Here’s something to ponder… If Melbourne didn’t have trams anymore, would every CBD street look like Lonsdale Street? (Seen on Twitter recently: “Lonsdale St is the scariest, least bike friendly St in CBD. Discuss.”) PS. Lunchtime: I’d just note that I deliberately chose Lonsdale Street over the (arguably more attractive) Exhibition or Queen Streets because ... [More]
Tag: Melbourne
This morning we took a helicopter ride. It was a gift from M for my birthday last year. Here’s the footage. The chopper was very loud; we had headsets to talk with, so you can’t hear most of our commentary. I’ll add a few captions, but no doubt you may spot stuff I didn’t. Unfortunately ... [More]
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Odd place for a zebra crossing
This is Little William Street, just east of William Street. It appears that two attempts have been made to establish a zebra crossing here, though I can’t figure out why. There’s little traffic, virtually no footpath, and no significant building entrances or other traffic generators to cross between. Perhaps the landscape here looked radically different ... [More]
I’m hearing that there are incredibly long queues for Brickvention today at Melbourne Town Hall. Shame… when we went in 2009, the queues weren’t too bad. Perhaps they’ve become a bigger event than they realise. (According to the web site 1000 members of the public attended in 2009, and 2700 in 2010. Clearly it’s growing.) ... [More]
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Lovely summer weather
Isaac and Jeremy have gone to Hawaii for Christmas with their mum and her family. The Hawaii weather forecast appears to say that today it’s 28 degrees (C) and mostly sunny. Given the weather today in Melbourne, I’m beginning to get quite envious. Oh, is that thunder I hear now? Even better! I know we’ve ... [More]
Love a bit of cultural satire. Via Nathan I found the article Stuff Melbourne white people like. Some funny stuff, and since I’m a bit light-on for writing my own blog content this week, here are some excerpts: The Monthly: Buying a subscription to The Monthly for the object of your affections is tantamount to ... [More]
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The Mail Exchange
I don’t know who or what “Whitehouse” is, but they’ve done a splendid job of restoring the Mail Exchange building — somehow I’ve never noticed it before, possibly because most of the time I walk down Bourke Street near Spencer Street, I’m facing the other way.
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Lonsdale House
Lonsdale House, pictured in early February. Check the tower. Isn’t that great? Here’s how the site looks now it’s gone. Okay, it wasn’t real art deco, it was just an art deco facade on a Victorian building. See comments But it does seem a shame that at least the facade couldn’t have been kept with ... [More]
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Through others’ eyes
If you think with the traffic, sprawl, crime and the crowding the city’s going down the toilet, just check this almost hopelessly optimistic, positive report on Melbourne from 2005 for the Johannesburg Star. After spending five days in Melbourne and the state of Victoria, it’s easy to see why Australia so appeals to South Africans ... [More]
The Age: Melbourne trains fail world ‘metro’ test Based on this study: PTUA: Melbourne Metro by name, but not by nature, which looks at the biggest thirty cities in the developed world by population, and which of them have a metro — that is, a high capacity, high frequency (every 10 minutes all day, every ... [More]
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The storm
It just took almost two and a half hours to drive from Glen Huntly to Footscray. Here’s why. Glen Huntly. The hail was bouncing off the cars. …and the gutters quickly flooded… …but that was nothing to Caulfield North… …and St Kilda Road. Kingsway wasn’t pretty — much under water, traffic lights out, and lots ... [More]