Melbourne: Part 1

As you know, I sent Kate to Melbourne a few weeks ago to investigate the local cat culture. After all the busyness of Christmas, I've finally had time to sit down and go through her findings. As you would expect, there weren't too many cats to be found in the CBD... not real cats, anyway. There were, however, a good number of VHQCTs (very high-quality cat tributes) to be found:

This VHQCT shop display is from a store called Genki in Cathedral Arcade off Swanston St (right in the city, for those of you who aren't familiar with the Melbs...). Kate says that it sells 'really cute stuff'.

This might be in slightly poor taste, but this shop on Brunswick St, Fitzroy was trying to solicit custom by displaying a tiger's head rug in its window! (Don't worry guys, I checked with Kate, it's fake. Although they do have real tigers at the Melbourne Zoo, including three new tiger cubs that aren't yet on display.)

But by far the best and most high-quality VHQCT was this awesome piece of graffitti art that Kate found in an alley off Centre Place, which runs between Flinders Lane and Collins Street and has lots of funky little shops and cafes. I think it is some kind of cat god. I think the artist based it (loosely) on me, what with all the browns and blacks. Apart from this amazing cat tribute, Kate said that there's lots of other non-cat-related graffitti in this alley that's worth checking out if you're ever in Melbourne, which I don't ever intend to be, because that's what Kate is for.

I'm thinking of sending Kate to Melbourne again when the tiger cubs are on display in the New Year. Meanwhile, stay tuned for Part 2 of Kate's report from Melbourne, which features some real live Melbourne cats!

Cheers,
--Pabs