We paid a visit to Melbourne Central shopping centre this afternoon, in search of a few last-minute Christmas present, including a pair of R.M. Williams boots, which are my mum’s present to me. They are, without doubt, the finest boots I’ve ever owned. They weigh a ton and feel like you could run over them with a tank several times without a single stitch popping.
The mall itself is very modern inside, and has a cone-shaped glass structure in the middle, in which is an old shot tower. A shot tower is how lead shot used to be made. You pour molten lead into space a hundred feet or so up in the air, surface tension makes it into spheres on the way down, and it falls into cold water at the bottom. Lo and behold, you have small lead spheres suitable for putting in shotgun cartridges, or, maybe, a blunderbuss.
Campbell was looking for a Christmas present in Myer, and while we were perusing the housewares department, I saw one of these. I wonder if people buy these with a straight face, with no irony at all. Only the English revere their monarchs by making mugs in the shape of the ruler of the day’s head. According to eBay, these things fetch a mere £22 at auction. I didn’t see how much this particular one was going for.
It was also Bronwyn’s birthday, so we went to an afternoon tea across town, where we were treated to champagne, tea, cakes, and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Classic.
On the way back, I noticed this fine establishment. I wonder if they still make corsets, and worse, if people still actually wear them.