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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Four minutes? Impossible!

I can’t help noticing that when traffic is relatively light, this sign on Kings Way always it’s 4 minutes to Williamstown Road. This seems as optimistically unlikely as those old Citylink travel time promises. Google Maps reckons it’s 7.7 kilometres, and estimates a travel time without traffic of 6 minutes. The speed limit along the  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Airport rail begins here… well, eventually, maybe

There’s some big news on the East West Link today, with Labor saying that if the Supreme Court agrees with the Cities of Moreland and Yarra that the planning approval was invalid, they will rip up the contracts if elected. Read all about it here in The Age. But meanwhile… Lots of ads for the  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Bentleigh area bus routes: Don’t just tinker; we need a proper plan

As we move towards the election, in the marginal seat of Bentleigh, candidates are rightly pondering public transport issues. Trains are already getting a makeover thanks to recent frequency increases and the Bayside rail project. So then… what of the buses? These are important — many people use (or could use, if they were better)  ... [More]

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Melbourne Toxic Custard newsletter

UFO playground – Clayton South

I was talking to my friend Andrew about this, and realised I never posted photos. In Clayton South (The Grange, Osborne Avenue) there’s a playground with a UFO theme, to mark the day in 1966 where a large group of students at nearby schools spotted an unidentified flying object in the sky, seen landing and  ... [More]

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Consumerism Sport

Aussie Sportball finals time!

You can tell it’s footy finals time — this rather impressive tribute of sugary drinks was at the Oakleigh South Safeway Woolies this week. Somehow I’ve won the tipping in Tony’s competition for the second year in a row. I think this might mean I get to present the perpetual trophy to myself. PS. The  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Trains: Why run along the platform if you can walk through the carriages?

I post this picture to make two brief points: Even at 3pm, there are a reasonable number of people heading home. It’s before the school and uni loads really hit — and remembering that there’s only 10 minutes between services on this line. Frequent all-day services help people who can be flexible with their travel  ... [More]

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Geek music Toxic Custard newsletter

The new toy

In Parks and Recreation they celebrate an annual Treat Yo’self day. Mine was last week. I took my birthday and the next day off work. After much pondering, I bought a new home theatre setup. I’d spent way too much time pondering what I was going to buy. For a while I considered buying into  ... [More]

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Clothes Consumerism Toxic Custard newsletter

Belt up: Stockade Leather

A shout-out to a good shop which doesn’t have a web site of its own: About once every decade I buy a belt. They last that long — I get them from a place in Elsternwick called Stockdale Stockade Leather (552 Glen Huntly Road), which I’m amazed is still in business because their stuff is  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

We suggest you don’t hit this bus

This is an old pic, but a classic. I thought I’d lost it, but it showed-up while sorting through some old files on the computer. I did once ask someone at Ventura about it — he said one of their staff had taken the photo, and from memory also said there had been no serious  ... [More]

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Home life Toxic Custard newsletter

Home loan: some progress at last

Here’s a graph of my home loan, which I got just over nine years ago. The loan was approved in August 2005, but only took effect in October that year (the huge leap on the left). In the first year or so I was able to pay it down a bit. It only took me  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Toxic Custard newsletter

The umbrella wrapper

This is near the entrance to one of the local supermarkets. I understand what it is — it wraps your umbrella in plastic — I just don’t understand why such a thing is needed. While it’s nice to see them catering for pedestrians (since I’d assume few people coming from a parked car would bother  ... [More]

Categories
transport

#Myki: touch-on, touch-off, touch-on, touch-off

Here’s an interesting issue with Myki which has always been around to an extent, but which has got worse with the switch to exact two-hour fares. The problem The Myki software uses the two hour expiry of a fare as the time after which it assumes the next touch of your card is also a  ... [More]