We don’t have the Village Green anymore, but many Australian suburbs do have this: a local cricket oval. In summer the local cricket club will be in residence. About every fortnight there’ll be a game on. I’m not skilled enough to tell who are the locals and who are the visitors, but they frequently show ... [More]
The Daily Show has vanished off SBS again. It’s still on Foxtel’s Comedy Channel (9:30pm nightly). Damn. Given my inherent laziness (I don’t want to bother with torrents), do I have to shell out for Foxtel to be able to watch it? I really don’t want to do that, given the tiny amount of television ... [More]
On Saturday I set off bug bombs around the house. Five of them, one in each major room. Hopefully it would spell armageddon for the cockroaches. Once set, I went for a wander for a couple of hours. Along the way I noted Zagarelli’s, the crap restaurant I once dined at, which then changed its ... [More]
I mean, okay, maybe you need the truck to do whatever work you’re doing in the adjacent shop. But why completely block the footpath with it, forcing people onto the street to get around it? How about finding an actual spot on the street? Irritating enough for able-bodied pedestrians like me. Doubly irritating for people ... [More]
It’s not just about people who stand on the right hand side of escalators. There seem to be lots of pedestrians who, in high-traffic areas, manage to block things up and slow people down. Some — and it’s not just oldsters and tourists — will walk slowly in the middle of a path that fits ... [More]
Wow — a piece in the Good Weekend last week that wasn’t about Barry Humphries. It was about houses being built modelled on Martha Stewart’s homes, apparently being bought by people who have no original ideas for themselves, but trust Martha to design something good. “We’re delighted because we have no vision ourselves and Martha ... [More]
One of my favourite authors is Bill Bryson. I haven’t yet read The Thunderbolt Kid yet (I have a dislike of hardbacks, though I’m currently reading Michael Palin’s diaries in hardback — and loving it). Bryson is touring at the moment, and Jon Faine’s conversation with him last Friday on ABC 774 is available to ... [More]
Was away for the weekend in parts of the world you can only get to by road. 275km covered, which is a lot for me, who rarely drives more than 10 minutes in any direction. Thankfully there were four of us in the car, and the conversation made the driving go so much faster and ... [More]
Yesterday at Fed Square, the white stationwagons were a dead giveaway that the TV guys were around. Sure enough, across the road on Princes Bridge, Ted was fronting the cameras. I got my go a few minutes later. (It was one of those days, if you didn’t know.) In the pack I can see Alan ... [More]
Vale Harry Melbourne, inventor of the Freddo Frog. Maybe I’ll eat one today in his memory. Quote of the day yesterday, first school day of the year: “I can’t believe I’m in Grade 6” — Isaac. (Neither can I, as it happens.)
I was sitting doing some coding at work when The Posture Police arrived. The Chair Squad. The Ergonomic Inspectors. Seriously, a team of three did a sweep through the office and checked every chair to make sure it was working properly, able to be adjusted, and offering the correct back support. Zowee. It reminds me ... [More]
Wikipedia started a fundraising drive in December, and given the value I get out of it, I decided to contribute. Happily, I chose a day when all donations were being matched by some anonymous donor, which was a bonus. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks after Christmas, I got a Christmas card from ... [More]
Some pictures snapped in the last few days… I’ve never seen them have to explain what Happy Hour is before Pah, I’m not even going to try Hands up who remembers Stacks of Slax from The Late Show? Alas, they’ve just closed down.
With all the controversy over the flag this year, and what it may represent in the hands of some people, I found it refreshing to read this, posted on one of The Australian’s blogs by ex-serviceman John Taylor: The Australian flag has many places where it can and should be displayed. But this is not ... [More]
I know how much I’ve changed over the years. I’d like to think I’ve matured. My outlook on all sorts of things has altered. My lifestyle is radically different now from when I was 18 (if you think I’m a dag now, you should have seen me then), and has changed several times during that ... [More]
I saw this Google Map Mashup a while back, but Pete found it for me again: What happens if the sea level rises? Even for the maximum shown, a 14 metre rise, if this is right, apparently most of Melbourne will remain above water, though if you live in Altona, Port Melbourne or Chelsea, you ... [More]