Unbelievable. After less than a year, and less than a-dozen uses, the Shelta umbrella I bought last May has already broken. It’s not totally unusable, but structural integrity has been severely compromised. I’ll certainly be chasing up the 12 months warranty as soon as I can find the receipt, but in the mean time, what ... [More]
I was passing Bentleigh RSL in early March when I noticed a new sculpture being installed out the front. (The bloke installing looks a tad grumpy…) Nearby on a truck were some more of the figures, ready for installation. The completed sculpture nicely captures representations of all the services. They went with songs to the ... [More]
Transport minister Terry Mulder: “We’d like to think we’ll get to a stage down the line whereby you can throw the timetable away, and we run ten minute frequencies. I think that’s what the community are wanting.” Spot on Terry. I’ve already thrown my timetable away. (Nah, I haven’t really.) Frequent services, 7 days-a-week The ... [More]
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Idiot of the day
About an hour ago at Highett station: the train to Frankston had just left, and a city-bound train was approaching. This idiot cyclist rode across in front of the city-bound train. The train driver tooted his horn loud and long. The cyclist entered the station, and appeared to want to catch the train — I’d ... [More]
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Funny mining spoof video
Very funny mining video spoof… …so cutting that when Mumbrella re-posted it, they got legal threats from coal company Xstrata. They demand that Mumbrella takes the video off Youtube, to which Mumbrella points out: Your note suggests you may misunderstand who has published the video to which you refer. Your demand that the video is ... [More]
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Pic: Metro afro
Very impressive afro spotted yesterday: …whereas lots were heading to Supanova last weekend (I really wish I’d got a snap of the Star Wars stormtrooper spotted at Southern Cross): (Yeah it’s gonna be one of those weeks when I blog about nothing but PT, isn’t it…)
So, let’s check back in at Mckinnon station, where the presence of only a single Myki reader on the main platform results in long queues every evening peak hour, as increasing numbers of Myki users wait to touch-off. There’s plenty of space to put in additional Myki readers. But it still hasn’t happened yet, despite ... [More]
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Possible 2021 Metro timetables
They really don’t like talking about this stuff, but if you’ve been wondering what your future train service might look like, check this: (View it bigger) This map is based on an appendix tucked-away in the Rowville rail study documents, and shows a proposed operating plan once Regional Rail Link and a handful of other ... [More]
Tony Hancock’s legendary line in The Blood Donor was “A pint? That’s very nearly an armful!” (I really should find the DVD somewhere and watch it again.) I referenced it the other day after going to the blood bank, and Ian noted that Tony Hancock was from Ian’s home town of Birmingham, and kindly snapped ... [More]
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Hazy shade of autumn
On a recent morning, not unlike today. Bourke Street Little Collins Street
A new Myki-related problem has emerged — during evening peak, crowds heading into Flinders Street Station’s Elizabeth Street entrance back up onto the road. This video shows it (though I’m sure I’ve seen worse crowds on occasions) It’s not entirely down to Myki — it’s a combination of surging passenger numbers, space limitations at that ... [More]
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How many catch V/Line in peak hour?
Last night on the TV news they seemed to be struggling for an accurate figure of how many were affected by the closure of the Geelong line. One said “hundreds”, another said “up to a thousand”. Figures on V/Line’s web site, which summarise the number of people on each train so you can plan your ... [More]
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Pest control
This blog post is mostly for my own purposes, to mark when I bug-bombed the house, which I have done over the weekend. I last did it about 5 years ago, and it seemed to be relatively effective… for a while. But over this past summer, there seems to have been about a cockroach per ... [More]
The mural at Patterson station that I noted some time ago has now been completed and officially opened. It includes a rather neat mosaic version of the Metro logo: (zoom) More faces contributed by (mostly) local community groups and schools have been added. Note Bender from Futurama in there. (zoom) Apparently they got sponsorship from ... [More]
The Chesty Bond singlet, something of an iconic Australian brand, used to be made in Australia, but is now made in China. I find that a little sad, but I suppose it’s a sign of the times. I seem to recall hearing on the news the other week that manufacturing as a percentage of Australia’s ... [More]
(Little William Street)