Sunday Selections

River and others post Sunday Selections. Here is my bloomin' lot this week.

There are saucepan lids for my forty year old saucepans. No need to use my best china.    

Phyllis, what have you done to my gleaming and sparkling saucepans?

Yes, just what you want to see as you open your fridge first thing in the morning. Is it Julius? 

Cats prefer running water as it won't have bacteria that still water might have. Think creek as against stale water in a puddle. 

In the living/dining area, there are fourteen seats of various varieties, yet these two often choose the floor. Kosov has had a head shave since this was taken and looks much better.

When entering my apartment, tradespeople offer to take their shoes off. I say, don't bother. It's fine. That's a polite way to act. Truth be told, just check for shoes taken off at the door as a guide, as Phyllis's and Kosov's guests did. 

Another photo of the old and the new, taken on my return trip on the 58 from the zoo.

Today I will go to town to buy some new more comfortable walking/daily shoes. Mine look ok, but they aren't comfortable even after adding an insole. Yes, I went for the cheapest. This time I won't. Later I am meeting my Indian friend who is the same age as me, and my Hairdresser Friend at a gay hotel for a Sunday afternoon drink. We may kick on for some Asian food in Victoria Street, Richmond.

I suppose I am still alive as I do keep doing things.    

Saturday Train Arithmetic

There is a ridiculous situation of the Laverton train, travelling via the Altona Loop, is only partly recognised. In some areas it is a separate train line, but often is lumped in under the Werribee train line. It needs to be a properly listed train route. I know how the line works, but god help a stranger.

Nevertheless, with a welcome change, the Sandringham train line no longer stops at its former gloomy platform with one set of escalators, sometimes switched to up, sometimes switched to down. The off peak daytime service has been increased from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, which is terrific. 

And now, instead of the above mentioned gloomy platform, the train stops at a through running normal Flinders Street platform. The train goes on to provide a twenty minute service to Williamstown, Laverton and Werribee. 

As Sir Les Patterson used to say, 'Are you with me'? Probably not. 

I really have to be in a certain mood to start checking timetables, and I am not there yet. I caught a train from Laverton via the Altona Loop travelling to Sandringham. 

Simply put, a train from one end with a ten minute service can provide a twenty minute service to two destinations at the other end, not three. I never imagined Laverton would be included, and I have no idea how it all works. I guess I will have to edjicate myself, or someone will know. 

Just Sayin' 'Bout Climate Change

A decade or so ago we stayed in a Fairmont Hotel next to Lake Louise. Feeding down to the lake was the impressive Victoria Glacier. Within the hotel were some historical photos from the 1920s. Back then the glacier was wider and came much further down the its carved valley to the lake than what I could now see for ourselves.

Nothing had really hit me so personally about climate change until seeing that photo as my eyes alternated between the photo and what I could see. I knew about climate change, I believed in the science but here seemed to be living proof of a much reduced glacier.

It is early days in terrible raging river destruction in Nepal and Tibet, with a horrendous loss of life, include dual figures of Australians killed. It is also early days to call the cause of the flood being a result of climate change, but I'd put pretty good money on it being warming glacial ice breaking away and causing the flood.

Most of the world is making good noises and some even taking lots of action to stem climate change, but Fuckwit #47 has pulled back on clear climate science in his country. Just one more reason to despair about the future of the US.

Rising sea levels are already shrinking the shores of low lying South Pacific islands. It's gonna be us, Australia and New Zealand, who will have to pick up the pieces of no long inhabitable islands. We can call them Climate Change Refugees. We can't let them drown. Well, it won't be slowly rising seas that does them in. It will be events of nature, cyclones, sea storms, high tides etc, all making island living more dangerous.

Note to Bone Doctor

A few weeks ago Bone Doctor stayed after a doctor's conference and then drinks and socialising afterwards. She arrived back here after I had gone to bed. I left her notes on a small notepad. I would just put the original here, and while I don't have much shame in life, I am ashamed of my wobbly handwriting, so I'll just type it.

Note 1: I meant to leave you a wee dram (Scotch) to help you sleep but alas it disappeared. Sleep well, and see you in the morning. There is some port on the trolley.

Note 2: Chuck over the side of the bed whatever pillows or stuffed toys you don't want and cuddle the toy you do like.  

Note 3: If you are hungry, take an old age pensioner's meals on wheels sandwich from the fridge. 

Sister called last night, right as the 6pm tv news began. She has no respect for the life of her older brother. She and her wife will stay next Thursday night before going to a football match at 10.00am, scheduled to suit American tv audiences. 

Let me investigate. NFL, what is that?   The NFL's first-ever regular season game in Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday 11 September 2026

The Los Angeles Rams will play against the San Fran Cisco 69ers 49ers. I still don't know what NFL is. National Football League? Yes. I will guess this is the slow football with players wearing a huge amount of protective gear. I've seen bits of it on tv, and it's even less interesting to me than Australia's own football and soccer. How can you identify a hot and sexy football player in such garb, and helmets, whereby you can't even see their faces.

Different strokes for different folks. 

A few cents

There is something in life that really get on my goat up my nose, and that is bank card fees.

There is another, a public holiday surcharge at cafes and restaurants when you visit on a public holiday. Yes, staff are paid higher on public holidays, but it is a known amount and should be part of the business owner's budget forecast and overall general pricing to what is sold to include the extra public holiday costs.

But let me focus on the first, card surcharges. They really took off during the Covid years, when people stopped using cash. The surcharge was generally 1.2% to 1.5%. Translating to now, a $5.00 cup of coffee will cost $5.07. Some business really tried to rip off customers with excessively high fees.

I argued with staff in a cheap Asian bakery in Balaclava, where she wanted to charge me $1.25 for a 90 cent bread roll because I refused to pay, and nor did I have any cash. Five years later, I've never been back, although I have wanted to. 

Worse is when you are charged the fee when there isn't a way to avoid paying, like paying cash. You can choose a cafe that doesn't add the card fee, but when booking a concert ticket or a plane flight, you really don't have a choice. 

I hate this extra fee. I don't care if they want to charge me $5.10 for my coffee, that includes the fee, but I don't want to see it as a surcharge added after I pay by card. It needs to be the listed price.

I remember being in New York City in 2015, I think, and what the price label or on a menu was not the price you paid. I think two compulsory taxes were added to the bill and there was an opt out environmental tax. I won't even mention tips, necessary because businesses are allowed to not pay a living wage. Tipping is a insidious disease. 

Finally in what I expect will be very popular, the Federal government is banning the card fees, as of October.

For that loss of seven cents on my cup of coffee, usurious banks are increasing account keeping fees (I don't pay any), and reducing flyer points, etc etc. That's fine with me. 

The price I see on a menu or a booking, or a label, is the price I expect to pay. And only a tip for something out of the ordinary, like if I spill my drink on myself and staff help to clean up. I don't think that is unreasonable.  

High Seas

This is an interesting video from our ABC. Note the mention of tide height. I've never seen the presenter before but he does a well enough job.

At 12 metres/49' I thought we had the highest tides in the world but no. For that you must visit the east coast of Canada, to the Bay of Fundy (thanks Jackie) with its shores being in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick provinces where tides can be up to 17 metres/56'.

Check out this video with commentary and time lapse video.

Or this purely visual and luscious video. 

I don't know if I should continue to occasionally publish posts like this. They take time to get things right, and find the right clips, let alone that I am using the work others.  

Monday Mural

Last week's Monday Mural was well liked, and why not. Along with Sami and others, here is this week's, nothing too wonderful. I have to spread the great with the not so great.

An Australian football match is underway and nicely captured in this mural. Atop the building says A.D. 1879. By the team colours, it seems like the former South Melbourne football club, now Sydney Swans. But I cannot imagine a connection between the team and railway workers to be seen in the background.