yarraville to tottenham along stony creek

Perry and I decided to take a walk from Yarraville to Tottenham today. Actually, we decided we would walk to Sunshine but my foot hurt too much (don't ask) and I abbreviated the operation. Perry didn't mind. He was at the stop and sniff everything stage of the walk anyway. 

As so often happens when I uploaded the photos here they all came out in the reverse order I took them, but whatever, doesn't matter does it. Here are a few pictures from the Tott end, a bunch of houses I like to imagine are Anders Hansen homes from the late 20s-early 30s but I don't really know that, except he was the main builder in that area and these houses are all more or less the same dimensions and same age. This boarded-up one is interesting...

I love this brick 'n' weatherboard creation it's rad as:

This 'is what it is'... 

I'm in a guessing mood (after about 3/4 hour of fruitless research) so I'm going to say this could once have been the premises of Riverside Manufacturers. It was apparently a big concern in Paramount Rd, Tottenham, in the middle of last century. 

I like to document Pam the Bird wherever/whenever. 

I have a very soft spot (as Rowena Wallace's character on Cop Shop, Pamela, said to George Mallaby as Glenn in an episode I just watched - 'in the head' - for late period Housing Commission homes, which is what I think these might be, in a dead end street in Yarraville. They're nice.

A-a-a-a-anyway, it was a decent enough walk, Perry was extremely well-behaved, it was too hot and glary, which is just life going forward I suppose, I mentioned the bit about the sore foot, fuck that, 

still watching cop shop

I am continuing to enjoy Cop Shop - I'm on the second volume now, there are 22 of them (gulp). Above see Luigi Villani as 'Patsy' in episode 1.28, in-between Terry Norris and John Orcsik obvs. 

It's a hard rhythm to get used to. There were two episodes a week. Storylines seem to overlap across a few, more than two, sometimes, episodes - but I'm not keeping close tabs on that so maybe I'm wrong, maybe the crime plots are resolved in pairs while the soap storylines are endless or infinite or whatever. It's interesting seeing actors more used to hard TV cop roles wrangle softer plots. Perhaps viewers were having trouble keeping track of things - there's a lot of recap at the beginning of each episode, dare I say way too much. 

Peter Adams has the biggest shoes to fill. JJ is such a child, at the same time, has to do street chase cop things, and not only be pervy with the girls but also a lover (fiance!) to Valerie. Phew! Tough stuff. 

Here's an article from the Age 2 December 1978 p. 22. 

sometimes when I'm a bit bored...

 

I like to look at real estate listings for incredibly cheap properties in Tasmania and imagine what it would be like to live there, and consider what kind of appalling life changing situations would make me up stumps and go and live in for instance Rosebery where I saw this mural on the wall of a room in a house in a Domain listing. 

 

camberwell market, etc

Laura and I went to Camberwell Market this morning, we barely bought anything tbh,* but there was a lot of interesting things to look at. For instance, the art of Lin Van Hek.

I thought I knew all about Lin Van Hek and I was certainly right to think that she was a part of Joe Dolce Music Theatre and I'm pretty sure the second single from the Shaddap You Face album was essentially a song by her. I gather she is also known by the name Lyn Van Hecke and perhaps also other variations. Here is her name in an ad for Ram from 15 April 1983 p. 8. 

It's odd to see Tears for Fears there because oddly enough Laura overheard a lady complain that she was unable to find a copy of Songs from the Big Chair then being assured by a vendor that it was very rare, and with that in mind I specifically spent time at this record stall trying to find a copy, because I was sure it wasn't rare in the least. But it wasn't here because in fact there was no T section at all, I shit you not. 

We also spent a moderate amount of time in Burke Road Camberwell and there is a kind of a retro thrifty place upstairs in Burke Road accessible only from a lane behind, I went in there but got no joy. 

And also for what it's worth I noted that the Chocolate Box Centre, which was such a marvel in its day, no longer exists (probably hasn't for ages), but there's still the signage. 

 

From the Age 15 September 1990 p. 159. I can't find anything in the newspapers about the original launch of the Chocolate Box as a shopping centre/ arcade but I think it must have been in around 1979-80. I'll find out sometime OK. 

*The only thing I bought was a film marked 'Morwell'. Who knows what that will be. I was going to buy a Nigel Olsson album for $8 but the guy running the stall just refused to engage so I put it back and walked away. Rule number one of selling trash: don't let the customer have time to reconsider. 

The same stall had an album by Sprit that I would have bought except I looked at it and it had weird scratches on it. 

flemington near the racecourse and showgrounds: nice dog, nice wall, nice house.

 

high pressure tyre inflation area

 

 

A few weeks before I turned 60 I decided to formally quit drinking altogether. I've done this before, after a fashion, though I am not sure I said 'forever' before. I just decided that it didn't agree with me anymore (if it ever really did). 

I've certainly been a big part of drinking environments in my time. I vaguely recall a 20s where everything seemed to revolve around buildup to the weekend when something would be on, that would probably involve getting drunk somewhere. I also know there was a time (maybe I was 26 or 27?) when I stopped drinking completely for a year, because I was sick of the way I would be drunk and try, really ineptly or at least it rarely if ever worked, to pick up girls. It seemed unavoidable that would happen and it was stupid. But also somewhere in there I didn't like the dulling effect of alcohol on my mind, not that I am a great public wit at the best of times, but alcohol certainly didn't liberate my Algonquinesque talents, in fact, it made me slow and boring. 

I have noticed in the last few years I have (1) periodically wanted a drink, for whatever reason (2) been unable to sleep properly even after just a small drink. Red wine was the first drink to make this happen but then it spread apparently to any alcoholic substance. 

So, whatever. I have not been a beer drinker for decades, wine has worn out its welcome, and things like whisky (or for that matter Kaski) have been a minor pleasure but when it comes down to it, I can do without it. It's never been the enormous source of pleasure for me that it seems to be for most other people who partake, and I think ultimately like for instance the music of Bob Dylan or the films of, um, Stephen Spielberg, I should just say: look, everyone, you do you but I cbf with this any longer. 

Hilare Boofhead above is from the Sydney Daily Mirror 6 March 1951 p. 17. 

rozo the roo: the man with a stick

 

Frankston and Somerville Standard 21 May 1937 p. 1

another problem, solved

We were most intrigued by this bit of advertising revealed when whatever the building was on the corner of Nicholson St and Brookes Crescent North Fitzroy, was demolished:

Actually I suppose it is possible to look at Google Earth and see what the building was...

It was not one but two buildings, differently beautiful. Imagine perpetrating that demolition. You'd have to hate yourself. 

Anyway, we wondered what the ad was for, so strangely phrased. A bit of newspaper searching and it came up - the very oddly worded 'Monkey Brand won't wash clothes but with it the cook cooks in clean dishes.'

This is from the Hobart Mercury. I won't bother giving an exact date because the ad is replicated all over the place in newspapers from the first decade of the 20th century. 

It seems there were two versions but this is about all it ever was, apparently. 

The only other thing I have to say about Monkey Brand and its advertising is that it seems to have been very prominently advertised in newspapers in Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania but seemingly not as much in Victoria,* in fact of the Victorian papers I can only find one advertisement (and that was in Ballarat). But maybe it advertised in different ways in Victoria - well, obviously it had at least one wall advertisement.

I am still pissed off these houses were demolished and also that only this much of the ad remains on the wall of 554 Nicholson St but as all the smart people say, 'it is what it is'. 

*Don't know about SA or NSW - you check that out for yourself OK

first problem not really solved

 

Well, this is the only mention I can find of Southern Waste in the newspapers, apparently they were allowed to distribute wiper rag material as per this announcement in the Argus 18 November 1944 p. 14. Might need more work, I'll attend to it when I have more time (possibly never).

second problem solved first

Zercho's. That was (fairly) easy. 

The above is from the Argus 2 Feb 1945 p. 15, and relates to the image previously posted. More information on what Zercho's actually was: 

The origins and fate of Zercho's are related in this article from the Age 19 July 1980 p. 43, which is also informative about something else peripherally interesting(?). 

what were these

 

I guess I'll have to find out myself. 

trainworld, north brighton