Happy Boxing Day. Well, Christmas was great. It started off bright and early in the traditional way, waking up to see what presents Santa had left under the tree. Then Iris and I got dressed, went and picked up the kids from their mum’s and we skedaddled off to the airport to pick up my ... [More]
On Saturday we went where no sane person dares to go at this time of year: Chadstone shopping centre. Yes, to The Mall. I wouldn’t normally bother even trying to shoe-horn myself into the place in late-December, but I had a $50 Chadstone gift certificate I needed to dispose of, preferably in exchange for goods ... [More]
Today I drove out to the airport to pick up Iris, back from her meditation course. She flew on the new airline, Impulse, which was good, because she kind of flew on… ummm… impulse. That is, it was a change from the original plan, which was to get a lift back with someone else. So ... [More]
Last week it seemed that I was evicting a lot of spiders from the house. That is, I think it’s a lot of spiders – or it could be the same one over and over I suppose. I keep spotting them on the ceiling in the living room or in the kitchen. It always seems ... [More]
"You’re a yob or you’re a wanker Take your fucking choice So who is your favourite genius James Hird or James Joyce?" – TISM’s Whatareya, from their album www.tism.wanker.com On Friday night I enjoyed a night of fine wining and dining with some work colleagues, at a very nice restaurant that I’d never have dreamt ... [More]
Tomorrow morning my lovely girlfriend Iris leaves for ten days of meditation in the Blue Mountains. She’ll have ten days without speaking, without the phone, TV, and worst of all – INTERNET! Just meditation, all day. I figure this could either be very very good, or very very bad. You might end up in triumphant ... [More]
It feels like it’s been a long weekend, even though it hasn’t. On Thursday Iris and I went to visit Josh and Cathy and Catherine’s, to eat Josh’s infamous JoshBurgers(tm). Basically a JoshBurger(tm) is a humungous meal constructed to burger-type specifications, but much larger. So large that you really need to eschew the average burger ... [More]
Joining loads of tourists on the ferry to Manly Another ferry leaves Manly Less reliable than the Manly ferry: a Qantas jumbo with broken weather radar Sunday started most pleasantly with a bus ride into the city, then joining the throngs of tourists on the ferry to Manly, which is a butch name for a ... [More]
Paddington Market, on a Saturday around lunch time While Adrian went off to indulge in his weekend love of windsurfing, Iris, Susannah and I headed down to Paddington, for a stroll around the groovy streets of Sydney’s inner-east. For a little while it felt like we were walking through an anthology of Australian music: we ... [More]
Adrian and Susannah needed to work, so they gave us some basic directions on navigating into the city and back by bus, and we did just that. We strolled around looking at all the touristy sights, as one should do when one has rarely or never been to Sydney: The Rocks, The Quay, The Bridge, ... [More]
All our stuff packed into a borrowed backpack, Iris and I were ready for a weekend jaunt up to Syd-n-ey. Heading for the airport, we boarded a train which whizzed us straight into the city, where we came face to face with thousands of racegoers heading home from Flemington after a long hard day’s punt. ... [More]
One of my VCRs is on its last legs. Well okay, not legs… little foam thingies that it stands on… on its last… those. Despite regular service, it’s been playing up for years – almost since I got it, in fact. It refused to wind some brands of tape at anything approaching a sensible speed. ... [More]