It's Not Worth The Risk

Sometimes a commercial just really gets to you...

Last month was Railway Crossing Safety Awareness month here in Victoria. The following add encouraged us not to race through railway crossings as the safety gaurds come down.





Well, today I saw railway crossing safety reach a new level. It's not a long walk from the train platform to the footpath where I can cross the tracks, but lets say it takes about a minute to reach from when I get off the train. And by this time, the train is long gone and the crossing gaurds are up, indicating that it is now safe for cars to continue along their way.

I came home during peak hour today, and when I crossed over the tracks I noticed that there was quite a lot of cars backed up along what is normally a busy but not backed up road. Since all the cars on my side of the road were grid locked, I walked through them into the middle of the road, looked to see if any more cars were coming, and suddenly realized something:

On both sides of the road, the front cars stopped at the railway crossing had remained stopped well after the train had left the station. What was even more bizzare was the fact that no one was honking at them to move it along. In fact, it wasn't until myself and another pedestrian crossed the road doing double takes of this bizarre traffic situation that the other drivers started to notice something was wrong and got on their horns.

Some things are worth waiting for indeed!

Sunny Winter Days

This year Melbourne has enjoyed a fairly mild winter. We could do with more rain, and there have been some very cold nights, but on the whole, it has been a lovely winter. The kind of winter I can sign up for experiencing year after year.

This past week I have been housesitting for friends who are vacationing in Cairns. Their house is in the south, and since I live in the north I don't know this part of the city very well. This afternoon I decided to go for a wander down to the beach. I walked along the boardwalk, then along the beach, being careful not to step in the jellyfish that had washed up along the shore.

Even though I have been here for a year and a half now, this was only my second time going to the beach in Melbourne. The first time I went during the heat wave and ended up with sun stroke, so I have been reluctant to return. But today, while the sun was out, it was still cool for me to actually enjoy my walk along the beach.

After having satified myself with the beach, I decided to wander back, taking a different route than I had come by. Fortunately I was not in any hurry to get back, as I ended up walking in the opposite direction from my friend's house.

I like to explore, and taking a wrong turn can often lead you to some interesting places. I try not to be so concerned about the destination when I set off wandering. After all, you can't be lost if you know where you are. And I knew that I had just walked through Elsternwick Park and was walking along the bike path beside the canal, since my friend's house is near the canal.

Eventually, I came across a train station. It wasn't a train station I was familiar with, but fortunately it was on the train line I needed. It turns out I had walked 2 stations further down the line from my friend's place. I desided it was time to get myself on a train and home!

I'm taking care of my friend's cats, Jack and Floyd, as well. The boys were happy to have me back home and I gave them both a brush as they came out back to play. Then I got myself an afternoon snack and went to sit in the sun on the front porch. I opened the door so the cats could join me. Floyd was quick to come and sit with me.

I was reading a book when Jack decided to join us. I looked up to see what Floyd was up to and noticed a ginger fuzzball on the other side of the front gate! The little sneak! When I opened the gate to get him he knew he'd been naughty and came running right back into the front yard. After that, he didn't try to escape again.

Now that the day is cooling off we are all snuggled up in the house. Tomorrow I plan to go exploring the markets at this end of the city during the day, and in the evening I'll be baking muffins as Lizzie's prize for winning our hair growing competition. She beat me by 2.5cm.

Until next time...