Woolworths Petrol Rewards Card discount didn't work at Bairnsdale on 29/1/17

I noticed that petrol was an excellent price in Bairnsdale as we passed through recently. The pump price was 119.9 for unleaded, whilst back in Melbourne prices were in the high 130s and in Merimbula it was 143.9. On the way back to Melbourne I had decided to stop at Woolworths Petrol and fill up.

I thought I'd share the Rewards Card discount couldn't be applied by the operator. They felt it was strange but couldn't do anything about it. I checked later that night and there was a discount voucher sitting there.

So for those who have a similar problem, at least you know you're not alone. It makes me wonder how often the Rewards Card discount system doesn't work.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.PetroPricesMelbourne.com.au

Crossword Help now available to help solve those word puzzles.

As the creator of the preferred Australian English spelling dictionary I'm always looking for ways to use my work which may help others and get further use from my dictionary work.

Often when playing games such as crosswords, hangman, etc., we know the length of a word, some letters, but need to work out the rest. Crossword Help can assist when you're stuck with those types of games and puzzles.

You can find Crossword Help at http://www.CrosswordHelp.com.au.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.CrosswordHelp.com.au

Nearest tram stop option added to Nearest Train Station web app.

I was tossing up whether or not to create another site similar to the Nearest Train Station web app for tram stops. In the end I decided, at this time, since the web app is for my use and those I know, creating a separate site perhaps wasn't warranted. I decided to add tram stops to the Nearest Train Station web app. OK. Perhaps not the best name for a web app, but it does the job. If there's enough interest I can create two separate web apps down the track. For now we have the functionality.

Why would I create a nearest train station or tram stop web app when Google maps already displays the information. The reason is I personally find Google maps doesn't quite work as easily as I want. Close, but I wanted something simpler. Seeing all stations and the nearest five stations (or tram stops) gives me an overview without all the clutter.

However once I'm on the map for the station or tram stop I want, Google maps provides route information and, I have to admit I'd not seen it before, timetable information. I knew the information had been provided so Google could use the timetable information, but I'd never used that feature or knew it had been implemented. Now I know the feature exists, it is very useful and easy to use. No need to Public Transport Victoria's native app anymore. For me Google maps implementation suits me better than the PTV app as I see the times and not how long to the next train or tram. I prefer to know when I need to get somewhere, not how long I have to go.

The Nearest Train Station web app explains how to access the Google maps train and tram timetable.

You can find the Nearest Train Station web app at https://www.NearestTrainStation.com.au.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.NearestTrainStation.com.au (now with trams)

Updated Nearest Train Station app to be more mobile friendly.

When developing programs sometimes you get the feeling you're not quite happy. The problem is with writing programs you'll never be 100% happy as something can always be done better. It's more important to stop development and deliver a product than not deliver at all.

I recently made the Nearest Train Station web app available based on the code I'd written for the Mapz site. Each map section on Mapz has a desktop page and a mobile page. I'm no longer happy with this approach as all pages need to be accessible no matter what type of device you have. I decided to revisit the code and make the Nearest Train Station web app work well no matter what device you use to access the site. Later I may update the Mapz site with the same approach.

The Nearest Train Station web app which can be found at  https://www.nearesttrainstation.com.au now has two pages which are mobile and desktop friendly. The main page shows all Melbourne metropolitan train station and your location, which the second page accessed via the menu shows the nearest 5 stations to your current location. The main page is thus good if you want to see stations in a particular area but are not yourself in the area, whilst the nearest 5 page is good when you're in the area.

I hope this new design assists better when looking for the nearest train station.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.NearestTrainStation.com.au

Nearest Train Station web app now available

A new day and another new web app. The latest web app Nearest Train Station has been developed for those occasions when you're out and about and would like to know where the nearest train station is located.

On a number of occasions we've needed to know where the nearest train station is located. For example, when people have needed to be dropped off so they can take public transport to where they're going. Trains are generally faster than trams or buses so knowing if a train station in the area can save some time. When meeting someone and they're coming by train you can work out where the nearest and thus best station is located. Whatever your reason the Nearest Train Station web app may come in handy.

The Nearest Train Station currently has two screens. A desktop and a mobile screen. The desktop screen shows you all metro train stations around Melbourne. The mobile version shows you the nearest five train stations.

You can find the Nearest Train Station app at www.NearestTrainStation.com.au and the mobile page at www.NearestTrainStation.com.au/mobile/. For convenience the Nearest Train Station web app can be accessed from the Mapz site www.Mapz.com.au. In addition most web apps I create can be found on the main page of JustLocal.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.NearestTrainStation.com.au

The Convert inches to cm calculator links to the BMI/BMR calculator.

As part of the older generation I find people in our generation still referring to inches as well as centimetres and metres. The reason is we grew up measuring in feet and inches, so quite a few of the measures we know by heart, such as our height or the length of a ruler, we still think of in those old imperial units rather than metric. We then need to convert those measurements to centimetres or metres.

The Convert inches to cm calculator was written to aid those wishing to convert from inches to cm (cms, centimetres, centimeters (USA spelling)), or feet and inches to cm or metres.

Secondly, since one of the first figures we need when dieting to work out our BMI/BMR is our height, I've provided a link which takes the converted result and plugs it straight into the BMI/BMR calculators I've written.

You can find the Convert inches to cm calculator at www.inchestocm.com.au. I hope you find the calculator useful.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.inchestocm.com.au

Mapz has now been converted to use SSL encryption making it easier to use on mobile devices.

A general trend in the IT industry is a move to make the internet more secure by encrypting the connection between websites and the user's browser. This doesn't mean the sites are more secure, just that communication to and from the site is encrypted.

As this change is occurring sites which once worked OK may stop working. An example are sites such as www.mapz.com.au which passes your location to the server to provide the map with information around you back to you. In the past this communication was not encrypted. Browsers such as Google Chrome and more recently Safari on macOS now require the communication to be encrypted for the site to work property.

The Mapz site provides maps for things I find useful. The nearest cinema, petrol stations and takeaway food outlets. I use the maps regularly. I wrote them for myself and make them available for others to use.

I hope you find them useful.

Kelvin Eldridge

wwwMapz.com.au

Woolworths petrol stations drop prices to 115.9 at some petrol stations whilst others go up to 144.9.

I was quite surprised to see Woolworths petrol drop the price for unleaded in some of their petrol stations to 115.9. Not all petrol stations as other Woolworths petrol stations are higher and some even 144.9.

The Petrol Prices Melbourne web app shows the 144.9 petrol station as dark red and the 115.9 dark green.

Right now petrol prices are going up so to see this last minute move by Woolworths to drop prices significantly was quite a surprise. Add a discount voucher and you're down to 111.9 for unleaded petrol which isn't too bad at all.

I doubt if these prices will last, or who knows how the market will respond, but whilst the prices are there, it may be worth filling or topping up.

Kelvin
www.PetrolPricesMelbourne.com.au

A frustrating couple of weeks with sites using SSL.

My apologies to those who haven't been able to use the sites https://www.PetrolPricesMelbourne.com.au, https://www.NearestPetrolStation.com.au, https://www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au and https://www.ClosestPetrolStation.com.au.

Whilst there was a problem lurking in the hosting company's service since mid December, on Saturday the proverbial hit the fan and my sites started to not work. "Not happy Jan!"

All has been fixed and the sites are now working as expect.

Apologies again but this is the type of thing we are all faced with in IT. Certainly feels good to have the problem fixed.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Some VentraIP sites using Let's Encrypt currently have problems.

If you're trying to access the Petrol Prices Melbourne, Nearest Petrol Station, or the Speed Camera Locations sites, there is currently an issue with the hosting service VentraIP.

For a few weeks now VentraIP's implementation of Let's Encrypt has been giving problems. This started a few weeks ago with not being able to enable SSL for one site and yesterday, the problem became worse with three sites mentioned above that have SSL enabled, are now showing has having certificate problems.

You can still access the sites if you use Safari on the Mac, or Internet Explorer/Edge on Windows and select continue when given the certificate warning. However this will be disconcerting to people who don't know what's happening. Mobile users however will probably be out of luck.

My apologies for any inconvenience. VentraIP are working on the problem and hopefully it will be resolved in a timely manner.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Update: 11 January 2017
Certainly a frustrating time. Thanks to the team at VentraIP for sorting this out.

Next petrol price hike is going to surprise people

For the last few weeks I've not quite understood why the retail price of petrol has come down so slowly. Since the last price hike for Melbourne, which occurred on the 9th of November, 58 days ago, prices have come down 8 cents or 0.13 cents per day. In the past I've prices have typically dropped between 0.5 to 1 cent per day and the petrol price cycle being around 3-4 weeks.

Initially I thought this was because the petrol companies kept prices high for the Christmas holiday period. Since people are used to the high price there would be no outcry with the petrol companies profiteering at holiday times and thus the bad press. However this doesn't appear to be the case.

What has also been happening is in the background the wholesale price has been going up. On the 9th of November the average wholesale price was 108.3, and today (6 January 2017), the average wholesale price is 118.9.

So perhaps there's two situations that have occurred. Keeping prices high to avoid bad press, but also increasing wholesale prices.

In the near future we are probably going to see the highest petrol prices we've seen for some time. When the petrol price discounting cycle finishes and the restoration to the higher price occurs, we often see a 20-30 cent increase. I suspect the next price increase will take us up to 139.9 (but could be 144.9)  and that will probably occur within the next one to two weeks.

When the price restoration (or what I call the petrol price hike) occurs, I will as usual alert everyone using this blog, Google+, Twitter and my Facebook account. You can also keep an eye on www.PetrolPricesMelbourne.com.au where I publish prices for petrol stations in my area.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.PetrolPricesMelbourne.com.au

Electricity price increases occur around this time of the year.

In January the new prices for electricity generally start to apply. In my case the new prices kicked in on the 7th of December.

For those interested in checking how much the new rates will affect their electricity bill I created a video (https://youtu.be/BrVHzTA4PYA) showing how to use the Cheapest Electricity Provider web app to see how much your bill will increase by and by what percentage.

If you're thinking about changing electricity providers, the Cheapest Electricity Provider web app may be able to assist you in comparing rates.

Our rate is going up 12.5%, or about $80 a year. Whilst this is a considerable increase I've done a quick check around and since other providers are also increasing their rates, I haven't yet found a better rate worth the time to change to. Hopefully you have better luck.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.CheapestElectricityProvider.com.au

Police checking cars for speeding on Reynolds Road Templestowe at bottom of hill.

Yesterday I went for a bike ride and noticed a policeman standing behind a police car with a speed gun. They were parked at the bus stop on Reynolds Road near Blackburn Road Templestowe.

The problem I see with this approach is the police were checking speeding drivers on a very hilly road at the bottom of a long hill. A spot that would be incredibly easy for people to exceed the speed limit by a small amount for a short period of time.

I can't help feeling this form of policing our roads won't be well accepted by the general public.

Reynolds Road Templestowe

I recall a time when it was suggested people weren't booked in such places (going down hills) but it appears those times have passed.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au