Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
People apparently want to know more about our big trip to America last month. Oddly enough, the people who want to know the most are the Americans. Either they just want an outsiders view, or they’re trying to make sure we had a good time there. Which we did. If you live in Seattle, and ... [More]
Common urban commuter tribes of the 67 NAME: Skateboarders (Skatus bigpantus) APPEARANCE: Loose t-shirts, and very big pants. Often with caps on backwards, smelly sneakers. Always bad haircuts. ACCESSORIES: Skateboard, soft-drink bottle, multicoloured misshapen lump which might have once been a bag. VOCABULARY: Mostly complaining about school, or talk of the skateboard spare part trade. ... [More]
Watching the news in the US was amusing. I’m at a safe distance, so it’s probably safe to name names: KNVX, Phoenix. This station has a news service that fulfils just about every cliche of bad news reporting you could think of. They don’t just have theme music. Nope. They’ve got some DJ announcer and ... [More]
So, Daniel, we heard you just splashed out on more memory for your computer. Yep, it’s got 24Mb now. More than enough for anybody. At least until next week. Ha, you’re not getting me into one of those Bill Gates quotes… Why’d you spend the money? Makes it faster. When you’re typing up Toxic Custard… ... [More]
Well, it’s good to be home. After four weeks away, you start to miss the niceties of home – the mess in the spare room, the vomit-coloured carpet, the washers that need replacing. But our trip to America last month was well worth it. We got to see so many interesting things, and to discover ... [More]
The first thing you notice about Washington state is the abundance of green. Most of it is green, a contrast from Arizona, which is mostly dust. And whereas Arizona is dusty because it’s dry, Washington is green because it’s wet. Makes perfect sense. In fact, while in Arizona L’s uncle had told me “Washington’s really ... [More]
Well! Here we are in America. And in between falling into canyons and getting lost in the malls, I thought I’d rattle off a quick entry. The flight The Pacific Ocean is big. That’s probably why it takes so long to get from Australia to America. Something close to [ARGH] hours stuck in a 747 ... [More]
Our bags are packed We’re almost ready to go Yep, just time for a short sharp burst of Toxic Custard before we jet off to the USA. This could be the last TCWF in a few weeks; or I might get time to fire off a quick one during the month’s holiday. I don’t know. ... [More]
About a month ago the local council finally replaced our horrible grotty looking bottle and can recycle bags with nice new small bins. They came with a notice explaining what to put in them, and when to leave them out. Great – though most of our neighbours apparently haven’t got the energy to figure it ... [More]
I see the Sex Pistols are getting back together for another tour. I also caught something on the news about Prince Charles drumming. Or was that the same story? Is Charles joining the Sex Pistols? (Imagine Charles’ cultured royal voice…) "We are an anti-Christ, We are an anarchist, Don’t know what one wants, but one ... [More]
Our neighbour lost his electricity tonight. This shouldn’t have been totally unexpected – he had asked to get the account switched over to him after his flatmate moved out on the weekend, so it was only natural that they should cut the power off instead. So he rang them up, and after several millennia on ... [More]
Finding your favourite radio station is just a matter of working out which one has the most of the same "best of" albums as you. We’ve found ours, it appears to be GOLD-FM. Problem is, they keep playing the same damn songs. I’d swear they had a bunch of tapes, each with a different half-hour ... [More]
Less than three weeks now until we set out on holiday to visit relatives a.k.a. the Toxic Custard Tour Of America. Well, actually it’s two weeks boiling in Phoenix, and two weeks getting wet in Seattle. With a bunch of hours hanging around LAX changing planes.
Well, the Grand Prix was pretty impressive. Especially that crash in the first lap. The advertising puzzles me. Billboard cigarette advertising’s been banned for years in this state. But the rule appears to be "if it’s the Grand Prix, it’s okay." Hmmm. At least the government warning has to be proportionally increased with the size ... [More]
We all have had strange beliefs about how the world works. When I was a kid, I naturally used to dread the unwanted fart. Especially at school, while in class. But inevitably it would squeeze its way out. So I hit upon a plan to prevent the people around me from getting the whiff. Easy. ... [More]
I have a bit of a problem with my alarm clock. It doesn’t go off at the right time. It doesn’t seem to understand that in the morning, I want to be woken up ten to fifteen minutes later than when I said I wanted to be woken up the night before.