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Light and dark

Posted on by Jo Rittey

The day started in light. Sun streaming, straining in through my venetian blinds. Making patterns on my wall that appealed to me.

Now it is 3.30 in the afternoon. There is thunder and lightening. The sky is like lead. The streetlights have come on. Darkness.

Clifton Hill

Posted on by Jo Rittey

Clifton Hill is only 4km from the city centre but it feels a long way once you’re there. Walking from the station to Meri and Sophie’s place down Spensely Street, it was quiet and the air was scented with wisteria and jasmine. Beautiful little cottages with lion sculptures in the garden, or overgrown gardens, ivy growing up walls. M and S live opposite the a parkland area. Where the Yarra River meets the Merri Creek. Before the creek gets here, it has flowed 70km from Wallan. The area where the creek meets the river was traditionally the location for large gatherings of the Wurundjeri people and for this reason it is still considered sacred. There’s a lot of birdlife and apparently frogs at sunset. Beautiful area.


Crépuscule

Posted on by Jo Rittey

Walking around my neighbourhood as the sun is setting on a Friday night. People driving home from work with that tense look as they hold it all together for just a little longer. One they are home they can give in to the weekend and let their shoulders drop, their faces relax. Others have already reached that point and they sit out on porches, a beer in their hand. Friday night has started.
This is what I saw on my walk.

Port Melbourne

Posted on by Jo Rittey

Not to be confused with the Port of Melbourne, Port Melbourne was once a bustling industrial port but made way for the newer Port of Melbourne in the late 19th century. Port Melbourne has a mixture of old houses dating back to 1840, swanky apartment buildings and some cafes and restaurants. There is also the occasional ship.

Very entrepreneurial in Port Melbourne…

Collingwood Children’s Farm

Posted on by Jo Rittey

The name may sound like something dreamed up by someone who has read too much George Orwell or Kazuo Ishiguro, but the children’s farm, is not, as the name suggests, a site for cultivating children, but the place where children can get up close to the animals…and birds…

An once a month you can buy organic fruit, vegetables and treats.

Melbourne Suburbs

Posted on by Jo Rittey

Why is it that some Melbourne suburbs are just so tricky to pronounce? It is like a trap for freshies. If it wasn’t bad enough that my way of saying six, fish and dance is a prime target for derision, now I have to walk the knife edge of suburb pronunciation.

Malvern: said Mullvin
Reservoir: said Reservor…and if you pronounce it the ‘fancy way’ IN Reservoir, then you take your life in your hands, apparently
Lalor: said Lawlore
Jan Juc: said Jan Juck…although that one I can kind of see, it’s just my own desire to French it up…
Sandringham: I want to say Sandringhim, but the ham is very much pronounced like the deli meat at the end

And then there are some just plain funny names and it you’d live there just for the name: Balaclava, Big Pat’s Creek, Launching Pad, Sasafras, Bunyip, The Basin and HMAS Cerberus, which is a naval base, but has its own postcode and 833 men to 342 women…can it really be a suburb?

I feel pretty happy with my Suburb. Easy to pronounce and with a certain amount of class.

Exchange

Posted on by Jo Rittey

In the giving and receiving of life, there are moments of happy exchange. People put out ‘hard rubbish’ on the side of the road here, so things they don’t want that either get picked up by the council or by other people who see it as treasure. Someone had put some things out on the street in front of my building, so I put a couple of baskets down there I didn’t want. Not much later they were gone and it made me feel good knowing someone had a use for them. Then round the corner from me, someone had put out a set of drawers. A bit battered, but totally useable. Perfect for the spare room.