The CBD (to be precise, the Hoddle Grid) has just about every business imagineable, except one. Petrol stations. At least, as far as I can tell from searches of Yellow Pages and Google Maps, though the latter incorrectly identified one at 114 Flinders Street. To fill up a car, you have to go to Victoria ... [More]
Speaking of City Loop safety issues, is this what’s keeping the signalling system working? Bits of sticky tape and wire? Hopefully this is just something temporary. (Pic snapped this morning thanks to a stop-start trip from Richmond to Flinders Street)
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In the good old days
One of the persistent myths is that in the “good old days”, before trains and trams had locked doors, nobody ever fell out. When the old VR ran the suburban network trains, and stations were manned and had barrier gates, trains had a lot of doors and it was never a problem. Nobody fell out ... [More]
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Qantas: nasty or nice?
Is it just me that thinks this Qantas ad looks a little like the Q bloke is being a meanie, hiding the teddy bears from the kids?
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Nine carriage trains – could they work?
Today’s Herald Sun raises an issue that has been pondered for some time: 9 carriage trains to relieve overcrowding. This would seem like a good opportunity to dig out my Bargearse remake video. The reasoning behind adding carriages is that it’s close to becoming impractical to add more trains in peak onto the busiest lines, ... [More]
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In the background
You’d always hope that if your kid was in the background on the news, he’d behave himself… and preferably didn’t pick his nose and then eat it. (Channel 10 news, 17/9/2011)
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The gamble of fixed interest rates
In October 2007 I switched to a fixed interest rate of 7.85% for five years. It turned out to be a terrible punt. The Global Financial Crisis hit the following year, with interest rates dipping to record lows. I shudder to think how much money I might have saved if at that point I’d locked ... [More]
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Who’s meant to give way?
The law says that motorists turning into a street must give way to pedestrians crossing that street. The law also says that motorists turning in or out of a private property (such as a carpark) must give way to pedestrians. So why does the signage always imply it’s the pedestrian that should be the one ... [More]
This billboard is still on display up high above Flinders Street, opposite the station, roughly across from the centre entrance*. It seems to refer to the 20% emissions reduction by 2020 pledged last year by Labor, and matched by the Coalition, though some say there are indications the Coalition will drop the target. Perhaps it’s ... [More]
Church Street doesn’t have a church in it any more. Nearby Synagogue Lane doesn’t have a synagogue in it anymore. I got curious: How come only one of them got to keep its name? Despite what appears to be a sign that is not particularly ancient, evidently the name change was some time ago — ... [More]
9/11. Is there any other one-off event that is known throughout the western world by its date? Of course, if it had happened anywhere else, it would have been called 11/9. But it didn’t happen anywhere else. Only the USA is big, brave, brash, bold and independent enough that it would buck the trend and ... [More]
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Cluster headaches – back for spring
Oh joy. My cluster headaches are back for spring. In fact they returned on the 1st of September, which Australians consider to be the first day of spring. Boom, just like that. (Previous posts. Doesn’t everybody use blog posts to track their personal health history? I know I do.) To recap Cluster headaches are, as ... [More]
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“Oh no! Maybe the Genius Bar can fix it.”
Picture from Channel 7’s Sunday Night story about the Suruwaha tribe of Brazil. Anybody got any better caption ideas?
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Down down, smoking is down
Excellent. Smoking rates are continuing to drop, from 21.2% in 1998 down to 15.3% now. So, how about the next step, government? Now that smoking is almost entirely banned indoors, what about extending smoking bans to include all undercover areas — I’m thinking particularly of under shop awnings. (If I ran the world, I’d be ... [More]
I wonder if accepting these ads (seen on the walls of retail buildings around Bentleigh) the owners are killing the goose that laid the golden egg? “Brand new items. Huge retail markups and pushy salespeople not included.” “Buy new. Buy eBay. Bye retail.”
I’ve already posted about the mess that may ensue if once Myki is fully rolled-out, there is no option of a single-use ticket. Today it’s been confirmed flagged as probable that some 50 million of the unused Short Term Tickets will be pulped, and also that almost 500 vending machines originally intended for trams are ... [More]