MuseMedley

rainy horizon Why formation? the brilliance bursting through the gaps in the blanket of clouds; the draping voile of rain that the brilliance of golden light might have distracted you from;      Isn't it a little bit contrived of the heaven? and my tower of giraffes (yes, apparently tower is the correct term. I almost went with "pack")

Silhouettes of the cranes in the distance: a tower of giraffes gathered by the water, some drinking, amidst the strata of red dust on the Serengeti, in the setting sun. Anyway, Melbourne is beautiful. Port Melbourne, with Williamstown in the background behind the giraffe-like cranes Sunset view looking across Yarra River on to Port Melbourne What were the giraffes doing earlier? View across Yarra River on to Port Melbourne and Williamstown

Most mornings Melbourne is spectacular, but the mornings in the past couple of days were a different kind of wonderful. I took some photos before and after the city was engulfed in a fog on the first day. I thought I would share them with you. Before: Sleepy Melbourne, May 17, 2017. Fog looming on the horizon Melbourne morning, May 17, 2017. Fog rolling in. After: Melbourne city skyline in the fog - May 17, 2017. Melbourne Etihad Stadium lost in the fog - May 17, 2017 Melbourne city skyline devoured by the fog - May 17, 2017.

So, here I am, sitting at the desk in a hotel room instead of my apartment, because the developer of my apartment building is fixing self-generated cracks inside my apartment to ensure my safety living there. As I pointed out in previous posts, the downside to living in a brand new apartment building is like beta-apartment living. There are many, many good points about the apartment. We like the open view, the layout/flow of the apartment, the convenience of having a covered depot at the front door for free trams, the serene feel of the district, and its surprising mere 10 minute walkable proximity to the CBD. However, we don't like the hard-to-clean textured wall and floor tiles, the lack of broom cupboard to keep cleaning equipment, the non-ducted air system with one single air outlet in the lounge for an entire 2-bedroom apartment, the humor-you size of the dining area, the stiff impossible-for-fine-adjustment tapware, the contortionist-only toilet roll location, the flawed ...

As I said in my previous Apartment Living post, living in a brand new apartment building is like being enrolled in a beta program of some software. Even the real estate developers don't know what 'bugs' you may find. My apartment whistles. Yes, no kidding! Specifically, it is the front door that whistles whenever the cooking hood or the bathroom extract is on, or if it really windy outside, but the noise is so loud that there is nowhere to hide from it in the apartment. There are plenty of things, such as storage space and water pressure, that I knew intuitively to check at inspection time. This is definitely not one of them. Strangely, it started off as just a mild lower frequency vibration noise, similar to the noise from a fridge, but it gradually morphed into a screaming pitch as more apartments on the floor become occupied. There was high wind a couple of days ago. I sat here in my study nook at the farthest point in the apartment from the front door....

Settling in a new city is not necessarily an easy thing to do. So far we have been very lucky, finding an apartment we like and in the area we like. It is a brand new apartment building. We were among a handful of first residents to move in, three and a half months ago. Apartment living is easy - no lawns to mow or gardens to tend to - but we do miss our house in terms of space and storage. Brand new is definitely good in a lot of ways. For one, you don't have to deal with any undesirable remnants and effects of previous tenants. However, getting a brand new apartment is like being in the beta program of some software. We were the first to find out the bathroom's extract fan didn't work and, with the bathroom away from external walls, i.e. no opening windows, we had to suffer sweltering-bathroom-itis for nearly a month before the developer company sent someone to fix it. Without the distraction of any previous tenants' undesirable remnants, it has also made me take ...