Archive for the ‘melbourne’ Category
Myki
Years late and billions over budget, the Myki ticketing system was finally – sort of – launched yesterday. People in Melbourne can either travel out to other towns that have it already (Geelong, Bendigo etc), or can now register for a card online. Bear in mind, you won’t receive it for seven days though. Also, when you receive it, the top-up machine at your local train station might already be vandalised beyond use.
I only recently found out that they have decided to only have a changeover period of approximately six months before discontinuing the Metcard. I can understand that the contract relating to the Metcard is already well overdue thanks to the latecoming Myki system, but I’m shocked at how quickly they are planning this transition, especially considering the Myki system is nowhere near fully functioning yet!
The Myki cards can be used on trains (if they’ll work), but not on trams and buses. For me, this means I’ll still have to carry around a few different tickets. In the mean time, I will keep purchasing the monthly Metcards, as at least they work, to an extent.
I lived near London and although never had one, was introduced to and familiar with the Oyster card system. It’s a similar ‘touch on touch off’ card which can be topped up with credit. However, years later, you can still purchase the traditional Metcard equivelant – which is plain common sense. Granted, not something we usually associate with the Poms, but it makes things much easier for people who might not travel there often and could lose the Oyster card or the older population who are uncomfortable with the technology.
It seems odd to me that London, with their huge transport system managed to bring this out. No doubt there were teething problems, as well as delays and budget problems – it’s still organised by politicians so it goes without saying – but if such a huge city managed to do it, why is Melbourne having such a problem?
I’m sure there are answers relating to arrogance and ignorance of politicians here, but the mind still boggles. When they said that Myki would be launched by the end of the year, I don’t think that anyone believed them, but there was no need to try and prove us wrong by launching one-third of a problematic system which most of us still can’t use immediately.
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.
Bodyjar and Beer Deluxe.
Friday the 13th was far from unlucky for me. Bodyjar are currently on their farewell tour (not a la John Farnham), and I had tickets to go see them at the Corner. A quick dinner at our regular spot Gigi in the city and Jes and I headed out to the Corner.
Supports weren’t off much interest, but we did see most of 28 Days’ set, as my friend recommended them from the night before. They weren’t too bad, but I was itching to see Bodyjar more than anything; it’s been a fair while since I’ve seen them perform.
The set was, of course, filled with their hits, as well as some of their older tunes. The crowd loved it, even if they were aging slightly. I definitely enjoyed it, especially as I had perched on the smaller stage and could still see.
I ran into a friend from Sydney I don’t see often too and now that I know he’s in town, we’ll arrange to catch up properly.
On Saturday afternoon, a group of us from Flickr met up at Beer Deluxe in Federation Sqaure to discuss an idea for an exhibition we have. The discussions were relatively productive and many ideas have been tossed around, but now we have to get down to work. Just as a side note, if one wants to spend an afternoon drinking, Beer Deluxe can get very pricey.
Beer Deluxe is a place that Jes and I have visited frequently in the past few months. It’s conveniently located near to ACMI, where we find ourselves every few weeks or so, and serves such a wide variety of beers that we are pretty much working our way through the menu now.
The beers aren’t cheap, but as most of them are imported or from microbreweries, one doesn’t expect them to be. There is an extensive range of dark beers, lagers, tap beers and trappist. One of these days I shall use the menu online and complete a list of those that I can remember having and what I thought of them. In the mean time, I’ve definitely tried these two.
As it comes into hotter weather, I often feel like a light larger or wheat beer. The wheat beers I’ve picked recently have mostly been too sweet for my liking though. The Erdinger Dunkel was a tasty, heavier version that I’m used to. On Saturday I also tried the Erdinger Weissenbrau, which is new on tap, and that was fresh and light, without being too sweet.
In the cooler weather, the ales and darker beers are to my taste. Again, I’ve had a bad run picking the sweeter ones, but there have been a few gems in the list. Birra Moretti La Rossa and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord have both turned out to be winners.
There will obviously be many more to come, and I will have to start notes on which I’ve tasted – a bit like with the books last year!
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 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.
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