A funny thing happened on the way home today. I was standing at Camberwell Junction waiting for a route 75 Vermont South tram. As everyone who travels on that route knows, Camberwell Junction is the place where half the passengers on the tram get off, and an equal measure get on
Trams are good. I like them. I rely on them to get me to where I need to go, on time, every day of the week.
And so it was that today, at around 12:55, after spending spent around 10 minutes waiting for the tram, a route 75 showed up. Yes, a route 75, to Vermont South, via Bridge Rd. I did a double take. Not yet another route 70. It really was a route 75! Finally! No more waiting! Phew!
So what happened? The driver stopped at the stop. Good. I stepped out onto the road to meet the tram and waited for the doors to open. Then I waited some more. So did a lady next to me who also wanted to board. So did the passengers inside who wanted to get off. I continued waiting. I saw a passenger inside walk up to the driver and and ask him to open the doors. The driver grinned at the passenger. He seemed to find the whole situation amusing. I decided to give the driver the benefit of the doubt, so I called out to him: “Hey, open up!” As if in reply, he drove off, leaving me and the other passenger in the middle of two lanes of traffic with cars beeping at us.
So what did I do next? I crossed back to the kerb and waited 10 minutes for the next tram. As much as I want to make an official complaint, I rely on trams and a tram driver is a dangerous enemy to have. I also fear that if I raised a complaint, the driver would merely be disciplined. I’d rather leave him to do something really bad so he loses his job!
Everyone’s familiar with council zoning. If you live in one area, you’re allowed to have a dwelling, but no business. If you own land in another area, then you can build a shop, right next to all the other shops that are already there. If you buy land in yet another area then you can build an office.
It just struck me that this is stupid. Why should I be forced to spend several minutes driving away from where I live, clogging up the roads and polluting the atmosphere to buy fruit, when in an ideal world (and a truly free country), my neighbour would be allowed to sell me fruit from a tree in his backyard, as well as anything else he might like to supply to his neighbourhood, out of the front room of his house, without any council interference. That’s how it was in medieval times, and then most people never had any need to leave their respective villages. They definitely didn’t need to upgrade their freeways all the time!
So can anyone tell me, does concil zoning actually serve an essential, proven need, or is it just the result of a lame, ill-thought-through whim of an unnamed councillor “x” years ago? Or is this just the human habit of always trying to group related things seperately and thus break the essential links between different things?
Looking around Melbourne, I’ve noticed an awful lot of polished, new silver cars around the place. It’s pretty bland when almost every car on the road is the same colour - silver is the new beige!
But the worrying thing is, a lot of people insist on buying new cars, and some people buy them often, like once every two years. I don’t understand it. Does anyone understand it? There can’t be any technical reason for it - most cars are built to last a lifetime, and the internal combustion engine hasn’t really changed that much in the last hundred years anyway - it’s not like a new car is really any better than an old car.
So what’s the reason? Do people buy new cars because they think people will take notice and be impressed? If so, it explans why there are so many disillusioned and grumpy motorists on the roads - So you have a new car! Who cares? Everyone else already has one anyway!
Or could it be that the new car smell is starting to wear off after two years and people want it back? If so, then I’m disappointed in humanity. Those fumes are toxic!
Like I said, I don’t get it. And when I think about how many rich people there’d be in Melbourne if they didn’t all have to keep blowing their savings every two years, I really don’t get it!
