With all the talk of falling public transport patronage (some estimates have suggested it’s down 90%) and persistent (but unconfirmed) rumours of reduction of services to weekend levels, it’s worth remembering that capacity is only one aspect of service levels. Normally, trains trams and buses are often packed, but with patronage currently so low, passengers ... [More]
One of the effects of the COVID-19 crisis (which I wrote about in general terms yesterday) is a steep fall in public transport usage. This is partially people avoiding the network and switching to other modes such as cycling and driving, but mostly it’s people avoiding travelling in the first place. (City Mapper data suggests ... [More]
I said it last week, but this whole situation is surreal. At this point, there are 3,048 confirmed cases of COVID-19 around Australia. In the past week or two, the number has roughly doubled every 3-4 days. There’s a slight bit of relief for those of us in Victoria – the growth here is a ... [More]
COVID-19 is developing very fast, and really is quite unlike anything in living memory. I feel like Australia is still at the early stages, and already the impacts are huge. The ban on events of more than 500 people from Monday is unprecedented, and shopping for scarce supermarket items is a little bit surreal. I’m ... [More]
Everybody gets floaters to some extent, apparently. Little artefacts, interference in your eyesight. Floating blobs. In the last couple of months I’ve been getting more of them than before, particularly in bright light. Official advice says this is common in people as they get older, and is likely to be either the vitreous humour slightly ... [More]
A short break from posting my holiday blogs… From today, smoking bans have been extended to include the entrances to most government buildings, as well as outdoor dining areas. This is all good. We’re way behind the other states on this. It’s about time non-smokers, who make up the vast majority of the population, had ... [More]
FebFast is over I think FebFast has brought a change in attitude from me. I’m going to continue to take in healthier snacks with me to munch on at work — to my surprise, I don’t actually mind the taste of raw carrots, and it’s been easier to Just Say No to biscuits than I ... [More]
First, an update: FebFast is going well. A couple of minor transgressions, but overall given I’ve normally got a bit of a sweet tooth, I think I’m doing well avoiding junk food. Certainly no chips or chocolate have passed my lips since the start of the month, but perhaps more remarkably, no biscuits (despite the ... [More]
Part two of my three part plan for weight loss… (Part 1 is diet via FebFast) I’ve never been one for organised sport, but I’ve had a few failed attempts at an exercise regime over the years. In the late 90s, I would regularly go for a short morning run, but I kind of fell ... [More]
I’m doing FebFast – no junk food for a month!
As time goes on, I learn more about the cluster headaches that hit me from time to time. They’re different for each person, obviously, but here’s what I know this time around, from my experiences and from my ongoing Googling research — and I must say, the online resources available have been steadily improving. The ... [More]
I’m a physical wreck this weekend, from head to foot. Some new shoes are fine for me, but the ones I wore on Thursday resulted in three blisters: one on each heel, and another on one of my toes. I’m sure the shoes will settle down after a couple of wears, but in the mean ... [More]
Those Swiss Army knife people certainly know how to make knives. Very sharp knives. While using one of their kitchen knives earlier in the week, I carelessly took a small chunk out of my thumb. Be warned: slightly gory picture ahead.
The term blog is a shortening of web log… well, this blog post is a log for primarily my own purposes, though it may be of interest to others. Seems the cluster headaches are back this morning. They often return at the change of season, but I haven’t had them since about two years ago. ... [More]
From time to time some of my blog posts are about personal stuff, rather than the wider world. This is one of those posts. Yesterday was a day of excisions. I had many thousands of hairs excised from my head at the barber. Easy. And I got the lump taken out of my leg. You ... [More]
I’ve got a small lump on my thigh. Not painful at all. Probably harmless, the GP said, but he wrote me a referral to get it removed. He asked if I private health insurance. Nope. I gave it up several years ago. It cost me thousands each year (and increasing) and rarely paid out anything ... [More]