The Sights we See on our Travels - Urban Legends

Walking through Melbourne and also in many other city destinations I have come across this little phenomenon.

AN URBAN MYTH, URBAN LEGEND OR URBAN FOLKLORE!!
This term describes stories told and circulated by persons believing them to be factual accounts. These stories are not always untrue, but they get changed, over-exaggerated and more sensational as they are passed on. A typical urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban setting, the term is just used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore. Recently the preferred term by the academics is "contemporary legend". The legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and distributed by email. People pass on the story told to them by a “friend of a friend”.

“Shoefiti” or “Shoe Flinging”

The question: WHY ARE SHOES HANGING BY THE LACES FROM POWER LINES?
Shoe flinging or shoefiti has become a term to describe the now worldwide practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines or telephone cables. This practice has a widespread, mysterious, role in adolescent folklore in the US and is being reported more often in many other countries. Shoe flinging occurs in rural as well as in urban areas and is believed to have started with sneakers. Now different varieties of shoes are thrown.

Melbourne Laneway 2009

I had a look on the web and these were some of the things suggested to explain the practice of shoe flinging.

'It marks the end of a school year'; or 'a time honoured tradition on the last day of school', or even 'the commemoration of a forthcoming marriage'.

Legend has it that in Scotland, 'when a young man has lost his virginity he tosses his shoes over telephone wires to announce this to his peers'.

Members of the military, who are said to have thrown military boots, often painted orange or some other conspicuous color, at overhead wires as 'part of a rite of passage upon completing basic training or on leaving the service'.

Shoes are stolen from other people and tossed over the wires as 'a sort of bullying tactic'; or as 'a practical joke played on drunkards'.

It could be just 'a good way to get rid of shoes that are no longer wanted, are uncomfortable, or do not fit or when you get a new pair', what do you do with the old ones otherwise?

Other suggestions are:

'Part of human instinct, to leave a mark on or decorate their surroundings'; 'Workmen often throw shoes if they are not paid for waxing floors'; 'someone has died and the shoes belong to the dead person, when the dead person's spirit returns, it will walk that high above the ground, that much closer to heaven'.

If the shoes are flung on the powerlines of a house 'it's a way to keep the property safe from ghosts; and if they are flung on telephone wires 'it signals someone leaving the neighbourhood onto bigger and better things'.

Truly sad and sinisted are the suggestions that 'there is a drug dealer nearby'; 'done as a reminder or warning of a nearby murder'; 'designates or marks gang turf'; 'advertises a local crack house'; 'relates to a place where Heroin is sold to symbolise the fact that once you take Heroin you can never 'leave': a reference to the addictive nature of the drug'; or commemorates 'a gang-related murder; 'the death of a gang member'. It even prompted the Mayor of LA, California to release a newsletter citing the fears of many Los Angeles residents that "these shoes indicate sites at which drugs are sold or worse yet, gang turf," and that the City and Utility employees had launched a program to remove the shoes.

These suggestions seem unfounded as gang related only, as the shoe flinging is seen also in relatively remote stretches of rural highways unlikely to be used by gangs and in countries where there are no gangs.

I think once you see them, you probably want to see if you can get a pair up there to.

Just like a competition with no winners.

But then again, you'll never know why the last person did it, would you?

Yarra River 2009

I'm sure that there are many more myths and legends out there that we have passed on surreptiously changing them.

Haven't you heard, or even told, some of these legends to other people, perhaps hearing them change a little as they pass through the years?

Some I've remembered and I bet others have heard in varying ways are:

'the woman killed by spiders nesting in her hair'; or

'the woman was bitten in Bali and came home with an ulcer and had it operated on and all the little spiders jumped out'?

Or the scary stories like the one about:

'a couple are driving along and then the car stops in the middle of nowhere, just near an asylum for the insane, and the boyfriend says 'lock the car and don't get out, no matter what happens' and he's gone for ages and then there's something banging on the roof of the car ' it's bad, bad bad - on a stick I think!

These legends will no dobut go on forever. Amusing. Folklore. True. False. Doesn't matter. Good stories.!!!! I love 'em.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2009

The City of Melbourne's precincts are fairly distinct. The South encompasses the Yarra River, Southbank, North Bank, Federation Square and St Kilda Road. Central includes the CBD area within Spring Street, Flinders Street, La Trobe Street and Queen Street and focuses on the retail areas in Collins Street, Little Collins Street, Flinders Lane, Bourke Street, the laneways and the arcades. West is Docklands including Spencer Street and surrounds and the North, Errol Street and Victoria Street in North Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market area, West Melbourne and Kensington. Also of note are cultural precincts such as the Greek precinct of Lonsdale Street between Russel and Swanston Streets, the ‘little Italy’ of Melbourne, Lygon Street, Carlton and Chinatown at Little Bourke Street, between Spring and Swanston streets.

Flinders Street Station, Melbourne's busiest railway station stretches along Flinders Street for more than a city block and has around 110,000 passengers through in one day. The design was selected by an architectural competition held in 1902, and the red brick and golden cream stucco building was constructed between 1905 and 1910. Trains have been arriving at Flinders Street since 1854. Many people meet 'under the clocks' at the station on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets.

St Paul's Cathedral diagonally opposite Flinders Street Station is built on the site of Melbourne's first Christian service, conducted on the banks of the Yarra a few months after Melbourne was founded in 1835.

The Princes Bridge opened in 1888 (the 3rd bridge built on the site), crosses the Yarra and connects Swanston Street on the northern bank to St Kilda Road and the southern bank. It is built of bluestone and cast iron.

The Alexandra Gardens located on the south bank of the Yarra River were first laid out in 1901 and are part of the Domain parklands which include the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kings Domain and Queen Victoria Gardens. The Canary Island Palms wre planted in 1911.

The serene water of the Yarra River.

The headwaters of the Yarra River flow from the flanks of Mt Baw Baw in Victoria's West Gippsland region through Melbourne and on to Port Phillip, the main water course running for 242km.

To the original Wurundjeri people, the river was "birrarung" - 'river of mists and shadows'. They camped on both banks of the river, especially near present day Government House and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They caught eels in the swamps and lagoons of the river and fished using funnel-shaped fish pots. The water was clear at the time of European settlement, but intensive land clearing and development since the mid 1800s has resulted in the presence of microscopic clay particles giving the river its muddy colour.

The Yarra has a tidal range of 2.2 metres. Water craft are able to navigate the river for a distance of about 10km. Severe flooding was a regular feature of the narrow, twisting original watercourse. The first flood was recorded in 1839. The biggest recorded flood - in 1891- saw the water rise 14 metres higher than normal. The river has been significantly altered in time to stop flooding and improve its quality. The last major flooding was in 1934.

During early years of settlement, ships travelled upstream as far as Queensbridge Street, where a rock barrier and water cascades blocked them. The falls separated the salt water of the bay from the fresh river water used by early Melburnians for drinking, bathing, irrigation and fishing. Enterprize Park and The Turning Basin, on the east side of today's Melbourne Aquarium, is where ships could be turned around in the river. Before bridges spanned the Yarra, ferries and punts carried people and their animals from bank to bank.

Joggers, walkers and cyclists all share the tracks around the parks and along the edge of the Yarra

Ferris wheel and carousel animals at Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr is located on the north bank of the Yarra River next to Federation Square, and is Melbourne's youngest major park, opened in 2002. The park's name comes from the language of the Wurundjeri people who originally inhabited this area, 'Birrarung' means 'river of mists' while ‘Marr’ refers to the side of the river. The park provides a link between the CBD and Melbourne's main sporting precinct, with a continuous green belt of parkland around the city and it was designed to host some of Melbourne's major events and festivals. The park is a relaxing space against a backdrop of native flora, the city skyline and the river.

'Angel' sculpture covered by 4,000 tiles, by artist Deborah Halpern was in in front of the National Gallery of Victoria for 18 years and was restored and moved to Birrarung Marr

River cruise boats.

Horse and carriage in Swanston Street.

A fresh flower stall in Swanston Street. Gerberas, Lillies, Protea and sunflowers along with many other pretties.

Albert Park lakeside .. nice and peaceful ...

until the Grand Prix comes to town
and the road is transformed into a race track.

The Melbourne Exhibition Centre on the south bank of the Yarra.

The 'Polly Woodside' built in 1885, closed to the public and waiting for her renovated berth for permanent mooring near the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

Not seen very often, fishing in the Yarra.

Footbridge from Southbank to Northbank.

Melbourne is very well known for its changeable weather - 4 seasons in one day!

The Crown Entertainment Complex and Casino, Melbourne open 24/7 .

Art endowed pedestrian bridge over the Yarra from Southbank to the City.

Chalk art at Southbank on the promenade.

Visible from all over the City, the Eureka Tower is a 300m tall skyscraper located in Southbank Melbourne. It has 91 storeys above the ground (84 floors being solely residential) and one basement level. The tower is named after the Eureka Stockade, which was an uprising and rebellion during the Victorian gold rush in 1854. The building's design colours of gold, blue, white and red represent the gold rush, the blue background and white lines of the stockade flag and the prominent red slash represents the blood spilt during the revolt. There are two lifts that in 40 seconds deliver visitors to Skydeck88 on level 88. You can take be ‘entertained’ or ‘scare yourself stupid’ in The Edge. You enter a cube of opaque glass, which then slides out suspended from the edge of the building, about 300m above the ground, with you inside. Once the cube has fully extended, about 3m, the cube's glass becomes clear and you hear the comforting …. NOT …. sounds of smashing glass or machines stopping and grinding and encourage yourself to look straight down as you are now standing on clear glass with nothing but that glass between you and the pavement 88 floors below. Arrghh!!! Oh, and you pay for that privilege plus the little yellow wristband that says you survived!!! My 13 year old son took the challenge and although he was fascinated by the whole concept he probably thought he was going to die of height fright!

Back on the Ground Floor.