Dangerous Walk?

Took a walk with the dogs this afternoon along part of the Yarrowee River Trail in Ballarat.

This sign near the beginning of our walk was a bit worrying:

It was probably ideal snake weather, warm and sunny. I made sure to make plenty of noise while walking along, to give any snakes plenty of time to get out of the way!

At the other end of the section of the trail we walked, we came across this sign:

That was another worry! What sort of contamination? I wondered if it was related to gold mining activities in the 1800s, but Google lead me to something more recent. Concerns over health impacts from contaminated gun club. So those signs went up 5 years ago, but there doesn't appear to have been any activity beyond erecting fencing and signs.

In between the two signs, we enjoyed patches of the river,

 Saw a few wild birds:

And lots and lots of weed species. Like this:

False bindweed growing up and through a wall of blackberries on the river bank, with a bit of gorse sticking up here and there.

It was interesting to walk somewhere different, even though it is quite a degraded landscape. It was nice that there were no bothersome blood-sucking march flies there. And extra nice that we didn't come across any venomous snakes!

Sad Sign

Seen along the way on a long walk today:

I don't know how long this sign has been in place. It is very faded. But anyone familiar with our native vegetation will know that most of the visible vegetation behind it a weed. Whatever threatened species are present, it seems they are in the process of being overwhelmed by gorse.

Walk at the Falls

I don't know if it is quite within the rules, but today we took the dogs to Lal Lal Falls for their walk. I thought after all the rain we have had lately that the falls would be falling, but I was wrong:

No flow at the moment.

It was nice to go somewhere a bit different, rather than just walking up and down our bit of road. There were no other people at the Falls. In fact the only living creatures we saw were a flock of cockatoos enjoying acorns.

The birds were taking bites out of the acorns, but I don't know if they were eating them or just having fun stripping them off the trees. A lot of acorns seemed to be falling to the ground, anyway.

The birds were having fun, and we enjoyed the fresh air, but no-one is allowed to have fun here at the moment:

It is hard to "close" a playground with no fence around it.

You probably can't read the sign clearly, but I think the top line could do with a bit of physical distancing itself. It reads:

LET'SALLWORKTOGETHERTOSTOPTHESPREAD

How about some distance between those words?

Ridiculous

Sliced beetroot, anyone? There's eight tins left:

The paper notices warn that bulk purchases are being restricted. "We want to ensure all customers have access to our products". But when there is almost nothing on the shelves, the signs are just a joke.

Despite all the empty shelves, I managed to get 5 of the 6 items I had on my shopping list today. The best find was sugar for jam-making, which I have been seeking for a week.

There Here?

Really?

Lovely Surprises

I had two lovely surprises today.

First, I discovered that the peony root rescued in August  has started to grow:

I was very excited to see this tiny bit of green. When the house it came from was sold, some of the plants were dug up and taken away, including a few herbaceous peonies. But last spring a peony shoot appeared, so I knew something had been left behind. It disappeared amongst the weeds of the untended garden last summer, but when the house was about to be demolished, the remaining peony root was something I really wanted to find. The root we found was about 40cms long, and must have broken off when the main part of the plant was taken. We put it in the garden in Coburg with the rest of the rescue plants, until it was time for them all to be dug up again and brought here. At that point the peony root had started sprouting a couple of new rootlets, so I knew it was still alive. I put it in a pot and hoped that it would stand being uprooted again. And here it is!

Later in the day, I was given a wonderful surprise gift:

An old enamel advertising sign from India, to hang up in my sewing room! I first saw this sign for sale over 4 years ago, and every time I have visited the shop since, I've checked to see if it was still there - hoping no-one had bought it, and also hoping the price might have dropped to something more reasonable. But I don't have to worry any more, because now it's mine!

Jeweller's Shop

A few weeks ago I noticed this sign near a unit I was inspecting:

"Blacksmith's Hole" and "Jeweller's Shop" didn't mean anything to me, and Google let me down on this occasion. But I guessed it had something to do with gold.

A week or so later the explanation was found at the Sovereign Hill lookout. Here's the marker, pointing to both localities, in the ESE direction:

A near-by historical panel about the gold-rush days states:
"...near the Canadian Creek were the famed 'jeweller's shops' which yielded up to 500oz (14kg) of bright nuggety gold for every foot (30cm) mined. This was perhaps the richest patch of alluvial gold the world has known. The crudely-sunk 'blacksmith's hole' nearby produced more than a ton of gold from a claim only 24 feet (7.2m) square."

I remember in primary school having to learn, "From wicket to wicket in cricket is 22 yards, 66 feet, or one chain." (And who would have guessed that was worth remembering? Last week I used the same memory to help me calibrate my step length on my Vivofit by walking and running up and down a nearby cricket pitch.)

So five chains makes 110 yards, or 100 metres. I've marked the rough position of the sign on this map:

Using the scale, you can see that 100 metres is pretty close to that property coloured orange on the map.

It seems I've just bought myself a gold mine!

Hype of Activity

You may have to enlarge this photo to see all the grammatical errors on it; just about every sentence could do with some editing.

But what struck me as I was walking past was the term "hype of activity". Real estate agents know all about hype, but their command of the language is at times "ripe for renovation".

The Eggcorn Database doesn't have an entry for "hype of activity". A google search shows that this misinterpretation of "hive of activity" mainly appears in Facebook posts (no surprise) and Australian real estate ads!

Meanwhile, there has been lots of digging machine noise over the back fence this week, as pipes were laid for the plumbing of the four townhouses:

Getting Better

My cough is actually improving, but it prompted me to look for this photo I took of a sign in Delhi in 2008:

The guy on the left says that his cough is still no good, and wonders what he should do. The answer is that a cough that continues for more than three weeks could be TB, so he should go and get himself tested at a free TB centre.

Tram Stop Philosophy

This morning I noticed this at the tram stop:

You may not be able to read the green writing on the poster without enlarging the image. It says, "Let's play like we're 5 again!"

I don't remember specifically how I played when I was five, but I was around that age when I hit my sister in the face with a metal swing. (I'd like to say it was an accident...) Perhaps I better just behave as an adult, for the safety of anyone nearby.

Back To Ballarat

My father is in hospital in Ballarat, so today I went to visit him. The first part of the day went to plan. I caught the train heading west:

I amused myself on the train with some sewing:

When I got to the hospital, I was relieved to find Dad sitting up in a chair, reading the newspaper. He is making a good recovery from a bout of pneumonia. In fact he looked in pretty good shape for someone who is hospitalised.

During the after-lunch rest period, I wandered around the town. I walked past the house which featured in last night's episode of "Who's Been Sleeping in my House?", which was interesting. I sat beside this fountain until the rain forced me away.

There were a lot of bees enjoying the flowers. I think the plant is some sort of Nepeta (catmint). It looked fantastic mass-planted like this.

After lunch, I had a frantic afternoon running around trying to get hold of a couple of drugs Dad had run out of which the hospital pharmacy doesn't stock. If only someone had mentioned it before the enforced 90-minute break! Finally got the drugs, but in doing so missed not only the train I was intending to catch home, but the one after that. I ended up having to either buy another ticket to get home on a coach that wasn't stopping at the station I had a ticket for, or waiting in Ballarat for another 2 hours to get a train to the station I did have a ticket for.

Here's part of the ceiling at Ballarat station, which I've never noticed before.

I had time to sit and look at it while I waited for the coach.

On the coach I read my Kobo most of the way back to the city. There was no room to sew. About half-way home I looked up and noticed this sign, which I had to read a few times to work out what on earth it meant:

I think my brain was rather tired by then. But did whoever approved that sign have the same excuse?

Concrete Stump

How big do you think a tree might be now, if it had been planted in 1968?

Rather than plant a replacement tree, someone (presumably the council) erected this concrete stump. If you can't read the plaque, it says:

This plaque is to record that on this site stood a stately old gum tree. Local residents claim that an Aboriginal canoe was cut from its trunk. Because it became dangerous it was removed on 9.4.1968

Your Doorway to the World

Seen while out walking.

Don't Stand So Close ...

While waiting for a tram, I looked in the windows of the shops nearby (as you do), and then I noticed this sign.

And so I stood close to it to take a photograph as well.

Really?  It's a WARNING?   So I'm being advised what I can do to avoid some unpleasant outcome, and the unpleasant outcome presumably is that your motion-sensitive cameras fill up your hard disk with pictures of people waiting for trams.  And I need to be warned about that why?  How about titling your sign "A polite request"?

Some Reason

This sign posted by the local dry-cleaner amused passers-by:

Slug

Estate agents use creative language, I know. But this sign puzzled me for at least a block on my walk to work this morning.

Here's the property:

Here's a closer view of the sign:

SLUG?

I know ROW.  In fact, I've posted a picture before of the Right Of Way behind this property.  But SLUG?

Real estate agents: helping us ward of dementia by setting puzzles to keep our minds active.  I'll put the answer I came up with in the comments, so that you can think about this a little yourself.

Not Happy

Perhaps if you plant a fruit tree on public land, this is not a surprising outcome:


Loose translation: You took the olives without doing the work. I used water (we have water restrictions at present) and did the work. Watch out!

But can the culprit read Italian?