Categories
Melbourne

Hot bodies

A mass of bodies. Up close. Pushing together. We move as one. Moving faster… faster… don’t stop, we’re almost there… Man this train is crowded. Update 9pm: Rather too prophetic. An incident at South Yarra concerning a “trespasser” at about 5pm delayed a whole bunch of trains by 20+ minutes, resulting in more sardine-like conditions.  ... [More]

Categories
Clothes Here is my

Here is my new suit

Here is my rather nice new (rather expensive) suit, seen over a startlingly bright red shirt I bought recently. (Rather more RED than I saw in the shop, admittedly.) What clothing have you bought recently? Leave a comment or a trackback.

Categories
Melbourne Politics and activism

Cheap power for all!

The Essential Services Commission draft decision on power prices wants price cuts to electricity. Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Provide more concessions to those on low incomes, sure, but across the board price cuts? How is that meant to encourage people to use less power? Remember, the bulk  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Car hassles 2

So I was on my way home last night, after a lovely day and doing the grocery shopping. A closed road and a detour on the way, but I manage to find my way around that. I decide since it’s quiet at the local petrol station, I’ll fill up. Is Sunday night the cheapest time  ... [More]

Categories
driving Ranting

Car hassles 1

This note on my windscreen this morning: Dear whoever you are, Tell you what, I’ll do you a couple of favours. Firstly I won’t park in front of your house anymore. It’s not that appealing anyway. I don’t know what the hell you’ve done to your nature strip, which resembles an overgrown miniature botanic gardens,  ... [More]

Categories
Home life

Somebody else’s family history

I was moseying around the innanet the other day and came across this: Did it ever occur to you that in our Bowen blood there is something of rashness. I see it in myself and my brothers. We tend to be radicals. I am not going back on that tendency. It is good only it  ... [More]

Categories
Health

Sleep

Okay, this New Year’s resolution isn’t really happening: To consistently get 8 hours’ sleep a night. Last night I got to bed appallingly late for a school night. Ditto on Wednesday, and I forgot to set the alarm, so I (and everyone else) woke on Thursday morning around 8am. Still managed to get us all  ... [More]

Categories
Culture Film

Both ends of the cultural spectrum

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I used to like Jay and Silent Bob, and rejoiced when it was first announced they would have their own movie. But now I’ve finally seen it… well, either I’ve matured or they are best seen in small doses, ‘cos I didn’t think this was up to much at  ... [More]

Categories
Food'n'drink

A snag at dinner

We were out at dinner at a rather fine restaurant. The food was utterly divine, succulent, delicious. Every course a winner. Only one snag. A piece of metal in the fish. Thankfully easily found, not sharp, and clean, it turned out to be a fish hook, proving, I suppose, that the food was fresh. It  ... [More]

Categories
Here is my Home life

Here is my lemon tree

Most gardens in Melbourne seem to have a lemon tree. Here’s mine. I must confess, I don’t water it as often as I should, and when I need lemons, I rarely remember to go look to see if it has one for me. Do you have a lemon (or other fruit-bearing) tree in your garden?  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones

M’s birthday

It’s Marita’s birthday today. Either by accident or sneaky strategic use of the phase “Oh, I’d really like to get tickets for that”, she weaseled out of me that her main present is tickets to Bangarra tonight. But the secondary present or presents remain a surprise. No surprise blog revamp conspiracy this year! She’s been  ... [More]

Categories
News and events

Priorities

“Any chance of a VB? How are the Cats going?” — Freed Iraq hostage Douglas Wood, on his release.

Categories
Working life

No more Mr Nice Guy

The ATO isn’t playing nice anymore. Okay, so I admit I haven’t been sending in their infuriatingly frequent monthly forms on time. (When the government introduced GST, they trumpeted it would be a simpler tax system. What they meant was simpler for them. Not so simple if you’re one of the Cursed who now has  ... [More]

Categories
dreams

More weird dreams

The other night: Rather than my usual mowing boys turning up when I ask them, half a dozen 10-ish year old boys and girls turned up at my house with a mower and various other implements of destruction and started doing my lawn and hacking up my garden, without being asked. Last night: I was  ... [More]

Categories
Culture

Sex it up, daddio

Ever since the UK WMD dossier “sexing up” scandal and the death of David Kelly and subsequent inquiry, this expression and variations have popped up around the place. I know people who detest its use, but that’s the way language develops sometimes. Today I referred to a particular issue as not being sexy enough for  ... [More]

Categories
Film

My favourite movies

These are my five all-time favourite movies ever as at 8:05am, 13th June 2005. Subject to change. In alphabetical order. American Beauty — superb observations on suburban life, from the author of Six Feet Under. The Life of Brian — quite possibly the funniest movie ever. O Brother! Where Art Thou? — comedy, drama, stunning  ... [More]