What can you say about the tragedy off Christmas Island? A Custom Department spokeswoman this morning confirmed the death toll had risen to 30 after a fragile Indonesian fishing boat packed with up to 100 asylum seekers was smashed against the island’s jagged limestone coast. Obviously there’s a whole sequence of events that has led ... [More]
The secret door at the post office that I highlighted back in June now has an explanatory note: So it’s lost some of its mystique, though of course it’s better to actually explain to people what it is and how they can use it.
The electorate office of new member for Bentleigh, Elizabeth Miller, has been vandalised. The stencil, which reads “Long live the queen” with an image of Miller, appears to indicate some preparation was involved. Given the “The king is dead, long live the queen”, I can’t work out if this is pro-Miller, or pro-ex-member Hudson, or ... [More]
Much of the gossip and all the knowledge of a neighbourhood flows through the local shopkeepers, none more so than the hairdressers and barbers, where customers are most likely to have an extended conversation. The two nuggets of information from my haircut last week? I already knew this: breakfast is the most important meal of ... [More]
I am not totally convinced that this attempt to beautify the street furniture around Bentleigh really works. I mean sure, the benches… but the rubbish bins? I assume this is cheaper/quicker to do than hanging up decorations from the street lights, as has been done in the past. That’s so awkward that one year when ... [More]
In a crowded train the other day (caused by a cancellation), both I and another bloke got up at the same time to offer an old lady senior citizen of the female persuasion a seat. He caught her eye first, but as it happens another lady in need of a seat got on at the ... [More]
John Lennon died thirty years ago yesterday. He was as old then as I am now. It would have been the following day, thirty years ago today, when the news broke in Australia. I remember getting home from school and switching the television onto channel 9, probably to watch Skippy or The Curiosity Show. A ... [More]
I find it a little difficult to accept the big retailers’ claims that ensuring GST is applied to mail order goods ordered online from overseas will make a big difference. GST is only 10%. Take for example the DVD of Edge of Darkness, which I mentioned the other day. Amazon UK price: 3.97 + 3.68 ... [More]
A sign of the times: former Bentleigh MP Rob Hudson’s office, now vacated and up for rent. I wonder if anything gets handed across to the new member Elizabeth Miller’s office? In Federal land, Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt took over former member Lindsay Tanner’s office, but I suspect there was a big clearout ... [More]
This month it’s 25 years since the landmark mini-series Edge of Darkness concluded its first screening. I’m guessing I saw it a year or two later, and it remains one of my most favourite pieces of television ever… in fact it probably sparked my interest in the late-80s and early-90s in British television drama, particularly ... [More]
The PTUA’s Annual General Meeting was last night. There was some optimism amongst the committee and membership about where public transport is going since the change of government, but even before that, the political debate has been moving along nicely. An example we talked about last night… At a parliamentary hearing last year as part ... [More]
Interesting stuff: There is also growing research that younger generations do not relate to the automobile as enabling “freedom.” Instead, their electronic and social media devices–whether a smart phone, small lap top computer, music player, etc.–provide an alternate means for self expression and being free to do what they want. In the United States, kilometers ... [More]