Is the fact that your car is not in your driveway an advertisement to potential burglars that you’re not home?

A lot of people drive every day. So if the car isn’t there, it may be a good sign that nobody’s there. One exception might be in a one-car family where there are often people home even though the car’s gone.

I have a driveway, and a car to go in it, but don’t drive every day. So maybe leaving the car parked there while I’m out is a sign that somebody is home, even if really there isn’t.

For blocks of flats, you often can’t tell which car space goes with which flat. For some reason it seems to me that most landlords come up with some semi-random way of allocating spots to flats, often with the flat number bearing no relation to the spot number.

Some properties, particularly those built pre-car, don’t have a driveway at all. So the presence of a car can’t be used as an indicator that the house is empty.

(Some properties built pre-car have been modified not only to include driveways, but also to include car ports. I reckon car ports almost always look crap bolted onto a heritage house.)

Car insurance premiums are reduced if the car is parked off the street. Maybe home insurance premiums should be reduced if it isn’t… or if you don’t drive most days.

It would seem that big chunky cars are a symbol of luxury in automative design. Like that new big chunky Chrysler 300C that they keep advertising on SBS on Saturday nights — a snip at $54K for the base model — it might just beat the luxury car tax.

It looks like a big fat capitalist’s car. There’s been one hanging about in my street recently each weekend, driven by a big fat real estate agent.

Something about it, especially the design of the big fat front, says “Feck you, little people, I’m from the big end of town”, and suggests no mercy for any pedestrians it might hit. (So far there’s no rating for it on How Safe Is Your Car*).

It also has the look of totally rejecting any hint of aerodynamics. “I don’t care if crude oil’s breaking record prices, I’m going to burn it like there’s no tomorrow.” I couldn’t actually find any fuel consumption figures on the Chrysler web site… which seems to suggest economy is not a selling feature. But the Green Vehicle Guide says it’s around 11-14 litres per kilometre 11-14 litres per 100 kilometres, or about 3 times a Toyota Prius, though no worse than a Ford Territory. And the diesel variants fare better.

I noticed on the news the other night it showed Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan driving up to Parliament House in a Prius. I wonder if he really believes in fighting climate change, or if it’s just for show.

*I can never remember if it’s My or Your. The TAC really should have also registered howsafeismycar as well.

It apparently happened about 8:30am overnight, but was only noticed at 8:30am.

A 20 year old man decided to do a bit of “train surfing”.

He touched the wires. Zap. Dead.

By the time I went through at about 9:30, they were cleaning up the scene. Not that you could see anything; bystanders were kept well away.

What a stupid way to die.

Don’t do it, kids.

Complete strangers say odd things to me sometimes. And it’s not just asking for directions.

Middle-aged tipsy lady on the way to the football one Friday night: It’s that man off the TV!
Me: [non-committal]
Lady: Yes, you are… who are you… the opposition health spokesman or something?
Me: Umm no, I’m a public transport advocate.
Lady: That’s it! Well you come across very well.
Me: Thanks.

Lady behind the desk at a clinic where I’d taken my dad: What did you think of the budget?
Me: [confused look]
Lady: I know who you are.

Cop standing next to me on the (packed) train last Friday night, as heaps of people got out at Glenhuntly, to another cop nearby: This might be the end of the zone.
Me: It’s because this is the last carriage, and the exit is back there.
Cop: [Looking over at me] Ah… well you’d know, wouldn’t you.
Me: Uhhh… sometimes.
Cop: How is the public transport tonight?
Me: Crowded! The last train was cancelled.

Elderly lady in Big W: Do you work here?
Me: No.

(Related: Recognition)

It’s that one day of the year… when the 7:30 Report isn’t on at 7:30.

Other than that, today…

I’m tired.

Both kids were home sick today, coughing their guts up. Wears you out. (Maybe I’m not feeling 100% myself.)

Bank account almost drained for the month.

My eldest son Isaac officially became a teenager.

I goofed by (yet again) ordering some of his presents by mail order, and they’re running late. Sigh. I’ve got to stop doing that (though I know he’ll like them when they arrive).

On the bright side, I’ve been scanning in old photos from the 70s and 80s. A couple of them are quite prophetic. (And don’t I look cute!)

I also found proof I’ve always been a Cats fan.

Thanks to my mum for holding onto them all these years, and digging them out.

You wouldn’t read my blog for any kind of comprehensive analysis of course, but here are my initial impressions:

Means tested baby bonus for incomes over $150K; extra tax on cars more than $57K? Excellent! Dunno why some are complaining about hitting the rich. The rich can afford it. Welfare should be reserved for those who are struggling.

I get a tax cut. I didn’t really need it, but naturally, I’m not complaining.

Lots of money for roads. A pittance for PT… but it’s not for actual construction, only studies. Marginally better than nothing (which is what the Coalition did for PT), but FELLAS, have you noticed petrol and oil prices recently? It ain’t getting any better, neither are transport emissions, and building more roads doesn’t help. They shouldn’t have promised them in the first place, but unfortunately they are still under the delusion that road expansion helps traffic congestion.

Some cutting back on fringe benefits lurks, which is good, but they haven’t yet pulled back on company car FBT, which costs $1.5 billion a year while encouraging more driving. Maybe that’ll come out in the tax review. Some other stuff towards fighting climate change, but nowhere near enough, and the roads spending doesn’t help. More funding for health and education is good.

Overall, not outstanding, not terrible. Could do better.

I’d generally consider myself a patient man, but one of the things that makes me cranky is customer service that doesn’t live up to expectations.

I don’t expect shopkeepers to grovel to me or anything, but I do expect them to at least attempt to make my shopping experience as smooth as possible — or if they can’t do that, then at least recognise that things aren’t going as well as they should be.

My sister keeps recommending a particular local greengrocer, so I went there last night after getting off the train. It was on my way, and I was in a hurry. I wanted spinach leaves (about the only “greens” the kids will eat without question) and a bag of carrots.

What I expected: To be able to find what I wanted quickly and easily.
What I got: No problems, found them easily.

Being after 5pm, it probably wasn’t their peak time. Of the four registers, only one was in use.

What I expected: If a queue developed and more staff were available, they’d open another register.
What I got: A customer with a fair amount of stuff was in front of me, and the lady was moving slowly through it, continually querying the price (”Was this from inside, or outside?”) Other staff members were standing around doing nothing. Maybe they were hanging out for home time. Another customer behind me asked if they could open another register. Grudgingly, it seemed, they did.

I should have switched queues, of course. But others jumped over before me, and soon there was another customer buying a fair bit of stuff who I’d have to wait behind, so I stayed put. The lady had finished tallying up the items for the guy in front of me, and he gave her his card. He had to tell her twice that he wanted it on Credit. She wrestled with the card machine, and it spluttered forth a tangled receipt. She called to someone else to see if it was all right, and the receipt was taken for examination.

What I expected: While we waited, that either she or another staff member would offer to ring up my items on another till, such as the one right next to her.
What I got: I stood there. She stood there. The other customer stood there. After half a minute I asked if she could use the other till so I could pay. A light went on, and she realised that would be a good idea, and she did so.

My items came to $2.80. I handed over a $5 note. She scrabbled around in the till, and, finding no bigger coins, starting counting out 20 cent coins.

What I expected: Some kind of acknowledgement that she was weighing me up with my bodyweight in silver. Seriously, the people in most other shops that I’ve encountered always apologise if they’re giving you a lot of coins.
What I got: 11 x 20 cent coins to stuff into my pocket. No acknowledgement.

And I was on my way.

Was it bad service? Perhaps more like mediocre service. None of it seemed malicious, but it was neglectful enough to ensure that given the choice I’ll go to one of the other local greengrocers in future.

Which is a shame. None of this is rocket science. It just takes a little vigilance to see when there’s a problem, and fix it if possible — rather than having it pointed out to you by your customers.

My street is a leafy side-street, well away from industrial land. We see the supermarket trucks rolling through our suburb, but other than that, few big freight vehicles are seen. In fact a bigger volume of freight probably goes through Bentleigh on the steel trains from Hastings than on trucks on the streets.

Not so for residents of the western suburbs, particularly the inner-west. Even in streets that are residential (and have always been so), the juggernauts go through constantly.

So it’s easy to understand why the Eddington report’s Truck Action Plan was greeted with acclaim. It says they’ll get trucks off residential streets. Sounds great, doesn’t it.

Well, it is, and it isn’t. The off-ramp on the Westgate to give trucks access into the port without going down Francis Street, for instance, sounds extremely logical. Shame an on-ramp can’t be provided too, but evidently the gradients would be too steep.

But another part of the plan involves road widening along Ashley Street and Ballarat Road, and flagging that as a truck route in and out of the port.

Some of Ashley Street is industrial, and you can see along there that VicRoads have obviously been planning this for a while. Much of the street has plenty of space for widening.

But Ballarat Road though is a completely different story. Most of it is residential. Throw in some churches, shops, a couple of new apartment blocks, and heritage elm trees… it’s going to get messy. Not that VicRoads hasn’t been planning ahead here too — around Droop and Gordon Sts, it’s very apparent that they’ve already bought a number of properties, ripe for flattening (if they haven’t been already).

(pic: whereis.com)

Cunningly, VicRoads say they’re not currently buying land for this. At least, not in response to the Eddington report. Of course not! They can’t respond to the Eddington report until the government says they’ll go ahead with that part of it. Besides, some of it is already bought!

So anyway, not all of the Truck Action Plan sounds so good anymore. It’d be great to get trucks out of residential areas, but not so much use moving them to other residential areas. All credit to Yarraville-based MTAG, who seem to recognise this.

We all know widening the road will lead to more traffic. Not just truck traffic, traffic in general. (OK, maybe we don’t all know this. The Premier seems to think motorways are actually environmentally friendly!)

How about spending some money on getting more freight onto rail, instead? Y’know, like, in line with the government’s goal of 30% of port freight on rail by 2010. (Currently: 15%, and dropping!) Most freight heading out of Melbourne would be more efficiently sent by rail. Even local Melbourne freight would benefit if trains took it from the port to localised freight hubs (as has been proposed in some circles) in industrial areas like Dandenong, Altona and Somerton.

And if in the longer term the main port is moved to Hastings, won’t most of the trucks go with it?