In my front garden next to the verandah is a humungous bush, featuring bright purple leaves flowers and green branches with soft thorns. It’s growing, Triffid-like, out of control, and I regularly have to take the hedge clippers to it to prevent its spread blocking (or at least making awkward) access to the front door. ... [More]
Navigating to a party on Saturday night (with a woman who can read maps! A good reason — not that another one was needed — to hold onto her!) it became apparent from looking at the Melway that the street in question has three names over its 6 kilometre length over the stretch we traversed, ... [More]
Years ago, I occasionally shopped at Rod Irving Electronics in A’Beckett Street. There was a shop assistant in there who looked like Darrin from Bewitched. The first, original Darrin, with the ears that stuck out. Apart from the ears, he had slicked back jet black hair, a dark suit and very shiny shoes. I don’t ... [More]
An update about my colleague who lost his laptop computer on Friday the 13th last month. A couple of weeks later he was playing with his kids in the front yard when a male youth walked past on the footpath. With a laptop under his arm. Colleague recognised the laptop, ran after him and rugby ... [More]
(To recap: Last year the flat I was renting was sold to developers. They kicked everybody out; debated about how much notice they’d given; their builders made a nuisance of themselves; my eventual move went well (Nando’s aside); the flats were renovated and put on market again). Noted with some amusement the other day that ... [More]
The zip on one of my favourite pairs of Levis self-destructed the other week, so time to buy a new pair. Something I learnt working in the menswear shop during my high school and uni years was that there are an inordinate number of ways of measuring the size of a pair of trousers. There’s ... [More]
Tonight in my garden in the tree at the back THERE ARE BATS! Probably disenfranchised former Botanic Gardens dwelling flying foxes. I had been wondering about those things swooping overhead as I put the washing on the line tonight. They didn’t seem like birds. And I knew they weren’t when they started calling to each ... [More]
Tardy: The arrival of dishes on the table in the Thai restaurant on Friday night. Superb when they arrived, but boy, you know something’s gone wrong when the entree is the last thing that turns up. Sharp: Maisie The Dog’s claws, in her enthusiasm to greet me when visiting, which went into my wrist and ... [More]
Okay, here’s my VCAT story. Several years ago, my father went into hospital following an accident. There were complications, and he was there for quite a few weeks. Eventually it became apparent that things had changed permanently: he was getting old (older than ever before!) and would no longer be able to live on his ... [More]
Thursday 7:50pm. Phone rings. “Hello, is that Daniel?” “Yes” “It’s the Comedy Club here. You said we should ring you back on Thursday, and –“ “No, I didn’t say that. I said I got your stuff in the mail, and that I’d get back to you. And I’d appreciate no more calls.” (Humbled voice) “Oh.. ... [More]
With Marita I took some time off work this afternoon to watch my friends Tony and Rae* at their VCAT hearing, as their former agents (plonkers) and landlord (only the agent turned up) tried to claim some of their bond money for (a) dents on a garage door that was part of a garage not ... [More]
It was about 5am when the noise of pouring rain woke me this morning.