The Dumbarse, in three acts
Act 1: He went to stand between the carriages for a smoke. (It was a Hitachi. Very retro.) It should be pointed out that this doesn’t stop the smoke smell drifting through the carriages, though obviously it’s better than doing it in the carriage. Apart from the fact that smoking anywhere is dangerous for your health, the last time I saw something like this attempted, the half-a-dozen undercover Authorised Officers in the carriage that I had clocked when I boarded the train wasted no time in moving in to fine the person.
Act 2: “Does this train go to Richmond?” Someone pointed out, possibly without trying to smirk, that we’d just a minute ago gone past Richmond. Australia is said to have a 99% literacy rate, and those new signs on the stations are fairly readable, so the chances are this guy had nobody to blame but himself for not paying attention.
Act 3: Upon arrival at the next station, Flinders Street, did he bother to look at the platform display to see where the train would go next? No. I did glance at it. It was headed straight back to Richmond. He instead headed across the concourse to some other platform — I think it may even have been 4+5, one of four platforms where none of the trains departing go to Richmond.
Dumbarse.
Tags: public transport, smoking, trains
5 comments
Pasta intruder
“My fellow Fusillians,
I believe we have an imposter in our midst. A spy from the Elbonian republic!”
Tags: pasta
7 comments
I hate buying shoes
I’m good at some things, and bad at others.
One of the things I’m worst at is buying shoes. I hate it, I’m not good at it, and while I don’t always stuff it up, it seems like I certainly do sometimes.
I went to replace my Ecco shoes. They’ve been great; have lasted many years, but are finally on the way out.
The old ones: European size 44, which is theoretically about what I wear in Australian shoes: 9 1/2. They fit great.
FAIL 1: Somehow I managed to come out of the Ecco shop with a new pair that are also size 44, and very nice, but which are too big.
It’s not like I didn’t try them on. But looking back I can only assume I didn’t really pay attention to how big they were. Or if I did, I may have had it in mind that earlier this year I had problems with one of my pairs of shoes being too small, and over-compensated.
FAIL 2: After purchasing I then wore them outside a couple of times before really noticing the problems, so now they can’t be returned to the shop as they’ve worn very slightly.
There’s too much space in the toes. That might be solvable with thicker socks, but they’re soft leather so they bend in the wrong place when walking, hurting one of my feet.
I’ve bought myself a pair of shoes I can’t use. On sale, but still not cheap.
How can I be 38 years old and still stuff things up like this?
(I find it pretty embarrassing actually. I’m posting it here publicly to teach myself a lesson so I don’t do this again.)
How does one sell a pair of shoes? Ebay? (Anybody wear size 44 and want to buy these?)
Tags: Ecco, shoes
11 comments
Old food
I’m amazed at the range of old things that I’d obviously bought, used a little of, then forgotten about, that I found in the back of the cupboard this morning while looking for sultanas.
- Croutons, Best Before Jan 2008
- Self-raising flour, BB Jul 2007 (there’s another newer one elsewhere)
- Vita Wheat Biscuits, BB Sep 2007, and another BB Mar 2008… strange, as I really like these, and do eat them
- Currants, BB Nov 2007
- Rissotto, BB May 2008 — obviously it’s been a while
- Cordial for the Slurpie-maker thingy, BB Dec 2007
- Peanut butter, BB 20/7/2009 — just gone, should be fine but nobody’s eating it
- Granulated nuts, Best before, BB 17/7/2009 — ditto
- Popping corn, BB Nov 2008
Given these are only Best Before (not “Use by”) dates, some of this stuff might well be okay, if not “best”. But some of it’ll be no good and will have to go out.
A bit of a waste. On the bright side it’s freed up a fair bit of space in the cupboard!
Tags: food, kitchen
9 comments
Beware
This video of level crossings is incredible. (See also: accompanying article.)
The last clip in particular (starting at 1:10), from my local station at Bentleigh, had me gasping. The first person crossing is foolish enough, but the second — particularly as he appears to stumble — is just seconds from death. I fail to see how anybody could be so stupid.
People at this very location have been killed before — at least three in the past decade or so. You can argue that crossings should be upgraded or removed, but that doesn’t absolve people from personal responsibility for their actions.
What would have happened if he wasn’t quick enough? This report into a pedestrian/train accident at Ardeer in March last year describes such a case, and is a sobering reminder of why people (whether on foot or driving) need take care around railway crossings:
The train passed through Ardeer Station travelling at about 121 km/h [on the south track]. The occupants of the train cab subsequently sighted a pedestrian on the north track. The pedestrian was observed to be crossing from north to south.
With the train about 95 metres from the crossing and travelling at 119 km/h, the driver gave a short blast on the train horn and immediately applied the emergency brake, followed rapidly by another short blast. The pedestrian was seen to look towards the oncoming train apparently alerted by the horn and then speed up her movement to cross in a southerly direction.
A further and continuous application of the horn commenced about 27 metres before the crossing and was maintained until after the train had passed the crossing. The pedestrian failed to clear the south track by about a metre and was struck by the right hand side of the front of the train at or about the southern most rail of the south track. The pedestrian sustained fatal injuries.
The train was travelling at 112 km/h at impact and subsequently came to a stop 524 metres past the crossing. With the leading car stopped on the Kororoit Creek Bridge, passengers were required to alight from the rear car access doors.
Not much else to say really.
Tags: level crossings, trains
10 comments
One drive, three morons
All from a ten minute period this morning.
Lady in Mini Cooper, turning off Footscray Road to head over the Bolte Bridge. At some stage have you considered getting off the phone?
White stationwagon, heading over the Bolte Bridge. There’s been over a kilometre of signs and arrows on the road surface indicating which lanes you need to be in to go towards Geelong. You can’t do it from the left lane, and at the point that the left lane goes… uhh… left, it’s too late to change your mind now.
Range Rover, Queensway. The reversible lane is not that hard to use. That red cross on the sign is an indicator that you’re not meant to be there, at least not in that direction.
Where do these people get their licences?
Too long to blog on their own, too short to Tweet
Forgot to review the Star Trek movie. In summary: great stuff, really enjoyable. (And still chuckling over The Onion’s take on it.)
How is it that Rivers in Victoria have 7 retail outlets, but 31 clearance centres?
For those of you who want to browse PT timetables online while out and about, bookmark this in your web-enabled mobile: metlink.mobi. (Okay, so I did Tweet this.)
You’ve heard of the Big Mac Index, for comparing the spending power of world currencies? Here’s a theory that the Mars Bar can be used to track historical value of currencies.
Tags: money, public transport, Star Trek
4 comments
Why is this even a problem?
The issue of new trams being too long for some tram platform stops was highlighted in The Age the other day, and on ABC Radio’s AM.
But having got all the information about it now, I don’t see why it’s a problem.
From the document specifying the new order of trams:
Optimal operation of the new trams will require modifications to be made to selected tram stops. The vehicles will be about 32m in length which will become the standard for Melbourne’s trams. Some short platform (below 30m standard) stops will need lengthening by a few metres to allow optimal boarding and alighting. Until all platforms are extended, trams will need to isolate the rear door to prevent passengers alighting where there is no safe refuge or platform.
and:
Manufacture and Delivery Phase
First tram acceptance Third Quarter 2012
Fifth tram acceptance First Quarter 2013
Sixth tram acceptance Third Quarter 2013
Ongoing deliverable at 10 trams per annum
What the Age reporter was not told, and also wasn’t revealed (at least to me) until the AM story aired was that only 20 stops (out of 300) are too short.
Presumably none of them are on route 96, where the existing five 32m long Bumblebee trams already run. The Bumblebees will return to France in 2011.
So the question is why bother with the expense and time (and passenger confusion, causing delays) of fiddling with the rear door on the new trams, when the first five can just run on route 96 initially. That gives them until Q3/2013 to fix these 20 stops. That’s four years away — surely that’s plenty of time to get it done?
No, the real issue is that the last of these 50 trams won’t be running for about 8 years!
PS. The platform stop pictured above is in Bourke Street, and is not one of the short ones. But it suddenly occurs to me that this is the kind of photo that gets New Urbanism fans all excited, as it shows public transport integrated into its surroundings. See, sometimes we can get things right in Melbourne.
Tags: public transport, trams
9 comments
