Archive for September, 2013

Power outage at a railway station

Around 3 PM yesterday a tree outside Newmarket railway station fell over power lines, leaving the entire area without electricity. So what does it look like after dark?

Passengers step onto a dark platform at Newmarket station

An interesting battle – the 2013 RACV Board Election

Last week the ballot papers for the 2013 RACV Board Election arrived in my mailbox along with the monthly issue of RoyalAuto magazine. While being Victoria’s largest non-government election, it is also ignored by the majority of the 1.4 million people entitled to vote in it. So what is different this year?

My RACV Board Election papers have arrived!

Melbourne’s orphan supermarket chains

When you go shopping for groceries anywhere in Australia, you’re probably going to end up at a supermarket run by the incumbent duopoly of Coles and Woolworths. But one exception are three oddball supermarket chains which only exist in Melbourne.

Sims Supermarket: 'The Price Crusher'

True Blue Aussie? (your jet says otherwise)

Plenty of people and corporations go around calling themselves “true blue” Australians, but how can they prove it? Qantas goes around and slaps a big “Spirit of Australia” message down the side of every jet they own…

Qantas (Jetconnect) 737-400 ZK-JTQ (note the NZ registration)

Easy like a Sunday morning train timetable

There are two reasons why catching the train on a weekend is often a pain – railway operators use it as an opportunity to replace and upgrade infrastructure while minimising the disruption to passengers, and when the trains do run, you have to wait longer at the station because fewer services are timetabled. Despite this, Melbourne seems to be a lot worser off than our northern neighbours in Sydney.