Signs - Breakfast anyone?

Two different signs I photographed in Portugal regarding breakfast.

The first one was in a coffee shop in Lisbon and the second one was in the kitchen of the Airbnb apartment we rented in Cascais.

More signs at Signs, Signs.

Monday Mural - The Indian

Another mural in the Le Panier suburb of Marseille, France, taken during our visit in September 2017.
Painted in 2017 by "Sock Tetal", a street artist from Avignon.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; just follow the Linky steps below.  Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds posted this week.  Thanks.

Personalised Number Plates IV and Revamping

I was just going to post some number plates when I saw that a couple of number plates would actually suit a post I wanted to write next week...so  here it goes 👍

When I'm alone long enough (with hubby working away) I tend to get bored and decorate - paint walls, move furniture around...



This time, about two weeks ago I decided I would revamp my study. 
The beige Ikea Billy shelves weren't doing it for me, they were too narrow for a lot of my books and files and it was looking too messy!
We had one Metod kitchen high unit with doors in the spare bedroom which I moved to the study, so off I went to Ikea, ordered 3 more 35cm deep units and had them delivered. 
I assembled them all on my own, put them up against the wall and put the books and files back.  
I admire people who have an immaculate study with a small desk and a set of shelves, where do they store all their paper? We both seem to be paper magnets, and as for books, oh yes I could open a library!!

The new look shelving units - they still need a bit of tweaking later on

I decided to give some books away, throw out a lot of the magazines that I hoard - Better Homes & Gardens and the monthly Women's Weekly, the more recent ones were taken to the Clinic where I work, and every night while I sit in front of the TV I've been going through a lot of the paperwork and throwing out very old stuff.
I recovered some money by selling the Billy units, plus a few odds and ends I no longer needed.





Not happy with that mammoth job I also thought I needed to replace two low shelving units I had in my bedroom with our mostly my shoes!!  I blame my shoe fetish on the fact that I worked as a sales assistant in an upmarket shoe shop in my teenage years when I lived in Johannesburg. 
Luckily I don't buy expensive shoes, but after disposing of a few uncomfortable shoes I'm left with about 30 pairs. Now instead of the low shelves I bought a ceiling high 35cm deep Komplement Ikea wardrobe unit, assembled it, had a massive fight with the brick wall as I had to anchor the unit to the wall but was having trouble drilling holes into the brick wall...
A Youtube video and a lot of persistence and sweat and I managed to drill the two holes and the unit is now nicely anchored.

Unfortunately the shoes are still piled up on a corner of the bedroom as the shelves were out of stock.  Ikea has in the meantime advised me that the shelves are coming from the Eastern States and will be delivered to me by Australia post!  

Awaiting the shoe shelves

I hope to have the revamp totally ready by the 7th of September when Jose arrives for his  60th birthday celebration on the 8th.  The revamp will be a surprise to him 😁😁, although I know I'll get reprimanded for doing all this alone with the risk of hurting my back.



So I have been 2 busy as you can imagine 😁.


For other personalised number plates check the following posts:

https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2016/04/personalised-number-plates-i.html

https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2016/04/personalised-number-plates-ii.html

https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2016/05/personalised-number-plates-iii.html

Monday Mural - Party time

At the entrance to the Rácskert ruin pub at 40 Dob Street in District VII/ Jewish Quarter,  there is a mural on either side - the on the left, made of mosaic tiles and called "Street Art Gallery"  by Hungarian artist Márton Hegedűs, painted in 2014 for the Colourful city Budapest Festival, and the one on the right is called "Love thy neighbour" the letter sitting behind a red heart, and was painted by UK artist Luke Embden.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thank you.

Indoors, there was a wall with another mural in black and white - which I just photographed from the entryway.

Monday Mural - Everybody has a town

Painted by David Tripsanszki and Dorka Jakocs for the Colourful City Budapest Festival in 2014.
This 16mt (52ft) wide mural can be found on Dob Street 36 near the Gluten Free bakery in the Jewish District. The caption on the painted says "Everybody has a city", which is also meant to imply that every city has its own character typical of its citizens.

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks.

Gifts from a blogging friend

When I went to Portugal in April this year I intended to meet up with Paula and husband Rui from the blogs  https://pontoaquipontoacola.blogspot.com/   (cross stitching blog) and https://manuscritosdagalaxia.blogspot.com/  (movie/film reviews),
but with my niece's wedding and family time I ended up having no free time to meet with them, so I posted her a gift before leaving Portugal.
Paula later sent me a cross-stitch bookmark with my name.

I wasn't expecting anything and enjoyed the surprise.
Just a few weeks ago I arrived home and found a small parcel in my post box and it was a beautiful blue scarf Paula had bought me on a recent visit to Paris.
I love blue and also because my work uniform is navy I've been wearing this scarf quite often specially during our early winter mornings.
Thanks again Paula and Rui.
Hopefully on my next visit to Portugal we'll meet up.

Monday Mural - Kaleidoscope

Painted for the Szines Varos Festival in 2015, celebrating street art in Budapest, this 100sqm mural was painted by a young Portuguese artist Pedro Campiche AKA Akacorleone on the walls of a house next to the patio where Koleves Garden & Restaurant is at 35 Kazincsy street in the Jewish District (district VII).

I spotted one of his murals in Lisbon during my visit to Portugal in April this year and in 2016 I posted about a mural of his also in Lisbon.

link: https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2016/06/on-one-of-my-walks-around-lisbon-i-came.html

If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you; just follow the Linky steps below.   Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks 

The new Stadium and Matagarup Bridge

Jose was home for 5 days and we had a relaxing time going out to dinner, a movie - Mamma Mia (sweet of him as he hates musicals!)- some gardening (mainly pulling out weeds) and a wonderful walk around the new Stadium and pedestrian bridge near the Perth Casino in the suburb of Burswood .

On Saturday 28th July, we had a wonderful sunny and balmy day so after a late lunch we drove to Burswood and parked on the street leading to the stadium where the bus stands are. No parking is available on event days as the idea is that  people should use public transport or the pedestrian bridge crossing into East Perth where they would park their car.

Officially opened on the 21st January this year Optus Stadium seats 60,000 people, the third biggest in Australia. 

The "Message stick" outside the Stadium

  The Message Stick, a 4mt high bronze and concrete statue by Barry McGuire a Noongar artist, is an invitation to all nations to come together and celebrate in the Stadium Park.

The Stadium

Running from the Station until the Bridge over the Swan River is a 400mt long arched arbour with boomerang shaped pieces of what appeared to be metal. The arbour will eventually be covered  with growing vines that will provide shade.  When there's a game they expect over 28,000 people will walk through the arbour to the station.

Arched arbour

Convergence - statue by Jon Tarry between Stadium and Station

        

The dedicated Stadium Station (two concourses) only had one of the lines opened, but when there are events it is fully functional with 6 platforms to evacuate the area quickly.

My husband's company together with another company (Laing O'Rourke/AECOM) were responsible for the construction of the station and the railway lines, Jose being the Project Manager for the railway project, so he was eager to see the finished product as he hadn't been to the area since he went to Sydney last October, to work on another rail project with the same company.

Ticket prices for events include public transport.  

Just outside the station there is a bus hub with 22 bus stops to be used during events, and they will be able to transport 8,000 passengers; there's a jetty for private and commercial vessels and a ferry service from the CBD, cycling paths and 600 bicycle parking spots, and the pedestrian bridge of course. On event days there are 1400 parking bays reserved for staff, premium ticket holders and disability parking.

The Stadium station

Just a short walk away from the stadium, the Matagarup pedestrian bridge was inaugurated just 2 weeks ago on the 15th of July.

It suffered big delays in constructions and massive price hikes as most of these projects do, and even though it's a striking design, looking a bit like 2 swans, when we walked across I was disappointed to find that there was a lot of work to be done still - uneven floor surfaces, rails that don't meet, unpainted surfaces, missing bolts, rust, pieces that were soldered on the spot... apparently it will take until the end of the year before the bridge is completely finished.

Matagarup pedestrian bridge

Some of the bridge defects

The surrounding area has been beautifully landscaped with native plants and succulents and there are lots of benches scattered through the area. There's a wonderful playground for the kids that was packed, and a huge pub - The Camfield.

The gardens

Named after Henry Camfield (1799-1872), the first pioneer settler of the Burswood area in 1829, this 8000 sqm space, has the longest bar counter in Western Australia at 65mt, a beer garden that seats 1500 people, a function centre, 80 bar staff, 175 beer taps, 50 chefs, giant outdoor screen, and is open 7 days a week.

The Camfield, the kids playground

On the other side of the freeway is the Crown Perth Casino (white building) and new hotel next to it, the Crown Towers Perth.
As we were leaving the area the sun was setting over the Swan River, shortly after the bridge lights came on and it was just such a magical end to the day.

We got in the car and drove the short distance to the Casino to have a buffet dinner at Carvers. The restaurant was full, but being just 2 people we were seated quickly. 
The food is reasonably good for a mass produced type of food and it's good value for money.

Burswood area with Crown Perth Hotel and Casino

The sun setting over the Swan River

After the sunset the bridge lights came on

Hope you enjoyed this new area in Perth, I certainly loved it.