Categories
USA 1996 ????

Seattle, Washington

The first thing you notice about Washington state is the abundance of green. Most of it is green, a contrast from Arizona, which is mostly dust. And whereas Arizona is dusty because it’s dry, Washington is green because it’s wet. Makes perfect sense. In fact, while in Arizona L’s uncle had told me “Washington’s really  ... [More]

Categories
USA 1996 ????

Phoenix, Arizona

Well! Here we are in America. And in between falling into canyons and getting lost in the malls, I thought I’d rattle off a quick entry. The flight The Pacific Ocean is big. That’s probably why it takes so long to get from Australia to America. Something close to [ARGH] hours stuck in a 747  ... [More]

Categories
Travel

Ready to go…

Our bags are packed We’re almost ready to go Yep, just time for a short sharp burst of Toxic Custard before we jet off to the USA. This could be the last TCWF in a few weeks; or I might get time to fire off a quick one during the month’s holiday. I don’t know.  ... [More]

Categories
General

Bins

About a month ago the local council finally replaced our horrible grotty looking bottle and can recycle bags with nice new small bins. They came with a notice explaining what to put in them, and when to leave them out. Great – though most of our neighbours apparently haven’t got the energy to figure it  ... [More]

Categories
music

Charles joins the Sex Pistols

I see the Sex Pistols are getting back together for another tour. I also caught something on the news about Prince Charles drumming. Or was that the same story? Is Charles joining the Sex Pistols? (Imagine Charles’ cultured royal voice…) "We are an anti-Christ, We are an anarchist, Don’t know what one wants, but one  ... [More]

Categories
General

Cut off

Our neighbour lost his electricity tonight. This shouldn’t have been totally unexpected – he had asked to get the account switched over to him after his flatmate moved out on the weekend, so it was only natural that they should cut the power off instead. So he rang them up, and after several millennia on  ... [More]

Categories
music

Radio

Finding your favourite radio station is just a matter of working out which one has the most of the same "best of" albums as you. We’ve found ours, it appears to be GOLD-FM. Problem is, they keep playing the same damn songs. I’d swear they had a bunch of tapes, each with a different half-hour  ... [More]

Categories
Travel

Three weeks to go…

Less than three weeks now until we set out on holiday to visit relatives a.k.a. the Toxic Custard Tour Of America. Well, actually it’s two weeks boiling in Phoenix, and two weeks getting wet in Seattle. With a bunch of hours hanging around LAX changing planes.

Categories
Consumerism

Grand Prix 2

Well, the Grand Prix was pretty impressive. Especially that crash in the first lap. The advertising puzzles me. Billboard cigarette advertising’s been banned for years in this state. But the rule appears to be "if it’s the Grand Prix, it’s okay." Hmmm. At least the government warning has to be proportionally increased with the size  ... [More]

Categories
General

Whiff

We all have had strange beliefs about how the world works. When I was a kid, I naturally used to dread the unwanted fart. Especially at school, while in class. But inevitably it would squeeze its way out. So I hit upon a plan to prevent the people around me from getting the whiff. Easy.  ... [More]

Categories
General

Alarm clock problem

I have a bit of a problem with my alarm clock. It doesn’t go off at the right time. It doesn’t seem to understand that in the morning, I want to be woken up ten to fifteen minutes later than when I said I wanted to be woken up the night before.

Categories
General

Mass killings

Interesting stats in the newspaper last week. Apparently of the 70 victims of mass-killings in Australia and New Zealand between 1987 and 1993, 84% of them were killed by lunatics using legally owned guns. Well! That’s a relief, isn’t it! ‘Cos I’d hate to be gunned down by a lunatic who WASN’T allowed to be  ... [More]