tonygoodson

Take Me Home Country Roads

Visited my childhood last week.  Back to the country roads of Cheshire (nr Manchester, England).  So good to be back home (I keep expressing joy with song titles or lyrics!)

I'd started blogging/writing about my childhood in 2002, so it was good to revisit the writing in reality, 9 years later.  How was it?  Did reality warp or destroy the memories or writing?  I'd been warned that going back to London and Manchester, from Australia, things would appear much smaller than in my mind's eye.

In fact, on the whole things were the same or larger, such as the road in our street where we played football as kids.  What most struck me in going back to Handforth and into the The Valley behind our house where I played out my childhood, is the march of nature.  Nature is relentless, people aging, buildings and structures under threat from 50 years of nature knocking.

It's amazing how the acres of my green grass childhood are now overgrown with new and thick vegetation.  Rivers have changed courses over those 50 years.  And other parts have remained unaltered. Even the 1960s graffiti has survived. 

I can feel a novel inside me, set in the 60s with my childhood memories as the background rather than the theme of the novel.  But I don't yet know what I'd like to write about as the main them of a novel, with this childhood 60s stuff in the background.  A Kestype novel perhaps, Kestrel for a Knave?

I can't explain, just how green and beautiful Cheshire looks on a visit, after 9 years of living in Australia.  I'm happy to be living in Melbourne, a city near the sea (ok, Bay), but Cheshire sure looks lush and green.

I want my new ticketing system now!

Grrrr, why do public transport things get me so wound up and passionate.  Passengers Face $500m Ticket Chaos. 

MELBOURNE is facing a public transport ticketing disaster, with the ageing Metcard system close to collapse and the state's transport officials considering abandoning the troubled $500 million myki smartcard system.

How difficult can it be to implement a new public transport ticketing system?  Brrrring Brrrrring....Hello London Transport, can we copy your Oyster ticketing system please?  Or Hong Kong or Singapore, or any number of matured systems.  I can't believe Melbourne/Victoria's ticketing needs are so unique.

I guess one problem must be to take advantage of the latest technology, which maybe no current ticketing system uses, but you might never get a system implemented if you look for the latest technology.

I remember reading about and following the British Army's Bowman communication system.  It's taken them nearly 20 years to procure and replace their battlefield communication system.  Amongst other problems, is every time they procure the system, the technology moves faster than the procurement procedure, hence Bowman stands for "Better Off With Map and Nokia!".  And they want to pack in the latest technology which sometimes makes the system inoperable in the field.

I'm not sure what you do to incorporate the latest technology and have it usable and operable, quickly.  I'm grouchy about it, because I'm excited to use it.  I want a card I put credit on which lets me travel easily on a public transport system, and calculates the lowest price.

Ampires!

What do you call the people who wander through airline terminals, looking at the bases of walls, hunting for a previous power outlet into which they can sink their electric teeth?  Brilliant, David Weinberger!

It is so true,  you have to have experienced that desperate hunt for power at an airport, to understand what he's describing.  At first I thought it was thoughtlessness by the airport, and then I wandered into the Qantas Club lounge with hundreds of power outlets.  It's deliberate.  If you want power, then join the Qantas monopoly.

Free Public Transport in Melbourne

This is a great idea.  The free transport being provided for Commonwealth Games ticket holders has revived the idea of free public transport for everyone in Melbourne.
I love it.  The trouble is, many people don't use public transport, they think it's for "poor" people and/or don't know where a tram goes to, or how to pay!!
But once you overcome the fear, and use it, the tram system is brilliant and unique to Melbourne.
We have a treasure we don't use enough.  You can get almost anywhere in Melbourne on 2 trams.

Ok, ok the train system needs improving, but it's on the whole very good, with annoying glitches. 
The new trains are great, let's get them all that way.
I love the car.  l love my bike.  And yes I love travelling on public transport whenever I can. 
Once you have that mindset it's easy. 

All we have to do is convince the "rich" people!!

What's the first thing I'd do?  On a big infrastructure scale, I'd build a rail link (or at least a tram link) to the airport.  I can't understand why Melbourne doesn't have a public transport (other than bus) link to it's main airport, it sends the wrong message, and given how close trains and trams run near the airport, me thinks there is a political agenda which has stopped this happening.

Shame on Singapore and America

So Singapore has executed its Australian, and America has executed its 1000th prisoner since capital punishment came back in '76.  God bless them, both countries must be really proud.
I mean clearly executing murderers in America has reduced the murder and crime rate?
Executing innocent people amongst the 1000 executed is worth it?
Executing so many Texan prisoners has clearly made some of the USA Presidents clearly the men they are.  Texas is executing 4 times the number of the next highest State.

America must be really proud to align itself with the countries in this map.

If you're planning your next holiday, here's a map of civilised countries to visit.
I'd give the Red and Orange a countries a miss, they're going backwards.
Shame on you America.
(And I'll bet India or China abolishes the death penalty before the USA does!)