nothing to lose but your smoker's money

I can't completely agree with the Rudd Government's decision to lift the price of a pack of fags by $2.16.

If it were my decision, I would have put them up by $21.60 a pack!

Listening to those whinging addicts bleating on the radio about how hard done-by they are really made my heart bleed, and my stomach ache with laughter.

Smoking is a disgusting and deadly habit. If this tiny price hike encourages just a few people to wake up to themselves and quit, it's a wonderful thing.

If it raises extra money for health care for everyone else, that's a good thing too.

Smokers have only themselves to blame. If they don't want to pay, just quit. Otherwise, stop complaining - the rest of us are the ones who have to put up with your stench and arrogance; we're the ones who have the real reason to complain.

things that can go wrong with a holiday plan

I was a bit trepidatious about planning an overseas holiday by myself. It's been a looong time since I last could afford a trip o/s - back in the last century, before the internet, in the days when you would just walk into a Travel Agent's office, explain your dreams, and leave it to them to make it all real.

But all my traveller-friends assured me that the internet has changed all that, and that I *can* do it myself, and it *will* work ok. So I went for it. I wasn't totally convinced, but I went for it.

I had been planning for quite some time, so I aimed to make my bookings far enough in advance that I could get what I wanted, when I wanted it. My departure date is in late May, and I finalised my bookings in Feb. The centrepiece of the trip is a fortnight stay in a rented apartment in Paris.

I researched my arse off from October onwards, night-after-night staying up until after midnight, checking out all the online companies and agencies that let flats for holidays in Paris, and finally, in mid-February, I made a decision, choosing a cosy, top-floor apartment in St Germain. I contacted the owner, got an acceptance, and sent the money to the agency for the booking. With that done, I was then able to finalise all the other elements of my trip around those dates - hotels, train trips, etc etc. By early March, everything was arranged.

Until I opened my email on April 3, to discover a cancellation notice from my Paris host. Due to circumstances beyond her control, she would have to cancel my booking. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I went into a panic. There was nothing I could do about the cancellation, but now I had to find alternative accommodation, 6 weeks closer to arrival.

I re-checked the other four places that I had short-listed in February, only to find that each one of them was now let for the period that I needed. My heart sank. I felt like cancelling the whole thing and re-scheduling. Unfortunately, I couldn't cancel any of the other bookings that I had made and paid for because of this, so I had no choice but to go back to square one and start my search over again. The one advantage that I had this time was that there were far fewer places now available to look at!!!

It took me five more days, but I eventually found a beautiful place; bigger and brighter than my original booking, but not as well located. However, I was delighted to get it (but now just live in fear that it might get cancelled out from under me as well!)

At last, everything seemed to be set to go.

And then the volcano blew in Iceland.

Well, that seems to have settled down again now. I just have to hope that it won't fire up again, at least, not before July! Surely nothing else could go wrong now!?!?!

super stop it!

I noticed on a tram trip to the city today that work has commenced on new 'super stops' in St Kilda Road, near both High St & Commercial Road.

When the first super-stops were introduced in the cbd some years ago, I was greatly impressed by not just the good design and amenity of the stops, but mostly, by the wonderful new electronic real-time timetable signs at each stop. These have been a great help to me, and saved much time and frustration by letting me know how long I'll have to wait for my service, and whether or not it's even worthwhile to wait.

I was just as greatly disappointed when the ersatz super-stops were installed along Dandenong Road a year or so back. These ones looked like the ones in the city, but were missing one important feature - the electronic signage! This is the best part of the super-stops, but not even the very busy stop at Chapel St was deemed worthy enough to warrant one being installed.

A further disappointment was that whoever plans these things makes a decision by some means to re-locate or remove stops in the process of upgrading them. As a result, my homeward stop was moved from its old location to the far side of Orrong Road, making it far less useful to me (in fact, I rarely use it all any more, as a result of the move).

I now note in St Kilda Road, that the inbound stop at High St seems to be getting moved to the city side of High St (and I assume that the same will happen at Commercial Road). I also get the feeling that a stop is going to be removed completely as a result of these changes. And I wonder whether anything is going to be done to ensure that it remains possible to interchange to the 216/219/220 buses from the trams near Commercial Road. The bus stop has been moved during the current roadworks, but I couldn't see where it's been moved to... hopefully, not so far away that it can't be reached easily and safely on foot through peak-hour traffic.

I wouldn't be so concerned about these changes if I believed that the people who designed them actually used the services involved and had a real idea of how to improve amenity for passengers, instead of the tram company, but having experienced the downside of so many of their other works, I have a bad feeling about these new ones.

can't be beaten ...or believed

Amusing to see all the headlines in today's Herald-Sun about how wonderful the Storm is -like 'Storm can't be beaten'! Of course they can't be beaten; that's the whole problem!

Because they rorted the salary cap system that the rest of the competition abides by, they've been able to assemble a team of expensive champions that can beat everyone else, albeit completely unfairly!

Leave it to the Murdoch press to twist the facts and run stories that are blatantly in their own self-interest to promote a pet project that's gone horribly wrong, and try to build support for their own mistakes. If Murdoch's papers had any integrity and desire to present news at all, they'd forget about the propaganda and describe the Storm for what they are - cheats and liars. Really, not all that different to the company that props them up, when you think about it!

spitfires and snakes

I take my camera with me most places I go, and often find views or objects of interest around town that I want to take a snap of.

I can't believe how often I suddenly notice things that I've possibly often by-passed without consciously observing. I came across one such object today - a statue outside the St Kilda Town Hall in Carlisle St. It appears to be a man, supported by large snakes, reclining backwards over a classical building, whilst one of the snakes holds a small Spitfire aircraft in its coils, far above his head.

I don't dislike it... I just can't for the life of me figure out what it means or how it relates to St Kilda Town Hall.

at the volcano's edge

I couldn't wait to visit Guilfoyle's volcano at the Botanic Gardens, after I read the report of its restoration and re-opening, in the Age recently.

It's an impressive feature already, but will become even more spectacular as its plant life grows and matures. The RBG has done a wonderful job of restoring it, and I look forward to checking it out again over the next few months to watch its progress.

welcome break

Didn't know what to do with myself on Sunday.

After a late sleep, I dragged myself out the door and into the car around midday, with no real plans at all. I dropped by Prahran Market for a few veggies and a coffee at Jasper's, then drove back to up Chapel St, intending to buy lunch at Hooked. Unfortunately, the entrance to the car park in James St was totally blocked off for roadworks, so I kept going to Carlisle St and had chicken and chips at Feast instead. By that time, it was around 1:30, and I remembered that there was a 2pm session of a movie that I was sort of interested to see at the Brighton Bay, called Welcome. If I drove directly there, and if I could find a car park, and if the theatre wasn't to busy (as if! :-), I could just make it!

So I zapped off to Brighton, located a car park with not too much trouble, and climbed the stairs to the ticket office with around 5 minutes to spare. I didn't quite make it to the top of the stairs, though, as the queue from the ticket office extended all the way to the staircase! Wow! I had never seen so many people at the Bay! The combined age of all those Brighton Bay patrons must have numbered in the thousands!!

Anyway, it only took me about 10 minutes to get through the queue, but most of the crowd were indeed headed to the same movie as I, so the best seat I could get was in the third row from the front. It was close to a big screen, so definitely a neck-buster!

The movie itself - not bad. A lot of English language (for a French film) made it easier to follow than some. The story (a Frenchman who tries to assist an illegal Iraqi immigrant to make it to Britain) was a bit predictable, and the characters not completely convincing, but the interesting part was the way in which the French government treats its own citizens who try to assist the illegals. It was reminiscent of the French underground fighting the occupation! Amazing and scary. I'd give this film 3 stars.

for the love of reason

After an over-busy week, I'm almost too tired to keep my eyes open, let alone type, but I just had to make note of the astonishing performance that I saw tonight at Trades Hall - Catherine Deveny's 'God is bullshit - that's the good news'!

Part stand-up comedy, part self-therapy, this secular sermon left me at times stunned and flabbergasted. Even though I've been an atheist myself for as long as I can remember, growing up with family and friends who are believers in different religions has taught me to keep my non-beliefs to myself and be careful of saying anything to offend their sensibilities.

To see someone stand up on stage and plainly state that christianity and the bible are bullshit, to quote some of the nonsense from the bible and expose it to the light of day (and logic), and to make no bones about stating that it is truly ridiculous, both excited and scared me. Excited because it was wonderful to see someone else speaking the plain truth about 'faith' out loud; scared because I fully expected at any time that someone would leap from the audience with a fist or a knife or a gun to defend the faith against the blasphemer (no one did, thankfully!)

Catherine's show was not just funny, but touching, and brave. Her stance will make her lots of enemies (I have one catholic colleague who professed to, and I quote, "hate her" for what she says about catholicism), but to me, she's a beacon of reason and common sense in a world that seems increasingly under siege by the religious righteous. This was one funny show that gives you a LOT to think about.

fun with mark

One of the best things about the Comedy Festival is getting to 'discover' new acts.

This arvo, I stood on the steps of the Town Hall, reading the chalkboard list of shows available that day, and I was approached by no less than three different people, all of whom were performers at the Festival, and none of whom I had ever heard of. Each gave us a spiel about their show, and we selected one of them to see that evening. That's how we came to be at Mark Trenwith's 'Fun' show at the Portland hotel tonight.

And 'fun' it was. I'd never heard of Mark before he talked to us on the steps at the Town Hall this arvo, but I quickly got the impression that I'd enjoy his show. and I did. It was a sort of a 'random' stand-up with video clips thing... a bit way out at times, and a few jokes sorta missed their mark, but by-and-large, it was a fun performance, and one I was glad to have seen.

In other Comedy Festival news, we were lucky enough to score the last two available tickets to one of the hottest shows in town, Catherine Deveny, for tomorrow night (as she'd already sold out many performances, including tonight and Thursday, this was .... well, not an act of god, but at least, fate!)

Rickett's at the Vic

Sammy J is amazing.

Having enjoyed his show at last year's Comedy Festival, I decided to check out this year's 'Sammy J and Randy in Rickett's Lane', playing at the Victoria Hotel, and I was not disappointed. Working with puppeteer Heath McIvor, the performance was imaginative, frenetic and funny, supported by wonderful music and lyrics and clever staging.

This show was the most fun I've had at the Comedy Festival so far.

putting the 'good' back in easter friday

Typically, I look forward to Good Friday as the one day of the year when everything shuts down; there's nothing to do and nowhere to go, so it's the perfect excuse to stay really late in bed, then get up and do nothing all day, guilt-free. But today was an eye-opener.

I don't know how long this has been going on for, but I noticed that cinemas were open today. How long have cinemas been allowed to open on Good Fridays? I have no idea. But suddenly, the perfect day to stay in bed all day became the ideal opportunity to take in a movie. Not only that, but the fact that Palace cinemas also do espresso meant that Good Friday no longer had to be one of only two miserable days of the year when it's not possible to get a latte! Joy!

The movie was excellent (but I already knew that - I saw another session of MicMacs; this time, in company). Another surprise was yet to come though!

Driving home via Carlisle St, I was astonished to see most cafes open for business as well! OMG. No longer was Good Friday some sort of pariah day when christians impose their god-fearing beliefs on the rest of us and force us to stay in our homes if we don't go to their churches, by shutting down all forms of entertainment. I stopped at Grindhouse for a latte, just to make sure it wasn't a dream (sort of like pinching yourself, but by drinking a coffee instead of inflicting pain).

Cinemas. Cafes. and chocolate. It's a pretty good Friday after all.