My camera has come back from its European holiday with Justine. Even better, due to an incident with some water, it’s got fresh (and better) rechargable batteries, and since the memory card got filled up, it’s come back with another card as well. I really should lend my camera to Justine more often. Looks like ... [More]
I just saw someone get hit by a car. He bounced off the bonnet of a dark-coloured Porsche (UCD-852) that had zoomed through the intersection as the light turned red. The man hit the footpath and ran into the nearby supermarket. The car stopped, and the driver got out and chased after him. I found ... [More]
One day I’ll get the whole get-out-of-bed-and-out-of-the-house thing figured out. If I want to get the kids to school by 8:50, we need to leave by 8:40. If we need to leave by 8:40, I need to be getting dressed by 8:25. If I need to be getting dressed by 8:25, I need to be ... [More]
(Post backdated to the day it happened. Posted Tue 10 Oct 2006.) Over breakfast we pondered if we should go up Mount Wellington. The night before we’d rung about a bus tour, but looking at the weather that day, with snow forecast for the peak, and a lot of fog visible around the top, it ... [More]
(Post backdated to the day it happened. Posted Tue 10 Oct 2006.) When it comes to hotel accomodation: there’s a few different variants. First is your budget place: backpackers and so on. Ugly, perhaps not comfortable, often pretty bare, but cheap. Then there’s your corporate hotels: often ugly, but comfortable and functional. Soemtimes quite expensive. ... [More]
(Post backdated to the day it happened. Posted Sun 8 Oct 2006.) I thought Jetstar liked me, when the lady at check-in suggested I not check-in my bag. It was light enough, she said, that I could carry it with me on the plane, provided it didn’t have any sharp objects in it — which ... [More]
I’m off to Hobart today, for the weekend. The first thing people have asked me when I mention it? “Are you hiring a car?” — as if Hobart is so horrible that as soon as we’ve arrived, we have to escape it. Maybe it’s just that Hobart is small. That’s the verdict from the advance ... [More]
Spotted yesterday morning in the garden: this mouse, quite possibly the same one that visited my fireplace a few weeks ago (or perhaps a relative). Initially it appeared to be asleep, eyes closed. I wondered if it might be dead. But it appeared just to be enjoying the morning sunlight. Then it awoke and scurried ... [More]
The great thing about having a long-running blog is I can type almost any word into “Search the diary” box over on the right hand margin, and find posts about it, sparking memories aplenty — sometimes even memories that are amusing or thought-provoking. Some enjoyable posts I re-discovered yesterday: 28 Dec 2004: What’s changed (Since ... [More]
I don’t suffer from road rage (not travelling by car in times of heavy traffic when I’m in a hurry helps a lot). If anything, I suffer from road smugness. I don’t shout at idiots on the road. Instead I make smart-arse remarks, to myself or to others in the car. “Yeah, well done mate.” ... [More]
From Rod and Christine’s place, near Trentham.
A survey says Australian children’s top fears are car accidents, bombs, burglars and terrorists. Some of us were talking on Saturday night about our fears when we were growing up in the early 80s. For many it was the fear of nuclear war. I remember lying awake at night thinking about it. Glad I was ... [More]
My camera’s gone on holiday. At the moment it’s flying to Europe via Singapore, for some time in England, Ireland and Italy. Just for a fortnight or so. Alas I’m not going with it. I lent it to Justine, whose camera has mysteriously disappeared. So if you’re travelling in Europe in the next couple of ... [More]
Occasionally on a Saturday night just before seven, I’ll be slumped in front of the telly, flicking from SBS over to the ABC to keep up my quota of TV news (which is somewhat lacking during the week). I’ll see the end of Gardening Australia, and ponder its tiddily-pom blandly inoffensive music, which conveys pretty ... [More]
The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson — Technology has made it cheaper to produce and store and sell many things. So niché products that never would have been viable before are now big business. That’s the premise. If that’s all you want to know, you don’t really need to read this book. At a pinch, ... [More]