The metric system has no romance

I am a metric kind of person. I say this, knowing that 95% of the world agrees with me and that there are only a few holdout Americans who don't acknowledge the truth: that using anything other than the metric system is ridiculous, and that you are ridiculous. I mean, I know how these things…

The COVID diaries 10 – Schadenfreude

It's October. Schadenfreude season. Let's start with the obvious one - Donald Trump reportedly has Covid, along with a number of his White House staff, cronies, and trophy wife. Clearly this is justice in its purest form - that the man who by his combination of inaction and blustering incompetence has allowed the more than…

The COVID diaries 9 – Lockdown 2, electric boogaloo

It's been a long time since I wrote in here. The fact that so much has happened since then has ironically made it harder, not easier, to actually start typing. There's a lot to catch up on. To recap: there were several weeks of reduced restrictions as the lockdown seemed to have worked. The strange…

The Covid Diaries 7 – The Wipers

The Wipers are here. On every main street, you'll seet them during daylight hours. Young people, many of whom appear to be Indian students, wearing high vis vests. Orange in Burke Road. Yellow in Victoria Street. Is it plumage? They travel in packs of five or more. They chat as they slowly move down the…

The COVID Diaries #2 – Strange Days

It's a strange feeling out there at the moment. Everyone is waiting for something to happen and endlessly discussing the various possibilities and ramifications, but... nothing yet. The numbers climb (300ish confirmed infected in Australia) but no-one really knows anyone directly affected. The worst part so far has probably been the old man who Wife…

The COVID Diaries #1

It's suddenly getting very real. My family of five and I are battening down the hatches. After watching the virus spread around the world over the last few weeks, it's now spreading rapidly in Australia. At the time of writing there are about 200 cases confirmed, but we know that testing is running 2-3 days…

Short cuts and the long way

It's tempting to take the short cut, to imagine that you've found a quicker and easier (painless!) way of achieving something. Everyone else is a stickler for unnecessary rules, or unimaginative, or caught in habit. What this view doesn't take into account is that everything has a price. Whether in energy, time, money or emotional…

Gambling

I've never really warmed to gambling. I understand that it's one of those things that you're meant to at least slightly enjoy, especially in Australia where the value of "having a flutter" is a foundational cultural myth. It doesn't even leave me cold - I find it stressful and mildy boring.

13 May 2019, Blackburn

I went to vote yesterday. Being an early elector, I forwent the democracy sausage (don’t ask how the sausage is made) in favour of a surprisingly long queue slightly outside of my electorate. We have a very good-natured democracy, but one still has to run the gauntlet of people handing out flyers. Apart from the…

Swimming in the sea is to be commended

I am not a water person.

My parents will attest to this: decades of swimming lessons, panic at being forced to jump in the deep end and the humiliation of school swimming sports have all left their scars on my psyche.