The House(s) of Fran_mart

 This is more or less a random set of things that seemed interesting seen while in the Winter Garden in the evening of 14 November. The first image is of 2 vehicle-transporting boats.  I find the design interesting - presumably all the cars are full assembled before loading so volume is the issue rather than weight. Another maritime shot.  This boat has been moored at station pier for a couple of days .... ... simply labeled "French warship".  I hereby shout "Remember the Rainbow Warrior." and name it "La Grenouille".  Here is the entry from my Marine Tracker app. At 2017 I looked up from my book and saw that a sunset was happening. Possibly the best we have seen from 505. A little later I noticed that a few rooms in the new building across St Kilda Rd had lights on  No idea why - other than that tradies doing fitout forgot to turn them off.  Also, note that in the background we can still see at least one of the cranes in Port Melbourne.

 The Melbourne Marathon came past this morning.  Here is the lead group incoming. These are the leaders, a little in front of the next group. Outbound. The first females are in this group, about 2 minutes (after 5km) behind the blokes. Some of the tail enders taken from our Winter Garden about 26 minutes after the leaders passed. The leader - I reckon the winner as he was well in front and going well - heading North to finish in 2:15 with a tailender in the Half going South.  Well done Jack Raynor ! Earlier Half runners. For the afternoon the Italian Consulate (next door) had warned our Concierge about a protest.  I couldn't work out why folk were protesting the Italians.  Turns out they were just collateral damage: the target was the US Consulate about 300m further down St Kilda Rd.  And it was the Palestinian supporters, who couldn't find a bike race to interrupt. I was fascinated how tightly bunched the Socialists were at the back of the march.  Pe...

 On 10 October we walked to Prahran Square for a performance by Swerve Drivers .  It is part of the Melbourne Fringe and seemed to be an outdoor dance and light show, but we weren't really sure what was going to happen.  When we arrived about 1950 hrs there were few people around so we wondered if it would be a fizzer.  However the lights in the Square looked nice. There wasn't a great announcement of it starting but we noticed this illumination so wandered in that general direction. A dancer (from the website, Emma Riches) appeared. Lights were projected on her. Captions appeared on a screen.  The words were read out (and echoed by one of the usual, more demented, denizens of the area lurking behind the screen, but not a biggie). Here is the audience, obfuscated to stuff up facial recognition by Elon and his mates. The dancer then appeared below the screen ... ... and then returned to her usual spot for more colour and movement. Towards the end of the performan...

 On our morning walk on 10 October I noticed that the metal fence around the Cordner Oval in Fawkner Park had been supplemented by white pickets. In one of Damon Runyan's tales he comments that a problem with asking questions is that you can get a reputation as the sort of person who wants to find things out.  This was a Bad Idea on Broadway during Prohibition, but possibly OK now.  So I asked these folk what was occurring and duly found out they were filming a commercial for Channel 7 about cricket.   Thinking about the cost of making, and installing, all the pickets I wondered why they hadn't gone somewhere pre-picketed (such as the G).  Certainly money seemed no object.  There were about 10 people hanging around outside the pickets; another 10 with very expensive cameras in this group .... .... and 17 in this bunch.

 When I first emigrated I was desperate to see a wild kangaroo.  I think it took about two years!  These days we get sights like this across the back fence. Note the claws! At this point the one on the left landed a couple of solid kicks to the wobbly bits of the one on the right, who admitted defeat (or least retreated).

 This is pretty much our morning on 8 August.  It begins looking out the windows towards the CBD, with some light clouds well below the tops of the high rises.  My guess would be the 60th floor. On our walk we saw some signs of Spring! And a very nice display of orchids in a front yard near South Yarra Primary. On the other side of the Park the Tonka trucks were still at play.  There is much scope for further photos as they knock down this building.  (I don't know how the punters work in the white building while this is going on,) I have activated Google Lens on my phone, and it identified Clivia miniata for me! We have watched the demolition as it has proceeded.  By 11 September (a month later) the high stuff has all gone and only cleaning up the ground is needed.  (Frances took this image from St Kilda Rd - the opposite end of the site to my earlier photos.)