Alert but not alarmed

We were all very alert, and very prepared to be alarmed as we had been warned that at 2pm our national emergency warning system would be tested, with a siren blaring or blasting or ear splitting (the media were full on with their use of a thesaurus), out from our phones for ten seconds, along with a message to ignore the alert.

I was in Bay Street, Port Melbourne at 2pm with Phyllis and Kosov after a driving lesson for Kosov and a need for bahn mi for both of them. Kosov has a dry cough so they went into the supermarket to buy chicken meat to make a restorative chicken soup. I was sitting in the pleasant little park just metres away from the main street. As 2pm approached, I moved closer to the street to see how people would react to the siren.

Remember Big Ears and Noddy of the children's book fame? Noddy drove a car which when he sounded its horn, made a parp parp sound. Does that sounded like a horn blasting a warning. Parp parp.

That is how I'd described the alert. No one in the street seemed to react. An older woman wearing huge earmuffs tried to engage with a couple of young girls walking past, who acknowledged her but kept walking. I was a stationary target. She had a heavy accent, I guess Italian, as she told me told me her granddaughter said to her 'Nonna, don't go out as you will be scared when the siren on your phone goes off'. Nonna insisted she was going out. 'Nonna, take my ear muff headphones then', and she did wear them, and heard nothing. Had I have had my phone in my pocket, I probably would not have heard the 'parp parp' either. 

Nonna liked to talk. Her husband died eight years ago, her daughter of cancer two years ago. Her granddaughter is too choosy about men.  Her grandson was engaged but broke it off. 'He is so handsome, always looks neat and wears nice clothes, and is so funny. He is very kind to me, he works at a prison and has his own house, but he lives in another house with his friend.' Hmmm.

Where on earth are Phyllis and Kosov to save me.

The bastards eventually arrived and walked past me to stand about five metres away. I must have a word with them about what to do in such situations, where the default is to save me. I gave her a couple of pats on her puffer jacket enclosed upper arm and left her midstream talking.

Then they told me they has already engaged with her, as she complained about the toilets in the supermarket walkway being closed for two weeks. 

Did your phones sound an alert, I asked them? No Onnndrew. Mine is on silent, but I saw the message. (the alert comes through regardless of whether your phone is on silent). No Annndrew, I didn't hear anything. I think it probably did work for them but they didn't hear the parp parp.

It seems the alert worked for 94% of the population the phone towers and for those who it did not work for, perhaps a very old phone or a local tower was closed for maintenance.

ABC Radio uses an excellent alert sound when there is a fire or flood threat warning.

It was an alert, but hardly a sound to make you alarmed or even alert. Perhaps they should look at the sounds of older technology. 

                                                                                                             

Monday Mural

Sami and others participate in Monday Mural. 

Phyllis went to an optometrist in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne for an eye test. Eye tests are free for me, but he had to pay $100.

The way overseas students are constantly slugged financially by the Australian government is in my opinion, a disgrace. Yes, they should pay their way, but they are contributing far more than just paying their way.

As Phyllis and Kesav returned, they came across this mural and took photos for me. On the far left, above the monkey's head it says, "Happiness is a quiet revolution". 

Nice, but at times a revolution cannot be quiet. Good luck to young people of the Indian Cockroach Janta Party, with their protests against government corruption. The party and protests has already seen one government minister resign in disgrace.   

A Home Invasion

'Andrew, we have invited friends to play board games on Friday at 11.30. Is that ok?'

They had already invited them, so I had to say yes. I would have regardless. Right, I had planned one last visit before my annual Melbourne Zoo pass expires, and I will do that while games are played.

'Phyllis, are these people who will invade my home trustworthy? I don't want my silverware to be nicked or anyone rifling through my drawers." 

To get to the zoo, I would have once caught the direct 58 tram from home, or a tram to Melbourne Flinders Street, then a train. 

Now with the Metro train, is was much quicker to catch the train from the nearby Anzac Station to Parkville Station, then the 58 tram for the last leg. I've come to realise that while the Metro Train is very quick, as it is in a tunnel, it is terribly boring. If I can pull my eyes away from my phone, I usually like to look out the window at passing scenery. 

Honestly, Melbourne Zoo is boring as bat shit. Most of the animals hide away in the cold weather and those that are out, don't do very much. They don't do much when it is hot either.

I bought coffee and ate the sandwich I brought from home. If there were decent cakes, I would have bought one.

Once home after being out for four hours, there were remains of a huge amount of food being cooked, enough left over for my dinner and some more. The dishwasher was on, but in the sink and on the bench, there was another load to be washed. I am so pleased I pressed Phyllis to use the dishwasher. I can't imagine the water use if the dishes were washed under heated running water, as was his inclination.

An extremely complicated board game was underway on the coffee table, with four visitors. I retired to my west wing to relax and play with my tablet. 

I didn't want to interrupt their game after my rest, and so set up my tablet at my desk to watch the 6pm car crash commercial tv news. Soon after, two people left and the remaining pair retired to Phyllis' and Kosov's bedroom, handing my space at home back to me. My dinner of whatever with rice was served at 7pm, and then everyone left for a 'long walk'. 

The bad, my home was not my own for a period. The good, Phyllis and Kosov were building friendships and relationships. English was the lingua franca.

A zoo gorilla was quite entertaining. She had stolen her siter's hessian sack and kept pulling it over head. I timed my visit for a keeper talk, which was interesting enough.

It was both cool and sad to see the pygmy hippopotamus, as it swam around and around the pool following the same path. I really hope it can be transferred to the excellent Werribee Plains Open Zoo soon.

The thing is Melbourne Zoo needs exotic animals to attract visitors and when there were still elephants at the zoo, they had a rather good amount of land with a natural environment. Their current accommodation at Werribee Zoo is fantastic.

The zoo has at least one lion and a snow leopard in reasonable conditions, but I have seen lions pacing along the walls.

The Komodo dragon was not visible and a keeper did not show up on for the talk. 

Here a few photos from the day.

There wasn't a sentinel meerkat standing erect and watching for enemies, just this one busy burrowing.   

I think it is imaginatively called a giant tortoise. A very cool dude. 

 

Peeky boo lemur. Huddle up and stay warm.

Lemurs together would be called a troop, I guess. I think a good collective noun would be a liaison of lemur. 

You can not see me. I'm a gorilla in the mist....hessian sack.

I cover my ears to destress myself. 

You will be tolled

I began this post quite a while ago. In January 2025, New York City introduced a traffic congestion charge in part of the busiest borough, Manhattan. I am not sure when these details were published, but I will guess at some point in 2025, maybe a few months after the charge was introduced, the charge I believe being about US$9.

Here is a copy and paste of some of the earliest stats.

What’s changed since the toll began?

Cars on the street

Fewer

Traffic speeds

Faster

Peak commute times

Faster still

Local buses

Faster, less delayed

Traffic outside the zone

Not worse

New Jersey commutes

Faster

Transit ridership

Up, up, up

Yellow taxi trips

Up

Citi Bike trips

Up in and out of the zone

Car crash injuries

Down

Parking violations

Down

Traffic noise complaints

Down

Fire response times

Slightly down

School bus delays

Fewer

Visitors to the zone

Up

Restaurants, Broadway

Holding up

Pollution

Too soon to say

Lower-income commuters

Too soon to say

Public opinion

Not great, but improving

Here are some details one year after the congestions charge was implemented. I now understand the charge begins south of 60th Street, pretty well south of Central Park, so it is a very large and very congested area. 

The number of vehicles entering the area is down 11%. That may not sound a lot, but it is 73,000 fewer cars daily.

One killer stat is the killing of  people by cars is down 20%. It's worth doing just for that alone. 

PM2.5 pollution, whatever that is, is down 22%

Subway ridership was up by 5%, with number of trips up by 9%.

Express bus trips up by 8%, and local bus trips up by 8%.

Public transport crime in 2025 was down 5% over 2024 figures.

Until November 2025, US$518 million has been collected by the charge, funding 18 new projects, and budgeting into the the future will see US$6 billion extra spent on public transport.

This really is a success story in New York City, as is the congestion charge in London and Singapore, and I really think it should be implemented in Sydney and Melbourne, within the Central Business Districts, in Melbourne with the exception of King Street and Victoria Street, which are such through routes. There could be an argument about the eastern end of Flinders Street. 

Melbourne City's traffic is mostly at a crawl, as hundreds of delivery drivers mix with motorists looking for cheap on street parking. King Street, Victoria Street and Lonsdale (our east west bus street) move quite well.

Now if Boud hadn't sold her car, I could send her a $50 cheque to cover her costs to drive into Manhattan for a personal report. But I haven't written a cheque since the 1990s. 

Not Dead

It's a bit of a story here whereby a hospital began to notify relatives that a woman had died, when she hadn't. In fact she had no connection to the hospital aside from once receiving a referral to the hospital, which she never followed up.

In Queensland police were sent to inform her elderly aunt of the hospital patient's death.

It is hard to imagine how this could happen. If you attend a hospital, every medical person you see will check your details, including your birth date and at times your home address and phone number. 

Believe me, I know, and I am repeating what I wrote at the time.

I was to have surgery to remove a melanoma on the back of my neck. I attended the hospital to see a consulting specialist and this was the one time when I wasn't asked my birth date.

She began detailing the planned treatments to my chest, how deep the cuts would go, all the information I needed to know, but I was puzzled. She was clearly puzzled herself, as the realisation dawned on her that chest treatment wasn't matching the neck issue. Eventually she said, 'There something really wrong happening here'. Details were checked, and of course she was so apologetic about the mix up.

It took me time to realise what had happened. There was a patient there with the same first name as mine, and a similar sounding surname. When his name was called, I thought it was my name and stood up and went with the surgeon to a consulting room. 

And she was the only medical person in a hospital who did not check my date of birth. 

There was also some confusion once at the pharmacy that provides my drugs, and I expect it was the same person who was wrongly confused by the hospital.

Never get tired of having your birthdate checked in hospital. It is so important, and if you suspect you are wrongly identified, speak up straight away, because none of you want to know the extreme treatments you might undergo when it was not about you and your treatment will be much simpler. 

Your wrist band should be checked if you are an inpatient. I'm sure Nurse Pixie was always thorough about this. 

Less Serious

This post is kind of like a Sunday Selections. I haven't posted many photos of late. 

The tram approaches the tram stop at New Preston Tram Depot stop from the distance. Once out of the city, trams only stop if someone wants to get on or off. If you sit on the seat within the shelter, you can't see the tram coming and if the driver can't see you as they approach, they could go straight past. Meanwhile, the other end of the shelter is clear glass. A Yarra Trams advertising slogan once was 'Think like a passenger', for their staff. Perhaps Yarra Trams should have thought like a passenger at this tram stop. Idiots, idiots and imbeciels. . 

Jass with her friend Amber. 

Stomach unprotected and eyes closed. She trusts us.

They could do with a repaint, but I do like these Russian style dolls. 

Monday was a dramatic sunrise. 

And there was more drama below where a motorist got in the way of a tram in an unimaginable manner and they bumped together.

 

It was all over in ten minutes, I guess details quickly exchanged. The car driver was wearing a full length overcoat while driving, far too restrictive for driving, in my opinion. You know, cars do have heating and can make you very toastily warm.

Incompetents abound. 

Exit the Famous Bearded Media Person

That is how I used to refer to fellow resident Derryn Hinch if I mentioned him.

He lived in our building for around as long as I have, some 24 years. He was always friendly and chatty when we engaged in lift conversations, and expressed his condolences when he knew Ray died. 

His publicly aired opinions were strong and often controversial, and I did not always agree with them. Nevertheless, he was a neighbour doing his job as a media person, just as I did my job. I didn't question him about his and he didn't question me about mine. I thought of him as an essentially a decent person. 

He served gaol time, for contempt of court, and one of home detention (he was allowed to leave his apartment to use our pool and gym), perhaps for the same reason, after naming yet to be convicted paedophiles as a warning to the community. 

He travelled the world in his media role, was a radio broadcaster, tv presenter, charity donor of time and money, made fortunes, lost fortunes, owned a winery and was married five times.

As was said at his funeral, he loved media, women and alcohol. He was a huge drinker of wine, I heard a figure of six bottles a day as a minimum, and this caused problems. Here on his balcony late at night he would burn papers in....... I can't remember the name. It was Japanese outdoor thing you could burn stuffs in? Hibachi? The smoke used to annoy his next door neighbour who liked to have her windows open. The then the body corporate became involved in the neighbour dispute and he was warned more than once.

His drinking also led to liver failure and he received a liver transplant about the same time as our late friend's brother in the Austin Hospital, so they got to know each other. The brother of our friend, a non drinker, is still going and I exchange occasional messages with him. His lovely wife now sadly has dementia.

Derryn owned a ground floor apartment but lived in a rented apartment on an upper level. His PA, and general everything who sorted out his life lived in the apartment he owned, and he eventually bought the apartment where he lived.

He was married five times, twice to the same woman, the famous actor Jackie Weaver. His animal activist girlfriend, Lynda Stoner, from the eighties became his last partner. While he lived here  he met and married Chanel. I knew her rather better than I wanted to, as I, she and the building's cleaner were stuck in a lift for an hour or more in 2009 when a bushfire burnt through a major electrical cable in the north of the state and most of Melbourne lost power. She was pleasant, very glam and to use an old fashioned phrase, of a nervous disposition. She recognised a couple of old queens, Ray and myself, as cool guys, and while aloof with most people, she was over the top friendly with us. She owned a private detective agency. 

They did not live together though. She lived in another apartment, and her parents moved into yet another apartment. Although Derryn once drove around in a Rolls Royce, while he lived here he owned a huge converted to right hand drive black American Cadillac. The carpark in a large building behind the Highrise used to have a car wash facility and Derryn used to have the staff there come and collect his car, clean it thoroughly, and return his car. One staff smashed up his car, and it was off the road for months as parts were hard to obtain. He stopped driving many years ago.

His physical deterioration was quite rapid, and rather sad to see. There was nothing wrong with his mind and he continued to write up until the day before he died in his sleep.

Up until about three years ago, he used the Italian restaurant opposite as his office in the afternoon. With his laptop, he would dine, work, socialise and drink moderately for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The restaurant closed, and so he would be seen less often going out.

After numerous falls and leg infections, he died in his sleep. 

Yesterday he was honoured with a State Funeral, and it was broadcast around the nation by commercial television. At two hours, it was a long watch and I skipped through the music as I watched in a little delay. I seldom praise commercial media, but Channel 9 made it a terrific coverage, without ads. 

My eyes wetted up when Jackie Weaver spoke via video, and his very emotional PA spoke, who obviously I know from lift encounters. Also mentioned and was a pall bearer who was the local resident who organised my repainting and recarpeting two years ago. In the last year or so he put in a huge effort to look after Derryn and his PA.

Oh, I haven't mentioned that he formed his own political party and became a politician in Victoria's upper house, as a member of the the Legislative Council.

Nor did I mention he published 14 books.

Nor that in the early noughties when he was reported in the media, he was described as living in an exclusive St Kilda Road apartment building, which quite amused us and fellow residents who live in the cheap seats of St Kilda Road, but it wasn't always.    

Eras end, and so has another. Vale the Human Headline, the Mouth from the South and Beast from the East, Derryn.