iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/10/2026

[Blake's 7 S02E01, spoiler-free] Okay Jenna. So you got a Raspberry Pi. But really, what are you going to do with it? Seriously.

Screenshot from an episode of Blake's 7. Jenna is examining a small perspex box with some electronics dimly visible inside. In her other hand she is holding some sort of space-screwdriver.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2026

[Blake's 7, S01E11, spoilers] My word. There's a bit about a desire to preserve 20th century human history which, as a former teenager who devoted three of the four drawers in her bedroom chest to VHS tapes, was welcome colour to the plot. But T.P. McKenna […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Partial screenshot of an episode of Blake's 7. Crouching by a tree trunk, Roj Blake is taking something futuristic out of an esky while doing exposition with his companion Cally. She is wearing a leopard skin print hoodie, because leopard skin is supposed to subtly signify sexy femininity. I don't know why. I only lived though the 70s and 80s; I can't explain them.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026

What your electricity usage looks like when you've no f**ks to give and just want to be warm over winter for once.

A column graph showing electricity usage over 13 months, dipping in the summer months and rising again over autumn. Usage in July is approximately double that of February.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/07/2026

Decisions, decisions. Agonising over what to do with the next couple of months to get out of my current lacuna is making me think that perhaps what I really want to do is run off and join the circus.

Screenshot from a certain British sci-fi adventure series from the late 1980s (hint: not Star Cops), showing a woman in over-the-top Romani-style clothing peering intently into a crystal ball filled with a magenta fog.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2026

The weather was a bit trans on my pre-breakfast walk this morning. I'm not much into omens, but I accepted that one.

Photo of the early morning sky looking from the western side of Carlton Gardens to the east. The dome of the Royal exhibition building is in the background. Trees and the awning of the Melbourne Museum in the foreground are in silhouette. The sky is baby blue and streaked with pink and white horizontal bands of cloud.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/06/2026

I feel like I've been getting a bit more brightness up top lately, but honestly I haven't a clue.

Spectrogram rendering of the above recording.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/06/2026

It took me an hour and twenty-five minutes, but I worked it out. I knew it was solvable. The only question is whether I have any sanity remaining. I will work that out in the morning.

Screenshot of GNOME Aisleriot at the conclusion of a hand of the Lady Jane solitaire game. A dialog box says "Congratulations! You have won!" while the time counter reads "1:25:05"

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/05/2026

[Plushie ec; I may be going a bit funny] This is Bernard. Our eyes met in the toy section of BigW, and the next thing I knew, he was on his way home with me, riding on top of a 4 litre cardboard box of wine. Not the classiest way to travel, but he didn't seem to mind.

A small stuffed teddy bear toy. A clear, empathetic gaze, and a kindly demeanour hint at a maturity beyond his years.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/04/2026

[Selfie, ec] I didn't intend to go to the pub this afternoon, but I had to go to the loo and so had to have a pint, and then go to the loo again. The Retreat Hotel in Brunswick has close to the best pub name ever. And a rather cosy and low-pressure ambience […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

An old lady seated by a pub window, low late-afternoon sun falling on the sags, bags, and wrinkles of her face.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026

[Season update, señora selfie] Melbourne is initiating Autumn mode, and I can already tell it's going to be a good one this year. I am wearing contrasting shades of brown, which is really pushing the sartorial envelope for me. Did not garner any gendered […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

An old lady standing on the footpath of a lush, tree-lined, inner-urban street. The photograph is over-exposed, so you can't see the first signs of yellow and red in the foliage, which was the entire point of taking the photo.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/04/2026

Go to bed, Katy. No good can come of this. (I've never actually bothered to seek out AI chatbots before, so you could say I lost my virginity because of this service.) #AI #GodlikeSuperintelligence #Dating

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/03/2026

Tired and overwhelmed. Thanks for asking. But at least, thanks to a shop-cum-art-installation in Sydney's Chinatown, I know who I am.

A wall-mounted mirrored panel, bearing the legend "I am", and matching parentheses on the left and right of the panel, inviting (I presume) the passer-by to consider their ineffable qualities.

Pictured here between parentheses is yours truly, who ironically recently got an account on an online dating platform to advertise her effability, only to attract a right bunch of effers. Be careful what you wish for, effing-wise, I suppose.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/02/2026

@Unixbigot That really does make sense. And of course after all that, you find yourself a full-time cat carer and need a job where you can work from home. I worked from home for most of the time I was blessed with my last batch, but finally had to get a […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Three young sibling cats (Bobby, Harry, and Jacky) seen from behind, sitting in a row, posed rather symmetrically, looking out through a sliding screen door to a balcony and beyond. I miss them so much, as well as their later adopted sister Kitty.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/02/2026

Don't ask me how I ended up on the website for the Center of Contemporary Jurisprudence in Tehran, but can we all agree that the "stupid proposals for the use of LLMs" curve has peaked now?

Screenshot of a website showing a link to an article titled "AI Integration Proposed For Issuing Fatwas".

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/02/2026

Seen at the Queen Vic market last week. Lennon & McCartney: Tijuana Style. When I was a kid, the family a couple of houses up the street had a copy of this. Their boy played it for me. Oof. It's pretty spesh. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNamovJxMqc

The cover of Lennon & McCartney: Tijuana Style, at a market record stall. While they also had Beatle bootlegs and rarities selling for $100+, this forgotten gem could be yours for a mere $25. Features a cover photograph of a trumpet and trombone sitting in the sand on a beach (which can't be good for them), no mention of the names of recording artists that contributed, and the tag line "Music made famous by the Beatles excitingly recreated to the Sound of Brass".

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/01/2026

Got a new old bike. $150. Isn't she… inexpensive? Approximately 5 in-hub gears which are only slightly iffy. Rode it home from Northcote in 27℃ heat. Only got slightly lost once. Dedicated bike/pedestrian trail or at least painted lane the whole way. (Yay […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Womens' commuter bicycle in cream and black. Step-through frame, mandatory wire basket on front. Basic but stylish.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/01/2026

Went for a long walk today. Got very badly sunburnt. I'll blog about it tomorrow (probably), but as a teaser here's a photo of an exhausted old lady who just wants to go home, standing in front of some technology that once powered the elevators in high-rise office buildings in the Melbourne CBD.

Yours truly standing on a platform above a brick-lined channel which recedes into the distance in accordance with standard perspective geometry. I'm not good at estimating scale, but I'd say that for most of its length the channel would be about as wide as three Arnold Schwarzeneggers laid end-to-end. At the bottom of the channel, which would be about a Danny Devito in height, grass is growing — or rather, it now being Summer, browning and dying.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/12/2025

[Selfie, ec, Katy cloistered] I love me a good cloistered quad. My natural habitat.

On old lady who has never worked out precisely where on her phone the camera lens is located, so in every photo seems annoyed at something slightly off-centre and just over the shoulder of the imagined photographer, stands in a vaulted covered walkway. It surrounds a small lawn in the middle of what I think is the Old Arts Building in Melbourne University.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/12/2025

[Selfie, near-ec] Could have done without the spotlight on my nose, but at least I went outside today.

Old lady in a t-shirt and moth-eaten cardie propped up against a jacaranda tree. Behind her is a 19th century style formal garden with a lawn and some fir trees.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2025

All growed up! Sigh! Where does the time go?

Two adult ducks with their six nearly-mature ducklings. A difficult age.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2025

The duckies are continuing to be cute today. Further updates as events warrant.

Eight ducklings on a lawn, overseen by two adult ducks. The ducklings appear to have adopted a delta formation for maximal foraging efficiency, while maintaining maximal cute fluffiness at all times. The adults are operating as a sort of command module in the centre of the spearhead.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2025

It was a banner morning for dark, blurry photos of ducks this morning. Three different ducky families!

Ducks rooting around in the lawn: two adults and six juvenile ducklings. The ducklings are quite mature, but still pleasingly fluffy.

A family of ducks by an ornamental pond: two adults and seven mid-size ducklings.

A family of ducks: two adults and six ducklings at the teeny little puffball stage of development. Squee!

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2025

The little ducks are getting big. They're still gorgeous, though.

A family of ducks by an ornamental pond. Two adults and half a dozen ducklings. The ducklings are still very fluffy, but becoming more distinctively duck-shaped than they were a couple of weeks ago.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2025

[Selfie, ec, old lady] Which old lady went out out in public today in a proper dressy dress (tho' still with jeans)? Smashing those milestones!

Bathroom selfie of an old lady in a long dark grey cotton dress. Accessorised with a bright red scarf to make it look a little less Handmaids Tale.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2025

[Selfie, ec, old lady posterior mention] I went to Camp Sovereignty this afternoon and sat surrounded by nice people for a while. There's music and things going on till past my bedtime today, so get down there if that's your bag. I didn't stay long because […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

An old lady sat on the grass at Camp Sovereignty. She looks rather grim and dour, but that's just her relationship with the camera.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2025

[Selfie, ec, old lady] Who's this out in public in a dress as though it's the sort of thing she can get away with? Why it's that weird old lady who can't smile at a camera to save her life! Actually, It's more a long t-shirt than a dress, and I'm wearing it […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

An old lady waiting at the top of the free tram zone on Swanston St., looking over the rims of her dark glasses. She's wearing a short dress with horizontal navy blue stripes. Around the elbows, the stripes go a couple of different shades of pastel blue and pink, perhaps suggesting trans pride flag colours - I couldn't really say with confidence.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2025

[Selfie, ec, white supremacy] I wanted to write something profound today about the awful state of the world. I lay awake last night thinking about what needed to be said. It's too much. Instead, here's a picture of a dishevelled old lady. Fuck 'em all. You […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Selfie of a dishevelled old lady in her small squalid flat. She's wearing a t-shirt featuring the Doctor Who story Talons of Weng-Chiang. What's that you say? Well, that's a good question, I'm glad you asked. Opinion is divided about whether that story is itself racist, or whether it is a pastiche of racist Victorian popular fiction. I am in the latter camp, obviously, while pretty much everybody else is in the former. Definitely some casting choices were questionable, but this was the 1970s, and maybe Bert Kwouk was unavailable that week.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2025

A neighbour who's a gig economy rider has this adorable little brolly for his phone. It's probably jolly practical.

Motorcycle handlebars with a mount for a mobile phone on the left hand side. This in turn has a cute little black umbrella mounted on it.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/08/2025

What does a health insurer and a supermarket have in common? Myself and a fellow student were talking about the essays we were working on; his on Medibank, me on Coles. We started talking about shareholder power, and he posted a list of the top shareholders […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Screenshot of a list of the top shareholders in Medibank, from 2024 annual report. First five are: HSBC, J P Morgan, Citicorp, National, BNP Paribas.

Screenshot of a list of the top shareholders in Coles, from 2024 annual report. First five are: HSBC, J P Morgan, Citicorp, BNP Paribas, National.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2025

It's springtime! What? No, I'm sorry, I must correct you there. I was just walking through Carlton Gardens and there were two big ducks in the pond shepherding a whole lot of little fluffy ducks. I rest my case. (Sorry the evidence is blurry. I didn't want […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Blurry and overexposed photo of a duck pond with some little blobs bobbing about on the surface, which I can tell you were the cutest little ducklings I've ever seen in my life.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2025

[Selfie, mh-] Had a rotten, unproductive day/week. Really hit the wall. As I don't have anything nice to say, here's a month-old selfie of me in the middle of my squalid flat not saying anything. I like the picture for some reason. I think because I'm not […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Reflection of a late-middle-aged trans woman reflected in a small, round makeup mirror. Behind her in the reflection is a kitchenette with bar fridge, electric cooktop, sink, with pots and pans, washing-up draining, and a 4-litre box of red wine. Behind the mirror is a larger two-door fridge . She is looking off to the side with a pensive expression. The woman, not the fridge.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/07/2025

[Selfie, ec] I'm officially edjamacated! Mind you, I got the results back in December last year, and at the end of this term I'll be halfway to the Masters'. Seven months to post a piece of paper, from the uni that won't grant extensions for the last […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Katy standing by the window of her flat, late afternoon. Behind her is her fridge, upon which stands a collection of scrupulously washed glass jars which will come in useful one day. She is holding a piece of heavyweight paper with the words "TORRENS UNIVERSITY AUSTRALIA", "KATY SWAIN", and "GRADUATE CERTIFICATE OF ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABILITY" visible, and a tacky metallic finish blob in one corner which is suppose is supposed to represent a seal.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/07/2025

Because the argument against has to be "Yes, well that was all very well for people who'd just had the two most devastating wars in history and a decade-long depression, but…" And the implication is that half a century of neoliberalism has been worse than […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Katy and her enormous bald head trying to negotiate as a toddler the tacky orange and brown world into which she has been born.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2025

#3GoodThings today 1/3: Went for a walk round the gardens at dawn (4℃). Quite comfortable people staring at me as I shuffled along, hunched over, arms wrapped round myself like an illustration in a Dickens novel, coughing with every other breath of […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

An asphalt path through a park receding into the distance, passing through an arcade of deciduous trees turning golden and copper. It is early morning. Out of frame, the photographer is very cold, but appreciates how fortunate she is to live here.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/05/2025

[The shocking depravity of the trans lifestyle] I succumbed to temptation today. In the bloated aftermath, as I survey the spare tyre where my waist used to be a couple of years ago, I wonder whether lasting happiness might instead lie in cultivating some sort of sex life.

A cardboard box of "soft dry red" and a paper bag of Kentucky Fried chicken bearing a stylised image of Colonel Harland Sanders, the slogan "it's finger lickin' good", and "Katy S" scrawled on it in felt tip pen.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/05/2025

[UKPol] Fascist Labour. Anybody who still claims there's any value in remaining a member of that party is basically confessing. via climatejustice.social/@GeofCox/1145…

Juxtaposed images of Enoch Powell in 1968 making the infamous anti-immigration 'Rivers of Blood' speech, in which he said English people 'found themselves strangers in their own country' (and over which he was discredited and eventually politically shunned) and Keir Starmer yesterday saying 'we risk becoming an island of strangers'.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/04/2025

There's an awful lot of autumn about in #Melbourne this morning.

Looking North along the tree-lined pathway on the Melbourne University South Lawn, with the Old Quad in the distance. The trees are beginning to shed copper-coloured leaves.

Looking through the Melbourne University Old Quad vaulted cloister to trees on the south lawn in the distance.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/04/2025

OMG! Melbourne has started Autumning! That's one of my favourite things that Melbourne does! I am going to enjoy the next couple of months so much.

View looking South down Drummond St., Carlton, towards the city in the early morning. Either side of the street are rows of terrace houses. Down the centre of the street is a wide grass median strip with a row of deciduous trees whose leaves have started yellowing and beginning to fall.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/04/2025

Rewatching Andor S1 in anticipation of S2. Fiona Shaw is glorious. Rewatching the 1980s Granada Sherlock Holmes recently, as one does, I was surprised to see her in a very small part in "The Crooked Man". Still wonderful.

A frame from the 1984 series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", showing Fiona Shaw as Miss Morrison, looking very prim and middle class while gamely volunteering to help the needy.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/04/2025

Have motivation issues this morning. Really do not see any point in what I'm doing.Think this may be a wine from mid-morning and loud music day.

A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. In the first five panels Calvin is trying to get a yo-yo to make the return journey up the string, getting increasingly frustrated. In the final panel, he concludes "I can't imagine mastering the skills involved here without a clearer understanding of who's going to be impressed.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/04/2025

I still can't quite believe that the argument has to be made, but if you're in #Melbourne and can get to the State Library at 1pm today to help make the point that fascism is a bad thing…

Graphic reads:

"PROTEST
STOP TRUMP: FIGHT THE FAR RIGHT
1PM SAT 5 APRIL
STATE LIBRARY"

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/03/2025

[Selfie, ec, makeup, squalid flat] Sigh. Well, it is what it is. Not bad for an old bag.

Webcam photo of an old lady in a squalid little flat, hair and makeup done, wearing a rather natty black jacket that used to fit but now if she tries to do it up, it just looks like she's doing an impersonation of Alexei Sayle c.1989.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/03/2025

[Selfie, ec, no makeup, squalid flat] Later today I'll be hitting the streets to be trans, visible, and a weird old lady. Till then I'm in full goblin mode, reading about sovereign debt default and IMF structural adjustment programs. Nobody said being trans was easy.

Webcam photo of a dowdy old lady in a t-shirt and cardigan in her office/bedroom/living room/kitchen, in the harsh glare of the morning sun, trying to look awake and feel motivated to do work.

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/03/2025

Looks like I found my next employer. I'm not technically a qualified librarian, but when you've got the look, fake it till you make it. Via beige.party/@RickiTarr/114228952384…

An old neon sign that says:

"GIRLS
GIRLS
GIRLS"

"GORGEOUS
LIBRARIANS"

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Katy Swain @katyswain.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2025

Thanks, #Melbourne for the great turnout at yesterday's rally for Palestine. I was fearing nobody would show, but it restored my faith in humanity and lifted my spirits. See you again April 13th. Also the alternately amused/bemused/disgusted facial […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Protesters marching west along Bourke Street, Melbourne. Flags waving, some other signs and banners visible. Clear blue sky.

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