Brown Dog moved to Melbourne

Water for the population Vs Rice Farming Idiots.

2011-11-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

Finally a bit of government policy on natural resources that makes sense. Today the Federal Government announced the Murray Darling Basin Plan (Basin Plan). It basically phases in less use of water for farmers upstream. It is the first practical step in the realisation that we live in a country that doesn’t have enough water to sustain farming of things like rice for example. Rice farming… seriously. We live in a country that is mostly desert. My question is, why has this taken so long to figure out? These rice farmers have been pissing in the ears of the Coalition for years while the rest of us have seen quality of our rivers deteriorate and have been slogged with water restrictions.

As you can clearly see in the picture showing where rice in farmed worldwide, (International Rice Research Institute) the rest of the world has figured out something that we haven’t. This being that rice is farmed in and around the equator not as far down as NSW or even South Queensland. On top of this we are not even close to being in the top 10 traders of rice and, the biggest traders are on our doorstep. This tells anyone with half a brain that we can import rice cheaper than we can afford to buy it from our own farmers. So please tell me...what is the point here?????

It is also interesting to note that when the weather is going well you will have noticed that we haven't heard any whinging from the farmers. This is because they have been making a packet. Why can't they pay a bit of it back to the government who have supported them through the tough years. I’m sure that students paying back HECS debts would agree.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/farmers-fall-silent-while-food-brings-home-bacon-20111129-1o4zo.html

I'll say it again, finally some policy that make sense in terms of international trading and sustaining the water resources for everyone, not just stubborn, pig-headed rice farmers.

Saint who??

2010-10-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

Ok. Great. An Australian has been recognised for dedicating her life to others. This is an amazing thing and a first for this country. I don’t won’t to detract from this. Congratulations Mary McKillop. What bugs me about this is that Australian society has no other way of acknowledging people that reach this life long high level of service to others than though religion, and even worse through the same denomination that has serious questions to answer in terms of paedophilia and contraception. This being the Catholic Church.

Why is it that this organisation, which mind you is the richest and most power political power on earth, feels that it has some kind of recognised say over who is (when you break it down) a good person and who is not.

Over the past 2 decades we are reminded again and again of priests, community leaders of this church, taking advantage of their positions of power by sexually abusing small children. Why this happens?? Who knows but, it seems to be a pattern unique to the Catholic Church. Yet it is the same organisation that today has been in the media all over Australia telling who we are to consider to be a Saint or someone who god thinks is a bit more heavenly than us. Let’s look at this from another perspective people. It’s like the Former CEO of David Jones deciding who will be the Equal Opportunity Commissioner. Quite plainly, this doesn’t seem right.

Off with is' ed'

2008-01-16T06:18:00.000-08:00

You walk out into the light and realise that you’re on top of a bridge spanning between the two massive turrets of a medieval castle. As you walk into the door leading to the turret you notice an ancient stone spiral steps running downward. You follow the steps past the ground level and start to wonder about the eerie candles lighting the way down toward what could only be the dungeon.

You would honestly think that you had stepped back 600 years in time when you arrive at the Beynac Castle. We were lucky enough to get there in the middle of the off season which meant for the first 2 hours we were the only ones there. Everything about the castle was authentic, which when you’re the only ones there, gave you an amazing perspective of what it was really like when King Richard the First (the Lion Heart) walked the steps from the Dungeons up the stairs and across the Draw Bridge to the Ancient Church within the Castle walls.

The Castle as a whole is precariously positioned at the top of 150 foot cliff which looks of on the Dordonge River which winds its way through the Perigord province of regional France and is located a few kms south from Sarlat, a beautiful medieval town in Perigord. During the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries this fortresswas French during a certain period, then English, and again French in 1453.

The oldest part of the castle is a large, square-shaped, keep with vertical sides and few openings, held together with attached watch towers and equipped with a narrow spiral staircase terminating on a crenellated terrace. To one side, a residence of the same period is attached; it was remodelled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other side is a partly 14th century residence side-by-side with a courtyard and a square plan staircase serving the 17th century apartments. The apartments have kept their woodwork and a painted ceiling from the 17th century.

We toured around the castle for most of the day. Althought the weather was a bit drizzly it didn't take any of the magic away form what was an amzing day.

Go Socceroos

2007-11-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

G’day punters. Sorry about the lack of blogging in a while. Since Rome there hadn't been much going on until this weekend.

On Saturday I spent 4 hours helping the ALP hand out ‘how to vote’ cards at the Australian High Commission. Over here we have a 2 week window in which to vote in the Federal election and this Saturday was the only Saturday that the High Commission was open and as such it was probably the busiest voting day. There are around 400,000 Aussies over here and around 20,000 of them vote so it almost felt like being at home on a really, really cold day. As usual it was good to wind up the other parties. Especially Family First.

After that Penny and I decided to head down to Cravern Cottage, Fulham for the Socceroos vs. Nigeria game. I’ve got to say this has been one of the highlights of time in London so far.

After a first half of no scoring, Australia’s David Carney smashed one in to the back of the net to set the 11,000 strong Aussie crowd into something I’ve only seen at an AFL finals match. Awesome.

Nigeria being the best team from Africa saw Australia side a team full of stars. To my surprise Harry Kewell, Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton and Tim Cahill fronted up on the day.

Anyway just a quick one this time. I’ll report back soon. Enjoy the weather over there for me. I certainly can’t over here.

When in Rome

2007-10-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

So it was time to don the sandals and togas and board the 50 pound Ryan Air flight to Campino Airport in Rome.

We got there at about 10pm on Wednesday night so there wasn’t much to do but check out the hotel and enjoy an Italian Wine before bed. The Hotel wasn’t too bad for a 3 star. We had a great little balcony that squeezed 2 people in for a great 4th story view of a typical roman street.

Thursday we headed down to see the Colosseum. What can I say…. Amazing. The Romans had there blokey entertainment totally sussed out. A massive stadium the size of the MCG which twice a week displayed a group of blokes and animals smashing each other death. Who needs action films…. In all seriousness though, the actual structure really makes you really think what happened between then and now. They seem to have been a lot more advanced socially and politically than the empires of the later centuries.

Friday we did the spiritually correct thing and checked out the Vatican. As far as buildings go it is a pretty impressive group. The actually church or St. Peters Basilica and its grounds are about the size of 2 and a half footy fields. I guess I was bit disappointed to find out that a lot of the materials used to build the Basilica were actually gold, marble and iron taken from the Colosseum which at that point was neglected by the then Christian (Catholic) ruler.

Saturday we walk from the Hotel over to where the Pantheon was located. The Pantheon meaning "Temple of all the gods" is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world. It has been in continuous use throughout its history. Although the identity of the Pantheon's primary architect remains uncertain, it is largely credited to Trajan's architect Apollodorus of Damascus. Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Christian church which is probably why it hasn’t deteriorated as much as the non-Christian buildings.

Sunday we checked out the Spanish Steps and then the Roman Forum. The Spanish steps were a bit lame. Just packed with tourists, beggars and scam artists. A group of the scammers tried it on with me by tying some friendship string thing around my wrist so tightly that I could get it off so I was then forced into buying it for like 10 euros. Little did they realised that I would ark right up at them and advise then in a less than polite way that ‘I was an Australian and I DO NOT GET SCAMMED’. It turned out that I ripped the string off of my hand and didn’t pay which led to me being told that ‘Australian’s are fucked.’ Ah well. We know the facts, so that’s OK.

The Roman Forum was amazing. It was generally the site of the government sector of the day with the remains of the Senate and most of the other government departments and buildings located there.

Anyway that’s about it folks. I will say that Rome was definitely one of the best cities I’ve seen so far. Great food, great sights and a great climate. Talk to you soon.

BD

Birthday Away

2007-09-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

I though I’d write another new post on my last weekend in London as on Saturday in was my 31st birthday. Well.... the celebration actually started on Tuesday night when we ventured out to the Royal Albert Hall to see John Mayer.

What a great venue! The RAH (not the hospital) had quite a large capacity for such a different shaped venue. Also the acoustics of the place were fantastic. John Mayer turned it on as usual and played most of his songs from his album Continuum and a few of the old favourites. He still also does that weird shit with when he is playing he’s playing certainly parts of songs on his guitar. Another thing worth mentioning about that night was that the suburb of West Kensington were the RAH is located seem to be very affluent and hold very few immigrants or poor people. Mainly just rich whitey’s . Very different from Hackney. There seem’s to be less of an in-between in London.

Wednesday night was thankfully very quiet and involved a bit of quiet time in the flat.

Thursday saw the arrival of my good friends Al and Megan who we caught up with in Hammersmith and saw a stand up comedy show by Ricky Gervais from ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’. I can almost still feel the soreness in my jaw from laughing so much.

I guess I went along not expecting too much from a stand up show by a guy who I had only really known to do TV comedy. Geez.. was I wrong.

Friday saw Al and Megan move there stuff to our place and then involved a few drinks after work and then a great meal at the Drunken Money. http://www.fluidfoundation.com/venueDetails.aspx?VenueID=2481 . It was very basically a bar crossed with a yum cha type Chinese Restaurant. The highlight was the salt and pepper squid which were served extra thin and crispy like a bowl of fries. I would even go as far saying it was as good as Ky Chow in Adelaide.

Saturday morning saw us all sleep in a grab a great a full breakfast at the French Restaurant across the road from our place. It was great to have breaky and chew the fat with some good friends. Al and then went and kicked the footy in the park while Penny and Megan went to the Tate modern to see some arty gear.

Saturday night we all met up with another friend Flick in Sheppards Bush to have Dinner and see the Hilltop Hoods. ‘What a great a night’. While going in I saw some old friends from Blackwood High so we all hung out and saw the show. Afterwards we had a few beers at the pub down the road and then moved with the crowd to the after party at K-West.

So we got home at about 5:30 Sunday morning and caught up on some well earn sleep.

Even though I didn’t get to spend my birthday with family who I miss a lot, this was still one of the better birthday weeks I’ve ever had. Thanks to all involved and especially to my lovely girlfriend Penny who made most of this happen and got me a cool Holland hoodie for my birthday.

Holland

2007-09-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve decided to postpone blogging the trips to Norway and Denmark and get on with the latest trip to Holland as it is fresh in my mind.

We arrived from London’s Luton Airport to the Schipol Airport (Hollands main international airport) at around 10pm on the Thursday night all ready for our 5 day tour of Holland.

We decided to take a punt and stay in one of the House Boat / Hostels on one of the larger water passages in Amsterdam. It turned out great. There were 2 rooms with a bathroom and Kitchen/Living Room to share, so there wasn’t much noise to put up with. Over the 5 days we had to different sets of travelers come in to the boat. The first was a very young boring couple from England. The second group was 2 blokes from the Isle of Man who's main consumption during the time we saw them was hooch. They were the biggest cone heads I’ve ever met. They would sleep till the afternoon most days, go out and buy a heap of weed and then sit there and smoke weed and play cards (mainly in silence) till 2 or 3 in the morning. To be honest they were pretty weird. I think there mums and dads may have been brother and sister!!! If you know what I mean.

Anyway, the boat was clean and well organised and I would recommend it anyone. Here is the web site http://www.marie-anns-houseboat.com/.

Amsterdam itself was very picturesque. The lovely canals lined with on old buildings made a great back drop for a meals or a beer at one of the many pubs and restaurants. We did most of the tourist type activities such as visiting both the Van Gogh and Rembrandt Museums and also Anne Frank House. As I am not much of an art person I found Anne Frank house much more interesting. The more I tour Europe the more I learn how much trouble the Germans have caused.

That's me hiding by way....

The fourth day of our trip was dedicated to tracking down some of my Dutch heritage. Armed with an email from my Auntie Katherine (the eldest of my fathers siblings) I got on the train from Amsterdam to Haarlem determined to find Schoollaan Street were my father lived the first 2 years of his life and the Church were my great grand parents where buried. We arrived in Haarlem and took another Bus to Bennebroek. From Bennebroek we we’re pretty much lost so we asked the Bus Driver if he knew where either the Church or Schoollaan street was. Unfortunately, he did know where the street was but he did know of the church. He was so helpful that he announced the directions over the PA on the bus when we got to the stop. Being such a champ, I figured we might even be related. Anyway, we got off the bus headed down the lovely country road toward the Church. The name of the church was right, but unfortunately they had just renewed the grave area and we figured that the Otte graves may have been renewed. I was still satisfied that we had found the place.

The next mission was to find Schoollaan street which to our surprise was the street just down the road from the church. Unfortunately the number 42 had been demolished ahead of some new construction , but hey, we took some photos anyway.

The rest of Haarlem was lovely. Slightly less busy than Amsterdam. We saw our first proper Dutch Windmill here.

On the last day of the trip we ventured to Lieden which is south, south west of Amsterdam.

Leiden is mainly a University town, a bit like Oxford. We were there on a week day during the Uni holidays so there wasn’t much happening. The town itself was again more beautiful than Haarlem and Amsterdam due to the canals and the buildings.

All in all there were 3 things that made Holland a great trip for me.

the people were very friendly and happy to help where they could.
the towns themselves were aesthetically beautiful and made for nice relaxing meals and beers.
the fact I could find some heritage brought me a small sense of belonging. However, I am definitely more of an Aussie than Dutchman AND PROUD OF IT!!.

So………the next post will be back to the previous trip finishing in Norway and Denmark.

Ahhhh Sweden

2007-08-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Technically, my first taste of Sweden was on board the Viking Line, overnight ferry which took us from Helsinki to Stockholm. We crossed into Swedish waters at around midnight. The term ‘ferry’ doesn’t really give this boat justice. It’s more like a big cruise ship, which on the weekend trips the local Fins and Swedes call the ‘Party Boat’ or the SS Chlamydia. Don’t ask me why…….! Luckily we were booked for the Thursday night. It was an interesting journey to say the least.

Checked into the cabin and headed straight to the poop deck for some departing views of Helsinki. Nice!!!!

We then enjoyed a quick snack and than sat sown on the open deck bar to enjoy a couple of slow beers. Interestingly enough, the rocking motion of the ship made you feel like you had drunk 10 times what you really had.

Sleeping on a boat wasn’t too easy so we arrived in Stockholm a bit worse for wear.
I guess Sweden had a very similar social set up to Finland except the administration of the public services ran a bit smoother and the average person seemed a bit better off and better looking. For example, we used a couple of the free city bikes one day and they were nice bikes. 3 speed gears, hand brakes and generally in decent shape.

We were fortunate enough to have a couple of days of beautiful weather. So we made the most of it and rode around the harbors and islands most of the time. I’ve never seen so many boats in my life. Stockholm has the most amount of boats per ca pita in the world and it was well and truly on display.

The nightlife in Stockholm was awesome. We had a few great meals and went out one night to a bar which could be best summed up as a big version of the Austral with hotter chicks and friendlier people in general. Whilst there we got talking to quite a few groups of people. We were talking to one guy from the USA who had met a Swedish girl in the states, had been dating her for 2 months and was able on that basis to get a residential Visa to stay in Sweden. Lucky bastard.

Whilst at this place we also got offered and had some snus (pronounced snootz). Nothing dodgy. Snoots is like a tiny little tea bag of strong tobacco which you put in your upper lip. It basically effects you the same way that 3 cigarettes at one would.

It was sad to leave Stockholm and Sweden. It had been my favorite country so far. Next stop Oslo, Norway.

Scandinavia - Welfare does work

2007-08-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

Heij Heij punters,

The next stop on our travels was Finland, being our first county within Scandinavia.

We caught the 'Tallink' Ferry from Tallin to Helsinki which took about 3.5 hours and was very smooth. The ferry itself was more like a cruise ship. It supported about 9 floors including a duty free shop, bars, restaurants and even pokie machines for the losers amongst us!!

We arrived in Helsinki at about 3 in the afternoon, walked through a fairly clean and tidy city centre to the Hostel which was located on the 6th floor of a relatively modern building.

Helsinki was my first taste of a democratic socialism. This is where the government owns and runs allot of the services and infrastructure and charges a relatively high tax rate in return for free education, free health care and high levels of welfare and good working conditions for all. And guess what...... it actually works. This was evidenced in the first few days of touring around the city where I noticed that there was a very little crime and a low police presence and only 1 or 2 bums , who didn't really look that poor anyway.

Of the 3 evenings we were there, we went to the Aussie Bar for 2 nights which was great. They only had Tooheys Extra Dry and Hahn Ice. It was nice to have an Aussie Beer again. The funny thing was that as the Finish people are quite fond of us Aussies, most of the people at the Aussie bar were Finish students which made for good nights full of chat and laughs. We sampled some of the irregular Finish drinks like Fishu which is like Fishermans Friend in a strong shot.

Anyway.... another bonus from the Finish Government was the free city bikes for all to use. There were 15 different bike stations around the city of which one could take a bike from and return it to another. I rode around the city and surrounding islands for about 4 hours one day. To be honest a lot of tourists used the bikes and I think they were coloured in such a way so the locals knew who you were.

Next stop Sweden.

The Adventure

2007-07-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

So here it is. The Euro Trip. I have had to write it retrospectively due to the fact there was plenty of great things to do and no time to waste behind a computer. I travelled with a mate of mine , Ben (Gibbo) who, to his credit after spending 3 weeks with me, is still speaking to me. And at the end of the day didn't end up shitting me too much either. The following image is a map of where we went. Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We had an average of 3 days in each of the capital cities

Latvia

Latvia was a unique place. Unique in the sense that the people seem to hang onto the negative effects of being occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union for so long. They seemed to miss the point when it came to customer service. For example, when we got most of our meals they were pretty much dumped on the table without a 'there you go' or an announcement of what the meal was. I'm not sure whether the occupation was the cause for the non-existence of any Asians, Africans or any immigrants but I'm sure it had something to do with it.

Being an ex-Soviet state meant that a ot of things were cheap, including the vodka. It was about $5 Australian for 500ml. Nice. We didn't drink too much though as it was pretty strong. The following is the Freedom Monument to celebrate the independence of Latvia, of which was no doubt done with a ot of vodka consumption.

Whilst being careful, I must mention the females. I kid you not....... every second female we saw was a dead-set stunner. For the first few days Gibbo and I couldn't really believe it but after a while we just accepted it. Maybe it's something they put in the water.

All in all it was an interesting place. However, the people really did seem a bit serious. Maybe they need a holiday to Australia.

Estonia

Estonia was a little more westernised then Latvia. There were a ot more tourists. The British see Estonia as the Australians see Thailand and Bali .... somewhere to go that has cheap booze and accommodation, hence us seeing a ot of poms on stag nights.

Like the Latvians the Estonians need to embrace the concept of the customer service. At a pub I was told by the drunk, 20 year old publican (who was giving free shots to his mates) that I was cheap because I didn't tip him after every beer. Don't worry he was advised of what my thoughts were on his customer service.

Estonia had a bit more genuine culture than Latvia with it's markets, hats and locally brewed beer. We had a great night sampling the beer at one of the local pubs.

.......and I tried on a few hats

So Estonia was good in the sense that it was cheap enough for us to save our money for the Scandinavian countries.

We ended up moving from the hostel we had booked after one night due to the fact we found a live rat in our room. I know.... ....!!!! It turned out well as the hotel we moved into was pretty swish and non-expensive.

Next post FINLAND and SWEDEN.

Top Shot - Wimbledon

2007-06-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

As it had been raining for about 11 days straight in London, it was about time some weather-luck went our way. So as it happens, our day at Wimbledon on Tuesday was without a drop and as such proved to be a great day.
We rolled up at Smithfield station at about 12:30 and walked for about 20 minutes to the Wimbledon Tennis Grounds. As we already had tickets, we managed by bypass the 500 metre line up. So we went in and had a look at the event schedule board to find out what was on and when. We decided to go to see Wayne Arthurs play T. De Bakker (Dutchman) on one of the smaller courts.

We got some great seats level with the court and right in-line with the net. It was like watching someone play tennis at the local park. Awesome view. We stayed for a couple of sets, which Wayne Arthurs lost in tie breaks, and then decided to bail out and see something else.

We then moved down toward the rest of the smaller courts and went on a search for some Pimms and Lemonade for Penny which we eventually found just outside the centre court. After a bit more of a look around we heard some commotion going on back at the Arthurs game and went back to find that he had won the next 2 sets.

We hung around for the last set which Arthurs took out in a tie break. It was a great atmosphere with plenty of Aussies in the crowd. Unfortunately some idiot at British immigration let some Aussie bogans through and we were subject to some 'Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi oi oi s' and some brainless commentary for drunken idiots. Nonetheless it was a great match.

From there had a quick look at a Venus Williams game and then moved on to court 18 to see Chris Guccioni comprehensively flog one of the Brit wildcards Alex Bogdanivic.

So there you go. All in all an awesome day thanks to the weather and the Aussies smashing the Dutch and the Poms. After only ever seeing the tournament on the TV, it was definitely a highlight to be here in person. A must for any tennis fan.

Game set and match, Brown Dog

A lovely day in history

2007-06-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday saw us enjoy the delightful weather with an easy train ride out to Canterbury.

Canterbury is the home of the Canterbury Cathedral. HQ of the Anglican Church and the spiritual home of the Archbishop of Canterbury which in the big bad modern world means bugger all to me. However, after going inside and seeing the tomb of King Henry V, all of the former Archbishops and such amazing skylights and structure, it does give one an appreciation for how much history the Cathedral has seen throughout its days. It really made me realise why there was such a large focus on religion in a world that was largely without science.

We were lucky enough to be in Canterbury for the triennial passing of the Magna Carta. Which is a ceremony involving The Prince of Wales' Guard passing the original Magna Carta to the Church where it is then displayed for a few months. Again, I don't have much time for royalty but the actual purpose of the Magna Carta was to release power from the King and cause the reduction of slavery and high taxation for the people.

After all of that we had a bite to eat and headed down to the West Gate Garden which was like something out of an episode of Anne of Green Gables. We laid down on the grass for a bit of a rest and before we knew it all that walking and eating took its toll and we fell asleep for 45 minutes.

Anyway, on the way back to the train station we stopped at the the Canterbury Castle which was built in 1066 and was free to look at it as it was a ruin.

I would thoroughly recommend a day trip to Canterbury, whether you're a happy clapper or not. It is a lovely town with a lot of character through history and many quaint little shops to tempt your taste buds.

Next stop... Paris in 2 weeks.

Catchya BD

PS .. For f*ck sake!!!! start leaving some comments!!!!

Brown Dog back in the office

2007-06-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've have managed to get 1.5 weeks work with the Refugee Council of England (Public Sector) located in Brixton. (Brixton is sort of like a Salisbury full of African immigrants.) Hudson Personnel called me last week and asked if I could work for a week and a half in the Brixton office to which replied with a 'ABSOLUTELY'. For me, it couldn't have come with better timing. When the contract is over I'll have 1 weeks of further sight-seeing and leisure around the 'rat-race' that is London before I depart to Riga (the capital of Latvia) for some Euro-Tripping with my big mate, Gibbo.

At the Refugee Council I've reverted back to being a HR Administrator (Public Sector) and to be honest there is not much difference between what I did at the Department of Human Services and what I'm doing here. And yes.... there is most certainly the same levels of bureaucracy. Probably a little more here actually. A prime example is when I attempted to change my broken and filthy keyboard for another on an unused computer and was promptly told off by the IT guy for not letting him know. (Nob!!!!) I simply apologised and reminded myself that in the real world IT are there to actually help you get your work done. What a concept!!!!

I should also mention that in England they try not to lock their refugees up like in good old Australia. Instead they have organisations like the Refugee Council to organise the other function's of government to work together to assimilate the immigrants without minimal disruption to the rest of society. Now I'm not saying that this actually happens that well, but ... it's a good start....

Catchya

BD

Brown Dog at the Bar

2007-06-07T05:22:00.001-07:00

G'day there punters,

How are you all? ME? you ask.... I'm OK. The pommes really do whinge a bit though.

Due to the fact that I'm travelling to Europe in 3 weeks, my real job hunting has been put on hold until I get back. (although I do have an interview tomorrow for a job that will start when I get back.) In the mean time I have managed to convince the Publican up the road to give me some shifts which is great. It's actually quite a good way to get used to London culture. Here are a few quirky things about the Londoners and Europeans that I've learnt so far.

1. A lot of people drink shandy's. Here I was thinking that these are only drunk by your great aunty or your nana, but over here even some of the hardest looking blokes (with tattoo's and all) drink shandy's. Tell you what it's hard to keep a straight face when I'm serving them. Soft as!!

2. The Europeans (mainly the French) that I serve generally leave there manners somewhere other the bar.

3. No one get really out of hand like in Aus, as the pub generally shuts at 11:30 at the latest.

So there you have it. A fairly short post this time around.

Take Care. Woof

Beers and Buildings in Brussels

2007-05-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

G'day punters. I've just returned from a 3 day trip to Brussels (the Capital of Belgium) am still a little hungover. Awesome place...lots of good beers lots of good food. A lot less busy than London. They speak french so I had to learn a little in order to buy food and order beer. (oui oui!). The 3 highlights were as follows:

The Buildings.

Amazing..... I guess until one visits a country that has been around for more than 2 hundred years, they don't realise how interesting buildings that are centuries old are. The main square was surrounded by eight to ten story building which were all at least 5 or 6 hundred years old.

The Beers.

The beers were all about 6.5% or more and had a funny sort of caramel taste. I did have a few which were about 9%... but only a few. The photo is of me at a Pub at which you could order a selection of 5 different beers ranging from a light, to a Rasberry beer, to a very strong dark beer. My favourite was called an Orval which was like a Coopers Pale Ale beer a little more bitter and stronger.

The Bands.

Fortunately Brussels hosted a Jazz Festival on the weekend that we were in town. It was actually more Jazz, Blues and Funk than just Jazz. Across the city there was about 4 stages like this one which were free to go to. After speaking to an Aussie we met who lived in Brussels we discovered that this kind thing happens on most weekends.

I also visited a world renown musical instrument museum which was in a 6 storey old building with a whole floor of instruments to play and learn. The other floors were full of just about every instrument in the world. Each visitor would have a pair of wireless headphones which would play the sounds of each particular instrument as you walked past the display.

My next trip is to Paris to see Genesis at the end of June so watch this space.

Pinch me

2007-05-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

Ventured into London on my own yesterday. And you know what!. It's not that hard. The whole tube system is actually quite close together. You can probably walk to each of the stops in an extra five mins. Don't forget the whole of Britain could be laid on its side and fit in to Victoria.

Anyway I went and meet a old mate for lunch near 'The NEW Scotland Yard'

I then ventured to Westminster Station to see 'Big Ben'. It is quite surreal. When you actually see it after spending 30 years seeing it on tele and pictures you really need to pinch yourself to remind you your actually there. Its a very impressive building with lots of golden bits on it.

Anyway today we have some blue sky. No shit!!! BLUE SKY.... no I'm not joking. So I'm back into town at about 4 to meet a friend for some outdoor beers.

Brown dog away from home

2007-05-16T03:26:00.000-07:00

G'day punters, hope you are all well.

Besides the 34 hours of sleep deprivation to combat the jet lag, the first few days have been pretty good.

London is on the go!!! I'm noticing that most of the people are pretty focused, by that I mean they don't bother with the occasional 'excuse me' when thy bump into you. (what a concept!!!). Ah well.......... I'll just have to be extra polite...... NOT!!!!

The flat is small but quite modern and cosy on the inside. Penny and I have a decent room with an on-suite.

On Tuesday we ventured into London to organise a Mobile number and to activate my bank account. After that we walked down to the see the Legal precinct.

The buildings are very old and impressive. We even saw Saint Paul's Cathedral. On the way there we stopped at the Twinnings Shop, which had just about every flavour of tea you can poke a stick at.

A funny thing happened on the way home. Whilst walking through the Liverpool Street Station I notice a homeless bloke carrying his kitchen sink... literally.. HIS KITCHEN SINK. I couldn't help but think of when I was packing and my mum saying 'you packed just about everything but the kitchen sink'. Without being mean.. I had a bit a laugh to myself.

What this space.

OT

Brown Dog is nearly out of the yard

2007-05-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well.... I'm just about to embark on my 15 months adventure to Europe so the context of these posts will be changing from that of a political commentary to that of a travel diary. I should say though...for those of you out there that are looking toward a stunt like this please be aware that by the time you go it is quite possible that you may end up in jail for strangling the 79th person to ask you one of the following questions:

1. Are you excited? Of course I'm fucking excited. Do I strike you as being autistic.

2. Do you miss Penny? (your girlfriend that meeting you over there) You try going with out sex and companionship for 17 weeks.

3. How long to go now? Thanks for reminding me.

Jeeekers......

Anyway .... with approximately 9 days to go I reckon I've got everything sorted out except for one thing. This being the ALP candidate for my seat of Boothby. I just don't get it. I refuse to believe the Nicole Cornes has been seriously pre-selected. Neither Kevin Foley or Kevin Rudd are that stupid to put her in a marginal seat. I think it may be just a bad joke or a lost bet. Anyway looks like I'm leaving the electorate just in time.

Redneck Emails

2007-02-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hello punters and puntettes. Here I was thinking that racism in modern Australian society was pretty much non existent. Boy... was I wrong. I was included as one of many recipients of the following email today:

FW:.........................
If you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime, TRY THIS:

Enter Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law, or any of that nonsense.Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family. Demand bilingual nurses and doctors. Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc.Procreate abundantly. Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible reproductive behaviour with,"It is a cultural thing; you wouldn't understand mate."Keep your Australian identity strong. Fly the your national flag from your roof top, or proudly display it in your front window or on your car bumper.Speak only English at home and in public and insist that your children do likewise.Demand classes on English and Australian culture in the Muslim school system.Demand a local country driver license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimise your unauthorised, illegal, presence in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq.Drive around with no liability insurance and ignore local traffic laws.Insist that local country law enforcement teach English to all its officers.

Good luck! You'll soon be dead. Because it will never happen in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq or any other country in the world except right here in Australia. For we are run by soft, politically correct politicians who are too scared to "offend" anyone.

If you agree, pass it on.If you don't, feel free to go ahead and try the above in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq.

MY RESPONSE (TO ALL) IS AS FOLLOWS.

Offend???!!!!. Maaaate!..... if offend means not showing compassion to individuals that in most cases come to this country for help, then .... shit ... I need to check the dictionary.

My definition of offensive is people who (not you) write emails like this that to satisfy some need to group all Australians as insecure, racist, rednecks in order to give some kind of validity to there f*cked up intolerant argument about people who aren't the same as them.

Lots of love

Howard for President

2007-02-12T04:39:00.000-08:00

Hello there punters. Isn't this great. Our 'arguably' greatest politician has has done all but announce his Republican candidacy for the up coming US elections. I mean... come on .. after selling such stories as the children over boards, dentention centres, David Hicks the best of all the benefits of us at War in Iraq, I guess he feels the Australian electorate has become a bit boring... a bit too easy. He needs a greater challenge. Well.... I say good one Johnny. off you go. Being the eiltest racist that you are, you're probably better suited to USA and the Republicans. And if you can't cut it... I'm sure George W will put you up for a while. Just don't try and come back here - you'd hate to end up in a detention center.

2007-01-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

I know...... the media from time to time do some pretty weird things.... but what the FUCK!! is the fascination with Bindi Irwin? Why would channel Ten actually spend money so that they could get the rights to broadcast a show normally seen on Channel 9, just so we can see this bug eyed freak talk to dirty old Dave Letterman in the hereditary manic fashion that her dad was famous for. I mean COME ON!! people... lets give this girl a bit of space to grieve.... Even without all the attention, which lets face it, any little kid would love, this poor girl is probably going to have issues later on in her life anyway. Every day we see newspaper reports which frown upon actions that effect the lives of kids... is this not doing the exact same thing......!!!!

2007-01-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

So how those petrol companies hey.....!? Oil prices go down yet we pay more for petrol. FUCK!!!Why don't we just have a straight tax that goes directly into their pockets.. . Perhaps the government should be able to do something? Sorry ...my mistake, the Howard government stopped giving a fuck about any but the rich in this country about .....8 years ago.