hot morning of hotter day

Pery and I had to get out of the house this morning (8am-ish) so we did some errands and had a walk in Reservoir and the Darebin Parklands. It was already in the low thirties and it was (is) likely to get to the high thirties. This house caught our eye. 

Not sure what this guy was doing but he was there for a while. 

Just good solid honest decent valid housing commission homes

Whereas this is a renovated version. I think. 

Darebin parklands one of the lakes this morning. 

The rest of the day we will be cowering inside. 

north melbourne housing commission

On the weekend Perry and I had a small wander around the nearby housing commission area, it was fairly deserted, seems pretty nice though, it's a shame that (presumably) it will be pulled down in the next decade or so. 

the princess

Last night I semi-watched probably half of a film called The Princess, with the sound turned down. It's a kind of a fantasy action film that seems to involve a lot of stabbing with long swords and either falling or dangling out of castle windows. Incredibly skilful in terms of the camerawork and the, I guess, choreography. I wikipedia'd it a little and it seems that the notion is that there are two princesses, one has been promised to some evil guy, as a bride, but she's not up for it and he decides that if he can't have the kingdom via marriage he's just going to take it over anyway. So she runs through the castle killing off all his henchpeople in terrible ways. I kind of feel sorry for the henchpeople, they're just doing their jobs, it's not personal. Anyway I suppose we're meant to be mainly interested in the princess. As mentioned there's a second princess who is also in danger and the king and queen and etc. 

I admit I had the sound turned down so I wasn't exactly fully engaged. I turned it off about half way through (I'm guessing). I don't even know why I'm mentioning it except that I'm just really enjoying having a big fat fuck off television in my living room. I am watching a lot of bad old shows just because they're big and in colour. I am also amazed by the ads. It's been so long since I watched tv ads and they're intensely novel (actually I should be careful. Watching tv ads in Warrnambool last year got me aware of the Homicide DVD series). Whether it's the shows I watch or just the way tv is now, the ads are totally for old, old, old people. Older than me. Simplicity Funerals kind of old. 

Speaking of old and ridiculous, I have found another Finnish band to love. Tamara Luonto. (When I say I found them, that's a lie. Spotify found them. Played them right after the Ninni Forever Band). They only have a single, a cassette, and a so-called single on spotify i.e. not a real single. I mean they're not Pintandwefall but that 'Made in China' single really has all the ingredients I love, the sound of it. I have no idea what it's about though. The video doesn't help - the video tells a story about a woman who gets some chinese food delivered and over a few days has a relationship with the woman who delivered it. 

In other news, I saw Wendy Hughes. 

I know she's died. It was in Homicide. 

To be honest I didn't recognise her till I saw her name in the closing credits. Of course she's completely unmistakeable. It's a very ineffectual part, only one scene I think. Not really sure what it's supposed to be for.

Here's one more interesting thing that I can't really say much more about. It's a Housing Commission publication, very handmade (roneoed except for the cover) about concrete houses. Just look at that woman. What is with her head?  

I completely do not understand that head at all. Do you? Is there some way of looking at it that makes sense? Is she wearing some kind of Chico Marx hat with a sun visor? Or does she just have a peaked skull and a huge nose (and no eyes)? 

Also isn't she kind of tiny for that house? Also, is she balancing on the point of one foot? 

barnsley mews

I don't think I posted in April last year how I spent a little while exploring (what I call) Barnsley Mews, a small housing estate addition built by the Housing Commission in (I assume) the late 70s or early 80s. It is unusual for Victorian housing commission housing in that it is terrace-styled, clustered together, in a large open space. I took a few photos but it was only a cursory look around, interesting for the way the car parking was set up and the way the housing sites had been carved into the hillside. I would have spent a lot more time on it if I'd known the whole area was going to be demolished, which it was only a few months ago. Quite a surprise. I hope the cats got out OK. I gather a large social-mixed housing estate is coming in its place, no sign of that yet.










And the last picture is Millie, leaving Barnsley Mews and heading for the creek - she always liked to dabble in the water on the other side of the bridge.