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Posted Nov 9, 2007
It is tolerably well known in cyberspace that I am not happy with my current (for which read: thirteen long years') employment with the Department of Anguished Moans. Well, that state of afairs is coming to an end. 
I had a phone call today. The Department of Woe has offered me a job in the Office of the Despondency Commission. 
'Yes, please' I said. 
It'll be about six weeks before I get there, but I don't mind.
I can cope. Just knowing I'm Getting Out is a tonic.
So I went to the pub after w*rk and am now wondering what to do next. I suspect I'll keep drinking. Bob knows I've earned a night on the turps.
Terri, please email me your phone number. I'll use it over the weekend unless I have a truly drastic hangover. (Pc, I've lost your number.)
I shall now get another drink, taking care to note what amount of mixers I have left, and put something raucous on the stereo... Stand by for decreasing levels of coherence from me over the course of the evening. 
Oh look, I'm channelling 2legs. Oh I'm so bleeding happy. And it rained on the way home. There was a double rainbow.
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Latest reply: Nov 9, 2007
And they're off...
Posted Oct 14, 2007
At last, at long bloody last, our embarrassment of a Prime Minister has announced the election date. 24 November.
While it's good to know the date at last, this will make my life chaotic for the next six weeks. It's my job, you see. Everything I've written lately for the Minister for Anguished Moans will have to be re-written, unless it's already been signed and sent out. I'm a bit worried about this - at last report there was a stack of unsigned papers two feet high in the Minister's office.
So anyway. If I'm more tired and grumpy than usual over the next few weeks, it'll probably be because I'm up to my neck in the fallout from the political proces.
Come election night I'll probably be at home, getting drunk, watching the coverage on telly and making the odd sour comment here.
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Latest reply: Oct 14, 2007
Notes about Tasmania
Posted Sep 30, 2007
I was going to write a fully-fledged entry about what I saw and did in Tasmania, but I'm far too tired and I have a souvenir virus so I'm feeling miserable as sin just at the moment. Never mind. A few odd notes will have to do.
My connecting flight from Melbourne to Hobart was very late, but I didn't fancy swimming so I just sat down and did crosswords while waiting for a couple of hours. There were only two loud complainers in the transit lounge; they were both foreigners. I'm not sure if this means us Australians are more tolerant, more patient or more accustomed to lousy airlines.
I think I could happily live in Hobart, population 210 000, if it wasn't for the gradient of the streets and the inadequacy of the public transport system. I like the feel of a maritime city hemmed in by mountains but I'd forgotten how steep Hobart's streets could be. Some of them rise at a 45-degree angle. There was snow on Mt Wellington (1200m) most mornings, but nothing in town. Weather mostly pleasant apart from a bit of horizontal sleet and a splendidly gusty night that shook the house.
Central Hobart was still a bit chaotic after a department store fire just before I arrived. The building's had to be demolished, a street's closed and various small businesses are operating out of hotel rooms until they can get back into their premises.
The markets in Salamanca Place are as good as ever. There are some shockingly twee handicrafts, but also some high-quality ones, mostly involving wood. Plenty of chocolate too. 
I'm eating some now, in the hope that it has therapeutic qualities.
The second-hand bookshops are a delight. I restrained myself and only came home with a couple of dozen volumes.
There's a restaurant at Peppermint Bay that serves a dessert called Chocolate Nemesis. It comes with stout icecream. I must go back so I can try it.
The landscape outside metropolitan Hobart is somehow cosy and dramatic at the same time. I didn't take many photos because I just couldn't get a handle on how best to present that landscape. Craggy peaks towering over glacial valleys with miniature-village farmhouses and orchards on the valley floors.
J & D have settled in well. They're still in a rented place but they should be in their new house by 10 October. Redecorating plans are being formulated apace. G isn't helping as such, being only 14 months old. She's very good at fencing (with wooden spoons) and various percussive tasks. She understands a spooky amount of adult dialogue, judging by facial expressions, and has a special laugh reserved for times when her mother J does something conspicuously dopey. 
I heard that one a lot. I'm sure G is going to be very intelligent, even though she can only say 'doodah' at the moment. She actively resents being a baby.
J told me that she's been thinking about what's best for G if anything should happen to her and D. Although she has close relatives, D doesn't. I'm honoured and somewhat disconcerted to find out that J is considering appointing me as G's guardian in her will, bypassing her own family. Gosh.
There's not much more I can say after that...
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Latest reply: Sep 30, 2007
An old-fashioned approach.
Posted Aug 15, 2007
Lunchtime today was enlivened by a good old-fashioned bank robbery. I missed the main event by a few minutes but was in time to see the police cordon off part of the area. There were banknotes strewn about where the idiot had dumped them while trying to escape; all useless, of course, being covered with that indelible red security dye.
Police were still swarming around the area four hours later, checking every bus leaving in case there was someone splattered with dye going for a ride. Presumably they were keeping an eye on car traffic too.
The award for the best comment goes to my boss. 'A bank robbery?', she said. 'That is *so* 1980s.' I think she has a point. Everyone's so worried, agitated and generally all-of-a-doodah about identity theft, online fraud and phishing, people have forgotten about RL violence as an actual threat.
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Latest reply: Aug 15, 2007
Parliamentary privilege
Posted Aug 9, 2007
I spent the day at the theatre. No, hang on, it was the zoo. Actually, it was Parliament. The Houses of Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, to be precise. This job does take me to interesting places sometimes.
Question Time in the House of Representatives was a bit restrained, compared to the free-for-all it often is. Nobody got ejected from the House or reprimanded by the Speaker, which was a bit of a disappointment. The government side (the forces of evil) was rather noisy and abusive, while the opposition (our shining hope of deliverance and a beacon of common sense - most of the time) was trying to get answers to perfectly valid questions (in amongst some point-scoring jabs). The Prime Minister - The Hon John Howard MP, Member for Bennelong - is even more of a noxious growth in person than he seems in the media. The Treasurer - the Hon Peter Costello MP, Member for Higgins - came across as a complete thug. By contrast, the Leader of the Opposition - Kevin Rudd MP, Member for Griffith - was well-spoken and almost gentlemanly, for a politician.
Question Time in the Senate was less civilised and rather more entertaining. 'My' minister, the Minister for Anguished Moans, was taking questions when I arrived. He spoke well, provided facts and used them to back up policy. (I loathe many of his policies, but I will give him credit for a dignified presentation.) The Minister for Communications and Other Stuff, on the other hand, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan, came across as a vile little harridan. She dodged the question, she rambled on insulting the opposition, she dodged the question again, and then she went all coy and skittish and mock-flirtatious. 
This is something a mature woman (or any adult) in a position of authority (or any position) should never, never do if they want to be seen to be an intelligent individual.
The Senate is a noisy place. The catcalls, interjections and personal abuse flowed freely. This didn't bother Senator Christine Milne, who intermittently fiddled with her scarf, whispered to her neighbour and tried to get a bit of sleep. At least she wasn't jeering at the mentally afflicted opposite her on the government benches. Eventually she wandered off, presumably insearch of a comfortable couch.
After watchig both Houses in action, I think I can sum up the current situation. The opposition is keen to take office, and they know they are within striking distance of doing so. They are efficient and keen on what they are doing; they are also interested in the *issues* and they understand that real people are affected by what happens in the House. The government, on the other hand, is playing the game of politics. They are interested in the game, and in scoring ponts against the opposition, but they've lost sight of the fact that this is *not* simply a game. This is real life, real people are getting hurt by what they are doing, and real people might just give them a good kicking at the polls later this year.
After watching the freaks at play I went into the meeting that was the real point of the day. I shan't tell you anything about this, except to note that no government money is being wasted on stationery. The meeting room was set up with the usual stuff - jugs of water, glasses, notepads and blotters, pencils and so forth. My pencil had tooth-marks on the end. Parliament is an imposing building, immaculately presented and maintained, but as always there's something just a little bit amateurish, and just a little touch of the chewed pencil, about any Canberra institution.
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Latest reply: Aug 9, 2007
Ivan the Terribly Average
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