Category: Daily Prompt

Writing inspired by the Daily Prompt

Daily Prompt: Retrospective

The End?

Just a couple of days ago I posted my fifth anniversary post. By that time I already knew that WordPress was getting rid of the Daily Prompt and Weekly Photo Challenges.

What was different from other times that  we’ve had changes here is that WordPress has not told us that it is an improvement or that some new and better thing will be coming along to replace it. The last topics have been very final.

I’ve read a lot of posts and comments and I know that people are very unhappy about all of this. It seems there will be nobody left at WordPress to listen or care or to reassure us that it will be alright. They already have our money.

The bloggers that I read are not businesses, they are people who like to share their thoughts and pictures like I do. It’s fun to blog but if you are not being read it is a bit like shouting in an empty room. I admit that I did not do the Daily Prompt every day but when I was starting out  I used it a lot for inspiration and most of the people who I follow now I found through their Daily Prompt posts. I’m not sure how somebody starting out now would find other like-minded bloggers. By luck I suppose.

I know all our collected posts on this subject will not matter a jot. The WordPress Team are now packing their cardboard boxes and heading out the door leaving us wondering what’s coming next.

Daily Prompt: Rivulet

via Daily Prompt: Rivulet

The Hobart Rivulet

Hobart Rivulet Underground.jpg
By JJ Harrison (jjharrison89@facebook.com) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

 

This photo, which was not taken by me, is of a section of the Hobart Rivulet which runs under the CBD.  The stream rises on the slopes of Mount Wellington and makes its way down through Hobart to empty into the Derwent.

In the days before European settlement it was the main source of water for the local indigenous people, the  Mouheneener. Later it also served the settlers but over time it became dirty and polluted by the industries that set up along its banks such as sawmills and tanneries. Eventually as the city grew a large part of the rivulet was diverted and became an underground stream. There is a spot in Elizabeth Street Mall where you can look down and see it through a grating.

In the early 2000’s when we first came to live in Tasmania the Hobart City Council was still running a tour of this part of the Rivulet. I believe it has since been discontinued for OH&S reasons but Naomi and I, along with a friend of hers did take the tour back then.

We entered through a tunnel on the Royal Hobart Hospital site in Collins Street. At this point the Rivulet is  above ground and during winter when there has been a lot of rain you can see the swirling waters which have been known to spill over the concrete channel they are contained by.

I have to admit that I do understand why the tours were discontinued. It was not an easy walk as it was necessary to step or jump over the water to cross from one side to the other. I was a little nervous about that even with the help of the guide and I certainly would not be able to do it now. However, I was fascinated to see this little known part of the city as we walked underneath the mall, the Myer Centre and the Spotlight store. We finally exited the tunnels near Harrington Street. I wished I could have taken photos myself but as the light was poor and I had to concentrate on not slipping on the damp surface it didn’t seem like a good idea. There was a lot of graffiti so obviously the place received a lot of unofficial visitors however as I hate graffiti when it is just tagging I would not have wanted to photograph that.

A few years later the Myer Centre was partly destroyed by fire and when the store was eventually rebuilt a breach in one of the underground walls one wet winter caused a collapse which flooded the site closing it for some time.

It is possible to walk the upstream section of the Rivulet through South Hobart. I haven’t done this as yet although I have visited the Cascade Brewery which uses water from the Rivulet in its beers.  I have included a couple of links if you would like to learn more about this unusual part of Hobart.

Links:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-01/going-underground-in-the-hobart-rivulet/7676134

https://www.greaterhobarttrails.com.au/track/hobart-rivulet-park/

http://tastrails.com/hobart-rivulet/

https://www.cascadebreweryco.com.au/our-history

 

 

 

 

Daily Prompt: Relocate

via Daily Prompt: Relocate

Relocating has been very much on my mind as I’m drawing near to the end of the task of sprucing up the house. Once I sell it I will have to face the unpleasant task of packing and moving all the things I’ve accumulated over the years.

 

I’m always seeing people having moving sales, garage sales or bringing house loads of things to the Op Shop.  They bring, appliances, china, furniture, bric a brac and even their clothes. I wonder what they are actually taking with them sometimes.

I am more like a snail or a tortoise, carrying my house on my back. Of course I will get rid of some things. Things that are old and broken, things that I have no further use for, what would I do with a beer brewing kit? (It was David’s). I would not like to give up all my stuff though even though it would probably be easier to move without it.

I guess people see relocating as an opportunity to get rid of items they no longer care about but by taking my stuff along with me I feel I’m taking home with me. I come to a bare empty space. I open my boxes and out come the things that mean home to me. The books, the ornaments and pictures. Once they are in place I look around and think “Yes, this is home.”

Op Shop
Opportunity Shop (Thrift Shop)

 

 

Critical: Let’s Get Critical

via Daily Prompt: Critical

As I grow older I find myself critical of many more things than I used  to. I’ve never been a great fan of change unless it is a change that I have chosen to make myself but now there are so many things that I don’t like that people would probably say I’m a grumpy old lady. Well I don’t really care. I think one of the advantages of getting older is that I don’t feel that I have to apologise for my beliefs all the time but I try not to be rude so I often find myself biting my tongue when I want to say something.

So what am I critical of? Here are just a few items on my rant list.

    • Governments  and businesses who put profits ahead of people and punish you just for being poor.
    • Most modern architecture, and I am not shy about sharing my dislike of ugly buildings with anyone.
    • Greedy developers demolishing lovely old homes and building multi storey apartments or filling our waterfront spaces with ugly buildings where there used to be public spaces.
    • Films that are all action and no plot. Especially remakes that don’t get the point of the original film. eg “The Italian Job” .
    • Bad remakes of TV shows I used to like.
    • TV reality shows. You know I hate them, that’s not a secret.
    •  So called fitness shows where the participants are made to do ridiculous things like hauling planes and are humiliated in front of others. See above.

Steve Willis, Michelle Bridges (17599676481)

  • Pop music made after about 1995, but that is probably a generational thing. Mum didn’t like our generation’s music either.
  • People who can’t speak a sentence without a four letter word in it. I’m not saying I never swear but it’s so much more common now and it is ugly.
  • Barbie dolls that are all coloured plastic and no proper clothing. Barbie is a fashion doll! She’s supposed to have clothes.
  • Making Doctor Who a woman. We already know that Time Lords can be women why does The Doctor have to be one?
  •  The idea of making James Bond a woman. I never liked the franchise anyway as I don’t like the character but I don’t want to see a female version of him. That’s just silly and Fleming would be spinning in his  grave.
  • People who let their children run around and pull things of shelves in shops  and then don’t tidy up after them.
  • Restaurants that serve you a gigantic plate with practically no food on it. I like food to look attractive but I want to eat it not exhibit it.
  • People who ignore their companions in favour of their phones. A phone won’t cry over you when you are dead people.

Bangalore Wikipedian on phone 5 closeup

I could  go on but I won’t. There are lots of terrible things happening in the world that I am angry about and critical of the people who let them happen or make them happen. These are some of life’s lesser annoyances compared to those.

Daily Prompt: The Gallopers

The Gallopers
Riding “The Gallopers”

via Daily Prompt: Carousel

Mum first took me on a merry-go-round on Clacton Pier when I was just a little girl. We always went to Clacton to visit my grandparents during the summer holidays and we usually had a visit to the pier while we were there.

We never went on a lot of rides, we were probably too young for some of them and probably mum did not have enough money for us to ride on everything but we always did the merry-go-round and I have liked them ever since.

Technically a carousel is a ride that only features horses while the ones with other types of animals or vehicles are Merry-Go-Rounds but I have not heard anyone use the term Merry-Go-Round in years.

The traditional fairground rides like carousels are not around as much these days. Not exciting enough for Millennials I suppose but there are several still operating in Australia.

We used to have a nice one in Hobart, it is called “The Gallopers” and was built in 1882. During the summer it would be brought to Hobart and erected on the waterfront for a few days after Christmas. I’d usually go for a ride and take some photos when I came to Hobart to photograph the Sydney Hobart race yachts. It hasn’t appeared for a couple of years and I had heard it was to be set up in the Botanical Gardens however, that scheme did not go ahead.

Late last year I heard that the carousel was to be sold at auction and now I have no idea where it is.

I think it a great shame it was not retained to be enjoyed by the people of Hobart and visitors.

You can read a post I wrote about carousels a couple of years ago here

The Gallopers
History of The Gallopers

.

 

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/historic-steampowered-carousel-could-find-new-home/news-story/e857bdab482d1869367c4ddbdf8d2d60

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bridge

via Photo Challenge: Bridge

The Tasman Bridge from Rosny Hill Lookout
Under the Tasman Bridge
The Tasman Bridge from below.
The Tasman Bridge, Hobart.
crossing the bridge
View of the Tasman Bridge from the Domain, Hobart.
The Tasman Bridge, Hobart Tasmania

The Tasman Bridge spans the Derwent and connects Hobart’s eastern and western shores. It was opened in 1964 and replaced an earlier floating bridge which could no longer cope with the volume of traffic it had to carry.

Australians will remember how on 5 January 1975 the bulk ore carrier “Lake Illawarra” collided with the bridge  taking down two piers and over a hundred metres of roadway.  Twelve people died in the tragedy, five were travelling in the four cars that plunged into the Derwent and seven were crew members on the Lake Illawarra. Others miraculously escaped as their cars teetered on the edge of the gap.

I did not live in Tasmania then but I remember seeing the pictures on the news. It was only when I moved here that I came to understand how much the tragedy affected everyone. Not just the loss of life but the loss of the bridge itself changed the lives of many people.  Most Hobart people over fifty could tell you where they were the night the bridge went down.

At that time the next closest bridge was at Bridgewater approximately 20km away. This meant that residents on the eastern shore of the river were largely cut off from the shops and services in the Hobart CBD on the other side of the river. People I’ve talked to about it told me that in some cases family members were forced to relocate to the other side of the river for work or school. In the short-term the transport problem was partially solved by a hastily arranged ferry service and later by the Bailey Bridge, a temporary structure which was used until the Tasman Bridge was finally reopened in October 1977.

One of the consequences of the disaster was that Hobart got a third bridge over the Derwent which was built between the Bridgewater and Tasman bridges, another was that the development of roads and services on the eastern shore became a priority.

The Lake Illawarra still lies in the deep waters of the Derwent over forty years later. If you look at the photos you will see that the distance between the piers on the eastern side of the bridge is different from those on the western side. This is the area where the disaster occurred.

 

Further Reading:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/04/28/2228948.htm

http://guides.naa.gov.au/records-about-tasmania/part2/chapter3/tasman-bridge-collapse.aspx

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/historic-monaro-out-from-under-wraps-for-anniversary-of-tasman-bridge-disaster/news-story/67a6e13d49e2e23187e687d776debcca

p;

Daily Prompt: Always the Passenger

via Daily Prompt: Passenger

I don’t drive so I’ve always been a passenger either on public transport or someone’s car.

The best thing about being a passenger in a car is there is always time to look at the scenery.  Of course that means that when we are enjoying a scenic drive I have to try to refrain from saying “Look at that!” and “Isn’t that fantastic.” or anything that might distract the driver from the road.

There is a down side of course.Some people might say navigating is one but I don’t really mind being the map reader.

I don’t like being in a car with someone who smokes or talks on a mobile phone while driving, takes both hands off the wheel at the same time or yells at other drivers so sometimes car journeys can be nerve-wracking but on those occasions I grit my teeth and keep quiet. Luckily most of the people I regularly travel with are good drivers and don’t have bad habits.

I always catch the bus when I go to Hobart. The 60 kilometre journey is very scenic and I never get tired of it. If I had to drive I’d have to think about  the weather and traffic and the idiotic things that some people do on the roads. On the bus I can let the driver worry about that and enjoy the scenery.

Morning Mist 1
Huon River at Franklin from the bus.

Of course I don’t mind being a passenger on a train or a tram . These are my favourite ways to travel in the city and I have been known to catch a train or tram “just for the ride”.

The old Glenelg tram line has been extended.
Sydney Interurban railcar set -December 2012.
Trains at Southern Cross Station
Trains at Southern Cross Station (formerly Spencer St) Melbourne 2014.

I enjoy being a passenger on a commuter ferry, lucky people in Sydney who get to do that every day.

Sydney Ferry 2012
Rivercat ferry at Rose Bay, Sydney 2012
Rivercat ferry at Watson’s Bay, Sydney 2012

 

For me the biggest downside of being a passenger is the lack of control. When you are the passenger the choice of when to go, where to go and how to get there is not entirely yours. I have to admit that sometimes I’d like to be able to jump in a car and go somewhere by myself but not being able to is something I can live with.