one hour's work took a day

I shit you not. Although I got a lot of other things done too, including reading an excruciating Enid Blyton book (look, I had my reasons) and correcting a lot of pages of another book, and doing my emails etc on the train when the train condescended to go through places where there was coverage. But all good y'know?

So I had to look at the Borough of Swan Hill's minutes for 1939+ to see what they were saying at the time about the Frank Heath plan for Swan Hill which was launched (such as it was) in the early 1940s. TLDR, I mean, cut to the chase, long story short, whatever: there seems to be almost no interest or concern at borough council level regarding the Heath plan, which was pretty swish, but there you go. They don't talk about it, except once, which suggests to me that it's being funded from another source, though I don't know what that source might be. So anyway rather than settle an issue, a bigger question has been raised. However, there was a lot of other interesting things in those minutes, so I'm not sad. The minute book was, in any case, held at the Bendigo branch of the Public Record Office's reading room. 

It did only take an hour though. Then I had time to kill till the train (more than I realised, or rather, maybe less than I realised, well that's confusing what I mean is... I looked on the PTV app to see when the train coming back was, and what I didn't realise was the app wasn't telling me when the train left the station but rather when I would have to wait at a nearby bus stop (I was, like, three or four blocks away - 15 minutes' walk max) to get a bus to the train station. So I walked to the train station and had another 40 minutes to kill. For all I know, I could have got an earlier train. Anyway... doesn't matter. 

I went to a couple of op shops but nothing jumped out at me, which is perhaps for the best all things considered. I had a good coffee and a weird sandwich, and I bought an oven mitt that seems to have been made out of those rubbery sucker things we used to throw at windows and watch them crawl down. Also I bought a copy of Mojo, a magazine that really has nothing going for it anymore, but it had an article on Magazine and I guess I just wanted to see what they'd say, because I like Magazine. 

Been awake since 4am though (for no reason I can glean) so I guess I'm a bit fuckin' shagged now. Will stay up for Mad as Hell but that's IT. 

money askers

Today is a day of having no money. Last week just before the book launch it was a surprise to discover the venue would not take a cheque and so we had to collectively (including but not to any great extent our host institution) get together some money to have our launch. I ended up contributing $250 and it's now two days from pay day and we have not had any money much since Saturday. The money was to be refunded today but it has not been because someone in the chain of duty didn't do what they should have. I will say no more about that. Anyway I am sure there is a way to be sensible with money and still have it at least a day or two before you get paid again but I haven't found it yet.

So for the first time I can ever remember I was asked for money on the Craigieburn line today, by a woman who was clearly quite deranged and wanted $2 from everyone (she asked me once on the train and once when I got off at Jacana, as did she - I later saw her confusedly going back down the ramp). A huge guy asked the young man in the seat in front of me for some money too and then instead of going down the carriage he just sat down. It was troubling for a while because I thought he was talking to the young man in threatening-hushed tones but later I decided he was just sitting there.

I spent the day at the State Library looking through 12 boxes of lantern slides from the collection of Frank Heath. Heath was a planner and architect who also lectured in Town Planning at the University of Melbourne 1948-54 so in that regard he is a predecessor of mine. To a certain degree the collection is a little disappointing, because so much of it just replicates the well-known images of early C20 town planning, but on the other hand, that it is all collected in this way is interesting and revelatory of what was on Heath's agenda as a lecturer in the early 50s (that said, there is no indication that these were his lecture slides - I'm just assuming).

Lantern slides are pretty nice. Compared to what we would now just call slides - I mean, the little squares of pos film, not the powerpoint slides - they are satisfying to hold and examine. It was pretty good in the Pictures Collection too. Very quiet.

By the way the image above is not from a lantern slide - it's a beautiful original drawing also at the SLV. Click on it for a larger view