Melbourne Loft

As I was walking to work this morning I was amazed at the outfits some people were wearing as they rode their scooters in to the city!   During my scooter riding course we were taught about how important it is to wear the right protective gear.   So now it takes me a while to actually get dressed up before going for a ride.    Well, what took my eye was a girl wearing an open faced helmet on her way into the office in peak traffic.   Now I knew she was going into the office because she was wearing a skimpy skirt and matching suit jacket with high heel shoes!!!   

There are laws in Australia where motorbike riders must wear a helmet….   but it seems the rest is up to you.   Then I saw a guy doubling his partner into work on the same stretch of road…  and again the only protective gear they ahd on was a helmet.   Are these people crazy??   My mate has come off his scooter 3 times now…  and he knows the benefits of having protective riding gear.   And the shot above?   I just liked it.

Well the big news finally hit this week.   An Open Skies agreement has been reached between the US and Australia to let US and Australian based airlines fly between the US and Australia, to any destination, as many times as they like!   You may not know this but this has been a tightly guarded priveledge between Qantas and United Airlines for as long as I can remember.  Qantas currently holds the majority of the market sending 51 flights a week across the Pacific.    And because there is barely any competition is it costs more to fly 14 hours to California than it does to fly 22 hours to the UK.   We already know that budget airlines “V Australia” and “Jetstar” will start flying to the US, but I’m sure we will see any more competition on the trans-Pacific route in the future bringing lower fares.   I’m not sure I would want to fly for 14 hours in a budget carrier though.

Also, while I’m talking trans-Pacific…   Qantas is rumored to soon start selling tickets on the new A380 to the US for when they take delivery of the first units later this year.   Qantas are also about to remodel the frequent flyer program in May.   It most likely means that it will cost more points to redeem flights.  So I am thinking of booking anotehr US trip on points before May for later this year.

Walking home from the gym today I noticed that JB Hi Fi has opened yet another store on my street.   That makes 5 stores on my street for the mega CD / DVD / Camera / HiFi / TV chain store.    It must be working because I seem to be spending a lot more money there.   I like to go in and gaze at the big screen TVs.

I was just thinking about the disco days at Chequers nitespot in Wollongong.   The night club in the middle of a carpark.   It is spooky that the place is all closed up now and waiting for the whole complex to be fixed up.   I started going to Chequers when I was in high school.   I didn’t know it was a gay club until I saw 2 guys kissing there.   Religiously I went there every week for years.   I hated going there…  but I loved dancing there.    The club was only licensed to 3am…  and occasionally the owner would lock us all in at 3am so we could keep dancing till the morning.

So I gathered up some 80’s clips to share with you….     when the B52s said “down” we really did sink to the dancefloor.   These are Chequers classics…  

1.  Rock Lobster…  the B52s

 

 2.  Free Nelson Mandela – Special AKA (with the incredibly handsome one time singer Stan Cambpell)

3.  King Trigger – The River 

First it was Jake now it’s Ray leaving!   I’m not sure how more of this i can take!
After 30 years on the Nine Network Ray Martin spat the dummy at channel 9 last night for changing the start time of the “Sunday” show to the earlier time of 7.30am and resigned.   I was disappointed to hear him intervieed on A Current Affair tonite and hear him say that he didn’t want to get up at 4 in the morning for the Sunday show.   Oh come on Ray!   You’re paid $1.2 million a year to do one show a week!    I’d get up at 4am every morning for 1.2 large.   
I’m actually glad that both John Howard and Ray Martin are gone…   enough with the pompous old men!

I’m feeling a little sad today.   Earlier this morning I helped Jake move his stuff out to the street to the waiting removal van.   Jake has moved out of the Loft.  I started to think about how much fun it has been living with him for the past 4 years.   We peddled our bikes all around Melbourne in 2004 looking for a place to share, and ever since then we have had the best fun times in this big drafty loft.   I know we will still be good mates but it won’t quite be the same.   We just decided it was time to move on and live apart.   I have had so much fun living with Jake I wonder what life has in store for me next…  the past 4 years living with Jake have been some of the best years of my life.
Here are some of my favourite shots taken of Jake and the crazy stuff we had done.
 


 

When I arrived home from Sydney on Friday there was a note to all the residents about Flinders and Elizabeth Street’s being closed off for the weekend for the shooting of the HBO drama “The Pacific”.    I didn’t think much of it because there are often closures around the city for filming.  This time it was a little different…  they had closed off major streets and closed down businesses for the weekend.   And there was a tonne of gawkers hanging around.  It was till later that I read it was being produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.   I even think it was Steven on the microphone yelling at people…  but I could be wrong.   How cool was it to have a big budget production outside the Loft!   Now if only that could have paid Connex to not toot their train horns as they passed through the nearby Flinders Street train station.

I’m so not obsessed with IKEA anymore.   I shopped there on the weekend with some friends and came home almost empty handed…  if I had have gone there in a car it might have been a different story…  but who wants to lump a whole lot of IKEA junk onto a tram?   I should invest in a trailer for my scooter.
This photo tells me that I need a new camera.   You can’t see it here but there are actually pixels missing from the larger version.    So if anyone has any tips on what to buy in a smaller pocket sized camera please leave a comment and I’ll check it out.
Oh…  why Swedish High Times?    Go to the IKEA cafeteria and try the little green cakes…  then head to the children’s play section…   you’ll see what I mean.

I had such a great time up in Wollongong over the Australia Day long weekend.   Apart from it being my birthday we also spent a lot of time lazing and playing up at the beach.  Frank found this great deserted beach just north of Wollongong for us to take some great shots on.   Of course we dragged some along to be our test models.   We even picked up some surfboards for the trip.   I’ll post the shots and vids in the Private Room soon.  In the meantime you can already check out the shoots from the January beach shoots now.    Long live summer!

I returned to the Loft this afternoon to find the boys watching porn on my computer and eating chocolates.   I have a funny feeling that this was the high point of their trip to Melbourne.