St. Kilda is the most densely populated suburb in Victoria, Australia’s most densely populated state (ACT aside). Only Coogee, Bronte and Bondi, West Sydney and North Sydney are more densely populated. But parts of Fitzroy and Collingwood are more densely populated still according to KPMG partner and population analyst Bernard Salt.
Victoria’s population hit 5 million recently, of whom 3.7 million lived in Melbourne as at June 2006, compared with 4.3 million in Sydney. Sydney only caught up with Melbourne’s size at federation, but Salt suggests Melbourne may overtake Sydney, the growth rate of which is less than Melbourne’s.
Pastry Art Design, at 280 Smith St, next to Gluttony, is a strange old bakery I’ve never quite been able to categorise. It has a two for one loaf deal on Saturdays and Sundays, so I picked up a white sourdough cobb and a fruit loaf for $3.50. They do very good pastries, good cold pizza squares and focaccias, as well as bread which is good without ever being outstanding. Certainly, it is a cut above Baker’s Delight. But the exception to this goodness was an inviting but dreadful loaf of olive bread: the olives were those tasteless unripe green olives dyed black by being soaked in lye and pumped with oxygen (a revelation to be found in Stephanie’s Cook’s Companion) found on poor quality pizzas. As indication of how olivy it wasn’t, consider that I took a piece of the stuff and ate it happily with lemon buter on top. I think there are too many laws already, but there should nevertheless be a law against such fraud.