Sitting on an old W class tram today, I started dreaming about making a tram, or rather a couple of trams, into a home. I was dreaming about sanding the woodwork back, how you could configure two or maybe three carriages, about what you could turn the driver's cubby into (fernery, wardrobe, pantry), about fixing the wooden louvred window shutters and the great little hinged drop windows, about the cool light fittings (and the fact that they still use incandescent globes), whether it was possible to fit a queen size bed in, when I suddenly realised I had gone completely passed my stop.
As I got up to get off I was stopped by a tourist family wanting to know whether they had got on the Titty Turtle (City Circle) Tram (no they were going the wrong way). I sometimes think that I might have a big 'I' above my head, 'I' for Information Kiosk. I always get stopped and asked for directions and information I can be somewhere packed with people but somehow I'll end up giving directions. Like the time a lovely Pakistani lad fresh off the plane asked me in the city if I knew where the mosque in Fitzroy was, strangely enough I did know, down a back street and not really sign posted. Or the American tourists who I ended up giving a guided tour of Brunswick St to.
So anyway, as I said, I want a tram or two and a country block to put them on.
(This all started a couple of months ago when I read an article about Elspeth Thompson's re-vamp of mahogany train carriages in Britain. You can read about the renovations here.)
Snap.
ReplyDeleteI applied not an hour ago to learn how to drive one.
Way.
Actually, I knew a girl who bought one and lived in it out in Warrandyte.
I thought she was incredibly groovy.
Love your posts of late! I think a revamped tram would be lovely to live in. There are a few that have been converted to use as restaurants and diners, why not a home? I liked the post about the golden pipes too, although aren't they extravagant!
ReplyDeleteHello there - it's me from the railway carriages on the English south coast. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm for the project (currently living here up to ears in builders' dust with daughter having just started school and dog having had six puppies!) - I do hope you find a tram or two for yourself. I shall try to email you tomorrow a picture of my neighbour's house which is made out of trams painted classic glossy green. Thanks for the link. I enjoy your blog.
ReplyDeletex Elspeth
Would you believe I actually DID live in a tram? My brother in the Barossa Valley bought a gorgeous old tram at an auction, which was called the Green Goddess. I loved all the windows, and had a writing area along the long tables, along with my record player. The rain on the roof was incredibly loud, but it was a great place to live, in the back yard in the Barossa with a view of cows.
ReplyDelete