Trains Needing Train-ing

I'm pretty sure I've blogged (read - whinged) about this before but really, Transperth have got to get off their collective arses and do something about the truly deplorable public transport system. Okay, I can only talk about trains as far as personal experience goes, but I have it on Mei's aythority that her bus to uni was over 30 minutes late today, rendering her very wet from the rain (yes, it has finally begun - winter has arrived!) and very late for class. So I suppose this covers busses as well as trains.

I have noticed that Transperth have a predilection for sending out what I call the short trains during rush hour. Now a short train has 2 carriages that are linked and a 'normal' train is double that. And that's it. As you can see, hellishly short when compared to the Singaporean MRT, London's Tube and I'm assuming also New York's Subway. So riddle me this - why on earth would any company have trains that obviously hold far fewer numbers, run during periods when there is a very obvious increase in customer usage? Pure stupidity? Perhaps.

The thing that annoys me is that its not exactly cheap travelling on public transport here. Yes, one could argue its a damn sight cheaper than in London, but in London, you get the tube coming every 5 minutes at the most. And they have looong trains. Okay, there are also a lot of people using them but relative to Perth, we're still under-trained; we have more passengers than we have train space. It grates having to pay the amount we do and having to wait 15 minutes for a train if we've just missed one. And then not being able to get on because its too full.

And don't even get me started on the ticket tag-off machines. Let's just say they don't always work, and if you don't tag-off, you automatically get a huge amount taken off your card. And yes, Transperth are aware of their shit machines, I actually called them last week after being monumentally pissed off from trying for 10 minutes to tag off.

I notice there is a bit of a pattern with the trains I take in the morning to work. I try leave the house by 7.45 a.m. and if I manage to catch what I term the 1st train, its a 4 carriage and I'd say 15% to 20% of the times I actually manage to get a seat. Now the next train miraculously arrives in under 5 minutes from then, but its a short train. Most of the time, that's pretty empty as most people would have got onto the 1st train and there woulnd't have been enough time for more to gather. But miss that 2nd train and you're well and truly effed because if you can even make it onto the 3rd train, you're lucky. And if its absolutely pissing it down like it was today, then everything just goes to shit.

Religious Nothings

We have just finished a long weekend here in Perth. It was Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Monday the weekend past so we had both the Friday and Monday off work. Did I ever mention I love long weekends? My mom was in town for the International Hash Harriers 2008 run so we had dinner at Hong Kong BBQ on Thursday night - as always, insanely good BBQ pork and char siew. We also had a lobster noodle this time (soooo yum) and lovely patagonian tooth fish. Though by then, I was so stuffed I couldn't do enough justice to said fish.

I wish I could say the same for dinner on Friday night. We had gone to The Atrium at Burswood for Matt's birthday, though the last time we had been there (Tyne's birthday), we had decided that the food really wasn't worth the amount you pay. Its a buffet and while the selection of starters and desserts are alright, I am never very impressed by the mains. As always, I didn't even have any mains, choosing instead to stick to lots of prawns (I have to admit these are always very good - just plain cooked in salted water in their shells) and smoked salmon and then going straight to dessert. A bit of meandering in the casino after, then mercifully back home and on to bed.

Saturday saw the only normal trading day in the long weekend so we went to Ikea to return a clothes rail (I had bought 2 but I only found out after putting one up and my clothes on it that they weren't very stable) and wound up having their Swedish meatballs for lunch. Dinner was pasta at home and cue a very relaxed night.

Not much on for Sunday, given it was a public holiday and the Malaysian F1 was on. Sadly, it was a boring race so I didn't sit glued to my seat, following every single move. Dinner was a vast improvement - we once again went to Hong Kong BBQ though this time, with my dad. Again, we had copious amounts of food followed by Icey Ice for dessert. And joy of joys, Monday was a holiday...we really need to get governments all over the world to look into the possibilities of a 3 days weekend and 4 day week. I'm just saying....

A Long Hiatus

I am once again moving my blog back here from Friendster (when I do happen to blog, that is). Sadly, a whole bunch of sites have been blocked at work, Friendster and Facebook being 2 of the victims (I mostly use a MAC at home and the one I have does not support the HTML on these blog sites so all my blogging was done from work). The reason cited is that they are related to "relationship/dating sites". Worse yet, my daily hit of celeb gossip has also been seriously curtailed. I now resort to catching up when I get home. I know, you can stop shaking your head at me. I lead a very sad life. :)

Happily thought, it has started to get cooler. We've been having some very hot weather here, its never good when your average temperature is 35 degrees. I always maintain its so much easier dressing for work in the winter, as in summer all you really want to do is wear a nice loose cotton frock. As it is, I'm eternally greatful that my office isn't so stringent as to insist on full-blown suits. Yes they look nice but depsite what many may think, I dress for comfort first and fashion second. Just not when it comes to footwear...

I have 2 weddings coming up in the next 6 months: Matt (Scott's brother) and Tyne's next month and then Lisa (my cousin) and Clint in June. I find it infinitely scary when so many people I know are getting married around me. Not because I feel like I'm getting left behind, but more of a "why?" factor. I don't think this has anything to do with my parents being divorced; I just don't see the need for people to marry most of the time. I suppose its different if you plan on having kids, which at this point in time, Scott and I most vehemently don't. Still, its an excuse to buy a new dress (in my case, a few back-ups as well) and with Lisa's wedding, also take some time off work and go on a holiday. Yay!