This past year I have turned into a bit of a Doctor Who nut. We started watching the reboot just before Christmas, and finished all seven seasons with a few weeks to spare before yesterday's launch of season 8. I freely acknowledge that it's not brilliant TV, it's no Game of Thrones, and most episodes have plot holes, often giant ones, but it's fun, entertaining, and, unlike Game of Thrones, rarely leaves me feeling depressed.

When I found out that yesterday's season premiere was going to be shown in cinemas, I immediately booked tickets, even though they were overpriced, because I wanted the experience of being introduced to Peter Capaldi's Doctor in cinemas. I even dressed for the occasion.

However, there is one thing that really bothers me. The Doctor has lived for over 1000 years. He always gives his enemies a chance, and is friends with all different species, and tends to reject differences between species as being relevant. He has a strong objection to causing harm, and an incredibly deontological (what you do matters more than the overall consequences) approach to ethics (Time War complexities aside). Why then, is he perfectly happy to eat roast beef, not to mention fish fingers and custard? It's true that humans (and presumably Gallifreyans) are good at cognitive dissonance, and he is probably better than most, considering his history in the Time War, but I still don't think that meat eating makes sense for his character.

Of course, The Doctor is supposed to be appealing to the everyday Brit, and I guess a vegetarian Doctor, let alone a vegan one, would probably damage that appeal somewhat. Furthermore, it probably wouldn't have occurred to the scriptwriters in the first place. That doesn't stop it from being jarring every time I see him tucking in to something he shouldn't. Furthermore, when I did a bit of digging, I discovered that the Sixth Doctor became vegetarian, and the Doctor wasn't seen to eat meat again until the reboot (source). Why couldn't that have been kept in for the reboot? They needn't have made a thing of it, just not shown the doctor sitting down and happily chowing down on animal flesh.

What do you think? Am I overanalysing an in general superficial storyline? Alternatively, what do you think of the Season 8 premiere?

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that Clara is finally going to develop some character depth, and the throwaway line "Last time I checked you weren't a vegetarian" (no context given to avoid spoilers) was particularly interesting given that I already had this post half-written last night. I also fell like I'm going to like the new doctor. Of course, the only one I didn't like on intro was Tennant, who I think ended up being my favourite.

An ode to public transport

After moving just over a week ago, we are now mostly unpacked. I haven't, however, had much time to experiment in the kitchen, especially as I'm also back to uni. Sorry about the scarcity of posts during the past few weeks. I do, however, have several half-written posts that just require me to remake the recipe again to tweak things or get better photos. In the meantime, here's a digression onto another topic I feel quite strongly about.

I am a regular public transport user. I also work and study with a lot of public transport users, and we love to gripe about how unreliable Melbourne's public transport system is. And by a lot of standards, for example, by Japan's standards, it's unreliable and infrequent. And when a heatwave cases public transport to grind to a halt, or when I experience 3 weeks of replacement buses in the evenings adding 20 minutes to my trip home after work, I love to have a good whinge.

But the truth is, I love Melbourne's public transport. It's not an unconditional love, and I firmly believe that it should undergo significant improvement, but I love it all the same.

Australians, on the whole, have a very negative relationship, with public transport, so I though I'd share some of the things I love about it, in a mini public awareness campaign to (microscopically) shift public perception:

• When I'm on the train, I can read, do my study, talk on the phone (yes, I'm one of those people), or read blog feeds. When I'm driving, I have to pay attention to the road, and am responsible for the safety of not only myself, but others too.
• Trains are much, much safer. It looks like since 1976, there has been precisely one Melbourne train passenger killed in a train accident, in 2012. The 1976 incident also only had one fatality (source). Car accidents are much more common. Furthermore, accidents involving trains are almost inevitably caused by drivers of cars, and not by drivers of trains (removing level crossings would remove this risk, are you listening state and federal governments?).
• While it's true that the trains are often overcrowded, at those times, so are the roads. I'd much rather be standing on a train than inching along through stop-start traffic, not to mention that the train is often faster at that time of day too.
• You don't have to spend lots of time driving around after you've supposedly reached your destination to find a park.
• You don't have to pay exorbitant inner city prices for parking.
• It's good for the environment. Climate change is real, and switching to public transport is, (after going vegan) one of the best things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment.
• I can easily take my bike on the train, even when it's busy. Ok, so this is more about my super awesome folding bike than about the trains, but I love combining bikes and trains to avoid walking/buses.
• Trams are cool, in an old-fashioned but still relevant kind of way. I'm afraid that's all I can say about trams and buses, I much prefer trains. 

What are your favourite things about public transport?