Getting booked

I have no problem with the presence of ticket inspectors – aka “authorised officers” – on our public transport.   In fact, I’d like to see more of them, because compliance on trams and buses seems quite low, judging by the number of people who make no effort to “touch on”.   Perhaps they have their reasons, such as some sort of pass, but I must admit that I have my suspicions.    Yet I can’t remember the last time I saw mykis being inspected on a tram, and I’ve never seen it happen on a bus.

However, I was on a train recently, and the team of three came through to inspect myki cards. So, even if inspections had been paused during the Covid-19 lockdowns, it seems that they’re happening again.

And yes, they queried a person a few rows away from us.   From what I could hear, she was travelling on a concession card, stating she was a student.  She probably was, although she looked older than the typical student (I wonder if she was full-time, as is required), and she didn’t have the necessary student ID from her educational institution.  The AO patiently and carefully explained the situation to her.  There wasn’t the slightest element of being judgemental or of “gotcha”.   I was impressed with his attitude and demeanour.   In fact, I thought that he wasn’t going to “book” her, but it turns out that most of the “chat” was aimed at finding out the information he needed to get the infringement process going.  As we were getting off, it appeared that she was being handed a copy of the report.

“Breaker” Morant

The story of Lt Harry “Breaker” Morant (executed during the Boer War) is known to many of us, particularly as a result of the movie.    But there’s an issue as to whether he and Lts Peter Handcock and George Witton were really guilty or were they made scapegoats for the crimes of their British superiors who had a broader agenda?   True, they did shoot prisoners of war, but in the circumstances, were they tried and sentenced according to law? 

I heard a presentation from James Unkles who is running a campaign for their posthumous pardons.  He’s already written a book about Major James Thomas (Ready, Aim, Fire) who was the officer appointed for the defence, and is regarded by Unkles as “the fourth victim in the execution”. 

The case for pardon rests on the contention that Lord Kitchener and other superior officers had issued orders to take no prisoners, and that other officers from the British army weren’t held to account for similar executions.   It’s also reasonably clear that Kitchener made sure that the men didn’t receive fair trials.    Seemingly, he had in mind that punishment of officers for this reason could assist in negotiations with the Boers.

Unkles is pressing ahead with a campaign for posthumous pardons, particularly in the interests of their descendants.    However, perhaps because of other more contemporary issues concerning military justice, it’s proving hard to get the politicians to address this issue.

Auctioneers

Saturdays are returning to something like pre-Covid “normal” – that is, getting out and about to watch auctions in the local area!    It’s quite a spectator sport. In addition to seeing inside local houses and getting an idea of prices, I find myself evaluating the performance of individual auctioneers.

Every auction is different, and, to me, the skill of the very best auctioneers lies in their ability to “read” the crowd.   One of the local auctioneers stands out in his ability to do this.  Sure, the effect on the outcome probably only amounts to a relatively small proportion of the ultimate purchase price, but to me, it’s his ability to get those last bids out that makes his style stand out.

I recently attended an auction by another auctioneer who wasn’t up to the same standard.   Sure, he got a decent price, but he failed to slow things down at the “pointy” end of the process.  

Just because the likely under-bidder says he or she is done doesn’t mean that you should leave it at that.   The local expert doesn’t take that for an answer:  he slows things down and teases a little and more often than not extracts more bids.   And by slowing the pace down, there’s an opportunity for the “dark horse” to emerge.   It’s by no means uncommon for the auction seemingly to be close to the end and for a bid to come from a bidder who has not previously participated.   But if the process is rushed, the chances of this occurring are lessened.

At a different auction, the auctioneer seemed to get all the likely bids out, and had achieved what I thought was a good price, before pausing to “seek instructions”.    I was surprised when we were told that the reserve price had not been met.   Even if this was the case (surprising to me, because the price seemed a good one), I would have thought that by putting the property “on the market” at this price – which must surely have been very close to the reserve – would have got more interest.   As it was, the property was passed in without any further bids.  However, perhaps this was the vendor’s decision, not the auctioneer’s, and in any event there was soon a “sold” sign on the board.

It’s all like any sport:   it’s easy to be a spectator, but perhaps it’s harder when you’re the person who has to get out there and “do it”.

Petunias

A nearby cafe has been allowed to set up on-street dining.   Supposedly it occupies parking spots but it’s a narrow street and hasn’t met with universal approval locally.  Nevertheless, they’ve greatly softened the appearance with a great display of petunias.  These have lasted for weeks;   some of us have been wondering what the secret of their long life is.

How I Built This

Guy Raz’s book How I Built This (based on the podcast interviews that he conducts) is described as offering “priceless insights and inspirations from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch and build a successful venture”.

Well, yes, it does indeed describe how numerous start-ups got off the ground.    In short, they all need an idea, a niche in the market, money and hard work – and some good fortune! – but apart from that the story behind each one is unique.

However,  the author has only interviewed  success stories (for his podcasts, on which the book is based).  So of course, there are a lot of good outcomes.  What about the numerous failures that occur among start-ups?  There are occasional mentions of the fact that there are many failures amongst start-us.  For example, in the competitive world of developing apps, we’re told that the top five apps account for 85% of all in-app time spent bu users on their mobile devices.  This means that all the 5 million-plus apps are competing for a portion of the remaining 15% of users’ in-app time.   Not a lot of room for new developments there.

Raz comments that the difference between the apps at the top of the power curve and those near the bottom rarely has much to do with the quality of the idea or the passion of the entrepreneur or even the size of the market.  Rather, the success of a new business depends on its ability to get attention – specifically its ability to build “buzz” and to engineer word of mouth.    Easy to say, of course, but unless you’re like Hollywood (which often does it by brute expenditure of money), every case is different.   There’s no magic formula – and the examples that are given in the book illustrate that every success story is different.  And, although Kaz doesn’t say it in so many words, there’s of lot of good luck involved, too, such as being in the right place at the right time.

So, yes, the book is interesting, but it’s descriptive of success stories – it’s not really a guide to “how to make a billion dollars”.

Greek Independence Day

Greece’s national day is on 25 March.  This commemorates the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. It coincides with the Greek Orthodox Church’s celebration of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would bear the son of God.  

The Greek revolt against Ottoman rule is generally regarded as having been precipitated on 25 March 1821, so this year marks the bicentenary of that.

The Greek struggle elicited strong sympathy in Europe, and many leading intellectuals had promoted the Greek cause, including the English poet Lord Byron.  However apparently it appeared to be on the verge of failure until Great Britain, France, and Russia intervened in the conflict.  The revolution ended in 1829 when the Treaty of Edirne established an independent Greek state

Later this month we’re going to a dinner to mark the occasion.   I wasn’t aware of the history, but researched so as to be up to speed for the dinner.

 

The airport survey

I received an email from a firm conducting a survey on behalf of the Melbourne Airport.    I don’t usually participate in surveys, and I’m not sure how they got hold of my email address, but I had a few minutes and I do have some views about travel going forward, so I launched into it.     There were more than 50 questions, unashamedly seeking views on what people are thinking about re-commencing their travel.   Well, that’s fair enough, and understandable.

There were a lot of questions about whether I would be more likely to travel if there was more cleaning and social distancing.    

Other questions were about when we might travel again and where to, which I found difficult to answer;  we have some vague ideas but I had to give some “best guesses” on these aspects.   Interestingly, although there were questions about the “airport experience”, there was no reference at all about the attraction of an airport train.  Perhaps the time horizon for this is longer than what this survey was seeking to achieve.

I tried to convey in my answers that the main issue on my mind is that the quarantine rules might change at very short notice.   Hence, from a “risk tolerance” perspective, I’m not too concerned about the risk of catching covid (of course, I’d prefer not to!), but I do have big concerns about the “rules changing” and disrupting my plans – especially if this happens mid-trip.

No doubt the travel industry is already aware of feelings such as mine out in the community, which are probably self-evident and do seem to be widely held.   Although the airport can influence matters such as cleaning and social distancing, seemingly it can only play its role as a member of the broader travel industry in seeking to influence the making of decisions on matters such as policies about the re-introduction of quarantine requirements.  

“They” are watching us

We all know, of course, that what we do on the internet is tracked, but this was brought home to me recently. S and I use separate computers but we connect though a single NBN router, and hence share the same IP address.

I was doing some “armchair travel”, thinking (very hypothetically!) about possible future travel.    But within a minute or so of searching (on Bing) for a hotel chain, S’s Facebook feed threw up an advertisement for the chain concerned.    Hmm, I don’t have Facebook, and never look at it.     A little later, I searched for an airline (Virgin), and again, soon afterwards, S asked me, was I looking at Virgin?    Again her Facebook feed had included an advertisement for them!  And I had only used Bing and the airline’s website.

Yes, we all know that this goes on – but the immediacy and “relevancy” of this was a very strong reminder of what’s going on in the on-line world.

UooUoo (2)

I haven’t been out looking for the UooUoo objects, but I have taken notice when I’ve seen one.

There’s one in the Spring Road gardens

and another at Middle Park Beach (known in the tramway world as “South Melb Beach”)

and further down the beach at Middle Park

Great sunset, too, at Middle Park

Speed signs – and the rules

I’m sure that there are detailed rules about where and how temporary speed signs are displayed.   But what about when there’s more than one lot of roadworks or whatever going on, does each have to have its own signage?    This was the scene – all within a few metres –  in our street recently ….