MELBOURNE

People ask me if I miss Melbourne and my answer is ‘so far, not yet’, Partly that’s because I’ve had three trips back already since I left in January and partly it’s because we’ve been so busy in Perth discovering new neighbourhoods and rediscovering old haunts that I haven’t had time to think about it.

On this visit, we did feel like tourists to a degree, staying in Degraves Street across the road from Flinders Station. We did go to the theatre, go shopping, go to galleries. All the things that visitors would do. But we’d do all those things if we were still here, including some of the week’s activities such as catching up with friends and going to the Coburg Farmer’s Market. 

The young man at the Market from whom Susan used to buy her apples also sells his mother’s jams and marmalades and he was rather shocked to discover that we’d come all the way from Perth to buy her plum and raspberry jam. We’ve tried a couple of similar spreads in Perth but they just haven’t been as good.

Melbourne is architecturally more interesting than Perth. That’s partly to do with scale and partly to do with history. The world of Melbourne that I miss most is the beautiful Block Arcade and it’s not just because you can find a Haigh’s Chocolate shop there. Wherever you turn the cityscape is full of interesting angles as the work of this Year 12 student, exhibited in the National Gallery of Victoria shows. 


We will always have Melbourne in our heart....and at the end of 3.5 hour flight.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FARWELL TO THE PINK HOUSE

Image
Susan and I decided to say 'goodbye' to 14 Ward Grove, Pascoe Vale South by sharing the moment with friends. Although the house was full of packed boxes, we invited people over to say farewell...and take a momento. We both made bold decisions about art and craft that had been part of our lives for years. For example, I'd had a Gustav Klimt print hanging on various bedroom walls since the 1970s. A tea pot I'd bought from a ceramist in Canberra last century. A Boda vase that I'd been given. There were smaller pieces from ceramic pots to glassware, vases, both antique and modern, knick knacks from all over the world, and even hats. And in contemplating a new home, we needed to leave some space for new acquisitions. This was a clean out where we knew each piece was going to bring pleasure to someone else and so it was much easier to let it go. Debora, Glenda, Jesse, Murray & Loretta Kath, Susan & Julie Gemma, Pam, Dale & David
Read more

PACKING UP

Image
How do you sort out a house you've been in for 24 years? I should confess upfront that Susan and I are not Kondo afficiondos nor did we watch all the episodes of Swedish Death Cleaning series so we had a lot of stuff to sort through. For what seemed like months, I was making twice weekly visits to St Vinnies to drop off everything from clothes to kitchenware. We hired a 12 metre skip and recruited our wonderful neighbour Mike to smash up furntiture that was no good to anyone.  I even threw out Livia, the polystyrene statue that had starred in a production of "Women Beware Women" back in the 1980s. Poor thing. Her head had falled off a number of times only be stuck back on with jewel encrusted gaffer tape.But being outside for nearly twenty years meant that she had lost her charm.  Mike, our helpful neighbour Goodbye to Livia Another cultural challenge was books. Susan is a re-reader of books and I always claim that I'm going to so between us, we had 16 or was it 17 fu...
Read more

CHECKING THE IDEA

Image
In July 2024, on my return from a (wonderful) couple of months in Europe, I called into Perth to check the validity of my spreadsheets. Was it possible to buy a home with all the requirements that Susan and I needed for a home: - a pool - 3 to 4 bedrooms (so Sebastian & our Eastern States friends could come to visit)  - 2 living areas (because we have such different tastes in television) - single story (Susan in particular is over stairs) - close to a good beach...and to Perth friends. I enlisted my real estate researcher friend Stephanie and we drove all over the city looking at suburbs - north as far as Gwelup and south as far as Hamilton Hill. What had looked good on paper was starting to look dodgy because the Perth real estate market took off in 2024. By the end of the year prices had increased by 25% while the Melbourne market had sunk by 5%. What we could afford was looking further and further away from ideal locations. However, traipsing around the town with Stephanie w...
Read more