Categories
Home life News and events

How to get into a hammock

I’ve wanted a hammock for ages — ever since I moved in and found hammock hooks fitted to the back veranda. And finally this Christmas I got one, thanks to Marita. Alas it didn’t quite fit the hooks, so I trotted off to Hammock HQ today at the Victoria Market to get the requisite extension  ... [More]

Categories
transport

How many trains?

Attributed to a government spokeswoman: as part of the Victorian Transport Plan, 38 new trains would be put into the system in 2009, increasing the train fleet by 40 per cent. — The Age: One in 10 trains either cancelled or delayed WRONG. We already have: 95 Comengs, 7 Hitachis, 36 Siemens, 29 X’Trapolis =  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones

Christmas

Happy Boxing Day. Well, we had a pretty good Christmas. The haul’s headliner was a Nintendo Wii — actually bought for the kids (to their surprise and delight), but which has already proven itself to be a helluva lot of fun for me too. A bunch of smaller presents too, and not a dud among  ... [More]

Categories
Home life

Best wishes at Christmas

When I moved, I figured that for once I intended to stay put for a long time, so I might as well do the neighbourly thing and get to know my neighbours. Not that I’d been unfriendly to previous neighbours. Well okay, maybe if they deserved it. But neither had I gone out of my  ... [More]

Categories
Going green Politics and activism

Five percent?!

Letter of note in yesterday’s Age: IT IS interesting to note the objections and opposition to the Government’s climate plan, particularly from more affluent groups and individuals. They see it as up to industry, particularly the power industry, to lower consumption of energy and reduce emissions. What effort are these people prepared to make to  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Tramcar of the Beast

Tramcar of the Beast… The next station is Connex… I don’t think I’ve ever been there.

Categories
PTUA transport

Yet more transport plan stuff

Unlike the last one, I can’t claim a role in this: a hilarious video parodying the Victorian Transport Plan TV commercials. Meanwhile, over at the Sunday Herald Sun, they’re running an online survey on peoples views of PT. Click through and have your say. Finally, answer me this: if Sir Rod Eddington was very specific  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Video games

The socks I always wanted

I got the socks I always wanted at K-Mart the other day.

Categories
Consumerism Home life

Tissues

Time for one of those quick boring domestic posts: Recycled tissues. I’m almost out. I can’t find any in the local Safeways, Coleses or IGAs, or anywhere else. Anybody seen them recently, or do I have to resort to using recycled paper towels as tissues? (Well, and handkerchiefs, of course.)

Categories
Melbourne

Swanston Street

One day in 1992, I had a joyous moment when I walked most of the length of Swanston Street — in the former traffic lanes — for the first time. It was a wondrous thing, and while Swanston Street still sees delivery vehicles, taxis and the odd errant car, with the wider footpaths and cyclists  ... [More]

Categories
Geek transport

In the loop

On the subject of mobile phones, it’s astounding after all these years how many people look surprised when their phones (on any network) drop out in the City Loop. Perhaps half of people, including myself, know this’ll happen. If I’m on the phone going into the tunnel, I’ll tell the other party I’m about to  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Bad news and a little good

The bad news is that as expected Metcard prices will jump by 5% from January 1st. Stock up now! It’s a curious thing. If you have to increase fares, CPI rises are probably the most logical way to do it. But this time around, the September quarter CPI figures were heavily influenced by petrol price  ... [More]