nekala community garden (two weeks ago)

If you can find me a more idyllic place, I don't want to hear about it. 

timing is everything

Yesterday:

Oak Park, 1.15. An announcement comes over the PA that the train to Craigieburn will not run, and that the next train will be at 2.16. The announcement is then ostensibly repeated, except this time the next train is at 2.36. A train then comes at 1.16. I am on a bench on the platform opposite. The frail elderly man sitting down the bench from me takes the opportunity of the train arrival to fart hugely, but the train is not so loud it hides his noise.

Go! 8:00. No matter what is published and reviewed in the Green Guide, the decision has been made to put Community on half an hour earlier, and make it a half-hour single episode, not a double episode. If anyone at Go!, the TV station with not the dumbest name of all the new stations, tries to distract attention from this pernicious act by farting loudly it is drowned out by groans from viewers.

Here are some highlights from the ep. I was left feeling it wasn't one of the best, then looking at this again I started thinking it possibly was pretty amazing. Missed the first 5 mins however.

this is my book

Well, that's a lie. It's half mine as an editor and 1/6 mine as an author. But this is the book I've been working on for the last four years and it is going to be available next week. I hope you will buy three or four copies for xmas presents. University of NSW Press. Nice paper.

tv quiz

Stolen from Wayne. Do you snack while watching TV? Very rarely. But I will eat dinner watching tv. What is your favourite TV show? Of all time - It's Garry Shandling's Show (though I'm having trouble getting through the box set). Currently - Big Love, Mad Men, Community, Doctor Who. What TV show makes you run to change channels? Sport. Hey Hey It's Saturday. How do you view your TV guide: online, on-screen, newspaper, magazine, other? 'Where's the fucken Green Guide? This is last week's.' Have you ever been surveyed for your TV-viewing habits or do you know anyone who has been? Yeah in the 70s. Do you watch TV news and/or current affairs regularly? News, 7:30 report, the first twenty minutes of Q&A. Do you watch any TV “soaps”? (Truth please, even if it is embarrassing.) Neighbours What other series shows do you try not to miss? Well I'm excited Rush is coming back on. Three more sleeps. Hope it finally jumps that shark. Any previous series or shows you really liked? Of course, I'm 45. Do you have pay TV or are the digital channels enough? They're not enough, but do I want to pay a thousand dollars a year for repeats of (tries hard to think of some generically uninteresting tv show from yore) The Wacky Races? Do you only watch certain TV shows online? Very occasionally try i-view. Do you regularly use services like ABC catch-up or other online replays? What did I just say? Pay attention. Do you ever pay any attention to the adverts? I like the coffee break ad and the AMI 'what about me' ad. I don't endorse or use either of these products. Do you multi-task while watching TV & if so what else are you doing? Sometimes read or draw. Is there a TV show that makes you laugh out loud? Community Have you ever said no to a social invitation to stay at home and watch TV? (Truth again please.) Mind telling us what the show was? No doubt, though not for a long time. Do you record TV shows & if so why and how (VCR, DVD recorder, TIVO, laptop, etc.)? Nope Least favourite TV personality/actor/character? I don't really pay attention any more. Most popular TV personalities/actors/character? Who cares. They're all a bunch of wastrels and bludgers. Have you ever seen anything really memorable on TV (not news/events – made for TV drama, etc.)? Yeah the Den and Angie argument on Eastenders late 1986 where the window washer kept barging in. Also one time on Neighbours in the early 90s Jim pointed to the toaster and the toast popped up and Paul was balancing a spoon on his nose. Do you prefer TV series or stand-alone shows? Series. Is there a specific show you find yourself recommending over and over? Community, it would seem, judging by the above. 

evening report

This evening I walked from the Airport West tram home through Gowanbrae. I didn't realise it has started to get dark earlier (this is getting near my favourite time of year - the time when summer is furthest away) so half way through the walk it was actually too dark to take photographs. Anyway, the first thing was I can't take the route I used to take, which was to cross the railway track on foot. Because they (the GUVENMENT) have erected a big black fence. Instead, I had to deviate significantly (that hurt) and cross the road bridge. I had never done this before and it alerted me to the existence of the remnants of the former road bridge.


It also alerted me to this ancient homestead, which must be about 160 years old, and presumably was once on the main road, since it now stands on a sidestreet perpendicular to the main road, but facing at a right-angle to it. Nifty looking place.


Another grouse house. Big and run down. About two minutes away from the above. Not old.


Once at Gowanbrae proper I observed the new retirement home, very secure and isolated from the rest of the suburb. Oddly enough this... I can only call it a laneway, though Gowanbrae doesn't have laneways... runs alongside it. I don't know why; some kind of drainage easement? Even that seems unlikely. Anyway, I decided to follow it. Imagine my surprise...


When I discovered the other end of it was blocked. I thought I would have to scale the fence (you know my philosophy - as relevant to walking through Gowanbrae as it is to retro rock festivals: 'You can't go back').


However I was lucky enough to discover a hole in another fence nearby so I squeezed through into a vacant lot. A bulldog did not chase me and take a bite out of my pants revealing red underwear with white spots.


I know this is a disgraceful photograph, however it is the only known visual evidence of community activity in Gowanbrae so it is very valuable. Some dads and kids playing a ball game near the creek. By the time I got near them someone had kicked it in (to the creek).


The railway bridge and a puffing jogger.


Sorry but it was too dark after this. A pity, as I could have got some quality shots of a bloated boy teasing a hideously irritating squealing skinny girl (they were like 1930s pen and ink caricatures) and stealing her plastic bicycle. It wasn't a serious crime.