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 getting thicker or what, but sometimes the collars seem too tight to be comfortable.

Anyway, the forecast is 36 degrees today. I got to the foyer at work this morning and decided I wanted to go tie-free for the day. I think I might do the same whenever it’s going to be over 35… especially with the dodgy airconditioning at work.

Problem is that after… what, twelve years? of wearing a tie to work (at least Monday to Thursday), not wearing one feels unnatural, like that feeling I get when I go out without my keys in my pocket. I feel naked. Incomplete.

I’m gradually getting used to it.

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 opened my a bank account when I was about 12, which I had until late last year when I’d had enough of the CBA shafting me.

In past decades it was often a very busy place, but recently it’s been fairly quiet, and hadn’t been renovated in many years. It had a kind of nasty odour about it, too. I wondered if they might close it, given there is another branch less than a block from there. It might become just a row of ATMs.

But no, they renovated it with bright new colours and service desks out in the open and all the usual new bank stuff. But you know what they forgot to put back?

The displays that show the current date. They weren’t high-tech — someone must have flipped the card(s) every day — and maybe it didn’t fit the new, modern image. But given most people have to fill in the date on a form somewhere on the rare occasion they go into a bank branch, it was essential.

What’s the date today please?