Coogee lunch

I know we lunch at Coogee RSL frequently but it provides a delightful outlook and is a pretty pleasant place to visit especially during the week and outside of official summer when the crowds are not around.


The weather was gorgeous again yesterday and the view from our table relaxing.


Ae and I both ordered the Rib Eye. Mine had a bit more fat than I prefer but Ae's looked fine.


Ce ordered a Seafood Salad.

Love birds

This pair was enjoying a long nuzzle and cuddle on my kitchen window sill this morning until they sensed me aiming my camera at them and then abruptly parted.

Saturn's Return

Tommy Murphy's play presents three characters in four loosely linked scenes which feature much discussion about sex, role play and relationships. The first of the scenes seems stilted and the last of them diverts into a bewildering extra-terrestrial tangent. Saturn's Return has the occasional bright moment but was pretty hard going at times.

My theatre-going companion, Mk, almost always can provide an explanation of a play's theme or intent that puts my mind at rest but after this one he was as clueless as I was on what we had seen.

A disappointment really after Murphy's earlier very entertaining interpretation of Holding the Man.

Let them eat cake...

Today is Cupcake Day for the RSPCA.

I'm not much of an animal person but any excuse to eat cupcakes works for me.

Back in the saddle

It's been a while.

After all, I was hospitalised following my 60th birthday and then convalescing for some weeks.

But for those who just must know these things, I've finally had sex as a 60 year old.

That's all.

White laces

As if I hadn't spent enough money this week I continued my unplanned shopping spree today by ducking into the Bondi Junction mega centre and picking up some new pants.

Just as an aside why was the centre so packed today? Why weren't we all outside enjoying the fantastic winter's day weather? After all the temperatures today are in the low 20s - around 70 Fahrenheit - ahead of a summery 30 - around 86 Fahrenheit - tomorrow, would you believe.

Well my excuse is that I tend to stupidity but what was the excuse of the others?

Anyway, having wasted another couple of hundred dollars I then sought out my final and cheapest purchase of the week; a pair of white shoe laces. I had noticed that one of my current laces in my white sneakers is showing signs of fraying and I didn't want to be caught out with them snapping whilst I was out and about somewhere.

I picked up a pair in the Bondi Junction Mall. Once home I pulled the laces out of my sneakers to replace them with the newly purchased pair only to discover and be surprised that there is virtually nothing wrong with the current laces. Certainly they look nowhere near being in danger of snapping. Their apparently frayed condition is an optical illusion.

Never mind, I thought, I'll replace them with the new pair anyway except that when I attempted to do so I found the new laces were not only a fraction too thick to comfortably fit through the eye holes but the bound bit at the end (whatever the technical name for it is) was too short to be threaded through a crucial thingamijig which holds the sneaker together.

So my cheapest purchase has proved to be the biggest dud. Go figure!

Anyone want a pair of barely used 120cm long white shoe laces?

My Sister's Keeper

A Los Angeles family with a teenage child stricken by cancer battles its various demons.

As well as my impromptu shopping to fill in time whilst my car was serviced yesterday I also killed time by seeing My Sister's Keeper simply because the timing suited.

I'm glad that I did.

Sure, it is a tearjerker and sad and it's depiction of childhood illness is sometimes confronting but the serious story is told in an interesting way. The acting is excellent especially by the younger cast members. Sofia Vassilieva is outstanding as the ill daughter and I also was impressed by Cameron Diaz in a rare serious mode.

Ka-ching!

It has been a bad week for my credit card.

- Saturday; new clothing and underwear for my mother at the request of her nursing home $200

- Tuesday; specialist consultation regarding my recent ear disturbance $209

- Wednesday; replacement hip protectors for my mother to guard against falls at the request of the nursing home physiotherapist $281

- Thursday; periodic car service and maintenance $437

- Thursday; spur of the moment clothing purchases for myself whilst filling in time during car service $320

I think I might just have a lie down now.

Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes

Today's post by Andrew brought back memories for me of the day I attended a lecture by Jane Elliott renowned for her exercises in exposing the effects of prejudice and bigotry.

As I entered the auditorium for her presentation she appeared in the foyer and took my companion, Rs, aside briefly. Rs, a workmate, was a very tall, fair haired and blue eyed man. When we sat down in the auditorium Rs informed me that Ms Elliott had invited him to come up on stage when asked during the session.

When that moment came Rs was called up along with a much shorter, dark haired woman of African origin. Ms Elliott engaged them in gentle banter then asked them to face each other and to identify differences between themselves. In turn the two identified the obvious differences; height, gender, hair and eye colour but no matter how much Ms Elliott pressed neither mentioned the racial difference.

It was a fascinating demonstration of how political correctness can be taken to extremes. Ms Elliott's entire presentation was brilliant and if you have never done so it is well worth seeing the documentary in which she divides her class into two groups, the blued eyed group who have all the privileges and the brown eyed group who are downtrodden. Then the two groups exchange places. It is a real eye-opener (pardon the pun).

If I wasn't already feeling ill...

I visited my local Medicare office today to claim a rebate for my visit to the Specialist and was bemused to notice that the office was festooned with official Australian Government posters announcing in the boldest font imaginable that

'You can now claim your Medicare rebate at the doctor's'

The doctor's 'what' I wondered? Who edits and clears these Government posters? The same affront to grammar and punctuation appears throughout the Medicare website.

Those bosses of mine back in the 1960s who used to compose their messages with the same attention to detail as though they were writing 'War and Peace' must be spinning in their graves.

The Ugly Truth

One of the ridiculous aspects of Hollywood style comedies like The Ugly Truth which have the premise of a lead character who is unable to find a partner is that they usually cast obviously attractive people in the role making that premise unlikely. Admittedly in this case, Katherine Heigl's difficulty is that she sets standards that are improbably high which might make the premise more believable if not for the fact that it is then improbable that she would be as influenced as she is by a character such as that portrayed by Gerard Butler.

Heigl is the television producer who is stunned when Butler is brought in as a shock jock type journalist in a bid to improve ratings on her faltering morning television program and who then falls under his mentoring influence in her search for a relationship.

There are odd double standards in this film. Butler shies away from saying masturbate whilst the innocent looking Heigl intones suck, cock and fuck with..dare I write it.. gay abandon.

I found a lot of this film quite unfunny and it seemed to me insulting to women but clearly a number of women in the audience I was part of didn't agree judging by their loud and frequent laughter.

Spectator sport

Predictably, I was as interested in watching the cute spectators as I was in the more attractive competitors in this morning's City to Surf race.

(As usual, click on photos for the enlarged version.)


The local fire brigade took a prime position with two firemen at a time being hoisted up high to get an eagle eyed view. The tall building that can be glimpsed at extreme left is my apartment block.


This man in a nearby high rise was still dressed in his undies.


Firemen, police and ambulance officers relaxing under the wintery sun and a passing anonymous cutie too.

My apartment block in left background above.


And the winning spectator in my opinion - who rolled up on his bicycle before the race start and frustratingly for me kept his full frontal view well away from my camera's range. There is nothing wrong with his back view though.

City to Surf

The City to Surf is Sydney's annual fun run/walk over 14 kilometres from Hyde Park in the Central Business District to Bondi Beach. This year's event was the 39th running and more than 70,000 entered. The course passes within 50 metres of where I live which is approximately at the 2 kilometre mark of the event.

For the first time in a few years I bothered to wander down to the corner to watch the competitors pass by. I arrived around 8.40am with the race commencing at 9am.


The street was cleared of traffic by the Police with all cross roads closed off.


The elite leaders passed by just short of 7 minutes after the start. The winner completed the course in 41 minutes and 2 seconds. This is a section of later competitors.

(Click on photo above and you can see a man on his balcony in the overlooking high rise - still dressed in his undies. I zoomed in for a pic of him; see subsequent post.)


And still more competitors passing by.

Some competitors dress in costume. I was generally too slow with my camera to snap the passing parade of Supermen and the like but I did capture pics of a few costumed folk.


Wigged competitors.


Tutu competitor.

Bronson

Bronson is about Britain's most famous prisoner who has spent thirty four years in jail, thirty of them in solitary confinement and without a current release date.

A young Michael Peterson is sentenced to seven years jail for robbing a post office of less than fifty pounds. His violent behaviour is a constant problem for the authorities and usually met with violent responses which only reinforces Peterson's behaviour. On release Peterson is drawn to his uncle who suggests he changes his name - Peterson chooses Charlie Bronson - and soon finds himself back in the prison system.

Clearly influenced by A Clockwork Orange, Bronson features highly choreographed violence against a background of classical music and even moments of Clockwork Orange like face and eye make-up.

Tom Hardy is totally convincing and mesmerising as Bronson. He is never more dangerous than in his eerily still moments from which he inevitably erupts into extreme violence.

Won't suit all tastes but Bronson is worth a look for those who like a walk on the dark side.

Friendly and cordial

Don't you love politicians?

The NSW Government is floundering trying to find some traction to avoid being voted out of office at the next election in March 2011 and the latest gossip is that Health Minister John Della Bosca will mount a challenge to oust Premier Nathan Rees.

Both are furiously resisting the allegations with a burst of politician speak and they faced the media today to refute the gossip. Through bared teeth they described their relationship as 'friendly and cordial'. Out of the mouths of these politicians those words sounded like death threats.

Ironically, the best chance of the Government retaining office remains the fact that as detested as it is by the constituency, the opposition continues to be even less appealing.

Radio Daze

Sydney's radio stations all broadcast their breakfast programs from Martin Place this morning to promote the introduction of digital radio.

I listened to a few of the stations on my non-digital receiver and they were all busy promoting the joys of this 'wonderful' service. Enthused by this marketing ploy I checked the Sydney Morning Herald's 'Guide' which this week reported on various digital receivers noting their pros and cons. Nothing could be less encouraging than that report.

All the receivers are expensive. Whilst that wouldn't necessarily deter me from purchasing a unit the fact that almost every receiver reviewed contained failings ranging from poor screen scrolling through weak output to one that barely produced a digital service(!) means that I won't be rushing to sign up.

I'll wait until there is more digital product on offer, the receivers are of better quality and the price is more reasonable.

(Sorry, James.)

The Proposal

Sandra Bullock is the high powered publishing executive who bullies her executive assistant Ryan Reynolds into a sham engagement in order to avoid deportation from the USA.

At the outset The Proposal echoes The Devil Wears Prada with its bullying boss and cowering staff but once the deportation scenario is established it switches to rather silly territory becoming increasingly ludicrous and implausible.

The film is redeemed in part by the attractive 'Alaskan' scenery (in reality Boston and computer generated) whilst Reynolds, whose attractiveness matches the scenery, does a nice comic turn. Betty White provides some interesting moments although her native Indian scene competes with a male stripper character for the movie's most ridiculous aspect.

I was only asking...

"Hi, I haven't seen you for weeks. How have you been?"

I was signing off after my seven hours shift today, a bit weary and keen to leave. Fellow volunteer Jr, who I hadn't seen in ages, was present and I uttered the unremarkable polite query above. Well, she certainly told me.

First I received a complete rundown on her health; high blood pressure and all. Then without any prompting from me Jr moved on to her quarreling cousins and a series of testy telephone conversations they had exchanged. By now my head was reeling from this information about people unknown to me but Jr wasn't yet finished. She turned then to whether she should work on Thursday with My who Jr breathlessly informed me could chatter away endlessly and seemed unable to notice that whoever she was talking to wanted to be left alone. "Do you know what I mean?" Jr asked me, finally taking breath before continuing.

Yes, Jr, I did know and I was only asking.

Juggling water

It's not easy trying to do the right thing.

I was in the Broadway Shopping Centre this morning having completed my business in the public toilet and attempting to wash my hands. I pressed the soap dispenser and then turned my attention to the push button tap (faucet; for North Americans). The water would only flow for as long as I applied pressure to the button. Each time I released the button to actually get my soaped up hands under the flowing water and the water stopped flowing.

So there I was like a juggler, sans juggling items, switching my soaped up hands with as much speed as I could muster backwards and forwards between the button and the non existent water flow.

A bit like a mime artist really.

My blogging education

I've found that one of the benefits of the blogosphere has been exposure to ideas, issues and even words that are new to me.

Today I came across a word I hadn't seen before. So I looked up "santorum" on the net.

Well, maybe there are some words that I don't want to know the meaning of but what can you say about the reputation of a Senator whose name is adopted in that way!