jeremy.id.au

Seems to be that Connex have taken to routinely closing the upward/exit escalator during off-peak times at Box Hill. Yet they open it up and have it running for peak-hour.

So what could the reason be? To save electricity? Or is it about to fall apart so they’re only running it in peak hour to get the maximum life out of it? Then why do they need to barricade it off?

So then what’s wrong with taking the stairs, isn’t the exercise supposed to be good for you? I’d have no problem taking the stairs if there wasn’t 50 other people being forced to take them at the same time. That and I get enough exercise walking to the station, that taking the stairs or the escalator (which I walk up anyway) is hardly going to make a difference. Not to mention that this is just one more thing to frustrate commuters, causing them to reconsider the prospects of driving a car instead. When you already have to put up with inferior off-peak frequencies ranging from 15 to 40 minutes, you don’t need this little extra annoyance.

No doubt the problem is that the escalator is so old that is is in need of replacement, though they should never have let it get beyond disrepair. It’s likely that they won’t do anything now, until the shopping centre is redeveloped and they finally overhaul the ‘transit interchange’ (railway station and bus terminal). Who knows when that will be….

It’s always amusing to look at the logs and find what search terms people find your site with, particularly if it’s a blog. Though the one that amuses me the most is this NineMSN one. Despite the fact that I’m no fan of MSN Messenger or even hotmail and the various Microsoft web sites, it still decides that it wants to make me *the* Jeremy from the land of Australia. And yes, some people have actually stumbled across my site through this search as that is after all how I found it by looking at the referral info in the logs.

While most people seem to find my site through Google which terms such as:

• Gosia Piotrowska, the actress from Spellbinder who played Riana, one of the main characters.
• Someone else was trying to find something on the frustration of city life. Unfortunately I don’t have any video clips to offer though I’m sure you wouldn’t have to go far with a DV cam to find some traffic congestion or overcrowded trains in this city.
• Finally we have someone looking for a ticket to mayhem, well our ticket inspectors right here in Melbourne may offer you that.

There are many others and I haven’t really checked to see which bring the greatest number of visitors just that these stood out after a quick look in the logs.

Last week I finally bought a scanner, which is about the first time I’ve had a scanner at home for years. I ended up getting a fairly low-end Epson Perfection 3490 scanner, since for the moment if I want to do a few more decent scans I can do it on one of the $2,000 Epson Expression 1680 scanners at TAFE (if I ever get there). Though already I can see that it’s hard to get a scan that looks anything like the original.

Nonetheless, back in 1998 when I was a young teenager some friends wanted to do some go-karting down at Port Melbourne. So one of them convinced his dad to drive us, though on the way back we went via Victoria Dock. By that stage the harbour was closed as the “Bolte Bridge” (as it was later named) was beginning to block the way for ships. By that stage the docks had been abandoned and we could drive right out onto the wharf. There was something I liked about the baron atmosphere so not long later I went back with my own father along with the old Pentax SLR camera. So I took these photos in the Winter of 1998, knowing that the place was about to undergo a major change. Despite my dislike of freeways (a number of them are of the bridge construction), they do look rather impressive. I made a number of subsequent trips back to the place, amazed at the lack of graffiti despite being only minutes from the central city. While the horse stables (used for those horse and carriage rides that you see around the CBD) made it almost feel as though the place was stuck in a time warp.

Later in the year Kennett had one of his massive open days where he’d open up all his projects, so I was able to get some inside shots of the Docklands Stadium as it was under construction. Later I also took some pictures of some other parts of Melbourne for a web site that I had created. Though some of the shots had been scanned overtime, the scans have long been missing. So here they are, also to be compared with the same location but earlier this year:

• Melbourne 1998
• Victoria Harbour (April 2005)

It’s been almost four weeks since Lily broke her leg. Having missed a bit of TAFE, it’s been an uneventful week, so I thought I’d make a little video clip. Filming was done entirely with our sophisticated (or not so, as it is really a stills camera) Canon PowerShot A85 and edited with iMovie. The soundtrack was essentially picked at random though it seemed to go well, so I stuck with it. While Lily has recovered quite well, she still isn’t using her leg, as you can see in the clip. She isn’t normally allowed outside except on a leash nor is she allowed to run around, though for the purposes of filming, this rule was twisted a little. However, in about two and a half weeks she will be allowed out and to play once again. It has been named “The Dog with the Golden Leg” due to the shear cost of the operation. First though, here she is when she had just come home with the bandage on (the bandage is no longer needed and was removed a few weeks ago, as she had pins installed to hold her leg together):

Finally here is the film clip, all 30 seconds of it, available in a choice of three different formats:
Quicktime small (740kB)
Quicktime medium (1MB)
MPEG-4 (1MB)

A few days ago when I was in the city, I picked up a copy of Spellbinder which finally came out on DVD. The television show which was first broadcasted in 1995, I must admit, is a kids series. Though I was 11 years old at the time and it soon became one of my favourite TV shows of all time. For great periods of my early teenage years, I would race home from school to watch it, which meant I had to be home by 4 o’clock. Also the same thing later on when the sequel, Spellbinder II: Land of the Dragon Lord went to air.

Though what is the series (the original that is) actually about? Well when Paul goes away on a school camp, a prank goes wrong and he accidentally becomes stuck in a parallel world. It is a world where people live simple lives and society takes on a hierarchical structure, much like you’d expect in medieval times. Though at the top of society there is a powerful group called the Spellbinders. The Spellbinders managed to use their limited knowledge of science to rule society, through which the population believed was magic. Paul was a smart kid with quite a good knowledge of science so he was able to pick this deception. While he is there, he became friends this girl named Riana who is pretty much the same age as him. Through Riana he learns that the people are actually quite happy the way they live.

Certainly there is a contrast between this world that Paul stumbled into and our modern technological world. This is no doubt the thing that I liked best about this series. Throughout the series, scenes switch between Riana’s world and our modern world (known as Paul’s world) where his family and friends are searching for him. Most of all, however, it’s the way they depict chaotic modern city life that I like best. Especially the way it’s based in an Australian city that I’m somewhat familiar with, though not to mention that even the scenes of Australian bush have a sense of familiarity where I can instantly recognise our world. This is especially true for the second half of the series, though unfortunately it’s only the first half that has been released so far.

To a large extent there is probably a lot of sentimental value with re-watching it again now. Though how is it from an adult perspective? Certainly, there is a tiny bit of quirkiness that is typical of children’s programs. Overall, however, it has quite a good sci-fi and adventure story line and it can almost become addictive. Definitely a good choice if you happened to have a younger audience to entertain (which I certainly don’t). After all these years I certainly still enjoy watching it. Evidently, I’m not the oldest fan either.

Paul (Zbych Trofimiuk) and Riana (Gosia Piotrowska) at the market place

Ashka (Heather Mitchell), the evil spellbinder

Our world

Another fun night of getting home by public transport. Got to Spencer Street somewhat short of missing a train. With trains only every half hour that’s quite a long wait. So walked up to the 109 tram stop to find that I had just missed a tram as well. Went back to the station and raided the brochure rack, they had every timetable but for the lines that I use, though there were some brochures that I was interested in taking a look at such as some misconceived propaganda on ticket inspectors. I also took some timetables for other lines which I now realise that I’ll never use but what the heck they were there and easy to grab so will probably just decorate my spare change drawer or something. Sat around at the station admiring the new wavy that they are building, while twiddling my thumbs.

Finally the train arrived, fairly full with drunkards, probably a result of Oaks Day or something. Though I’d rather them on the train than on the road, I could have done without the noise. It did, however, turn out to be a form of free entertainment. With trains so well patronised and only every half hour, it denies all credibility to those in bureaucracy who say they’ll provide more train services when people use them.

Arrived at Box Hill and the escalator was stationary and it wasn’t evident until I was near the top that there was a barrier saying not to use the escalator. Not to mention that it was padlocked to the sides leaving everyone to climb over it. The fools, if you’re going to close an upward-escalator you put the barrier at the bottom or at both ends!

So it’s fair to say that I am p!%#ed off at Connex, they obviously know how to turn away passengers. Though not as much as I am pissed off with Bracks and the rest of his lazy government. They promised to do everything for public transport before they were elected in 1999 and haven’t done a thing.

Which bank? It’s the bank I’ve been with since primary school, prep to be exact, if you don’t count the fact that I transferred my funds to a different branch in Grade 4. It’s the bank that has just started charging Netbank fees, claiming that it wouldn’t effect most of their customers but forgetting about the inflexibility that such lameness creates. It’s also the bank that once had me waiting on the phone for nearly an hour before I could speak to a human yet when I finally spoke to someone, he was juggling between other customers when the computer was taking time to load.

While the customer service may have improved a tiny bit since then as the banks realise their mistakes of the 90s, there’s also the fact that when I’m no longer a student there will be a $5 per a month account keeping charge and other fees. Not to mention that while I am a student I have to go into the branch and declare this fact, once a year, an inconvenience I’d rather do without. So I’ve ditched the bank after 15 years.

Having decided to go with a credit union, I walked into a branch and someone was available right away to open my account. No waiting, no queues. If I recall, waiting to see someone at my local bank branch was another thing that involved atrocious waiting times. I’m sure anyone contemplating opening an account with the bank would be turned away with a wait like that. The downside is that I have a lot further to travel if I want to get to a branch though I can deposit at any Westpac branch and withdraw from any ATM without fees, as well as with EFTPOS/Visa.

So bye bye to the Commonwealth Bank and bye bye to fees and charges. Though there probably aren’t many credit unions with so few fees as this, I won’t mention which one it is for now since you really need to know someone who can refer you (who has been a member for 12 months) or work in the right area.

Well what do you know. Was playing fetch with Lily today, when she ran down the steps then a few metres on turned around quite fast and started yelping like you wouldn’t believe. It turns out she’s broken her leg, so she’s still at the vet where she’ll remain until Monday, then she needs to be taken to a specialist and will need to have surgery. In the mean time she’s biten three people, including mum, my sister and the vet.

Update: Lily is home now (as of Tuesday), hoping around on three legs until the other leg gets better. The vet bill was phenomenal.

We’ve had a good few days of decent weather, about 20°C each day. It doesn’t end here either, it’ll be 21° tomorrow and warming up to 23° during the week. None the less, this afternoon instead of letting the day waste away into nothing I decided to go for another bike ride. It’s the first ride I’ve done for a while since having the sniffles put me off for a while. I clocked up almost 34km riding alongside the railway line to Hawthorn then ducking down Kooyongkoot Road, along the Yarra up to Dights Falls, before taking the Outer Circle back down to Whitehorse Road which I finally road along to return home.

Other stuff that’s been going on lately include Barnaby Joyce crossing the floor in the Senate during the week to vote with the ALP and minor parties this week (the first time it’s happened in 19 years). It is always reassuring to know that despite the Libs/Nats having control over both house of parliament that some form of democracy remains. Hopefully he’ll block some of the crazy upcoming legislation from getting through.

Another interesting thing that I saw on the 7.30 Report the other night was that they almost have propagation of the Wollemi Pine to a level where they’ll be able to sell it to people around the world. I remember seeing something about the Wollemi Pine on TV almost ten years ago, though the amazing thing is that it was believed to be extinct for 200 million years until an adventurer/rock climber came across a grove growing in a secluded canyon in the Wollemi National Park, just out of Sydney. Another freaky thing is that out of all groves found in the wild, the tree showed absolutely no genetic diversity.

Had the strangest phone call today:

Me: “Hello?”
Them: “Hi, is that Jeremy?”
Me: “Yeah”
Them: “It’s Aunty Di”
Me: “Who?”
Them: “It’s Aunty Di, I’m after trying to find your Mum’s phone number”
Me: “Sorry, I’m not quite sure who that is, I don’t have an Aunty called Di”
Them: “Oh, this is Jeremy right?”
Me: “Yes”
Them: “Jeremy H?” (started with H)
Me: “No”
Them: “Sorry, I must have the wrong phone number then.”

Now to work out who this Di is and why they’ve got my name and telephone number!