A couple of years ago I got a ceiling fan fitted in the kitchen. The electrician was pleasant, competent, and did a good job. He said he’d send me an invoice. He never did. A couple of months later I emailed him and asked him to send it. He acknowledged the email and said he’d ... [More]
Category: Consumerism
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Banking paperwork
I used to bank with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who had a habit of sending me lots of letters on the same day, though gradually everything moved online. When I bought my house in 2005, I switched to St George (which morphed into Bank Of Melbourne), and it was mostly online. Now I’ve refinanced my ... [More]
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Charity and money
Years ago I decided I wanted to donate at least 0.7% of my income towards charity. Over the weekend I was doing my tax, and calculated it: for 2015-16 it’s 1.32%. Cool. About half the annual total is Oxfam. Other regulars include Greenpeace, The Salvos (though I mean to check their latest position on homosexuality, ... [More]
Excuse the radio silence. I’ve had a really bad cold this week. In our last exciting installment of my quest for a durable, reliable, compact umbrella, I was on my third Senz Mini. The first had been replaced under warranty, the second lost, and the third… sadly, it has started to fail me. As did ... [More]
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I need a new phone
On Thursday night my phone, a Nexus 5 that I got about three years ago, finally started playing up. It would continually boot, with a buzz, and a proclamation on the screen of “Google”! Then repeat. Bzzt… Google! Over and over. Scouring online, I discovered this is a reasonably rare, but not unique, situation. The ... [More]
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Rickrolled in Bunnings
My local suburb is increasing in density, and (not entirely disconnected from that) it’s also interesting to see how the retail strip is doing. The shopping centre has grown around the railway station, which is still the epicentre, though the east side of the tracks is where most of the busiest shops are located. The ... [More]
This is not the first time I’ve spotted something like this: real estate agent signs blocking bike lanes. I’m not sure why anybody who thought about it for more than a second would think it was a good idea to leave signs there. Cyclists would either be forced out into traffic, or if they didn’t ... [More]
Melbourne’s rainy season is upon us. It’s been a few years since my blog post about good strong compact umbrellas, so here’s a quick update. A good umbrella is vital for a dedicated walking/PT person. The brief: an umbrella that, folded, can fit in my work bag (eg a maximum length of about 35cm) and ... [More]
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Stamps going up to $1
What can you buy for $1? You certainly can’t buy a newspaper. The Herald Sun costs $1.40 on weekdays; The Age costs $2.50; The Australian is $2.70. So I’m finding it difficult to be too outraged at standard stamps going up to $1. In fact this letter in Saturday’s Age perfectly sums up how I ... [More]