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Bike V grass oil on canvas I who can’t draw have now been...

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:06:00 -0700

Bike V grass

oil on canvas

I who can’t draw have now been painting for two years. Here’s my latest bike painting. Dontcha feel the urge to go on an adventure?

New Year’s Eve Sydney, Australia This is what a garbage...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:57:00 -0700

New Year’s Eve

Sydney, Australia

This is what a garbage can/bin looked like at 7:30pm on NYE - across the street from a well known fast food joint. What did it look like by midnight?

Creepy crawlies Australia is known for having the most deadly...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:48:00 -0700

Creepy crawlies

Australia is known for having the most deadly creatures - some are tricksters being small or transparent. Us 3 Vancouverites had just had an experience with a huge Huntsman in a small room at night (biggest, hairiest spider ever but later found out was harmless) which rocked us to the core - revealing to each other for the first time how each of us reacts in deep fear. Flight then fight or tend and befriend? Blood-curling screams or strategizing or alternating between the two?

Then one of us saw this on a pole on the sidewalk downstairs from our new place and called me, frozen. I came down and assured the other it was not real. Or was it? We went from assurance to doubt and back in nano seconds…

GoGet Carshare in Sydney, Australia has at least one service...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:24:00 -0700

GoGet Carshare in Sydney, Australia has at least one service vehicle that fleet operators use to get from one carshare carpark to another for inspections. You won’t find it in their Fleet Guide. Of course it’s the brilliant, signature orange of GoGet.

Sydney Opera House at night 3 days before New Year’s Eve....

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:13:00 -0700

Sydney Opera House

at night

3 days before New Year’s Eve. Getting ready for the famous fireworks and parties - as seen from the Manly passenger ferry. Great architectural design but apparently the acoustics aren’t great; you can’t have everything.

OOOOOooooo. Gotta love a new train - and all its…toys? Oh,...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:18:00 -0700

OOOOOooooo. Gotta love a new train - and all its…toys? Oh, it’s a new hanging strap design.

Compared to the dirty train covered in graffiti I showed earlier (>30 posts ago), this one’s gleaming! Also from Sydney, Australia.

Sydney Harbour bridge and Manly ferry

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:02:00 -0700

Sydney Harbour bridge and Manly ferry

signs in Sydney, Australia With so much urban sprawl and focus...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:00:00 -0700

signs in Sydney, Australia

With so much urban sprawl and focus on vehicle traffic, many urban speed limits in Sydney are 60km/hr - way too fast to incorporate safe travel and crossings for cyclists and pedestrians. This 40k sign on Glebe Point Road in Glebe was a rare siting. Turkey sign on a bus in December 2011.

Brisbane, Australia has some impressive public spaces! When I...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:40:00 -0700

Brisbane, Australia has some impressive public spaces!

When I walked to the end of a street in their Central Business District I happened upon this beach - literally called Streets Beach. It has some private sponsorship (ice cream company), sand, and families frolicking - even at night.

All three photos are of an area called South Bank in Brisbane. It includes lots of areas to stroll or cycle - and the most beautiful way to get from A to B.

Australians like to think they’re not like the British but...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:58:00 -0700

Australians like to think they’re not like the British but this Canadian (and others) have found them to be a lot more British than us. One example is the white, plastic fascade - in more ways than one since it’s neither metal nor Victorian.

However, Brisbane, like many modern cities, has started creating interesting spaces such as this coffee shop placed in an alley between two buildings.

To me, Australian slang sounds like everyone speaks like a three...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:50:00 -0700

To me, Australian slang sounds like everyone speaks like a three year old. In any setting - casual or professional - they will all refer to:

bikkies (biscuits), bikies (biker gangs), sunnies (sunglasses), tradies (tradespeople), daggies (underwear), stubbies (short men’s swim trunks) and my favourite budgie smugglers (bikini bathing suits for men). They also call pylons ‘witches hats’ - not just when speaking to children but when speaking about them professionally.

One phrase I have adopted from there is “No worries”. It really encompasses a lot in one short phrase.

Australia invented ‘utes’ (pronounced...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:15:00 -0700

Australia invented ‘utes’ (pronounced ‘yoots’ as in Toots and the Maytals). Utes are utility vehicles or small pick up trucks. Aussies are very proud of this and love their utes. Many have metal storage boxes like this one - handy for getting stuff in and out of. GoGet Carshare Fleet has a number of utes; a variety of vehicles in carsharing - like polyculture in farming - is good.

Bikesharing in Brisbane II In all states in Australia, it is...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:49:00 -0700

Bikesharing in Brisbane II

In all states in Australia, it is mandatory for all cyclists to wear a helmet. There are bikesharing systems in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. This one in Brisbane has a helmet with each bike - attached to the bike. The lock is attached to the centre of the basket. Here too, sponsorship is an important part of financially funding bikesharing.

Bikesharing in Brisbane :) : the transit smart card works...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:40:00 -0700

Bikesharing in Brisbane

:) : the transit smart card works on the bikesharing system.

:( : it’s non-operational from 10pm to 5am each day - even though it’s a self-serve automatic system. Yet in Montreal they’ve found midnight to 4am to be a busy, lucrative time for bikesharing. And when it’s common for a two hour wait for a taxi in Brisbane Friday and Saturday nights and buses at that time are more than every 20 minutes, letting bikesharing be 24/7 is something to think about.

I flew to Brisbane to present at the inaugural meeting of...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:28:00 -0700

I flew to Brisbane to present at the inaugural meeting of Queensland government’s Electric Vehicles Network, with the Minister of Energy introducing me. About 1/4 of the size of Sydney or Melbourne, Brisbane reminded me of Vancouver. People in the bigger cities who hadn’t been to Brisbane in years still saw it as a ‘dive’ but with 3 farmers markets, lofts and other dense housing, cool use of alleyways, public beach at the end of the street and stunning public art, this city is a great place to live.

For Aussies in 2011, their favourite topic seemed to be the price of bananas (or bah nah nahs). Due to severe floods in Queensland in January 2011, many bananas were destroyed and others imported (rare). The price of bananas went to $15/kg. By the end of 2011, the price was back down to $2/kg.

As a Canadian travelling abroad, I get mixed feelings about...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:38:00 -0700

As a Canadian travelling abroad, I get mixed feelings about seeing the sign on the right. I’m delighted a Canadian company is doing so well; I’m disappointed there isn’t more work for them to build trains for inside Canada.

Love bikes on trains, too! - even if there are boundaries sometimes. Melbourne, Dec 2011.

I thought this sign alerting all to ‘new parking...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:44:41 -0700

I thought this sign alerting all to ‘new parking technology’ was clear and a good idea. However the new technology was harder to find; it was across the street. Melbourne, December, 2011.

clear instructions for pedestrians in Melbourne, Australia....

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:39:39 -0700

clear instructions for pedestrians in Melbourne, Australia. December, 2011.

The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne is so similar to the...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:06:00 -0700

The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne is so similar to the one between Toronto and Vancouver. Yet Syd (4.6M) and ‘Melbun’ (4.1M) have similar populations. Even so, Sydneysiders were kind enough to warn me that Melbourne would have friendlier people and tastier food. They were right. Melbourne has a lot of trams/street cars so the traffic is calmer. Cycling therefore feels safer - plus it’s flatter there so easier to bike all around. A particular frozen drink was celebrating its day of invention - hence the ads on the tram.

I’m in a taxi in Sydney on way to airport behind a truck...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:50:00 -0700

I’m in a taxi in Sydney on way to airport behind a truck loaded with cardboard, etc. for recycling. The top picture shows that lanes-closed-for-no-frickin’-apparent-reason exists in Oz, too. December 1, 2011.