Tea for Two

Pretty as a picture, the tea table at the Austen Tea Rooms in Raleigh St, Essendon. 

Shopping for shopfronts

A shop in Union Rd, Ascot Vale, makes use of the charming 19th century window design.

You can see the decorative style of this shop above the awning, rather spoilt by the drab appearance of the 20th century makeover below.  I don't know what they sell in this shop, and I don't want to know.  Wouldn't it be nice if shop owners/lessors paid some attention to the streetscape when tarting up the shop-front?  This old shop has had a reasonable restoration job done.

We're all relieved

This is the new public convenience in Lincoln Park, North Essendon, opened a few weeks before Christmas.  There is no doubt this will be a welcome relief to residents and visitors, but the style seems to present a blank canvas for those vacuous wielders of spray cans.  We'll see how long it remains in pristine condition.

We raise our glass

Artistic glass tram shelters have been installed at the roundabout at Essendon Junction.  Noice!  Unusual! 

Cool idea for west-facing walls

Down at the Council depot in Holmes Rd, an enterprising team has tackled the problem of insulating west facing walls from the outside - a wall of drip-watered succulents and other plants shields the wall from the afternoon heat.

The side view shows how the arrangements works.  The succulents are gown in specially designed crates, the crates are attached to a frame bolted to the wall, and a watering system drips moisture from the top. Some plantings seem to do better than others.


This seems a great idea for a problem wall.