Yesterday morning. The crowd stood there, in front of the old Treasury building, holding their banners aloft. “Viva the revolution!” the banners proclaimed. I looked closer. Nobody was moving. No shouting. No cops. Just a lone security guard. A boom mic loomed above them. A car was in the middle of the crowd. A shout: ... [More]
Category: Melbourne
Melbourne stuff
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At the park
On Sunday I took the kids for a walk to the park. When we got there, there were the white families, an African family, an orthodox Jewish family, one or two Asian families and a kid in a wheelchair. It was like somebody had gathered people for a photo promoting community diversity. And we all ... [More]
I was told there was a good article in this week’s Big Issue. So I went looking for it this morning on the way to work. Normally I pass at least two sellers on Collins Street, plus another at the Parliament station exit. Do you think I saw any of them today? Nope, not a ... [More]
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Have you ever seen?
I was watching an episode of the West Wing last night where one of the characters sees the body of a homeless man. And I recalled something I saw years ago. I was on a train going to work out in Burwood, standing by the door. Mine was the next stop. There was an announcement ... [More]
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Seconds from death!
Some people really manage to re-define “bloody idiot”. As we were walking on Saturday afternoon, a tray truck with those stupidly big tyres came around the corner and along the opposite side of the road. He must have taken the corner too fast (from a standing start mind you), and was skidding all over the ... [More]
A couple of weeks ago we were having dinner on a Saturday night in Bourke Street. Something was wrong, and we remarked as such: it was about 7pm and Gaslight Music wasn’t open. For years, Gaslight has been a haven in the eastern end of the city, particularly when waiting to meet someone on a ... [More]
Oh. Just found this rather similar picture from 1997 to compare to:
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Hot bodies
A mass of bodies. Up close. Pushing together. We move as one. Moving faster… faster… don’t stop, we’re almost there… Man this train is crowded. Update 9pm: Rather too prophetic. An incident at South Yarra concerning a “trespasser” at about 5pm delayed a whole bunch of trains by 20+ minutes, resulting in more sardine-like conditions. ... [More]
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Cheap power for all!
The Essential Services Commission draft decision on power prices wants price cuts to electricity. Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Provide more concessions to those on low incomes, sure, but across the board price cuts? How is that meant to encourage people to use less power? Remember, the bulk ... [More]
The new Siemens train rolls through the burbs, resplendent in the latest train company colours. A middle-aged man chats into his mobile phone about planning permission for a four story storey monolith in a residential area of one storey homes, with the voice of experience and reason, rather than that of the outraged NIMBY. He’s ... [More]
Flinders Street Station, lunchtime. (An angle that you don’t normally see in photos.)
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The morning it all went right
Dropped the kids at their place of business, then got to the station, had a chat with the station host. The train was on time, not too crowded, and ran express where it was supposed to. An old uni buddy got on at Caulfield and we had a catch-up chat. He described an interesting theory ... [More]
If you didn’t see it on the news, here are some images from today’s funeral of a tram stop.
The Bureau of Meteorology installed a multi-gazillion dollar supercomputer a year or two back, with the aim of improving the accuracy of weather forecasts. How accurate are they? Well over about a week, I compared forecasts (including up to a week ahead of the day) against the actual weather reported the next day. I was ... [More]
(Farnsworth Avenue, Footscray, last Sunday morning)
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Tipping and the draft
I’m at home today, having a day off to get some errands done. Like picking up my new computer. And tidying the desk so it can be set up. Only 4 in the tipping over the weekend. Perhaps my problem is that my tipping method (with which I won one competition, and came equal first ... [More]