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The White Hat Melbourne NewsletterArchived Newsletter No.77 - 7 May 2004Contents
Mother's Day at Rippon LeaPlenty of activities and free admission for all mothers. The rest of you have to pay, although if you are four months pregnant you could try asking for half price. Take along a picnic and pretend you are part of The Great Gatsby. 12-4pm at Rippon Lea Estate. Enquiries 9523 6095 Free RecitalsDavid Agg presents a free organ concert in Camberwell. Or you can attend a recital for voice and folk harp at North Melbourne. ArtplayThe small railway building in Birrarung Marr has been restored and is now a children’s art activity centre. The whole process seems heavily subsidised so it is a good idea to use it while the prices are relatively low ($5 per for many sessions). When little Justin comes home with his garish scribble, you can put it on the fridge and say “that’s very good Justin”. And four weeks later when he brings home another one you can put it on the fridge and tell visitors “look what Justin did at Artplay” and the visitors will say “that’s very good Justin”. Then by the time Justin is 12 and his style hasn’t changed you can explain that the pile of scribble which now provides the major insulation on the fridge show’s “Justin’s search for inner meaning in a world full of turmoil”, and the visitors will say “that’s extremely interesting”. At this point, the discerning parent will have noticed that Justin has no artistic talent and will encourage him to go out and chase a football or chase girls. However there are some sharing caring parents who never do this. Next time you walk into a gallery and find some untalented scribbling you can either try to understand the lengthy post modernist explanation pinned beside it, or you can assume that no-one ever had the courage to say “that’s not very good Justin”. Senior's Bike TourA monthly event for mature people to share their experiences. Details at Seniors in Melbourne. Calendar of EventsOur Calendar of Events pages are slowly being rebuilt. There may be some hiccups so if you find that the Melbourne Cup is now being run in the middle of July, please let us know and we will either fix the page or have the race rescheduled. Melbourne's Hidden GemsHidden amongst the factories and industrial estates around Melbourne are numbers of hidden gems. During the weekends, many of these factories are deserted, but if you sit on the outskirts you will sometimes notice family cars venturing into this Mad Max landscape. Try following a group of cars and you may find that it has developed into an ant trail. Eventually you turn a corner and find a traffic jam with parking hard to find. You must be there – whatever ‘there’ is.
Nearby is a coffee and cake store and the nature of the cakes can be guessed from the store’s name – Eiffel Tower. Here you can sit and have your coffee to the dulcet tones of Effie in the background pointing out that she had definitely ordered one more layer on her wedding cake than the dangerously teetering construction of white and pink icing they are currently showing her. Nearby is a fresh pasta store and smallgoods stores, all with Italian or Greek goods. Smallgoods manufacturers come from a higher class of society than butchers so they don’t call you'love' – the call you ‘bella’. So next time that family from the country is visiting (you know – the ones who didn’t even know what tofu was) then it’s time to pop down to Assembly Drive. Country VictoriaThis weekend there is an autumn festival at Bright, a film festival at Mount Buninyong (a medium sized hill near Ballarat), a Mothers Day Market at Maryborough and the Wandiligong Nut Festival. Details at Events in Country Victoria. Reader Feedback
Yes Raymond. It’s at 99 Shiel Street North Melbourne. Most of the older locals won’t know it’s there so ask them to direct you to the gasometer wing of the Arden Street oval.
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Try this process with Assembly Drive in Tullamarine. At the end of your drive, in the middle of nowhere, you take a ticket and stand in a long queue at a butchers shop. You and the kids can have a free sausage in a roll while you are waiting – and not one of the standard sausages made from the sawdust sweepings on the butcher shop floor – this is a proper Italian sausage. By the time you reach the front of the queue you need to know what you want because the local mores don’t allow for any indecision. And if you wish to enter a socio-political discussion about the inherent patriarchal domination and denial of your self autonomy that was conveyed in the butcher calling you ‘love’, you won’t find much support from the locals. The meat is good quality and much cheaper than the supermarkets. 
