Horse 586 - Cultural Me

This post comes from the rainy city. The city of public transport that works, and where restaurants are actually open at 3am. Welcome to Melbourne.

I'm here for an Australian Taxation Office Tax Seminar (w00t - not) but amongst other things, there'll be an AFL match I want to see and an exhibition featuring the works of Picasso at the National Gallery of Victoria. Not to mention the TV50 display on at Federation Square.

The drawback with this is that there wont be any photographs. The weather here is a typical winter's day in Melbourne and is nothing short of VILE. The rain is coming in from the sides and in some places is actually coming upwards.

Hopefully when I'm looking at paintings that I can't work out what they're supposed to be, when I'm watching telly of famous people that I've never heard of and listening to lectures about taxation that don't concern me, I'll be inside and most of all warm.

Aint Melbourne grand?

Horse 586a - Additional

The rain held out long enough for me to visit the NGV and see the Picasso exhibit. Now I realise that I'm an uneducated Philistine when it comes to the realms of pure art but I still have to ask the question - "What was this guy on? Was he on the gear? Was he smoking ice in a back alley and painting the pretty colours that he saw?"
There's not really an explination for the paintings that were on show but suffice to say that the whole thing has passed over my head like several flights from Heathrow Terminal 4.

I also happened to watch Australian Rules football at that cauldron of Australian sporting culture the MCG. The G was no where near capacity (only about 47,000 people) but the noise eminating from that place could probably be heard as far away as St Kilda.
The Hawks lost by 10 points...
Also on this, walking around in my Hawks jersey after the match, people on the street would ask you what the score was and what it was like. The people of Melbourne are far more friendly than Sydney. Maybe it's all of those hook turns and trams but people actually treat other people like... people, instead of annoyances which impede progress and get in one's way.

Horse 586b - Additional

Despite the spin doctors and their jazzing up of "Southern Cross Station", people here still call it Spencer St. I have also yet to discover what purpose Flagstaff station has either. It is always perpetually closed.

For those taking notes, I'm staying at the Toad Hall. Every time I walk out of the front door I feel like yelling "poop poop, ahah!", though I suspect that the Water Rat and the Badger would look down on such rakish and outlandish behaviour.