Melbourne Day

In case you didn't know it, yesterday was Melbourne Day. 181 yar ago (1835) some Tassie settlers ventured across Bass Straight in the Enterprise to start a town.  I would beg to differ seeing Charlie Grimes was poking around in 1803. In any case people would know more about it if there was a public holiday, not that us retirees are asking.

Charles Grimes got as far as Dight's Falls

Bigger than Ben Hur

The story hasn't changed but the action is enhanced with the latest virtual cinematography and everyone lived happily ever after, except Jesus, but I he did make a come back eventually. We tried a new place for us which was Japanese called Ajisen Ramen. Good food and prompt arrival as well but we dodged around the spicy food.

Big

Java Cafe

The sun was out so we did a quick ride over to Yarraville for lunch at the Java Cafe next door to the Sun theatre. This is a favorite haunt. We did detour before that to the Seddon Deadly Sins however one of the sins is to go there on a Monday when it is closed.  Also tried out the Exeloo on the way back. This is one of your high tech establishments, all push button and with high fidelity sound to get you in the mood.

Yarraville Cosy Corner

Exeloo good for Poo

Ceres

The Merri Table can be found in Ceres which is an all natural farming commune in the middle of the burbs. Very convenient for bike riders needing lunch as they pass on the Merri Ck trail. If you need emergency bike repairs there is an army of bike engineers working on a mountain of bikes. This is a quirky place with large grounds. We had handmade sausage rolls and hash browns for a well earned lunch. This is a good place to try out.

Merri Table

Ceres Bike Workshop

Merri Ck Darebin Ck

The previously mentioned GVBR means that ride distances will have to increase.  Today we did a circuit mostly on bike trails linking the Merri Ck and the Darebin Ck bike tracks.  The ring road section is a bit industrial and there are a couple of light signals which are a pain but overall it is a good circuit off road.  At the southern end of Darebin Ck, two new bridges are almost ready but this is only stage one which took two years. Stage 2 has three bridges so there are a few more years to wait yet.

Darebin Ck

Almost ready

45 Km Circuit

GVBR Revisited

I have been casting around for a bike ride activity. The Flinders Ranges had a 900km ride all on dirt and also a shorter ride on sealed roads. However the GVBR is three months away, allowing plenty of practice time.  The last time I did this was 12 yar ago all along the Great Ocean Road. This time it is starting in the Grampians and then along the GOR.  I think I will be going slower this time around. At least I will not have to bring a tent as we have paid for them to supply one each night.

12 yar ago riding not swimming

Pick the highlight

My Aussie highlights are the surprises like the Modern Pentathlon. Are there even any competitions in Australia?  Interesting how they grade everyone before the final race. The low light would have to be the BMX riding. Oversized people on undersized bikes. How inconsistent is it to win 6 semi final races and get not one medal from that position? Why is it the best of three lead up races then it is just one medal race? My non Aussie highlight would be Schooling beating Phelps in his last Olympics and getting Singapore's first gold medal ever.  I remember being in Singapore where there was a bar that threw a party after every Australian Gold Medal because Singapore could not get any of their own.

Phelps out Schools in

Calm during fire

Inferno - Dan Brown

This is the latest in Dan Brown's series of symbology yarns. He is determined to revitalise the European tourist trade not that it needs it. I have traveled the exact route this novel takes, through Florence and Venice up until the last city in the story. At times I was predicting the path they would take or the next place they would visit because it was the way we went last year.  It is always better to read the book before you see any screen adaption.  This is an easy read but some of the ancient words are tricky.

Covered escape route

Return to Merri Creek

Went back over an old route connecting Moonee Ponds Ck with Merri Ck via the Northern Ring Path.  This time around I new the way a bit better. However it was still 37 Km to get the full circuit in.  Lunch was well timed at the Pentridge Cafe. This place has some interesting drinks including Rice Beer. The shared chicken burger was good. Stats were, ride time 2hrs 7mins, average speed 16kpm for a loss of 1500kcal.

Bicycle hazard

Toothpick?

Gaol Time

Annual clean up

The council maintains a tradition where once a year they will come round and pick up a pile of tidbits that you can leave on the front nature strip.  We do not have a trailer so this is our rates at work and we always find something for the dustman.  Now you know where a lot of yesterday's blog subject ended up.  Generally someone else takes our old stuff before the dustman comes along but this year that someone decided the only way they could load the cupboard we left out, was to unload some body else's chairs.

This would have taken a while to clean up

In search of Space

It has taken at least 6 years but the vault is now cleared. Everyone has stuff, too much stuff. If ever you were considering renting a storage locker, don't do it.  Stuff expands to fill any available space. Yes we had a business reason for compulsory storing of documents for the taxman.  But we went two years past that and at $2000 per year it is expensive stuff.

Space Saver

Collendina Report No 1327

Winter beaching is OK up north but a bit bracing on the Bellarine. Also the tides were  high so forced some road running to get back to base.  At least the sun was out so I think we have broken the back of the winter cool with recent temperatures of 19.  I have applied another layer of waterproofing to the concrete cracks around the van. So the new carpet tiles are drying out.

In the Ocean Groove

Harry Potter on Stage

You don't get a lot of printed words for your money in this book. The spatial requirements for printing a play script means lots of empty space.  The story line itself is good however with another time travel twist it gets complicated.  What's the go with writers using pseudonyms? Why would you want to hide your writing behind a fake name? If I saw a book by Robert Galbraith I might go past it but if I knew it was really JK Rowling then I might be more interested.

At least make it Roberta

Jason Bourne Again

More of the same. They chase him, he kills them and runs off the grid again. Robert Ludlum only wrote three stories ie the Bourne Trilogy. However since he died in 2001 there have been another 10 books appearing on the shelves. How is this so?  Someone else decides to keep writing them.  Can't they think of there own characters.

Rio

Its not often you see a medal count without the US somewhere prevalent let alone Australia at the top. This will change but it is a good start. I can remember in Sydney great pains were taken to get a schedule where Australia would get gold on day one. They determined that women's triathlon was the way. It almost worked when the Aussie got run down at the end to get Silver but by another Aussie who had switched to Switzerland.

The Count

Just saw the Brazil v Russia beach volleyball. The place was half empty. Go figure!  Where and when do Russians play volleyball on beaches?

First Birthdays

Not sure when I last went to a 1 year old birthday. I am sure there weren't no air fueled castle there though. It was a good idea that kept all the ankle biters amused the whole time plus a few older types as well. An afternoon of sunshine was a good omen for and end to this wet business.

Clap Hands

Framed

Are these 0ne year olds?

Digital Olympics

I'm working through the digital options to view the Olympics. As usual the time zone is a problem although evening sessions are occurring during our morning. I tried recording the main channel last night to get the men's road race but they switched channels half way thru.  If you pay $20  you can get 36 channels live on your Ipad but that still doesn't help if you want to record for later viewing. The web page is possible for a catchup but that may not cover everything.

Belgium has a win

Sussex Commune

There must be a fine line between grafitti, mural and artwork. We tried to get into see the Last Supper once  in Italy  and you needed a 2 month Internet booking.  Leonardo was just filling in a bit of wall space.  This Sussex one was done 20 yar ago but it may be demolished now that the communing has moved on. It is made of panels that can be removed though.

Recognise anyone starting with Patty

Paco Circuit

Went for a ride around the old haunts.  Some houses are still there like 7 McGregor St but 18 Kent Rd is a construction site and 53 Queen St has another house in its backyard now.  We continued on to the Merri Ck track and went as far as De Chene Oval.  From here there are new bike tracks through Pentridge leading onto O'Hea St. Stopped at the Bakery Cafe for a Meatball Panini. Very tasty. Another one to try next time is the Boot Factory cafe. Those cons must have made boots back in the day. All up 22km in 90 mins of riding.

Kent

McGregor

OHea Bakery

Star Trek- Beyond

Beyond What?  Leonard Nimoy would be happy with this film.  Time Travel always befuddles. Is this younger Spock living exactly the same life as the older Spock who died?  Does he now know when he is going to die? The film graphics these days means you no longer need to watch SciFi to see fast things crash. eg the Ben Hur remake has rowing boat action like space ship action and horse and chariots like dueling race cars.  The young Enterprise crew are so spot on.

YorkTown

Asimov - Robots of Dawn

The more famous "I, Robot" has overshadowed this other Robot yarn.  This is also a who dunnit but this time it is not the Roboticist that is killed, it is the Robot.  How can a Robot be murdered you ask? This is defined in the book and there are way too many words used to get to the conclusion when actions could have spoken a 1000 words.  There is another story before this called "Caves of Steel" so I have read them out of order.  But that one was not on the shelf.