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The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter
Archived
Newsletter No.319 - 19th June 2009
Contents
Just pay up your fees and Wesley undertakes that teachers will have minimal contact with your children – “teacher, leave those kids alone!” Wesley College has obtained the rights to perform Pink Floyd’s The Wall. This is the very first time that Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has ever allowed the production to be staged anywhere in the world. Details at The White Hat Guide to Rock & Pop Music in Melbourne.
The first Coburg Carnivale finishes this weekend. It consists of numbers of activities which include a car boot sale in the park next to an exhibition of sculptures by local artists. Now, I have been to some events where it was hard to tell where the car boot sale finished and the sculpture started, but I can assure you that is not the case here and the sculptures are of a high standard. Details at The White Hat Guide to Sydney Road. If you are interested in sculpture and prepared to travel further afield there is the Blackwood Sculpture Festival in country Victoria. Details at The White Hat Guide to Arts Festivals in Melbourne.
Continuing at Fed Square is an exhibition and activities based around an impressive array of light displays. Rug up and enjoy a romantic night out. Details at The White Hat Guide to Federation Square.
This weekend at St Michael’s Church in the city there is a free concert featuring 12 French Horns. Gentlemen, if you meet a lady French Horn player they are great to kiss because they have a wonderful pucker. Just be careful where they try to stick their fist. Details of the concert at The White Hat Guide to the French Horn.
Kim was first in.
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Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the
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many questions you may have in this area. All guides on
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"Hope some of these are right!
I also wanted to add that I prefer the Friday bulletin. No time to look at anything requiring a good read earlier in the week. Only get the weekend papers for that reason too. Really love the wit and humour of your guide. Thanks for all your hard work. Kim”
Next week the Melbourne International Animation Festival commences at Fed Square. Full details at The White Hat Guide to Film Festivals in Melbourne.
You can rug them up and take them down to Fed Square for The Light in Winter mentioned above. They will either say “ooh” and “aah” or “I’m bored. Can we go home now?” depending on which model you ended up with. There is free entertainment called ‘Some of Our Favourite Things’ at Malvern Town Hall. Details at The White Hat Guide to Activities for Children in Melbourne. There is also La Mama for kids. Details at The White Hat Guide to La Mama. You can also take the kids to the Winter Solstice celebrations below.
This weekend is the longest night of the year - Winter Solstice. This is great for a romantic night out with an excuse to cuddle up. Winter Solstice will be celebrated at The Light in Winter at Fed Square mentioned above. Then there is the Winter Solstice Bonfire at the Collingwood Children's Farm. There are also Winter Solstice celebrations at CERES in Brunswick.
Conversation on tram: “That’s a fine collection of books you’ve got there comrade.”
“I got them at the Historical Society book sale. This philosophy book was a real bargain.”
“Ah, comrade. Have a look here. Karl Marx said that ‘philosophers have described the world. The real point is to change it.’”
“Yes, my friend, but Karl Marx is history.”
“Not so fast, comrade. Haven’t you noticed capitalism crumbling around you?”
“Well if the Fenians had their way – they were in Australia you know. See this book I got at the History bookfair.”
“That’s fascinating comrade. I’ve got one here that – it might take a while to find. Where are you getting off?”
“We’ve passed my stop , but we could always travel to the end of the line and back again.”
“Sounds good to me comrade. Now the British Labour Party – they’re history.”
All over Melbourne there will be mini literary conferences going on this weekend. You can find details of the historical society’s bookfair at The White Hat Guide to the Royal Historical Society of Melbourne and the Big Red Bookfair at The White Hat Guide to Melbourne Trades Hall.
When Damien caught up with Sarah for after-work drinks she was in conversation with a young Indian Gentleman. “Damien, this is Sandeep. He is out from our Mumbai office for some immersion in Australian-English.”
“I am pleased to meet you Sandeep.”
“I am pleased to meet you Mr. Damien. You are the first Australian who has not immediately called me Sandy.”
“Damien and I believe that language hygiene is equally as important as personal hygiene,” said Sarah with a degree of pride.
“There is no need to call me ‘mister’ Damien since I am not your master or your superior.” added Damien.
“I am aware of that Mr. Damien, but it is simply a mark of respect. In Australia I receive business phone calls and business emails starting with ‘hi’ and I am told it represents informality. For me it represents a lack of respect and I think I am beginning to understand that what the people of Melbourne do to Indian students late at night on public transport is just a continuation of what they do to the English language during the day.” Sarah quickly changed the subject. “Sandeep has bought tickets to ‘The Wall’ and has been studying the lyrics.”
“Ah, a deeply misunderstood work.” said Damien. "Most people don’t recognise the double negative in ‘We don’t need no education’ and fail to see it for the strongly pro-education statement that it is.”
“Yes” said Sarah gazing admiringly at Damien, “and it’s the same with The Rolling Stones. Most don’t recognise the intentional double negative in ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ and interpret it entirely the wrong way.”
“I had not realised that Western pop lyrics were so subtle. You must enjoy each other’s company.” said Sandeep. Sarah placed her hand over Damien’s hoping that Sandeep would notice her ash ring.
“We do like being together, don’t we?” said Sarah. Damien’s nodded his assent not unconvincingly.. “I am finding this Australian-English difficult. There seems to be so little observance of correct syntax.”
“You’re not wrong there, Sandeep.”
“Ah, the double negative. So I am right.”
“Well when the double negative is knowingly used like that it is called a litotes, and in Australian-English ‘you’re not wrong there’ doesn’t mean ‘you’re right’ it means ‘you have made a sage judgment with which I concur and am about to give you an anecdote from my personal experience to reinforce your original observation’. Anyway, Sandeep, who are you taking to ‘The Wall’?”
“See that table over there, Mr Damien. They are Indian students I have met and I was thinking of maybe asking the girl in the red top.”
“She’s not bad.”
“Aha, not bad does not necessarily mean good in Australia?”
“You are learning fast Sandeep. Now the one in the blue, top, she’s not half bad.” Sarah coughed and shuffled uncomfortably.
“It’s merely a semantic exercise.” Damien reassured her.
“Ah, not half bad must mean half good and therefore not as good as not bad?”
“No Sandeep, it’s the other way around. Not half bad I better than not bad.”
“It could take me quite a time to learn this Australian-English. But Miss Sarah, I have a question for you. I know that you always treat language with due respect. Let us say you are in a bank and an agitated man in a balaclava bursts in with a gun and shouts ‘Don’t nobody move or I’ll shoot!’ What would you do Miss Sarah?” Will Sandeep have a date that is not unquestionably uncool? Will Sarah’s pedantic tendencies lead her to an unfortunate end? Why did Chaucer use so many double negatives? . . . Find out next week.
You can find our suggestions at The White Hat Guide to 20 Things to do in Melbourne on a Monday.
This weekend the Flinders Quartet play both of Brahms’ sextets. This creates a logistical problem. I assume they first play what they can of both sextets then come back and play the four leftover parts together. The Tokyo Quartet perform Beethoven, Wolf & Mendelssohn, the MSO perform Debussy, Haydn & Prokofiev then later next week perform Mendelssohn& Rachmaninov. You can also hear Messiaen & Tchaikovsky at Rippon Lea. Details at The White Hat Guide to Classical Music in Melbourne.
A hidden African restaurant
| Please note: This section of the newsletter has been
removed as it forms part of a forthcoming publication or because it
is forms part of our
Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the
guide is White Hat Accredited they are likely to know the answer to
many questions you may have in this area. All guides on
White Hat Tours are White Hat
Accredited. |
This weekend the road in front of Fitzroy Town Hall will be blocked for the Emerge Festival with bands and dancing spill onto the street. Details at The White Hat Guide to Fitzroy Town Hall.
“dear whitehat we went to black rock house which is open from 2 to 4 every sunday it was built as a holiday home by charles ebden in 1856 it was fabulous $3.15 adult and $1.60 conc to enter and escorted around by friends of brh in period dress we highly recommend this historic home from chris and joy ps it is under threat from the sandringham council!
chris”
You can find information on Black Rock House and other historic houses at The White Hat Guide to Historic Houses in Melbourne. Sometimes we get replies to the newsletter which we expect were intended for someone else. For instance: “You didn't give me a birthday present it's too late now. DONT RING [work] TOMORROW AT 9 am. Neither did xxx. Such siblings i am so blessed.”
Well, either we’ve got some siblings we’re not aware of or there has been a case of mistaken identity. Happy birthday anyway xxxxx. We hope things improved after that. “Hello WhiteHat, thanks for yr newsletter and further to your ice-skating item: You may be interested to know that :- St Kilda Historical Society (SKHS) are holding a free "Memories of St Moritz" Evening 2009 >1939 at St Kilda Library, 6-8pm, Monday July 20. Former bladers and wouldabeens are invited to bring along pics, memorabilia and reminiscences about their icecapades and romances as well as view a heritage display and hear a short history of St Moritz and beyond. If they bring their cameras they may also have their pics taken with the re-constructed St Moritz ice-skating neon sign in SKHS archives (donated 2005 by Novotel St Kilda). RSVP much appreciated: info@skhs.org.au”
This weekend there is the Froth and Bubble Literary Festival at Torquay. Details at The White Hat Guide to Adam Lindsay Gordon.
This weekend the occasional ‘The Way We Wear Fair’ featuring a wide range of vintage clothing is on at Williamstown. Details at The White Hat Guide to Williamstown. The Winter Artisans Market starts its four week season in Northcote. Details at The White Hat Guide to Northcote Town Hall. The best way to see a summary of markets on a particular day including occasional fairs and fetes is to go to our home page and choose the appropriate month in the drop-down menu of Market Planners.
This weekend the Festival of Ideas finishes at Melbourne University. It has numbers of free sessions on a number of topics. The Royal Historical Society has a talk on rowing and the University while the Australian Catholic University has a public lecture on Women and War. Details at The White Hat Guide to Forums & Lectures in Melbourne.
At White Hat we often get emails from people who have mistaken us for one of the venues listed on our site. Here is one: “Hello (: I am a year 10 student currently studying at xxx. I am very much interested in the arts, and wish to pursue it as my career. Considering a majority of the theatres have a strict policy where no student is allowed backstage, and the rest of the theatres are already taken, I have come to you, to ask you if you had any places left for work experience? I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this, regards xxx”
Maybe some of you out there in the arts industry may have some advice for this young lady. We also had the following personal message: “hi from portc
i met this great guy at the café & hes down here with the red + & theyre doing a blood drive so i went along & gave blood so i could c him again & it didn’t hurt as much as i thought & turned up the next day but they said i couldn’t give blood again that quickly so i talked crystal into going so i could go with her but she was sooo embarrassing cos she refused 2 have the t unless it was chai & then would only have biscuits if they were organic & after she had the plumbing installed i was sent out but afterwards she told me that he had told her that i was a positive which i think means that he likes me & crystal says she didnt think he was a doctor but ive seen his car & he must be & i know the hotel where theyre staying so im just going 2 happen 2b at the cocktail bar after work. ill let u know what happens.
luv nat”
This is about the time of year when people whose teams are in the bottom third of the ladder take a sudden interest in craft and start wearing beautifully handcrafted scarves to work – in fact anything except the club scarf they had been wearing up until know. This year’s scarf festival is centred in the National Wool Museum in Geelong but there are also numbers of Melbourne events. Details at The White Hat Guide to Craft Events in Melbourne.
Melbourne and shapes - What shape is the City Circle?
- What shape is the City Square?
- What will be the shape of the arena in Melbourne’s latest sporting arena now nearing completion?
- Hoddle’s rectangular grid has one corner rounded off. Which one?
- What and where in Melbourne is the Temperance Triangle?
- What shape are the green wedges?
- Why are manhole covers circular?
And, as a supplementary question - What happens in the centre square?
No prizes – just glory and a warm inner glow.
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