faces you know

Now I know this subject isn’t exactly one that fits in with the whole ‘what I love about Melbourne’ theme, but it’s something that adds to my experience of the city.

During the Northern summer of 2007, I spent a couple of months living and working in Edinburgh. One of the companies I worked for was a homeless charity called Streetwork. Edinburgh has a very genteel façade, but beneath the surface is an underbelly teeming with homeless and displaced people.

A number of the people I encountered through Streetwork were ‘well-kent’ faces (meaning well-known, in certain Scottish dialects), homeless men and women who had walked the same route and slept in the same nooks and crannies for many years.

Melbourne has it’s own ‘well-kent’ faces, from the man with the homemade drum-kit you might encounter on Elizabeth Street or up near the State Library (who always manages to put a smile on my face), the black Big Issue seller on Brunswick Street or the blind guitarist with the voice of an angel who can usually be found on Chapel Street.

There’s even the incredibly annoying spaceman who can usually be found on Swanston Street near China Town, who apparently calls himself The Sonic Manipulator.

The people become part of the colour and streetscape of a city, as familiar to Melburnians as the trams and Flinders Street station.

Photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com

culture vultures

Now that Melbourne has been made UNESCO’s second ‘City of Literature’, Melburnians can feel justified in their smugness over Sydney’s lack of culture (oh sorry, I wasn’t going to go there, was I??).

But we always knew we were a very cultured city – there’s always some new exhibition to go to, show to see or festival to attend.

One recent weekend pulled out all the stops. I attended the Taste of Melbourne festival on the Friday night and the Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday to see my very talent friend, slam poet Maxine Clarke.

Taste of Melbourne totally exceeded my expectations. Rather than the chaotic free-for-all that the Good Food & Wine Show has become, Taste was an elegant representation of some of the fabulous fine-dining establishments and premium food producers located in Victoria. I was also honoured to be present at a small round table discussion with Andrew McConnell of Three, One, Two and Cumulus Inc. fame, which was an unexpected surprise.

The Crime & Justice Festival held at Abbotsford convent back in July was an absolute joy, especially as I got the chance to chat with one of my all-time favourite authors Kerry Greenwood (I’m coming back as Phryne Fisher in my next life). This event was a real treat for would-be crime writers and anyone who simply enjoys a good who-dunnit.

There’s really no excuse for being bored in Melbourne, you just need to know where to look.

the other f-word

Without using the f-word (that is, foodie – thanks Gordon Ramsey), I have to admit that one of the greatest pleasures in life for me is good food. Naturally accompanied by great wine.

I don’t have too many vices (I don’t smoke and drugs are a memory best left back in uni days), so I don’t feel too bad about this. And what better place to indulge this vice than Melbourne?

Ok, so I can’t afford to dine at Vue de Monde every week (where is that rich older man when you need one??). But there is some great food to be had around Melbourne without breaking the bank.

For decent coffee and a quirky take on the lunchtime panini (meatballs with napoli sauce is my fav, particularly if needing sustenance after a big night out), you can’t go past Mr Tulk at the State Library. A good friend of mine also pointed out that the Management at Mr Tulk seems to have a policy of only hiring spunky boys, so also a good place to go for a bit of ah, sight seeing…

Every so often the wallet gets a decent airing, especially when you have an excuse like I did last Saturday. My brother is going overseas for an indefinite period, so to celebrate and say goodbye, we went to Maha for dinner. Without any hesitation I can say that this was easily the best meal I have ever had.

Think cardamom, rose, pomegranate and lemon, exotic spices and food so good it’s hard to keep from moaning out loud. Even my fussy friend Mark enjoyed every single thing on the expansive banquet menu.

A quick roll call of other favourites: Illy in Little Lon for the best coffee in Melbourne (with added banter from Brent the Barista free of charge), Chocolate Buddha for noodles and a divine white chocolate rice pudding, Camy dumpling house in China Town for quick and dirty craving fulfillment and Journal Canteen for some rustic down home Italian that satisfies my travel-greedy heart.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and I haven’t even started on the suburbs.

Anyone got any suggestions??

in the beginning

Sydney versus Melbourne. It’s an age-old question, and seems to bother some of us more than others. Not me, I’ve made my choice, and Melbourne it is. Now I’d like to tell you why.

The idea for this blog originally came from a requirement of my Writing for the Web class. As I have said before, I always felt a certain self consciousness about blogging, that you needed to have some level of arrogance to assume that people would want to read your ramblings. Consequently its taken me a while to hop on the bandwagon.

I hope you won't think me too indulgent.

Subject matter and relevance - to me - are the most important factors in a blog (when I'm reading them, anyway) and I really feel I have a purpose with this topic. Melbourne may have slipped down the list of 'World's Most Livable Cities', but for my money, this is it.

To set the record straight, I was born and raised in Sydney (on the beautiful Northern Beaches). I’ve lived in Melbourne for nearly ten years. And no, I won’t be entering into any silly Melbourne-Sydney rivalry – both cities have their pros and cons. I simply choose to live in Melbourne, and hopefully this blog will explain why.

Oh, and since I’m not the greatest photographer in the world, I’m going to point you in the direction of some fantastic images of Melbourne along the way. As a great starting point, Michael Blamey’s blog Melbourne Today has lots of great shots to give you a taste and feel of everyday Melbourne.


Photos courtesy of Jen Griffiths, with thanks.