This note on my windscreen this morning: Dear whoever you are, Tell you what, I’ll do you a couple of favours. Firstly I won’t park in front of your house anymore. It’s not that appealing anyway. I don’t know what the hell you’ve done to your nature strip, which resembles an overgrown miniature botanic gardens, ... [More]
Author: Daniel Bowen
Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
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Somebody else’s family history
I was moseying around the innanet the other day and came across this: Did it ever occur to you that in our Bowen blood there is something of rashness. I see it in myself and my brothers. We tend to be radicals. I am not going back on that tendency. It is good only it ... [More]
Okay, this New Year’s resolution isn’t really happening: To consistently get 8 hours’ sleep a night. Last night I got to bed appallingly late for a school night. Ditto on Wednesday, and I forgot to set the alarm, so I (and everyone else) woke on Thursday morning around 8am. Still managed to get us all ... [More]
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I used to like Jay and Silent Bob, and rejoiced when it was first announced they would have their own movie. But now I’ve finally seen it… well, either I’ve matured or they are best seen in small doses, ‘cos I didn’t think this was up to much at ... [More]
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A snag at dinner
We were out at dinner at a rather fine restaurant. The food was utterly divine, succulent, delicious. Every course a winner. Only one snag. A piece of metal in the fish. Thankfully easily found, not sharp, and clean, it turned out to be a fish hook, proving, I suppose, that the food was fresh. It ... [More]
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Here is my lemon tree
Most gardens in Melbourne seem to have a lemon tree. Here’s mine. I must confess, I don’t water it as often as I should, and when I need lemons, I rarely remember to go look to see if it has one for me. Do you have a lemon (or other fruit-bearing) tree in your garden? ... [More]
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M’s birthday
It’s Marita’s birthday today. Either by accident or sneaky strategic use of the phase “Oh, I’d really like to get tickets for that”, she weaseled out of me that her main present is tickets to Bangarra tonight. But the secondary present or presents remain a surprise. No surprise blog revamp conspiracy this year! She’s been ... [More]
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Priorities
“Any chance of a VB? How are the Cats going?” — Freed Iraq hostage Douglas Wood, on his release.
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No more Mr Nice Guy
The ATO isn’t playing nice anymore. Okay, so I admit I haven’t been sending in their infuriatingly frequent monthly forms on time. (When the government introduced GST, they trumpeted it would be a simpler tax system. What they meant was simpler for them. Not so simple if you’re one of the Cursed who now has ... [More]
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More weird dreams
The other night: Rather than my usual mowing boys turning up when I ask them, half a dozen 10-ish year old boys and girls turned up at my house with a mower and various other implements of destruction and started doing my lawn and hacking up my garden, without being asked. Last night: I was ... [More]
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Sex it up, daddio
Ever since the UK WMD dossier “sexing up” scandal and the death of David Kelly and subsequent inquiry, this expression and variations have popped up around the place. I know people who detest its use, but that’s the way language develops sometimes. Today I referred to a particular issue as not being sexy enough for ... [More]
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My favourite movies
These are my five all-time favourite movies ever as at 8:05am, 13th June 2005. Subject to change. In alphabetical order. American Beauty — superb observations on suburban life, from the author of Six Feet Under. The Life of Brian — quite possibly the funniest movie ever. O Brother! Where Art Thou? — comedy, drama, stunning ... [More]
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Playing with your food
Playing with your food, nostalgic geek style.
The new Siemens train rolls through the burbs, resplendent in the latest train company colours. A middle-aged man chats into his mobile phone about planning permission for a four story storey monolith in a residential area of one storey homes, with the voice of experience and reason, rather than that of the outraged NIMBY. He’s ... [More]
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In my cocoon
In my cocoon, the warmth engulfs me. I desperately don’t want to leave, but the shrieking alarm compels me to at least dangle my arm out to silence it. I do so, and gain ten minutes respite, to lie quietly, listening to toot of distant trains from distant places, the passing cars and trucks, and ... [More]
Flinders Street Station, lunchtime. (An angle that you don’t normally see in photos.)