HOSIER LANE

Hosier Lane in Melbourne, is found between Swanston and Russell Sts, extending from Flinders Street through to Flinders Lane. In the 1920s businesses in Hosier Lane were diverse and included an organ manufacturer, a warehouse for a men's clothing company, and a costume manufacturer. The nearby Higson and Oliver Lanes had warehouses that were predominantly used by businesses involved in the manufacturing of clothes and the name of this lane reflects its association with clothing.

Hosier Lane today is well known for its bars but mostly for the graffiti and stencil art that can be seen on its 19th century brick walls. The artwork decorating the walls near number 1 Hosier Lane and near Misty Place at number 3-5 Hosier Lane have been approved by the City of Melbourne as registered street artwork. Melbourne City Council regards graffiti as primarily a product of an urban environment that should be engaged with creatively, not something that it merely takes a strict zero tolerance approach to. This engagement is seen as a diversion that hopes to tame a vigorous and diverse form of expression. By having certain areas of the city where street artists can express themselves, graffiti on unacceptable locations can be controlled.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

HENS

It's still not unusual in Melbourne to walk by a house in the suburbs and suddenly hear a cock crow, or the clucking of chickens. Some people have hens in a coop in the backyard, or some more adventurous, greener souls allow them free range in the front yard...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

SILVER SUN

On July 13, a partial solar eclipse was visible from the southeastern coast of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand’s Stewart Island, as well as the northern coast of Antarctica. Earth has not seen a solar eclipse fall on a Friday the 13th since December 1974. Adding to the phenomenon, this moon will be a so-called dark supermoon—a new moon that arrives when the lunar orb is especially close to Earth.

While I was unable to catch sight of the partial eclipse, the diagram below shows the tiny sliver of the sun was obscured by the edge of the moon at maximum eclipse.

What I did get to photograph earlier that morning, however, was a foggy sky and a silver sun amongst the gum tree leaves. That too was quite beautiful on a cold Winter morning in Melbourne.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

PRIMULA IN THE GARDEN

Primula malacoides or the Fairy Primrose have dainty clusters of flowers that are carried in spirals on an erect, hairy stem, well above the dense rosettes of attractive, mid-green foliage. The colours range from white, through pink, to magenta. These are classic mixed border plants and are generally amongst the earlier flowers to bloom making them a very good start to the season (Primus means first in Latin).

These do best if planted in any fertile soil in which well-rotted animal manure will help to promote larger blooms. Regular watering will ensure long blooming times, otherwise easy to grow and need little other care. Snails can be an occasional problem, especially with young plants.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

RETURN

Thank you for your emails and messages asking for the return of Melbourne Fresh Daily. OK, I have relented and will post here occasionally as the fancy strikes me. I'm starting with a view of the Yarra River and the city lights of the CBD. Night can hide much and the romantically inclined can then idealise what little they see...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FLINDERS STREET INCIDENT

Today, at 4.42 pm, a 4-wheel drive vehicle attack on a busy pedestrian crossing in Melbourne’s Flinders Street (at the T-intersection with Elizabeth St) left 19 people in hospital, six of them critically injured. A pre-school-aged child who was injured with severe head trauma is now stable.

Police have announced that they believe this attack was the work of a mentally ill drug addict and it is not being treated as terrorism. The driver is thought to be a mentally ill man with a history of addiction to the drug ice. It is understood he has no known links to extremism and is not known to counter-terrorism authorities.

A second man pictured arrested at the scene was unconnected to the attack. He was video-taping the incident and was arrested because police found three knives in a bag in his possession. No other weapons were found in the offender’s car, the vehicle itself of course being weapon enough in the driver’s control.

In these days right before Christmas there will be many households in our city that will be affected by this horrible act of violence. The families and friends of the victims first and foremost of course, but also the family of the offender who must grieving not only for their child but for all those he injured. Add to them every other rational human being who observes this and similar senseless acts of violence and cannot help but feel revulsion, abhorrence and outrage.

All we Melburnians feel rather numb seeing this is the second incident of this type that has occurred in our city this year. On January 20 earlier this year, a car running wild in the Bourke St mall caused the death of six people and injured 28 others. The driver, Jim Gargasoulas 27 years old was charged but has pleaded “not guilty”, his defence being “mental illness”.

Our city is changing, our world is changing, people are changing and I’m afraid that things are not changing for the better. Melbourne was a beautiful city, its people mostly friendly, courteous and law-abiding. In the last 30 years we have seen Melbourne, The Large Modern City – the Most Livable City in the World slowly becoming Melbourne the Post-Modern Megalopolis: Overcrowded, noisy, congested, riddled with crime, corruption, and home of violence related to drugs, mental illness, homelessness, racial tensions, and the ever-present threat of terrorism hanging above our heads.

We have created a monster by allowing our city to become this. Corporate and individual greed, political expediency, public insouciance and a misguided desire to be a “World City” has brought us here. Now we pay the price. Melbourne you have come of age, now you belong there with all the other megalopoleis of the world. Megalomania deserves its own special reward - the loss of soul. I hope against hope that this incident is the last that we shall see, but logic says otherwise - more such incidents are to follow, I think...

My Melbourne is no longer Fresh, and I can no longer post a Daily beautiful offering in a city that is becoming increasingly more and more dehumanized. I still live here because this is my home and I shall try to find pockets of sanity to insulate myself from the increasing madness of the city. I shall try to still find beauty where I can, and continue to associate myself with people who are rational, open-minded, tolerant, charitable and altruistic. I shall continue to try to change my world for the better in any way I can. It is becoming more and more difficult...

This is the last entry for Melbourne Fresh Daily. Thank you to all the loyal followers and readers who have accompanied me here since 11/11/2011. It’s been quite the ride.

My best wishes to you and your loved ones for a peaceful Christmas and a calmer, better, saner 2018.

TRAIN LEVEL X-ING REMOVAL

For a city of of its size, Melbourne has a reasonable number of public transport options. There are buses, trams, coaches, taxis and trains that cover nearly every suburb in the greater metropolitan area, and beyond.

Metro Trains Melbourne operates the metropolitan train network under an agreement with the Victorian Government. There are 15 separate lines in the Metro train network, 837 km of track and a total of 218 stations, 80 of which are premium stations with enhanced facilities. The fleet size consists of 407 three-car sets comprising: 187 Comeng, 72 Siemens, 134 X'Trapolis and 14 Hitachi trains. The annual patronage for the 2012-13 year was 225.5 million passenger trips.

Most of the rail track in the suburbs is above ground as shown here but there is a largely underground rail loop in the City centre. Over the next eight years the Level Crossing Removal Authority will oversee the removal of 50 dangerous and congested level crossings across Melbourne. Construction has already commenced on several sites, and planning and early consultation is underway for the delivery of the entire project.

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE CITY BATHS

City Baths, in Melbourne, Australia, is a historically and architecturally significant building. Located at 420 Swanston Street, it is an instantly recognisable Melbourne landmark.The Melbourne City Council opened the first Melbourne City Baths on 9 January 1860, which housed public baths. The objective was to stop people from bathing in the Yarra River, which by the 1850s had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever which hit the city resulting in many deaths. However, people continued to swim and drink the water.

The Baths were leased to a private operator, but lack of maintenance resulted in such deterioration of the building that the Baths were closed in 1899. New baths designed by John James Clark were opened on 23 March 1904. Strict separation of men and women was maintained, right down to separate street entrances. Two classes of facilities were maintained, with second class baths in the basement and first class baths on the main floor. The popularity of the swimming pool increased with the introduction of mixed bathing in 1947.

The Baths now house a swimming pool, spa, sauna, squash courts and a gymnasium. To cater for all types of swimmers, the swimming pool is divided into four lanes: an aqua play lane, a medium lane, a fast lane and a slow lane (or 'aquatic education', when swimming lessons are given).

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

IN THE GARDEN

The Christmas Tree in the background image is the tree in our garden at night. A long exposure picks up the lights and creates the asterism effect. On that I have superimposed the images of the mosaic jewel tree and the greeting.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS...

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme