Melbourne stuff
Spot the difference between these two signs warning of window washers at work above the footpaths in the city… Exhibit A, Manchester Lane: Exhibit B, Collins Street: The second crew actually did have a woman in their number. I wonder if eventually all companies will phase out the former version in favour of the latter.
It seems to happen in degrees. Case one: At lunchtime yesterday I passed one guy in the street who I knew I knew, but couldn’t quite place. He knew me too; we exchanged grins. Thinking about it later, I’m pretty sure I’ve worked out where he’s from. Case two: Then on the way back I ... [More]
I’d completely forgotten about this until M reminded me of it last week. For some reason I didn’t blog about it at the time. Better late than never. A couple of years ago (actually, 2006, when the kids looked much younger than they do now) Flat Stanley (this one from friends in the USA) came ... [More]
The Saturday Age’s property section has a bit on pages 2-3 called Private Property, where they highlight various homes for sale, and note who is selling them, and their claim to fame, such that it is. Spot the odd one out from yesterday’s edition: Frankston car dealer and philanthropist Gary Lechte Maryann Jesudason and her ... [More]
In some cities, they argue about whether or not streets should have footpaths. Thankfully not so much here. Of course, for people to walk, they need somewhere to walk to. An article in the local paper a few weeks ago highlighted the low Walkscores for some suburbs against others: Heatherton was the lowest in the ... [More]
Footscray Park, half-an-hour ago…
Nice bit of product placement there, Priceline. (They’re not just in the same aisle, they’re virtually opposite each other.) If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth half doing: This advert for VoteMyPet.com.au (promotion for Advocate, a product of Bayer) was nailed to a tree in the park. You reckon they had permission from Kingston Council ... [More]
Act 1: He went to stand between the carriages for a smoke. (It was a Hitachi. Very retro.) It should be pointed out that this doesn’t stop the smoke smell drifting through the carriages, though obviously it’s better than doing it in the carriage. Apart from the fact that smoking anywhere is dangerous for your ... [More]
I assume Glen Eira council put this graph of forecast revenue from parking in their propaganda sheet newsletter because they’re pleased about it. I was going to point out that plenty of people park in stupid places, and I’d prefer they got stung with tickets if at all possible, so they can subsidise my council ... [More]
Almost hidden away in the bottom of The Nicholas Building is the Cathedral Arcade. I can’t say I frequent the quaint shops in there — I just use it as a shortcut — but that ceiling is quite amazing.
On my day off yesterday we sauntered down to Jaycar in Cheltenham for electronic gadget goodness. I noticed looking at the map beforehand that a bunch of the streets are named after newspapers: Argus St, Herald St, Age St, Times St. No Sun St that I could see. There are plenty of clusters of street ... [More]
On Thursday I noticed a Melbourne City Council City Of Melbourne worker wandering around Collins Street with a street sign under his arm, apparently puzzled as to where to put it up. Today I noticed it had gone up. In the wrong place. There is no way through to Howey Place there. If you follow ... [More]
The most efficient way of moving people is using their own two feet. Here’s the statistical measure: (Graph from Teufel, D, 1989, âDie Zukunft des Autoverkehrsâ (The future of car traffic), Umwelt und Prognose Institut, Heidelberg — and used more recently in PTUA’s Response to Australiaâs Future Tax System Consultation Paper. Here’s another representation of ... [More]
I was hoping to find a decent JPG copy of that modified John Brack Collins Street 5pm that was in The Age a few weeks ago — the one where everybody’s wearing iPods — but haven’t seen it online, and I’m not sure I can get a good scan from the paper copy I have. ... [More]
Along with the now-closed Technical Bookshop, McGills was a regular geek destination when I was growing up, somewhere I could browse and purchase material for the two geeky pursuits of mine: technology and transport. I held onto my 8-bit BBC Micro for longer than most people, and it was never the most popular platform, so ... [More]
I was saddened to see the damage to the Flinders Street Station stained-glass windows on the news, from the protests by Indian students today, but I think it probably shows just how angry they are about the crimes against them. I’d be angry too. Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said there was a perception that Indian ... [More]