We were trying to escape the heat, which really wasn’t successful — apart from right next to the water, it was as warm by the beach as it was at home. (For you out of towners, it reached about 40 degrees yesterday, with a low of 24 overnight.) But we did meet this critter. Very ... [More]
Happy new year. This was the view last night from Footscray, looking along the Maribyrnong towards the City. By the time they’d finished, there was something of a smoke haze. (From where we were, we couldn’t see the spire fire.) I was curious how many people turn out to watch fireworks for New Year’s Eve ... [More]
One side of my fridge has my local train and bus timetables on it. It’s very handy, and pretty easy to do. Method one (quicker for trains, a little haphazard for buses and trams) 1. Go to www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au. 2. In the right hand side Station / Stop search, type the name of your station (or ... [More]
Look! It’s Tintin on a bus… And here’s Tintin on a tram (and a tram in Tintin)… So anyway, we went to the Tintin movie yesterday — in 2D, as 3D doesn’t work on me. I enjoyed it a lot. They did a good job of recreating the look of Herge, and there were plenty ... [More]
The old FBT company car rules resulted in some quite ridiculous outcomes. In fact they still do, because apparently they still apply for existing leases. Basically the rules meant that the further you drive, the less tax you pay. Which means people were strongly encouraged to drive long distances to save money — often driving ... [More]
Here’s a pic of some fools taking a shopping trolley on the escalator at Highpoint, where Marita and I managed to do a surgical strike for last-minute presents, and be back on the tram to her place within 30 minutes, before it got stupidly busy this morning. Here’s some wrapping paper I bought last week… ... [More]
Myer will close stores in Victoria and New South Wales and shrink surviving stores in response to the two-speed economy and online shopping. — Myer to close or shrink stores as retail malaise bites Remembering that Myer Melbourne has already shrunk in size by about half, this isn’t a huge surprise. Sounds like some of ... [More]
Apparently there were some delays in getting these decorations up, but now they’re in place, I do think they look rather splendid, don’t you? (Click here to view bigger) Anybody know if this lights up at night? Myki news In today’s news, the Herald Sun reports that from January, Myki cards are to be reduced ... [More]
Back in 1995, I wrote as part of my History Of The World: 1964 Beatlemania sweeps the world. Shortly afterwards, electronics companies devise a fifty year plan to get people to buy all their favourite music many times over, by introducing new recorded music technology every decade. This works until the 1990s, when, due to ... [More]
This is Myki’s “headless mode”. It’s the Myki driver console, but temporarily shifted into a spot out of the way, while tram and bus drivers (in Melbourne) continue to use the Metcard consoles instead. (You can just see the old console at the top of the picture.) It means drivers currently have no interaction with ... [More]
The barber the other day was having a rant about crime (as well as a number of other issues), and claimed that white-collar criminals almost always get caught (specifically, he reckoned they get caught 95% of the time), but muggers and others who commit crimes against the person almost never get caught (he reckoned 95% ... [More]
Music industry legend Molly Meldrum has undergone surgery overnight to relieve swelling on his brain after he fell from the roof while putting up Christmas decorations at his Richmond home. — Bedside vigil as Meldrum fights for life I reckon for most Australian Gen-Xers with an interest in music, Molly Meldrum is just someone who’s ... [More]
Thanks to the miracle of advertising, we have a bank on a tram… …a tram on a bank… …and a bus stop on a bus stop. If you’re curious, the bus stop picture is portraying the 811/812 route on “Main Street”. Unfortunately the bus stop in the picture doesn’t appear to have another advert with ... [More]
Do you remember the pics of the brand new Maribyrnong playground from a couple of weeks ago, showing severe drainage problems? On Saturday night there was heavy rain in the area, but evidently the City of Maribyrnong’s drainage experts have been busy, because on Sunday morning the park was almost dry — and certainly not ... [More]
I’ve shopped at Minotaur Books for decades. I first found it in the early 80s when it was at the top end of Swanston Street. Then it moved to a multi-level shop in Bourke Street. Then to its current home in Elizabeth Street. It’s always had way more cool stuff than I could afford to ... [More]
Last week the first of the new Swanston Street tram superstops opened. On Monday I went down at lunchtime to have a look, and came across Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, City of Melbourne planner Rob Adams, and Yarra Trams’ Michel Masson all down there having a look, and talking to the media about it. Robert ... [More]