I am a man in my early sixties, interested in public transport, language and philosophy. I am especially concerned to find out why the world is in its current state, and what I can possibly do to help to change it.

Some of the interesting things I've done in the way of public transport are: 1. Setting the record for travelling to or through every railway station in the Sydney Suburban area; 2. Being on the official last steam train from Sydney, in October 1969; 3. Being on the "last trams" in both Ballarat (1971) and Bendigo (1972); 4. Travelling to England via the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1973; 5. Being a tour guide on London's open-top double-deck sightseeing buses.

The second photo above shows me "working" the Down Distant signal lever in the former Otford (NSW) Signal Box, now located at the Illawarra Light Railway Museum at Albion Park. Curiously, the only time I tried to operate a real lever in a real signal box was when we were setting the "all stations" record mentioned above. We had 50 minutes between trains at Otford, and got talking to the signaller. He suggested I "help" him by pulling off the Down Distant for the next train. Have you ever tried pulling a lever with 400+ metres of steel wire running over rusty pulleys attached? It's an acquired skill, and I certainly hadn't acquired it (and still haven't!).

I began my first job in the "private sector" in 1990. At the interview, they asked me if frequent visits to Melbourne would be a problem. I replied, "Nooooo, I don't think so". (I didn't want to appear too keen on the idea of fully-funded visits to "tram enthusiast's heaven"!)