Up and doing

It was early Feb since I last worked –  and now I’m back again working in docklands on a short term contract.  I kind of accidentally got a job faster than I thought I would! I’m seeing what sort of role suits me and what I want to do with my career next. This is a good one to help me do just that. It’s a BA/Tech writer role.

I used to work at docklands about 10 years ago –  I was in the only real business there at the time and it was deserted, windy, and cold. I’m shocked at how much Bourke/Collins St have altered. There are, like, buildings and shops and stuff!  Not so much where I am, around the end of Latrobe. Still a bit dead, even with a few businesses. I’ve been forced to accept I cannot get good close coffee, coming from the middle of the CBD this is very galling. Also hard to find good places to eat near me that are cheap and cheerful – everything is a minimum of 10 mins walk away. Doh.

Docklands is however utterly beautiful as a place to work – lots of inspiration for paintings I think!

I think of this as Loony Toons architecture

The harbour bit just in front of the building I’m working in in docklands

Bolte bridge in sunlight

Misty morning sunrise at Latrobe st, docklands

Latrobe St. No, I don’t know either. Also, they were all gone at the end of the day. It was right next to where I saw eggs the day before.

I’d have this boat.

I may be stuck in docklands with no good coffee or cafes nearby working in a job with 0 alcohol tolerance (!!!!) but this is the view from the tea room and it almost makes up for it

Sun hadn’t risen high at this point

Views and water and reflections

Mmmmm Pho.

I’m a late supporter of Pho. I never really liked it. Now I do. OM NOM NOM

I’ve done a bit of walking in the last week and a half, a lot of it in the morning.

Standing on the bridge at Latrobe st, looking at the stabled V-line trains

Oh Melbourne. This is why we can’t have nice things

Balloon flight over rail yards, from footbridge at Southern Cross. It will always be Spencer St Station to me.

Walking across the Yarra one morning (walked from Flinders to Docklands) – I got to see a pretty sweet sunrise

Looking back at melbs from about where the stadium is, docklands

Unfortunately I picked a dreadful time to go back to using trains: my train line is shut down due to works for skyrail, so I’ve been either bussing it some of the way or driving to a different line to get in. A line where the car parking is scarce so I need to be super early to get a spot, also it’s a bit of a drive to get to the station.  It increases my commute by around an hour a day on what it should be if i was going to my local station – but others I know are having a commute of an hour each way longer and that is taking it’s toll on people at the moment.

It’s tiresome and tedious, should be over in another week, when Carnegie and Murrumbeena stations will be open and all the intersections are taken out. I grew up around that area. Sad to see the old stations gone but the congestion on Koornang, Poath, Grange and Murrumbeena roads due to the train line are so appalling I will drive out of my way to avoid them – so I will be glad to see the back of them! Went to Clayton the other day, no more DING DING DING every 5 mins there, too. NICE!

the inside of the 900 bus at 6.22am in winter. yay.

One benefit to getting the 900 to Caulfield instead of the train replacement bus was my choice of seats on the actual train.

Speaking of transport, I went in the Colonial Tramcar restaurant last week and it was seriously good.

You trundle around Melbourne inner suburbs eating nice food and having wine just poured and poured for you. I also caught my first Uber at the end of it too. Dad was involved in helping advice on setting up this as a concept, I’ve wanted to go since the 90s, finally got us booked in. I will do this again, if you’re going on a night out it’s a really different one. Did I mention the never-ending wine. I react badly to non-preservative free wine. I drank it down anyway. GLUG!

Tram restaurant: tea, port, wine. What more do you need? Food was nice too.

Inside the tramcar restaurant. Lush and pretty. My phone doesn’t cope with low light levels well.

Trundling past another tram. I prefer the one i was in. Ride cost a bit more than a myki swipe though

I don’t eat sweetened foods – so they gave me a fruit platter and om nom nom! the other dessert was apparently “awesome and I was looking forward to eating yours too dammit they gave you fruit”

Swanky curtains in tram

Today was a long weekend, ended up going for a walk in local wetlands along the Dandenong Creek Trail  (15 mins drive, near Jells park) – utterly beautiful. Though you could hear the serenity – traffic on Eastlink freeway and the powerlines dominating the landscape….perhaps a bit less serenity, however having this so close to home is awesome.

Dandenong wetlands, near Mulgrave

Rushes at the dandenong wetlands, Mulgrave

Dandenong wetlands, near Mulgrave

I’ve managed to do a fair few paintings and pictures, I’ve just not photographed them yet. It is coming.

Other things I’ve done: Helped a friend in job applications and took photos for him for his Linkedin profile, No I’m not showing them here though I thought about it.

This is considered a pretty normal sort of thing in my social group

I lost a fight over what bulb machines we had. I don’t even remember the existence of the little red/cream ones. Where did they come from!

I had actually thought I’d done nothing this last week and a half and actually I’ve done a LOT! And oh how hard I’ve worked.

Has been

a) a shock and

b) really excellent.