Love at the laundromat

it's magic

(out for a walk the other day - King St Newtown -Sydney)

Let them know it's *&^%$#@() time - 25 year anniversary - old favourites - some lovely music to listen to - scroll down first, hit play... any play, pop on your old Koala suit and have a read

"I heard the news today oh boy"  It's 25 years since a who’s who of should-never-have-been (soon to be has-beens) utterly boring popsters sang that annoying song about all the starving people - Look at us boring rich popsters making you feel guilty about gorging yourself at Christmas time - let them know it's Christmas by donating all your money to their despot governments and corrupt officials... Oh, go get Knighted will you! (song - Let Them Know It's Christmas time by Band Aid - in case you want reminding!)

I think it was with that song and all that yelling at crowds when the clever guilt-trip scripting began.  Psychologically refined, it is now employed by backpackers on holiday working as charity collectors....
Smiley healthy young things that call to you as you walk toward them, next to them and away from them saying, "Do you care about the environment / refugees / eyesight ...?"

Unlike the coin collecting Koalas, it's hard to ridicule these nice acting  English / Irish / American folks - likely part of a guilt-trip brainwashing conspiracy because suddenly we all have to be nice, don't we - maybe it's the folate they add to flour...

I measured my not having owned a car or motorbike for 15years, turning off all appliances at the power-point, been using those bloody light saver globes for years (- they save money but they're a bit dim and if you don't see the booger on your face, you walk out of your house with that booger on your face
in public -)
 ...footprint  and said "Fuck off" to someone.
I didn't want to say fuck off... Now that I think about it you know I didn't actually say fuck off, I really said "Oh, get fucked".
I said it as I walked past a visiting clipboard carrying man who spoke to me even though I didn't make eye contact but he didn't ask if I cared, he said, "DON'T you care?" **

But what should a person really do when faced with feeling helpless (refer**)??
SING. 
Yes, that's right, get out a cake tin, give it a tap and have yourself a singalong.
You can simply clap your hands... or not.

It's been a long time since I took some leisure time at RatherGoodDOTcom - close to 5 years - gosh.
 An old favourtie AH and I often sing around the house is La la la la Football - we mess up the words and only sing the easy bits but it's a jolly song (oh except we didn't barrack -am I supposed to spell that Barak from now on lest the lightening comes for me - for England - we cheered on all the underdogs and then the Germans and mostly the women's finals anyway...):


I really like the totally unsound one by those naughty hedgehogs... but I've chosen one of AH's favourites to show here - it really tickles her and for me, well it's another jolly and catchy singalong (and maybe a little nudge about GM and adding things to food and water for the good of the public):





**I'd just heard a report that some scientists have suggested that due to global warming, the carbon monoxide in Eucalyptus trees may become so high that nutritional levels in leaves will drop drastically and Koalas will die out. There really will be drop-bears - dropping out of trees, dead (insert unhappy face made of semi colons and brackets).  The report really shook me up and I figured I would continue to donate independently and when I can to the Australian Koala Foundation rather than give my personal banking details or credit card number to a foreigner standing on a street corner with a carefully scripted set of words.
- "when I can" meaning, oi! EVERYONE, stop being so Nihilist and buy art.
buy my art!  then you see,  I can donate to worthy causes... wow, that's a trip!


A classic sing-a-long:

I’m the Zoology Dragon,
I drive around in my Dragon Wagon,
I invent animals,
(that are) MADE OF CUBES

I’m the Zoology Dragon,
I’m always buzzing and I’m never flagging,
I’ve made more animals than you can imagine,
SO PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR SURFACE TENSION

COW! CUBE!
COWUUUUUBE!
COW! CUBE!
COWUUUUUBE!
I’m the Zoology Dragon,
Making animals is my passion,
I made the elephant and the donkey,

BUT BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THEY HAVE GOT INFINITE DENSITY
COW! CUBE!
COWUUUUUBE!
COW! CUBE!
COWUUUUUBE!

The Queen Comes to Katoomba NSW Australia 12 February 1954

(watching the parade - photographer unknown)

In 1954, the year after her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to tour Australia.  The tour included  70 country towns and in Katoomba, an unknown person took photos of the event from the crowd.  These snaps are now a part of my small photography collection.

My Mother was 22 years old and working in a photo development shop in the Blue Mountains with her best friend.  One of the other girls working there, after processing & printing 18 Brownie shots of someone's day during the Royal Visit, printed a set each for her co-workers. 
Mum is good fun when she tells me of slightly naughty things in her younger, pre-marriage years (this week is her 55th wedding anniversary) - normally well spoken, she gets a twinkle in her eyes and with not quite a full giggle tells me stories with the punch line or main anecdote spoken through one side of her mouth, putting on an earlier Australian accent.

The Queen's visit was a huge event for many Australians and remains the most popular Royal Visit to Australia of them all.

A few years ago when visiting my Mother, she showed me the photos and told me about the fun they had at the shop - sometimes there wouldn't be any work* so they'd take corny posed shots of each other, hand to forehead - glamour puss at lunchtime.
Wondering why I'd want those old things that weren't very good anyway, she gave me the unknown photographer's snaps.

One of my activities is restoring old photographs & here is the original scan of the above scene:

It's hard to see all the splotches & scratches here but you get the idea about the exposure & straight-forward development (no dodging, these are direct contact prints from the negatives).  Taking photographs during a bright day in February would always be tricky.

- especially if the photographer appears to be short:

can they see anything? 

* in another shop where my Mother worked in main street of Leura (- she lived midway between Katoomba & Leura -) her kind boss kept her and her friend on the payroll during Winter even though there was hardly any work.  "You could let off a gun in the middle of the main street and you wouldn't even hit a dog"  - on ya Mum

Australia is not a Repulic yet but it may get its independence one day - I do hope my Mother gets to see it happen.

Oh, by the way, none of the photos shows even a tiny glimpse of QEII or even her car!

Monday - quiet & cloudy

Cloudy yes but quiet, no.   Today it's surround-sound power tools - a drop saw just down the way, somewhere else likely an angle grinder & next door a bit of everything that vibrates the wall...

Meanwhile it's a lovely gentle day - low temp, clouds hiding the often too bright sun and a hint of breeze.

looks a bit like this:

modern art

can't remember where I nicked this - somwhere sometime online

Location Location Location

AH and I are vaguely looking at places for rent and I noticed that a Mary Street Newtown house is once again up for rent 6 months after the last time again for $400 a week.
Real Estate agents describe it as:
"We love
The abundance of natural light and air
The short walk to the heart of Newtown
The open plan loft style second bedroom
The leafy rear courtyard, timber benches
The large neat and tidy eat in kitchen "

complete with pretty pic:

doesnt that look nice...

I walk past this house often on my way to our post office box and I can tell you now that the above photo is from over 6 months ago and of course they try for the most flattering looks.  (I suppose only 6 months old is better than the photos of houses for rent that stupidly have digital date stamps on them from 2005 that I've seen recently.)

If you walk just past number 3, well, right next to it you will see an electricity substation. That's right, a big load of lectrickery is your next door neighbour.  Opposite the 1/2 house is a drop in place, a phone company depot (read vans driving in and out with big roller door) and a pub with an exit on King Street and Mary Street (read men urinating on their way home).  It really is only 3 doors away from King Street - the park is at the other end of the street but the transport, lots and lots of it - trucks, buses, cars, really is at your doorstep.

Not long ago I was walking down Mary Street, early evening but still daylight & watched as 2 meth boys smashed a car window and stole what looked like a laptop bag right in front of me.  Now, I do realise that once a gel is over 40 and not of a breeding age, she often becomes the invisible woman but that was ridiculous and just a tiny bit scary.

Does this house come with off-street parking? No, don't be silly, that would mean lots more rent.

This is what it REALLY looks like:

I took this at the end of last week.
Notice all the bakery trays - they are there most of the time.  Notice the open and over-full wheelie rubbish bins? same.   Check out the (lack of) gutter above the verandah - one could think of that as a statement as to the condition of the rest of the house.   In the background I see a palm tree - that must be the "leafy" bit - they drop their dirty great branches with big spikes, heavy enough to kill your cat (they allow pets) but that doesn't matter because if the animal gets past the barbed wire, it will be electrocuted anyway.
Security? I am not going there but I reckon the contents insurance premium will be plus a few hundred and if you have a car...  But remember: location location location!
That's not location that's being certifiable.
By the way, it's better revenue for real estate agents to lease every 6 months then to have long-term tenants.

I just read that it's been rented.