I like how the three tram routes on this screen harmonise colour-wise. #melbourne #tram #trams

I'm catching trains from Canberra to Melbourne in late June, with a 90-minute gap at breakfast time in Goulburn. Any tips for a Goulburn breakfast café within walk of the station?

I was wondering where I'd put that document proving my bank account details which clients sometimes ask about, and then I remembered: #stopwastingmytime

This might be of interest - a new exhibition by the artist Rone at Chadstone: --- HOME – An Exhibition by Rone https://www.chadstone.com.au/light-to-night/home-exhibition-by-rone #art #melbourne

Dragon boat on the Yarra! #melbourne

[Post involving discussion of violence, torture and genocide] New at my Patreon... on arriving in Phnom Penh, I joined a tour to the Killing Fields of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime which ruled Cambodia under Pol Pot in the late 1970s: #cambodia #tour #history #memorial

Continuing with my practice of unfollowing (sometimes blocking) people who post screenshots from X. Call it timeline cleansing.

Happy 20 May! (My brother's birthday, FYI.) The date looks funky in the Typodarium.

What luck! I unexpectedly came across this wonderful little cafe inside an old JŽ Baat train car, on the old Sarajevo - Dubrovnik - narrow gauge railroad (bosnabahn)

I don’t get Google's AI-based search. If it doesn't send users to the original sites which have the info, then those sites will go out of business. Where will AI get its info from then? It will we be stuck with a pool of information dated 2026? #ai […]

"We had a style, but it was a couple of hundred years ago, and it died with Queen Anne. Since that period we have been floundering about, each man for himself—now Italian, now Greek, now a bastard Gothic, now Renaissance, then back to Queen Anne again" An article from The Strand Magazine […]

Crikey! Never a dull moment. --- Undersea volcano erupts in Papua New Guinea's Bismarck Sea prompting tsunami concerns https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-19/papua-new-guinea-volcanic-eruption-bismarck-sea/106697688 #png #papuanewguinea #volcano

Great work again from @firstdogonthemoon: --- Here’s a list of things Zohran Mamdani has done in just four months https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2026/may/18/heres-a-list-of-things-zohran-mamdani-has-done-in-just-four-months #uspol #newyork #nyc

Sensible refutation of some of the sillier claims about tax changes in the Budget: --- ‘Death tax’, startups and a rent spike: it’s time to correct misleading claims about Labor’s budget Saul Eslake […]

This pair of street signs amuses me. The street name was changed to Southbank Boulevard around 1989 - I think everyone probably knows by now. :) #melbourne

I've always liked this building near St Kilda Junction (excuse the Batman TV show angle, I was shooting it backwards through a tram window) #melbourne

On a bus through the endless middle suburbs, heading west from Chadstone through Carnegie and Ormond to visit a friend. It's amazing how many of the old brick-and-tile houses here have solar panels on their roofs! It really is becoming commonplace, good to see. #melbourne

I'm at Chadstone Shopping Centre! First time in years. Very much terra incognito for me. But I need to go to an Apple Store, and it's bus replacements to Southland today so this was just as easy (or difficult). #melbourne

Serious reading. Pokies in particular are a scourge. #gambling #auspol https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-19/effects-of-gambling-harm-addiction/106685976

Just spotted the details of this upcoming fellowship at the State Library of New South Wales, might be of interest to writers here: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/fellowships/david-scott-mitchell-memorial-fellowship #writing #history #nsw Cheers Tim

New at my Patreon... Take a long look at this steam locomotive - marvellous, isn't it? Looks like it's been kept in tip-top condition for all its long life. Ah, if you only knew! #train #trains #newzealand #nz #history https://www.patreon.com/posts/into-ditch-then-158470836

Ha I've landed at one of these: Stockholm Skavsta (on a flight from Poland). From memory, the transfer to the city took longer than the flight. Serves us all right, in Europe we should be catching the train! Or a ferry. "Anyone who has used budget airlines in Europe will be familiar with the […]

I've never been an admirer of the JOMO philosophy, but I must admit I enjoy scrolling past nearly all these "must watch" streaming TV tips, now that we've cut back to Apple TV and Prime only. #tv #streaming […]

Crafty @NarrelleMHarris crocheted a stress-relieving octopus and made me promise to give him a hug during the day. Very soothing. #craft #crochet

The good thing about thinking I had jury duty this week (I've since been excused) is that I knuckled down yesterday to write this week's Patreon posts in advance. Sneak preview: tomorrow's post is about the unlikely back story of the gorgeous locomotive you can […] [Original post on aus.social]

People really love AI, don't they? --- Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed during graduation speech about AI https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-google-ceo-booed-graduation-speech-ai-rcna345585 #ai

Now free for all to read... Toward the end of my recent cruise aboard the Mekong Serenity, I went ashore for a tour of the village of Angkor Ban - and saw a very old house: #cambodia #architecture #history https://www.patreon.com/timrichards

Enjoyed this book about the rarest stamp in the world. Had a lot to say about the collectors and the lure of collecting itself. #book #books #stamps https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230268821

Me: I don’t get it, what’s so great Tails: get out of my box #caturday

I took this photo through a tram window in Collingwood the other day. It's interesting how the signage on an awning often doesn't get updated when the shop below it changes. I wonder what was there before? #melbourne

Curious thing today in The Age – there's a story with a photo of the Lord Mayor in Beijing, which echoes the famous meme photo of former Premier Dan Andrews in Beijing. But the photo editor seems unaware of the connection. Curious. I mean, the Lord Mayor must have been posing deliberately. #vicpol

I'm doing jury duty today, so I headed straight to Patricia, just behind the Supreme Court. Haven't had coffee here for ages, but it is excellent. #melbourne #coffee

Imagine trying to fix the #eurovision voting just to make your country look more popular than it is. They definitely need to limit it to one vote per person.

[Eurovision - Spoiler re winner] BULGARIA WON! Thank god. If Israel won under current circumstances, I think it would break Eurovision. Anyway Bulgaria deserve it, I don't think they've won before either. Sofia is a great place, will be a fun host city. #eurovision

Right, that's my votes processed. IMO all the best songs were in the first half! No nul points for UK this year. And I had to support Polska of course, long obligation. #eurovision

Need to start a game of "Serbian Eurovision Entrant or Mad Max Extra?" #Eurovision #esc #esc2026

Wow Delta was great, loads of energy and spectacular staging. Experience will tell. Good luck! #eurovision

Up ridiculously early to watch #eurovision. Anyone else from Australia in the room?

RE: https://aus.social/@jhaue/116581602085591951 I think using the word timid here is unfair to timid people. The government's reaction is way lower than 'timid'. #auspol

It’s crucial to follow the money on the US national debt https://pearlsandirritations.com/e/daily/2026-05-16/467425/ #auspol

RE: https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116580601542902139 They always talk a good game but in the end always end up enacting no real consumer protection in relation to airlines at all - What we want is a scheme like Europe with real teeth #auspol #tourism #travel #airlines

The Green Guide in The Age has turned 50! I wrote an article once for the Green Guide, about the TV series Six Feet Under. Oddly the opportunity came about because they'd accidentally added my byline to an article by a different Tim, then offered me the chance to write a relevant article anyway […]

Scored a good haul of foodstuffs from our visit to Preston Matket yesterday. It's a good place to find European deli-type items (as well as Mexican hot sauce!) #melbourne #food #markets

New at my Patreon... I do like a bit of detective work, arising from my strolls around Melbourne. Yesterday, I was walking from Preston Market to Preston Library, when I passed the local courthouse - and noticed something unusual: #melbourne #history #architecture […]

Another lovely day here in Melbourne! Though it is strange that I'm able to wander around in shorts and T-shirt on *16 May*. It's usually properly wintry by now. #melbourne #weather

I just had a wonderful experience at Pazarić station. Met the station manager and a couple of railway workers and they were super friendly and kind - showed me a spot to take photos from and got me up there in time to snap the Čapljina - Sarajevo […] [Original post on mastodon.vladovince.com]

Well that got the adrenaline pumping. To start my day I had to give a short speech to my publisher's assembled sales team, promoting my upcoming book Train Europe so they would be more knowledgeable and enthused, and go out into the wide world determined to sell it to every possible outlet. Went […]

I am shocked! Shocked to find that price-gouging is going on in here. --- Coles’ ‘Down Down’ discounts misled customers on industrial scale, court finds https://www.theage.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/watch-live-coles-learns-its-fate-in-fake-down-down-discounts-case-20260514-p5zwoi.html

This is strange - a Chemist Warehouse with aisles more than 50cm wide, which aren't filled with browsing customers and/or staff stacking shelves. I must be dreaming. #melbourne

New at my Patreon... I saw this sign in Barcelona within a shop serving hot chocolate and churros, the long thin doughnuts which are popular with that beverage in Spain. But is it good value for a litre? #chocolate #spain #barcelona https://www.patreon.com/timrichards