A shiny new thing

I found a new barber and the shop looked quite smart. It would be $5 more for a haircut, but I am an adventurous soul...in some areas. Alas, it is popular and was booked out.

I returned to the one I had been going to for a year or more, which wasn't bad when I first visited but it has deteriorated. I never see the same barber twice, and the last two different guys have been quite rough with their buzz cutting machines. 

As I was looking into the mirror in front of me, watching the reflection of the passing parade of pedestrians outside the salon, I spied something unusual about a passing tram. Was it our sole new operational G Class tram? 

With the reflection confusing me about direction, I did eventually work out it was travelling one more stop to the Flinders Street terminus. 

My unsatisfactory haircut finished and as I left the salon, the tram was starting off from the terminus. I can still walk briskly if a situation requires it, and so I did and caught the tram. I rode the tram to Victoria Market, and caught another tram back.

There isn't a figure available for how much a new tram costs, in this case 100 new trams bundled in with a new depot, maintenance facilities, etc. The figure for 100 new trams and the aforesaid costs is AU$1.85 billion.

So, what did I think? Just wonderful. It was smooth, quiet and felt quite luxurious. It is better insulated from the tracks, the aircon noise wasn't noticeable, the internal passenger information displays were very well thought out. The only fault I noticed was some internal panel rattle as the tram crossed other tram tracks at right angles. 

Some trivia for you, in spite of spinner Adam Chandler (I'm disappointed in you Adam) fronting a video suggesting Melbourne has had a great mix of tram lettering numbering, not really. In order from the early 20th century, we had V Class, W, X, Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, and we skip F Class, to G Class. OK, there was an L Class thrown in too, but really, it does not need super intelligence to guess why F Class was omitted. The thing is, had Yarra Trams or Department of Transport just admitted it wanted to avoid F Class for the obvious reasons, it would have been refreshing honesty, we'd have a chuckle and move on.

Externally it is a bit weird looking, but we'll get used to it. I took these photos after I left the tram. 

For the more nerdy of you, modern trams pull a lot of electricity from the substations via the overhead wires. These trams have batteries which the tram uses to uses to even out power draws. New substations were not required for these trams. 

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. 

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. 

Bad Bunnings

In blog posts I refer to it as the big green shed. In reality it's the Bunnings hardware chain. It has pretty well killed small local hardware stores because the sheer number of products it has in its very large stores.

There is no problem visiting Bunnings if you are in a motor car, but if you visit Bunnings in West Footscray by foot, it is dreadful. I visited the store yesterday by train for the second time, the store being right next to West Footscray Station. I stopped off at Footscray for a bite to eat and coffee. 

The store is easier to visit by public transport than my local Bunnings in Port Melbourne. Last visit to the store, I ended up walking through the underground carpark to enter the store. This time, I was determined to find the main entrance. I did find an entrance from street level, but as I walked towards the sensor triggered electric doors, as I guessed they did not open.

The only way to enter was via the carpark. There weren't any indicators to pedestrians of where to enter the building. I looked at where people were moving in the vast carpark and worked out that those very distant figures were headed to the entrance, with a travelator to take you up to the store. 

As I said, the car  park is vast and was far from full, so cars travel very fast in the carpark. There aren't marked walkways for pedestrians.

The store has a railway station across the street, three bus routes with a stop near the station and there is lots of housing nearby, yet without a pedestrian entrance.

To not have a pedestrian street entrance is a disgrace, let alone one near passing public transport stops and the station and I am not sure how this was allowed. Did the local council, City of Maribyrnong,  approve of this when the Bunnings store plan was presented?

Happy fourth of July to my US readers.

Life happens

A couple of Sundays ago I caught a tram and then a train to Moonee Ponds Station to meet my friend Wombat in Puckle Street. We had a very pleasant lunch and then walked to the the local Court House Museum, where we saw an exhibition about the history of public transport in the locality. Naturally I found this very interesting. 

I can't believe I didn't take photos. I must have really been enjoying myself and my company. Well, I did find a mural to snap. 

I needed milk, so I caught the 59 tram to the city, alighting close to an Elizabeth Street supermarket. 

While I have no photos, it is worth noting this outing. 

In other news, HH's grandson is off to New Zealand to work in some kind of Hobbits amusement attraction. HH's daughter is going with him to help him establish himself, and asked HH to go too. But HH's son's daughter was coming to stay. It was a hard decision for HH, but she said yes. Her granddaughter can stay in her apartment alone, and I will let her into the building and give her keys.

At the age of 80, opportunities to travel overseas don't come too often but HH is doing it, although quite stressed.

Today, a month after buying Perl, she had to return to the dealership to have her nuts and bolts tightened, and any loose hanging wires tied up. I think Perl was washed too. On the way home I briefly gave her maximum acceleration, and boy does she go.

A couple of random photos. Kosov with Jass, and Jass peaking out from a shelf. Jass adores Kosov.

Tram/bus/train and a car crash

It is interesting that it is quicker for me to visit the Bunnings hardware store in West Footscray by public transport than it is to visit my local Port Melbourne Bunnings. 

Drive time to Port Melbourne (Saturday evening, so little traffic), 13 minutes. Drive time to West Footscray, 18 minutes.

Tram and bus to Port Melbourne, 44 minutes. Walk and Metro Train to West Footscray Bunnings, 30 minutes. 

In ways I never guessed, the new Metro Tunnel train has changed how I travel around our city.

Some years ago when drying the car after a car wash, I noticed a bump and a mark on the side of car. Ray had not noticed it. It was very minor, and I think by a shopping trolley. I showed Ray how the mark was most likely made. 

Kosov has an Indian car driving licence and his parents paid for lessons and the test, yet like Phyllis he did not know which way to turn the car steering wheel. Unlike Phyllis, he is not picking up driving nearly as quickly. I would have liked him to spend a couple more times driving on the roads around Albert Park Lake, but alas, the roads have been closed because of the Grand Prix. We tried residential Port Melbourne, but the streets there are so narrow. He drove home from there on big roads, and he was ok.

Cat litter was needed, so I pushed Kosov into the deep end, driving along Queens Road, and he struggled to stay in his lane.

With my constant guidance, we entered the St Kilda Aldi carpark, and all was well, until we left. It was a very tight turn to the exit ramp and Kosov didn't go far enough to the right to line the car up for the tight left turn. But I thought it would be ok. Time slowed and then sped up. By the time he reacted to my stop command, he has already scraped the side of the car on the wall. 

I couldn't get out because of the wall next to me so Phyllis took over, and just made it worse. I told Phyllis to get out and I clambered over to the driver seat and reversed with the correct steering wheel action to get the car off the wall. 

As you can imagine, I was not a happy chappie, but Kosov was under my guidance and I was too slow to react to what he was doing, along with I should not have expected him to make such a difficult manoeuvre. I take the blame. 

My insurance excess it $1200, that's out of my pocket before insurance kicks in. I will take the car for a repair quote this coming week. If the cost is more than $1200, I will have to think of the impact of making an insurance claim against perhaps a higher insurance cost. 

This is a bit of a downer, when others are posting Sunday Selections. Let me add some balloon photos in the memory of the late Sue. 

Personal Stuffs

Written last week. Already behind. I took the batter off a fish at the venue and ate mashed potatoes with the fish. White diet on track, 

with the procedure done today, Monday.

Well, back to square one with me now teaching Kosov how to drive. Phyllis is quite competent at driving now and has not banged up my car. Kosov has an Indian driving licence which makes it an easy administrative process. He needs to sit the test, and he's done the theory, so as he has an Indian driving licence, driving a manual car, stick shift as I believe it is called in America, it should be easy. 

It isn't. He doesn't know how to drive at all. I would almost say he is worse than Phyllis at the beginning. I had to smack his left leg to get it away from the brake pedal and on to the footrest. One day driving around Albert Park Lake, with quite some improvement the next day, I'm sure he'll get there. Twice I told Phyllis who was in the back seat to shut up at advising Kosov about his driving in their language. 

It interests me how they switch from their language to English and back. Oddly sometimes with me around they will talk their own language, but from their bedroom, I hear them talking in English and their own language. Their language sounds quite rapid fire, and they tend to speak English very rapidly, which at times makes it hard for me to understand them. Phyllis' spoken English is better, whereas Kosov's is slower, and at times he struggles for the correct English word.

It's been a busy week, with three medical appointments and dinner out with Bone Doctor and Jo, who called in after spending a couple of days with Bone Doctor's mother in south Gippsland, who is rapidly deteriorating with MS.

They parked here and went out to explore the new Metro Tunnel, before returning for an early dinner with me and then going off to see a new production of Pirates of Penzance at the Palais Theatre. Sister and Bone Doctor bought Jo a car from an elderly couple across the road and Jo's university where she will live in, is a long way from home, and she will return to home each weekend. 

Today I went food shopping, and I say that advisedly as I mostly buy tissues and Vim, along with restocking my metaphorical wine cellar. Phyllis and Kosov buy most of the fresh food to cook. It has become a lot harder to find a car parking space where I shop, so I need to leave home before 10.00. This does not suit me, so I am thinking of another way to shop. 

Sunday there will be a family celebration for my great niece's 10th birthday. It's over an hour away, in Balnarring, which most people, including me pronounce as Balnairing, but last weekend at the great nephew's first birthday, my niece's husband argued to his wife and children that it is more like the a in apple, and he was quite right. I hate being wrong so I did check. 

Sadly I will be on the 'white diet' on Sunday, some of you will know what I mean, and I've looked at the menu and I can have grilled fish  and chips, no vegetables or salad. 

Can I chuck in a photo? Let me look. Don't we all need a blue Aga?

Sydney Summary

I enjoyed my visit to Sydney, but of course I was pleased to get home. Sydney is quite some city and it should be all tourists' prime destination. Many Sydney visitors won't be used to using public transport, but it is truly the best way to get around the city. I didn't need a cab or an Uber once. As a card carrying Senior, the daily cap of $2.50 to use trains, trams, buses and ferries is a bargain. For full fare payers, the daily cap is $20 Monday to Thursday and $10, Friday to Sunday (AI generated, check yourself). 

But, was it a good idea to visit a city I know so well, stay in the same place and do much the same as what Ray and I used to do? I don't really think it was. Cathy picked up on something I must have said, and yes, since I returned, I've felt somewhat fragile and emotional. At times I feel overwhelmed with sadness, but it is brief and I just get on with my life. Forty five years is a long time to spend with someone, and then they are suddenly no longer there. In a way, it was like a reason for being was taken away. I suddenly had no obligations or responsibilities beyond my own needs. 

Here is some advice for helping people who are grieving. Yes, by all means be there for them in the immediate period afterwards, but 3 months later, 6 months later, 1 year later, 2 years later, ask them how they are doing with a direct reference to whoever has died. I would have liked that, but no one has done so with me.

Some of you have been through this already, and could add to what I've written, and some of you will go through this. You will have a lot of administration to do, and just get on with it. Getting angry with idiotic bureaucratic processes passes the time. Socialise as best you can. But most of all let your eyes water. It your party and you can cry if you want to. Crying and deep sobbing is nature's way of dealing with grief. 

When you post nearly daily, you select a time to post, and my blog posts are normally scheduled at 5.00am EAST, a time I judged to suit the early rising late Sue. 

Sydney thoughts and boobies

Sydney and Melbourne have similar population numbers, but within the Sydney city itself and its inner areas, the streets felt far more busy and more alive. Maybe it's that Sydney has warmer weather? I don't know. At times it felt crowded. Curious. 

Sydney's Metro train is amazing. There is a train every five minutes in the middle of the day. I think it becomes every three minutes in peak times. It is driverless, incredibly fast and passenger numbers have exceeded expectations. I loved it, except...

The seats are all sideways and the train's acceleration away from stations gives very strong G forces. The feeling is quite unpleasant. I'd rather face forward or backward than sideways. Just like London's DLR driverless trains, it feels odd as it speeds up at times, and then brakes, whereas if the driver in control, there would be coasting.

The seats are hard, and while the tracks are all new, the weirdest thing happened between Crows Nest Station and Chatswood Station. The train may have travelling at 100/60 and in my carriage, it was bouncing about every half second, you could say rapidly jiggling along. And, even though I have little interest in women's breasts, I could not fail to notice the women within my view had breasts jiggling up and down in tune with the train jiggling. It felt so unpleasant, and I thought at the time, unsafe. Are we about to derail? This is on new tracks, and in a new train!

The new and yet to be finished Sydney Metro is great, but the trains used are not. They are horrible, and to add, the air conditioning blows air straight down onto your head.

So after my visit to Chatswood I did not catch the Metro back to the city, but a stopping overground train. It was slower, but I was a tourist with time to spare. The seats were so comfortable, the train, smooth, quiet and no air blowing on me. 

A former Prime Minister, John Howard, lived in the suburb Wollstonecraft, and what a delightful station was that as they train paused. I was slow with the camera, but I did capture one view of the city from the train.  

And this one from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Privatisation is good?

Aren't we told privatisation leads to competition and a better customer experiences, along with cheaper prices?

Hey, cheaper prices really happened with the UK railways when the system was privatised! No? Certainly not. It also lead to some terrible train crashes as the system became poorly maintained by Thatcher's private companies. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey, railway companies in England and Scotland are being returned to being government operated.

Essential services should be run by governments, who own, operate and are responsible for what happens. Governments need to put the right people in positions of power to operate the services, along with adequate funding. 

Australia's government owned telecommunication department, Telstra, was privatised and its major competition became Optus. Optus is on the back foot at the moment because of the failure of its 000 emergency call system, where some people may have died because of the failure of the system.

So Telstra is now a private company, and Optus is ostensibly a private company, but is it? It is owned by Singtel, a telecommunication company owned by the government of Singapore. So, was it a great idea to privatise Telstra and allow a foreign government owned company to become its major competition? Now our private company competes against, effectively the full resources of the government of Singapore.

In the last financial year, Optus earned AU$8.4 billion in Australia. There will be allowed deductions from the earnings, but what would you think was a fair corporate tax on such earnings? $2 billion? $3 billion? 

Try zero!

Netflix in Australia, earning $1.2 billion, no tax.

Tech giants pay a very small amount of tax in Australia.

Murdoch's corporation, owner of three major daily newspapers in Australia, and with Fox streaming, Foxtel, Sky TV, Sky News, along with the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, paid no corporate tax in Australia  

I don't blame these companies. They have complied with legal requirements. Tax is not a voluntary contribution. 

There is something seriously wrong with Australia's tax laws.

Many of Australia's major companies are US investor owned, including our big four banks, one of our major two supermarket, Woolworths and the mining company BHP. They are private investors who own so much in Australia, and not governments. I don't think that is ideal, but it is the way of the world now.

Also there is another foreign government investor in Australia, Canada's Pension Plan. While it is managed at arms length, it is still owned by the government of Canada.

Then worse, a Chinese company connected the government of China has a 99 year lease on the Port of Darwin. No one was happy with this, but it happened under our conservative party in 2015. Unbelievable. Darwin is probably Australia's most strategic port should there be trouble, and is used by the US defence force. 

Whatever your thoughts are about the merits of privatisation, I do not like Australian government assets privatised, only to be owned by foreign governments. 

And what kicked this rant off? I discovered a prominent player in Australia industry, especially public transport, is Keolis. The company is owned by SNCF, the French national government owned railway company.

The real point of this post is that Australia removes essential services from public hands to private hands, only to have our privatised assets being bought up by foreign governments. 

I should have stayed home x 2

Yesterday, which was Sunday as I type on Monday, Kosov had a job interview in the suburb of Tullamarine. It would take about one and a half hours to get there by public transport, with a bit of a walk too. I did not think this would be sustainable, should he have gotten the casual job. However, he needs a job, and it would be experience for him.

As I had nothing planned for the final day of cars screaming around a race track, I offered to drive him, and Phyllis came along.

It was raining as I drove along the freeway, but we found the place in Sharps Road easily enough, which was actually within a service station. 

It was a waste of time. The interviewer had changed the job to full time, which students can't work, and possible 5am starts and 1pm finishes. I didn't say anything but it was a total waste of my time, petrol and toll road costs. We decided to visit the Airport West shopping centre for some food. 

At the food court they went one way and I went the other, and I bought some very ordinary pork thingies with some rice, found a table and ate it on my own. I kept scanning the area for them but they weren't there. They had gone off to a shop, apparently. I tried to call them but within the shopping centre, the signal was poor. Phyllis called and said they would join me in five minutes which they did and they hadn't even bought food. They bought some extremely spicy chicken and I was annoyed that I would have to sit there while they ate. I wanted to go home. They asked if I wanted to stay or should they take the food home. Of course I said, take it home. Once home, one bite of chicken had my eyes watering. I've just remembered the name, Nene Chicken Shop. 

It is hard to be annoyed with them. Once in the car and ready to drive home, Phyllis told me to close my eyes, and I did while he unwrapped something. OMG, I love it. You may remember I have metal geckos on my bedroom wall.

 

Monday always annoys me as it is the day my food is delivered at the inconvenient time between noon and 1when I am normally out at that time. I work around it and I needed milk, soda water, and soft drink for visitors, the weight which would add up to six kilos, plus whatever else I needed, so I took the car. I drove to Port Melbourne, but the normal road was closed, so I had to divert and it took so much longer, but I had the spare time. 

I bought some of what I wanted, but where was the potato salad and coleslaw. I couldn't find it, so I gave up. As I was checking out what I bought, some scrag was kicking off. She wanted half a dozen eggs but there weren't any half dozen boxes. She was insisting staff cut a box in half for her, which they can't do. She was going on and on and really harassing the staff. I took what I bought to the car and returned through the supermarket walkway. The woman was still going off, demanding one staff member's name. I stopped and said the woman, Do you know how absurd your behaviour is? 

I hate it when innocent staff have to deal with people like her. I took her photo, and she said, don't you fucking well do that. Well, I did, and I was in a seriously bad mood by then. I broke my rule about not attacking people who you think are less powerful than you, provoked by her dreadful and ongoing attack against staff over half a dozen eggs. 

There is normally a guard on duty at the supermarket, but maybe they were on a lunch break. I went outside and called police, and they said they would attend. 

After I finished my call, an entitled and privileged jerk pulled up in his Mercedes and stopped in a bus stop where buses are reasonably frequent and busy. He parked there for maybe seven minutes. I knew he wouldn't be long, and I melodramatically had my phone pointed at his car as he came out and roared off towards the city from Bay Street. I reported him using Snap, Send, Solve, and shortly after, the matter was solved. He won't be prosecuted by me just sending a photo, but he may be noted.

I normally like visiting Bay Street, Port Melbourne. It is a friendly area, where shop keepers remember you, and you have some good interactions with them. People are very accepting of difference, and with some public housing nearby, tolerant of those with mental health issues. It just wasn't the right day to be there. 

A better day tomorrow, I hope.   

Didi, the bad and good

When Phyllis travelled home to southern India last year, he was so overloaded with luggage. Students receive a special luggage allowance, about 60/133. While Kosov was going with him to the airport using public transport, they would have to leave two hours earlier than if they took a cab. I felt sorry for them and ordered a Didi at my cost, which is like Uber but better in my opinion.

As we walked out the front door of the building, the Didi pulled up, luggage was loaded, goodbyes said, and off they went. 

A email receipt arrived promptly with a breakdown of the charges, and there was a $1.10 waiting charge. That was annoying as there wasn't any waiting. I should have complained but for $1.10? Doing so would be a bother.

Then came an expose of scandalous activity by taxi drivers and those who manage them. This is good timing to complain about the $1.10. 

I received a flight refund rather than a flight credit when Ray died, I believe partly because I made the request right when there were scandalous headlines about airline companies. (Bit of a pattern here, no?)

I looked at the Didi website and lord help you if you need to contact the company. I could not find a way to do so. The next time I used a Didi, I noticed on the app, a button to dispute charges, so I did so with a brief written line or two. Within a minute or so, my phone alerted me to a bank transaction, and sure enough, the $1.10 had been credited to my account. Yes, it is nothing to me, but if a driver does this multiple times, it can add up. It seems Didi's driver monitoring systems are vastly superior to our taxi industry.

While for a different reason, a similar thing occurred to a friend when he disputed a charge. 

I've used Didi a few times since, usually when I go to a pub to meet friends for dinner, and there hasn't been a charging problem. 

The email receipt gives a good break down, and the app works very well. This was from Sunday night when I was coming home from a pub, hence no Monday Mural post. I was going to catch a tram but it was just too hot and a bit of a walk. 

Total $11.37 Fare Breakdown Fare $9.80 Duration 11 min Booking Fee $0.55 Government Transport Levy $1.32 Fuel Surcharge $0.12 Handling Fee $0.17 Voucher -$0.59 Payment Method Credit / Debit Card -$11.37

 

Lost for words

I don't know what this post is about. I am just writing.

Yesterday I met the newest of the family. He is...a baby a few weeks old. I bought some absurdly expensive clothing for him at the posh Seed shop in Albert Park. Ray and I used to argue there every time we bought some clothing for a new born. Me, we are not spending that much, and then I spent that much. I asked for it to be wrapped and the shirt and shorts was wrapped very nicely in tissue paper, in a white box with a red ribbon around. No extra charge. They are size 1, perfect for him next summer. 

Mondays I have to hang around home to wait for my food delivery around noon. My neighbour HH was off to Morning Melodies, so I accepted her delivery too. One of her brother in laws died last night, but he had been unwell for some time and aged 88. It was no shock to anyone. I did go across the road for coffee at about 10.30. 

I ate some pumpkin soup from the freezer, with pretend croutons. Phyllis had left me half a kind of spicy sausage roll to eat, and that was nice. He is such a good cook. Kosov's laptop would not work and no matter what we did, nothing worked. It eventually completely died. 

I communicated with a couple of people online and I then went out to catch a 604 bus to Elsternwick Station. My plan was to catch a train back to South Yarra and a tram home from there. But I left the bus at Coles supermarket before the station to buy something, and then a 67 tram was approaching so I caught that home. 

Mail arrived in my letter box. One was a bill for last month's food delivery. Why can't they send the bill electronically? I called City of Port Phillip and a request has been lodged for me to receive the bill by email. Last week I had no postal mail at all, and then two letters today. I much prefer bills to come via email, and they nearly all do. 

The other letter was from a debt collector, clothed in the name of Mercantile Services, wanting payment for Ray's trip to the hospital by ambulance the night he died. A bill did arrive last year and our private health insurance covers the cost of the trip. I forwarded the bill to the health insurance company, assuming I would hear no more. Another letter arrived, and I thought the health insurance was slow to pay. Another letter arrived, so I called my health insurance company. 

It had been taken over by another company and changed its name, which happened a month after Ray died. Then I changed my cover from a couple to a single. I called my health insurance company and it is working on it, it said. Clearly the ambulance bill got lost somewhere. Ray died with some money towards his funeral, but effectively intestate. So there is no money in his estate to pay the bill. I think I should reply to the latest demand, but then I think, fuck it. It is not my bill. Go for you life to get money from a dead person. 

I've done everything right, but I am not doing anymore with this. 

A meal of barramundi and chips from my old person subsidised delivery service company. Phyllis kindly heated it for me and added some greens to it. 

You can't see anything really, but early yesterday there was a crash below. As those involved exchanged details, a shower of rain passed by, adding to their misery.

The purple tap is a public supply of recycled water, and is cleaned enough to drink, in spite of the message.

My pot of flowers on the balcony. 

The cupboards are full of all sorts of exotic ingredients and some were stacked on my tiny corner of cupboard, psyllium husks, Vegemite, peanut butter, jam and honey. I removed what was on top. I want free access to my stuff. 

Phyllis, this will be the only magnets on my fridge. Mine.

Yes Andrewww. But just this Singapore one. No Phyllis, no more. That is the last. Yet there is now another. 

Good bus

This is a bus. This is a good bus, as it is an electric bus, charged overnight at the depot, and it has degenerative regenerative braking, that recharges its batteries when it is in service.

See the orange at the front of the bus roof? I understand that is where the batteries sit.  

I have ridden a couple of route 604 electric buses and one 603. They are excellent, and any doubt I had about there being enough power for aircon in very hot weather was dispelled. They are cool inside, quiet inside and out.

When we moved here we had three bus routes from Brighton via Prahran pass by, with a stop conveniently in front of our building. Although I do prefer trams in general, the tram from Prahran was often busy, and even busier now, so we would often catch a bus to or from Prahran, especially in warm weather as they were all air conditioned. 

Bus routes were rationalised and the buses then terminated at the Alfred Hospital, still a little useful to get home if there was a tram problem, as it was one stop to walk to St Kilda Road and catch a tram from there. 

Bus routes were again rationalised and I now have the 604 passing by, but it is a short walk from stops in either direction for me, the Anzac Station terminus or Slater Street. I've used it a few times. 

Today, because I could, I caught the 603 eclectic bus from the corner of Toorak and Williams Road to Burnley. The driver greeted me, I was the sole passenger, and I had a brief chat to her before I alighted at the terminus to find out if bus drivers like the new electric buses, and she was passionate in her praise for them. They are nice from a passenger perspective too, without the engine racket and diesel fumes of what will soon enough be, not a normal bus. A happy bus driver makes for a better bus trip. 

I believe in a few months, all our state's new buses must be electric. 

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is due to finished in 2026, 100 years after the death of its designer Antoni Gaudi. Construction began, would you believe, in 1882. I am a person who thinks public transport is good but sadly Gaudi was killed when he was hit by a tram, at his age of 73. 

The first photo is from the Sagrada foundation and the rest are mine. 

This was the view from the balcony of our apartment in 2017. We wondered what on earth we were looking at when we first entered the apartment.

Of course we wanted to visit and I looked online. We should have booked days ahead. Entrance was booked out, as were all tours. 

I really wonder what Gaudi was thinking.