The Source: Happy ending for Covid test site in Melbourne’s inner west

It served as a makeshift testing site through the Covid doldrums, and now this unassuming property is offering a new type of therapy to residents of Melbourne’s inner-west.

An unassuming property in Melbourne’s inner-west has undergone a major change.

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers.

The world pivots fast in the post-Covid era.

A prime example is an unassuming property in Melbourne’s inner-west which has undergone a major change from medical facility to, ahem, massage services provider.

As the pandemic gripped our city, long queues of anxious people snaked along the footpath outside the 4CYTE Pathology facility

Out the back, in a makeshift outdoor testing station, the good folk from 4CYTE were busy inserting objects into orifices in the name of public health.

In some ways, things may not have changed much, given the building has become the latest addition to a massage franchise.

The Source has not visited the said massage facility, which boasts of “all therapists obliging to specific massage requests”, whatever that does (or does not) mean.

A Victoria police deputy commissioner is still regularly reminded of the day he unwittingly held a press conference in front of one of the massage provider’s promotional billboards.

Those needing therapy in a hurry can get what is billed as a 30-minute express session. Patrons with more cash and time to avail themselves of the 60-minute “experience” for $100.

These services are not covered by Medicare.

Got a tip? Let us know [e-mail]

Cate Blanchett to launch film in Windsor

She usually swans gracefully around top-end movie hubs like Cannes, Sundance and Tribeca.

But Our Cate, as in multi-talent, oft-awarded Blanchett, is headed for the downtempo art-deco energy of St Kilda’s Astor Theatre to launch her new movie with Indigenous film director Warwick Thornton.

The film, The New Boy, sees Blanchett playing a renegade nun running a remote monastery.

It follows her widely acclaimed role as an off-the-rails conductor in Tar.

Thornton recently told Variety his shot to work with Blanchett came out of nowhere.

“It started with a very interesting phone call from Cate, where she said, “Warwick, life’s too short, we should make a movie together,” Thornton said.

“And I thought, shit, shit, shit!”

Blanchett will take part in a Q&A session with Thornton at the Astor on July 1.

Blanchett’s outing at the Astor follows Margot Robbie giving Melbourne the brush off during the promotional tour of Barbie.

Blanchett on the red carpet at Cannes film festival.

Reason Hird didn’t attend Baby Bombers reunion

Most of the 1993 Essendon premiership team met for a 30-year reunion bash last Friday which was still going on Sunday.

You know the big names. Tim Watson was there. As was Michael Long, as well as Gavin Wanganeen and Mark “Bomber” Thompson.

But Ricky Olarenshaw had footy commitments at home in Bali. Nor could James Hird attend, said to be stranded overseas where he spends several months of the year.

Well, that was how Hird’s absence was reported. But the reports were incorrect.

It’s true that Hird didn’t go to the reunion. But it’s also true that he was in Melbourne.

The Baby Bombers celebrate their 1993 Grand Final win over Carlton.

Given this fact, questions of tricky club politics might be invoked for Hird’s absence.

Think the Essendon player drugs saga, and Hird’s unsuccessful tilt at re-assuming the position of club coach (and the fact that Watson may not have supported Hird’s said tilt at being coach again).

But business types would have noted media reports that Hird was selling one-fifth of his fund manager company to a financial services firm, Sequoia Financial Group.

As Hird told the Source: “I was working through the weekend with lawyers to finalise the Euree Asset Management deal and opted not to attend the reunion.”

It remains unclear at this point whether business commitments will preclude Hird from attending the 40th anniversary of the famed “Baby Bombers” flag in 2033.