Street Parking

One thing I have achieved in the nearly nine months I have been living in Brisbane (YAY!) is at work I have introduced "No Standing" signs for the street in front of our building. People parking on the side of the that road turned a barely two-lane street into a one-lane street - and if two people parked opposite each other, you were lucky to get anything bigger than a Getz through.  It was a huge safety issue, not to mention cars parked on the side of the road just looks messy.

It's one of the things that pisses me off about my new home in New Farm.  When I lived in beautiful Kangaroo Point, there was always plenty of parking out the back, meaning no one was forced onto the street.  Here, there are two parking spaces and they have been seconded by two of the other tennants, meaning I'm forced out onto the street.  Usually the spot in front of the house is where I park, but sometimes you get some dickheads who park there, making my life difficult.  Plus someone has sideswiped my car, making me even angrier.

I'm sure plenty of people who visit the Coles on Merthyr Road can testify to how hard street-parking makes getting out of the Coles - you can barely see what's coming, especially dangerous if you're turning right.  On the way to work through Newmarket on Enoggera Road people park on the side of the road taking up the whole left lane, meaning people end up having to quickly merge into the right lane so they don't crash.

I think it should be illegal to sell or rent a property without providing off-street parking, and that street-parkng itself should be illegal.  If that means you have four rooms but only two car parks, you're only selling/renting two rooms.  Street-parking is dangerous and looks horrible, and the sooner we can get our cars off the side of the road the better. 

A dying form of communication.

Unfortunately in this day and age where the focus is more on ourselves and getting things done quicker, we're losing touch with each other.  We're not communicating as we should, and quite frankly it's dangerous.  Important forms of communication are being lost, simple forms, and none of these more so than the simple indicator.

For those who are unaware of what an indicator is, it's the yellow flashing light on your car, and there's usually 3 on each side - one on the front, one on the side (or on the side mirror) and one on the back of each side of the car.  They are primarily used by drivers to signal intent - whether it's to turn a corner, pull over or merge into a lane.  It's a vital means of communicaton, and is capable of saving lives and keeping people safe.

Unfortunately this form of communication seems to be going out of style.  I'm seeing more and more cars that are obviously not built with indicators, as their drivers never use them.  It's a worrying trend and could very well be a dangerous one.  I can see a world where you're driving along and then suddenly someone just merges in front of you, giving you no time to act and causing an accident.  I beg car companies to install this critical device on all cars they manufacture, and I beg our driving instructors to make sure that people are trained to use these vital forms of communication.

TL:DR? USE YOUR FUCKING INDICATORS!

Ahem.

So, my team lost again.  All because we simply can't keep up the heat when it's required.  Hopefully we don't lose against the Suns, because my dignity couldn't take it.  Part of me is still a bit sore about last year, not just about the Voss sacking, but all the factors that combined to turn our Club into a warzone.  It was supposed to be an amazing year for me, going to all 22 Lions games in the season and finally living my dream and moving to Brisbane, but unfortunately the PTB had other ideas.  If it wasn't constantly hearing about Essendon, it was the fight between the Lions Members and the Lions Board.  If it wasn't that, then it was Vossy under the pump.  Speaking of which, I've been watching Vossy on Fox Footy and he looks 10x healthier than what he did as Coach.  The red in his hair is definitely starting to return (of course, he could be dying it *shifty eyes*) and he looks happier.  Good for you Vossy!

And on the subject of health - Started week 4 of the Coach to 5kms program and managed 4.3kms today.  Hopefully I can keep it up, I surprised myself by being able to go 5 minutes straight jogging.

http://www.c25k.com/ - for those interested in taking up running but don't know where to start.