Another odd dream last night: A knock at the door in the morning. Four policemen, who seemed very tall, and seemed to have been drenched in the rain outside. I wondered why four of them — it must be serious! They told me they were part of a fraud investigation, and that they couldn’t tell ... [More]
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Election day
The great thing about election day is you can exercise your right to democracy, and have a sausage too. Daniel’s election day sausage tally: 2. PS. Sunday night. Result probably what most people expected. Interesting to see that the ALP misinformation worked — some people were asking Greens helpers if they were preferencing Libs. (They ... [More]
Last week I filled up my car for just over $1 per litre. It was $1.609 $1.069, and I had some freaky discount offer that gave me 6 cents off, instead of the usual 4. But just seeing the humungous tank-like 4WDs rolling around the streets, and the resistance from government to improve PT makes ... [More]
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A moment of tenderness
A little kid (maybe 3 or 4) had come off his scooter, in the school playground. He was sprawled on the ground, crying. Somewhere, his parent was seeing off an older sibling. I looked around, but couldn’t see an obvious candidate. Before I could see if he was okay, a bigger kid with a Grade ... [More]
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Who to put last?
What I’m pondering for this Saturday’s state election is who am I going to put last? It’s not like a Federal byelection, when every man and his dog decides to run. No, in my district there isn’t a huge assortment of weird and wacky parties, nor are there any independents. All you’ve got are ALP ... [More]
The streets were closed to traffic, the barricades went up. Yes, the Bentleigh festival was on again. But 15km away from the sausage sizzles, roaming families, showbags and Humphrey B Bear, some streets in central Melbourne were blocked-off for the third day, for the G20 meeting. Hearing about the violence in Collins Street on Saturday, ... [More]
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Tie-free today
Although I and a few others at work wear ties most days, the bulk of the men (and of course all of the women) don’t. Ties are a purely decorative item, and sometimes they’re expected, sometimes not. Lately I’ve been pondering if I should buy some new shirts. I don’t know if my neck is ... [More]
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The forgotten date
About once a month I go into the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) at 21 Swanston Street, fill in one of those quick deposit envelopes, and shove it with a cheque through the slot, in order to push money into one of my only remaining CBA accounts. That branch has been there for decades. It’s where I ... [More]
Ever noticed how crowded the trains are on the weekend on the busy lines since the footy finished? I don’t mean on race days, I mean on “normal” weekends. People are not just having to stand, but sometimes it’s a struggle to fit aboard, because they’re running short 3-carriage trains. It’s not a new thing; ... [More]
A few times a week I make a left hand turn out of a side-street into a divided road. Frequently there is someone in the divided road doing a U-turn against me. And an alarming amount of the time, they fail to give way. I’ve got deliberately cautious now, it happens so much, seemingly particularly ... [More]
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Uniform rules
(All the posts from the Sydney trip are now online) Read an article yesterday about new non-tuck school shirts to avoid the endless problems of students not tucking their shirts in. Seems to make sense, particularly in summer. As far as I recall, during my school-uniformed years (years 9-12), while most didn’t, I did tuck ... [More]
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Bad advice
From a distance, I couldn’t hear the conversation, but from the gestures I guessed it went something like this: He, on platform 2: “Is this the platform for Frankston trains?” She: “No, I think it’s platform 3. Down there, across the tracks.” “Thanks.” So he followed her advice, went down and across the tracks. Perhaps ... [More]
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So long Sydney
(Written and posted on Sunday 12/11/2006, but backdated to the day it happened.) And so our last day in Sydney dawned. Thankfully the weather had improved immeasurably, and after breakfast we checked-out (more about the total bill later), left our luggage in storage at the hotel (I’d checked — Central Station has no luggage lockers) ... [More]
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Not gone to Gowings – Gowings is gone
(Written and posted on Friday 10/11/2006, but backdated to the day it happened.) After another buffet breakfast, we set out for a walk around Sydney’s CBD. One of my criteria for hotels was walking distance to plenty of attractions; it avoids a lot of hassle with fares for transport if you just want to wander ... [More]
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Sunday in Sydney
(Written and posted on Thursday 9/11/2006, but backdated to the day it happened.) It was a pretty good night’s sleep in our small room, and we got showered and dressed and went down to avail ourselves of the hotel breakfast. We all quickly warmed to the idea of helping themselves to all the toast, cereal, ... [More]
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Setting off for Sydney
(Written and posted on Wednesday 8/11/2006, but backdated to the day it happened.) On Saturday I ran around packing up my big backpack full of stuff. We needed clothes for the four days, plus the usual bathroom supplies, plus a book each to read while bored in airports or in the hotel. I also packed ... [More]