VicRail magazine things

I forgot I had a whole heap of old VicRail magazines lying around. They were called "Rail Ways" and seemed to function as a kind of newsletter/semi-annual report thing. The issues mainly focus on small-scale projects being started/undertaken/completed, with some letters from the public and human interest stories, and a huge page of retirements. You can tell the magazine was published in an era where the railways were still something to be proud of, it's very quaint. I would scan the entire things but alas I do not own a scanner, so have some bad photos of some things that I found interesting.

I first thought the caption said "Auction day crowds think about their birds"

This is so sweet, I can only dream of the day I feel pleased to pay money for a ticket too

Love the old orange motif of the railways, apparently (before my time) trains had burgundy carpet too

Foam block

Last night around 2 am there was a really strange noise outside, very violent and metal-y. I looked through the window and right on the corner of our street, there were two teens destroying some foam foundation material from the housing-estate-under-construction nearby using Y-shaped metal stakes. There was styrofoam everywhere and it looked like fresh snow. The teens chose to do this right in the middle of the road (which I imagine would've been a very confusing sight for the average motorist) so eventually the council sent a truck to remedy the situation, but they didn't do a great job and now there's little pieces of foam in trees, puddles, plants, etc. all the way down the street. I am only mentioning it because you don't see this kind of thing every day. 

Friend chicken

My appointment today was productive, and I got my marks back for a field paper I submitted a few weeks ago (which I was really worried about because I thought it was terrible) and turns out I did well - not bad for a Monday. Apart from that, nothing new

Finished

Nothing to say apart from the fact that I'm done and that's all that matters

Great sunset tonight

Someone abandoned this in the doctors waiting room?

Almost time for a break

I think I am done with my thesis proposal - going to let it rest now, then time for a final proof-read. I never realised how awkward my writing is and I wonder if it's because English isn't my first language. I seem to rely a lot on a set of phrases and wordings and I really need to stop doing that. Anyway, I will be on holidays as of tomorrow and I am very excited. Of course, thesis never really ends, and I want to get some things (i.e. interviews, site observations) mostly out of the way before next semester starts, but it will be good to have a break. The past semester has been exceptionally difficult because of migraines and various medical problems but I am optimistic about the next few months, pending my rheumatologist appointment Monday. 

Have three photos to celebrate:

Cabbage and stake

Nearly there

There is a light at the end of the thesis tunnel which I feel pretty OK about. I am worried about some very small things but for the most part, I am confident. The important thing is that I think I know what I'm doing. I am ironing out the veritable creases in my literature review and then I should be done aside from aesthetic things like layouts and figures and tables and whatnot

The past week has been noisy. People in my building complained about the random VicTrack car park across the road, since two driveways within 50 meters of each other becomes traffic hell on this tiny street between 4 pm and 6:30 pm. I don't mind but obviously it's a big issue for some, and VicTrack has consequently spent a week digging up concrete and bitumen and moving giant boulders and whatever else they do, in the process connecting the tiny car park with the much larger one adjacent to the station. This is bad for sleep and therefore gives me a headache every morning but I guess that's the sacrifice I have to make for traffic to be quelled in the long-term... (this reveals how boring my life is, as this is probably the most significant recent event I can recall, I promise I will become more interesting soon)

All that noise and fussing about for this. They better put some nice plants there or else

She is a terror who loves towels and killing moths

Shoe provided for scale

Nice reflection

4 pedestrian crossings to cross the road, no thanks 

Mysterious limo at Footscray Station, visiting politician or Franco Cozzo's ride?

This tunnel near home is finally lit (at least partially) hooray etc.

Lazy

Story first then productive things later. Last night I was awake with migraine when I heard a lot of sirens on the other side of the railway line, so I went for a walk (in part because I thought the cold air would be good for my brain, but mostly just curiosity) to the ramp at West Footscray station which provides a reasonable view. The commotion was that a police car had crashed into an old wooden electricity pole. I don't think anyone was hurt but a bird made a sound not unlike a wolf whistle and I got scared and went home immediately

The kitten also ate part of a wooden spoon and I don't know how she did it but the conclusion is that nothing is safe from her, not even things in the sink

Now for something different: I don't know when this happened but there are a lot of old digitised street directories on the SLV website. I had a look at the 1944 Morgan's directory, obviously focusing on My Sunshine North Quarry, which provided some interesting information. The timeline I've so far established from literature suggests a vague date of 1930s/1940s for construction (deconstruction?) but the quarries aren't even on this 1944 map, so I guess they were excavated a lot later than I thought (unless the map wasn't updated but I doubt it, but it is a tad suspect that the 1952 map looks exactly the same i.e quarryless and I am almost certain there was a quarry by that point). 

Also, Norfolk, Lancaster, Warwick, Oxford, Middlesex and Sussex streets (what a theme) don't exist anymore, Nottingham St is now "Winged Foot Drive" (ugh) (I first typed Winged Food which is a better name in my opinion), and weirdly enough Berkshire Road now has an S-curve linking it to Surrey Street which explains why the current road adopts the Surrey name for 100 meters - so I think that change came as a result of the quarry. Esmonde St is now the awkward continuation of Berkshire instead. I also can't tell if the two roads 'crossing' the Maribyrnong River are actually crossing it or just stopping short. Enjoy the pictures below

I guess at this point in time there was no quarry?

Weird 

Lazy Google Maps screenshot for comparative purposes

Featuring the hit track

I went to Savers today and bought this because why not. I like disco and I like The Beatles and it's pretty funny

The sky today was really weird

Coke box prison

Good things

We lost the second set of house keys a few months ago and searched everywhere (including coat pockets and bags) to no avail. We found them in buried in the gerbera pot on the balcony last week. A positive development but still confusing

The weather has been pleasant the past few days and I am looking forward to leaving the house to do things now that I don't have a ridiculous amount of work due and my car is fixed (which I didn't mention but the alternator broke and my brother was nice enough to hunt down a new one from a Saab wrecker and fix it for free). I am done with all of my subjects except for thesis which is good. I can't help but worry about the take-home exam I just submitted (I felt confident prior to submission, so this feeling is most likely irrational, I think, except one question was maths-based and I am not very numerically inclined) and my arm still hurts, but things are A-OK otherwise

Also planning a thrifty trip to Canberra as I type. Planes are a lot more expensive than I thought so we'll be going by train and bus. I am excited for poplar-lined avenues and abundant she-oaks, roundabouts and bus stops. I already know it will be excellent

Now I will celebrate with a gin and tap water since I'm out of tonic water. And then back to thesis

Her pose was actually funnier but she moved at the last second and now looks somewhat frightened  

This cat spent a few minutes rubbing itself all over the number plate next to it, and then looked at me with its mouth hanging agape

Ow

Turns out my shoulder pain is resultant of a poorly administered Maxolon injection during the Last Bad Migraine episode. The locum doctor who gave me the shot went too high in the muscle with too long a needle (i.e. using the right needle length for a 24 year old female, but not a 24 year old female with 11% upper arm body fat [my right arm is 14% which makes even less sense]) and went straight through the deltoid and into the bursa. Apparently 1 in 3 recover fine, another 1 in 3 need surgery, and the last third just live in pain forever which isn't very reassuring. My left hand is very weak and crummy and a huge liability at the moment. Typing this is hard because my fingers only hit 1 in every 5 keys (I'm not counting). Writing this took all evening which is kind of sad. I have to wait 2 weeks to get a blood test which will determine whether the muscle is wasting. Anyway I am still alive and here's a photo

No good take away

Adding to the terrible events of the last week (summary: broken retainer and a broken-into car) I have managed to dislocate my shoulder so many times in my sleep that I now cannot move or do anything with my left arm. It was mildly annoying when I woke up but now it is a genuine hinderance. Sad feelings aside, this bodes well for my rheumatologist appointment (as in, gives me something of significance to talk about) and provides some rationale for an MRI, which is good, I guess

At the very least I still own the World's Funniest Kitten, which has to count for something

Chewing on my thumb because I scolded her for trying to destroy another iPhone charger/cable doover thing

Oh no

I dropped my retainer on the bathroom sink yesterday morning and it chipped all along the front section that goes behind my back teeth, so now I need to get a new retainer. I don't want to think about how much it will cost but I think the bigger issue is the sheer discomfort of the retainer-making process. Also I think I have a very mild ear infection (which bodes well for my presentation tomorrow), the novelty of feeling like I am underwater wore off about 3 minutes after I woke up. 

Regardless of the above, May is over, I have a small amount of things left to do, and as of next week I will be able to spend my time doing things without any assignment-related guilt. Tentative plans for a short trip to Canberra and Sorrento which should be nice

Here is the girl on her pizza box/towel/speaker tower. She is too big for it now and keeps falling off