From the moment he had become opposition leader following the defeat of Lindsay Thompson's government in 1982, Jeff Kennett had been viewed as a political larrikin.

When it arrived, the train was headed by a K class 4-6-0 wood-burning locomotive, and a water-tank wagon next to the tender was immediately besieged by women and girls, clad in their picturesque national costume, all with empty kerosene tins for water, a scene which was re-enacted at each stop down the line.

Finally getting that cracked window fixed was a nice corollary of redoing the whole storefront.

The rationale goes something like this: Increasing line speeds, complex packaging equipment, and ever-lighter-weight containers and packaging materials make jam-ups likely—usually many per day.