totally intact at the end of the swims.  How is this  possible?  I put some lipstick on last Friday to go to lunch.  By the time I got to the restaurant, I wasn't wearing any.

At the end of the 25 km walk, our silver medal winner stumbled across the finish line and onto the winners' podium, every inch a L'Oreal model.

I obviously have to get away from the make-up I've been using for my retirement years, ie, the cheapest!

I'm off to the David Jones' make-up counters on Monday.  I expect to be bankrupt by Tuesday.

Drinking Coffee

Hi there

Several years ago I said to my friends, "right now Something is happening that everyone in the world thinks is totally normal but future generations will condemn us for.  It could be something really simple and frivolous, like ... like ...  coffee!  Our great great grand-children will look in the history books and wonder how we could be so idiotic as to drink coffee."

"Nah..."  To a one, my friends shook their heads.

But do you know what?  It's happening.  A judge in California has decreed that all cafe coffee has to be labelled with a statement (just like on cigarette packets) saying that coffee can cause cancer.  The world-wide chain Starbucks are included in this rule.  So, all their cups will carry the warning.

We will be reviled by our descendents for that dirty habit of drinking coffee. Coffee will no doubt be outlawed.  Addicts will buy it on the black market.  Families will stage interventions to try to detox loved ones.  Bootleg coffee kingpins will make millions, robberies will increase, more people will be jailed.  The equivalent of Dr  Phil will talk to shadow interviewees about the problem of being hooked.  Midnight dealings will lead to shoot-outs..

Oh dear, it's all too confusing.  I need to relax.  Hey, I better go and grab that comforting cup of coffee while I can still get it!