Year: 1997

Reports are coming in from reputable sources that our neighbour has broken his toilet. Our neighbours in the flat downstairs are an old woman and her son, and quite frankly they can be a right pain in the arse sometimes. Their capacity for watching the TV all night with the volume turned right up knows  ... [More]

Well, all in all, it’s been a great Christmas long weekend. Lucky next week is broken up by New Year’s Day, otherwise going back to a full work week would be a bit of a blow. On Christmas Day we awoke to the inevitable pile of presents under the tree, and proceeded at a leisurely  ... [More]

Last night, the night before Christmas Eve (which could be called Christmas Eve Eve, but it sounds silly) found us enjoying dinner at a nice little (well, medium sized) Italian place in the city with friends from my previous jobs. We had been going to have Indian, but at not quite the last minute, I  ... [More]

Yowsers. It’s almost Christmas again, which means the year is practically over. Quite frankly I’m amazed at how fast it’s gone. We’re all ready for Christmas. We’ve bought all the presents, we’ve sent all the cards. Well, okay, so I personally didn’t do most of it – like most married men in the western world,  ... [More]

Suddenly, I was running. The tiled walls of the corridor became a blur, as I scrambled towards the end. There were people all around – some walking, some running in the opposite direction to me. And worst, some walking the same direction as me, in my way but oblivious to what was happening, and to  ... [More]

Another busy week. Highlights included: I got a room mate at work. My desk is in a converted conference room, because they ran out of regular desk spots to squeeze people into. After arriving in the morning once or twice to find meetings happening in there (and calmly walking to my desk and settling in,  ... [More]

On Saturday, as part of a gentle introduction to our quest to see more of Australia, we set off for Bendigo. Bendigo is about 150K’s north of Melbourne, in the heart of Victoria’s goldmining district. The train took about two hours to get there, weaving its way through varying countryside – from well farmed fields  ... [More]

I’ve had a pretty good week this week. Not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty good. It began on Monday, when I had a job interview. Despite almost getting lost in the wilds of Doncaster, I managed to find the place, and spoke to the guy. It went quite well, I thought,  ... [More]

You sometimes hear stories about how taxi drivers drive like maniacs. Certainly my driving instructor reckons I should be on the look-out for them (as well as people driving company cars from a certain well-known very large telephone company that recently floated on the stock exchange…) My own experience with taxi drivers is that some  ... [More]

Well, with my current contract job expiring, ceasing to be, going to meet its maker, etc on Friday, I’m merrily job hunting once again. I wouldn’t have left it so late, but The Perfect Job(tm) reared its head last week and appeared to be the ideal way for me to continue bringing in enough dosh  ... [More]

Well, my second driving lesson was yesterday. Once again the fatalities were remarkably low (zero). I’m gradually getting used to this driving lark. The steering’s okay. And I’m a whiz with the indicators. Really where my problem is is the clutch. That and the whole gear situation. It’s probably just a matter of practice, but  ... [More]