Common Sense

Now that it’s summer and the government still aren’t investing enough into public transport (see, it wasn’t all Connex), I’m beginning to get used to the three-carriage trains during rush hour. For those that don’t know, it’s half the length of usual train on our system.

Today was no exception, so as we piled into the train, I was lucky enough to get a seat with it’s (slightly more) rigidly allocated personal space (as opposed to standing). As I approached my stop, Royal Park, I stood up and began to move toward the door. As I said excuse me to a larger lady in my way, she said that she would be getting off too. I accepted this, took hold of the seat in front of me and followed her off the train.

As we left the now less crowded train, there were still people standing in the doorway that were necessary to push past in order to get off. The lady I was following commented how silly they were, and I responded that there was just no common sense, they could have moved down the aisle.

She agreed with me.

As we both left Royal Park station, I veered in one direction toward the path, which runs through the golf course and keeps me (relatively) safe from stray golf balls. She however, headed straight through the golf course, onto the green where a group of young men were putting. We both headed in the same direction; I kept to the path, safe and shaded, while she continued to walk past another group of young men, this time driving a long distance. At once stage I noted that they had to wait for her to pass to avoid injury.

This behaviour of someone who just agreed that people needed more common sense.

In other news, nationwide Internet censorship is on it’s way into parliament. If I was more knowledgable of such matters and could write a controversial post disagreeing with it, I would. Instead, I’ll just to the basic facts that it will inconvenience many, cause more problems than it solves and will be all-round frustrating. Go politicians, go!

Bat-lame-ia.

Today Jes and I headed to the City Museum for the second last day of their Batmania exhibition. I haven’t head too much about the place, but was of the impression that it was a reasonably sized museum with Melbourne history. This was fairly wrong and it actually only consisted of a few rooms (upstairs, the gold vaults cost extra downstairs); the Batmania exhibition was two rooms plus some hallway. The information was fairly boring and poorly written (with many inappropriately placed apostrophes), and very few things to look at (a few notebooks and drawings). The other rooms had some mildly interesting items relating to the founding fathers and the immigration. There were several references to the gold mines and men who made their fortune on it. I don’t think I learnt very much about anything.

After that we decided to go to the Ricky Swallow exhibition at the NGV in Federation Square. This cost twice as much, and was worth every cent. The carvings were of amazing detail (and size). They were accompanied by the usual over-the-top descriptions but the pieces themselves were interesting and beautiful. It was inspirational to see something which had obviously taken time and talent to complete.

The afternoon after that was completed in pleasant laziness. We had a beer at Beer Deluxe (I had Warsteiner – a refreshing, flavoursome lager and a Sinha Stout – something different but tasty) and then headed for some lunch. After the first choice of a Chinese restaurant was shut, Shanghai Dumpling House beckoned and provided us with cheap food.

This evening we went out to see the new release, Zombieland. It was a movie that certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s a comedy, which was genuinely funny against what is usually a horror or drama background. There were only a few characters, which helped to develop each character, but followed one in the narrative, leaving some about the others a mystery. Abigail Breslin (of Little Miss Sunshine fame) was one of the characters and, as with her other movies, was fantastic. She’s a great little actress, and certainly has grown up since I saw her in Nim’s Island! The other three were definitely not a disappointment, including Bill Murray in a cameo role!

The movie was refreshing, even with the predictable love story worked into it. The ideas were nothing new, but it was brought out as something new. Best movie I’ve seen in a while.

I was in a tram crash!

OK, so it wasn’t actually a crash, it was more of a small bump.

I had missed a connecting train, so stayed on the tram into the city. When I changed onto a tram going up Collins Street, I figured I’d make it to work in a reasonable amount of time. However, at Swanston Street, we were waiting for the tram in front to move and our driver started ‘dinging’ insistently. This was much to the confusion of the passengers, until there a was a sudden bump – the tram in front of us had rolled backward.

No one was hurt, but of course there were no announcements from the driver nor the staff on the tram platform. The people at the front of the tram realised what had happened, but no one was sure whether it would be a quick fix or not. After just a few minutes, most people got off the tram and started to walk. By the time I had reached Spring Street, there tram from in front of us had passed me (now ‘Not in Service’), but the other tram was still stopped at Swanston Street.

It was interesting, if not surprising, that the new tram operators (although the same drivers I note) were the same in not providing us with details or estimations – despite there being several members of staff on the platform supervising the disembarking passengers.

As one of my previous posts indicates, I had a few issues with an electrical shop after the purchase of a new bar fridge. The fridge is now doing a fine job of looking after my photographic film and alcohol! It’s also great to have the extra space for ice cube trays.

I wrote to Consumer Affairs for advice on the issues I experienced and they suggested that taking matters further would be of little gain, due to the efforts and small amounts involved. I agree, and more to the point, I’m too lazy to do too much about it! However, they did suggest that further correspondence with them could be of benefit, and I feel I will put this into action even if it has been a while since the purchase.

On a loosely related note, a couple of weeks ago now I experienced a three-carriage train for three peak hour services in a row on the Upfield line. Now, I know we expect little else from Connex (their last scheduled service will actually be a replacement bus), but I felt I needed to vent. A quick look on Google and I found their website and contact section. I wrote rather long, sarcastic and slightly ranting complaint about their service. It’s obvious that little can be done about it now with Metro coming in next week, but it made me feel better!

I feel a shorter and slightly less sarcastic letter could help me feel better about the fridge situation as well, as the only contact I have had with them has been on the phone and I know I’m not at my strongest on the phone. If I’m given time to compose and set my points out logically, I’m much more confident.

So, for all those in doubt about what to do about injustices, write an angry letter! Even if little is gained from it, it’ll make you feel much better having vented and detailed why they are wrong and you are right.

That’s Hot.

As Melbourne continues to heat up for the sixth day running, I thought it was about time to vent again.

I like the heat. I like summer, sun, warm weather and everything that goes with it, including going inside where it is slightly cooler. Apparently our place isn’t like that, and summer is going to be quite uncomfortable.

This week when it rose to 35 degrees outside, our third (and top) storey apartment also rose to 35 degrees. With the curtains shut, windows open and fans running to try and move the air even a little, we might have got it down to 34 degrees. Even outside there was a slight breeze, but nothing inside. As I said, I enjoy the heat, but when it gets so that you can’t even sit still without sweating, it becomes an issue. Yesterday afternoon it was down to the early 20s by late afternoon, and I had hopes that this would transfer to our house as well. It dropped to around 29 degrees inside. Our place isn’t too old, I think from the 60s or so, but the insulation is non-existent. Of course, because we’re renting, the landlord and real estate agents have little care for our comfort, so it would be up to us to purchase air conditioning. Unfortunately, the portable air conditioning units are expensive to buy and run, and chew up electricity – which leads to a vicious cycle with climate change and emissions.

Now, obviously one early season heatwave itself doesn’t indicate climate change, the fact that it’s becoming more frequent, particularly in areas where it’s been unusual (far north or south of the equator), raises the questions of climate change and whether we are eternally doomed because of our pollution and emissions.

I believe that yes, there is such a thing as climate change and we are experiencing it, if only in the early stages. I believe we should be doing a lot more to stop the damage that is occurring and the irreversible changes. Just yesterday there was someone from a wilderness charity who stopped me in the street. She asked if I cared about the forests – and the obvious answer is yes, yes I do. However, if we’re going to save the planet, you’re going to have to do a lot more than tell us the forests are dying and can we please have a few dollars a month.

Every little bit helps, I believe that, but we’re at the stage now that without major support from the governments, we are in big trouble. A lot of the deforestation and water pollution that has occurred already is irreversible, and to prevent any more damage will take a huge amount of money and effort.

The Fridge

For a while now I’ve been thinking about buying a bar fridge. I have a lot of film for my cameras and we need more room for food in the other fridge. It could also double as a drinks fridge. So, after doing some research, I work out that it’s probably cheaper and easier to buy a fridge from a local shop, where I can speak face-to-face with someone about delivery and confirming costs etc. I ended up buying from Best Buy Electrical, near Barkly Square on Sydney Road, a small Daewoo fridge. They confirmed that they do delivery, and were willing to take it up three flights of stairs, so I paid the extra delivery cost and arranged my day off work.

Wednesday 21st. I have the day off work. I’ve been to the shops, I’m in for the day. Delivery is stated as late afternoon, so I’m home from midday onwards, hoping it means before 6.30pm when I have to go out. I knit, I bake, I watch movies. No word from them. I figure that late afternoon, if they’re running late, could be anywhere up to 7pm, so I leave the house but keep my phone loud and close just in case. Nothing.

Thursday 22nd. I call the store to question where my fridge is. They have no record of it, they were not meant to deliver anything, what fridge? Eventually they find the order and reschedule delivery for Friday evening, after 7pm when I will definitely be home. Frustrating, but keep those fingers crossed.

Friday 23rd. Hoping that the fridge will come, hoping so hard. 6.45pm I get a phone call. Will I be home in 20 minutes to accept the delivery? Yes. Will there be stairs? Yes, I paid extra for delivery for that. Is there someone there to help? Well yes, but I paid extra for delivery…

They arrive and we head downstairs to meet them. She passes the trolley to my friend and off we go, hauling it up the stairs. The 5′3″ lady they sent to take the fridge up three flights of stairs tries to guide it, but essentially is doing nothing to help. Eventually we get it upstairs, shut the door and start the unpacking business.

Monday 26th. I call the store to question why I paid extra for delivery when we had to take it upstairs anyway, why it wasn’t delivered when they originally said and why I haven’t received an apology for any of this. The lady who delivered tries to come up with several excuses, including that they did try to call several times on Wednesday (this is after initially trying to say that there was no record of delivery – if there was no record of it, why would you call?), if we didn’t want to help we shouldn’t have, and I was charged a normal delivery fee, not extra. After going around in circles for a while, with the excuses getting worse and worse, I give up on trying to get an apology/refund and hang up. I’m still debating whether to write an angry letter (they just feel so good) or to contact consumer affairs/similar.

Either way, I would advise against purchasing anything there – they just can’t get their story straight. I just hold out hope that the fridge doesn’t break and I have to contact them again.

It looks like the source of my dizzy spells may have been found. I had a referral to a neurologist about a month ago, and after checking my previous results and doing the usual tests said that it could be a form of migraine. Although this doesn’t really explain the earache, he said it would be worth trying anti-migraine medication and see what happens.

The medication he suggested was propranolol, an anti-hypertensive. After the first couple of weeks with only a very mild (positive) effect, I increased the dose. Since then, the dizziness has been significantly better – no nausea, no nearly falling and I can have more than a few beers and not feel like the world will never be still again! The anti-hypertensive effect has been noticable, particularly on a couple of occasions, but overall it’s fine and just a little low.

Not long after I started taking it, I was feeling a little light-headed so I went down to one of the clinics at my work to have my blood pressure taken. The nurse was quite obliging and it came out as low-normal. However, while she was taking and recording it, she was asking about what investigations I’ve had. As I’ve found with many people since this started, everybody seems to know what it could be.

Once people found out I was seeing an ENT last year, they would ask if he had checked for vertigo and Meniere’s disease. It was only with a lot of self-control that I didn’t give a sarcastic response about an ENT not knowing about any of that! Of course, these were the first things he investigated, being some of the most common causes of dizziness and earache.

Over the last 18 months or so that I’ve had this, I’d had that same response many times. People may have the right intention, but they need more common sense (and perhaps a little less ego).

The nurse took a different approach though, and asked what the problem was, what investigations I had had, and I’d already let her know I was on propranolol for suspected migraines. Being a nurse, I expected her to have a little more common sense than the others I’ve been referring to. However, she took a very strange approach and suggested that I needed to visit a cardiologist, as the low blood pressure could be causing dizziness!

I decided not to explain that I was actually just experiencing light-headedness due to the low blood pressure, caused by the anti-hypertensive. The dizziness was entirely separate and my blood pressure was fine before I started taking anti-hypertensives (surprisingly enough!) I decided to leave her with her delusions of medical knowledge and common sense and have since been taking my blood pressure at home. I only hope that she doesn’t try to give her patients advice.

Anyway, it seems that I might finally have found a cause for the dizziness, if not the earaches. Even after just a few weeks I’ve noticed a great improvement in my quality of life, fingers crossed that it continues to work!

The other day after work, I headed down to Parliament train station where I was expecting a ten minute wait for my train. As the time approached, I started to hear announcements regarding platform two (I was on platform three), about delays and cancellations and what the next train would be. However, as my train should have been arriving, I noticed the screen listing the next train as a Cragieburn one – I was waiting for the Upfield train. Waiting, waiting, more announcements regarding trains on platform two, the time for my train passes, more announcements about platform two and finally, the Upfield train is listed on the screen. The man announcing all the trains on platform two then briefly mentioned the Upfield train (before going back to his other, obviously more important trains). So I did finally get home, even though my train was running 5-10 minutes late. Would it really have been that hard for this guy to check his little screen and make a quick, ‘Apologies for the inconvenience’ announcement? He was doing for every other train that was delayed or cancelled.

This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed inconsistencies with the recorded and manual announcements at Parliament. When I first started taking the train to and from work, I was waiting for my train home when there was a manual announcement that it had been cancelled. Fair enough, it had already been delayed so I decided to sit it out until the next one. Some people left the platform, presumably to find another way home. Another train comes through, then the recorded notice that the next train will for the Upfield line. Of course, this causes some confusion. There is then another manual announcement that another train has been delayed and that the next train will be the Upfield. No mention of the fact that just 1-2 minutes ago, the very same person had announced that it wouldn’t be coming at all. So those people that have gone to get a tram or bus home could have potentially waited and had a quicker journey home.

I can only hope that when the new companies come in to run the trains and trams, we’ll have slightly more reliable information available to us. Even in London they weren’t that bad, although they did experience the wrong kind of snow and leaves on several occasions…

Everyone at the moment seems to be holding out hope that all the problems that Connex have will be ironed out with the new guys, forgetting the fact that they’ll be working with the same government, the same amount of funding, and the same basic infrastructure. It would take a complete overhaul (and some more lederhosen) to make it as prompt and reliable as the German train system, which I’m sure we all know won’t happen.

Heritage

After hearing about the Tesselaar Tulip Festival about a month ago, I found out that this weekend would have a Dutch theme, with food, music, dancing and crafts. Knowing that it could be an improvement on the one I went to at Southbank in April (where high winds and rain buffeted all day and it was all but shut down as soon as it had started).

With a forecast of a chance of showers and moderate winds, we decided to risk it and headed out on a train. The train should have taken us to Lilydale, but instead stopped at Ringwood for a replacement bus service. It was already raining by this point, which we should have taken as an omen. We got to Lilydale station eventually, and the connecting shuttle bus had just left. Another omen. After seeking shelter out the front of an estate agent, we were about to move into Coles for warmth, when what I think was unscheduled bus turned up. Never one to complain, we made a run for it and were on our way, crossing our fingers that the rain would stop soon.

Unfortunately it just varied between heavy and light rain for most of the morning, rendering the grassy areas sodden and the fields of brightly coloured tulips uninviting.

Hoping to find the Grolsch tent that we had seen noted on the website, we went for a short walk and found a small tent serving non-Dutch food, with a fridge containing some bottles of beer and lots of people sheltering from the rain. Braving the weather, we moved around a little bit and I went on a search for some delicious food. First of all I found some Rookwurst (with mustard), which was devoured. After wandering a little more and sheltering in tents with various crafts, we gave up even thinking about taking photos. I had some croquette (with mustard) and bought some siroopwafelen for later.

After one last round, hoping the rain might ease up, we noticed that a previously empty tent was now selling various chilli sauces – Death Sauce, Stupid Hot etc. We had a quick chat with the stall owners while deciding which to buy (I settled on a four-pack, two milder and two hotter Death Sauces).

After this, there seemed little point in hanging around getting wetter, so we headed off to wait for the bus, which came thankfully quickly. It was good to be on our way back to civilisation.

Judging by my recent experiences, I think it’s safe to say that unless the weather forecast is ‘No possible chance of rain, fog or high winds’, I won’t be leaving the house voluntarily soon! I reckon it could have been improved greatly by some rubber matting laid down on areas of grass into/out of the tents, and perhaps an extra tent or shelter or two. As it was, it was unbearable for any extended period of time.

Yesterday was slightly better though. After a bit of research, we headed to the Penny Black on Sydney Road to watch the Grand Final. We had a quick lunch at a place called ‘Empire’, also on Sydney Road (quite good food, fairly standard) beforehand. We had a table reserved, giving a lovely view of the projected game, just next to the bar. It was a shame about the result (it would have been nice to see the Saints win, and more importantly, Geelong lose!) but at least it was a good, close game to finish the year off.

Now however, being a Sunday afternoon, it’s time for warming up, drying off and kicking back until Monday morning arrives.

Chicago

Last night I went to see Chicago at Her Majesty’s theatre, something I’ve been itching for since I heard it was coming to Melbourne. I booked my ticket last week, a seat at the back of the stalls. After mentioning it at work though, someone told me that it’s quite disappointing. She said the outfits and some characters aren’t done very well, and now I know exactly what she meant.

Don’t get me wrong, it was good. It’s a relatively professional stage production of a great musical; it would have been hard to ruin entirely. However there are many criticisms to make – of many different aspects.

First of all, the casting. Caroline O’Connor and Sharon Millerchip (Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart respectively) were definitely not expected; I had been waiting for leggy, young, attractive, confident characters with powerful voices. Instead, two older women, without the bodies (but definitely with voices, don’t get me wrong) were introduced. More importantly, Roxie was being portrayed as a child-like, almost retarded woman, instead of the confused but then reassured character. This was most frustrating, as it added too much humour to it (watching a grown woman act like a handicapped prisoner is funny now?) and distracted from what could have been fantastic songs and acts.

Next up was Gina Riley, who I’m sure many people know as ‘Kim’ from ‘Kath and Kim’. As most people know, she can sing, so that was no surprise. However, it seemed that were relying on that and her fame from television to distract from the fact that she couldn’t really act and had a terrible outfit on. She kept giving the audience little smiles which said, ‘How cool is this, I’m live on stage’, instead of saying, ‘I’m a sexy prison officer who does favours for the in-mates, check out my sex appeal’. Her outfit was a loose-fitting trouser-suit, with a tiny bit of cleavage, and she barely moved around the stage. She should have been strutting around the stage wearing something tight-fitting and/or revealing.

On the other hand, Craig McLachlan and Damien Bermingham (Billy Flynn and Amos Hart respectively) were fantastically cast, their outfits and mannerisms were spot on and did all that was expected of them (by me at least). Damien Bermingham especially did well, with a perfect version of ‘Mr Cellophane’. Of course, the back-up singers/dancers/extras/whatever they are called were all brilliant as well – the bodies, the moves and their voices were great. It’s almost enough to encourage me to take up dancing.

I think the fact that the main character wasn’t portrayed correctly all but ruined it for me. The fantastic singing and flexibility couldn’t make up for the fact that she was playing an entirely different character to what was expected (maybe just from me).

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good performance. A lot of money and effort has gone into it, and it shows. It just didn’t live up to my expectations.