Laughing Girl

Had coffee this week at Laughing Girl in Glenferrie Rd (just love their rhubarb plant in the pot outside!).    It was really good to catch up with C.  Funny, isn't it, the years pass, we move from city to city and even from country to country and our lives change, but you can often pick up old friendships as though it was yesterday when you last met!

 

Rob a bank? Really?

We smiled at this.....

We're not sure if it was the sign-writer having a joke, or if it really was graffiti, but it amused us anyway!

..but it was back to this a day or so later

Florina's

We went to Florina's - the local Greek restaurant - with T and W.   Straight-forward, no-fuss food, but perfectly adequate. We had the dips and saganaki cheese for starters followed by the (large!) seafood platter and lamb off the spit. It was all entirely satisfactory, and certainly value for money. A couple of the other groups were a little noisy but the service was good natured.   And it's within walking distance which is helpful when we were drinking T's nice shiraz.

Lots of prawns in the platter!

Rouge

Why bother going to France when you can have an excellent gratin in a very Parisian atmosphere just a few minutes walk away?


We had a casual week-day lunch at Rouge (in Beatty Avenue), complete with a glass of Rhone red.   And they don't mind speaking English!

 

And at Paris Rendezvous in High Street, you can buy all sorts of French trinkets.
All the same, we haven't cancelled our forthcoming stay in Paris (anyway, we've already paid for it!).

Sculptures at Chadstone

I know that not everyone goes to Chadstone --- or at least, admits that they do!

Be that as it may, for those of us who choose or are otherwise required to go there, have you ever noticed the various works of art scattered around?  




 To be quite honest, I hadn't!   Perhaps that's just me, distracted by whatever "mission" that I'm on at the time!   But there are quite a number, and in fact they're quite prominent.  Here are a couple.   I'll leave it to others to comment on their artistic merit.

Agapanthus - going and coming....

New "roll-out" grass has filled the spot previously occupied by agapanthus in a bed a little way up the street.  One of the people working there said the costs had been met by the owners of the house facing the nature strip at this point, but the Council had agreed to the work.   

Seems that if you have the money, the Council will allow you to have your way.  But I guess if we're talking about agapanthus, the end may justify the means? 

I had hoped that this might lead to a lessening of the number of agapanthus in the area.   But no, just down the street, there's a brand-new planting!    Such is the wisdom of the Council: what the Council allows to be taken away, the Council gives back....?

Hakea

A couple of years back, we replaced the front fence and started again with the garden.  It took a while to get the approvals (that's another story), and the work itself was fairly traumatic. 


One of the new plants is a hakea, which has done quite well and is now rewarding us with some attractive flowers.

Something Italian

We like Something Italian, and were back there a few days ago with B and A.   After a little negotiation, we were seated at a table by the window which was nice. 
As usual, I enjoyed the gnocchi, but the duck must have had some flavour enhancer in it.   We have obviously become a little complacent about checking for MSG (we have never before had an issue at Something Italian), but later on Sue had some discomfort.    Just goes to show, you must always ask about these things.

Autumn colour

I know I've already posted some images of the colour in some of the nearby streets, but here are a few more from around the area!  

Constitutional change - Local Government

The April issue of Quadrant magazine has a couple of articles on the current proposals to amend the Australian Constitution.   There is a proposal is to recognise local government, and the other is to include some form of "indigenous recognition" in the Constitution.

Malvern Town Hall

The proposal in relation to "indigenous recognition" has received more publicity, and perhaps I'll leave my musings on this for another time.

One of the articles is by James Spigelman (it's actually an edited version of an address he gave), and is of particular interest as he chaired the Expert Panel  on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government.

In relation to the recognition of local government, the first question to ask is, why bother?   There have been three previous suggestions that this ought to be done, namely in the Constitutional Convention of 1891, and the referenda put forward in 1974 and 1988. The 1891 Constitutional Convention looked at the issue in some detail and the outcome was that local government wasn't mentioned in the Constitution.   Both the 1974 and 1988 referenda were lost, with a "yes" vote of only 33.61% in the latter case. 

The expert panel had 18 members (rather more than Spigelman anticipated, it seems from his article.)  These included "experts" such as Senator Bob Brown and Tony Windsor and, according to Spigelman, most of the rest had current or past associations with local government.  The local government lobby ran a campaign focussed on empowering the Commonwealth to make direct grants to local government (at present there is some doubt about its ability to do this, in view of the decision of the High Court relating to the fiscal stimulus package (Pape v Commissioner of Taxation)). In Speigelman's words,  "...perhaps not surprisingly, because of the composition of the panel, this was the option which the panel eventually put forward".

However, the tone of Spigelman's article suggests that, perhaps, he didn't support this recommendation quite as strongly as some of the other members of the panel.  He comments that although the majority concluded that there was a reasonable prospect of success in a referendum in 2013 (if there was, amongst other things, a "nationally funded education campaign about the Constitution generally"), other members (a minority) made a different judgement.

In view of the lack of whole-hearted support from the expert panel (notwithstanding its composition), and that any "no" case would stress the creeping centralism almost certainly inherent  in any such proposal, one wonders whether  in the current political climate the present Federal government will fulfil its 2010 agreement with the Greens and push ahead with a referendum in 2013 on this matter.

Rainbow

It remains one of my goals in life to photograph a lightning strike, but as yet I haven't got anywhere near to achieving this.  However, I did manage to capture a rainbow a little while back.

The "Nanny State"?

We were having dinner with some friends, when we heard what sounded like firecrackers.  Next morning, on the front lawn there was  evidence that this had indeed been the case - see image.

I have happy memories of "cracker night" when young.  We were living in a new part of the city, with unmade roads and vacant blocks of land.   It was traditional for the whole street to build a bonfire on one of the vacant blocks and to get together at dusk to light it and let off fireworks.

At the time, it all seemed harmless enough and a very small part of me says that perhaps the banning of fireworks is a symptom of the "nanny state" culture.  But on balance, I do accept that fireworks just had to go (along with school cadets carrying their .303 rifles on the train to school!)   So, although I do have concerns about the "nanny state", I'll reserve my comments for developments that really do amount to an intrusion by the state into areas where the individual ought to accept responsibility.

Palm Sunday

The Uniting Churches in Stonnington had a combined service for Palm Sunday.  It was at the Serrell Street, East Malvern church.  I had not been there before, and was interested to see their modern and functional complex.

Rev Peter Beale had arranged a service that flowed very well, illustrated by an extensive array of images.   The service climaxed with a moving video based on a number of classic paintings which had been prepared by Peter - see
http://www.malverneast.unitingchurch.org.au/worship.html

The congregation arranged a impressive morning tea, and it was nice to catch up with others from other congregations in Stonnington. 

Daylight savings

I have to concentrate so as to remember which way the clocks move at the beginning and end of daylight saving.  Yes, I know the saying, "Spring - forward; fall - back", but it's still an effort.   At least this year there seemed to be sufficient reminders about the need to change the clocks (sometimes the event appears almost not to be mentioned), although the fact that the mornings are darker and we're beginning to get some nice autumn colours helped.  

What fate will befall this property?

We went to the auction of a solid old house nearby, but it hadn't been maintained over the years.    The sale price was barely land value, so we expect to see "re-development" occurring here in the near future.

 

The evening before the hard waste collection

A load of old whitegoods

The council's hard waste collection is due, and piles have been mounting on the nature strip.   But late in the afternoon the day before the actual collection there is much activity!    These photos (of 3 different pre-collection scavengers) were taken from the same location within the space of no more than about 15 minutes.

Hmm, I think I can fit it in.....

That lampstand looks interesting.....

Retail vacancies

There are a lot of empty shops in nearby High Street.   This strip perhaps has its own characteristics, so I'm not sure if the vacancies are an indication of localised retail malaise.

Or are these vacancies symptomatic of broader issues, perhaps the changing nature of retail (especially with the advent of on-line shopping) or even issues regarding the economy as a whole?   

The former Nicks wine shop is one of many that are empty. 

Stained glass

We often take familiar things for granted.  At the Armadale Uniting Church, there are 21 stained glass memorial windows (some of which were transferred from the previous Denbigh Rd church).   There is no doubt a little piece of history behind every one of them.
One of windows is inscribed "I am the Good Shepherd - In memory of John Glass Cramond.  For many years an Elder and Session Clerk of this Church".

I came across a booklet giving the story of John Glass Cramond, by Mildred Owen, who was a grand-daughter.   John Glass Cramond was born in 1831 and migrated from Scotland in 1852.  He lived in Warrnambool from 1855 to 1884, where he married Frances Hearder (originally from Devonshire).  He co-founded the store of Cramond and Dickson, which was operated by the Dickson family until 1974.   On moving to Melbourne, he was very involved with the Armadale Presbyterian Church, and remained closely connected until his death in 1910.   The family home was a large house in Orrong Rd and there were 14 children (although 2 died in infancy), so there are probably many families today who can trace their lineage back to John Glass Cramond (but I am not aware of any who are still connected with the Armadale Church).

The window was originally in the Denbigh Rd Church, and was presented by Mr & Mrs John Tallent in 1928. 

There is a memorial to John Glass Cramond and his wife in the Warrnambool cemetery.   

The booklet gives only a glimpse into the story of one family, but it makes you realise just how much history there is all about us, much of which will never be recorded. 

Bridgeworks (3)

I mentioned in January that the authorities were rebuilding the bridge over the railway line in High Street, and followed it up with a post that, after a couple of weeks of total closure (during which the work moved along at a reasonable pace), the roadway was re-opened reasonably quickly.

But work on the pipes and service ducts on one side is still not finished.   There seems to be no pressure at all, and things seem to be proceeding very slowly indeed.    One lane in High Street remains blocked, and access to the nearby side street is still not allowed (even though there appears no apparent reason not to allow traffic in at least one direction down this street).

Agapanthus (3)

I've previously commented on the proliferation of agapanthus in our society!    We've got a lot in our street, as a result of plantings by the council over the years.   
But earlier this week, a team of workmen spent a day or so removing a whole bed of them.  I hoped that the Council may have seen the error of their ways. 


 








 However, on further reflection, my impression is that the motive may only have been to change a driveway (or perhaps to improve visibility at the intersection), as there are still a great number in other locations close by which have remained untouched!