Glenferrie and Auburn station have those dark, hairpin ramps down from the platform to a tunnel below, evoking an early part of the 20th century circa The Sullivans when life was, apparently, more brown than it is today*. Dad hops off a Red Rattler after work and pops into the local for a quick pint on the way home. Junior rides his bike around the streets after school, smiling in his shorts and a shirt and a sleeveless jumper. Nothing to do on Sunday but tag along to church with everybody else and wait for a nice roast dinner. Johnny O'Keefe is years away.
I'm just passing through this time - off to a bright red shop of sorts, dropping off some piece or other of broken technology - but I spent a couple of pleasant years in this area a decade previously. More on that later.
* (When did Melburnians move on from brown to black, anyway?)