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Local coffee shop blazes during Earth Hour on Saturday night.
Above is the company headquarters of Fairfax Media, co-instigator of Earth Hour, during the big lights out. The image on the right was taken last Wednesday at 11:24pm. One wonders why they need so many lights and floors operating near midnight. Maybe someone in modern media can enlighten me, or even better, someone from Fairfax ?
Smoke and flames outside St Mary's Cathedral on Saturday night. Short video here.
Most cabbies score a ridiculously large tip every year or three. Mine came last night when a couple of top blokes tipped over 300% of the fare.
Around 9pm two dishevelled fellas in suits approached me outside the Coogee Bay Hotel and requested Bondi. “Mate, just get us out of this f...... joint and back to our motel, but first take us to the nearest bottleo.”
It was obvious they had attended Randwick races that afternoon - the sunnies sitting atop a bald head is a dead giveaway - and had at least 8 hours drinking under their belts. Yet despite being barely able to walk they were aghast that “that black half-Australian door wanker” had determined they were too pissed to enter the hotel.
I tried to explain the hotel’s position. “Mate, that pub just been voted the most violent hotel in the known universe so naturally they’re a little sensitive about serving drunks.”
“We don’t give a shit,” one protested. “Up in Queensland we get none of that bullshit from the door. All we want to do is find a corner for a quiet drink and a chat.”
Yeah, I thought, until you lurch into a patron who objects and next thing you’ve started a punch-up. So pissed were they that a drive thru bottle shop wouldn’t serve them!
Finally, after some badgering...”mate, mate”, I agreed to find another bottleo and buy the grog for them, to take back to their rooms for a ‘quiet drink’...
At the motel I struggled to convince them that a drink together was out of the question so they flicked me $110 for the $25 fare. Naturally I protested, for about a second, before drawing their attention to a pretty young woman waiting to board. That got them out of the cab real quick.
Top blokes.
Apologies for the absence this week but as previously mentioned I've finally resolved to quit smoking. Not reduce, go for the gum or patches but totally eliminate nicotine from my life. So all week I've been slowly digesting Allen Carr's lauded method of quitting.
I was initially tempted to chronicle the exercise on a separate weblog but then thought, bugger that, why compound my travails by broadcasting to the world what a hopeless addict I've been for the last 37 years. But that's nicotine - a powerful, addictive drug.
Wish me luck, I'll need it.
UPDATE, DAY 4: So far, so good, with no sign of the 'Jason Morans'.
Here are the locations of the Away images taken on last week’s holiday. Congratulations to Nashdale for identifying four of the nine locations.
Mate, you’ve won a free dinner so email me for details if you can make it. The map is interactive and can be zoomed and dragged to suit. Otherwise click Larger Map for a hot-linked menu with pop-up images.
UPDATE: Travel blogging hell. (thanks Blair)
On Saturday evening I carried some Randwick race types – drunken spivs in suits -from a Paddington pub to a City nightclub. The type of wannabees who only attend the races for the social event.
The following exchange, so typical of Sydney spivs, took place...
Further reading - Sydney: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Whilst on holidays I took care of a regular task, mowing the bloody lawn. Sure, one gets plenty of useful exercise doing the job but then, walking on the beach is much safer.
Increasingly these days I'm mindful of a common occurence afflicting middle-aged lawnies - they can drop dead from the exertion. This short video offers a solution.
To celebrate my last night of holidays, back at home, I'm testing a new Sidebar video player of a beach scene taped whilst away (full-sized video here).
This should start automatically and is looped to repeat once. If vision fails to start then click on screen...it's purely an experiment and needs refining.
If, however, you find the audio annoying then adjustments can be made using the controls at the bottom of the player (volume far left).
I'm interested to know if this gadget works in your browser and any opinions of it's worth. Otherwise a new Cablog video, Mower Heaven, to be posted tomorrow.
Regarding the Away challenge, four of the nine localities have already been identified though not the aforementioned beach. Competition will remain open over Easter.
Normally my vacation images are sent from the phone. However I've been having trouble with the N95 image editor resulting in dud re-sizing.
So I've used a mate's PC to post a dozen shots of my travels this week, from south to north. They're of the mid-North Coast in a few specific places, reflecting stays with friends in those areas.
Here's a challenge for those familiar with the area to correctly guess the localities. Whoever scores the highest result wins....err, a dinner with yours truly at the Regent Street Gas, Guts 'n Go. (Judges decision is final; dinner anytime between 10pm and 1am; no pick-ups, transfers or accomodation provided; no travel or food security available; win at your own risk, thrillseekers!).
Another town; another river. More soon.
Since commencing blogging I haven’t read a single book. But that’s about to change after yesterday attending a talk and book signing by Ashfield girl made good, Geraldine Brooks. (listen; watch)
Actually, to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature is more than ‘made good’, it is simply sensational and the reason I attended the event. Yet care must be taken on when I endeavour to read her latest tome, People of the Book.
The only other time I’ve received a personally inscribed book from a Pulitzer winner, who, like Brooks, also resides in Massachusetts, was John Updike’s, Couples. Unfortunately, however, it was a gift doomed from the start as the old scribbler had mistakenly written, ‘To Adrian Keylan...’.
At the time I was working in Far North Queensland and on my first free day attempted to start on Couples. This is a story set in sixties America and addresses the rapidly changing social mores of middle class relationships of the time. Thus, it was always going to be a tough read.
Sure, Updike can undoubtedly put two words together but when read on a deserted beach on tropical Dunk Island, well, it was never going to resonate. Subsequently the book remained unread and eventually wandered out of my life, neglected and unloved.
Today I’m finally heading off for some relaxation time on a mid-North Coast beach. And needless to say Brook’s book, centred in war-torn Sarajevo and dealing with the search for an ancient Hebrew text, will not be accompanying me. I've learnt my lesson.
Welcome to Adrian Neylan's blog of Sydney taxi stories.
'..hilarious, depressing, monotonous, uplifting.'
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