Late to work
Not that I critically had to be in at a particular time, but I did arrive later than intended at work this morning.
I could have blamed the late train.
I could have blamed the previous train that I just missed.
I could have blamed the crowds of tourists walking slowly in the arcade from the station to work.
But really there’s no denying that it’s because I slept in.
I slept in because I was up late the night before.
I was up late because I got home late.
I got home late because dinner ran late.
Dinner ran late because the group of people I was with got to dinner late.
Which was because we chose to travel from Flinders Lane to New Quay in possibly the most cumbersome and time consuming way one is able to travel from Flinders Lane to New Quay. We ignored numerous travel options, including the frequent trains that would have taken us most of the way there, and the free trams that would have taken us all of the way, virtually door-to-door (at least two of them passed us along the way). Instead we walked part of the way, took a tram a few blocks, then walked a lot more (including an adventurous stroll across the pedestrian bridge and around Telstra Dome trying in vain to find ramps up and down to accomodate a pram).
Did I mention this dinner group was a bunch of public transport advocates who should really know better?
Oh well, dinner was good — the Italian place in New Quay that I can never remember the name of, don’t know the address of, but I could lead you right there. A little wine, a whole bunch of chicken parma and a huge chunk of chocolate cake with ice-cream for dessert. Burp. Probably just as well we did all that walking first.
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John Howard and state schools
John Howard commented over the weekend that he thought parents were taking their kids out of government schools and moving to the independents because state schools are “too politically correct and too values-neutral”.
What a crock of shit.
Too politically correct? Values-neutral? What does that mean? That schools that don’t conform to Howard’s nostalgic vision of fifties Australia are too PC? Should I be worried that my kids mix with other kids of different nationalities, religions, races and socio-economic backgrounds every day of the week? Should a school in an area with large numbers of both Jews and gentiles not sing Hannukah songs along with the Christmas songs? Is the value of embracing different cultures by living with them every day not one that Howard thinks is positive? Okay granted some may go overboard in curbing some of the religious excesses of Christmas, but we’re not talking about South Park Elementary here, and it’s an issue with the individual school, not the state system as a whole.
Are state schools ignoring Australian values and heritage, as the acting Education Minister suggests? Well the flag still flies, the national anthem still gets sung, and occasions such as the centenary of Federation, for example, are widely celebrated in state schools. My old school Melbourne High helps with ANZAC Day services. Kids still learn cricket and football. Dammit, last year the school concert included an AC/DC song. You can’t get more Australian than that.
And of course any school – public or private – will give kids a grounding in the everyday values of socially-acceptable behaviour, friendship (the PM might prefer call it mateship), work ethic (well at least a bit, we hope), reinforcing the values learnt at home and elsewhere.
No, to my mind, there are two main reasons parents would choose to take their kids out of (largely free, or at least cheap) state schools and move them into (largely user-pays) private schools. One is by reason of faith, and if parents feel that strongly about their kids getting a particularly Catholic, or a Jewish, or an Islamic or any other education, they are likely to have ignored state schools from the very start. Fair enough.
The other is simply the quality of education provided. We all want the best for our kids, balanced up against what we can afford. While my kids’ school seems to be doing okay, some government schools are suffering greatly from lack of funding, and parents will naturally want get their kids to schools with the best teachers and resources. It is governments which ultimately have control over this — and with two thirds of Commonwealth funding going to independent schools, Howard’s government in particular has the power to do something about it. Parents can only buy so many boxes of fundraiser chocolates.
With the Federal Government’s own study contradicting what Howard said, this smacks of him trying to justify the current funding imbalance. It’s no shock that teachers (from both state and independent schools) and others have taken umbrage. And I’d be surprised if many parents – even in the affluent suburbs of the major cities where his party’s traditional support base is – agree with his stand.
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Centre Place, lunchtime
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Observations from the new office
Everyone who has a speakerphone apparently understands not to use them in an open office. People who need to talk hands-free all have headsets.
Some of the womenfolk have fluffy toys on top of their monitors.
One bloke came in on Monday and accused one of the new people of stealing his chair. “Not so!” they said, it came from one of the meeting rooms. He claimed it back, and was then seen Liquid Papering his name to the back of it.
I haven’t seen anybody feed the fish yet, though someone must. Knowing my record of fishicide, I’m not going near them.
It’s as well to beware in the toilet. At least one of them flushes with such ferocity that you’re likely to get water splashed on your shoes if you don’t stand back.
The hot water boiler in the kitchen makes gurgling noises after using it.
One woman has a tiny tiny office which is almost smaller than my allotted space between the partitions. And no window. She must get claustrophobic if she ever has to close the door.
In my group of four desks are two spares, me and a mysterious stranger who hasn’t shown up for the last three days, and so I am yet to meet.
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Etiquette
If you get the chance, check out tonight’s MX, page 17. If you missed it, here’s a scan…
They edited it a tad – the “We’ll all be old or pregnant one day” bit originally added “Okay, maybe not pregnant.” So it sounded rather more bizarre than intended.
But fun stuff. And doubly amusing to be riding the train home tonight watching people reading it.
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Mowing part II
The mowing kids from D&K Mowing were back yesterday for their second round of battle with the grass and weeds. A week early according to my diary, but they reckoned we’d agreed it would be brought forward. Whatever, the jungle-like area at the back of the garden needed to be attacked at some stage, so they were more than welcome.
Perhaps unexpectedly they eschewed the option of napalm, and instead went for the whipper-snipper. Obviously a whipper-snipper can be a dangerous device in the hands of youth (anybody remember the D’Generation’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” parody “The Glen Waverley Whipper-Snipper Massacre”?). So the accompanying parent of this entrepreneurial gardening venture initially operated the device. Then he handed it over to David (or was it Keith?) and supervised for a while as the long grass was cut down to size. When the whipper-snipper portion of the work was completed, the accompanying parent went back to the stationwagon and had a gentle snooze while the work continued apace.
In under an hour, they were finished, and although there’s still some out of control growth along one side of the garden to be worked on. Still, at a cost of about $30 every 4 weeks or so, I’m more than willing to have them keep coming.
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Christmas is over
It seems Christmas is over.
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The move
We moved offices yesterday. It went surprisingly smoothly, undoubtedly helped by the fact that all I had to be moved was a computer and two Occupational Health & Safety Approved-sized boxes (accept no substitute!) of papers, stationery and miscellaneous junk. A stark contrast to my house move last year.
No waiting around for the boxes to show up at the new office, either. We were instructed to take the afternoon off, which suited me fine as it happens. I went and sunned myself on the beach. Actually no I didn’t, I ran some errands, then went home early and vegged. Upon arrival at work this morning I found the whole kit and kaboodle on or around my desk, all intact, even my coffee mug.
Time will tell whether the move is good or bad (not like I had any choice in the matter – some managers somewhere with a chessboard nudge a ruler and shove a pile of pawns across the board, and we all get relocated), but so far my impressions are:
Location: Now in Collins Street, it’s added a few minutes added to the commute. But it’s a much livelier location, teeming with people. In the vicinity are locations aplenty to dispose of any errant money that may be skulking in my wallet.
Building: A curious blend of art-deco foyer, very slow lifts (Mr Otis could do some renovation work here; in fact one is midway through some work, and has canvas with some very dodgy graffiti over it) and a vast open plan office full of lots of other people that reminds me a little of a 21st century version of the Crimson Permanent Assurance. You need a key to get to the toilet, which obviously keeps the riff-raff out because it’s all gleaming marble and chrome.
View: Not nearly as good as the old spot, which provided a splendid vista over olde Melbourne towne. But not as awful as I suspected it might be. Being only on the 8th floor now, I thought there might be a bunch of hulking great skyscrapers blocking the view. Fortunately, they’re far enough away that they’re almost picturesque (in a big city kind of way) rather than merely blocking out all the natural light. Through one window you can see the Arts Centre Spire.
Other than that, it’s just your average city office, though for something a little bit different, there is a fishtank by the door. With fish in it. Living fish. And a silver inflatable alien that one of my colleagues has on her desk.
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