Hello Gentle Reader,

I have retired this blog and am slowly adding its content to my personal blog: The Brains Trust.

Which means you can still get a regular dose of cool Melbournian things - but now mixed with obvious internet punditry and inane observations.

Enjoy

Simon

We've all seen her. In tunnels and alleys. On bridges & brick walls. An iconic face that is part of Melbourne's hyperactive graffiti community...

Who is she? And who's obsession is she? Well, Suzanne Brenchley has just answered those questions and a few others in this piece in The Age.

The photos of an Italian visitor to Melbourne in 1959-1960 have been posted on Flickr.

Melbourne looks, well, more sparse and less green.

In Postal Lane, between the GPO & Myer you'll find the narrow but welcoming embrace of Ca de Vin.

As befits an alley venue its roof is part sky and part retractable awning, while its walls are simply the old worn stone of this Victorian era public edifice. Ca de Vin takes full advantage of the location while also successfully stopping any wind tunnel effect. In fact, once ensconced, it's hard to imagine you are only metres away from the hurly burly of the Bourke Street Mall.

The food is simple and direct - mediterranean with an obvious bias toward the Southern Italian coastline.

We came to snack. We had olives - a mix of black and green, some stuffed and most de-pipped - heated in olive oil and served in a frypan. Perfect with the house Sauvignon.

Later we tried the turkish bread and dukkah. Not as distinctive or as tasty. Apparently all the bread is baked on the premises. The pizzas look bellisomo.

Well, we're already planning what we'll eat on our next visit - possibly one of those plates of mussels we saw on a serving bench.

Ca de Vin is open most days from 10:30 and the kitchen closes around 7pm.

And Melbourne's answer to Sydney's Olympics is over.

They had a flying girl, we had a flying tram, boy and a duck.

They had the history of Australia and we had AFL footballers walking on water.

They had John Farnham and we had, er, John Farnham.

Oh, never mind.