Travel Tips

It has been a tough year.

Work has been particularly unsympathetic.
Things, normally placid, tended not to want to co-operate.
The hardest of all trials was selling, buying and moving homes.

I had lived in Elwood, a south eastern suburb of Melbourne, not long after arriving from Europe.

The Victorian Terrace I had fallen in love with watched over my days of happiness and misery without a word.
It was as much a part of me as the humans that caused those emotions.

Now, after extracting the obligatory amounts of blood, sweat and tears, the time had come to let it go.

I searched far and wide for a substitute.
Little came close and even less inspired.

One suburb, however, had always a place in my heart.

It is Williamstown.
Just across the water of Port Phillip Bay from Elwood, it is on the same 10 km radius, from the city.

Williamstown is a charming little Village.
Hardly sophisticated but rustic and has an air of cosy familiarity.

It leans over the bay, as if with a hand dipped into the water.
One road leads you in, the same one escorts you out.

From the fore-shore, Melbourne's Sky-scrapers are a mere glance across the shipping-channel.
Pointing sky-high they crease the nightly Southern Cross.

My new place is small.
Smaller that I have ever been used to live in.
A mere fraction of my previous grand Victorian;
And yet it seems to exude a restful mindset never previously experienced in my Melbourne.

Perhaps it is because debt no longer scratches hungrily at my door;
Or that the end of my working life is within reach;
But since moving here, I feel as if my weary bones have found a resting place.

The better restaurants cater for a local-affluent crowd.
The rest are touristy and festive on the week-end.
As one expects, quality varies with price but no establishment is ever shy of a tasty morsel to suit your budget.

I have only been greeted by a nod or a smile from up to now.
I suspect that more intimate invitations are imminent, judging by the curious glances I get from my surrounding neighbours while parking the car or motorcycle in my designated spot.

My flat, a largish, single-bedroom place, is a part of a 2 storey semi-residential, office-complex.
It consists of 2 blocks, each of 2 offices downstairs and 2 flats upstairs.

A fenced, private, car-park divides the 2 blocks and a train-line snuggles uncomfortably close to one side of the building.
Double-glazing and other technological marvels minimize both noise and vibration to a murmur.
However, first glance would suggest the Blues Brothers live here.

At this time it is appropriate pointing out I live in the Southern Hemisphere and the direction of the sun is reversed from anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere.

The entrance is a street level though a chunky, solid door faced with copper sheeting.
I am told it is fireproof.

My own personal stair-well takes me 20 steps to the first floor.
They lead onto Cedar timber-flooring in honey hues and satin luster.
You are in presently in a room containing the Kitchen, Dining and sitting rooms.
An open-planed expanse measuring 10 by 5.5 meters.
To the North a huge, double-glazed, floor to ceiling window leads to a terrace.

The lighting is bright and acidy and needs dimming to mellow it from searing white light to dim candle-light glow.
The original stark white walls have since been painted in Suede-effects.
The Shadowy north wall in Purple and the lighter East wall in Terra-cotta.

Aphrodite, a relic of my past, hangs on the Terra-cotta wall.
It leans over my desk; all that is left of my office.

Aphrodite has been with me for years.
A cast of a torso in a classical pose.
This is the work of an enterprising Artist friend, who used herself as the pattern for the casting.
She has changed much but the young body remains unrepentant in its glory.

Wrought-iron Candle-sticks, Leather armchairs, a crimson sofa, amphorae, old jars and a mahogany coffee-table litter the room.
Some out of place in such a modern setting but somehow comfortable to the eye.
The only compromise to modernity is an LCD television that is more an aid to my lap-top and wireless Keyboard then an item of entertainment.

A simple affair.
No-nonsense plastic-encased doors, Grey granite surfaces and stainless-steel equipment.
The Pantry covers half a wall, over-head and under-counter cabinets occupy the rest.
Splash-back is in white ceramic-tiles.
A breakfast bar and a view over the sitting-room divides the kitchen’s third of the room from the rest.

The corridor runs north south against the east periphery wall and ends at the bedroom door.
Half way there the Laundry, paved in charcoal tiles, leads off to the right.

An appropriately efficient laundry leads to the bathroom trough a sliding door.
Topped by the west facing skylight, the Bath-room is sparse and large.
Cream-white, it does not inspire.
It is more a mark of clinical cleanliness, so common of modern flats.

A Spa-bath, of less than desirable size, faces the door.
Soon be replaced by a 2-person therapeutic bath.

The rest is as normal as fruit on trees in Summer.

The Bedroom is what had me buy this place.

Once past the thick and sound-proofed corridor door-way, it spans 6 meters across and 5 meters ahead.
To the left are sliding doors that open onto a 5 meter by 3 meter balcony. It looks over a Victorian-Hotel and allows the morning sun to wake me.

The Powder-grey carpet is boring but functional.
The South wall is featured in Teal and a large framed yacht.

An original sore-point was a cavernous built-in wardrobe.
Outfitted with a shelf and rod for hanging space, it was the epitome of mediocrity.

It has since lost its sliding-doors.
Its rod and shelf and acquired textured paint-work.
It is now an Alcove.
In it reside 2 slender, mahogany, ex-book-cases, now wardrobes and a low chest-of-drawers bordered with glass doors.

That is the extent of this minuscule flat.
Except for the 15 square mete north-facing terrace, which I am redesigning to be enclosed by a glass roof and glass facade.
This Atrium will house my Dining-room.

With appropriate luck lending a hand, this new room should be finished by February.
I think I will use sand-stone and cane to furnish it.

Expect invitations for a house-warming party soonish.