playing on the ‘yellow peril’ sculpture. that’s not it’s real name, but a nick name it picked up when originally installed around 20 years ago. this was part of an expedition around the city finding things to climb on :)
in a small mall thing in the city, there are a group of young security guards (they all seem to be in their 20s). i call them the goons. but when they were buying outfits for them, it was obviously decided that big black trenchcoats would be a good look. nice for intimidation etc. so you have this group of three young goons, all wearing enormous jackets. the thing is, i don’t think they checked the sizes before giving them the jackets, as they all seem at least a size too big – you see the goons walking around, and you can just see their fingers poking out the bottom of the sleeves. this is combined with the fact their trousers are all too big – nice and bunched up around their shoes. i think it’s hard for them to look like they’re in a position of authority when they’re walking around looking like little kids dressed in their dads clothes. and they all have nice big walky talkies, that they like to use for gesturing at things, and generally waving around so they can show how important they are.
bah! not having new shiny things to post pictures of makes this all much less exciting. if i could find a picture of the new peppermint cream drumstick then i’d post that, as it’s the latest coolest thing ever (category: edible). however, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of pictures of icecreams on the internet. shame on you google image search.
meanwhile, i went out for a wander through the CBD after lunch, and saw trainee policemen practising their traffic controlling skills. which involved standing in the middle of an intersection and waving their arms and blowing whistlees a lot, while the traffic happily ignored them and just paid attention to the traffic lights, which were working just fine.
critical mass is on again in melbourne – the 100th event! it started in san francisco in 1992, and it’s been going since november 1995 in melbourne. it’s that whole unorganised coincidence thing, where a heap of cyclists turn up and happen to block the streets, and celebrate alternative transport (and stuff like that). meeting outside the state library, 5.30 on the last friday of each month if you want to play.
well, my first critical mass was fun :) the ride took us from the city, through the car park at the crown casino, past the melbourne international motor show at the exhibition centre, then across the citylink tolled bolte bridge. where we stood and waved our bikes around, and waved at the media choppers that were following us. some of the motorists thought it was excellent, some were amused, some were patient, some glared, and some yelled abuse. i like the fact that things like this ride happen. and watching the security guards get all stirred up at every place we cycled near (and through) was pretty amusing. although online newspaper reports about it are labelling it as a protest – according to the abc: “The group, which calls itself Critical Mass, was protesting against society’s reliance on cars and the shortage of bike lanes on major roads.”