Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
Checked the other day how much of my home loan I’ve paid off. It’s currently sitting at 8.13% gone, up from 6.59% this time last year, and it’s only shifting at about 0.11% per month (unless I choose to pay extra). Slow going. So much for my NY resolution in 2006 of trying to pay ... [More]
My old mate Brian once described his car as being an air-conditioner on wheels. Which got me thinking. When I go for a drive on my own, the engine in my car is moving me (75 Kg) and the car itself (1356 Kg). Therefore 94% of the energy involved is spent moving the car. It’s ... [More]
I was back at work today. The city seemed a bit quiet today (Degraves St/Centreway excepted), and with many blokes shunning their ties, obviously things are still a bit in holiday mode. This morning I found the biggest damn spider I’ve seen this year in ages sitting on the wall above the front door. I ... [More]
Oh thank goodness — they didn’t use that horrible old picture in the print edition of the Herald Sun article today. Though perhaps the one they did use (which from memory was taken in late-2006 in Swanston Street) wasn’t much better. There was a bit of a typo in the article that appeared during production ... [More]
This NYE, I’m not out and about. So instead, amidst the chaos and heat of today, here are some random thoughts (including some attempted ideas for blog posts during the year that never got past embryo stage). I’ve seen two Dymocks bags disintegrate after being kept for a few months. It’s great that they biodegrade ... [More]
A few weeks ago an Age Saturday crossword question about Anwar Sadat brought back some memories. While I remember well news of the deaths of John Lennon and Princess Diana, Sadat’s assassination was sitting there in the back of my mind. I recalled footage of chaos at a grandstand, which I suppose I’d seen as ... [More]
Southern Cross Station, 9am Christmas morning PS. Bonus: Related Herald Sun story and ABC online!
Well I haven’t quite finished my Christmas shopping, but I have at least got over the hump, thanks to a few fruitful hours spent at the very noice Highpoint yesterday. It wasn’t half as crowded as I expected — and the beauty of Highpoint is you can easily get there without the car, and the ... [More]
Happy Gravy Day. Last night I saw the Bourke Street decorations by night for the first time. But I was in a bad mood this morning. After a recent good run, I had two hassle-filled commutes in a row — last night at 10:30 the trains were still stuffed after the storms, and this morning, ... [More]
I have a 240 litre bin for general rubbish (emptied weekly) and a 240 litre bin for recycling (emptied fortnightly). Usually I put one kitchen bin bag out per week, and the recycling bin is about three-quarters full when emptied. So our weekly household waste comes to about: 30 litres of general waste 90 litres ... [More]
In the past I’ve seen pictures of an American preschool graduation — in which they ludicrously dressed kids up in gowns and (mortarboard) caps. I’ve only worn a cap and gown once in my life — for my university graduation, after three years of (sometimes) hard slog earning my bachelor’s degree. This type of academic ... [More]
I was reminded at the weekend that near where I used to work, there’s a partly-triangular building. It’s at the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Parade. Here’s what it looks like from above… (Picture: Whereis.com.au) But look at it from the Lonsdale Street exit of Parliament Station, and it looks like it’s flat — ... [More]
I may not be the world’s foremost expert on driving, but even I could see you made two critical mistakes driving out of the supermarket carpark. 1. You drove the wrong way around the one-way system. 2. Your baby was on the lap of your passenger. I hope that you were pulled over and booked ... [More]
The news from the Bali conference reminded me a lot of the machinations during international negotiations on The West Wing. No doubt things would have progressed further if it was Jed Bartlett, not George W Bush, running the White House. But you’ve got to hand it to the delegate from Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad. ... [More]
I’ve long been a Monty Python fan, but am a little too young to have seen the movies on their first runs in the cinemas. So when it was announced that Spamalot would have a run in Melbourne, I decided to see it. I went along with the kids and Marita yesterday. Warning: some spoilers. ... [More]
I just saw a miracle. It’s lunchtime in the city. It’s two weeks before Christmas. There was no queue at the post office. How is this possible? Maybe it was a hallucination.