Apologies for this very much locally focused (and possibly over-long) blog post: The main bus route through Bentleigh (both the suburb and the highly marginal state seat), the east-west 703 along Centre Road, is getting a slight upgrade. It doesn’t seem to have been announced yet, but eagle-eyed timetable watcher Craig Halsall spotted it: on ... [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]
Sometimes travelling by train at night you’ll see PSOs out on the platforms and station concourses. Sometimes they’re not in sight… they might be in their pod, or elsewhere. Given the high-profile rollout of PSOs onto every station a signature policy of the 2010-2014 Ballieu Coalition government, carried over by the Andrews Labor government, you’d ... [More]
I’ve been listening to a lot of transport-related podcasts recently. Almost all of them are from outside Australia. (Here is a list of some from November 2015; I mean to post another list at some stage soon.) Every time I listen to one of the overseas podcasts, I ponder what someone from Melbourne would say ... [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]
Years ago I decided I wanted to donate at least 0.7% of my income towards charity. Over the weekend I was doing my tax, and calculated it: for 2015-16 it’s 1.32%. Cool. About half the annual total is Oxfam. Other regulars include Greenpeace, The Salvos (though I mean to check their latest position on homosexuality, ... [More]
One of the things you start noticing a lot more when you have two tertiary-level film and television students in the house is aspect ratio. Local council elections are in October, and posters have started going up for candidates. In some wards you see full-sized billboards, but in ours — so far — the most ... [More]
24-hour time is common in Europe, and in the airline industry, and the military. Internally, many industries use 24-hour time, but publicly 12-hour time is dominant in Australia. I have seen 24-hour time used at cafes. Perhaps they were run by Europeans; perhaps it was an attempt to seem more European. V/Line uses 24-hour time ... [More]
Yesterday’s horrific accident at Surrey Hills is a reminder of the many benefits of level crossing removal (though that one is not on the list). With our local crossing at Bentleigh gone, it’s rather wonderful that the angst of further accidents is gone, and crowds no longer get stuck at the railway gates every second ... [More]
Another in my series of ten year old photos… September 2006. Most of my photos this month were snapped with my phone camera of the time, the Nokia 6230i. Not bad for 2006, but a bit grainy by today’s standards. Richmond station, before we got the all-over platform cover. Other than that in some ways ... [More]