Monday, September 26, 2016

Saving Sirius

I realise brutalist architecture isn't for everyone. But its nice to see there is public interest in trying to to protect Sydney's Sirius building from demolition. Read about the campaign here.



Sunday, September 25, 2016

Convoluted journey

I had an opportunity to travel to Israel for a work meeting. Unfortunately I had to decline due to other work commitments but it did get me thinking...how does one get to Israel from Australia?

Due to the political situation, some carriers and transit destinations are obviously out of the picture (e.g. Emirates). Also, I understand that flight paths can be constrained. I asked the colleagues who are going and it seems that there are options through Asia but the transit times seem a bit nightmarish.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Nathan's Sydney sojourn

Nathan has gone to Sydney this weekend to watch his beloved Western Bulldogs play. I never got into the AFL. I come from Rugby territory (but I must say, I haven't really been into that either).

It's just Truffles and me in Melbourne this weekend. Unfortunately I somehow buggered my knee so might be bed ridden but I'm still hopeful I'll be well enough to get out and about with the dog.

Friday, September 23, 2016

In the news

I read in the news this week that there have been allegations of child sexual abuse levelled against one of my old headmasters in Canberra. The alleged offending occurred before he came to my school.

Whether or not these allegations are true should be left to the courts. What I do know is that this ex-headmaster was not a very nice person. He had really bad anger management issues and would go off at staff and students. Once, in a school assembly, he lost his temper so bad that, after the school assembly was over, when we went back to class, the teacher decided to dispense with her lesson plan and just spent the entire period talking with the students to make sure we were ok.    

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Not that funny

Some people are great comedians. Nathan's cousin is not really one of them but he definitely gives it a go and routinely does open mic. When he used to do it in Melbourne, we'd go along for moral support. Bless him. I admire his courage. Even though I have no problem giving a lecture to hundreds of students for an hour, I think a two minute comedy routine would be tough. Really tough.

Monday, September 12, 2016

The L word

My friend from Finland is in love...with an Australian. He is currently back in Europe and just told me he got shortlisted for an interview in the UK. It would be a 3 year research fellowship position, a terrific opportunity. Frankly, I think it will be a dream job. But he wants to come back to Australia.

Fine by me, I told him. It would be great to have him here but I can only afford to employ him for a few months at the start of next year so not so great for him from a job security perspective. He says he'll come....job or no job. Love really does make us do crazy things. I told him to keep mum about the whole Australia thing in the job interview. The selection panel doesn't need to know. And if he gets offered the job, he can always try to negotiate a later start date.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Clayton Reserve

I was in a walking mood again. This time I managed to drag Nathan with me (he often declines...says he suffers from asthma of the leg).

We decided to go to Clayton Reserve in North Melbourne with the dog (Nathan grabbed a doughnut along the way...so much for trying to be healthy).

It was a pleasant walk and the dog got to run around the dog park.

A staffie got a bit to excited and put her muddy paw prints all over my new grey pants. Mental note for next time...no nice clothes when going to the dog park.

Albert Park Lake and more eel on toast

I took Truffles on a very long walk yesterday. We started out here in Docklands and ended up making one loop around the Albert Park Lake. It's only the second time I've done the walk around the Lake and I must say it's rather nice, even on a cloudy Melbourne day.

Truffles wanted to chase the coots, but I kept her on her lead (which is probably just as well because I reckon she would have chased the birds straight into the Lake).

The coots seem to be more common than the black swans at Albert Park. I saw a few little goslings. They are very cute. I guess the public are now used to the adult swans having the collars around their necks. A colleague has been doing research on them for quite a few years now. I seem to recall that the different background colour on the collars (white versus black) help distinguish male from female (cant remember which colour corresponds with which sex).

Nathan stayed with a friend at Point Cook on Friday night and got back home when I was still out with the dog so we arranged to meet at South Melbourne for coffee afterwards.

Given my positive experiences with the smoked eel a couple of weeks ago, I decided to head off to the Vic markets in the afternoon to buy another. This time the shop keeper wrapped it up in some white papers so it was less awkward catching public transport back to the apartment. I'm sure no one cares but I was definitely feeling a bit self conscious last time.

Nathan, the dog and I then headed to the bakery to get some more of the delicious seeded rye bread so I can have my eel on toast for Sunday brekky (Nathan refuses to go anywhere near the eel so he's having eggs instead).

Work sadness

I found out on Friday that a former work colleague took his own life on Thursday. It's very sad, especially knowing it was also RUOK day. It's the second suicide in as many years and I've seen at least part of the impact that such a loss can have for family and friends. It's really awful.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Windfall

A friend of mine was able to get 600 euros compensation for a flight cancellation he experienced coming back to Oz from the UK.

Given my own flight cancellation a month ago, I decided to investigate further.

I contacted Qantas about my cancelled flight late last week. Sure enough, I received confirmation that I am entitled to a 600 euro refund too! Evidently flights coming out of EU countries are bound by regulations that specify compensation for cancellations and delays. Because I got back to Melbourne almost 8 hours after my scheduled arrival time, I was entitled to the compensation. Yay!