Having Some Fun At Work

Photo: A platform indicator at Central station.

While I'll stay with the "what goes on tour stays on tour" theory, sometimes I believe that you have to have a bit of fun at work sometimes. If you don't and you are like Ned Flanders (aka Mr Serious) all the time, will that do your head in? It would certainly do my head in!


This afternoon at work, I had one of those moments. You had to be there and if you weren't there or doesn't know what happens when you are there, it might not make sense. And it might not make sense to anyone who probably had no idea what was going on.


One thing that I have noticed the change in at work are the announcements at Central station during the peak hours. Rather than letting the computer do all the work or have someone on the microphone who has poor English, the powers that be have seemingly worked out that people can respond to manual announcements made in plain and clear English.


Well I used to use plain and clear English and I still do now. Despite what some people write in the Mx letters pages, drivers do not make announcements but sometimes it would be better if they did. So what has changed?


For years, I have joked that the PA announcements at Central and other railway stations are trying to sound like a radio station. The announcements would just be going on and on with no gaps in the middle, just like a radio station. In radio, silence is called dead air and at Central especially, you'd be hoping for dead air.


It can be really frustrating for me (and I work there!) when some people decide to do announcements that overlap with other announcements being made on other platforms. So you'd have something like "the train on platform 18 is smoking. Stay behind the Macdonald line. Transit Officers skateboard all stations to co-operation." I do understand what I often call "Passenger Lack of Information".


But now, Central station's platforms are like an open air radio station. The staff announce the trains, give delay information, do some safety announcements and also add personal touches like wishing people a good weekend. I've even heard third hand of music being played but I haven't heard it personally.


"You are listening to platform 16/17 FM. The next train on platform 16 goes all stations to Hornsby. The weather is fine and the train is on time. And after this song, the next train on platform 17 is a City Circle service."


At least, that is how it sounds sometimes. I am only usually there for a minute here and a minute there but people using Central on afternoon shift seem to be happier which can only be a good thing.


Disclaimer: This post contains my personal opinions only. Stay behind the yellow line. CityRail thanks you for your co-operation.

Equal Wages for Dick & Jane

Photo: Office buildings in the centre of Penrith.

This afternoon, I was listening to LBC's Alison Bell talking on her October 30 show about inequality between male and female wages. In London, a study has been done and on average, they found a 17% difference in the favour of men when it comes to wages. Or to put it another way, women would be working for free from October 30 until the end of the year and to highlight this, October 30 was called "Women's No Pay Day."


Obviously I do not have the advantage of living or working in London so I do not know to the extent that this is true. However even here in Australia, stories like this surface from time to time. So I will comment merely on my Australian experience.


On the surface, I do not believe that this survey (if the result is similar here in Australia) would be correct. While I have spent the vast majority of my working life working in the public sector, I have worked casually in the private sector. Of course, I also know people who work in the private sector.


At rock bottom, I believe that men and women start as equal in the wage department for doing the same job. Note that I am comparing apples with apples and not apples with oranges or salad. After all, you don't win friends with salad.


After all, when was the last time that you saw separate wages quoted in a job advertisement for men and women? They don't say "if you are a bloke, the wage is $25 per hour but if you are a chick, you are on $18.50"


Let's take my job as a train driver for example. There is absolutely no difference between male and female hourly rates for drivers of the same grade. While there are separate grades based on length of service (trainee, 1st year, 2nd year, thereafter), there is no difference between men and women AT THIS POINT. The same applies for the base annual rate.


Where is DOES change for everyone regardless of gender is when you get above the base rate. This is where things can get vary depending on each person's circumstances and also depends partly on the luck of the draw in relation to rosters. Things like weekend work, super duper early morning work r late afternoon shifts (and therefore penalty rates) can have a great effect on the final figure that you earn above the base in each case regardless if you are Dick or Jane. Another factor that can increase or decrease someone's final actual wage is overtime.


Each person have different circumstances and personally I know that I value my days off so I do not do any overtime. Some people might do 1 or 2 days per fortnight. However at least in my experience, the difference isn't always due to gender or family responsibilities.


Then of course there is the stage of your life when you have kids and I don't have experience in that. Obviously this is a major time for a family and this is one stage where women can lose coin.


Also, there is the situation where women and men may do different type jobs and there are very few women in executive type positions in a male:female ratio and this obviously affects wages as well.



However, if you had a woman following me around and doing exactly the same rosters as me for an entire year, you will find that she earns exactly the same amount of coin for doing exactly the same amount of work as me and that is what needs to happen. And that is my main point, if you do the same work, you should get the same amount of coin.

Squeak Pod - insert slogan here

Photo: The tails of 2 Virgin Blue planes at Sydney Airport


This morning I was (pleasantly) shocked to find that my mate Squeak has decided to join the world of podcasting! He has been paying more attention than I thought to Erk Pod and decided that he wanted to have a go himself. Bravo!


Anyhoo, the podcast is called Squeak Pod but he hasn't thought of a slogan yet. He has released episode 1 that he recorded and edited all by himself. It goes for 11 minutes. In what turned out to be a co-incidence, Squeak chose the same song to play during his podcast that I chose as my first featured song a few episodes ago.


I have given Squeak some feedback and have offered to give him a hand with his podcast. Despite what he says in his Myspace bulletin, I hope that he decides to record more episodes!

Squeak's podcast

Erk Pod - milestone episode 50 suggestions wanted

Photo: Simon & Sue Evans celebrate their 3rd place at the 2005 Rally of Bathurst, the first rally that I ever attended.


On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I recorded episodes 47 and 48 of Erk Pod. This means that next week, I will be recording episode 49 and possibly milestone episode 50.


I have some ideas in mind for episode 50 but I am also looking for your comments and suggestions. Do you have a favourite part of Erk Pod? What's your favourite episode? Would you like to record a promo or a message for me to mark my 50th episode?


If so, please email me or comment on this post and I will take any suggestions into account. 50 episodes, who would have thought!

Erk Pod 48 - Show Notes

Stupid Stella Bones Gretel & Mr Strong

Erk Pod episode 48 - 42 minutes
Photo: Cars leaving Penrith Plaza






Welcome to Erk Pod episode 48. In this episode:

* Erk Pod 50 milestone - suggestions welcomed

* Say What - Stella Awards 2006 (thanks, Eddie!)

* Say What - Heartless AT&T?

* Say What - PC Mr Men cartoons

* Erk To The Diary Room - Friday Night Download Review

* Erk To The Diary Room - Gretel Boned

* Erk to the Diary Room - New Audition process for BB08


Music from the Podsafe Music Network, jazz theme:

* Gerry Wall - Fire In St Peters

* East of West - Route 9 West

Erk Pod 47 - Show Notes

Wasting Time With Erk Wii'ing All Over Squeak's Lounge Room


Erk Pod episode 47 - 70 minutes
Photo: Erk self-portrait during a training course at Katoomba Airfield.







Welcome to Erk Pod episode 47. In this episode:

* Suggestions open for Erk Pod episode 50

* Ipodding Across the Universe - Get This petition & Vote Me Up forum updates

* Ipodding Across the Universe - "Wasting Time" podcast. G'day, Richard! Thanks for mentioning me , your reply and for allowing me to play the show snippet. Enjoy the episode!

* Ipodding Across the Universe - London's LBC. Mmmmmm, LBC.....

* iTunes problem - thanks for the solution, Tom!

* Wii'ing all over Squeak's Lounge Room

* Erk talks Horse Flu and changes the day of the Melbourne Cup (CART IT UP!)

* Music from the Podsafe Music Network. This week's theme is Jazz
Heather Sullivan - "It Will Be Alright"
Angelica Tucker - "Don't Leave"
Greg Federico - "Pacific Coast Highway"

Erk Pod episodes 47 & 48 being recorded tonight (Tuesday)

I plan to record episodes 47 and 48 tonight (Tuesday) after work. I have a few things to say so again I will do what I did last week where one episode will feature some music along with talking into the stick and the other episode will feature usual Erk Pod segments such as "Say What?" and "Ipodding Across the Universe".


There is a lot of "Ipodding Across the Universe" news to get through including an update on the arsing of "Get This" and a lot more.


As usual, show notes for each episode will appear when the episode is uploaded. And as you can see from the last couple of posts, I love sign generators. There are lots of signs to choose from here. I'll still keep using my photos when I can but sometimes (like the last two entries here), I don't have a suitable photo.

Paying for podcasting? Listening to London's LBC

Get your own personalised London Underground sign here
Since I have been listening to podcasts, I have noticed that the vast majority of podcasts are free. Sure, some sites ask do ask for donations but that is optional. Most of these podcasts/sites that ask for donations (or offer you the option to donate) seem to be from America.


For a few months, I have been listening to podcasts from London radio station LBC 97.3FM. This FM station is mostly a talk station and this is how the new Australian radio network Vega (currently broadcasting in Sydney and Melbourne) was going to be - less music and more talk. However in Vega's case this has not happened but in LBC's case, it is definitely true.


LBC actually offers two subscription models for their podcasted programs. The first is known as LBC Bitesize. Bitesize programs usually last between 5 and 20 minutes and are completely free. Most LBC presenters can be heard this way however there is one exception. When I first started listening, you could hear then afternoon host Anna Raeburn for free via Bitesize. Then Alison Bell took over the show (very quietly in my opinion, but that's another story) using Anna's feed and that was free. But for some reason, Alison's Bitesized feed is being shown as not free anymore.


This brings me to the next subscription model - the paid podcast. If you pay coin, you can hear the entire program for each presenter. The only things that you miss are the news, traffic reports (or as LBC calls them, travel news), ads and songs. In some ways the audio reminds me of what I'd do a few years ago by recording a radio show on a tape recorder but of course the podcast is in MP3 format. Occasionally you hear a snippet of an ad or the traffic reporter but apart from that, you hear what I imagine to be the entire program. Out of a 3 hour show, you get around 2 hours per podcast episode. Obviously it is a large episode but that is one of the attractions of the LBC paid subscription model - if you want the whole program, you can get it if you pa y for it. You can also get other LBC podcasts that are not available on the free feeds such as "Vintage LBC".


Now I'm not sure about the conversions but you can get a month's subscription for 4 pounds but you can also get a 6 month subscription for 12 pounds which works out as 2 pounds a month. This 2 pound a month figure is often quoted on the Bitesized podcasts.


I have paid for a 6 month subscription and I am now never going to be short of podcasts to listen to. What I do now is to listen to the daily Australian podcasts first. I have listened to some of the LBC podcasts and I am enjoying listening to them which is one of the attractions of listening to podcasts in general. The LBC podcasts are not time sensitive to me as far as I am concerned so if I don't listen to Nick Ferrari's Monday breakfast show on Monday, it does not matter to me.


Having said all that, I am not going to make it a habit to pay for podcasts and I do not expect people to pay or donate in relation to Erk Pod. LBC is an exception to the rule because of the vast amount of material. Obviously it would be better if I didn't have to pay for it but sometimes it is better to pay.

Daylight Saving

It's that time of the year again (pun not intended) that I love - it is daylight savings time! WOO HOO!


Each October, NSW, the ACT, Victoria, SA, Tasmania and now Western Australia move their clocks and watches forward one hour. It means more daylight at the end of the (normal) working day and it is great for me when working afternoon shifts. However, it isn't too good for me if I am working super duper early mornings as I may have to go to bed while the sun is still up.


Western Australia never used to use Daylight Saving but just after I was over there late last year, the WA Government decided on a 3 year trial of daylight saving which will be followed by a referendum to decide if daylight saving stays.


The only place where daylight saving causes any drama for people living near a state border is the Tweed Heads/Coolangatta/Gold Coast areas where the NSW side of the border is now 1 hour ahead of the Queensland side. It is very easy to cross the border there and unofficially, many businesses remain on Queensland time or if they don't, they adjust their hours. Some businesses change their hours so they open from the normal opening time in NSW to the normal closing time in Queensland.


Luckily for the people of Broken Hill, they observe Central (Adelaide) Standard or Summer time as the case may be in though Broken Hill is in NSW and should be on Eastern Standard or Summer time. Because Broken Hill is closer to Adelaide than Sydney, it has been a longstanding practice for Broken Hill to follow Adelaide time.


Personally I always liked the idea of working a night shift at this end of daylight saving as you lose an hour but would hate to work a night shift at the other end as you have to work an extra hour. Mind you if I am asleep, the reverse is true.


Anyhoo, before I went to bed on Saturday night, I changed my mobile phone clock and my large digital clock in my room. So this morning I had to get up at 8am to get ready to go to Firecom for my monthly shift. The alarm went off on my mobile and I got up and then I looked at my bedroom clock and it said that it was 7am.


I turned on my mobile phone and it said that it was 8am. I thought "that can't be right, I changed both clocks last night so they should be showing the same time." But there was an hour's difference between the two clocks.


So just to be sure, I rang Mr Time and he said after the third stroke, it will be 7 something AM and my Foxtel electronic program guide also said it was 7am so I went back to bed until 8.30am and headed off to Firecom where the time was correct.


It will take a few days to get used to the extra sun at the end of the day but I figure as a shiftworker my body clock is screwed anyway so why would summer time make much difference!

Big Brother's Big News - GRETEL BONED!

As some of you may know, I did a series of podcasts about Big Brother called "Erk to the Diary Room" this year which was a part of Erk Pod. Normally I don't care about or report BB news in the "off season" but this is big news.


As reported in today's Sunday Terrorgraph, there has been a boning over at BB HQ.


"It's time to go......GRETEL!"


Many fans thought during this year's season that it might be time for Gretel and BB to part ways and that has been the case. BB08 will be the first season without Gretel when the show commenced here in Australia in 2001. What person is replacing her?


In fact, there is not one person replacing Gretel but two. No, it isn't Mike Goldman and Bree Amer or Frysie (in any combination). Unfortunately in my opinion, the duo in question is Kyle and Jackie O from the radio show of the same name. Not forgetting of course that Kyle is on Australian Idol but I avoid the radio station that these two people appear on like the plague because I do not like them.


A constant criticism of BB from some fans (me included) is that it is aimed at the teenage girl (aka tween) market but it should not be a tween show. Now I predict that it is going to get worse as no doubt Austereo (the owners of the network that Kyle and Jackie O work for) will promote that station and there will be a high amount of cross promotion more than usual between the two networks. So if it was a tween show this year, it will be even worse next year?


This is of course not to mention Kyle's disgraceful performance when he was invited into this year's BB house for a weekend. He carried on like a twat, as he was either acting like a princess or a spoilt brat. One year he goes against all the BB rules and then next year he is hosting the flipping thing?




While Gretel was heavily criticized for various things during the 7 seasons on BB that she hosted, she has been one constant all the way through. She has outlasted two "Big Big Brothers" and seen countless HM's come and go. But now, it is time to go ................ GRETEL

You Tubing Across the Universe (Part 1, Friday Night Download Review)

Last night, there was a new show on Channel 10 called "Friday Night Download" with hosts Mike Goldman, Bree Amer and Ryan "Frysie" Fitzgerald. If the names seem familiar to you as does the 7.30pm Friday time slot, you'd be right as the three hosts combine for Friday Night Live (FNL) during Big Brother.


I'd often say during BB that FNL is a modern version of the old TV Show "It's A Knockout" where ordinary people run up and down water soaked obstacle courses. However, Friday Night Download (FND?) is not meant to be like FNL if you believe the publicity.



Speaking of It's A Knockout, here's a clip that I found on You Tube which will show you about what it was about. After you watch the clip, try and tell me that FNL wasn't based on this!






If you believe the publicity, the show is about showing cool stuff from the web which probably means someone Googled You Tube. Now will the show feature something like "Charlie the Unicorn" that I was shown last night? (see below)





Or will the show feature people video blogging like Emmalina (that's her below, just in case you can't tell the difference between a woman and a unicorn) who posts videos like this on You Tube. For instance this particular video alone has had over 350,000 views. Now I can only dream about figures like that on a podcast! And who would make hate videos based on a You Tube video like this? And yes, the show did show a video blogger, a guy from the US who doesn't understand how we Australians like Vegemite and thinks that we are taking the mickey out of the US. Huh?


While I was writing this review, I had a look at the numbers of people who have viewed the "Charlie the Unicorn" clip above - 14 million viewers! That is just staggering! That's about one view for every Australian adult!







This show is an attempt to show people what you can find on the interweb but have the people on the interweb already seen it? Does the interweb convert to good TV? I wasn't going to watch it but my mum taped it for me so let's see what happens and if it will survive longer than Hugh Jackman's TV show the other night that got arsed after 2 episodes in the US and 1 here......


Basically having seen the show, it is FNL minus the games and the BB Housemates with videos from (presumably) You Tube added. You don't get to see the videos in TV quality - it is You Tube quality. And unlike You Tube, you can't see the videos in full screen mode. On a graphic background, you see the video on the left and in most videos you see the various reactions of the hosts on the right.


While it is an attempt to bring the interweb to TV, you could do the same without watching the hosts on You Tube. If you find the hosts annoying as I know some people do, you will not want to watch the show and do yourselves a favour, go to You Tube. I don't think that the show will last long if Channel 10 are fair dinkum in relation to ratings and content. And can someone tell me why they need a studio audience apart from making the hosts sound like they are funny? Some of the clips were funny, though.


It's car crash TV worse than any episode of BB.............

Wii'ing all over Squeak's Lounge Room

On Friday night, I had my first look at and play of the Nintendo Wii. I have never owned a Nintendo system before as for several years, I have been a Playstation man. My only exposure to the Wii (apart from the media reports and the stupid name with the various wee jokes) was the occasional TV program.


For anyone who hasn't used the Wii like me (I'm a poet and I don't even know it!), you set up a sensor and use the Wii controller to simulate whatever sport it is that you are doing. Sometimes you use a button as well but at other times you don't, you merely swing the controller.


I didn't go into the night with high expectations but it was really fun. I might just add that it is also a workout and a half! Obviously you need a lot of space and it is better if you have a human opponent. And yes, I did get competitive!


I played tennis and while serving was surprisingly easy, it was probably the hardest to play. Baseball was really fun and I hit a homer so to celebrate I did a lap of honour around Squeak's lounge room. Pitching was really cool as well.


Another game that was cool was boxing and it was probably the most physical of the lot. You connect another thingo to the controller and hold the controller in one hand and the thingo in the other and you can punch on with both hands or defend yourself as well. That game made me sweat!


Golf was OK too except I need to practice how not to whack the crap out of the ball at every chance, especially the closer I get to the pin. But on the first hole, I did a chip shot from the rough near the green and like you see in a sports show highlights package, it went nicely in the hole (with the flag still in it!) Hurrah!



Bowling was cool as well and it was good like the real thing. There was a training mode when you start with 10 pins and then for each throw, they add 10 pins. So on the second go, you are aiming at 20 pins and so on which is great novelty value. All I want to try is my famous bowling impersonation to see if it will work.......


The last game that I will comment on is the cow racing game which I joked was supposed to be a horse riding game but the horses all have the horse flu so they can't race. It is a game of getting objects on the way rather than first past the post. My strategy of riding the cow like a motorbike didn't quite work.


I enjoyed Wii'ing for the first time and I'm sure I'll get to do it again but having said that, I am not going to rush out and buy one.

I hate computers sometimes!

On Tuesday night, I recorded episodes 45 and 46 of Erk Pod. The total time for this including recording and editing was about 4 hours. Then I planned to sync my iPod and then head to bed.


That was a nice plan however iTunes did not want to play ball. It would run for about 30 seconds and then it would not respond and it would hang. Of course, I wanted to try and solve the problem tonight so I could just get up and go to work in the morning.


So I Googled the error code. Various Vista forums advised to check the plug-ins installed in Interweb Explorer, even though I run Firefox. So I did this. I also checked the plug-ins for Firefox, just in case and also the audio file associations. Still no joy.


Then I thought I'd uninstall and re-install iTunes. Still no joy. I even tried to run iTunes in Windows XP mode and tried to boost the priority for the program. Nope.


I even did a system restore. Still crap. So about 3 hours later, I called stumps for the evening and went to bed.


After a nice sleep, I woke up. I tried to download and run older versions of iTunes. Nope. Then I thought "stuff iTunes, I'll try this Juice podcatcher I'd heard of." Juice (ironically with a lemon for a logo) doesn't work with Vista.


So then I had to head to work. I don't think they'd accept "I am having computer problems" as an excuse for a sickie. Before I left for work, I left a post on the Vote Me Up forum. I was hoping for a suggestion by the time I got home.


So while I was at work (and frankly struggling a little without my podcasts to listen to!), I got onto my mobile interweb and I had an answer that I hadn't thought of (thanks Diz!) which involved re-formatting my computer and/or getting a Mac. I didn't want to have to re-format as the lappie is relatively new to me.


Then the answer came to me from Tom. He reminded me that it might not be iTunes that is the program but Quicktime that basically runs with it. So he suggested to un-install Quicktime and re-install it and then do the same for iTunes. Now I had to wait until I got home to try it.


Thankfully, I got home and did what Tom suggested and thankfully, it worked. iTunes is running as designed so I am only to believe that the problem was something to do with iTunes, Quicktime or both. No matter, problem solved and I can go to bed a happy man. Ok, so I'm easily pleased sometimes!


Sometimes all it needs is a fresh set of eyes. This particular clown thought that he could solve the problem and hindsight is a wonderful thing but I'm glad that Tom had the suggestion that I didn't think of! Cheers, mate!

Erk Pod 46 - Show Notes

How Come? Get This Gets Arsed & Fireman Can't Climb Ladders


Erk Pod episode 46 - 46 minutes
Photo: Lift sign at Lidcombe railway station



Welcome to Erk Pod episode 46 - almost a half century!


This episode was recorded on the same night as episode 45 but sees a return to regular Erk Pod segments. In this episode:

* "Say What?" - a 8 year old child helps police arrest his mother who is alleged to be driving under the influence of alcohol, a 7 year old gets suspended for drawing a gun, English firefighters can't climb ladders. Also find out how English seniors want to be buried. What is so bad that an "Agony Aunt" question is filed under "This is not happening"?


* "Ipodding Across the Universe". Triple M's "Get This" gets the arse. "How Come?" Find out here!


* "Time for a Song" from the Podsafe Music Network - "High & Lonesome" by Justin Gordon.


* Another co-incidence - episode 46 goes for 46 minutes!


Which episode out of the two did you like better? Episode 45 (heaps of music plus Erk) or Episode 46 (ie this one, mainly Erk, one song)? Let me know by commenting on the Show Notes at http://www.erkpod.com.au

ERK - "YOU GOTTA LIFT!"

Erk Pod 45 - Show Notes

"Hi Mum, I'm On TV (and radio and video.....)


Erk Pod episode 45 - 68 minutes
Photo: A station platform at Liverpool



Welcome to episode 45 of Erk Pod. To celebrate Erk Pod signing up with the Podsafe Music Network, there are several songs appearing in this episode amongst various Erk bits and pieces.

In this episode:

- Erk gets his mojo back

- Erk talks about his community radio days and getting on TV.

- Erk does a "real life" year 12 Report Card in the third person.

- Things Erk Doesn't Understand


Music:

- "Interlude" by The Four Bags

- "West Palm Drive" by Terri England

- "Space Camp" by Josh Woodward

- "If the incline is steep enough, even a cube will roll!" by Gezzers

- "Transmission Two," by Citizen Six

EP eps 45/46, VMU Forum, 1st Comment!

Erk Pod episodes 45 and 46 are coming and will be recorded on Tuesday night. One of these episodes will feature the usual Erk Pod episode segments. To celebrate Erk Pod signing up with the Podsafe Music Network, the other episode will feature some music as well as Erk bits. Show Notes will of course follow each episode.


While I am here I'd like to mention the new forum that I am taking part in. The Vote Me Up podcast now has a forum. So you can view all the Show Notes as well as vote and comment on each episode on the VMU website. You can interact with the hosts Tom, Lara & Marie as well as other listeners, give suggestions etc on the VMU forum. See you there!


Also, I'd like to mention that over the weekend, I got my first blog comment on here! Thanks to Steph (who I have known online for several years!) for commenting. Her blog "Much Ado About Sumthin'" is definitely worth a read as it is funny, honest, educational & shocking - often all at once! Tell her Aspro sent you! If anyone would like to comment on anything I've written, feel free!

Erk gets his mojo back!

As you may be aware, I really like photography. However to be truthful, I had feelings that I lost my mojo after a HUGE 2006, mainly through following the Australian Rally Championship around. But after returning from Perth (Rally Australia) and Melbourne (Rally of Melbourne), I put down my exy camera and I haven't picked it up since.


Everyone needs a holiday! But having said that, I suffered a lot from CBF. A few months ago, I purchased a Nokia N95 complete with 5 megapixel camera. So instead of having to carry a phone and a camera, for simple stuff, the phone will do. In fact, the shots on this blog are from my phone.


So how did I get my mojo back?







It must have to do with being dressed in yellow and seeing BRT's (Big Red Trucks). Today, I had to take part in an exercise at Katoomba Airfield as a part of being an Aviation Radio Operator (ARO) for the Rural Fire Service. Since having done the ARO course in 2004, I had not had a chance to use these skills but today was an excellent refresher and in that regard, I do have my mojo back for that as well.


While my camera didn't handle the flying stuff too well (or the far away stuff), I did get some shots of stuff that didn't fly or wasn't too far away.


So in more than one way, it was a productive day. Not only did I get normal truck type photos (which is usually the bread and butter shots for me), I also got some arty shots (see left) as well as a photo journalism type shot (see next shot, taken during a team briefing.

Compared to previous efforts this might not seem like much at all but when you consider a lost mojo and a severe case of CBF (in more ways than one!), today was a massive step forward for me. It was good to see some BRT's and flying machines again and I don't think it will be the last time I'll see them this fire season.

Roaming interweb

A few weeks ago, I went to the mid North Coast of NSW. Today I got my phone bill covering the period and I almost fell over when I saw the amount. Let's just say that the amount was HUGE - well and truly in the 3 figure bracket!


I didn't use the phone much while I was up there, in fact my usage was probably less than normal had I been working. However what got me was using the interweb with my phone as a modem. Normally that is fine because as part of my package I pay a little extra to enable me to do that. But as I found out today after calling my phone company, this only applies if I am in THEIR coverage area. But because I was outside their zone and was roaming on another network, the figure was ridiculously high. I don't mind paying the coin as I don't have a leg to stand on although it could have been a lot more expensive for me. It was probably in the small print but not something that I'd thought of before - after all if I have interweb access via my phone, I'd previously thought that it was fine but if I am roaming, obviously not.


An important lesson has been learnt albeit at a LARGE cost. Having said that though, the ironic thing was that I was under my monthly allowance but because I was roaming, my monthly allowance did not apply.

Erk gets irked and talks train overcrowding

Thanks to my mate BJ who spotted this headline before I did in the Terrorgraph and sent it to me the other day.


I always get a laugh when I hear/see "irk" or "irks me", especially when people have no knowledge of me because it sounds like they are talking about my nickname/alter ego.


As for over-crowding on trains which was the subject of the article, I do realise that it is a serious issue. I see it every day as a driver but unfortunately I am not in a position to do anything about it at the coalface.

However, I had to have a laugh the other day when I saw a news story on TV showing the overcrowding on trains. As I said, I do realise that it is a serious issue. But when I saw several pieces of footage shot on trains between stations with people standing in the aisle, I thought (and said out loud to a room full of drivers) that "no wonder there is overcrowding on trains when there are TV cameras and cameramen on the trains taking up heaps of room!"


Unfortunately I don't know if we will ever get to the point here in Sydney in peak hour where everyone who wants a seat will get one. That would be like expecting to drive home in your car from the centre of Sydney to where-ever in peak hour and expecting to drive at the speed limit the whole way.

"Get This" gets punted

It was announced over the weekend and confirmed on the program on Monday that Triple M's comedy program "Get This" with Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland is getting punted from the Triple M lineup. The last program will be the day before the Federal Election.


At the moment, "Get This" airs between 2pm and 4pm in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane and the first hour only is played in Adelaide between 3pm and 4pm. It's original timeslot was between 9am and 10am from April - December 2006. Then from January - September 2007 it was aired between 11am and 1pm before being switched to the current slot.


If you are unfamiliar with the program, it is a comedy program with a lot of current news being presented in a satirical way with soundbites and sound effects often being used to great effect. There is also a lot of TV and movie talk as well, especially because Tony Martin is a self-confessed film nerd.


So to use a soundbite from New Zealand Police doco "Police 10-7" that commonly appears on the show: "how come?" Why is the show being punted?


On air on Monday when Tony announced the decision (which is also on Get This podcast 139), he said that ratings shouldn't be an issue because in every market, "Get This" is in a higher position on the ratings than the station is overall. It is believed that the money saved from punting "Get This" is being funneled into the breakfast programs (sound familiar?) , especially in Melbourne with the announcement of another new breakfast show with Myf Warhurst (soon to be ex Triple J breakfast) and Peter Hellier (from Rove).


"Get This" fans are not happy. They point to the ratings the program receives in it's markets and also the popularity of the show's podcast that is downloaded from across the world. Indeed, "Get This" is frequently (if not always) in the top 25 podcasts list in the iTunes store in Australia.


There is currently a petition online calling for "Get This" not to be arsed which at the time of writing has over 1750 entries on it since Monday.


This decision reminds me of when Triple M punted "Club Veg" a few years ago for pretty much the same reasons. I boycotted the M's after this decision and it was "Get This" that led me to return to the station, albeit usually in podcast form.


I think Nova should pick this show up and have it on air nationally instead of the crap Idol show that they have on prior to Akmal and Cal. Austereo (the owners of the Triple M and Today networks) should never be allowed to treat "Get This" like it does and it would be better suited to Nova in my opinion.


I hope that Triple M does change it's mind but usually once a decision like this is made, that is usually it.........

Erk's Excellent WA Adventure, 2006 (part 1)

Wednesday (Day 1) - GC > BrisVegas > Perth


Travelled up from the GC to BrisVegas. Had ages to wait for my flight. There is only one direct flight that the Virgins offer from BrisVegas to Perth that leaves BV at nearly 2000 and then it forms a red-eye service. The other options were via Sydney or Melbourne. So I thought I'd get onto the direct flight and transit in BV.

Went for a short train ride after lunch and then to the interweb cafe to check emails and finish my GC blog. Sat around for a while watching what BV calls peak hour before heading to the airport.


The flight was very very very long. Left BV @ 2000, arrive Perth 0130 EST or 2330 local. The flight felt like it was never going to end. As it was mainly a night flight with lots of lucky people who could sleep on the plane (something that this big unit could not manage) I couldn't read or do much else except make several walks up and down the plane and peel off dead skin post Indy (which is still happening as I type this a few days later). I even went down to talk to the Virginettes at the back of the plane. Had to laugh at a tabbard they put over the back row of seats saying "for flight attendant use only" - I was thinking of placing it on my chest and seeing what would happen but in these days of people without a sense of humour, I'd be blogging about the inside of Perth Watch House about now. So I mentioned about how long the flight appeared to be taking and Antoniella the Virginette told me to look forward to the end of the flight as the wait will be worth it. And yes Antoniella (that is such a HOT name!), you were right. The wait was worth it and now that the rally has finished (another blog coming soon), I am going to rest up for a couple of days and then head north.


By the time that we got off the plane (the easy bit after the long long long bit) and waited 30 minutes for our bags (the long bit that didn't seem that long compared to the flight) it was close to midnight and by the time I got a shuttle to my accommodation and checked in and settled, it was 1am local time, 3am Eastern.

Monday

I feel heaps better after Rally Oz compared to how I felt after Indy. Maybe the fact that I'm not sunburnt as much and that I am looser after those two excellent GC massages helped.


I headed north to have a look at the railway in the middle of the Mitchell Freeway. If only the NSW Government had some brains we could have a similar arrangement especially to the North-West. Then I went to check out the under-construction line to Mandurah. Here in WA, they are actually trying to send the public transport to where the people are and expand it. They aren't doing a bad job at all, especially considering that in the 1980's, the then government wanted to close the suburban rail system down entirely.


In the arvo I decided to go for a drive, partly to help decide in which direction I headed for the final week of my WA stay. I was tossing up between Geraldton (north), Albany (south-west) and Kalgoolrie (east) so I headed east (a novelty in itself to drive that far east) to Northam, about 100km east of Perth. It was a pleasant drive and Northam reminds me somewhat of Lithgow but without the cold. It's a nice place to visit but for me not a place I'd like to live, it's too quiet for me. I'm used to the city. I've decided I'm heading north.


Tuesday

I decide to head north at the last minute, again I was thinking of heading east. However, north it is. I spotted some landmarks from my previous trip in this direction to the Pinnacles and did a fair bit of over-taking. Despite the fact that I am in a hired Hyundai Getz, I still have to watch my speed as it is still possible for the speedo to climb easily above the limit of 110. I think of the Northern Territory's open speed limit policy and talk that I read about while on the GC saying that the Territory's Government are thinking of changing the open speed limit policy because of drink driving and people running red lights. Now unless I'm very much mistaken, traffic lights in the areas with no speed limit do not exist.


I'm starting to feel a bit sleepy before lunch so I stop at the halfway point between Perth and Geraldton. The name of this place escapes me at the moment but there isn't much to the town and it astounds me that people choose to live in such isolation. But then again, travelling people like me need someone to cook me some food for them and a place to get fuel etc etc. I had a picture of what the local newspaper would be like: "And in Insert Town Name *here* last week, f**k all happened."


I went to the roadhouse and ordered some fish and chips. The guy behind the counter seemed really happy when he announced to the kitchen "we have an order", pretty much delivered in the same way as the famous "Houston, we have a problem" quote. I'm guessing they don't get too many orders for fish and chips (which was quite nice, by the way).


Feeling refreshed after lunch, I made it to Geraldton about about 5 hours on the road. I drove around town which sort of reminded me of Wollongong. It seems to be a place where people use it for a convenient stop-over point while heading further north. I thought I'd be able to spend the next few days here but after seeing the sights already, figure that 2 nights would be enough and then head north to Carnavaron via Monkey Mia. I might as well keep going while I am here, remembering that I should overnight in Perth on Monday for my Tuesday flight.


It's funny, two mates have seemingly forgotten that I am still not in Sydney. Pete wanted to me have some drinks with him on Friday and Troy was wondering if I'd be interested in 3 days firefighting at Warragamba Dam. A couple of quick phone calls later and I'm still here in Geraldton.


Getting some accommodation was difficult. At one place, they could only have me for one night instead of the two I wanted. The next place had no one at reception and I booked into the third place into a budget room. As long as the TV works, the shower is good and the bed is comfy, I don't care if the walls need a paint. I watch a bit of TV and finally caught up with that improv show "Thank God You Are Here" which I enjoyed, partly due to the appearance of Bob Franklin, better known to me as being in Bad Eggs and Boytown. I might have do some Googling...........


Wednesday

Bugger all to do. I decide to walk to town (5 minute walk) and walk around the shops. There are quite a few empty shops. I will get a massage and a haircut later but I'm about to write an article for my car club magazine. Tomorrow I'll depart and head north.

Erk's Excellent WA Adventure, 2006 (part 2)

Wednesday avro


In my last blog, I said I was going to get a haircut and a massage. That didn't happen. I went to a second hand bookstore and brought a bio about John Laws from 1985 and went back to the motel and read it from cover to cover while watching TV. I seriously don't know how people live in Geraldton. It is just so slow for what appears to be a major regional centre. Off to bed......

Thursday

With Geraldton thankfully in the rear view mirror, I head north to Carnarvon. I stop off for a drink and some food at Northhampton and the service station guy is very interested in my Bluetooth headset. Speaking of said headset, I'm still not used to it. Before leaving Geraldton, I was on the phone to Drue in the car. Then I went into a shop thinking that the phone was in my pocket so I kept talking with no answer from Drue. When I got into the shop, I realised that the phone was in the car and the range wasn't good enough. Ooops.


For what is supposed to be the North Western Coastal Highway, you don't see very much of the coast at all. While the coast looks close to the highway on maps, you hardly see the water at all. I was expecting something like the Great Ocean Road in Victoria (another thing on my to-do list) As I found on my trip to Geraldton, it is very easy to be well over the speed limit.


It's amazing where you can find the interweb these days. Stopping at a roadhouse at Billabong (halfway between Geraldton and Carnarvon), there was an advertisement at the local caravan park that says that they have web access. While deciding what I wanted to eat, I looked through the CD's for sale. At the same time as I was there, a tour group pulled in and I could imagine the roadhouse workers rubbing their hands together with glee. After lunch, it was time to head back on the road.


Next stop was Overlander Roadhouse for fuel. I needed some cash out of the ATM but one of the workers was trying to get it to work. I suggested kicking it. The EFTPOS worked though.


I can't really do the scenery justice in words or photos. Isolation in every direction. Plant life somehow surviving and the food chain in action mainly thanks to road-kill. Plantation and red-dirt as far as the eye can see. And surprisingly, it isn't 100% flat, there are some hills. It seems a bit strange to see floodway signs when the country just looks so dry. But then again, I'm not here in wet season.


And somehow miles from anywhere was a guy having a rest stop on a pushbike. Here I am in my air conditioned hire car with music playing at 11 and I feel tiredish at the end of the trip after a 5 hour car trip (with breaks) and here is this guy on a pushbike. There is always someone doing it harder than yourself.


After about 5 hours, I arrive at Carnarvon. It appears to be a very pretty coastal area. I look around the shops and go to explore some of the coast, a coastal jetty with tramway (not operating when I visited) and check into a motel. Tea is Golden Treat which I read in the paper the day before is owned by the same people who own Red Rooster. (how's that for useless trivia!). For 1/2 chicken and chips they are charging $9 here but for 1/4 chicken and chips at Rally Australia in Gloucester Park in Perth they were charging $8!






Friday


It is amazing to look on a map and see how far I have come. I am sitting in an interweb cafe here in Carnarvon on Friday and I am now 904km from Perth. I have just had my haircut (I had to make an appointment!!) by a lovely English woman (OMG another accent! love it!). I was hoping to have a massage (yes, I know I said that the other day) but the local massage lady hasn't got appointments until next week.


I've just had a nice fish and chips, a bit on the small side for $14.95 though! Tonight will be spent at the local pub having a few brewskis and hopefully meeting some of the local hotties that I have seen around. After all, what else is there to do at night here? But unlike Geraldton, Carnarvon doesn't seem to pretend to be a major regional centre. It reminds me of Broken Hill by the sea. I don't know why I do it but I compare other places that I and others would know.


I'll leave here on Sunday morning and depending on how I feel, I'll be in either Perth or Geraldton Sunday night.


Friday avro



As I said earlier, the haircut happened but the massage didn't. Off to the pub within staggering distance of my motel room and not a lot was happening. Went for a meal next door and watched the sun set over the ocean and had pork chops. Haven't had pork chops for ages.



Back to the pub and a small crowd had rocked up for a night of Lions Club spin-a-wheel followed by a cash jackpot prize to get people into the club which was won by the Lions Club guy. By about 9pm I'd had enough so I went off to bed with about 3 Southos under the belt.



Saturday

Up reasonably early feeling OK. Went to get the paper and Auto Action magazine that is published in Sydney and available there on Wednesday and was expected into Carnarvon on Saturday. I bet it doesn't take that long for the chick mags to get there! But the papers were delayed somehow and weren't expected until about 9.30. Went around town getting some shots and went out to the wharf to see the mini train not run again. Back into town, finally get the paper and read the paper overlooking the water. Get peckish so I look for some food and see that AA is now in so I get it and some People and Picture mags for old times sake - I am on holidays after all!



Back to the motel via Golden Treat and then go home to eat and read my mags. I then have a siesta. A few hours later, I get up and it is tea time.



I decide to check the action at Pub 1 within staggering distance, nothing doing there. Off to Pub 2 for a counterie as advertised by the walls of the pub, they don't do counteries or any food anymore. Hottie barmaid from Pub 2 recommends that I go to Pub 3. Off to Pub 3 (luckily all of these pubs are within about a 4 block radius) and I enjoy a nice steak and chips at Pub 3. I finish the meal at Pub 3 and nothing is happening there, some women are having a presentation night of some sort for some sport that I have no idea what it was (I couldn't see the little figureines on top of the trophies) so I went back to Pub 1.



Pub 1 had a hottie barmaid behind the counter as well so I sat at the bar drinking. Everytime my glass approached empty, she got me another drink. Too bad I couldn't take her home.........



Meanwhile, I'm sitting in Pub 1 minding my own business when Bob the Lions Club guy from the night before tells me that he knows me and that I was stacking shelves at the local Woolies earlier. Nice one Bob, you should try being a standup comedian! Speaking of standup, I purchased an interesting mag in Carnavron called HA which might inspire me to try a bit of standup myself. Ooops, off the track there. Anyhoo, I tell Bob that I'm not a local then he says that he saw me at Pub 1 yesterday. That much was true.



A few Southos later (I lost count), I'd had enough. Could have talked to the barmaid all night but she was busy and I was tipsy and with no other talent around (Pub 1 was experiencing a typical night so I was told), I staggered back to my motel bed. It was only 9pm again but I swear that when it comes to booze and WA, I am operating on Sydney time as it sure seemed like midnight when my head hit the pillow.





Sunday

Out of Carnarvon early enough after last night. With stops at Billabong (fuel and toilet), Geraldton (KFC, souvenirs that I didn't get before in my rush to get out of town), Eneabba (fuel and ice-cream) and a couple of other photo stops, I arrive back at the F1 hotel at Perth where I write this blog. Compared to my trip up with the days in Geraldton in the middle and that trip taking about 10 hours F1 - Carnarvon, it took me 9 and a half hours on the way back. But then again, I did have 2 lunch breaks on the way there compared to one on the way back because I spread the trip up over 2 travelling days. Surprisingly I feel alright considering that the trip Carnarvon to here was the longest that I'd driven in a single day ever with a lot of that time being 100kph and higher. I reckon I've overtaken more trucks, road trains and other vehicles on single stretches of road in the past week than I have for the other 16 years of my driving career.



As with the trip on the way to Carnarvon, the landscape astounds me and I can't do it justice in words or photos. I'm glad I went to Carnarvon, a few days doing nothing was just what I needed after a hectic 12 months or so.



Tomorrow will be an easy day, I might do a bit of window shopping in Midland and then return the hire car with who knows how many km on the odo. Perth - Carnarvon - Perth is just over 1800km on it's own. I think I'm entitled to 1200km for the length of my hire (100km per day for 12 days of hire) so on that trip along I am 600km over. And that's not including the Rally Australia and local stufff I've done. But I don't care. I enjoyed the drive and the experience.



Tuesday will see me fly home and Wednesday will probably be spent online.

Monday

In hindsight, I'm glad that I came back to Perth in one day. Woke up around 10 and went to Midland. Did some window shopping and wasn't feeling good. I put it down to the milkshake I'd just had.


Cleaned up the hire car and found a pub with skimpies (barmaids either topless or in lingerie, usually only happens in WA) so I thought I'd go there later that night. However, I didn't make it. Got back to the motel around 2pm and felt worse and I knew exactly what it was. Kidney stone again. Unlike the last two times where I'd taken 3-5 days to get rid of it, it only took 5 hours of being really sick and it was gone. So needless to say I didn't get to see any skimpies. Afterwards I decided to try to get a couple of apples around 10pm to try to eat something and settle my stomach. Had to drive the 10 or so km to the centre of Perth to get them and they didn't help anyway!


Tuesday

After a reasonable night's sleep considering, I got up and packed what I had to pack. Checked out the F1 and returned the hire car. Only got charged $310 for excess km when I'd budgeted $500 for it. Turns out the excess km charge was 18c/km rather than the 28c/km I thought it was. Still, lesson learned. It was the Carnarvon trip that put me other but try flying to Carnarvon for $310 and not seeing the scenery. Well worth the $310 but in hindsight, I should have got unlimited km which I normally get automatically.


Cab ride to the airport and I checked in.Got my camera dust removal consficated by security (blog soon) and basically I'd got through ok at Melbourne, Adelaide, Sunshine Coast, BrisVegas and Sydney X 4 with it in there but not Perth.


Was still feeling dusty after the night before and drove the white bus in the airport. Took some Travacalm and about 30 minutes into the flight, it worked well. Because of my condition, I chose the back row to be close to the loo just in case which I thought would have been unavailable because on the flight from BrisVegas, the back row was reserved for the Virginettes. Better than that, the row opposite was empty so one of the Virginettes allowed me into the empty row so I could stretch out. So I did and I even managed a bit of sleep which I wasn't able to do on the way over. Armed with a book (another lesson from the trip on the way over, the latest Lachlan McCulloch undercover cop book) and a bit of sleep, I felt heaps better about this flight.


Got home just after 9pm and pretty much straight off to bed. Even managed to have some ice cream and chicken (separately) without driving a white bus again. Woke up the next arvo (today) in my own bed for the first time in 3 weeks at 1.30pm. Welcome home, Erk.

Erk on the Gold Coast, Indy 2006

Day 1 (Tuesday) - Drivers and Surfers

Nice flight up to Coolie. Got a cab to Erk GCHQ (hereafter EGCHQ, Kirra on the Beach Resort) and the cabbie had a HUGE whinge that the fare (Airport to Kirra) was only 6 bucks something and that he lost his spot on the rank and now there were 24 cabs behind him who could get the big fares. Now if I knew where I was going and I didn't have luggage I might have walked it in hindsight but I didn't know where I was going and I had luggage so I reckon I'm entitled to get a cab.


Settled into EGCHQ and then went for a bus ride to Surfers, partly to have a look around, partly to remind myself about how long the bus rides to/from Indy could take. And for $69 per night compared to $150 or more at Surfers, I'm OK with the bus ride. It's a good way to see the sights of the GC Highway and meet the locals. However, it has been a while since I did the complete Coolie - Surfers bus trip and it does take a while. On the plus side, the bus driver (that I ended up getting for both trips) was rather cute.


Not much has seemingly changed about Surfers with the exception of the Chev Ren. I don't know if it is merely because I'm on holidays or not but the girls up here are rather nice, albeit seemingly in a lot of cases on the outside only.


I spend a couple of hours in Surfers and head back to EGCHQ with the cute bus driver. Unfortunately for me, I had to get off the bus and the bus (and it's cute driver) motored off into the night. Had some nice fish and chips and then off to bed sans cute bus driver.



Day 2 - Wednesday. Exploding Borders & Miss Indy

Had a sleep in and was trying to take it nice and easy the day before Indy started. Went down to Coolie for the day. Not much has changed at the northern end but at the Southern end, it has just EXPLODED insert earth shattering ka-boom *here* around where the actual NSW/QLD border is. At one stage, I had my head and my heart in NSW but my arse in Queensland. They've installed a huge momument to mark the border now and there is no "Welcome to Queensland" sign any more.


I had lunch and then had a nice massage (thanks Olivia) before heading back to EGCHQ briefly and then off to Miss Indy. Unlike last year when I had the blonde mullet, I didn't get on TV or get sledged by Mike Goldman so it must have been all about the hair, baby!

The contest was part sportswear (where the girls had to play dress-ups and try to convince the judges that they are sporty) and part swimwear (trying to convince the judges that they'd swim in these outfits, often bordering on lingerie. Indeed there was a couple of girls that seemingly wore the same baseball outfit, one in group 1 (first 20) and one in group 2 (second 20) but I'll have to do a side by side photo comparsion when I get home for that one.

The girls were all hot in their own ways (not an ugly one amongst them, obviously) and it would have been a hard job being a judge *puts up hand* but I had to wonder at one of the prizes for the girl judged on the night to be the most sportiest and athletic girl there. One of the prizes for this girl who would have been a size 1 with f**k all body fat (insert lowest possible body fat figure *here*) got a fat blasterizer as a prize (Google "Wellbox" for more info). So are we saying to this winner (who by the way won the Miss Indy title, sorry for skipping ahead) "gee babe you are hot and the hottest chick here but here's a fat blasterizer as a prize"

I am not sure if it was just me but the crowd seemed to be different this year and not as into it as last year and mainly of Mike's jokes seemed to be wasted on the audience. I am wondering if that is partly because last year, they held the parade of drivers before this event so people were excited by this and then hung around to watch Miss Indy. Or are they simply over the concept? Who knows? I was certainly happy with what I saw and some of the shots on my camera looked great.

After the show, I went to McDonalds for dinner and for some reason even unknown to me, I decided to flex (like I said, no idea what I was thinking) at some girls there, not that it did me any good though! After another bus ride it was back to EGCHQ sans Miss Indy.




Thursday (Day 3, Indy Day 1) - Schoolies Day and bus dramas

On Thursdays at Indy, there are no Champ Cars or no V8 Supercars but there are school kids and their teachers (who were never as young or hot when I went to school!) in their thousands on an excursion. When I was at school, we didn't go to the car races or anything good like that for an excursion. We had the regular year 7 trip to Canberra but that's the subject of an upcoming blog.

I decided to work on my tan. Gee that was a mistake! As I type this on Wednesday after Indy, I am still suffering from that decision! My forearms are looking sweet though!

The support categories were good and I enjoyed being a spectator for once. I didn't enjoy the long wait (90 or so minutes) to be able to get on a direct bus back to EGCHQ. Seemingly Surfside (who will be getting a strongly worded email from me when I get home and an education on the ability of other organisations to run express and additional services on their main corridors for special events) were running normal services and so there'd be about 8 Burleigh buses for each Coolie bus. This carried on for the whole weekend and was not helped by no supervision by the bus company. Probably this was my biggest bugbear about Indy.

Back to EGCHQ and basically straight to sleep sans hot teachers.

Friday (Day 4, Indy Day 2) - WOO HOO V8's and Champ Cars!
Today saw the start of the action which a lot of people came to see. Due to my stupid attempt of working on my tan, I tried to spend as much time as possible in the shade. The action on the track was good and thankfully it was not as hot outside today. At the end of the day, I tried to upgrade for a covered grandstand for Saturday and Sunday but Ticketek wanted to basically charge me as if I'd been using the covered grandstand on Thursday and Friday as well and to me, that's just not cricket. However next year at Indy, I will be either getting a covered grandstand or going the whole hog and getting an apartment/hotel room overlooking the track. Back to EGCHQ sans no one in particular.


Saturday (Day 5, Indy Day 3) - Racing and Dinner @ the Surf Club
Today saw the first of the V8 races and it was also much cooler which is good for me. I'm really suffering due to the heat (self-inflicted I know) so I'm not moving around the precinct like I did last year. I'm also enjoying simply watching the racing and the other entertainment.

After the racing, I headed back to the Surf Club across the road from EGCHQ for a nice steak then back to EGCHQ to watch some of the League test and then off to bed sans a life saver.

Sunday (Day 6, Indy Day 4) - More Racing, Go Team Australia, Backpackers and Panda Bears
Final day of Indy. Team Australia gets on the podium thanks to Tag and Will got shunted by Sebestian who reckons that it wasn't his fault. Racing in all categories was good and once again it was good that the weather wasn't too bad.

After racing finished, various people headed onto the track to walk around and to head back towards Surfers. The usual post-Indy antics were on display. I saw some girls dancing on the balcony of a Backpackers so I thought that they'd be up for what normally happens at Indy that guys look forward to (it's a real case of the chicken and the egg, which came first? The guys who want to see boobies or the girls showing them?) but these girls were simply being teasers. A group of guys would come along, see the girls dancing and egg them on. The girls would dance for a bit and then nothing, the guys would then disappear and soon enough the next group of guys would come along. I thought I might as well watch because otherwise I'd simply be waiting for a bus anyways.

While waiting and looking up at the various balconies, I saw that there was a guy (I am presuming it was a guy!) dressed up as a Panda. It looked slightly like "Shirty the Slighty Aggressive Bear" from the Late Show and although he was quite a few floors up, he was quite clearly visible. At one stage I thought I was going to see more of a Panda than boobies but I did get to see some although not as much as last year.

I decided after a while to give the Backpacker Teasers a miss and was walking towards Surfers when I heard a guy using a megaphone. He was sitting with his mates on the fence of a resort and he just sitting in his chair with his mates enjoying a few coldies and enjoying the passing parade of people and vehicles that were passing by. With his megaphone, he was providing some entertainment. Not only was he on the lookout for hot chicks with the help of his mates who were acting as spotters, he was also having general fun with anyone who went past. So it wasn't just a case of "show us your tits" and ignoring everyone and everything else. He'd see something about someone and just let rip, not always in a bad or demeaning way. So I just sat back and enjoyed the show with various one liners heard backwards and forwards between Megaphone Man and various people passing by. Maybe this guy should be a standup comedian although to be authentic to that Indy experience, he'd have to be sitting down with a megaphone and a few mates and a few beers. Thanks for some good laughs, Megaphone Man.

On the bus on the way back to EGCHQ, I met a couple of off-duty grid girls - they have to hand their uniforms back after each race! Also met a guy who said he was going to Currumbin but got off at Palm Beach instead. He is probably still walking to Currumbin as I type this!

Because of the time I got back to EGCHQ, I missed dinner at the Surf Club and at a couple of local eateries so it was off to Coolie to get some KFC. Back to EGCHQ sans backpacker teasers and thankfully sans Panda.

Monday (Day 7) - Polish Frenchwomen are hot! Relaxing after Indy
Had a nice sleepin after Indy. Did a bit of a clean-up of EGCHQ and even did some washing. Watched a bit of TV and then decided to have another massage, this time at "I Feel Good" at Kirra.

I was greeted by Sandra who had an accent to die for - you'll see in another blog that I dig accents big time. I couldn't tell where her accent was from but I thought that it was European but could not really narrow it down from there. I then decided it might have been French because she had some French (I think!!) words on her singlet.

For several years, I'd heard of float tanks but had never got around to doing it. I got ready and got the rules of the float explained to me and I climbed in the fully covered tank filled with body temperature salt water and floated and closed the door. After a while, I did not like the feeling of having the door closed as it felt like I was floating in a coffin so I opened the door. I enjoyed the floating but not with the door closed. I later found out that this sort of feeling isn't one that I alone had had.

Floating over, I had the best massage of my life. Sometimes I like my massages to be relaxing and silent but for obvious reasons, there was lots of talking and I found out that Sandra is actually Polish and although she'd studied French, she had no idea what was written on her top except that I was correct that it was French. Despite all this, the massage was just what I neeeded and I really need to find a good massager when I get home and stick with it - hopefully the next person I find won't disappear into thin air!

Back to EGCHQ and then to the Surf Club for tea and then back to EGCHQ for sleep sans Polish massager.

Tuesday (Day 8) - Going back for more Polish massage. Walked from NSW to Queensland. Blog Day. Boys.
Another relaxing day after Indy and in energy conserving mode for Rally Australia on the weekend. Today I walked from NSW to Queensland. OK, so I walked about 500m in NSW on the Tweed Heads side and 500m on the Coolie side in QLD but I still did it. Off to an interweb cafe to check emails and start this blog (I am now writing this from an interweb cafe at Roma Street, Brisbane) as I didn't want emails to bounce because my inbox was full. Only had 410 emails waiting for me.

Back to Sandra in the arvo for a longer massage and I'm starting to feel a little looser than before although she has a talent for finding tense spots I didn't know that I had. Another fine massage but I decided against having a float.

Back to Coolie where I decided I was going to have a quiet night watching Mick Molloy's new movie Boytown. Basically without giving too much of the story away, Mick, Glenn Robbins (I fondly remember him as Colin Carpenter) and Bob Franklin (Mick's sidekick in Bad Eggs) and a couple of guys I've never heard of were a boy band in the 80's called Boy Town. They decide to get back together and become a mature aged boy band. Normally I can't stand boy bands or their music but because it was a comedy with this line up, I quite enjoyed it. Can't wait for the DVD extras!

I didn't like the way the movie ended (no spoiler) as it was a strange way to end it. It was a bit sad in the end, actually. But I did get something from this movie that I might take into my personal life that the characters in the movie found - I think I have been going for the wrong demographic in terms of the women that I like. Briefly, it might be betterer to change my focus and while the younger girls are fine to look at, I am after more than simply something to look at. Best this be left to another blog though.

Back to EGCHQ for a bit of TV (enjoyed a piece on a Dutton Rally) and then sleep sans hot English middle aged former singer.

My next blog will probably be this time next week from Perth after Rally Australia. I am transiting at the moment in BrisVegas writing this blog before my flight tonight.