Tue 14 March - Games week...
Well here we are with just one day to go. The media's doing its best to whip up some Games fever, but we all know deep down that Melbourne would've had the 1996 Olympics if we hadn't been sold out. And the Commonwealth Games really are a pretty poor substitute.
We'll pretty soon know whether the public transport system is going to collapse under the strain, or whether people will heed the dire warnings and settle into their bunkers and watch 200+ hours of the Games on their new plasma TV screens.
The 07:14 is more or less on time as I test Plan B...
OK, the big mystery about Plan B is revealed... the plan is simply take the pushie on the train to work, then ride home. I figure the early trains should be pretty right, and cycling home will be around the same time as the train, but probably more reliable. I've been going out in the mornings for the last few weeks to build up the stamina. Today was planned to be the first real attempt at it.
But I end up at Prahran Station doing photos with a photographer from The Age. There's a possibility of a story coming up so we decide Prahran is a good spot for the pictures.
With an exquisite sense of timing and just a touch of irony, Connex announces that the 18:19 from the city is running six minutes late - the photographer wants to include a train in the background. Predictably when it does arrive it's packed solid - couldn't have gone better if we'd planned it! A couple of minutes later an empty train crawls through and a couple more minutes later the 18:31 pulls in very lightly loaded. I let it go, without thinking that I could've jumped on board. Oh well, I need the exercise.
We'll pretty soon know whether the public transport system is going to collapse under the strain, or whether people will heed the dire warnings and settle into their bunkers and watch 200+ hours of the Games on their new plasma TV screens.
The 07:14 is more or less on time as I test Plan B...
OK, the big mystery about Plan B is revealed... the plan is simply take the pushie on the train to work, then ride home. I figure the early trains should be pretty right, and cycling home will be around the same time as the train, but probably more reliable. I've been going out in the mornings for the last few weeks to build up the stamina. Today was planned to be the first real attempt at it.
But I end up at Prahran Station doing photos with a photographer from The Age. There's a possibility of a story coming up so we decide Prahran is a good spot for the pictures.
With an exquisite sense of timing and just a touch of irony, Connex announces that the 18:19 from the city is running six minutes late - the photographer wants to include a train in the background. Predictably when it does arrive it's packed solid - couldn't have gone better if we'd planned it! A couple of minutes later an empty train crawls through and a couple more minutes later the 18:31 pulls in very lightly loaded. I let it go, without thinking that I could've jumped on board. Oh well, I need the exercise.
posted by Connex Whinger at 7:45 pm
3 Comments:
I attended the Opening Ceremony Rehearsal last night. The train in from Camberwell was pretty packed but we got there with little fuss.
Coming home was more interesting. The crowds moved pretty well down to Richmond station. We went to platforms nine and ten where our services were scheduled to depart from. Only having one information screen in the middle of the platform made it impossible to work out where each train was going. The screen on platform ten said 'Glen Waverley' then went blank. A train rolled up - no announcement from station staff - it was off to Ringwood - and it was left to the driver to make announcements inside the train.
It will be interesting to see how the system copes on Wednesday night when there are three times as many people.
The reason why Melbourne did not get the 1996 Olympic Games was on the day Juan Antonio Samnaranch & Co visited Melbourne to inspect their facilities the unions organized a total shutdown of rail services on that day in January 1990 (and not to mention the tram blockade in the CBD and no trams running at all) in protest of the "Met-ticket" fiasco of that time. This demonstrates that Melbourne is not a fit and proper city to host a world sporting event, the Commonwealth Games will prove this theory.
With regard to the Melbourne 1996 Olympic bid, I was referring to the Phil Coles allegations...
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