Promotions at Parliament Station: 3. Monday: Free fortune cookie advertising Mt Franklin water’s “Well of Positivity“; Tuesday: free sample of Ocean Spray Cranberries; Wednesday: Amnesty International Beggars who have asked for money: 1 in Swanston Street who sounded very scripted “Excuse me sir, we are homeless for a few days”, and as soon as being ... [More]
The trains have problems, but at least most people can figure out where they go. (Uhh, well, apart from the whole City Loop reversal thing.) But try the buses. I reckon the 627 bus has Melbourne’s most confusing route. It goes from Elsternwick to East Brighton, but via Chadstone. (And if you don’t know your ... [More]
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Adelaide in November
Trying to navigate school holidays and come up with affordable holidays in the wake of the monthly mortgage payments isn’t particularly easy. Last year was Hobart (piggybacking on Marita being there for a conference) and Sydney over the Cup Day weekend with the kids. The latter worked really well, so I’ve decided to do it ... [More]
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If you like Pina Coladas
Getting a haircut in the middle of winter is never a good idea (especially just before a snow trip), but it had to be done. The cold weather leaves me tempted to stay in bed all day, to not get up at all. But it had to be done. Oh well, it may not be ... [More]
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Bloody Blood Service
The Mobile Blood Bank is back in my neck of the woods this week, and because it’s so inconvenient to get to their Southbank outlet (inlet?) I try to make a point of going as often as I can. So I planned to go along on this afternoon after picking up the kids from school ... [More]
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Snow, snow, snow!
We went up to the snow on the weekend. Myself, the kids, cousin Leo, and cousin Leo’s dad Adrian. Five blokes on a snow trip. The great thing about going to Mt Donna Buang yesterday was there was plenty of snow. The bad thing about going to Mt Donna Buang yesterday was that lots of ... [More]
Manchester Lane, four years later. She looked about the same. Some bloke on her arm. Both smiling. Don’t know if she noticed me noticing her as we passed. Didn’t say anything, just kept walking. Glad she seems happy. Me too. PS. It was an ex, not the ex.
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Up on the roof
On Saturday I went up on the roof of my house for the first time. Not for anything in particular, but just to see if I could, and to admire the view. The kids stood by, Isaac in particular making worried noises about the steadiness of the ladder, and the strength of the polycarbonate verandah ... [More]
It’s been a while since I’ve been to church, but on Sunday I found myself at an Anglican service, for a christening. I think if you had to sum it up briefly, that kind of mild suburban Christianity could be best described as a 2000 year old advertising campaign to try and get people to ... [More]
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More on emissions
Bob Geldof on Live Earth: “I hope they’re a success. But why is Gore actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody’s known about that problem for years.” But some don’t. I keep hearing about people who routinely use their clothes dryers for everything. Or people who leave lots of lights ... [More]
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Wasting time
Despite having a silent number, and fiercely protecting it, I do get the odd telemarketing call. They are almost all from offshore call centres, and almost all during business hours, when I’m not generally home. Call centre dialling systems are meant to detect when an answering machine picks up. But evidently their systems think my ... [More]
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Big advertising
You know those sandwich board advertising things? A-frames, I’m told they’re called. The IGA in Ripponlea has recently got one. It’s as big as a person. On the bright side, it’s unlikely to blow over in the wind. Though if it did, it’d probably kill somebody. Update: Speaking of advertising, I just added Google ads ... [More]
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The plumber and The Machine
If there’s one thing you want to be working in your house, it’s the drains. At their worst, if there’s a complete blockage, you’ll end up with nasty smells and even nastier effluent in the house. Thankfully things weren’t that bad, but there was that suspicious level of water in the toilets, and some stuff ... [More]
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The passport
Marita and I were walking along the Centre Road shops on Saturday when we saw a passport on the ground. We picked it up. From the cover, photo, and identifying marks inside, it appeared to belong to an Australian-Canadian boy of Asian (perhaps Chinese) appearance. Looking around, we couldn’t see him. A couple of bystanders ... [More]
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Back to the dentist
When I last went to the dentist, they said I had a touch of gingivitis, and suggested mouthwashing for a couple of weeks. It’s obviously pretty powerful stuff, because apart from any cleaning it’s doing, it makes my teeth look horrible, in a way that mere toothpaste can’t fix. My teeth now resemble those of ... [More]
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Live Earth
I didn’t watch much of Live Earth, but it has inspired me to sign up to the pledge. Or at least, my variation of the pledge. 1. I will continue to reduce my carbon emissions, both by switching to more efficient appliances and equipment where practical, and by reducing my use of them. 2. At ... [More]