thinking of moving my masto account to a new #instance again. i'm currently on universeodon.com, i think i read something recently that made me think it's wise to switch instances.
Now free for all to read... I caught the Overland train from Melbourne to Adelaide - passing attractive scenery and historic stations on the way. The food was good too!
Our family shares 1 car amongst 3 family households in inner #Melbourne. As they say in the article, car-free households in inner neighbourhoods are already increasing in Australia.
I wanted to share some photos from the #Rebel4Life actions, hoping you can see what I see, and meet these strong, committed people.
I'm not in them, for two reasons. 1. I do police liaison so I'm always either right at the back or right at the front, and my high-vis vest ruins the aesthetics. 2. In the few photos I am in, I'm making super weird faces for some reason, lol.
Is the Swooping Season upon us? Anyone been swooped by magpies yet? I think I was mini-swooped by a bird in a park in Collingwood last week; gave that space a wider berth next time I walked through it.
Weird evening. We were just finishing an episode of SBS' 'Every Family Has a Nazi' (actually 'Every Family Has a Secret', but the description fits), when we heard the building's fire alarm going off.
Usually it's a false alarm. But I looked out in the corridor and saw smoke! Oddly though, it didn't smell of anything. But we trooped down the fire stairs to the street, where we found all the neighbours and a fire truck's crew at work.
Turned out there was a reason the 'smoke' didn't smell of anything - it was plaster. Someone was having work done on their apartment and (no idea how) there was a plaster incursion which set off the alarms.
Dash of excitement on a Monday evening. Has been a few years since our last major false alarm like that.
I wonder if Costco leaving Docklands is as disastrous for Docklands as some seem to think?
Do many people go to Costco and also patronise other venues at Docklands? Or do most of them drive to Costco and then drive home?
Is that land better used by something else, something more compatible with the precinct? (Or will another big warehouse retailer also dominated by car access replace it?) https://www.3aw.com.au/major-retailer-to-close-docklands-store-in-huge-blow-to-precinct/#Melbourne
"However, the student doesn’t think the current system is working. If she takes a short tram trip, why should she pay the same amount as someone who travels two hours across the state?"
This is a real issue - why should someone pay $5 to go a few stops on a rainy day with heavy shopping? (For example.) We need to have short trip fares again.
PTV fare evasion: Teenager contacted by Victoria Police after designing a poster urging commuters not to pay for public transport.
Collins Street trams have stopped due to an electricity disruption - tram driver says it will possibly be a long wait for services to resume. #Melbourne
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
Melburnians! I'm writing an article today about Melbourne attractions for budget travellers. I have some ideas, but could use more. Any cheap/free things you can recommend? Could be food, sights, arts, whatever.
The saga of Waverley Park — Melbourne's car-dependent suburban AFL stadium with a planned seated capacity of over 150,000 (not a typo!)
A really good run down by @philip on the plans by the AFL (and its predecessor, the VFL) to build the world's largest stadium in outer-suburban Melbourne.
Unfortunately, a planned railway line past the stadium to Rowville was never built. That meant a massive 25,000-spot car park as the only real means to get there.
While most of it has been demolished and redeveloped for housing, the oval itself still used by Hawthorn Football Club as a training and administration centre.
Yes I'm at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station, about to head off on a proper shiny streamlined long-distance train to Adelaide (and from there by train to Perth).
As always, I'll be writing posts about my trip exclusively for my patrons at Patreon... feel free to join at https://www.patreon.com/timrichards
Big day in the garden today - taking advantage of the glorious autumn day in #Melbourne.
We cut off a big non-fruit producing branch growing straight up on the left of the lime tree and then cut a big branch on the right to give the tree better balance.
I also upended 2 bags of heavy, wet soil on the bed to top it up and provide more substance to the very light sandy soil in this garden bed.
I planted an impatiens plant I had purchased at last week's garden show on the right of the lime tree. I then topped off this part of the garden bed with bamboo leaves from last Spring's prunings. I had laid the bamboo prunings on concrete so the leaves could dry off over summer and to stop the concrete from absorbing so much heat.
"...most intersection are unsafe to have an automatic green man, as pedestrians j-walk and it creates a dangerous situation with possible filtered right turners. A scenario where people see a green man and run to cross the road creates one of the most dangerous situations, with regards to left and right turners.
Studies conducted by VicRoads and the Australian Road Research Board have proven the safety issues with the above."
I contacted VicRoads to ask about making a pointless pedestrian crossing green automatically when it's safe to cross and their response was very telling.