Happy New Year. Congratulations for surviving 2016! This blog post attempts to wrap up a few loose ends for the new year. Here’s a short video of the Footscray New Years Eve 9:30pm (official!) fireworks. Footscray fireworks (official)Happy New Year everyone! đđ pic.twitter.com/L0WkAqArhT — Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) December 31, 2016 2016 was a bit of ... [More]
Category: Toxic Custard newsletter
Appears in the weekly Toxic Custard newsletter
My native garden attracts native birds. These are our latest residents, visiting for Christmas: rainbow lorikeets. Very colourful; they seem to be enjoying the food available at the moment. Christmas is almost over at our house. Due to travel commitments, the various arms of the family had their gatherings over the last two Sundays. As ... [More]
Here’s another in my series of old photos from ten years ago: December 2006. On the 9th, there was a lot of smoke over Melbourne from a large number of bushfires around the state. Here’s a view (not snapped by me, I should add — I was driving) of Melbourne CBD, taken from the Bolte ... [More]
The rebuilt Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh stations opened in August. Following this, the car parks all opened in November. But what about the bike cages? The answer is that they’re still not open. “Parkiteer” Bike cages around the rail network have proved very popular. Some stations have multiple cages. It was a smart move to ... [More]
I was invited by the Level Crossing Removal Authority to look around the Bayswater station grade separation project. This is removing two crossings, either side of the station: Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road. They’re in the final stages of the major works period, with a rail shut down of 37 days almost over, the line ... [More]
Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know I see a lot of motorists blocking intersections, including pedestrian crossings. Here’s road regulation 128: Entering blocked intersections A driver must not enter an intersection if the driver cannot drive through the intersection because the intersection, or a road beyond the intersection, is blocked. Penalty: ... [More]
The Night Network trial, in particular running the trains all night on weekends, isn’t perfect, but has solved a lot of problems. No “last train” that revellers have to rush for No long wait until dawn if you miss the last train (this was said to be an issue contributing to CBD night time violence) ... [More]
Another in my series of photos from ten years ago. I found quite a few this month, and also found one from October 2006 which had been missed, and since added to that post. The Bentleigh Festival. Obviously this spot looks quite different now with the level crossing gone. PT spotters will also notice the ... [More]
A couple of years ago I got a ceiling fan fitted in the kitchen. The electrician was pleasant, competent, and did a good job. He said he’d send me an invoice. He never did. A couple of months later I emailed him and asked him to send it. He acknowledged the email and said he’d ... [More]
Well, this is fascinating to watch. I knew it could happen, but didn’t honestly think it would. Breaking news! We have nothing to say! pic.twitter.com/DrQARJN7eI — Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) November 9, 2016 Nothing will change overnight. The inauguration isn’t until January, but even then… we’ll see how fast he moves after that. I hope his ... [More]
Disclaimer: this post isn’t perhaps as polished as I’d like, but it’s time to get it posted. I love nostalgia. How many blog posts have I written that fondly look back? 78, apparently. But I’m acutely aware that rose-coloured glasses distort our view of the past. And while we might like to visit the past, ... [More]
Real-time information became available on Metro trains on Thursday. Can we say hallelujah! Of course it’s been on stations for years, via Passenger Information Displays (known in the biz as PIDs) and the green buttons providing audio. But now departure data can be seen in the PTV app (and others) and PTV Next 5 web ... [More]
Another in my series of photos from ten years ago. Early October ’06 was our holiday to Hobart. I haven’t been back since, unfortunately, so I have no idea how much has changed and how much hasn’t. I’m guessing Salamanca Market hasn’t changed too much. Lock him up and throw away the key. Hobart’s General ... [More]
I’ve been really busy this week, and haven’t had time to prepare another blog post, so here’s some borrowed content for you. This is from a good friend. She works for a company I won’t name, and is in a position where she does a bit of hiring — or at least, filtering through the ... [More]
As already noted, it’s council voting time. In some council areas, including here in Glen Eira, council candidates aren’t overtly aligned with political parties. But a number of candidates have affiliations. You just have to look for clues. Look for photos of candidates with state or federal MPs, ministers and leaders, particularly at events not ... [More]
Every so often I’ll splash out on a new toy for myself. Last year it was a new camera. The year before was a hifi. The year before (just over two years ago in fact) that was an iPad Mini. Those paying attention will know that I had considered adding a multi-room music setup to ... [More]