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 of traffic.
This street between Kingsway and Sturt Street/Eastern Road had a couple of cars which will have water damage.
All was quiet at this SES building in Sturt Street. Perhaps they were all out on calls. Note the hail stacked up by the building.
(Thanks to Marita for taking some of these.)
Update 9pm: Show pictures individually.
Tags: Melbourne, rain, traffic, weather
16 comments
Going backwards
This is not progress.
This is the corner of Flinders Lane and Spring Street, in the CBD. Should be a priority pedestrian area — it’s certainly flagged that way under the SmartRoads strategy.
But the zebra crossing that was here before has been removed and replaced with a traffic light. Which means that while before pedestrians had absolute priority, now they have to wait for the green man.
Worse, unlike every other intersection in the CBD, the green man doesn’t activate automatically. Neither does pressing the button when the parallel traffic has a green light get you a green man until the next sequence comes around.
So pedestrians are going to patiently wait ages to cross a tiny street, or more likely, they’re going to ignore the red man. Neither is a good outcome.
If there’s anywhere pedestrians should have priority, this is it. It’s clear that in this case, they don’t.
Navigation
A few years ago I did a comparison of the results from online trip planners. Here’s an update of sorts.
I tested 247 Flinders Lane (which is an address on a one-way street, in an area with lots of turn restrictions and pedestrian streets) to see what the various navigators would do. For the destination I just put Bentleigh (my neighbourhood).
Yahoo Maps couldn’t give me an answer, reporting that “Driving directions cannot be determined between these locations”. I tried giving it a specific destination, but it wouldn’t do it.
1. Head west on Flinders Ln towards Flinders Way 0.1 km
2. Turn right at Elizabeth St 0.1 km
3. Take the 1st right on to Collins St 0.5 km
4. Turn right at Russell St 0.2 km
5. Turn right at Flinders St 0.2 km
6. Take the 1st left on to St Kilda Rd 4.6 km
7. Turn left at Fitzroy St 77 m
8. Turn right at St Kilda Rd 1.3 km
9. Continue onto Brighton Rd 1.9 km
10. Continue onto Nepean Hwy 4.1 km
11. Slight left at Centre Rd 1.5 km
Google decided that just entering the suburb for the destination would go to the post office.
The directions are pretty good, but St Kilda Junction confused it; you don’t (you can’t) turn at Fitzroy Street when headed southbound; you turn briefly onto Punt Road, which then leads you onto St Kilda Road.
1. Continue on Flinders La, Melbourne – head towards Degraves St
2. Turn left onto Degraves St, Melbourne at Punt Hill
3. Turn left onto Flinders St, Melbourne
4. Turn right onto Swanston St, Melbourne at Young & Jackson Hotel
5. Continue along St Kilda Rd, Melbourne at Arintji Cafe & Bar
6. Veer right onto Punt Rd, St Kilda
7. Continue along St Kilda Rd, St Kilda
8. Continue along Brighton Rd, St Kilda
9. Continue along Nepean Hwy, Elsternwick at McDonalds
10. Veer left onto Ramp, Brighton East
11. Continue along Brewer Rd, Brighton East
12. At the roundabout – take the 2nd exit onto Brewer Rd, Bentleigh
13. Arrive at Brewer Rd, Bentleigh
Curiously it’s led me to somewhere well outside the logical centre of Bentleigh, though it might be the geographic centre of the suburb.
It figured out St Kilda Junction, but got the initial directions completely wrong, directing me to turn into Degraves Street, which is mostly closed to traffic, and then to do an illegal right hand turn from Flinders St into Swanston St. I kinda like the use of landmarks for directions though.
1. Depart -37.81673, 144.96600 on Flinders Ln (West)
2. Turn LEFT (South) onto King St (0.1 km)
3. Road name changes to Kings Way (2.3 km)
4. Bear RIGHT (South) onto Queens Rd (2.0 km)
5. Turn LEFT (East) onto Union St (0.4 km)
6. Turn RIGHT (South) onto Punt Rd (0.3 km)
7. Keep STRAIGHT onto St Kilda Rd (1.3 km)
8. Road name changes to Brighton Rd (1.9 km)
9. Keep LEFT onto Nepean Hwy (4.1 km)
10. Keep LEFT onto Centre Rd (1.5 km)
11. Turn RIGHT (South) onto Loranne St (0.0 km)
12. Arrive -37.91806, 145.03544 (0.0 km)
This one has also led me to the post office. Unlike the others it preferred Kingsway to St Kilda Road, but I can’t see any flaws with its logic, though it did decide I should go all the way along Union Street to Punt Road — that may well be faster than turning off Union Street at St Kilda Road.
And for non-drivers, how about Metlink’s journey planner?
From 247 Flinders Lane (Melbourne City)
Walk about 220 metres to Flinders Street Railway Station (Melbourne City)1. Continue along Royston Pl 20 m about 1 min
2. Turn right at Flinders Lane 80 m about 2 min
3. Turn right at Swanston St 120 m about 2 min
4. Continue along St Kilda Rd 10 m about 1 min
5. Arr: 10:08 am To Flinders Street Railway Station (Melbourne City) 210 m 4 minDEP: 10:08 am Flinders Street Railway Station (Melbourne City) Platform 8
Take the train towards Frankston — Time 21 min
ARR: 10:29 amGet off at Bentleigh Railway Station (Bentleigh) Platform 2
DEP: From Stop Bentleigh Railway Station (Bentleigh)
Walk about 50 metres Time 7 min
10:36 am To Bentleigh (Bentleigh)
Metlink decided “Bentleigh” meant a street next to the railway station. Not sure why.
The instructions to walk to the station assume that Royston Place is a thoroughfare; It’s a deadend; you can’t get to Flinders Street station that way. Update: Ah, it assumed I was starting in Royston Place, not walking through it. Not sure why it would do that though. And it didn’t send me via the quickest pedestrian route, which is the Degraves Street subway.
But the train trip itself is correct.
Unknown why it thinks it’ll take 7 minutes to walk 50 metres at the end of the trip. Maybe it’s adding a bit in case the train is late, or you have to wait for a train at the level crossing.
So, Bing gave the best result. All the others appear to need some attention.
Tags: Bing, Google, Metlink, navigation, web sites, Yahoo
7 comments
The psychedelic playground
The City of Glen Eira has some pretty psychedelic playground equipment in some of its parks. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what you’re meant to do with it.
This one I don’t think many people would have problems with. You get on and it spins around, alarmingly fast. Pretty easy.
This thing however, reminds me of two miniature monorails, but appears to involve “surfing” the board things while holding onto the railings. You can also try and sit on them and ride them, but that doesn’t appear to be how it was designed. Though I’m not really sure what they had in mind.
This one is obviously inspired by a Mobius strip, and is quite a challenge (in a good way) to climb. We noticed it’s made from four identical pieces hooked together.
And as for this, Escher couldn’t have done better with the ladder. The middle bit is like a rock climbing wall, but impossible to actually use. The slide thing is hinged and wobbles from side to side. Weird.
(Elsewhere they have equipment that is easier to figure out, and more suitable for little kids.)
The poem and the foot
I spotted this in November on a train. Read both of the poems, was mildly amused, then noticed the second one had been written by someone I know. (Well, admittedly have only met once or twice, years ago, but you know…)
Posting it today as I saw on Twitter this morning that he had to go into hospital with a foot injury. Hope it heals quickly.
Tags:
8 comments
Christmas is coming
So here we are, Christmas Eve. After yesterday’s heat, it was still 30 degrees C overnight. Thankfully it’s cooled down now to 25, and I’ve opened up the house to let it all in — though hopefully not too many flies.
Tomorrow we’ll pile over to my sister’s house for Christmas lunch, but it’s looking like we won’t get to use the pool, as evidently it will be cooler, so not the stinking hot Australian Christmas we sometimes get.
“We can’t replicate an Australian Christmas over here. It’s too cold. Sometimes it snows. You can hear sleigh bells. Nah, it’s not like Christmas at all.” — Lee Tulloch in New York, The Age, 22/12/99
Brighton Beach station
Bourke Street
Little Bourke Street
To all those reading, thanks for all the comments over the year, and have a great Christmas and New Year.
Tags: Christmas, Melbourne
12 comments
Melbourne becomes a big city
When I first visited London in the 90s I was staggered by the scale of it. Not so much physical size, but the mass of people. I remember being at Piccadilly Circus on a Sunday and there were just swarms of people, heading in all directions.
I felt like a small town hick who had visited the city for the first time.
At the time, Melbourne didn’t have the same sense of “busy” that it does now. The CBD was pretty dead outside working hours, and until shopping hours were liberalised in the mid-90s, it virtually shut down at 1pm on Saturday, with no life again until Monday morning.
That’s changed in the last ten years. The growth of the CBD’s residential population, together with the population growth in suburban Melbourne and the CBD’s 7-day-a-week shopping, eating, events and nightlife have brought it to life.
As Melbourne’s built environment was transformed, so was its sense of self. Suburbanites again flocked into town for the football, or a show, or to eat and drink. Licensing laws were deregulated, transport, venues and parking were improved, quirks such as the city’s jumble of laneways were celebrated; precincts such as Lygon Street, the Queen Victoria Markets and St Kilda were tweaked. Students — local and visiting — became a fixture on the city’s streets.
Apparently Melbourne is now the 89th biggest urban area by population, and if the predictions are right and we’ll be growing to 5 million in the next decade or two, it’s going to get busier. Projections show particular growth not just in 9 to 5 commuters, but in visitors — from overseas, interstate and in particular coming in from the suburbs.
Melbourne’s becoming a big city.
Tags: London, Melbourne, population
7 comments
Legal precinct stereotypes
In the legal precinct (William Street between Little Bourke and Latrobe Streets, for non-Melburnians), there are three distinct groups of people that strike me as common, but whom you don’t see much of in other areas of the CBD:
1. Young men looking uncomfortable in shirts and ties (and sometimes suits) — eg defendants and witnesses… there are women and older men too of course, but they don’t stick out as much. Most of them seem to smoke (at least, most of those standing on the street), and the tattoo count seems to be above that of the general population.
Sometimes they have an entourage who are similarly dressed-up, and sometimes they have an entourage who are in their usual clothing, which makes the defendant stick out even more. None of this demographic knows where to stand on the Flagstaff station escalators.
2. TV crews hanging about the entrance keeping a lookout for some of those defendants, especially in front of the Magistrate’s Court.
3. People in capes and funny wigs (various legal eagles), who in this neck of the woods, don’t raise an eyebrow.
Tags: legal, people
6 comments
