I have a fondness for some of the architecture in and around Melbourne, and when I was on a tram the other day, a bloke thrust a leaflet into my hand. It was about the current battle of some of the residents to prevent inappropriate development in the Smith Street area of Collingwood, something I had heard about in some of the local press. Collingwood has a distinctive character and commerical development by Banco, that includes the possibility of three high rise towers of between six and nine stories would more than likely change it radically. Check the Smith Street web site out and see what you think.

melbourne is rubbing its eyes, peering blearily around the room, and finally considering shrugging off the blanket of winter. if like me you’ve been hibernating under your own blankets, and are starting to get itches in your britches and feel a growing need to go out and boogie til the sun comes up, then the approach of numerous post-winter parties should have you giggling like a nervous schoolgirl with excitement (cos that’s exactly how it has me giggling).

first cab off the rank is ‘flirt’, this saturday at the colonial hotel. justly a favourite, flirt has for some years now brought us a cheeky mix of funky disco and electroclash, along with roomsful of equally cheeky, sometimes outrageous, beautiful and interesting (looking) people. i’m gonna be there shakin what my momma gave me with the best and the rest. like me, it’s been in hibernation, and our emergence and collision is sure to be a joy to behold.

the following friday (september 2nd) is ‘nutshell’ at deep11, next to the vic markets. this promises to be equally delicious, cos some of my fave maestros will be spinning all my favourite hits. and though the underground venue sometimes feels a bit close and dingy, i’ve never failed to have a good time there. miyagi, pixleton and deedee will be pumping it out for the ‘richard simmons spring special’.

the next night, and the week following, are parties in a new warehouse in preston. (new in the sense that until recently it’s probably actually been used to house wares.) on the 3rd is mad scientist, with the ex(?)-teriyaki-anarki-saki boys deedee and slieker, and the following saturday is the 5th birthday extravaganza of messy creations, a team who have apparently been doing parties for 5 years. i have it on good advice that it will be one worth not-missing.

if none of that has you lacing up your dancing shoes then you may as well rinse your hair blue and get measured for a coffin, cos you is old & boring!
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I spent the weekend in Sydney, my first time in the city. It was interesting to note the difference between Melbourne and Sydney, it almost seems like the difference between the West Coast and East Coast of the US. Melbourne seems more New York like and in a rush, with a myriad of things going on, compared to the laid back attitude of Sydney. That may be down to the amount of coffee consumed in Melbourne! I have tried to check out some of the coffee shops here and have been suitably impressed. I’m not an expert, but you can definitely taste the difference from your average Starbucks. Yesterday I managed to get a chance to pop into KnockBox, just off Hardware Lane, which always seems crammed full of people. The hot chocolate is unbelievable; thick and sweet as hell. If you do like your chocolate, you could do yourself a favour and find Movida on Hosier Lane, a tapas joint off Federation Square, which provides “churros”, a sort of elongated donut for dipping in thick hot chocolate, great on a winter’s day. Speaking of donuts, I managed to sneak some Krispy Kremes in while I was in Sydney…ice glazed addiction!

One of the things that has been done to encourage recycling has been the reduction of shopping bags from supermarket chains.

Many of us have at least one green shopping bag at home now; whether we genuinely wanted to reduce plastic, just wanted one at home or been encouraged or ‘forced’ to buy one at some stage of our shopping life. But how often do you actually use the green bag or have actually reduced the amount of plastic bags at home? I can attest to owning 3 green bags and still collecting lots of plastic bags. It was either forgetfulness, impulsive trip to the supermarket or one of the millions of excuses resulting in no green bag usage and plenty more plastic bags.

I presume the supermarkets benefit from increased usage of the green bags as well. I assumed there is some form of cost reduction in buying plastic bags as well as selling more green bags at $1 each. How many plastic bags can one buy with $1? A 100 maybe, at wholesale price?

So, my question is: wouldn’t it encourage many more of us to recycle if the supermarket were to provide some monetary benefit to use the green bag? For example, a reduction in one’s shopping bill by 5 cents or more for using the green bag? Its only a token gesture but with high petrol prices these days, I am sure every cent counts in many families. Its the equivalent of 4 cents a litre savings at the petrol stations for patronising a participating supermarket.

Then of course, I have also observed the use of disposable cups at coffee places in the city. Many of the customers are also regulars. Wouldn’t it be nice to encourage the use of travel mugs on these occasions to reduce waste? Surely the total amount of a paper reduction from these takeaways can be significant.

Just my thought.

Saturday afternoon, around 4 o’clock; corner of Elizabeth and Little Lonsdale streets, almost in front of the Melbourne Central building. A girl stands on the corner, one hand help up high holding the copies of the “Big Issue” she’s trying to sell to uninterested passers-by. The other hand holds a leash, and the other end of the leash holds… a cat.

Very beautiful cat, by the way, and apparently more successful at attracting the attention of the pedestrians than the girl and her magazines (sadly); was that her intention, maybe? It seemed a little scared, though, shying away from people who got too close.

I wonder if she sold the magazines; I’d never seen her around before, and she wasn’t there when I came back around one hour later.

Last night the Melbourne Writers’ Festival opened, this will be the festivals 20th year and will be host to something for everybody whether it be those who like comedy, a deep psychological read, deep fiction, light fiction, wood friction and the lot. What ever it is, it’ll be there.

I think Melbourne is great in the respect of all the festivals we have, especially since the opening of Fed Square which has become a sort central point for events. So if you’re in the city at the time, try and go down to see a bit of Melbourne and international writing culture.

As I wander around Melbourne, I tend to find myself looking up at the great old architecture of Melbourne (kind of wrecked by some of the commercial developments) or staring at the variety of decent street art, stencilling and graffiti and so on, making you stand around for a lot longer than you’d want to in this chilly weather. Some of this can be found on flickr

Is Not Magazine ensures that you look even longer at the walls. With a nicely designed combination of fiction and non-fiction pieces on a 1.5m x 2m poster it’s worth a look and is distributed by being pasted on poster sites all around Melbourne. Issue 3 has hit the walls…

Last night I went into my local convenience store to get a phone card (I regularly call international numbers, and phone cards are the cheapest way to do so). The attendant seemed to be a recent migrant, as he spoke with a somewhat heavy accent which I couldn’t quite place; possibly Middle-Eastern or southern European.

But he does seem very determined to integrate with the Australian society. In the course of a 40-second commercial transaction, he called me “mate” at least eight times. And he said it the Aussie way, with a very open “a”, sounding almost like “mite”. Way to go, mate!

According to all of Melbourne’s papers and tonight’s television news, Myer might be sold off. Some business experts believe new owners might cash in on the Myer buildings in the city, and redevelopment would therefore be an option.

What would it mean? A new face for Burke Street Mall, and the end of Melbourne’s Myer Windows.

Since I am one of the blessed souls who manage to work and live in the same general neighbourhood, I am able to walk to work everyday (which is not always so good due to our unpredictable short-term weather).

But the interesting thing about this is that, even going through the CBD and walking past literally hundreds of people, it’s very common for me to see familiar faces in the crowd, usually among people walking the other way. Not people I know, mind you; simply people who walk by me almost every day.

For example, last year I used to see, almost every morning, a girl who looked a little like Miranda from “Sex in the City”; she was always dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, regardless of the temperature, and walked fast. After last December she disappeared and I never saw her again.

Lately, I see a woman riding a back on the footpath, somewhat slowly, almost daily; also, another woman who looks like a flight attendant (I don’t know why, I just see her and think “fligh attendant”, even though she very probably isn’t one); and a guy who seems to be always carring a cup from Hudson’s Coffee.

I wonder who will be the next familiar faces in my morning walk…