Sydney 2009 - Day 6

It's about time I got around to writing about our last day in Sydney...

We Checked out of the apartment quite early, about 8.30am, after giving a place a bit of a tidy, doing the dishes, and throwing out all the uneaten food.

We walked the length of Kent Street to The Rocks and up some stairs to the Sydney Observatory, it didn't open until 10 and it was only 9 at this stage. After going around to the park at the front of the observatory and looking at the harbour and bridge for the millionth time I suggested to Daniel it might be an idea to go for a ride across the bridge on a train. So we walked down to Wynyard station and got the next train to the north shore.

After crossing the bridge I suggested we stay on the train for a while and after a brief stop at Millsons Point we stopped a North Sydney for a good 5 minutes. I then suggested that we should stay on until Chatswood. Chatswood is one end of the new Epping - Chatswood rail link. This line is in a tunnel that runs bellow the Lane Cove River and gives Macquarie University access to the rail network.

And so after waiting a few minutes at Chatswood our train approached from a siding down the track a bit. The trains used on this line at the moment are the new interurban H sets, as apparently the older trains are unable to climb the steep grades in the tunnel. The journey itself was pretty boring, but at least I can now say I've been somewhere new. Arriving at Epping and up onto the cold hard light of day of the northern line platforms we boarded a citybound train after waiting not even a minute. From here it was a long way back to Sydney, first heading south through Ryde the over the Paramatta River, past the 2000 Olympic site and to Strathfield turning east to Burwood, from where the train then ran express to Redfern and the city stations.

We got off at Town Hall and then had a bite to eat in one of the underground shopping arcades. Then came the second part of my covert mission that day, to find my all time favourite store, Hobbyco. You name it, Hobbyco has it be it planes, cars, trains, boats, rockets etc etc etc. They used to be in Pitt Street near Myer, but I had heard they had moved to The Queen Victoria Building, and that is where I found them.

I usually spend ages just browsing around Hobbyco, but today we were pressed for time as we had a flight to catch. So I made it quick(er) visit. I actually bought 3 things too. Normally I walk out empty handed. The first thing was a model plane for my nephew's birthday. He's been nagging me about helping him build one. I don't think he has the patience for the full glue and paint experience, and I found they had the Revell Easy Kits that don't need glue and come pre painted. I have been looking everywhere for these in Melbourne, but they seem hard to come by in the shops I frequent. So I was happy about that. The other things I bought were an indoor remote control helicopter and an AVRO RJ-85 model kit, both for myself.

Leaving with a rather large bag of goodies we walked back to the appartment, got our bags out the storage and went back to Town Hall to get the train to the airport. In all we arrived at the airport over an hour before our 2:30 flight. The departures hall was deserted (no bikies bashing the living suitcase out eachother either) and we checked in and passed through security rather to quick. That is except for me trying to juggle the three bags I had as carry on (laptop, backpack, and hobbyco) onto the conveyor and off again. We had time to sit down for some lunch before walking straight up to the gate just as boarding was announced, so we were among the first people on the flight.

Good thing we got seats right down the back, 53 A and B as I had to work out where I was going to stow everything, so I didn't block people trying to find their seats. In the end two of the boxes went into my backpack and into the overhead with my laptop, while the remaining box in the Hobbyco bag went under the seat in front.

While we were having lunch inside the terminal earlier they were calling passengers for the preceding flight to Melbourne, which was scheduled to depart at 2pm, half an hour before our flight. That plane was parked right next to ours and it only left about 10 minutes before we did. I saw it push back and taxi from my window before another flight arrived a few minutes later.

As usual when leaving Sydney our flight seemed to taxi half way to Melbourne before turning around onto 34 R (that's the third runway that sticks way out into Botany Bay) and departing to the north. Shortly after take off we made a right hand turn and headed over the eastern suburbs and out into the Tasman Sea. I was begining to think we were being routed via Wellington when we turned to the south, and we eventually made landfall south of the 'Gong. Out the window I could make out Jervis Bay and the township of Nowra.

That was when we entered the cloud and it was actually quite bumpy for about 10 minutes before we reached a smooth cruising altitude. We popped out of the cloud again right over Sugarloaf Reservoir, right there I knew I would be able to see my house soon. Not quite, but I could make out the sporting fields at the end of my street as well as the Greensborough Plaza shopping centre and general roads and train stations etc. It was one of the best approaches I've ever had into Melbourne as I could recognise a lot of stuff that I usually can't see.

We touched down on Runway 27 at exactly 4:07pm. Waiting in the terminal was Daniel's mum, who had agreed to give us both a lift home.

That's it really. It was a good trip and we packed a hell of lot in to our time there. Mostly stuff I've done before though, but it was still good. Even though I'm a bit over Sdyney at the moment, I definitely look forward to going back. Don't know why but the city has a strange attraction. I have heaps of photos from this trip I might get around to posting a few at some stage soon.

Sydney 2009 - Day 5

Our last full day in Sydney. Daniel wanted to have a look around Sydney University so we got a bus from George Street to Camperdown where the main campus is. for some reason I have never really ventured beyond Central Station in this direction and I found the bus ride alone quite interesting.

I would just like to say that Sydney Uni is huge, on the map it seems kilometres across. It is also very old, with some really nice older buildings. It was interesting to walk around for half an hour or so. We both must still look like students because we were getting harassed by candidates in the student union elections that were taking place on the day. After getting a sticker off one of the candidates we walked back to Broadway (the name of the main road) and got a bus back to George Street.

We got off at Haymarket and walked down Hay Street (Trams!) towards the Sydney entertainment centre and then to the Chinese Gardens at Darling Harbour. About the gardens, all I can say is wow. Probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, I really cant describe it you have to see it with your own eyes. We actually stopped for morning tea in the tea house. Daniel had tea, I had Coke, as I don't really drink tea or Cofee (well I eat cofee) and we had some chinese pastries. Some were yum others were just odd. Overall it was very nice though.

Lunch time came very soon after morning tea and after leaving the gardens we went to the food court at Market City. All I wanted was Indian, and that is what I had. Beef vindaloo, lamb curry and butter chicken. I didn't think I could manage a naan, so I left that out. I love Indian food.

On full stomaches we walked to the Powerhouse Museum where we spent the rest of the afternoon until closing time. We didn't get to see everything, before they kicked us out, but it was good all the same. I haven't been there for over 10 years so it was a good refresher. It is a good museum, but I can't help but feel that it is missing something. Makes me think I should visit the Melbourne Museum again one day.

When we got back to the appartment I ended up having a nice 1 hour power nap. The only problem was I woke up a bit cranky.

For dinner went back to Chinatown, but to a different Taiwanese restaurant. It was different in that instead of menus it had computer screens where you made your selection. while I can see why this might seem like a good idea, I think it is a stupid way to run a restaurant. This was a very authentic restaurant, with no western style chinese food at all, and no drinks other than tea or milk based drinks. I had to flag down a waitress to get some water brought to the table (see this is where the impersonal style of ordering breaks down). I was also unhappy with my meal, three cup chicken, which was full of bones, and was a really small serving. I was a bit pissed at the whole experience and took it out on Daniel when he didn't take back the silver we got for change, saying it was a tip. It was a 50 cent coin, and I told him it was a crappy tip and stormed out. I got 2/3 of the way back to the apartment and realised he had the key, so I waited on a corner for him to catch up. I had calmed by then, but felt like a total idiot.

Sydney 2009 - Day 4

After the big trip to the Blue Mountains the day before, it was time to take it easy. First port of call was the Sydney Tower where we enjoyed the spectacularly lame (to an Australian) OZ trek, which is more or less a half hour summary of Australia for international tourists. It is included in the ticket price so we went for it. OZ Trek starts out with a sort of hologram show set in four different dioramas of the Australian environment. When you enter you sit in one of four seating areas and as the show goes on you rotate around to the next scene. We started in the outback, then went to the city, then the rainforest before going to the beach. The second part of OZ Trek is a motion simulator where you get to fly around all different parts of Australia, it's actually quite good. I remember going on theis years ago and I was disappointed that they no longer spray water on your face when you dive under water or get sneezed on, that was the best bit.

Finally we were able to go up the tower, but not before we had our photo taken. We also had to go through a metal detector like at the airport which was a bit wierd. I've got to say I was a bit under whelmed with the view from the top, you couldn't really see the opera house or Circular Quay at all. It was still good though, but I actually think I like the experience at the Eureka tower better. When we arrived back down in the lobby they tried to sell us the photo that they took of us before we went up for $30, what a rip off.

The plan was to go go via government house to Circular Quay and get a ferry to Watsons Bay, although on the way we stopped for about 20 minutes in Hyde Park to watch a giant chess game. Daniel had to commentate for me, but I think I got the gist of what was going on. In the end black conceded to white I think.

Ater walking to Government House and looking at it from the outside we dodged the odd lunch time touch football game in the park and went down to Circular Quay. I needed a toilet, but the ones under the train station were closed for cleaning, so we went into the old customs house, which actually turns out to now be a public library. The floor of the building is see through and under it they have a model of the city of Sydney. It's amazing what you find by accident. Even more amazing was that I didn't even notice it when entering the building, but only after looking down at it from the second floor where the toilets were. Seems I had one thing on my mind at the time.

After a short wait we boarded the ferry to Watsons Bay. Not sure why but the Watsons Bay service always seems to be one of the newer Super Cats, rather than the older First Fleet class of ferries which do the the inner harbour runs. I guess they are quicker and more suited to the longer distance to Watsons Bay. As usual the ferry made stops at Garden Island, Double Bay and Rose Bay (home of Sydney Sea Planes) before arriving at Watsons Bay.

While getting off the ferry and walking past the great big long line of people waiting to get on someone shouted my name. Turning around I realised it was my cousin. We had a quick chat before the line started moving on to the ferry. Only a few weeks before at a family get together my cousin mentioned that he and his girlfriend were going to Sydney at the same time that I was. I jokingly said something like "see you there", I never actually thought it would happen.

By now it was at least 1:30 and Daniel and I were both starving, so we made our way straight to the line for Doyles take away fish and chips. My eyes were bigger than my stomache and I ordered a pack that had fish, chips, about 6 calimari rings and and several scollops. All washed down with an icy cold can of coke. As usual for Doyles it was very delicous and very fresh.

After taking some time out for digestion we walked up the hill through the park and over the road to "The Gap". Took it easy on the way up and made it around near the naval station overlooking the Sydney Heads. Somehow we managed to miss the next ferry and had to wait an hour for the last ferry of the day. I don't understand why the Watsons Bay ferry finishes at 4 in the afternoon, but that's the way it goes. I had a snooze on the ride back and managed to sleep most of the way I think.

We then got the train back to the apartment and then went to an italian restaurant at Harbourside in Darling Harbour for dinner.

Sydney 2009 - Day3

Today was our trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. We more or less did the same things as I did on my own in 2007.

At Central Station in the morning after getting our tickets we went to the Krispy Kreme outlet at the station. Even though they are everywhere, I have never tried them, and never really intended to. Today however I bought a raspberry jam filled chocolate coated doughnut. I fail to see what the fuss is about, it just tastes like any other doughnut. I don't get it?

The best way I have found to get to and see the area around Katoomba is a Blue Mountains Explorer Link ticket, which includes both the rail fare and the explorer bus fare. On Saturday when we first arrived at the airport station we both bought a weekly purple travel pass, I told the man in the ticket booth that we had these, and he gave us tickets from Emu plains to Katoomba. The fare was a bit less than normal, but not by much much.

The 2 hour trip from Central to Katoomba went fairly quick. Once at katoomba we got our proper bus ticket (a booklet with map, timetable and description of the attractions along the route). The Blue Mountains Explorer is a hop on hop off bus that does a loop around Katoomba and Leura that takes about an hour for each run, the buses come around about every half hour. We got off at one of the first stops and walked along the top of the cliffs to Scenic World. there we stopped for lunch before doing the rides.

Scenic World has 3 rides, the most famous being the scenic railway. However, first we did the scenic Skyway, which is a cable car that goes across part of the valley and back again. It is a bit like the edge at the Eureka Tower in Melbourne in that part of the floor goes clear. After surviving the glass bottom cable car we descended on the Scenic Railway into the valley and did the short forest walk to the Cable Way station. Along the way we were overtaken by several large tour groups and so got on the Cable Way with a large group of rather pushy Indian tourists ( I guess that's how things work in India?). After exhausting things to do at scenic world we got back on the bus and went around to Echo Point.

Echo Point is the classic lookout for viewing the three sisters. I seem to recall my uncle threatening to throw me off here when I was about 6 years old. Good to see that the girls are still there, but by now I began to realise that I had way too many photos of the valley.

Our final stop on the bus was the Gordon Falls lookout. The waterfall was more of a trickle, and there were yet more views of the valley, yawn. The second last bus for the day soon came around the corner and took us back to the metropolis of Katoomba. We gathered some snacks at the local Coles supermarket for the 2 hour journey back to Sydney, and trekked back to the station where our train was already waiting.

Back in the city we stopped at KFC to get some take away and returned to the apartment for the night. After dinner I sat down at the computer to catch up on some blog posts.

Sydney 2009 - Day2

The day started off with me having to ring reception to get some bowls brought up. It's a bit hard to eat breakfast cereal when you don't have bowls. I'm not sure where they went, but the new ones were soon brought up to our room by a member of staff.

Yesterdays rain from Melbourne had caught up to us in Sydney and after setting off through Hyde Park it seemed to get heavier and so headed back under cover to a food court in Pitt St for some more breakfast. Continuing on our mission after the rain stopped we walked past the parliament building and the N.S.W state library stopping to admire a statue of Trim, Matthew Flinders' cat that accompanied him all the way from England and on his voyage around Australia.

We then walked down through the botanic gardens to the opera house. our aim was to walk across the bridge, and so we ascended many stairs through the rocks before making it to the bridge walkway. Along the way we stopped at the south-eastern pylon and climbed to the lookout. After seeing the views from there we continued on across the bridge to Kirribilli where the Sunday market was still going (yes it was still Sunday). Here we stopped for some lunch, some sort of middle eastern flat bread that was folded over with meat spinach and chilli inside. It was really tasty actually.

After lunch we headed down to the Millsons Point ferry wharf at Luna Park. While waiting for the ferry I am adamant that a man I saw waiting there was Ricky Gervais. Daniel didn't seem to know whe he is, so couldn't confirm it. Anyway we got the ferry to circular quay and then got the ferry to Manly.

At manly we walked through the Corso and along the beach for a bit before returning for an ice cream. while we were sitting and eating our ice cream some cockatoos were getting stuck into the seeds high up the trees causing a shower of seeds on the unluck people bellow. While making our way back to the ferry we had a look through some of the junky tourist shops in The Corso.

Arriving back a Circular Quay, we got a train back to Town Hall. On the way we checked the times at the cinema around the corner and decided to see the movie, Knowing latter that night. We had a very spicy dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant in Chinatown. I ate so much i was nearly bursting. We had some sort of pancake, a leek cake, and some fried tofu for starters, and had spicy beef noodle soup for the mains. It was probably one of the best meals I've had for ages.

Still having some time to kill before the movie we did a lap on the monorail and then went to a pub for a beer. Knowing was the Nick Cage movie that was recently filmed in Melbourne, which was standing in for Boston. I saw many things I recognised, it was quite strange actually. The movie it self was also quite strange, but quite good at the same time.

Sydney 2009 - Day1

Finally the day arrived for our trip to sydney. My mate Daniel came over at about 10 AM and mum drove us to the airport. As our flight wasn't due to depart until 12 miday we had some time to go and grab a bite to eat and a drink before making our way through security and all the way to gate 12 of the QANTAS terminal. After a fairly short wait we were boarding the aircraft and taking our seats. Also boarding the plane were the Melbourne Storm rugby league team for their game against the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney on .

Our flight, operated by a 767-338 took off from runway 27 and soon after take off penetrated the low cloud that was producing the drizzle in Melbourne that morning. After gaining enough altitude we turned to the north and flew more or less in a straight line over Albury, Yass and Campbelltown. Around there we turned to the east and flew over the Royal National Park and out to sea before doing a lazy arc around Cronulla to line up and land on runway 34 L. We taxied straight into the gate nearest the runway at the Sydney Qantas Terminal.

After collecting our bags we made our way to the train station and each bought our train tickets and waited for the train into town. Soone enough the train came and we stayed on all the to Town hall where we got off and then walked to our accomodation.

The room, or rooms , er appartment is great. it's on the 35th floor , but is really on the 25th as the lobby is level 10 for some reason. We each have a bedroom and a bathroom to ourselves. We flipped for the one with the ensuit, which Daniel won. I don't mind really. The room has a small kitchen with stove, oven, microwave, fridge a laundry with washer and dryer, and has a TV and stereo/DVD player. It is clean and comfortable and is more than adequate really. The only downside is that the balcony is locked and we can't go out there.

Having settled in to our room we set out to see the sites, heading straight along George Street towards the Quay. On the way Daniel stopped to buy a prepaid wireless internet modem. We walked around circular Quay and right around the opera house. To get back to our hotel we took a ferry to Darling harbour via Milsons Point and Balmain East, and we alighted at Sydney Aquarium and made the surprisingly short walk back to appartment.

Soon after we decided to head back to Darling harbour and had dinner at a Japanese restaraunt, we had an entre of gyoza dumplings and miso soup before or main meals. I had Pork Katsu Curry which was quite good. For desert I had some chocolate mud cake. right after we paid our bill a fireworks show began out on the harbour, great timing really. it was in honour of Darling Harbour's 21st birthday and is happening every Friday and Saturday all of May.

After the fireworks finished we decided to walk to the Star City casino to have a bit of a look around. We walked around the floor for a bit stopping to watch some roulette and a few other things, but didn't gamble ourselves. Finally we went back to the apartment and watched some TV before going to bed.

Off again

Like certain other people, I am also going to Sydney. Except I'm going much sooner, this weekend in fact. Initially it was meant to be a short trip of 2 nights but I convinced my mate who I'm going with to stay for a bit longer. It came about as my friend, Kojin (not his real name) said he had never been there and would like to go. Of course I immediately volunteered to go too.

After searching various accommodation sites on the net I came up with reasonably priced flights and a very good deal on an apartment. So this weekend I will be saying goodbye grey and dreary skies of old Melbourne town, and hello to the bright lights and sparkling waters of the Emerald City, Sydney.

Eurovison 2009

Yes it is Eurovison time again. The final is taking place on the 16th of May in Moscow as Russia won last year. The semi finals are on SBS on Friday the 15th and Saturday 16th, and the final will be broadcast on Sunday the 19th. I don't think I have ever really watched the whole thing, only flicked it on and off during the ads of another show. I probably won't watch the whole thing this year either. Better get to the reason for this post though.

Last night I was watching a video on YouTube (if you are really interested it was a video demonstrating games on the new mac mini part 3 of 3, also parts 1 and 2) that had a really catchy song over the credits. After googling the lyrics I found out that it is actually Germany's entry into this years Eurovision song contest. The song is Miss Kiss Kiss Bang by Alex swings Oscar sings. Alex is a German DJ and was a member of the 90's techno group U96, while Oscar is a "mexican broadway musical theatre performer" (quote from wikipedia entry) who lives in Munich. The song itself is like a cross between something out of the blues brothers and a Latino pop star (ie ricky martin/enrique iglasias etc). the song is mega catchy as a Eurovision song should be, usually they are bloody awful. Not that I've heard any of the other entries, but usually they are pretty awful.

In the video Oscar is the singer, while Alex is the guy in the sunglasses or behind the piano. I can't get it out of my head now and so I hope to pass it on to others.

MYKI, Trams, Fares and Ticketing etc

1. MYKI

So it appears that MYKIi is full steam ahead, with the system rolling out across buses in regional cities. One revelation that had not occurred to me, but was revealed over at Melbourne on Melbourne on Transit (and here), is that short term disposable tickets will be smartcards. There is no printing on the ticket issued by the bus driver to tell you what it is or how long it will be valid, it just comes of a pile of identical blank tickets (much like they do today with metcards on buses). I had imagined that the system would be similar to Perth and S.E. Queensland where short term tickets(ranging from 2 hour / single trip and dailys etc) are printed on thermal paper by the ticket machine or bus driver. The reason I thought this was that I noticed that the ticket machines at Perth rail stations are the same as those seen in the MYKI discovery centre at Southern Cross.

Examples of short term cash tickets.
From L to R, Brisbane from vending machine,
Perth from Bus driver and Perth from vending machine.

Thinking about it though retail tickets will probably be pre encoded, and therefore will probably have some sort of text denoting what they are. Vending machine tickets could also have printing applied as they are issued. This leaves just the fact that there is no way to tell how long the ticket is valid without pringing, although tram issues probably could as they would be tagged on as they are issued from the machine. This leaves only the bus issues with no physical indication at all. Doesn't seem very consistent or user friendly to me.

2. Tram Fares and Ticketing

On Sunday I took a tram ride along Bourke St, having driven to the city (I know I'm evil but I had a car and I had to go somewhere else on the way) I didn't have a ticket and so attempted to buy a city saver. As it turned out the machine was just spitting out all coins fed in, so I got a free ride. As I was pondering the fare structure on the sticker above the machine it occurred to me that having trams in both zone 1 and 2 is too complicated when considering that by and large the tram network is in zone 1. I'm not saying that the 3 tram lines (or is it 4?) that extend into zone 2 territory should should be curtailed at the zone boundary, but that tram ticketing would be greatly simplified it if they were treated as a zone 1 service no matter where they are.

I think I just like the simplified idea of having a single fare system for trams. Either buy a daily or a 2 hour, adult or concession, no need to worry about zones. I don't think it would or could happen with the current zone system as it would be unfair on people connecting too/from a bus or train in zone 2 .

3. Sunday Saver

On a related issue, I still can't believe they couldn't find a work around for dispensing Sunday savers from ticket machines. Actually IIRC it was never intended if a certain poster to some of the public transport forums is to be believed . On the tram I noticed some people using Sunday Savers and I couldn't help but feel that those buying tickets on the tram (this was on my return along Bourke St on tram that had a working ticket machine) were getting ripped off. The seniors daily button is useless on a Sunday as all seniors can apply and use a free Sunday ticket. Why not program the tram ticket machines to dispense a sunday saver when that button is pressed on a sunday?

I am a twit

I have finally started adding the posts from my trip to Queensland, only 4 weeks late... So far I've added days 2-4 out of 8. All the posts are backdated to the day the actual day.

I have also added a couple of gadgets to the sidebar. The first one is a Geocaching summary, which has links to my Geocaching profile and my number of hides and finds. I've been Geocaching on and off for 7 years and have only ever found 74 caches in that time. Others who started at about the same time as I did have become addicted and logged thousands of cache finds. I feel like a bit of a failure as a Geocacher, but I still enjoy the occasional cache hunt.

For some reason I was bored at work today and signed up to Twitter. So far I haven't bothered looking for anyone to follow other than D0ctor Karl. I actually wouldn't have a clue if any of my friends are on twitter or not. I have until now avoided facebook, and although not the same I am attracted the anonymity and lack of complication of Twitter. I remember when I first heard of twitter I was going to sign up, but for some reason didn't. That was about 3 years ago or something, and now it seems the thing to do, so I did. Whether I have anything valuable to tweet remains to be seen. I have added a Twitter gadget to the sidebar.

Quaking

Well, earth tremor really. I actually felt this one, the last one I didn't even notice. I was sitting at my desk when I started bouncing up and down. This went on for a few seconds before it subsided. My immediate thought was that it was the train that happened to be going past at the time (trains pass my workplace just above window level of the floor we are on), but it was more than the normal train rattle that I sometimes notice. When I looked up everyone else was looking up too. Everyone was pretty sure it was an earthquake. It was pretty cool though.

Latter when I managed to get through to the Geoscience Australia website, I took the screen grab at the top of this post. It seems it was centred on a similar location and was the same magnitude, 4.6, as the last tremor 2 weeks ago. Is a gaping hole about to open up? Are we about to have "the big one"?

Winter

All photos taken at Mornington in July 2008.

As much as summer is a great season, there is something to be said for winter. I like winter as much if not more than summer.

Notepad Issues

I've slowly been typing up posts from my trip before I forget them. I've just been using notepad, but something really annoying has started to happen tonight. I've just done the last 3 only I lost the last one, when I went to save it, pressing ctrl s Notepad disappeared without a trace. This also happened to the second last one but I re-wrote it, actually it happened to that one twice. I've now given up for the night and the last one can wait for another day.

With any luck I should get some photos sorted and the first one or two posted this weekend. For me this blogging is a slow business. I routinely take over an hour to put together a single post. These trip report ones take me much longer for some reason.

Not lost and other situations.

Well I made it home the same day as my last post. I was surprised at the relative comfort of the Jetstar flight. At around 2 hours I had no discomfort, apart from the battle for the arm rest with the person next to me. They were sitting in my window seat when I boarded and I made them move, so I guess they were getting me back. No safety issues either. I Wouldn't hesitate to fly with Jetstar again in the future.

On Friday night Mum's TV blew up. Not really, but it stopped working and started making funny noises. Saturday was spent searching electrical shops for a good deal. Prices have gone up since before Christmas that's for sure. Stores kept trying to sell us a Samsung, ended up picking a Panasonic, that seemed like a good deal at Dick Smith. We went back on Sunday morning and walked out with a Sony Bravia for the same price (missed the really cheap Sony Bravia 37" run out model at K Mart by a few days. It's a 32" model and utterly briliant. Just fits the existing TV stand perfectly. Makes my 26" widescreen CRT look really bad.

At work we are getting new computers, the whole company is getting laptops for some reason. I will never take my work computer home so I can't see the point, but I guess it's all about consistency. At the same time the company is taking the leap to Vista, but not my department because much of the software we use is incompatible. So we are sticking with XP. I was going to get mine today, but the IT department loaded Vista by mistake. For some reason there is also a bug with the XP installation that they are going to try and iron out on my machine. I Should have it on my desk by Friday.

QLD - Day 8 - Gold Coast to Home

Well I have been a bad blogger. I'm just wasting time in my appartment before checking out and heading to the airport this afternoon. I've been in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast since Tuesday in a nearly brand new apartment on the 18th floor. Although I am a block back from the beach, I still have a fantastic view. I have the door to the balcony open, and it would be quite nice if it weren't for all the noise from nearby construction sites (can't beat double time on a Saturday morning I guess), oh well.

I will try and write about everything that has happened between last Saturday and today in the next week or so.

Why is it that you are just getting into holiday mode when you need to go home again?

QLD Day 5 - Broadbeach

This was going to by my rest day. After a fantastic sleep in my king size bed, I went down to the shops to get some of the things I had forgotten to get the night before. After returning to the apartment I made breakfast and sat down to watch TV. I had the door open with the stiff sea breeze rushing in and the faint sound of the waves crashing on the beach, all this amid a cacophony of sounds from nearby construction sites. It actaully wasn't that bad, and I stayed there until late morning when I wandered down to the beach to get my feet wet. It was too rough for swimming, and even appeared too rough for the surfers who were no where to be seen, only walls of white water.

Earlier this summer I decided that I needed a new pair of board shorts, and so I conveniently had forgotten to bring my old ones. I found myself in a surf shop and outfitted with new board shorts and a rash vest. For lunch I ended up in the Coffee Club, a chain of coffee shops that make meals as well. They are slowly popping up in Victoria these days. After lunch I went back to the apartment and tried out my new board shorts in the pool.

Quickly getting board of the pool I decided to have a proper look at Pacific Fair shopping centre just for something to do. Really the only thing of note about it is that a large part is situated in the open air with no roof over the walkway areas.

Ahead was another relaxing evening with the door open, and another sound sleep in the king size bed.

QLD Day 4 - Brisbane to Gold Coast

I retrieved my luggage from the locker and rolled onward to the platform to wait for the Gold Coast train. They run every half hour. I was lucky to get one of the brand new trains that are based on the new Perth train sets for this journey (see photo in Day 3 post). The train ran express until Beenleigh, then stopped at all stations from there to Robina. The only problem was that it was a suburban train and lacked certain necessities for the longer journey (especially luggage racks). The quality of the track was outstanding and it was obvious that big money had been spent on providing substantial stations along the route.

On arrival I dragged my case up the stairs at Robina as the line at the lift was too long. Eventually I worked out which bus stop I needed to wait at to get to Pacific Fair, it was not all that obvious though. I would be staying at Broadbeach, and Pacific Fair shopping centre was around the corner, only 700 metres according to the trip planner. The bus I got seemed to take the scenic route and even got stuck in a traffic jam outside a school. It was timetabled to take 20 minutes but seemed to take much longer. It was an interesting ride none the less.

By the time I got off the bus I was quite hot and frustrated and had a rather angry 700 meter walk to my accommodation. The good thing about high rise accommodation is that it's easy to spot from a distance when you don't know where you are going. Eventually after what felt like a marathon distance I trundled into the lobby and checked in.

After getting into my apartment and opening the doors and seeing the view all my frustrations washed away momentarily. This was the life.

Seeing this made me feel good
(click to see larger size)

In need of supplies I made the journey back to Pacific Fair to find a supermarket. The walk back didn't seem nearly as far. Latter on when I had the basics, but realised I needed some alcoholic beverages, I discovered that the Broadbeach shopping centre was even closer.

Frustrations returned when the hotplates didn't work. I tried all switches and dials I could find but nothing would work. I even found the fuse box and flicked the circuit breakers off and on. After a call to reception I was pointed to a switch that was hiding behind the kettle. The only place I didn't look! While the food was cooking I took a quick shower, changed into some fresh clothes and opened a beer. I was finally able to relax.

QLD Day 4 - Brisbane/Mt Coot-tha

Being my last day in Brisbane I decided to get up early and do a few things before checking out of the hostel. After battling with the crappy WiFi in the hostel and having seen an Officeworks store the night before on my wanderings, I thought I'd go down and investigate the prepaid WiFi that I thought they might sell there. The opening time of Officeworks was 8 AM so I timed it to get to the McDonald's next door for breakfast (I don't know why, but I like McDonald's breakfasts) just before then. As it turned out Officeworks didn't have any prepaid WiFi so I walked back empty handed. On the way I stopped at a supermarket to buy a bottle of water and a nectarine, which I consumed on the spot outside.

After packing up and checking out of the hostel I trundled down to Roma Street station and left my luggage in a locker for a few hours. Still on the hunt for prepaid broadband I ended up buying a Telstra prepaid kit from Target in the city. After buying a few more supplies I decided it would be a good idea to fit in a bit of sight seeing before moving on to the Gold Coast.

On the bus to Mt Coot-tha

I had seen a bus heading to Mt coot-Tha earlier and decided to go. I happened across an electronic public transport information booth and obtained a timetable for the route, the only problem was I didn't know exactly where to catch it. I went back to near where I saw the bus the first time and ended up on a free city circle bus (is there a city in Australia which doesn't have one of these?). Keeping my eyes peeled I worked out where I needed to get the Mt Coot-tha bus from and waited.

The view from the summit. Not sure what
the TNT courier truck was doing up there...

It was an interesting ride, as the bus went past the back of the hostel and through a whole area that I had been only a few hundred metres from the night before and that morning. After a windy trip up the hill, and the bus backtracking at least once we reached the summit. On reading the timetable I assumed the bus stayed at the top for a few minutes before heading back down. The plan was to jump off take a few photos and get back on. Upon asking the driver about this I was informed that he was going off duty, and the we had just passed the return bus (I remember seeing it too, but it didn't twig at the time). Looking at the timetable, it would be an hour until the next bus. So to make the most of it I decided to have lunch at the cafe at the top. This is one of the few places I remember visiting in Brisbane when I was 12, so it was a bit nostalgic I guess. I took some of photos of the view, and I reckon that I could almost see the hostel where I stayed. I sat down and had a nice lunch, Malaysian stir fry noodles. It was all very pleasant really.

The view again, this time my hosetel is right at
the centre of the photo

The view inland to the Great Dividing Range
west of Brisbane

Back on the bus down the hill and into the city. I alighted and decided to catch one of the underground buses to Roma Street station. Yes Brisbane has underground busways in the CBD, it's all pretty cool actually. These connect to above ground busways the go out into the suburbs. Something inside me wishes these were at least light rail if not a heavy rail metro system.

QLD Day 3 - Ipswich Workshops

Citytrain set 262, These trains almost identical to Perth's
new trains. They were built by the same factory, EDI
Walker in Maryborough QLD

One of the Electric Tilt Train sets before departure to
Rockhampton at Roma Street station.

Today I ventured all the way out to Ipswich to go to the Workshops Railway Museum. It was about and hour train ride from the city and it was interesting to see the landscape change from lush to more scrubby type vegetation on the way. I thought Ipswich was an outer suburb of Brisbane, but it is really it's own city, as there is actually quite a gap between the two. From Ipswich station it was a short 5 minute bus ride to the museum, and the bus connected with the train perfectly (harmonised headways). Overall I spent about 4 hours at the workshops, partly due to the Bus Schedule and partly due to the timing of the various tours you can take.

Loco 1262, to the left can by seen loco 1710 which
now contains a train driving simulator

Inside the cab of 1710

The museum itself is rather small with a few examples of locomotives and rolling stock, plus many interactive displays including a train cab simulator.

Lego Coal train

Model coal train

Queensland loco 1281 in it's golden splendour

Diesel shunter DL1

Loco no.6

The Ipswich workshops are still active and is where the Queensland Rail heritage fleet is maintained and stored. In the sheds there are many steam locomotives and items of rolling stock in various states of repair.

A locomotive under repair at the workshops

Garratt 1009

Beyer-Garratt builders plate on 1009

The workshops are also home to a blacksmith's workshops which makes all kinds of objects for both the heritage arm of the railways, the day to day needs of QR as well as outside contracts. What seems amazing to a Victorian is that all of this is state funded, is based on full time employees, and some parts such as the blacksmith workshop make a profit.

Sparks fly in the blacksmith's workshop.

On both the workshops and blacksmiths tours we got to ride on the traverser which is used for moving rolling stock around the workshops.

The traverser

Due to timing and bus schedules I didn't leave the workshops until will after 3 pm. As such the bus was packed with school kids, I managed to find a seat at the back, but some of the kids at the front wouldn't stand for an old lady, and they were giving the bus driver a hard time by always pressing the stop request button whether or not anyone wanted to get off. Coincidentally a few days I heard a news story about a bus driver in Ipswich who ended up driving to the police station after a school kid threw something at his head while driving. I thought of my bus ride.

Once again it was a smooth train ride back into Brisbane.

That evening I went to the cinema near my hostel to see Gran Torino. When I was in the ticket line still wearing the grotty clothes I'd been in all day I realised everyone else was rather well dressed. Feeling a bit embarrassed I decided to dash back have a shower and get changed before the movie. Not having time for dinner I thought I'd get by on some popcorn and a drink, but somehow I ended up with the combo that also included a choc-top. The weird thing was that it was cheaper than just the drink and popcorn.


As it turns out, after the movie I was a bit peckish, and so went to a nearby take away and had the worst kebab of my life. It was really dry and didn't taste very good at all. The night still being relatively early I ended up going for a walk down to the XXXX brewery and back again, which was just down the road.

XXXX Milton Brewery - the view across the road
from my hostel.

QLD Day 2 - Brisbane/Southbank

Slept in late. After getting ready I walked into town via Roma Street train station to buy a Go Card and grab some breakfast. After breakfast at McDonald's (yeah I know, but it was there) I couldn't find anywhere to buy a Go Card and ended up catching a train to Central to see if I could get one there instead. I found a small newsagent and bought my Go Card there, and I was off through the city in the direction of the river.

Brisbane buildings from the river

I ended up at the Eagle Street wharf where I got a ferry down the river and back up stream to Southbank. From my seat on the top deck I got a view of the city and surrounding suburbs, plus a really good view of the Story Bridge.

Going under the Story Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge's little brother

Luxury apartments at Kangaroo Point

Yachts moored on the river

My ferry "Mermaid" continuing on her way to North Quay

Once at Southbank I wondered along eventually passing the rather large artificial beach there. Probably one of the best things I've ever seen in a city. It has real sand, and a large pool of water that has both shallow and deep parts. It is patrolled by life guards and is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. Being a Sunday it was quite busy too.

A bit further on I came across an auditorium where they were screening the national day of mourning ceremony from Melbourne, so stopped I and sat down in the shade and watched this until it finished. After donating some coins and putting a flower in the tribute wall I continued on through the parklands.

The only remnant of World Expo '88 is a pagoda from the Nepalese exhibit that was saved from demolition by the people of Brisbane.

Nepalese multifaith pagoda

Southbank is also home to Brisbanes wheel, a less ambitious, but more successful attempt at a Ferris Wheel than we have in Melbourne.

The big wheel

After wandering around a bit more I wandered back over the river and into the city where I bought some lunch and looked around the shops a bit. Later in the afternoon I ventured to Fortitude Valley. I thought this was the place to be in Brisbane, but the place seemed deserted, seems I was there at the wrong time of day.

Southbank

That night I hung around the hostel and watched some TV, before surfing the net to see what my transport options were for the next days activities.

QLD Day 1 - Brisbane

This edition of Ben's Adventures is coming to you live from down town Brisvegas.

The flight up was pretty uneventful, except for the fact we flew straight past the fire affected areas. I managed to make out Wandong and Kilmore East townships. The extent of the area affected was mind blowing. The whole Mount Disappointment/Kinglake/ Flowerdale area looked a sort of grey colour, quite depressing. Most of the smoke was coming from the Yea/Alexandra area.

We reached cruising altitude over Corowa, after that the only towns I managed to make out when I happened to glance out the window were Cootamundra and Tamworth. As you travel north the landscape gradually changes from browny-yellow in Victoria and Southern NSW to bright green near the Queensland border. The green may be just on the surface, because I happened to read on the weather page in a newspaper (last Wednesdays Courier Mail) I was reading while eating dinner tonight that the SE QLD water storages are only 50% full. The most shocking thing is that the average water usage figures accompanying this are that the average daily usage is 150 litres per day. i'm too tierd to work out how it can be acheived in QLD, but not in Melbourne, something to do with not needing to water gardens

From Brisbane airport I took the skytrain to Roma Street station. The trains run at 30 minute intervals, and having just missed one had to wait about 25 minutes. Luckily my train arrived just after the one I missed left so I was able to sit in the cool air conditioning. Once it got going the journey was relatively quick, although we seemed to wait a long time at one station where the drivers changed over, and then agian we sat in the platform for a few minutes at Central station.The one way trip was $14. Overall the service seems a bit half baked, with such large gaps between trains and the leisurely pace. I would rather pay about the same fare for the more frequent and faster Skybus service in Melbourne.

I'm staying in a backpacker hostel in Roma Street, of a well known international chain. I booked a private room, which is basic but all you really need. I'm currently using the wifi provided by the hostel which is not cheap, very slow, and occasionally drops out. I'm seriously considering going out and buying a prepaid wireless internet thingy.

Late this afternoon I took a walk down through the Brisbane CBD and found myself in Queen Street Mall. I don't know why I'm always impressed with other cities main shopping strips, in comparison this makes Bourke Street look rather sad. I think what impressed me the most was that instead of putting tram tracks down the middle, every 50 meters or so they have a small outdoor bar/cafe serving beer on the tap (not just XXXX), and what looked like good reasonably priced meals. Each one seemed to have a different theme, there was an irish one and one that served prawns.

The thing that doesn't impress me is that the place seems to die at exactly 5:00 pm, that's it everything closes. Near the hostel there is a Coles where I thought I would buy some supplies. No such luck, they closed at 6, and it was already 6:05. That is just ridiculous.

As I will be relying on public transport to get around, in the morning I intend on going and getting a Go card, which is the SE QLD public transport smart card. They are everywhere. I'm keen to use one to see what it may be like in Melbourne if they ever get Myki up and running. In the time it has taken Victoria to dither around with Myki, two Australian states have implimented whole systems.

February Updates

This year is going really quick, hardly had a chance to blog at all.

Personally not a lot is happening, I'm stuck in the daily grind of the endless treadmill. That's OK because in a few weeks I'm getting off and going to Queensland for a week of doing as little or as much as I choose. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure with all the rain they had today. I guess I'll have learn to love the humidity (as much as I hate it)...

Last Saturday, on the horrible 46 degree bushfire day, I went to see Alfred Hitchcock's 'The 39 Steps'. Having seen the original 1930's film, I was dubious about how it could become a comedy, but by gosh, you know, it actually works, what with all that, naff, early 20th century English dialogue and things like that. What makes it really funny is that it has only a 4 person cast playing about 30 or so roles between them. The lead stays as the same character but the others, 2 men and a woman play the rest. Often playing multiple characters at the same time. I think it is finishing up at the Playhouse (@ The Arts Centre in St Kilda Road) this weekend, but it is touring around a few smaller theatres in the coming weeks. I think it is on at Frankston next. It is seriously funny, I recomend that people go and see it.

Eagle Eye

I was walking past Sanity today and happened to see this DVD out the front as one of the new releases. This means it must have been out at the cinema 3 to 6 months ago. I didn't go and see it, but I know I've seen the movie, I'm sure I've seen it. it wasn't on a plane or in a hotel either I can't explain it...


No I just remembered, it was amongst those DVDs of questionable source that I borrowed off someone a few months ago.

From memory it was an OK film, typical Hollywood DVD fodder. OK for boring nights at home with nothing else to do. A good (ie stereotypical) techno-thriller with lots of explosions and stuff.

Hot

Outside where I am sitting at the moment it is a pleasant 30 degrees, inside the house it is in the mid 30s after being shut up all day. Everything is open to try and get it down a bit, but it's still hot. There was a nice pleasant breeze before but that seems to have died down.

Earlier this evening I was at Westfield Doncaster, where I noticed a large number of people carting around fans, portable air conditioners and evaporative coolers.

I am not looking forward to another 43 degree day tomorrow.

Building Bridges Completed

I took this video on the way to work this morning. The train I was on was a bit of a groaner, a good sound effect for the video. With the realignment, all the existing single track between Westgarth and the bridge was replaced. The train I am travelling on is on the new track and bridge. Very smooth, I must say.

The fact that on both of my trips through this section today we crossed another train going in the opposite direction tells me that the nay sayers are wrong. What were/are the nay sayers saying? That this would move the problem to Clifton Hill. However, being a flat junction there will always be delays at Clifton Hill, it's a fact of life, but I think it will be better than before. No more sitting at Westgarth for 5 minutes in the morning, and Epping trains will hopefully flow more freely as a result. We shall see how it goes over the next few weeks as normal loads resume.

Building Bridges Pt 2

Back in December I made a post about the Clifton Hill rail project and the progress to that date. Since then it has come along in leaps and bounds, and in fact if I didn't know better I would say that after this weekend it will be open to trains.

Throughout December finishing touches were made on the bridge, while so far in January all the new track, electrical overhead and signals have been put in place. Two weekends ago a new set of points was installed at Clifton Hill, which allow city bound trains from Westgarth to enter the platform from the new section of track. This weekend it appears that all is left to do is to re-align and connect everything up at the Westgarth end. As a regular traveller on this line I am very impressed with the lack of disruption to regular train services, the only bustitutions occuring over a few late nights and weekends.

As an interested observer of the development of public transport I am amazed at the apparent planning that went into this operation. My opinion is that big projects in this country are always half baked and never realise their full potential. This and the previous Middleboroough Road grade separation of 2007 have somewhat changed this, and give me hope that future improvements to the Victorian rail network (often much needed after years of no funding and little care or maintenance) will be done as professionally. I only hope that our transport planning beaurocrats are able to get more funding to remove the stupid bottlenecks like Clifton Hill as well as implimenting sensible extensions (ie not so much the Eddington tunnels or Tarneit lines).

One thing I will say is that the governments targets for completion (ie the end of 2009 as stated on signs and projects website) are complete rubbish. I beleive they artificially extend the time required so they can make make it look like the project is completed early, when in fact it is on time or only a little early. Judging by the pace of work on this job there was never any question that it would open within the first half of 2009. Then there is the fact that the figure includes landscaping of the public parks and crown land which have been occupied during the construction, which will probably go on for a few months after trains are running.

The River

Just a few photos I took on new years eve before the fireworks.

Setting Up the fireworks.

Tranquil River (the calm before the storm)

The Silo

Party boats (the storm)

New Order visit Bizarro Land

About the last place you'd expect this band to perform is on a beach (I mean look how pale Gillian the keyboardist is, she's white as a sheet), let alone with The Hoff walking around in the background...

Happy New Year

Well 2008 was a bit of a nothing year. It was for me anyway, not sure about anybody else. Hopefully 2009 works out a bit better.

I saw in the new year from the comfort of a lounge room in suburbia (I think that's a song lyric), as I just didn't feel up to the big new years thing. In fact I think I've said this before, I sort of hate new years eve.

However earlier in the night I watched the fireworks from the banks of the river. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to watch from Morrel Bridge near the botanic gardens. Bad idea, it seems we overestimated the height of the fireworks. Others around me obviously thought the same. So down the river we went.

Happy New Year

Losing a Friend

One night in 1989 we were eating dinner when there was a knock at the door. There mum who first answered it found the girls from a few houses up with a box of their grandma's cat's kittens. They thrust a kitten into my mum's arms and said "you'll take one won't you Mrs Smith?". Everyone around the dinner table agreed that this would be a good idea, and so Tabby came into our lives. For a number of years it was possible to see a family resemblance in a number of the neighbourhood cats, as their owners had also received that knock at the door. A feisty cat, all claws and teeth at that young age (Some of her siblings were even more fowl tempered), she soon showed her sweet nature with her favourites (me included), and in later years she would actively seek out a comfortable lap to sit on.

Tabby's name derives from Tabitha, itself a play on the word tabby. (With all that long white fur we always thought there was some Persian in her blood somewhere) At the time we got her we also had a Budgie called Sam, and so we unintentionally carried on the Bewitched theme for pet names.

This morning Tabby passed away aged a little over 19 years old, a fair age for a cat. Over the past few days she became weak and went off her food. Last night it became apparent that she probably would not last the night. We made up a comfy bed near her food bowls and said goodnight. This morning we found her lying peacefully in one of her favourite sleeping spots on the carpet in the dining room.

R.I.P Tabby

A recent photo of Tabby, November 2008.

Clocking Off

It was a real pain and yet so easy to get to work today. I didn't have to worry about buying/validating tickets, and there was hardly anyone around. Thanks for the free ride Mrs Kosky that was a nice present. I felt like I was going to work on a Saturday, as the street where my workplace is was unusually quiet. The only crowds I noticed were at the fish shop, where everyone seemed to be buying prawns.

I only ended up doing about an hour and halfs worth of work, but we were told to charge a full day in our timesheets anyway, no complaints there. At 11:30 we had an informal lunch with chicken and salads, unfortunately it ran out all too quickly and many people who turned up late missed out altogether. Someone came to the rescue and ordered Pizzas.

I spent about half an hour playing a game on the computer after lunch. I was playing Portal: the flash version which is quite a good version of the full PC version of Portal. Eventually I decided enough was enough and I left work for the last time this year, but still filled in a days worth of time in my time sheet. (naughty? No we were instructed to do so. Who am I to argue?)

On the way home I finished off my Christmas shopping at Westfield Doncaster, and found it strangely relaxed. No one was really in a hurry or in much of a frenzy, it was good to see. While there I bought my last present, for my mum. I aslo bought myself a small present. Need for Speed Undercover for the Wii. I also bought 2 six packs of imitation Corona from Safeway, and four limes. The limes were unusually cheap, the ticketed price was 99 cents each, but they turned out at 50 cents each. Looking at my docket, I think the fruit shop I went to must give out random discounts. I was lucky.

From there I got the bus home and have just finished wrapping all the presents for tommorow. I think I will now go and play with the present from myself, before wrapping it up and giving it to myself again tommorow.

Festivus Drinks

I am actually amazed /ashamed I can remember so much. I only nearly vommited once....

Friday night was Christmas drinks with some of the people from work. Only six of us made it, well not everyone was invited, it's a bit of an exclusive club actually. One went early leaving 5 of us. We started upstairs at the Corner in Richmond. That was an interesting place, and for a while I thought I had violated the dress code for not wearing my cowboy hat, fairy wings or checked shirt (in any combination). There must be a tear in the fabric of space and time at this place, because pretty soon there was a line for the men's toilets, but there was none for the women's, it was really strange.

Hopping in a taxi in Swan Street we made our way to the Imperial in Spring Street, me and my mates traditional pre/post footy pub. More general drinking antics occurred. There we found people parading around a cardboard cut out of their company's CEO, I got to shake his hand. The only bad thing to happen was someone knocked a beer over onto the chips, so there were soggy beer flavoured.

At some point we left and headed down Bourke towards that fake brittish pub on the corner of Exhibition. It was full and they wouldn't let us in, or somethign like that. So instead we went to the Portland Hotel in Russel Street. It was here that I revealed to my colleagues just how bad I am at pool, even sober I'm no good, but this was just embarrassing.

On the way home I stopped off for some much needed late night nourishment at Hungry Jacks and still managed to make it to Flinders Street in time for the train, which was waiting patiently for me. I found a nice quiet seat on my own and proceded to listen my iPod. Then out of nowhere a large group of very happy, yet very drunk people descended on my oasis. AF ew of them were very rowdy, singing "Let's dance to Joy Division" by The Wombats (the rest looked rather under the weather). It was at this stage that one of the girls commented to me "you can write about this in your blog". Unless she reads my blog and recognised me from my photo on my blog, she doesn't know how correct she was. After they all got off at Westgarth, it went quiet again.

So there you go you go girl on the train, you got a mention on my blog.

Is GPS a lost Cause?

Full article here. It is the first couple of lines that interest me though...

Drivers have been warned not to rely solely on GPS navigation units to find their way around after two Norwegians following their GPS's instructions were shot at by suspected drug traffickers in a Rio de Janeiro slum.

It is believed the drivers had set out to find a bottle shop in downtown Oslo.

So they set out in Oslo to find a bottle shop and their GPS led them to a Rio de Janeiro slum? That is one long drive, no doubt they passed numerous bottle shops on the way. I'd be taking that GPS unit back to the store for a refund.

Green for the company

The company I work for has recently gone "green", they created a series of "webinars" for staff on climate change and various other environmental issues. A further part of this drive has been to change all the screen savers on company computers to be a blank screen, and to encourage people to turn screens and computers off overnight. I admit that I used to leave my computer on overnight and just turn the screen off, at weekends I used to turn it off. Now it gets turned off every night. I think most people do turn their machines off every night, except if they need to run a process overnight, which in my area does happen quite frequently.

Soon all PCs are to be replaced with laptops, or so I gather from the questionnaire that was circulated recently. Sure they are more energy efficient, but I actually chose a desktop. The current desktops we have seem to struggle (well mine does) and I doubt a laptop will be much better. I suspect I will get one anyway due to the companies one size fits all IT policy. Either way it doesn't bother me.

The thing is, I see so many things wrong in my workplace in terms of energy wastage (and wastage in general) it's not funny. The building I work in heats up too much, in both Winter and Summer. There is something seriously wrong with the air conditioning and no matter how many times they fix it, it never gets any better. Being a modern (probably mid-late 1990s) glass and concrete building I suspect it is not properly insulated or ventilated either. On our floor we have large floor to ceiling windows facing north and west, which are definitely tinted, but I'm not sure if they are double glazed. Either way, it gets really hot and bright in the warmer part of the year. The only covering are some flimsy Venetian blinds to that have very poor insulating properties. What would make the biggest difference in my opinion is better insulating blinds and the ability to open windows for some natural ventilation.

As for water wastage, we have toilet cisterns that continually run even though a plumber has been in to change the washers and things. Some kind person printed out some signs telling us how to flush them so they don't run. Of course these instructions don't work, and I usually end up fiddling around until it stops. Most people just walk out without checking. On one occasion I resorted to turning off in one of the cubicles. Soon enough our sign writter had put a sign up saying there was no water and that a plumber was on the way. I think I went too far, but surely the tap is the first thing you would check if there is no water?

Really the whole building needs better maintenance, and even renovation as it is quite poorly designed.