I've Taken Up Jogging. Apparently.

Last night I left work almost 10 minutes late. Outside the building I noticed a bus that I could catch on the other side of the traffic lights further down the road. I found a gap in the traffic and ran across the road. I kept running towards my bus stop which is a couple of hundred metres away. The bus past me. I kept running, refusing to wave my arms like an idiot or yell out "Stop the bus!" The bus pulled up at the bus stop. I kept running. A lady at the bus stop moved to board the bus, backed away, and then boarded the bus. I kept running. By this stage I was thinking it would be pretty bad if the bus pulled away leaving me there. But, I kept running. Thankfully the bus driver stayed long enough for me to catch the bus.

This morning I was approaching my stop when I saw the bus at the intersection. I thought if there is turning traffic, meaning the bus would have to wait a few seconds, I may have a chance. There was turning traffic. I started running. The bus took off. "Damn it" I thought. I stopped running. I noticed three people waiting to board the bus. I started running again. The bus didn't have to wait for me as the people boarding took long enough.

I don't know how healthy this jogging is however. Might give it up if I can organise myself a few minutes earlier each day.

My Wife The Weather Girl

If Miky ever gets sick of her job I know another occupation that she could walk straight into. She has all the traits of a weather girl. Well, maybe she doesn't have blonde hair and unfeasonably large breasts but her weather-sense is second to none in the business.

Take this morning for instance. At 2:30 we had a very heavy storm which lasted for a few minutes but only dumped about 6.8mm according to the Bureau of Meteorology's Website. The forecast was for an early storm and morning showers. Just as I was about to leave for work I said, "It looks a bit dodgy out there. I think I'd better take my big umbrella."
Her response was that it "Would be fine". Even after pointing out to her that it was a black as a dog's guts outside she was convinced that it would be ok.

Stepping outside and it had just started raining. Miky offered me a lift to the bus stop which I accepted readily. As I alighted from the car it started pissing down.

Yes, she has all the hallmarks of a weather girl - no idea about what the future holds weather-wise. And happy to tell everyone about it.

At the bus stop some Indonesian or Malaysian guy told me that I look like his friend, Gary. "Not me mate," I informed him. He insisted that I did and that Gary caught the bus at this stop. I had to explain that this wasn't my normal stop. Didn't get a chance to tell him how sorry I felt for Gary, his poor bastard friend. I wouldn't wish my looks on anyone. Except mini me.

Sunroom Debacle - How Hard Can It Be?

Monday. The day after the weekend where Yu-Jin had his best friend stay over and then went to the beach with their family the following morning and left us two in peace. The day after I started painting the living room walls because Miky had come to the realisation that spending $350-$700 on fabric to hang on those walls wasn't justifiable, especially as I already had the paint to do the job. The day after Australian Idol heralded Damien Leith, our favourite singer, as the new Australian Idol. It must have been my vote that saw him across the line.

Monday. The day that I rang my builder and he actually answered the phone instead of letting it go through to his message bank. He, the Willy Wonka lookalike, informed me that the window would be there at 12 o'clock the next day and his carpenter would arrive at 12:30 to start work on it.

Tuesday. Twelve fifty. Miky rings me to say that the carpenter waited 10 minutes and then just left. No window. I rang the builder and he rang me back almost immediately. The carpenter had just gone to the shops for a drink. One thirty and Miky rings me to say that the window has arrived but it is the wrong colour and a patio door and not a window. I'm not the sort of bloke to panic when I have a contract because if it doesn't come up to standard I don't sign off. Miky is the sort of person who spits chips viciously. Another phone call came through less than a minute later. She had seen somebody else's door which had been taken off the back of the truck. No problem.

About 20 minutes later the phone rang again. The new, correctly painted window, didn't fit. The carpenter was effing and blinding. Miky was so concerned about this. I wasn't - if it's not right I won't settle for it and they can make it again. Then she started going on about cutting it down to size by about 15mm. Later she rang me to say that the door had to be cut. Our new, very expensive, door.

When I arrived home I discovered that the concrete floor had been ground down a little bit to allow the window to sit level. The problem was caused by an uneven floor. I don't know how many times that the front of the house was measured but this really shouldn't have happened. How hard can it be?

At least I don't have to pay for the heartache. I'm on a fixed price contract. Can't understand why Miky doesn't see the funny side of it all. Her panic button is permanently pressed, methinks.

Number Plates That Caught My Eye

1GEEZER - On a 4WD. Obviously owned by a Pom. Funny.
FASHN8N - Red sports car. Fascinated with himself no doubt.
WEEBEASTIE - On a black VW Golf. Tres cool.
KORRUPT - Over-accessorised Commodore.

Consolidation In The Fashion Industry

What would happen if the fashion houses of Pierre Cardin and Collette Dinnigan were to join? Would we be greeted with the House of Cardigan?

When Do You Give Up Your Seat On Public Transport?

Chivalry determined that gentlemen should give up their seat for ladies on public transport. Then feminism reared its ugly head and we gents we not welcome to offer our seats to the ladies. I read this morning that due to cosmetic surgery 40 is the new 30 and that middle age doesn't start until 60.

That begs the question - when do you give up your seat on public transport? Anyone under 50 will be offended and anyone who has just reached pensionable age will contend that they are only in middle age not age old. I guess you will only be able to offer your seat to octogenarians and above although they already have their zimmer frame or gopher and shouldn't really need the seat by that stage. So, those that are old enough to be offered a seat without being offended will be too old to take it.

Just stay in your seat people.

Customer Service Received At Myer

I popped into Myer yesterday to get my 25% discount on the shirt I had purchased the Sunday previous. My understanding is that the shirt wasn't purchased in the same department as where the shirt was on display so the clerks just didn't realise that they had to ring up the discount. No bother. The helpful lady yesterday refunded the 25% discount and then gave me an extra 7.5% for my trouble. Now that's what I can customer service.

Perhaps the new management of Myer has changed the attitude towards customers somewhat.

When Are Free Phone Calls Not So Free?

Ask yourself this question - When are free phone calls not so free? Answer - When your prepaid mobile phone company stuffs up and blows all your money on your calls.

I have an Optus prepaid mobile. Thirty dollars of credit is valid for 60 days. Apart from that I have 300 minutes of free calls to other Optus prepaid mobiles. With my mum, sister and Miky on Optus prepaids I have almost all the people I need to ring available for free.

My 60 days were up so I recharched my account and I had $12 remaining. Add the $30 and freetime and my balance should be $42 and 300 freetime minutes. This was done four and a half days ago. Yesterday I went to make a phone call and was warned that I had less than $2 credit. News to me. In that time I had sent two SMSs and not made any phone calls that I would had to have paid for.

So I rang Optus customer service to sort it out. Of course Optus' database was a bit slow and Eden, the customer service rep, couldn't access my details regarding phone calls too quickly. He finally came around and offered me $30 credit which "Should last you long enough." I politely informed him that that wasn't good enough and that I should have $42 credit and 200-250 free minutes. After speaking to his team leader it was decided that I should get $30 credit and 300 free minutes.

I guess that I can be happy with that although I'm still down about $12 more than I reasonably should be. This is the first major hassle I've had with them in six months of usage. They haven't been too bad up until now.

Gotta watch the bastards though.

Killing Three Birds With One Stone

How do you get a trampoline for the boy home if you don't have a trailer and you are too cheap to hire one for the purpose? Easy. Buy some slabs of concrete from Bunnings that you need for the front door path that will be operational in but a few days and get free trailer hire for two hours. And while you are at it go to WA Salvage as they have 30% off storewide due to them closing down and pick up some kerbing for the front garden. Then you pick up the trampoline. Take the trailer back to Bunnings and everyone is happy.

I've still got it.

Western Australia Steps Out Of The Dark Ages

Western Australia is about to experience daylight savings. Yes, you heard correctly. I can't believe that it has taken so long to catch up to the rest of the world. It's a three year trial initially. Last time we had daylight savings was in 91/92 apparently. Some IT professionals aren't pleased but what do they think the rest of the world has been doing forever and a day?

I feel that the extra time at the end of the day will be beneficial to families and I'll probably be able to kick the footy with the young bloke after tea and before bed. There doesn't seem much point in having the sun shining in your eyes about a quarter to five every morning and trying to sleep as is the case currently. Plus, we'll be able to communicate with the rest of the country more easily as the maximum time difference will be in the order of two hours and not three.

What I find most ridiculous about the situation is that the Liberal Party has been calling for daylight savings and once it was finally introduced to Parliament they spent as long as possible trying to delay the vote. Dickheads. Politicians are the same everywhere. They all want the limelight and aren't interested if it's not their idea.

Spot The 7 Differences

Child's play really. Remember when you sat down to two pictures that looked very similar and had to spot the differences. They usually ranged between seven and ten in number. Obviously Kim Beazley wasn't too good at this game judging by the fact that he tried to convey his condolences to Rove McManus after losing his wife, Belinda Emmett, to cancer, and confused him with Karl Rove. What an enormous political gaffe - almost as big as the man himself.

Let's play the game ourselves, shall we?

Spot the 7 differences in the pictures below.


1. Karl Rove is the Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. As such he's probably not a barrel of laughs.
1A. Rove McManus is a comedian/entertainer/TV host.

2. Karl Rove was born in Denver, Colorado and has an American accent.
2A. Rove McManus was born in Perth, Australia and has an Australian accent.

3. Karl Rove isn't exactly thin.
3A. Rove McManus isn't fat but he isn't exactly as skinny as his wife was when she died.

4. Karl Rove has a son.
4A. Rove McManus has no children.

5. Karl Rove's wife Darby survived breast cancer.
5A. Rove McManus' wife Belinda Emmett survived breast cancer but didn't beat a secondary bone cancer.

6. Karl Rove is not well known in Australia.
6A. Rove McManus has won three Gold Logies for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. It is not known if Karl Rove has a personality.

7. Karl Rove's name is spelt K-a-r-l R-o-v-e.
7A. Rove McManus' name is spelt R-o-v-e M-c-M-a-n-u-s.

And Kim Beazley wants to be the Prime Minister of Australia. If he can't spot the differences between Karl Rove and Rove McManus then he would probably confuse cricket with baseball and we could never have a PM who doesn't know anything about cricket.

When Is A Bargain Not So Much Of A Bargain?

I mentioned recently that on Sunday I purchased an expensive shirt in Myer. It was a JAG business shirt and the 25% discount made the price much more attractive. I have one other JAG that my mother gave me money for as a birthday present and I love it. The fit and feel are fabulous.

On Sunday one of the shirts caught my eye and when I put it on it felt nice but the look was just that of an ordinary $25 business shirt, I'm sorry to say. I wasn't going to pay that sort of money for something that didn't look the part. Miky found a few more to try on and a black and white number looked great. As I paid for it I was talking to Miky about something.

This morning I received quite a surprise to see that I had been charged the full amount for the shirt without the discount. Ouch! This just means that I'll be paying a visit to Myer on Thursday night, most likely, to rectify the situation. Can't afford to have my reputation tarnished in that manner.

And no, it doesn't seem like such a bargain at the moment.

Red Bull Air Race and Worm Farm Were This Weekend's Highlights

The boy was sick this weekend. So, no Korean school or taekwondo for him. Instead, we built a worm farm. Well, I wasn't going to pay $90 for the plastic version in the shop. Hopefully that which I have put together will work as the 500 starter worms cost over 20 bucks. Wish I had my camera with me. I've glued some supports inside a few planter trays, put legs on the base and installed a tap.

Talk about getting the runaround at Bunnings whilst searching for the tap. I looked in the plumbing section, aisle 42, for a plastic tap. Then I went to gardening, where they sent me to reticulation, aisle 17. The team member at reticulation needed help and they dragged me over to homewares, aisle 29. Finally located a plastic tap but it was only a threaded version without a locknut. Do you think that I could find a locknut? My best bet was going to be a reducer but the reticulation guy found a sprinkler accessory that did the job. Only problem was there was no sticker and the checkout girl had no idea what the part was. I told her that it was 99 cents, which was no word of a lie, and she found a sprinkler part that cost 91 cents and put it down as that.

Nearly finished the worm farm on Saturday night while we watched Chicken Run. On Sunday morning I ventured to Bunnings again to purchase a holesaw arbor as I had a holesaw but not the right size arbor. There was a nice brand-name set of holesaw that I was willing to pay a bit extra for but they were all too big so I had to settle for the cheapie Chinese variety. This was one occasion that I wanted to pay more for something and I was let down by it not quite being appropriately. Got myself a lovely rat tail file also. It's some new fangled design and is not a solid piece of metal a all.

Anyway, put it all together up until the last bit of gluing. Vaccumed the house prior to us going out to see the Red Bull Air Race. I'd seen these guys practising during the week. My boss let me use his car park at work which was a great help as I would otherwise have had to pay for parking. There were a few hundred thousand people lining the foreshores of the Swan River to see this spectacular event. We found a spot under a tree so weren't going to get sunburnt. I was surprised that Miky got so into it. Didn't think that it would be her cup of tee. Yu-Jin was inspired too and it helped that I brought a couple of planes along. I even saw one of my workmates there.

To see the pilots going at something like 360 km/h and pulling 11 Gs on some of their turns was amazing. On the news we could check out the cockpit footage. Brilliant. Nice and loud too. Not too many drunken yobbos about either. After the first leg of the race, we and many thousands of others decided that that was enough. Walking back to the car and we have to leave the roadway as an ambulance was in a hurry to leave. Found out later on the news that some guy had dived off his boat into the river and broken his neck. Not the smartest move.

Caught a bus into the city after showing Miky my office. Good move although the traffic was so bad we were only moving as fast as people walking but the bus was airconditioned. Went to Jaws sushi for lunch and had to wait 10 minutes to get a table. The city was buzzing. They had a book sale in Myer with 40% off so we bought a few books for the boy. A Harry Potter novel, book on Egyptology and an animal encyclopaedia. Bought myself a new shirt which will probably end up being a Christmas present in some form as it was so expensive.

Got home and put the worm farm into the garden. Chucked the worms in and some scraps for them to get started on. We'll see how it goes.

Harvey Norman 0 : Frugal Bastard 2

Don't argue the toss with a Frugal Bastard when he's in the mood to save money. Harvey Norman recently sent out a catalogue full of pricey gear, ok some of it was competitively priced, but they also included some vouchers for FREE photos. I know, I know, it is just a gimmick to get you into the store. With that in mind I took the boy. And for some reason they delivered two of these catalogues to our household. Very nice junk mail indeed.

We each printed off our 20 free 6"x4" photos for one particular voucher and five free 6"x8" photos for another voucher. The guy at the photoshop thought that that was ok. He came running to us shortly after as we were on our way out as he didn't think that we could use two vouchers each. The voucher said, "Limit 1 per customer." Yes, I explained, but that means one voucher of that particular type per customer as it didn't say "Limit 1 voucher per customer."

Then he tried to pull me up on the "Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers" line. I explained that legally that meant if the store had an item on sale, i.e. another offer, I would be unable to use this voucher to get a further discount. Just because I had used a different voucher for a different set of prints didn't constitute me using it in conjunction with another offer.

He still wanted me to do my prints again and split them up. Fine, I told him, but that I would just come back another time to use the other free offer. I started processing my pictures again and he had a word to the manager, who must have been a smart bloke as he didn't think it was worth going through the motions of cancelling the first order and replacing it with two orders, and he then informed me as I was prepared to come back later I might as well be allowed to keep my original order.

Later when we came to collect the photos the cashier didn't like ringing up four vouchers for two people. Luckily the salesman who had given in earlier was nearby and after I pointed him out the cashier called him over. He took one look at me and said, "Paul said it's ok."

That makes two to me and none to Harvey Norman. I'm sure I mentioned the time I got a red hot price for a printer from a guy I went to uni with who used someone else's ID to offer me a cost-price plus deal at a computer shop, on an item not in stock, and I just went to Harvey Norman with this price and they knocked a further $40 off their already discounted sale price. I love putting it over Harvey Norman.

How To Get A Seat On The Bus

Sure-fire way to get your own seat on the bus. Last night, heading towards the uni incidentally, there was a girl in the early rows with almost bright green hair. As I wasn't stepping onto the bus my first thoughts were, "I'll steer clear of that weirdo." I think that everyone else had the same idea. Nobody sat next to her and they gave her a bit of a wide berth as they went down the aisle.

She looked nice enough. Somebody should tell her that Halloween, which we don't celebrate in this country, finished nearly three weeks ago and that she should stop scaring little kids. Mind you, the hair colour looked alright. It was just a bit confronting though. Perhaps she did it to raise money. Or for a bet.

The Buses Are Filling Up Lately

A couple of ocassions lately have seen the local bus drivers stop people from boarding as the bus was already full. Legally most of the buses are only able to take 64 passengers with about 45 of them sitting. I've had to stand a couple of times for part of the journey but sometimes I am grateful for the fact that I have a multirider ticket and don't need to purchase a ticket. That allows me to get the last available seat on the odd ocassion.

Perhaps as I didn't take the bus before the rise in petrol prices I'm not best placed to comment on how full the buses are but it does seem a little unusual to see them so crowded. There are a great number of buses that go past my stop early in the morning.

Just make sure that you have a ticket and are the first to get on at the bus stop. Or maybe even walk in the opposite direction to the previous bus stop to ensure that you get a seat. Oh, and give them up for the pregnant ladies or elderly people.

There was one bitch, let me tell it as I see it, who didn't bother to remove her bag from a seat, even though lots of people were standing, until someone said, "Excuse me" and motioned to sit down. Can't stand people like that. And she was on the bus again this morning sitting in the aisle seat and hogging the window seat with her bag. One of the hair dyed black and piercings all over the place mob.

Something Different - Mexican For Tea

For four years we've lived here. Right near a Mexican restaurant. And we haven't bothered to try it. Last night we decided to give it a go. The place is called "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly". Most of the decore is centred on the movie starring Clint Eastwood.

Wednesday night is 2 for 1 night so it was the most appealing time. Sunday night is family night where kids eat for free. Seeing as our kid doesn't eat much and two meals are usually enough that seemed like a complete waste.

We bought nachos for the boy. They were quite tasty. Our meals were seafood quesadilla and a chicken and mushroom burrito. The thought of seafood in a wrap seemed a bit odd and not exactly what you would expect from Mexicans and it didn't work too well. Miky, the orderer, wasn't too happy with it. I dunno. It was ok. My chicken and mushroom burrito was really quite nice and probably worth the expense as a meal on its own. Very enjoyable.

We sat in the back room which didn't have airconditioning as that would have been too cold as we were lightly dressed. Acoustics in the back room weren't conducive to conversation but the setting was nice.

The food was ok and the menu was huge. I liked their motto - "Good Food, Bad Service, Ugly Waitresses...."

Rove (A)Live : Belinda Not

This came as a bit of a shock. Not that we've heard much about Rove's wife of late. Even the girls at work, who love a bit of gossip, were taken by surprise. On Friday night they were advertising what would be on Rove Live this week. Only, Rove won't be performing live for some time to come. Don't blame him. Poor bastard.

Some Relatives Came To Visit

Being in WA, and a long way from anywhere, it's not often that relatives come to visit. Last month we missed out on seeing an aunty and uncle from Queensland as we had gone to Victoria for a holiday. When I heard that my aunty and uncle from Adelaide were over I couldn't wait to see them. They had a few functions to attend for the first three days but would be free on Sunday. Perfect.

I had planned to take them on the Perth Tram Company tourist tram, which a former work colleague recommended, but it had limited stops and with our timeframe it would be easier to drive by myself. Plus, I had to do the fruit and vege shopping also.

My aunty is a bit of a tidy freak, good reason not to mention any names (sorry), so I spent the evening before and the morning of cleaning the house as best I could. Yu-Jin and I picked them up at 10am as Miky had work to be done. Man she works hard on the weekend. Our first stop was Kings Park where we did the treetop walk, looked at the area where we were married, went to the DNA Tower and Yu-Jin raced up to the top, and returned to the car via the fountain area. As my rellies hadn't had breakfast we made a stop at the cafe and the refreshment we had was much enjoyed. Even though it was only 23 degrees it felt closer to 30.

Second stop was the Bell Tower. We were lucky enough to visit when the bell ringers were going their hardest. Lastly we visited Subiaco. Mainly so that I could buy fruit and veg but so that they could have a look around the market. Lunch was Subway. Mmm.

Back to our house for a bit of a tour, sit down and a drink. Chucked the DVD on about Miky's TAFE graduation fashion show, as my aunty is into that sort of thing. Later we, including Miky this time, drove to Hillarys Boat Harbour before eating out at my friends' restaurant - Fratelli, in Sorrento. I haven't seen my friends, brothers, for about four years. They are busy people, what with running the restaurant and their families, and it is such a long way to go. Enough of the bullshit excuses, it was great to see them and have a long chat. Luckily Sunday nights aren't too busy. The food was excellent and my uncle refused to let me pay. He paid for the whole lot. It made me very glad that I was able to take them around but he didn't need to do that.

Dropped the rellies off at their hotel around 9:30. It was great to see them and we had a lovely day. I quite enjoyed being able to play tourist guide. Yu-Jin had an excellent day.

Do you hear that rellies? I enjoy having you come to visit. Pop your heads over this side of the country a bit more often.

Text-Based Blogging For A Bit

The camera is in the repair shop. There's been what appears to be a scratch on the lens for donkeys ages and I've decided to bite the bullet. Gonna cost a bit and the worrying thing is that the repairman said that it is a common problem. Apparently some foreign object gets to where the camera becomes "digital film" and buggers up the image. Couple of weeks to fix as they are a bit busy at the moment.

Great. That means that plenty of work will go on and I won't be able to photograph it. Unless, of course, I go back to using real film. Ugh.

War - In The Living Room

I guess this won't appeal to too many of you but we boys like playing war. On Sunday the boy and I set up a couple of castles and had a battle between the Koreans (Yu-Jin) and the Japanese (Me). I have American and Japanese soldiers from when I was a kid and it's always fun to play. Maybe not the setting up part but the destruction is.


Koreans vs Japanese War Video

Yu-Jin's fortifications for the Koreans.

Behind enemy lines.

Japanese fortifications.

Up close and personal with the Japanese.

Korean aftermath - strong defences but not protective enough.

Japanese aftermath - couple of survivors.

If Only My Wife Had Been My Woodwork Teacher

The original pantry doors. What on earth were the previous owners thinking by putting these in with the lovely jarrah door jambs?

The missus had me busy on the weekend again. On Sunday I put the flyscreen in the new pantry doors. Bit of a tricky job and moreso than I had planned. Not having done this sort of thing before I did a better job on the second screen. Well, the missus came and had a look and did she go beserk.
"You never do a professional job. I'm going to pay somebody with your money to do the job next time." On and on she went.

I noticed that there was enough flyscreen to have another go if I could just get the framework holding it in position out without damaging it. Managed to prise it out with a chisel without doing any damage and did a much better job of it the second time around.

All I needed was a little encouragement in the form of a rabid wife. I must say that it looks close to magnificent. If only my wife had been my woodwork teacher when I was at school. Perhaps I would be a woodworking genius by now.

Newly stained pantry doors without flyscreen.

Pantry doors with flyscreen.

The finshed pantry doors.

Getting Back To My Best

Managed to spend some time with the missus yesterday. Mind you, she had to work until after midnight to afford the time for me. Had a cuppa and a muffin in Subi after buying the fruit and veg. Bit of a chinwag as well.

In the arvo I stained the new pantry doors. They've come up a treat. Whilst carrying out that work I had the boy wash my car. I saw him climb up on the boot to do the back windscreen. Later he rushed in and excitedly told me that he'd managed to climb onto the roof to clean it. That soon became apparent to him that that wasn't a good idea.

After finishing the doors I just had time to duck outside and give the car a once over to clean it up before driving it out to let an approaching thunderstorm rinse it for me. Who says I'm not waterwise?

Speaking of waterwise - what happens when you leave a six year old in charge of a running bath? You probably guessed it - the floor gets a good washing. He started yelling out, "Mum, you've put too much water in!" Not too bright as he should have noticed the high water level long before. Funny, the missus and I were just discussing how intelligent he was. I said that it's a pity he's not smart enough to go to medical school and Miky said that he was a very smart boy. Then came the yelling about the full bath. Within two minutes of telling me that he was smart she was telling him how stupid he was.

It's A Worrisome Sign

"Help Wanted" - I view this as a worrisome sign. The Western Australian economy is steamrolling along, there are high paying jobs on offer, and everything appears to be peachy. Or is that just a facade? Are there large cracks in the foundation that are about to open up and start swallowing us?

In the news recently I heard that Woolies, and perhaps Coles, were struggling to find checkout chicks. This is due to the booming economy offering people better pay and conditions than they otherwise would experience in menial jobs. Last night we went shopping and the queues at the checkout in KMart were quite long. It worries me what will shopping be like at Christmas time. Pretty ugly I imagine and far worse than last night.

Go for a walk along a restaurant strip and every second shop is looking for a waitperson. Even one of the Chinese restaurants is looking for someone who speaks either Mandarin, English or both. They are becoming less fussy with whom they choose. What blew me away last night was a local family-owned Chinese fish shop and even they were even advertising for staff. They generally keep everything in-house and don't open up to non-family members.

It is looking pretty grim out there. I don't think the picture is as rosy as the Government would like to paint. You may have more money in your pocket but chances are that you will become frustrated trying to spend it. I see plenty of scope for moving purchases online if possible - the stores just won't have the staff to serve you. It will get much worse before it gets better.

What Do You Call...

Q. What do you call three people having a massage?

A. A massage-a-trois. Of course.

I have too much time to think on my walk home from the bus stop.

Racist Attack Or Not?

Since we've been here, in our house, our letterbox has been targeted many times. Once I thought the missus had backed the car into it as it was so badly damaged. But there was no evidence of damage on the car and she said that it wasn't her. Obviously some young punk gave it a decent kick.

Just recently I've noticed another dent, a sizable one, in the letterbox. And only a few nights ago somebody put graffiti on the letterbox. Miky is adamant that it is a racist attack because there is a swastika on it. I don't buy that. There are any number of examples of graffiti in this area and she shouldn't feel that she is the one being targeted. Heck, the neighbour's letterbox has been bashed around and, being a wooden one, has even been knocked off its perch.



It's not some racist gang but much more likely to be some silly young punks with nothing better to do and no realisation of the hurt that they cause. Needless to say, the missus is pretty upset by the incident.