Sofa Upgrade Seventeen Years On

Seventeen years ago, I purchased a Delta modular sofa from King Furniture in Annandale, Sydney. Recently I found a module for this system at Vinnies. It needed cleaning, but the biggest problem was no legs. So I looked online and found that while the Delta has gone through several upgrades, parts were still available. 

As I was in Sydney, I went back to the same store I had ordered from 17 years ago. Two helpful staff took me through the intricacies of which spare parts fitted which model sofa, which height legs I needed (adjustable or fixed, what finish). I handed over $50 and left with four legs and two brackets to turn the sofa into a bed. The legs and brackets simply push into sockets on the chairs. King's modular furniture is not cheap, but as I can attest, is durable and flexible.

Anecdotal History of Annandale

Marghanita da Cruz, author of the book series "Anecdotal History of Annandale", will chat about writing Sydney's history, 3pm Saturday 3 September 2016 at Tetch Gallery, 245 Parramatta Road, Annandale, Sydney, NSW.

Wayward Brewery Opened in Sydney Inner West

Greetings from the opening of Wayward Brewery in  Sydney's inner west. While the brewery is new, beverage making is not new to the area. The brewery is housed in the old cellar of a wine merchants and the brick wine tanks have been turned into comfortable space for patrons (retaining the wax lined walls). The Leichhardt Fringe Fast Art Competition is being judged in the brewery. Jamie Parker MP for the area and Cr Darcy Byrne Mayor of Leichardt.

Eco-Annandale Art Show at the Footprints EcoFestival Sydney

Greetings from Whites Creek Cottage, Inner West of Sydney. Helping set up the Eco-Annandale Art Show, at the Footprints EcoFestival. Featuring work by Tim Kyle (Wynne Prize finalist 2014) and Merrick Fry (in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia). Opening at 11am today.

Cold War Radar as Art in Sydney

Murray Fredericks Greenland Project  is on exhibition at Annandale Galleries in Sydney until 8 November 2014. These are large scale photographic prints on canvas of stark landscapes of the Greenland ice sheet, which look like paintings. There are also scenes of the USA's Cold War era Dye-3 Distant Early Warning Radar Station. This looks like the fictional Severnaya satellite ground station in the James Bond film "Goldeneye".

The gallery also has a spellbinding video installation "Topophilia" with video and sound of the Borealis.

 There was also a documentary film made about the Dye-3 station: "Nothing On Earth".

More than the SUMS of their Parts

The Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) performed Vivaldi Magnificat last night in the Hunter Baillie Church Annandale, in Sydney’s inner west. The old sandstone church, with the choir in academic gowns looked like a scene out of an Inspector Morse episode. An Australian touch was added by the crickets chirping from somewhere in the church roof.

History of Sydney's Inner West

Greetings from the Former Annandale Council Chambers (1899) in Sydney's inner west, where Heritage Architect  David Springett, is speaking on "The Ghosts of Annandale past" at the Annandale Heritage Festival. He pointed out that  Major George Johnston was granted land in the area around Annandale and was an instigator of the Rum Rebellion.

At 12.30pm Rev Peter Dunstan (BSc Dip Hort Sc BD) of the Hunter Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church (opposite), will demonstrate the correct way to prune the roses at the front of the council chambers (Rev Dunstan originally trained as a Horticultural Scientist).

Santa-land Under the Archway in Sydney

The play "The Santaland Diaries" by the Archway One Theatre Company in Sydney would be good for a hens night. As the only male in the audience, I felt a little out of place. Andrew Fritz gave an excellent one man performance in tights, as an actor who has to swallow their pride and spend Christmas as one of the elves in Macey's Department store.

Archway 1 Theatre is located in the brick viaduct under the Sydney Light Rail line. The play is set in a New York loft apartment and Santa's house in Macey's store. The solid old brick vault over the stage provides an atmospheric setting (with trams rumbling overhead reminiscent of the NY EL). The layers of white Christmas decoration add whimsy. But some of the play's NY references do not translate well for an Australian audience, particularly the racial issues.

There are a few laughs, but perhaps not enough to sustain the performance. A one man show is always difficult and in this case the material lets the actor down. SantaLand Diaries was an essay by David Sedaris, read on US NPR and later adapted for the stage by by Joe Mantello.

There are three more performances Santaland Diaries, 13, 14 and 15 December. The theater can be very difficult to find: park in Chapman Road and continue down the street on foot, past the bollards, to the archway under the viaduct.

ABC a Bit Slow With Events

Last week I asked the ABC to put the Eco-Annandale Art Exhibition in the ABC Events Calendar. The event was added, but four days after it was over.

Ecofestival Sydney Inner West Spring Festival Today

Greetings from the Footprints Ecofestival  in Sydney's inner west. This spring festival started at 11am today and is on until 3pm.There is the Eco-Annandale Art Exhibition in White Creek Cottage, a  pedal powered Footprints Film Festival and Footprints Clothing Swap.

I am reminded of the play Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, which opened Thursday night at the New Theater in Sydney. The play takes place during a spring festival, much like the one on today.

Tea in The Church Hall

Greetings from the Church Hall of the Hunter Baillie Church in Annandale, Sydney, where a "Heritage Festival" is being held. There is tea and scones and a display of historic photos. The photo is courtesy of Councilor Kogoy. Marghanita Da Cruz, is also conducting a history walk of the area.

Next Sunday, 26 May, 2013 3.00 pm, Roger Woodward will give a concert in the church.

Free Public Wireless Hotspot at Annandale Shops

Greetings from the Annandale shops in Sydney where I am trying out the Leichhardt Council Free Public Wireless Hotspot.The speed is a bit slow (about 480 kbits per second maximum) but it does work, outside the barber and cafe.

WiFi was already available at Leichhardt Libraries. But it is not available in most Leichardt community centres. It would be of more use (and easier to provide) in these indoor locations where community functions are held, than in outdoor areas, such as a shopping strip or park.

The service is provided by Aerohive Netowrks  and the Beachhead Group.

Pedal Powered Cinema in Sydney

Yesterday, Leichhardt Council held the third annual Footprints Eco Festival in Sydney's inner west. This was held in Whites Creek Valley Park near the new Rozelle Bay Community Native Nursery. In addition to displays of native plant regeneration there was a Pedal Powered Cinema. I volunteered as one of the five people to pedal bicycles, each hooked up to a small generator which suppled the electricity to run the show. This was a useful educational tool on how much power consumer appliances use.

The pedal power generators used were similar to the setup for Bristol Bike Power. This had road bicycles (including a small one for the kids) on a stand with the back wheel against a shaft on a Pedal Power Generator. A One Farad Capacitor (normally used in a high performance car hi-fi system) was used to smooth the 12 volt power from the bicycles. The capacitor has a built in voltmeter, providing useful feedback. Power was then fed to an inverter to produce 240 volts for the projector and computer. The electrical components were mounted in a study steel cabinet (an army surplus ammunition box).

This demonstration system doesn't need a battery. For a more practical system a battery could be used to store a few minutes, or a few hours, power.

An alternative pre-built option would be an electric bicycle with regenerative braking might make a useful pedal generator. You would just need to apply the brakes while riding, to charge the battery for later use, or operate the bicycle stationary on a stand. An inverter could then be attached to the bicycle's battery to supply mains power.

ps: It would be tempting to equip the Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre's Gym with Exercise Bike Generators. But these would produce minimal power compared the 30kW micro turbines recently installed.

Power to the People!

Power to the People! is a display of energy generation and use, for Eco-Annandale October 2012. The controversy over carbon tax, climate change and electricity price increases have obscured the simple facts of how is generated.

This display shows a photovoltaic panel (a so called "solar panel") connected to an electricity meter and light emitting diodes (LEDs). The available light indoors has less than one thousandth the power of the noon day sun, but is still sufficient to light three ultra efficient LEDs. An analogue multimeter set to read current is used. Unlike a digital meter, which requires a battery, the ammeter needle is powered purely from the current being measured. The display is positioned so that as the visitor approaces, they will shade the sloar panel, causing the LEDs to dim and meter needle to flicker, thus showing the relationship between light and energy.

Taking power to the people, you can buy install your own solar panels, multimeter and LEDs for small scale power generation.

The solar panel generates electrical power, the wires conduct the electricity to the lights and the meter measures the power used.

ps: I will speaking on "A Green Computing Professional Education Course Online using eBooks", in the Innovation in Education Showcase, 12:30pm, 19 September 2012, in the Ethel Tory Centre, at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Living Street in Sydney

On Saturday I attended the opening of the "Living Street" in Taylor Street, Annandale, Sydney. This is a project by the Leichhardt Council to green the street and slow the traffic, while retaining parking. The real thing looks remarkably like the artist's rendering in the council's plans. The Chester Street end of the road had already been blocked to through traffic, in a previous project, with installed a playground across a bend in the road. To this the living street project added gardens built out from the footpath, up to Booth Street. These have a intermittent concrete curb on the uphill side and a solid curb n the downhill side to to collect runoff. One section of the street has a garden built out, with bridges for pedestrian access. All the work looks robust. One of the principle ways this will make the street livable is by discouraging through traffic.

The implementation is not perfect. Some of the newly installed drains are too high, so that runoff will over-top the concrete curbs and flow down the road, or onto the foot path. In other places the drains are too low, so that water will run straight down the drain, without time to be absorbed into the swale. The low outlet problem could be fixed by placing sandbags around them, which would filter the water (also preventing leaf litter being into the drains, blocking them).

Leichhardt Council has received a grant of $250,000 to create a Living Street within the LGA .The vision is ‘to create and implement a model for sustainable living within an urban street context focusing on infrastructure changes and environmental education.’

Taylor Street has been selected as the Leichhardt Living Streets pilot project.

The project objectives will be to:-

• create a sustainable environment in the Leichhardt Living Street
• improve the sustainability of households living in the street
• Improve actions and behaviours across a range of environmental issues
• Improve social outcomes for residents

What is a Living Street ?

It is a place where a street is returned as a community asset to be shared by pedestrians, playing children, cyclists and low-speed motor vehicles.

The goal of the Living Streets project in Taylor Street is to make progress in two areas of sustainability by adopting an wholistic approach.

The two areas of sustainability are:

• Improvement of street infrastructure
• Development of community awareness through environmental education.

Broadly, the project will develop what American environmental writer, Robert Gottlieb describes as an ‘Urban Nature Agenda. A pocket park or community garden in one neighborhood can form Ropart of a process of reclaiming urban land otherwise abandoned or degraded’. (Gottlieb 2008)

Living Streets - vital biodiversity Existing and potential tree canopies can form flora and fauna corridors that contribute to urban nature and provide opportunities for the detention and reuse of stormwater. In this way, a street can contribute to urban nature and help mitigate urban air, noise pollution and the consequences of excessive heat. ...

From: What is a living street?, Leichhardt Council, 2009

Grilled Sardines in Sydney

It does not have quite the atmosphere of the cafe next to the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki, but Fish & Co, (41 Booth Street, Annandale, Sydney) have very pleasant outdoor tables with a view of the passing parade of people. Today's special: Herb and Garlic Crumbed Sardines with Light Picked Cucumber was excellent ($20). Fish & Co and on the numbers 470 and 370 STA bus routes

I developed a taste for grilled sardines of a trip to Turkey and Greece. Unfortunately to the average Australian, a sardine is something which comes in a can. Perhaps they should be relabeled i-fish 2.0. ;-)

Model Train and Car Auction in Sydney this Weekend

Passing the Annandale community centre, in Sydney's inner-west, this morning I noticed a van from "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" outside (who bill themselves as the best antique toy store in the world). They are having an auction of several hundred model trains and die cast cars this weekend. Some items which got my attention were a Lot 103 a Hornby Monorail Set in "good" condition ($40), Lot 286 - Dinky (this looks like it is from a Gerry Anderson production, but no mention of what in the catalogue) ($40), Lot 445 - HO Radio/Obversation Tower - Funk-und Fernsehturm - Eheim Esslinger Elektrospielwaren complete in box ($50).

Building Signage Symbols

After suggesting the AIGA/DOT symbol signs for a coffeeshop and restaurant could be used for a Fish and Chip Shop
I noticed these symbols were used on the sign over the Woolworths Metro, in George Street, Sydney.

Professor Ravi Poovaiah, Industrial design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology provides a very useful Design
of Signage Systems website. As well as an academic paper "Graphic Symbols for Environmental Signage: a Design Perspective", a set of free "Graphic Symbols for Public Signage System" are provided. This included a Building Symbols set with a symbol for Ice cream and one for snacks (showing a hamburger and a milkshake). High resolution EPS versions of the sybols are provided as well as 600 pixel JPEG versions (it would be better if PNG or GIF versions were used in place of JPEG).

There was no symbol for a fish and chips shop, but showing the Indian origins, there is a symbol for "Veg Cafeteria" (Vegetarian cafeteria), with a stylised representation of a Dosa, or flat bread platter, glass and spoon. The symbol for a "Non Veg Cafeteria" (Non-vegetarian cafeteria) shows a plate with a meat clever in the middle of it, with a knife, fork and glass alongside.

Cafe Sign

Here is the completed cafe sign. When printed this will appear on a separate page, so it can be used to make a sign (or can be copied and pasted to a word processor:

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Sign for a Fish and Chip Shop

A local fish and chip shop in Annandale, Sydney is being renovated. At present there is no sign, so I thought I would suggest they try pictograms, to make it easy to find and understand. A nearby shop has a trendy upmarket sign in a font which is hard to read and has a name which makes it difficult to work out what you can buy there.

The AIGA/DOT symbol signs have: Coffeeshop Restaurant . But where do I get a standard symbol for fish and for takeways?

Roger Woodward at the Hunter Baillie

On Sunday 21 November 2010, Roger Woodward performed piano works by Chopin at last the Hunter Baillie Spring Festival Concert for 2010.