Metro has been trying modified carriage layouts on the trains. Some Comeng trains have had seats removed near the doorways, and now a Siemens train has shown up with a similar treatment. My immediate reaction (from a quick ride a few minutes ago)… The pros: the larger doorway area should help speed up loading and ... [More]
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Steps to fitness
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]
Victoria’s first big 21st century rail megaproject is almost complete. Regional Rail Link was started and mostly funded by Labor (State and Federal, in part as stimulus money during the Global Financial Crisis), and largely built under the State Coalition. Construction itself is now complete, with driver training and other preparatory work happening ahead of ... [More]
In my house, we’re re-watching The West Wing, after I bought the box set cheap last year as a present to myself. It’s just as brilliant as it ever was, and once again leaves you wishing that Barlet actually ran the White House… or if he wasn’t in the White House, then maybe in The ... [More]
I mentioned the other day that it’s coming up on ten years since I bought my house in Bentleigh (hence the flurry of maintenance). In that time, the prices here have gone through the figurative roof. (Source: RealEstateView) I didn’t think to save the data at the time, but this document tracks median house prices ... [More]
The previously secret East West Link “side letter”, offering compensation even if the contract was deemed invalid, seems to underscore just how desperate the State Coalition was to build the road — despite it being a project that: is highly controversial is more expensive than just about anything previously built in Victoria has a Benefit ... [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!
Happy Australia Day! Now I’m going to do the Australian thing and talk about real estate. Later this year it will be ten years since I moved into this house. It’s got me pondering maintenance, repairs and a little bit of renovation. It started when I got my stepfather, who knows more about this kind ... [More]
As far as I can see, since the January zone changes, there is now no monetary benefit to touching-off your Myki for trips in zone 1, or zone 1+2. This is because the Myki Money Default fare (the fare it assumes you should be charged if you touched-on, but never touched-off) is normally the same ... [More]
I don’t drive as much as many people (my average kilometres per year figure is about half the national average), but here are some recent random observations… Seat belts. Why do some people wait for a few hundred metres before they put on their seatbelts? Do they think they’re somehow immune from accidents for the ... [More]
Some of the arguments in favour of the Free Tram Zone seem very simplistic. Shaun Carney built a whole opinion piece around this in the Herald Sun on Thursday: basically, it doesn’t matter if it’s poorly thought out, sucks away resources, and doesn’t get people out of cars — if it’s cheap or free, it ... [More]