new passport

well, my aussie passport is one happy chappy now as i've obtained a british one to keep him company. yep.. i'm now the proud holder of two passports. it's been a long road to get to this stage but it's worth it as i'm now entitled to travel back to europe any time i like without having to worry about visas etc. hooray!!

1989 top pop

mark edwards posted the top 10 songs of his 18th year (1988) which i found quite interesting so i thought i'd have a look and post the top 10 songs of my 18th year (1989).

in order they were:

1. Like A Prayer - Madonna

fantastic song from when she was at her peak

2. The Look - Roxette

another great song. they were pretty daggy but roxette knew how to put out a catchy tune

3. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

i love this song.. and who hasn't danced to it at some stage??

4. Eternal Flame - The Bangles

hmmm.. yep, another dag classic that i love

5. If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher

i'm on the fence on this one. it's harmless enough i spose. of course the visual metaphor in the video couldn't possibly have been more obvious

6. She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

it didn't take long for this song to drive me crazy. and to think they used to write songs as good as 'blue' and 'johnny come home'

7. Bedroom Eyes - Kate Ceberano

a truly dreadful pile of steaming parrot droppings

8. You Got It (The Right Stuff) - New Kids On The Block

awful awful song. what an amazing collective lack of talent

9. Kokomo - The Beach Boys

a pretty average song from a formerly great band. brian wilson could churn out better songs than this in his sleep

10. The Living Years - Mike & The Mechanics

when asked to nominate the worst song of all time this is usually the first one to come to mind. it is honestly one of the most dreadful songs ever inflicted on the listening public.

if you wanna find the aussie top 10s from past years, the link is HERE

it's west coast, not west australia

i can't believe that west coast have been given permission to wear the 1977 WA state of origin jumper in the heritage round and consider it totally inappropriate. this is not me just being anti-west coast (no, really) as i would also be opposed to freo wearing it. the heritage round is all about celebrating the heritage of one's club and, as such, the former state guernsey has nothing to do with west coast. i couldn't imagine any of the victorian clubs asking, or being given permission, to wear the 'big v' in a club game. freo wear a jumper worn by the original fremantle fc which is fair enough. west coast have plenty of former guernsey designs to choose from and should be made to stick to those. of course, the other question that should be answered is what will happen should freo ever decide to make the same request. surely as a WA based club we should have the same entitlement to the guernsey of our state but of course such a suggestion is ludicrous now that west coast have been given the undeserved rights.

i'm all for the old state guernsey being honoured by being worn in a game but the appropriate forum for this is in a state game by a representative side. if they wanted to revive it they should have worn it in the game against the vics yesterday.. perhaps it may have inspired our boys to put in a bit of a better effort than the embarrassment of a 119 point flogging

update

wow, hadn't realised it's been so long since i updated what i've been doing. at the moment my aussie passport is in with the british embassy here in poland whilst i apply for my british (and hence EU) passport. what this means is that i really can't do any travelling as i need a passport to hire a car and also to book into accomodation. this isn't a bad thing as it's given me a chance to spend a bit more time seeing kraków. a couple of weekends ago a few friends from london came over for a few days during which time we went out to see auschwitz which is pretty sobering.

last saturday michelle, steve and i did a 4 and a half hour bike tour of kraków which was really enjoyable and then on the sunday i went for a tramride out to nowa huta which is a suburb set up by the communists as a worker's stronghold. there's a massive steelworks factory which is past its peak and also a catholic church which was championed by pope john paul II as the suburb was designed specifically to exclude any churches and it was only by pressure from the people and the pope that it ended up being built.

this weekend is a long one in the uk and therefore for me as well. it's gotten quite hot here and very humid. it's almost tropical with the humidity and warm, heavy rain showers in the arvo. yesterday i took advantage of the hot weather and went to park wodny which is kraków's main waterpark with some good (and fast) waterslides. today i've been out to salwator which is a suburb of kraków with some very old history. one church (kosciól najswietszego salwatora) is believed to have been build prior to 966ad. another wooden octagonal church (kosciól malgorzaty) is believed to have been built on an old pagan shrine to the god poswist. the highlight of the area for me is kopiec kosciuszki which is a huge mound from which one has a panoramic view of kraków and its surrounds. it is named after general tadeusz kosciuszko who was a great polish hero and after who mount kosciuszko in australia is named. tomorrow i'm planning on heading out to the famous salt mines where there are intricate carvings out of the rock.. there's even a full underground church where everything (including the altar and chandeliers) are carved from the rock salt.

i thought i'd add a photo of my desk at work just to give an idea of where i sit for many hours every day. it's nothing too exciting but has the mandatory freo calendar and anti-west coast sign.

back to czech

it seems that i'm spending most weekends in the czech republic at the moment but that's because it's such a beautiful country. this weekend was a long weekend in the uk so i took advantage of the extra day off to head to cesky krumlov on the recommendation of michelle, megan and vera and am glad i did. the town itself is quite small and really beautiful with the sort of castle and cobblestoned streets that you imagine eastern european towns have. it has a meandering river that is crossed by a number of small bridges and is a truly splendid place to spend some time. unfortunately it rained a lot whilst there so i also spent some time driving through the forests in the mountains on the border with austria and germany which was quite magical.

i'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend so much time in this part of the world. poland is an amazing country and the people who i've been lucky enough to be associated with through my work have helped make my time here really enjoyable. i've spent quite a bit of time travelling in eastern europe since arriving in the uk in 2003 and it's probably my favourite part of the world outside of australia. hopefully i'll get to see a bit more before finally heading home.

megan & ve & me

it's been great over the past few days having megan and vera staying with me in kraków. i've not seen either of them for quite a few years and the last time was when vera was a little girl. it's incredible to see how much she's grown and the amazing job megan's done as her mum. the pair of them are great company and i've really appreciated having them around. not to mention that it's nice to have others who appreciate buffy and harry potter even more than i do. i definitely want to spend more time with them when we're all back in paradise (perth).