Tram & Trim

When I got up this morning, Becs had already gone to school and Tom had gone to work. I took a shower, got dressed and when I came down to the kitchen I had a cup of tea and chat with Sarah. She went off to do some uni work and I decided to go into the city.

I got my stuff together and went for a walk down the road to the tram stop. I didn’t have to wait too long before the number 57 arrived and I hopped on. The tram ride took me past some familiar sights and when it arrived at Elizabeth Street, I got off and went to Vicky Markets; the sounds and smells of the markets were intoxicating – well, as intoxicating as the smell of fruit, veg and fish can be; I guess it was the sense of being back there which was intoxicating!

Having walked up and down Elizabeth Street so many times on my last stay in Melbourne, I had gotten to know it rather well. For that reason, I decided to go to The Academy – a hair and beauty school that I had seen countless times before, but never gone into. I asked if they could fit me in for a cut and blow dry (or blow wave, as they call it!) and they could, so I sat in the waiting area until the class came back from their break, which was only a short time.

I spent a couple of hours in the salon, having the cut and blow wave, but also talking to Vivien; the hairdressing student who was cutting my hair. We discussed her course, the way she is taught and assessed and what it is like studying at the Academy. It was really interesting. I also found it fascinating looking about at the salon itself. It is a large, high ceilinged warehouse, painted grey. As a training salon it functioned well, but I thought it lacked the style and decor of a commercial salon; I know it is primarily a training salon, but I felt it could have been more aesthetically pleasing. I also decided that I like the professional look of our students, namely the uniform tunic they wear, at the Melbourne Academy there is no official uniform, however the students all wear black, but they did not look very smart. Vivien cut my hair quite well, perhaps a little shorter at the front than it should be, but it was a good enough job and I know it will grow!

When I left the salon, it was pouring with rain so I did my best to keep under my umbrella, but to no avail. To avoid the downpour, I darted into Maccas and for the first time in eons got online using free wifi once more! Whoop whoop! I managed a quick surf about for about an hour before the place was overrun with school kids and I made a swift exit – Aussie school kids are so loud! I wandered down the road and popped into Peter Pans, where I was supposed to be sorting out a refund for the Abel Tasman sailing trip in NZ that was cancelled; they were really busy so told me I could use their internet for free whilst I waited. It sounded like a good offer so I jumped online and checked out a few things, however I then realised that I might be waiting far longer than had been suggested, so I gave up and left.

The rain had cleared slightly and so I decided to walk a bit further into town and just generally take in the ambience of being back in Melbourne. It was so nice just ambling along in no particular hurry, with no specific destination, casually looking in shop windows and watching people go about their day to day business.

I made it down to Flinders Street and was just admiring Federation Square once more, when I had a call from Tom. He had just finished work and was going to the pub, so I hopped on a tram to go and join him in the Prince Albert. There, I was introduced to a couple of his friends and we chatted away over a few pints of Green – the eco friendly beer. From where we sat at the bar, the staff seemed to constantly be going past us to deliver food from the kitchen to the tables behind us and every time, the food seemed to look and smell better and better, so we decided to jump on the bandwagon. It was delicious – I had a Cajun chicken burger and it was almost as great as the one from Fergburger!

We headed back to Ascotvale and found the girls watching tv, so we sat chilling on the sofa with a beer, chatting – the girls were keen to hear about my experience at the salon and we discussed how good the prices were; I think Becs will be going there for a full head of foils! I think this conversation might have been a bit too oestrogen-fuelled for Tom! We flicked on the tv and spent the remainder of the evening watching a host of programmes. The highlight was Masterchef; it is getting quite exciting and we enjoyed slating each of the chefs and trying to guess who would be evicted!