The Lorne Independent

I try and buy a copy of the Lorne Independent when we’re at Lorne, and this year’s February issue contained a lot of interesting information.   There was an article about the new stained glass window, of course, but other things mentioned included the continued absence of any work at all on the Point Grey redevelopment  –   although the concerns expressed related to the design process so maybe the fact that it hadn’t happened was not such a bad thing.

There was the “usual” letter complaining about the rubbish left behind by a particular group – not identified but obviously directed at “visitors” (but no mention of the fact that the local economy depends on visitors).

There was an interesting article about holiday houses built in the early days by the Western District “squattocracy”.   Mention was made of a pamphlet available from the Information Centre giving more details of these.    I must look this out next time.

There was a lot of other interesting information on a number of other topics,  but the snippet that really grabbed my interest was that snakes love to hang out under big piles of seaweed on the beach, because these are nice and hot.   This changed my whole attitude to seaweed on the beach!

New stained glass at Lorne

The February issue of the Lorne Independent, which I bought during our break down there, had an article about a new stained glass window at the Anglican All Saints’ church in Lorne. It’s being commissioned by the grandson of a couple who were long time Lorne entities.  Generations of the family had been associated with All Saints’.

The design is the Good Samaritan, but the background is to the stylised view in the Otway Ranges, depicting a place on the Erskine River where religious services used to be held.

The window will hopefully be placed before Easter (I wasn’t able to see it), and the Bishop will consecrate it.

It’s interesting that people are still thinking of new stained glass.   However, All Saints’ is heritage listed, so I suppose that provides some assurance that the church is here to stay for a while yet.

 

Train issues

I try and resist the temptation to give a running commentary of the issues I face when I commute by train.    But yesterday might be worth a mention.

The signage at our local station had reverted to stating that the trains were running to Flinders St.    So much for the “through running” that came in just weeks ago.    But there are “planned works” happening on the other side of the city, so perhaps that explains things.  Just the same, when the train arrived, it showed the eventual destination as “Laverton via City”.    Needless to say, when we arrived at Flinders St, this didn’t happen, the train reversed.  There was no announcement, except the usual automated one.  So, if you were in the train, you may well have not picked up that it wasn’t proceeding as per the destination signage.    And the same applied when I was coming home   Oh well…..  Moral of the story, you still have to check and re-check what the train is going to do when you get to Flinders St – rely on nothing that you’ve seen before then.

At least I got home before the bomb scare later in the day.   I shudder to think how Metro would have handled this.  Any disruption seems to send them into meltdown!

 

Auctions

I’ve long taken an interest in local auctions on Saturday mornings. However, in recent times, there have been restrictive rules about attendance etc. So, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed off to a local auction last Saturday.

Well, no masks, no (apparent) restrictions – just like old times.    And the well-known auctioneer, who was enthusiastic and professional, achieved what I thought was a good price for the property.

Chaddie

We made a trip out to Chadstone.   I’ve had occasional coffees there over the past few months, but this time we lingered for a while.    Subjectively, although there were plenty of people eating, the shopping crowd still has quite a way to go before it returns to pre-Covid levels (although we were there on a weekday during school term).    Certainly, the premium shopping area was quiet, with no queues at all – except at Louis Vuitton (not sure why this should be so).   Seemingly the absence of overseas high-spenders is being noticed.

There were prominent signs at the entrances requiring facemasks to be worn, and generally, the level of compliance seemed to be high.

Food areas busy

Not busy at Versace

Not busy at Cartier, either

Just a few at Tiffany

But Louis Vuitton has a few

The rules are clearly stated as you enter

Home from Lorne

Our time at Lorne came to an end, so we headed home home with a carload of dirty washing. 

The last couple of days before we left were fully occupied.

I went to the Sunday morning service at St Cuthbert’s (first Sunday in Lent)

We headed down to Wye River for lunch and a great view from the deck of the pub

We had lunch at Qdos and admired the sculptures

..and we had a drink on the deck at the hotel and viewed the beach through the trees

But we couldn’t buy fresh fish because the shop at the pier no longer operates.

 

The naming of Lorne

The local newspaper told me that 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the naming of Lorne.   For the first 30 years of of settlement, the locality was known by inland people as “The Bay” or the “place by Louttit Bay”.    But in 1871, it was decided that should be named Lorne, in honour of the wedding of Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, Princess Louise, to the Marquis of Lorne on 21 March 1871. (See also Wikipedia)

Wikipedia tells us about Princess Louise, but I’m not sure that either her or her husband had much connection with Lorne or indeed Australia.

Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne

Nevertheless, in 1971, the Lorne Historical Society held a banquet to celebrate the Lorne Centenary, and apparently consideration is now being given as to how the 150th anniversary ought to be celebrated.  There are funds from the local council available, and three possible options have been put forward:  to illuminate the swing bridge, to commission a sculpture or to fly banner flags in Mountjoy Pde.   There’s a survey to obtain feedback about which of these would be most popular.

Holiday reading

I admit that I tend to pack up the half-read books by the bedside to take away on holidays.   Somehow, I rationalise that, even though a book is too boring, tedious or otherwise too “challenging” to read at home, I’ll be more motivated while I’m away.

But it doesn’t work like that!    I did make an effort to pick up some of those books, but on our most recent holiday, my main reading was to re-read a couple of old favourites.   Should I return the “just started” books to my bedside, or should I face the reality that I’ll probably never read them?

After the lockdown

The lockdown ended and Lorne came back to life.    There were a couple of hot days, too, so people were out and about.   Traffic congestion returned!

The best part, of course, was being able to eat in the restaurants. We made up for lost time, and within the first two days ate at the Lorne hotel, the Pier restaurant, the cafe on the beach and the Grand Pacific Hotel!   All the food was very good, great in many instances – but the service in several cases was quite slow. Perhaps the absence of overseas working holiday visa holders has meant that staff numbers are down?   But in every case, the food has always been worth the wait.

Grand Pacific Hotel

Pier restaurant

Simply presented but really good – barramundi at the Pier.

 

 

Rubbish bins

Lorne (part of the Surf Coast municipality) has moved to a “Four Bin” style of rubbish collection. These are bins for landfill, re-recyclables, organic waste and glass. There’s a sticker on the fridge giving the collection days together with rather detailed instructions about what can and can’t go in each bin. Even more detailed information was set out in the monthly newsletter (the Lorne Independent) which I bought at the supermarket.

At home, we’ve got three bins, and quite recently were told to include food scraps in the garden waste bin (now know as the “organics” bin).   But down here, there’s a fourth bin, for “glass only”.  There are instructions to keep glass out of the recycle bin (broken glass apparently contaminates other recyclables).

The collection calendar is complex!   The organics bin is collected weekly, the landfill and recycle bins fortnightly and the glass bin monthly (but apparently extra collections occur at Christmas).    And the rules contain a lot of detail, especially about which plastics can be recycled (black plastic can’t be).    No metal or plastic bottle tops are allowed in the glass bin, but labels on bottles are OK.   Coated cardboard (such as UHT milk boxes) don’t go in the recycle bin ….. and there many more rules.