10 Inkerman Street

So, Diane was wary of these few streets for good reason. Wary differs from scared, but not much from cautious. Number Ten, Inkerman Street is just off Barkly Street. Yesterday's milk bar is just off Grey Street. The entire area is riddled with short-sheeted streets. Avenues cut off in their prime. One-way roads that dead-end. And Number Ten is good reason for this vehicular mayhem.

Number Ten is the Working-Girls' Co-operative, the place for a smoko and a bit of chit-chat among like-minded professionals. The poster on the left warns of the client who is an 'ugly mug'; the one on the right hightlights 'Overdose Awareness Day'.

The area teems with curb-crawlers during the night hours, their progress made tortuous by the local council to aid the constabulary in their policing.

And, on that note, we leave St Kilda - and Melbourne - and return to sunny Sydney.

St Kilda, milk bar culture

Milk-bars were everywhere when I was growing up. In New Zealand, apparently, they were called 'dairies'. Hence, the children's book 'Hairy Maclarey from Donaldson's Dairy'. I suspect, nowadays, they have been replaced by the 24/7 Convenience Store.

My friend, Di, was wary of this particular milk-bar. She had never been into it in her 15 years just up the road. This is the red-light district. More on this tomorrow.

St Kilda, boutiques

On Blessington Street, past the Botanic Gardens, but not past the Community Garden, 'Veg Out', is a small bunch of shops with the mandatory cafe. This, however, is a small shop selling clothing for children.

St Kilda, Titz 'n' Schnitz

The renovated Newmarket Hotel has found respectability. In its former life though, as attested by its nickname, it was famous for topless waitresses and chicken schnitzel. The publican at the time, was a woman fleeing cold-war Europe, boasting of her 'home-cooked Hungarian meals'. She sold out in the last decade, her estate making a motza.

St Kilda, petanque

Playing with his Daddy, his Grandpa, and his older sister, Lilyanna, young Leon was in the mould of the great Sri-Lankan, Murilitharan. His grin would melt yer heart though.

St Kilda, breaking the fast

It is always tempting to declare this joint, or the other joint, as one's favourite cafe ever! Evah is a long time, and encompasses many sins. However, I do enjoy 'Il Fornaio' which is on Acland near its intersection with Fitzroy.

My friend, Di, is not a coffee drinker, but instead is a gym-junkie. So, we have an agreement, that when she is slogging it out on the mats, I go down to MY cafe and have a delicious flat white together with a plain croissant, whilst skimming The Age.

Bliss!

St Kilda, busking

The mellow tones of the 'cello waft over, and through the first Saturday Farmers' Markets in the park beside the St Kilda Communal Gardens. No bric-a-brac permitted. Produce only, and sold by the 'grower'. Veggies, cheese, eggs, nuts, fruit, chicken, deer, beef, smoked eel. Six of us stocked up for the BBQ on Saturday, which is a 'hair of the dog' for the festivities this evening.

St Kilda, in transit

She waited at a stop on Fitzroy Street, patiently, for a tram. Not an early morning tram heading for a dingy desk job, in the city. But a tram heading in the opposite direction, down and around the bay. Who knows what lurks down there in the wilds of Melburnian suburbia.

St Kilda, arty

Meandering along the foreshore, the diversity of life in this area is most appealing. This lass was not the only one reproducing the colours and shapes of this stretch of Port Philip Bay. This is the new section of boardwalk near Brooks' Jetty.

A few days in Melbourne with a friend who is celebrating 40 years in Australia - from Canada. Onya Di!!