Cablog

Hail Justice

Recently I carried a young woman home from the Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay to Darling Point. In the space of a five minute cab ride, my passenger dropped the American word ‘dude’ at least 6 times during the course of a brief chat. After paying the fare she said, ‘Thanks dude’, so I jokingly responded, ‘Dude !? Don’t call me ‘dude’, dude !’. We both had a good laugh.

Can the replacement of a traditional term like 'mate' in our lexicon, threaten what it means to be Australian ? Where does the term come from and do we have a monopoly on it ? Given the Aussie Macquarie Dictionary recognises countless new words each year, why not 'dude', or 'bro', or 'habib' ?

Personally I don’t care if a new generation uses ‘dude’, as nothing important turns on it. There are surely bigger issues to deal with. Like the downgrading of fare evasion from a criminal offence to a misdemeanour. Scandalous ! Un-Australian !!...

A Good Result

On the weekend I came across a street brawl outside a Surrey Hills brothel, or so it seemed. Waiting for a red light I quickly summed up the situation. Around 20 young adults were drunkenly scuffling and skylarking, whilst a couple of security guards from a nearby hotel tried to move them on. No big deal at 1 am.

Two women and a fella spotted me and hurried across the intersection. They nominated a Kings Cross nightclub. On the way the fella called a mate inside the club and organised for him to meet them outside. He requested a half dozen pills, ordered in pig Latin. I know this because one of the women didn’t understand pig Latin and so received a translation...

Pommie Fans

Sunday evening saw the debut of Sydney Football Club in Australia’s new A-League soccer competition. And about time too after years of parochial club competitions, riven by ethnic tensions, serving up sub-standard pap. To celebrate soccer’s coming of age the punters came out in force last night, witnessing a 1-1 draw with Melbourne.

Fans weren’t disappointed when Sydney’s marque signing Dwight Yorke opened the scoring with a fantastic world class goal. Reports from those watching the game live on Fox sports likened the crowd reaction to that of a European fixture. Already a local supporter fan base, The Cove has sprung up and promises to build on the 25,000 crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium.

After the game I carried a player-buyer from Fox Studios to Sydney airport, returning home to Melbourne. He was pumped over the crowd attendance as the League had only expected 15,000. I asked him what guarantee he had imported players were not simply here to see out their retirement in the sun. ‘Well, Yorke’s performance tonight dispelled any doubt he’s here to play’, he replied...

Hairy Stuff

Last night I picked up an international visitor from the new Sydney Hilton Hotel. He’d been attending the closing dinner of the 13^th Annual Scientific Meeting of The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. Phew. In short, he was an eminent hair transplant practitioner.

Rather than identify the bloke I’ll afford him anonymity. Why ? Because he revealed Prince Charles has had a hair transplant. A quick Google reveals this has only been a rumour, with no hard evidence to date. Sensitive Royal information, no less...

World Sports News

• Defending champions Al Mansoor Enterprises began their campaign in style in the AUH Filipino Bowling Club League, beating AJ's team 7-4.
• The Kenyan national team Harambee Stars will call seven professional players for the September 3 World Cup qualifier tie against Tunisia.
• Turkey is hosting its first major global sporting event, with the Formula One circuit's new Grand Prix competition in Istanbul.
• Emirates Cricket Board (CB) team led by Arshad Ali left for Kuala Lumpur to participate in Asian Cricket Council’s Fast Track countries tournament.
• Margo Kingston's replacement blogger at the Sydney Morning Herald, Inkslinger, reckons a ban on womens boxing is sexist.
• Five day weather forecast for Nottingham, England.

Nothing else to report.

Snaps+Sport

More bloody snaps :

- Late night fix by Dr. Coffee, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick

- Sweet MG, broken down with radiator problems. (Wogblog tours England in a Morgan)

- Star City Casino attracts plenty of big blokes with big toys

- Light show launches new soccer A League at Home nightclub (images enlarge)

Cricket Update : In a beautiful gesture of sportsmanship - so typical of Aussies - Glen McGrath has once again made himself unavailable, in order to give England a chance...

Cricket Update 2 : Shane Warne, demon phone-texter, currently world's best sportsman

Been Touted Lately ?

A current issue affecting cabbies pertains to Hire Car drivers illegally touting for fares. This practise is especially prevalent at Sydney Airport where disembarking passengers are approached by drivers touting inside the terminal. A practise forbidden by the MOT.

Believe me, nothing pisses off a cabbie more than waiting ages in the Airport holding paddock, then arriving at the terminal rank knowing decent fares have been pinched.

On a recent Sunday evening I scored 6 consecutive short fares over a 4 hour period of Airport work. As a result I refused to work the Airport for some weeks. For this reason many drivers simply won’t go near the joint due to the high probability of short fares.

Now the Taxi Driver’s Association has decided enough, and is considering mobilising to collect evidence, to determine the extent of the problem. If, as anecdotal evidence suggests illegal touting is widespread, then the Motor Transport Department will act.

Have you been approached by Hire Car drivers, or any drivers, on arrival at Sydney Airport, or anywhere else in the City ? If so, would you be kind enough to lodge a comment here, or via email, detailing your experience - who, when, where, how, etc.

Much appreciated, Adrian.

UPDATE : Further Reading - Tough new airport taxi and hire care regulations

Pokies and Beer

At Darling Harbour yesterday I picked up a woman who had attended the Australian Gaming Expo at the Convention Centre. She worked in the club industry, down in the Sutherland Shire and during the long drive home we got to discussing poker machines.

The NSW government has recently levied the industry with an increased poker machine tax. And so they should given the outrageous profits being generated from these machines. Recently I carried a poker machine technician who revealed a machine made around $70,000 per week. Whilst I still find this hard to believe, evidently a lot of money is being made.

Unfortunately, the increased tax applied to both clubs and hotels alike. My passenger from the Gaming Expo made the distinction that whereas club are non-profit, with a charter to invest monies back into the local community, hotels have no such obligation with all profits going directly to the publican.

I commented that many Australians must be sinking vast amounts of income into these machines. ‘Well, she responded, ‘for many people this is their primary entertainment outlet. Whereas some people choose to spend their money on the theatre, restaurants, holidays, or whatever, others prefer to spend money on the pokies’.

‘But doesn’t the huge returns pokies generate indicate a large number of problem gamblers ?’, I asked. ‘Not at all’, she replied, ‘Problem gamblers only account for 2% of the gaming population’. However she did express concern over the advent of online gambling, as being all too easy, viewing it a dangerous trap for problem gamblers...

Image via bigfoto.com 

Spooky

Around midnight a young fella hailed me on George Street, in the dodgy cinema district of street security cameras and patrolling squads of rookie police. He climbed in the front seat and barked, ‘Mate, I need you to go to Coogee, wait for me there, then bring me back here !’. He delivered the request with such earnestness I couldn’t help but tease him, in a slow, moronic monotone, ‘You want me to go to Coogee; wait for you there; then bring you back here ?’. At which point we both started laughing. ‘You’re a funny guy’, he said, ‘let’s go !’.

Immediately he produced a $20 note and handed it to me, ‘Just to show you I’m fair dinkum’. ‘Don’t worry about it mate’, I told him, ‘I know you’re good for it’. But he insisted, so I took it and put it on the dashboard. One gets a sense when passengers are up to funny business and this fella wasn’t one of them. Despite the full moon...

Sunday Joke

A Priest was seated next to a Queenslander on a flight to Canberra.

After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken.

The Queenslander asked for a Bundy rum and Coke, which was brought and placed before him.

The flight attendant then asked the priest if he would like a drink.

He replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by a dozen whores than let liquor touch my lips !"

The Queenslander then handed his drink back to the attendant and said, "Me too. I didn't know we had a choice."

via Web Wombat