Management has spoken. There is work for me to do. Which is good. Because although sitting around at work doing nothing for four months might be some people’s idea of a good time, it’s not mine. It’s quite possible that I could die of boredom in those circumstances. Or at least go insane from it. ... [More]
Last night we saw "Bean". I wouldn’t quite call it "The Ultimate Disaster Movie", but "Bean" was pretty good. Put it this way – I judge any comedy that makes me almost spit out what I’m eating to be a good comedy. But the real highlight of the outing was that this weekend’s celebrity spotted ... [More]
Work is pretty quiet at the moment – in fact dead sometimes. The other day some of us were discussing strategies for dealing with the quiet spells. Like learning to sleep with your eyes open. The theory is, if you leave one hand on your mouse, and run a program on your computer that would ... [More]
I forgot to mention my weekend. Saturday was just your average day, bumming around the neighbourhood, a little shopping in the city (oh, we did spot Poppy King skulking in Myer). On Sunday we set out to catch the Steamrail Snow Train. It only stopped a couple of times before reaching Moe, and we went ... [More]
The trains have been pretty crowded in the past week or two. My understanding is that government and unions are still squabbling ("We want this!" "Well you can’t have it!" "Can!" "Can’t!" "Can!" "Can’t!"…) and there’s some bans over train repairs so a bunch get cancelled every peak hour instead of getting repaired. The guys ... [More]
All right Whitman’s, I give in. You’ve been sending your blimp after me for months now, it’s followed me so much that I can hardly look into the sky without seeing it proclaiming "Whitmans Chocolates" at me. Well, I’ve had enough. I give in. I surrender. I have bought some Whitmans. And I’m eating them ... [More]
Well, quite amazing, the newspapers have been delivered absolutely immaculately for the past week or so. They’re even put in the mailbox, rather than being thrown all over the driveway. Anybody would think the newsagent had read what I wrote about him!
Well Rugby arrived in Melbourne with a bang this weekend. The Bledisloe Cup – Australia versus New Zealand, played to about 90,000 people last night at the MCG. And all served by three pie sellers, which I thought was impressive. Actually it’s just as well the roving sellers don’t sell beer too. At least people ... [More]
Last year I wrote, just slightly incredulously, about the Outback Steakhouse that we went to in Phoenix, Arizona. It purported to be Australian culture and food, but while the food was undeniably great, there wasn’t anything especially Australian about it except for the very silly names. Well, today I went to the reverse – The ... [More]
Given the incredible range of stuff people can own – coats, books, magazines, shoes, everything – it can be quite disconcerting when you spot someone who has an object identical to something you own. This morning sitting opposite me on the train was a woman chuckling her way through precisely the same Bill Bryson book ... [More]
Surprise surprise, The Australian didn’t show up this morning. So I rang the newsagent as promised (even though I would be walking straight past later on) and got him to bring one out. Okay, so it may cost me 25 cents for the phone call, but it’s a small price to pay for the satisfaction ... [More]
Got off the train to go home this evening and presto! The blimp is back in town. Hovering over my head again, badgering me to buy Whitman’s chocolates.