tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134460612009-11-09T20:29:13.533+08:00...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-65363403174864657932007-10-20T17:14:00.000+08:002007-10-22T16:19:50.998+08:00

(image ganked from the net by someone with a better vantage point and camera than we had. Go here for more.)Over the past decade, we've been to see Ben Lee, Ben Folds and last Friday night we completed our trifecta of Bens (yt) and caught Ben Kweller doing his thing at the Hyde Park Hotel. (A geographic note: the HPH is a five minute stroll down the road from ours - sometimes the mountain does

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-55217747402117734532007-10-18T17:38:00.000+08:002007-10-18T17:53:36.404+08:00

Stop wasting your time here. Try some philanthropic boondoggling.

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-21248598325177190272007-10-12T08:21:00.000+08:002007-10-12T09:28:25.197+08:00

Yesterday's news of our Dear Leader's perceived epiphany on Aboriginal reconciliation has been predictably welcomed with derision and contempt by SMH readers in their "Your Say" opinion box. Overall, most of the problem appears to lie (no pun intended) on Mr Howard's timing, which is seen as either ten years too late, or ten weeks too early to be considered a genuine change of heart.Sometimes,

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-33620344431892623372007-10-11T18:43:00.000+08:002007-10-12T11:27:26.720+08:00

Watching this (Youtubery) brought me back to the 90s. Not just the fond memory of an America before it went all green and "MERRKA SMASH!!" on us, but also the memory of an assembly held at one of my old schools as an inauguration for our new chaplain. This was back in '94 and on the agenda was a special item presented by the school choir - a rendition of Mr Lennon's imaginary sort-of-hymn.It was

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-17476744719827823222007-10-10T14:40:00.000+08:002007-10-10T15:13:14.834+08:00

Yes, I am, indeed.Having promised to continue blogging ahead after the travel tales and subsequently doing NOTHING AT ALL, I can only offer prostatey apologies to anyone who might have wasted a couple of clicks here expecting an update. I could also offer a feeble excuse about the rhythm of life and its various vicissitudes that have prevented me from updating this here blog but that would fall

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-365075234697688572007-08-17T16:51:00.000+08:002007-08-19T16:25:00.980+08:00

Our last day in London begins with the now-mundane task of packing up and checking out. A steady regime of plain bread, carrot sticks, prescription drugs and plenty of water brings Gem back to some semblance of life.And then we say Happy Trails to John who will go on to enjoy an extended trip to Ireland with Marty. Their wacky adventures on the Emerald Isle remain undocumented but the morbidly

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-49535162699206243602007-08-12T17:35:00.000+08:002007-08-12T15:56:11.203+08:00

Oh dear.(Not a great day for photies. This is about as close a graphic depiction of Gem's day as I can offer.)I suppose it was only a matter of time before our gustatory indulgence would inflict its ass-biting vengeance on us, or to be precise, on Gemma. From the wee hours of the previous night, the contents of Gem's stomach have been staging a re-enactment of the Titanic's last hours, with

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-71676029232435632222007-08-05T10:26:00.000+08:002007-08-05T20:22:50.455+08:00

Sorry for the none-too-brief hiatus, folks. The best explanation I can offer is a conspiracy of the following factors:- An inconvenient (as in right in the middle of my two-week break) bout of the seasonal infection doing its rounds.- Exceeding my monthly volume allocation which meant seeing out the month with the Internet running at turn-of-the-century bandwidth. - And finally, a general blog

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-69954081453126444792007-07-24T15:13:00.000+08:002007-07-24T23:05:17.344+08:00

As awesome as it was to catch up with old chums Kiron and Martin back in Paris, it's awesomer to continue seeing Martin here in London. While it was hardly surprising that Kiron would make a name for himself with the pretty pictures, I can't say that I ever looked at Martin as a kid and thought, "hmm...head chef!" (That any one of us could be considered a future high school teacher was probably

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-73778138504442051592007-07-19T13:21:00.000+08:002007-07-20T14:14:32.515+08:00

And so we leave Paris with mixed feelings. Looking back, there's a sense of regret over the bittersweet brevity of our visit and the opportunities we've missed. Looking forward, we're about to take a train that goes frickin' underwater!Meanwhile, Robin is still suffering from the effects of his calamitous calamari as Marty gladly hands over the mantle of Tour Casualty. The aforementioned

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-86131953388472257542007-07-17T14:39:00.000+08:002007-07-17T23:03:38.876+08:00

This just about says it all.We chose to do the big monumenty sights the previous day so that we could do the galleries today. We chose STUPIDLY. As it turns out, Tuesday is the day when most galleries, including the Louvre, are closed. Worse yet, we leave Paris tomorrow morning which means we have well and truly missed our chance to visit Ms Smiley-face and Ms Armless, among other storied works

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-41739440811030341452007-07-11T13:33:00.000+08:002007-07-13T14:14:59.718+08:00

For Day 2 of zelig's Parisian invasion, we decide to take a two-pronged approach.Gem and I head out early to meet the lads in order to make the most of our limited time with Kiron. One can only guess where the others ended up...We'll make our own way there later. But right now, time is short as Kiron has a train to catch at noon. We find a cafe (yes, they have those here, too) and reconstruct our

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-71535796274767105262007-07-02T17:23:00.000+08:002007-07-07T18:57:23.577+08:00

(Once again, sorry for the slow postage. Just imagine that I sent the postcard without a stamp. It's been a busy end of term but hey! I'm on a two week break now so expect the posts to arrive a little thicker and faster than current form.)Before we begin, a little context*:yeah, get over it.Having seized the opportunity to visit old school chum Gary on our last trip, coming back to Europe was

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-77036476783926741962007-06-28T16:43:00.000+08:002007-07-01T22:43:39.339+08:00

The next day begins with the now regular routine of loading up, checking out and vamoosing outta town. Some of us approach this task a little gingerly after the previous night's street drinking escapades.And so to Paris, where our first challenge is to get rid of the Eurobeast. Upon arrival at the Europcar drop-off point, we're told that the car is too big to fit any of their nominated undercover

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-46517490074275827672007-06-25T17:46:00.000+08:002007-06-25T22:02:52.215+08:00

With only one sleep left before the Eurobeast is due to be returned in Paris, we break away from the coast and head inland. Along the way we stop off at Amiens, home to France's tallest cathedral. We're here long enough to take a peek at the big old thing:The two stony-faced gentlemen with the somewhat displaced noggins on the right are Saints Victorius and Fuscian. As legend has it, they were

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-61730726906403947092007-06-24T20:10:00.000+08:002007-06-24T22:56:52.147+08:00

The breakfast at the Faidherbe doesn't look like much (The French word for breakfast is petit dejeuner which literally means "little lunch" - it's the "little" that seems to be the operative word here.) so Gem and I pop out to look for les oeufs which we find in this pretty eatery.By the way, the saucy French maid in the background is just a painting. The real ones don't come out till lunch, by

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-73256902680083499512007-06-24T11:23:00.000+08:002007-06-24T22:55:16.140+08:00

It's not just the sprawling white beaches that draw visitors to Calais, it's also the last stop for England-bound travellers to stock up on cheap wine. The French, after all, are very serious about their cheap wine and as fellow budget oenophiles, zelig respects that.Our quest for lodging for the night leads us to Boulogne-Sur-Mer, which I'm guessing is French for "Sausage-Upon-the-Sea". It's a

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-14497079883077038382007-06-19T17:00:00.000+08:002007-06-24T11:37:43.314+08:00

(Many apple logies for the irregular posting - stupid real life work commitments!!)It's pretty safe to assume that no one living in the town centre of Ghent owns an alarm clock. The church bells here ensure that everyone is up at dawn's unsightly crack and they stay up for as long as the ringing prevails. And prevail they bloody did.It's a do-your-own-thing morning for zelig before we hit the

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-81737464606669862862007-06-17T14:36:00.001+08:002007-06-17T21:52:25.934+08:00

The morning starts off slowly as we wait for news from the freshly-surgerised Marty. Once we get the all-clear text, we bust him out of the joint and the zelig road trip is GO!...that is, once Robin works out some general directions on his laptop with the GPS (an awesomely handy device whereby under the watchful eye of the Satellite Gods, we never get lost in the woods)...and John works out which

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-52804163451681601742007-06-12T16:14:00.000+08:002007-06-12T19:20:44.919+08:00

And so the next leg of our journey begins as we pile into the Eurobeast, hit the open road and throw ourselves at the mercy of the European countryside.......fields of gold......croquet trees......windmills that John Howard seems to think will break the economy but appear to be working just fine over here...….um, except that we didn’t....yet.The truth is, on the morning of Day 4, Marty returns to

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-33321381830302041672007-06-10T11:43:00.000+08:002007-06-10T16:10:37.881+08:00

As it turns out, there is this part of Amsterdam called the Red Light District, which sounds like a really odd way of dealing with their lousy traffic.It looks to be in the poorer part of town where the womenfolk are unable to afford drapes, decent lighting and much in the way of clothing. Despite such adversity, they seem awfully friendly and will probably do your laundry if you asked politely.

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-66828848000949277682007-06-05T17:33:00.000+08:002007-06-06T19:03:42.596+08:00

(Note to regular visitors (hey, both of you - leave a comment!!): this is so obviously not written in real time. Be patient....)Our Dutch digs, when we do finally get to check in, is the Hotel Freeland, with its pretty, Ikea'ed-up, theme-decored rooms and stairways just a few degrees away from being completely vertical.Going by the giant rainbow flag out the front of John & Marty's balcony, it's

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-71546616713936628592007-06-02T10:41:00.001+08:002007-06-06T19:09:13.711+08:00

(At this point, Robin and Girly have left a week ahead of us to take in the pretty bits of Italy and Germany and will meet us a couple of days later in Amsterdam.)Our trip begins in earnest when we're several thousand k's up in the air, fiddling with our inflight entertainment console, looking for a movie without Leonardo DeBleedin Caprio and ripping the plastic wrapping off of just about

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-50374802972671671102007-05-30T19:09:00.000+08:002007-05-31T16:44:32.027+08:00

....and we're back!!For a while, it's been too easy to lump this blog in with the world trip as this crazy foolish adventure that remains hermetically sealed in our photos, journals, addled memories and this wee spot on the interweb. In fact, it feels odd now to be doing this from our couch at home and not from the top bunk of a crappy hostel leeching low-signal wiffy from some nearby

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13446061.post-1133925609407955132005-12-07T11:05:00.000+08:002005-12-07T11:20:09.606+08:00

...we're home.And it feels so good.After spending virtually all of our Singapore time clicking our ruby red slippered heels, we've finally come to the end of our trip.So for now, like a bunch of crazy-ass monkeys we're going to run around the house buck nekkid, flinging shit everywhere. If you read this and happen to live in Perth, you're quite welcome to drop by and witness us doing so.To all

...http://www.blogger.com/profile/08389673684846181525noreply@blogger.com2