Calendars

I was looking over my archives and reminded how much designing of word-processed documents I did for various voluntary organizations. But I was also actively involved in shaping the content. Today I focus on a few calendars I both pushed for and produced (mostly in the 00s).

The South Eastern Science Fiction Club (SESFC) was originally the Dandenong Valley Science Fiction and Futurist Society. You can see even in that name change a move away from elevated contemplation and towards public appeal. As its president I very much drove that shift but never particularly succeeded. The small group of existing members were content to meet and discuss science fiction every month. I however felt we mulled over the same ground too frequently and that this may be dull for potential new members. I also found it difficult to think of fresh new topics so pushed for a shift to more than just talk.

Calendars I produced show a two-monthly pattern of a discussion topic followed by an activity of some kind. We took one month off over summer and then started the year with our annual general meeting. Following that we had to only think of five topic and five activities. One of the topics usually harked back to our futurist roots even if that risked provoking arguments across ideological lines. The others were more focused on written or filmic entertainment. The activities always included an annual dinner late in the year at a Dandenong area restaurant. There were video nights, showing-and-telling of fan parafernalia, trivia nights and a rare author talk. All this was happily accepted by the members even if we barely ever got new participants along.

My local branch of the Australian Democrats was characteristically dedicated to participatory democracy and thus every monthly meeting was dominated by discussion and the passing of resolutions. This was all well-and-good but if the average active member can only make a monthly commitment to a small volunteer-run political party then talk is all they will ever get to do. I was one of those who therefore proposed a change to a 'quarterly branch plan' (which other branches also became interested in).

The state council met quarterly so our branch representatives only needed to consult with us at the same frequency to vote on state-level matters within the party. This gave us the first month of the quarterly plan - a branch meeting of the kind we had always held. The second month was allocated to a fundraising social event. Branches need funds and members want to feel a sense of cameraderie. An example of this was to see some worthy locally-made movie at Waverley Pinewood Cinema and charge more on top of the cut-price tickets there. The third activity involved some kind political campaigning. Only campaigning during elections is foolish. This way we had some kind of public presence and gave members experience in talking with strangers on topics political. One involved us devising our own survey on community issues and following that with a media release to the local newspapers that existed back then.

The Monash University Choral Society (MonUCS) - which welcomed alumni too - gave me my favourite committee role as an organizer of social activities. This was easy given how much enthusiasm the group had. Its existing musical program of rehearsals and concerts allowed me to simply fill the gaps in its calendar with events of my own. And in many cases I was simply following convention. There was always a fresher day and an annual dinner. Every rehearsal camp always had a talent revue. Every concert had an after party. The formula was all there for me.

My own personal touches came in the week-off we were given following each concert. Members were so into getting together that they demanded those nights off be put back onto our recreational agenda. I filled in those weeknights with pool halls, bowling alleys, karaoke bars and even a hedge maze. It was all good fun even for me as the organizer.

One thing I notice with those documents is they helped refine how I format information to make it easy to find. One thing I did was borrow the side-bar from website layouts. Another was to always have a picture of some kind. It is a somewhat neglected skill now. I'm still active in various ways but the balance has shifted from formal to informal kinds of intertaction. It has been interesting to take a look back at old documents and what they record of my life.

Space Base Livery

Here I plan to once more describe a toy collection that is more well-rounded than it is large. It is more coherent than my own haphazard Lego Space collection. And I have the clever notion to construct it around one particularly representative Lego set.

What I had in mind is the Mobile Tracking Station (1981). It comes in two separate modules - a moon truck which transports a small radar station. What makes this set distinctive is that each part sports a different colour scheme. The station has the original livery of blue walls with transparent yellow windows. The truck however shows off the next livery of white walls with transparent blue windows. My thinking then was a collection that showcases both colour schemes dating back to the start of Legoland Space in 1979 and forward the same duration to 1983. But then I discovered that things were more complicated than I had remembered.

There had always been more than one livery in Legoland Space because the smallest of sets are almost entirely grey. This grey was also part of larger sets and took the form of floor plates and wings. Okay so then the original livery is grey with blue and trans-yellow. And likewise the next livery is grey with white and trans-blue.

As a kid I was keen on the new colour scheme which seemed more space-aged than the original. For me it was epitomized by my own Space Transporter (1981) spaceship. However they never committed to that livery - for instance the Galaxy Explorer (1982) combined trans-blue windows with blue walls and white wings (along with a white core vehicle that fit into its star-fighter shell). Likewise they never entirely abanoded the original colours - the Cosmic Satellite Launcher (1982) for instance still has some blue and trans-yellow (along with a lot of grey for so large a set).

So it looks like my decisions will have to be more personal than schematic...

Reference links here: 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

I will still start with Mobile Tracking Station (1981) because it is such a cool set.

I will also include the Space Transporter (1981) but try to provide internal access between its cockpit and cargo bay - Lego is eminently suited to modification after all. And it may as well get a launchpad base plate too.

Then I will step back to the Command Centre (1980) which sports the original livery and includes its own small spacecraft launch platform and crater base plates.

Then step forward to the Cosmic Satellite Launcher (1982) but replace its blue with white and its trans-yellow with trans-blue. While I'm at it I can alter its rocket into a drilling rig of some kind - rockets seem obsolete in a setting that includes proper science fiction spaceships.

Those biggish sets are plenty for an impressive display but it needs to be rounded off with some smaller items...

The Command Centre comes with its own buggy but a spare is always useful - get another Space Buggy (1979) to keep it company.

There was an original Space Transporter that had its own fork-lift truck for cargo so pilfer that for use with its 1981 replacement craft.

Get two Mineral Transports (1983) to support the work of the
mobile drilling rig.

And finally have two Space Grabs and
two hovering Space Scooters (both from 1981).

This full selection results in a moonbase crew of six white,
six red and four yellow astonaut mini-figures.

A glance at this list tells you that I was very much fixated on Legoland Space around the age of nine. I was most receptive to both it and changes in its selection but became resistent to that rather quickly. And then that narrow timeframe has had a lingering charm ever since.

I still have bunch of bricks today from classic Legoland Space and have sometimes made my own designs with them. One interesting thing is that my selection somewhat forces me to produce a combined livery of trans-yellow, blue, grey, white and trans-blue. And it works well but the Mobile Tracking Station always told us that.

Note that that set names I use come from my own Australian Lego catalogue booklets of that time even if they differ from the Bricklink site I reference - anyone who is that interested can just guess which is which. Or even ask me (as if that happens on blogs anymore).

Grand Hotel

Last weekend I had a 'staycation' which was arguably my first holiday befitting that ugly portmanteau word. It has been a while since I travelled far and friends had been recommending to me the joys of getting away while in your own home town. They were right.

Usually, holiday accommodation is a means to an end, but this time, it was the centrepiece of my weekend. I stayed at the Grand Hotel on Spencer Street, and much of my focus was there. The structure had been made in the Nineteenth Century as the offices of Victoria Rail and stayed that way for several decades. Eventually, government departments grew and were reconstituted into newer forms, and the bureaucracy moved away.

Ever since the 90s I have looked at it from the city train and been curious about the huge old edifice (which looked derelict for some of the time). For a while now it has been a hotel but, wandering its halls, I could imagine public servants walking purposefully along its corridors carrying files to-and-fro.

And what corridors they are! The Grand Hotel reception staff are rightly proud of the central staircase, but it was the wide and exceedingly long hallways that impressed me. Rarely have I looked so far and had a sense of distance while still indoors. The Grand is very long, dominating most of a city block, and each level is defined by these extensive passageways with rooms to either side. There is a mix of both hotel rooms and permanent residences, although I never discerned whether they are mingled or separated by level or section.

We made sure to explore every feature accessed by those halls or the elevators at either end. On the Friday night we dined on-site at Gaylord Indian Restaurant. On Saturday afternoon we visited the 'hidden' gardens (sandwiched between the hotel and its three-level carpark alongside the railway embankment). We also made use of the indoor swimming pool and spa (a glasshouse which divides the gardens into two). And on Sunday morning we sat in the book-lined parlour close to reception. Everything was charming to us.

Part of that charm came form the fact that this is a conscientiously gracious (four star) hotel. More however came from its nature as a heritage site that has changed in function. We are both fans of the quirks that arise from the repurposing of architecture. Why exactly is my room this shape and what if any role did this odd nook once have? The rooms themselves are well-appointed and we cooked pancakes in a kitchenette on the Sunday morning. I almost forgot to say - we were on the top floor sporting balconies and therefore ate in the crisp morning air six levels from ground.

I should include the things we did in the city itself. The only other fixed booking we had was a virtual reality experience of the ruins of Machu Picchu. This was impressive but we were relieved to return to reality after a half-hour of walking around artificial sights and sounds. We also explored various arcades and lanes visiting stationary and comic book stores. We had Saturday brunch in a Collins Street cafe and Saturday night Mexican dinner in Southbank. I even got to see a helter-skelter while we treated ourselves to ice creams.

The weekend ended with us getting the Metro Tunnel home. I'm left with a fondness for the Grand Hotel. I may even stay there in future. Or just have another meal at Gaylord sometime.

Dreamscaping

This post is a sequel of sorts to a far older one. Just as then, I will consider common characteristics of my dreams, but also how some of them have changed since.

There is still water-based settings like public pools but in more of them I'm looking for the loos. There is still walking but possibly less now that I walk somewhat less in reality. In contrast there is as much human interaction as there always was despite me having less of that in waking life. Sometimes pets seem to talk and all non-humans have the same 'mind feel' for me. There is still crazy architecture and now also more concern over machines.

There always was some tech-anxiety in the form of me needing to drive cars too small for me. Now I am evidently concerned by things like smart phones. In one of them I have accidentally triggered the opening of a whole new device on my existing one. This is like accidentally opening an application but an entire new phone manifested right on top of the first and I cannot seem to turn it off. Waking logic says this has given me another smart phone to sell but in the dream I only wanted to get rid of it by collapsing its function.

In most other cases I'm concerned to keep track of a limited number of possessions. Sometimes it is looking for something in a room. Other times it is just checking and re-checking what I have stowed in my backpack. I'm never so fussed by this in reality than I am in dreams.

In some dreams I have the recurring theme of living as an eternal student. I seem to be vaguely aware of essay due dates passing me by but never bother to act on them. I only go to some seminars and have never been to the faculty offices. This was never me in reality but I suppose it could have been. It embarrasses me a bit but it seems like I'm always enrolled in my course anyway.

A similar thing happens with me as an office worker who never does much work at all. I go to work and sit at a computer and do some things but never get into the nitty gritty data entry and nobody seems to mind. The interesting thing here is it tends to be a small company I worked for in reality but lost the job because they were giving more roles to the relatives of the company co-owners.

I sometimes suspect that dreams are getting more vivid. Or possibly I am remembering them more because I am more likely to wake (with a need to find that loo). I sometimes even wake with a particular tune or phrase still in my mind. One classic line I recorded was me telling someone to "sit your Gershwin down" - apparently that name had become slang for bottom.

There are still fantastical moments that seem to arise from the nature of dreams to be anything and everything. In one dream I was looking at a map of an inlet and then transitioned to wading with friends in that same inlet. Patches of the watery surface were still map-like cloth but were rapidly dissolving. We gleefully gathered as much as we could because it was apparently a rare thing to find.

Excitement and even contention also seem more common in my dreams. I wonder why and one speculation is that some of my getting older conditions or medications play a role. Thankfully most of my dreams are still rather relaxed.

I will end with a blending of dream elements into one narrative snippet...

I'm travelling home and chatting with strangers on a bus - this is perfectly normal behaviour by-the-way. The bus gets stuck in a pond so I have to walk the rest of the way. Nobody is much bothered by this and just get on with life. I'm the same but do take extra care to make sure I have my jacket and backpack.

I get back to the area in which I live. A multi-storey cark park has been converted into many dwellings with the insertion of a bunch of internal and external wall panels. There are shops on the ground floor and I think my room is accessed via a buy-and-sell record store. The back streets have become parks or food-growing community gardens. Do I know that person hanging sheets to dry across from my window? It hardly matters because we act as if we do.

Life seems to have become some sort of shabby yet cheerful solarwave postcard but then I get into an argument with someone who prefers what we have lost. It is more a past-time since everyone tolerates different opinions as personal expression rather than dissention. But I cannot banter for long because I have something to attend.

Friends are gathering at an outdoor pool located next to a derelict amusement park. The roller coaster structure casts shadows on the water as afternoon passes into evening. We chat, waft about in the water, then move onto an indoor party.

The hosting home has zigzag-arranged levels and cozy recovered retro furnishings. From the centre of each level we can look diagonally into two other floors and different groups yell cheerful hellos across the gap. Do I know you and would you like to know me better? Let me put your address into this old phone cover that I now use to keep a pocket notebook.

Greek To Me

I recently experimented with making some dishes inspired by the Greek food to be had in Oakleigh. However I never closely follow recipes so this meal is a Greekish thing of my own. I imagined this food selection arrayed as share plates but I'm only me so made and ate them over three separate sessions. In each I made use of a flavour base comprising olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice and finely chopped herbs (such as oregano). Here they are.

Fava Bean Dip with Crudites

I took one tin of cannellini or fava beans and crushed them with a fork. In a saucepan I mixed them on a low heat with my flavour base till I had a thick paste. I had separated the tinned water but next time will throw some back into the blend to result in a softer paste for better dipping action. For crudités I cut sticks of carrot, yellow capsicum and celery. This is the only dish I have shared with friends - taking it along to a video afternoon - and it met with approval.

Grilled Pork & Lemon Potato

I cut two pork cutlets into chunks and grilled them in the pan. Once served I crumbled some feta cheese over them. But two potatoes took more time and effort. They were boiled and then cut into large chunks or wedges to be stir-fried with my flavour base. It is for these that lemon juice was in my ingredient list but then also went into the other dishes. Lemon juice can be overpowering so I would at most use three half lemons for this entire meal (the last half lemon can simply decorate or be thrown into a water jug).

Mushrooms with Toasted Pita

I sliced a punnet of button mushrooms and threw them into the pan for cooking with the same flavour base. I also took two wholemeal pita breads cut into sixths (triangular sectors of a circular pita). These were toasted in the griller but I overdid it - they are thin and take barely any time to get a nice toasted texture. I ate them together with mushroom slices scooped onto the pita.

* * * * *

There were other ingredients I considered but neglected to use. One was having baby spinach leaves as a bed on which to serve the crudités. Another was sprinkling some sesame seeds over the pita bread. Maybe I need to present these dishes at another video afternoon dedicated to movies like Clash Of The Titans and Jason And The Argonauts.

Seven Parties

In my recent post on pluralism I hinted at a working array of as many as seven distinct political parties of medium size all having parliamentary representation. In this post I will discuss how Australia could ever develop a polity like that from present conditions. I will also acknowledge the limited likelihood of such changes and then pivot to recent changes that are in fact happening.

The strangest of the seven would be a communitarian party combining traditional cultural values with interventionist economics. The best fit in Australian history for this was the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) but they were limited by Roman Catholic identity. The oldest world religions have much in common, particularly in the face of an ever less religious society, but sectarian divides hamper collaboration. In multicultural Australia, ethno-religious groups face many of the same challenges and a party drawing on such community groups could have a small but persistent political role. One labour union - the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) could transfer its loyalty to such a party.

Talking of unions naturally brings me to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which had three debilitating schisms between 1916 and 1955 (the last one resulting in the DLP). Since then they have become expert at keeping a large and diverse membership united but what if a growing public focus on cost of living and the wealth gap were to result in a schism turning the technically socialist Labor Left faction into a separate party with its own affiliated unions? This would be welcomed by many.

Then there is the rest of the ALP, which could occupy the most moderate position among the seven parties I’m describing here. This position could be complemented by opening affiliation beyond unions to include other like-minded non-government organizations. Closer connections to - say - agricultural cooperatives for smallholding farmers could help such a party cross urban-rural divides and draw in some independent politicians who cater to such electorates.

The Australian Greens are the best fit for a progressive party in Australia and has grown well beyond its original support base in the environmental movement. It now holds something like a seventh of the Senate membership so already fits my notion of a medium sized party in that chamber. Its growth more recently has stalled and I wonder if this is due to public awareness of internal ructions arising from rival radical camps intent on total victory over particular issues. A calmer version of the Greens would be more effective but any party can have problems with its more populist ideological hinterland.

Recently a network of like-minded independents dubbed 'teal' by the media (signifying pro-environmental candidates who can nonetheless take votes from the Liberal Party) have had success in many electorates. They draw on similar campaigning methods and funding sources and work together once elected but vary in precise ideology. However a best average fit for them is the small-l liberalism which in Australia is neglected by the Liberal Party itself. There has been talk of them becoming a coherent political party but that move would have both pros and cons. Party status and organization bring many benefits, but for many voters independence itself is appealing. However, a commitment to an all-issues conscience vote and a party structure that respects local autonomy could address 'party machine' accusations.

The Liberal Party of Australia and its predecessor parties benefitted from successive mergers in the first half of last century. These resulted over time in a party of the establishment that only recently has started to suffer from a wave of defections. The party has drawn power from its long-standing coalition with the smaller National Party of Australia but in other ways this marriage has hampered its own identity. The two coalition parties recently toyed with separation but it never lasted long. I think this was a mistake. The Liberals could better combat a loss of seats to teals if they stood alone as a party that is pro-business but otherwise less conservative.

The National Party of Australia could also do better as a separate party serving rural interests (and even urbanites fond of rural Australian imagery). Free of the Liberals they could be traditional conservatives less beholden to urban big businesses. Threatening to bust the supermarket duopoly that dominates Australian farmers and consumers was a difficult thing for them to do with the Liberals. They could more openly oppose what they call 'mass migration' and thereby blunt the effect of another party I have so far excluded from my discussion. But I will come back to them shortly.

The likelihood of all I describe is tiny. Each speculated change happening would render others less likely as each party detracts from a need for the parties adjacent to it. Then there is the electoral method to consider. Our Senate proportional representation quota (six senators per state in a normal election) could almost fit my model, but the House of Representatives is the site of government and the focus of most media attention. Overseas one generally needs proportional representation in all chambers to support many parties. There are exceptions of course - both the United Kingdom and Canada lack proportional representation and yet have more than a few parties. But they tend to be somehow grounded in the structures of society. Maybe they have a long history of connection to particular provinces or demographics or sectors. Having a whole lot of new parties form or re-form at once is a pipe-dream for very few of us.

So far I have only considered political shifts within the shared ideological space of a pluralistic polity. But right now we are witnessing a movement of votes into the populist ideological hinterland beyond the Coalition. The ultra-conservative One Nation is once more making waves and this time it seems more significant. Key one-time Coalition figures have defected to them. Many voters have swung to them in recent state elections or by-elections. Opinion polls suggest they could become the new opposition replacing the Liberals & Nationals. Madness I say! One Nation has a long history of performing well between general elections but faltering once a full nationwide campaign comes along. They also have a rotten track record of candidates clashing with each other then defecting. Will a larger number of parliamentarians change that? Will a new breed of political careerists supplant the dodgy characters we have come to expect from that party? If they do will they necessarily do much better?

I’m too old now to have much confidence in predicting the behavour of huge numbers of voters. I do hope the current scare will fade but for that to happen there will have to be civil conversations on the ground with anyone who may be considering voting for One Nation. And in this era of semi-virtual parallel political camps I suspect that is a more difficult task than it has ever been.

Hopeful Figures

Today I will once more describe a toy collection that is more well-rounded than it is large. It is more coherent than my own haphazard Star Wars collection. I will imagine more than just what a kid could own. Rather I will also imagine what a company could produce. And I will confine my musings to the only truly stand-alone movie of the Star Wars saga - the one that we as kids simply called Star Wars (1977).

Kenner themselves only managed to get the action figures into stores the following year and only then the most central of characters were depicted. The range soon expanded but there were some arbitrary decisions as to what was and was not made. In my revised lists I hope to provide something that makes more sense for action play. Onto the list moreorless in order of appearance within the original movie. Figures maintain the limited articulation and somewhat approximate likenesses that made the original 3 & 3/4 inch figures distinctive.

R2D2 & C3P0 - These are pretty much the first active things we see and wondefully depict two very different visions of what a robot or android could be.

Rebel Trooper - These helmeted crew members defending the Rebel blockade-running spaceship were never made into an action figure within the entire original trilogy toy line. For me the later Cloud Car Pilot was an effective substitute (and it was odd that they made that for someone pretty much never seen).

Imperial Stormtrooper - The Stormtrooper is a must for any collection - what more need I say?

Darth Vader - Lord of the Sith (whoever or whatever they are). Most impressive and I would maintain the quirky gimmick of a hollow arm for deploying his sliding red light saber.

Princess Leia - Or Senator Organa as I prefer to think of her.

Luke Skywalker - I cannot decide if I would maintain the sliding yellow light saber gimmick for our intrepid farmhand turned hero. Luke never fights with a light saber in the oriignal movie but it does give him extra play value.

R5D4 & RA7 - Two droids for sale for kids that just love living machines. One is a malfuctioning astromech and the other a bug-faced protocol droid.

Jawa - Short and shroud in more than just shabby cloaks. They seem to lack faces and only have points of light for eyes. This look is cost-effective but also evocative - just what are they? Apparently they are distantly related to what comes next.

Tusken Raider - Tall and kind of shroud in bandages and bits of tech. Nicely menacing.

Obi-Wan Kenobi - The only Jedi Knight in the movie - definitely keeps the sliding blue light saber gimmick.

Cantina Musician - From a band of quintessentially 'grey' aliens called the Modal Nodes. Which one? They all look the same. Package it with a small wind instrument to identify it.

Chewbacca - The Wookie that proves aliens can be heroes too.

Han Solo - The smuggler who shot first.

Greedo - The bounty hunter who shot last. In the movie was played in part by a woman so I would go with an alternative smaller mould for the toy. Also the original toy lacked a vest which I would add for a more accurate frontier look.

Long Snoot - This alien spy working for the Empire never got a toy in the original line. Has a nicely creepy look accented by hood and goggles.

Govenor Tarkin - Peter Cushing gets an action figure. Basically a black Imperial Commander toy but with the correct grey uniform and the cap-free head of a severe old man.

Imperial Security Guard - The open-helmeted 'Star Destroyer Commander' but with an all-black uniform. Serves the purpose of getting shot at in the Death Star detention centre.

Imperial Gunner - What an odd closed helmet but I loved it as a kid. Was made for the third movie but should have been made for the first as they get to fire the ultimate doomsday device in science fiction cinema.

Imperial Fighter Pilot - Do they only fly TIE Fighters or can they operate other craft too? Looks like a Stormtrooper but cooler in every way.

Rebel Fighter Pilot - Could be Luke but could also be Wedge. Could be anybody with that helmet on - best to keep it vague.

With all that listed I can now say "collect all twenty two" but there's more to it than that. Several of these figures represent generic uniformed roles and you need more of them to get battles happening. Discount two-packs come to the rescue.

Rebel Two-Pack - Trooper & Fighter Pilot

Creature Two-Pack - Jawa & Tusken Raider

Imperial Detention Centre Two-Pack - Security Guard & Stormtrooper

Imperial Gunnery Two-Pack - Gunner & Stormtrooper

Imperial Docking Bay Two-Pack - Fighter Pilot & Stormtrooper

Boost your collection to a total of thirty two! There are now two each of several moulds and four each of the overwhelming Stormtrooper army.

These collections were always more than just the figures however. There were also vehicles and playsets. And they did make a bunch of them. Kenner even invented new designs and if you have some old Star Wars figures I recommend a few 'mini-rigs' as a cool way of enhancing a small collection. But for what I'm imagining I will just propose two large vehicles and one playset that correspond to the three factions of the movie. There would be...

X-Wing Fighter with Yavin Docking Bay Diorama

TIE Fighter with Death Star Docking Bay Diorama

Cantina Playset

The vehicle dioramas could just be effective use of the box interiors and have artistic depictions of other fighters or bombers in the background. The cantina playset would be somewhat representative of both the venue interior (front side) and exterior (back side) and include diorama depections of other customers and some more Modal Nodes.

My own collection is smaller so this one is fun to imagine. I will finish by presenting the same information as lists by faction of the toys discussed.

Rebels: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C3P0, R2D2, Rebel Pilots (two) and Rebel Troopers (two)

Imperials: Govenor Tarkin, Darth Vader, Security Guards (two), Gunners (two), Fighter Pilots (two) and Stormtroopers (four)

Others: R5D4, RA7, Long Snoot, Greedo, Cantina Musician, Jawas (two) and Tusken Raiders (two)

Stewart Punt Groove

On the corner of Punt Road and Stewart Street in Richmond is an unremarkable two storey brick structure housing a few wholesale shops or offices. Its roof is about level with the platforms of Richmond Station. It has sometimes sported a big billboard. None of this much interests me but what does is a memory of mine from ages ago.

What does ages ago mean? I would say it was the 2000s but it could have even been the 1990s. This is the problem with sharing an old anecdote long after it happened. But now onto what I'm remembering.

There was a band rehearsing or even performing on that dingy rooftop. The brick walls are somewhat taller than the rooftop itself and so provide an effective railing for anyone standing there. There is also a shedlike structure on the roof which I'm guessing covers a staircase. And I recall there was a drummer, a bassist and a guitarist. Were they jamming or playing rehearsed compositions? I cannot say now but what they played sounded to me like funk-metal.

I could see all this because I was standing on the northernmost platform waiting for a train. It was daytime but what I was travelling to or from I cannot recall. I went all over town back then. But it is a fond recollection of a remarkable moment. I enjoyed the show but expect I still got on the next train once it arrived.

I'm now spending less time at Richmond Station because of the Metro Tunnel so I suppose this memory is now even more nostalgic than it was.

Metro Tunnel

Melbourne has a new set of five underground train stations known together as the Metro Tunnel. They connect the Cranbourne-Pakenham and Sunbury Lines into one faster service via the city. However in exclusively connecting those lines they also separate them from the rest of our train network. For those of us living on those lines we get a faster service to and from the city. I imagine our diversion into this new tunnel also takes pressure off the rest of the network. However for those of us who want to change trains in the city it feels like something of a sacrifice.

I was one of many Melburnians who took a look at the Metro Tunnel stations once opened but only partly operational. I was duly impressed with vaulting spaces and modern design. There is some architectural artistry and I particularly admire the street level entrances to both the first and last of the new stations - Anzac and Arden. I also like that the oft-overlooked City Square has been revived as a space outside Town Hall Station. The deploying of staff to the new underground to advise and assist has been welcome. But even then I felt there were a number of missteps in the Metro Tunnel design. It started with something minor.

In the older City Loop tunnel every station has a distinct look. In contrast every Metro Tunnel station at the platforms looks pretty much the same. Grey concrete is offset by fixtures painted in a mix of orange and yellow. I like that but what if every station had been accented with different colours:

Anzac (yellow-green) Town Hall (green-blue) State Library
(blue-purple) Parkville (purple-red) Arden (red-orange)

Signage and announcements from within trains are far better now than they were but many of us still find visual cues a speedy method. These colours could have also framed and drawn attention to those parts of the glass platform walls that are doors into trains. Colour variation also makes things more interesting. But I have since decided on other more major problems with the new stations.

One problem is toilets are located only on the levels closer to the surface. It takes a few escalators to get from platform to loos. There is a variety of loos but I suspect there are too few for busy times and a missed opportunity in the lack of pooled queues to the loos.

The biggest problem is that we are separated from the other city stations and must use underground walks to get between Town Hall and Flinders Street stations or between Library and Melbourne Central stations. These travese a few levels of escalators and walkways and are bothersome even if you are a keen walker. I suppose those with mobility issues just have to use the elevators tucked away here-and-there but are there any golf buggy rides for them?

What is my solution to this? Difficult to say. A challenge the current state government faces is it is compensating for decades of neglect and the new improvements had to be fit as best they could to an older plan of City Loop and skyscraper basement carparks. All this seems to be a case of "the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few" for we commuters citywide. For me the gloss of seeing those brand new stations has definitely worn off.

Ho Ho Heinz

I was intending to post this last month but better late than never. Here I hark back to my childhood memory of one or more Heinz Christmas parties that the family attended while I was still in primary school. Santa Claus even makes an appearance.

Just south-east of Dandenong was a row of three huge manufacturing plants - International Harvester, Heinz and General Moters Holden. These characterized post-war Dandenong as an outer suburban industrial hub and Dad worked at Heinz as a fitter-and-turner. I visited the factory a few times and the thing I remember best is the Christmas events the company would host for the families of workers.

Work Christmas parties have long been a thing. They can be large and extravagant but my impression is these days they are also somewhat restrictive. Staff can at best bring a partner for free food and entertainment in some swank reception centre. Things were different in the past. Heinz Christmas parties are an example of a more all-encompassing sense of community spirit that private corporations once exhibited (partly due to the presence of strong labour unions and partly due to a greater sense of identification by management with company reputation). The whole family were welcome and they were huge as a result.

These events were held in the daytime - presumably on a hot sunny weekend. I remember they were centred on the staff cafateria. I cannot recall if we were simply given the usual canteen fare for free or whether they provided each family with a picnic hamper. There was plenty of seating both inside and outside on the expansive lawn in front of the factory. And let me stress that the factory comprised many separate structures. There were offices, processing lines, garages, workshops and warehouses.

It was to an empty warehouse that kids were sent for free gifts. I remember a long brick-walled space in which several tables were arrayed. Each table was tagged with 'boy' or 'girl' and an age (all the way up to twelve years). I got two different presents there at separate times. One was a sports set in plastic mesh packaging - maybe it was a baseball, bat and glove. Even for a non-sporting kid this was kinda cool. The other was a small toy version of a pachinko game (a sort of upright pin-ball machine popular in Japan). I barely played with it but its distinctiveness has stayed with me.

And then there was the entertainment. I expect there was more but the only thing I can recall for sure was Santa Claus arriving by helicopter. That character had done a similar thing at Parkmore but in a hot air balloon. Seeing him arrive in a modern machine however was a bit disillusioning. I must have still been pretty young.

Solace

I met with a friend last week so that we could drive to a synagogue and offer our condolences for the recent mass murder of Jews at Bondi Beach. Each of us had been seeking some way of expressing our sorrow for that atrocity committed in our own homeland. I had for days been wondering what to do, and it was more difficult than the last time something similar had happened in our part of the world. Of course, I will be part of the huge growth in blood donations that has marked the past few weeks, but during the Festive Season I tend to do that anyway.

I communicated with Jewish friends and asked if there were any vigils for the public to attend. There was a sense that Jewish Australians were playing things very carefully and therefore minimizing public gatherings. My hunch is that terrorist acts become so much harder to perpetrate after even one has happened but the fear that more was imminient was very much felt. And that fear is always there despite an age-old resiliance. Jews seem almost uniquely subject to hostility and derision of a kind that comes at them from all directions.

I still go to Monash Uni for things like an indoor swim. Last week I needed a moment alone so sat in the multi-faith Religious Centre. I was familiar with this location for choral rehearsals and the timber scent of its largest chamber evoked many-a-memory. But I was there for solace rather than nostalgia. I was safe - part of the host majority of an overwhelingly peaceful nation by world standards. And yet a part of my society had been traumatized afresh by two fanatics toting guns. I felt an echo of that distress and it warranted some kind of expression.

My friend and I are different politically and theologically. But we were united in other ways. Pluralists resisting populist fragmentation. Australians engaging in a civic duty. Humans expressing basic human decency. We were also lucky. As we drove our winding way we came across a synagogue in Caulfield that looked open. There congregants gathered and bouquets lay by the gate. We parked around the corner and walked. We stated our intent and were welcome to place and light some candles there. Our interactions with those present were momentary yet heart-felt. Our hosts were most gracious. We left feeling as if we had done something in making a gesture of fellow-feeling at a time in which words and deeds seem futile. Sometimes you have to forget results and simply do something.

Score

This blog has turned twenty. A decade ago I considered the changes it had undergone in half that timeframe. Since then I have stuck with the standard of one entry a month that it had settled into. However, I think the word count has reduced somewhat over this past decade. Furthermore, I'm more likely now to reuse old content that has simply sat offline in some archival form.

These changes could partly result from the slow march of time taking energy from me. I also feel as if it has something to do with present life conditions. I was at my most creative while my life itself was more lively. Most of what I make is rather pedestrian but now-and-then I feel I do something better that deserves a continuing platform here. And I still have the impetus in me for more blogging - how difficult can writing something recreationally once a month possibly be?

There is plenty of subject matter to choose from but I wonder whether the Blogger 'labels' or tags I attach to each post confuse that somewhat. What is the difference between a life experience and nostalgia for instance? Something I have just experienced will soon become one of many past recollections. But more often my nostalgic posts enthuse over retro popular culture content or artifacts rather than anything happening with me. Possibly that is how to distinguish those two tags.

Then there are the philosphical and political tags. The former allows for musings of a more personal kind while the latter focuses on substantive political debates. But naturally they will overlap as political problems have philosophical solutions. I have long been wedded to my fasciniation for distinct if interconnected ideological positions. But in the last decade I have explored those aspects of politics that transcend ideology. This self-directed study was prompted by changing times and the effect I realized meta-ideology has on society. But you cannot be cerebral all the time.

Sometimes I have mused on matters of music or shared the odd recipe - that one needs revisiting now we are coming into summertime. Other times I have expressed some whimsical half-baked concept of mine. There will always be more of those - I muse over many just walking or riding public transport.

If I want to do longer posts but lack the energy for a proper essay then there is always the option of annotated lists. I have been turning to that method more and more. I could also accept that short items are okay - tiny anecdotes involving something I have seen or heard could become the most evocative for future me.

A note of caution creeps into all this. In an era of privacy-pillaging artificial intelligence, how much of my text or images do I want to share? I once assumed that personal obscurity and careful phrasing were sufficient defence in a crowded online world. But is it? Apparently this website lets me set the entire blog to 'custom readers' only. I wonder if that is a worthwhile thing to do in the third decade of Lazy Luddite Log.