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The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter
Archived
Newsletter No.160 - 3 February 2006
Contents
Next week there is a swing dance festival complete with ball at various venues around the city. For our part we avoid this sort of dancing where partners touch each other because you could end up with girl germs, so we will be going to the hip hop dancing at Fed Square on Sunday. Details of both at Dance in Melbourne.
The free orchestral concerts at the music bowl continue. This is always one of the highlights of Melbourne at this time of year. Tonight is the first of the Friday Music under the Stars at CERES Environmental Park. They wanted to use the theme of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ but found that the rights to that concept have already been bought by a number of aging rock performers still doing the touring circuit. If your preference is for world music there are performances by the Yarra at the Fairfield Amphitheatre. Details at World Music in Melbourne. For jazz lovers there is twilight jazz and voice tonight (Friday) at Fed Square, Free jazz in the gardens at Como on Saturday. You may also be pleased to know that the Grampians Jazz Festival will proceed as usual next despite the disastrous fires at Halls Gap. Details of all these at Jazz in Melbourne. On Saturdays you can bring your own drum to free drumming workshops with dance at Southgate.
It is no longer necessary to use the www in the address of any of the pages of our website. It will work either with or without. Thus whitehat.com.au will get you to our main page as will www.whitehat.com.au. With 6,000 newsletter subscribers and thousands of other visitors to our website freed up from typing in those extra letters each time we would expect to see a measurable improvement in Australia’s next productivity figures. However, the main reason for removing them is so that we will now not have to listen as often to the sort of person who, when forced to mention the internet, manages to load so much distaste into their reluctant and exaggerated use of “double-u, double-u, double-u”.
This weekend is a Vietnamese Tet Festival at Sandown Raceourse. I expect entry fees to apply. If you see a skip in a white hat it is likely to be me. In fact, if you see a skip it is likely to be me. Having sampled the beef in betel leaves at both the Richmond and Springvale festivals it is important to know whether this festival can do as well. On Sunday is Russian Pancake Festival – (Maslenitsa) at Fed Square. Details of both at Ethnic & Religious Festivals in Melbourne. The food and wine festival continues at the Docklands with the Spice Market next week. Details at Food & Wine Festivals in Melbourne.
You can find a number of smaller new comedy venues and events including one called The Pink Horse of Whimsy at Comedy in Melbourne.
The candles are barely gutted in front of St Nicholas and the retail traders have transferred their allegiances to St Valentine as the one who will answer their prayers. Meanwhile, the pressure and expectation mounts out there for those solid and dependable partners to come up with spontaneous romantic gesture. Spontaneous gestures of this nature require a lot of careful preparation and planning and you may find some ideas at Romantic Melbourne. For those who may be interested in a romantic getaway in country Victoria some time, just send your details and a recent photograph to . . . sorry! Wrong newsletter. Just send an email to country@whitehat.com.au
“If the 'n' who keeps sending White Hat updates of his/her personal life watched 'Mythbusters' they would not have to drive all over the place trying to prove or disprove the quacking duck echo. Mythbusters answered this one some time ago.
Helen” "Dear Whitehat,
please pass on my thanks to the organizers of 'Painting in the Park'. I took six girls aged 24 down to 3 and they all enjoyed the total activity. The 24 year old produced a very promising self portrait, which we hope she'll produce on canvas. Our sixteen year old surprised us with a stunning beach landscape. It was great to see the talent of both young an old, and the serious approach of some! I hope this can be an annual event and am actually encouraging my daughters to maybe organize such an event in our local area, for later in the year, with the addition of some of their talented friends playing music, live, in the background.
Tim & Nancy”
Tim & Nancy – we will pass on your remarks. Next week’s Paint in the Parks is at Treasury Gardens. “Dear Mr. Hat,
Am following with great interest the story of N in Portsea. Have you written back to give her encouragement and support? Does she know that her private life is being blogged all over Victoria? That she has followers in Britain? I think you should post her email address so fans can write to her and help her decide a) what kind of car to make her dad buy her and b) what to do about Nathan.
Love, Po-Faced Woman in Middle Suburbs (Gillian)” “White,
As a longterm reader I am willing to put up with the occasional tpyo and slip without comment, but some errors need attention drawn to them. In the yet to be completed Guide to classical music, Listener's Guide section, an unfilled lead promises to explain concertoes, I think thyis has something to do with sitting too close to the person ahead. I await your explanation
Bernard”
In a previous newsletter, Wendi asked for some contributions of rhyming slang. We have had a number of responses so we will hold those over until there is more space.
On Wednesday & Friday lunchtimes until 24 Feb you can join in a wide range of board games at both the Plaza of the Rialto Building and at Queensbridge Square at Southgate. This runs from 11.30 to 2.30 and seems suitable for a whole range of people. However, it occurs to White Hat that it could be particularly suited to singles. Sit down to play a board game with a stranger, engage in some diverting repartee, maybe exchange the occasional meaningful glance and, who knows? You may be invited to a city apartment to view some fascinating early edition Scrabble Dictionaries. Details at Southgate.
Next week the replica of the tall ship Enterprize (it’s not that tall actually but just about anything seemed tall to little Johnny Fawkner who first chartered the ship to establish a European settlement in Melbourne) will be open for inspection at the Docklands. We are approaching the last week of the Volvo Ocean Race Boats being in Melbourne. If you haven’t made your way to the Dockland, you might be surprised by the size of the venture and associated displays. This Saturday there is racing on the bay during the afternoon and a major fireworks display at night. The event culminates next weekend with a Carnivale with more fireworks, dancing and people enjoying themselves more than is proper for a dignified city such as ours. Details of both these at Docklands.
There is a whole range of free entertainment in the parks throughout February including bands, dancing, children’s activities, etc. You can find a full listing at Fitzroy Gardens.
Movies under the stars continue at the Botanic Gardens, and also start tonight (Friday) at the Fairfield Amphitheatre. If you are thinking of taking the children, you should know that the films at Fairfield at ‘queer’. If you don’t know what queer is, ask your children. A short film festival called In on the Filmmaker begins this week. Details of all these at Film in Melbourne.
"Re: The Mission to Seamen.
Can you tell me anything about what is currently happening to this building? My internet search resulted in almost no references except for your website..does it still exist..did it become national trust..is it possible to tour it at all? I ask because I lived there for the first 4 years of my life..1958-1962..my dad was caretaker..and continued to be caretaker for about 6 years after we moved out of the mission..I have so many fond memories (including helping dad put the rat bait out in the dome, spring fairs..where my mother hung a sign around my neck saying "please dont feed the child"....., magic shows..the place even had secret passages....playing with the drums and lights on the stage..and the best of all....helping dad restock the kiosk..).. but I have very few photos..and would love to see it once more..and to show my kids. Any information you could give would be very much appreciated,
thank you, sue”
We sent Sue some information and she replied: “Thank you so much..Im being forced to go to melb by teenage daughter this weekend..so I will go and knock on the door..there was always a padre there when i was young so ill ask for him..once again many thanks,
sue”
We also received the following personal messages: “hi from portc. im so happy. i met this fantastic guy & im sooo over nathan im not coming back to melb yet. nathan disappeared & crystal came back after 5 days saying she needed to get away form the bad karma for a while. dads going to buy me a car but sez i have to get a job to help. karl sez people should only work for things that are not for profit & crystal sez juice bars are not for profit and craig sez theyre not not for profit but even if they are im sure they dont approve of it so ive applied for one in portc and said you are my chief referee. thnx. cant wait for you to meet MT (thats what everyone calls him).
love nat.”
Lindsay Fox has one of the most remarkable collections of classic cars in the world and they are kept in a warehouse at Docklands. The collection is only open to the public on special occasions or for group bookings. However for the next two weeks it will be open to the public to raise funds for charity. Even if you have little or no interest in cars, we think you will find this well worth a visit. Details at Fox Classic Car Collection.
How well do you know Melbourne? Melbourne and electricity. - At what major event did Melbourne first put on a major display of electric lighting?
- Who was the great Australian engineer who oversaw the development of the state’s electrical grid and supply?
- How does the difference between tram and train electrical supplies lead to traffic jams in some suburbs?
- We are all familiar with the 240V domestic electricity supply available in Victoria. What other supplies are available from the electrical companies and why?
- To mark a special anniversary in Melbourne, many buildings were floodlit by electric light for the first time. What was this the occasion and who was the chief donor to these celebrations?
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