sofia's law?

it's funny how people are the same everywhere. it doesn't take much to whip into a frenzy the people who rely on 'today tonight', howard sattler and 'the sunday times' for their news and opinion. there wouldn't be a single person in perth that isn't horrified by what dante arthurs did to sofia rodriguez-urrutia shu (yep, one can be compassionate and yet say her name without having to add an adjective such as precious, darling or little). it's the way that people react to that horror that i find bemusing. there is now a push to enact an australian version of megan's law and sarah's law (to be known as sofia's law) and have a publically available database of anyone convicted of child sex crimes. this is despite the fact that even if there was such a law in place, arthurs wouldn't have been on the list anyway. well, at the risk of being stoned, flogged in a public place or, even worse, being accused of being 'soft on crime', i completely oppose such a law. the reason i oppose such lists is that they are largely useless. the majority of people who commit sex crimes will not be on the list as they will not have been caught yet. dante arthurs is a perfect example of this. the only purpose these lists serve is to make the public who fight for them feel good about themselves and for politicians to get cheap votes.

but worse than these laws being useless publicity stunts, i believe they have the potential to do far more harm than good. i say this for the following reasons:

• the debate of them takes time in parliament at the expense of laws that will actually make a difference
• they increase the risk of innocent people being attacked by vigilantes due to mistaken identity - this has already happened overseas
• they increase the risk of convicted child molesters 'going underground' to avoid the chance of being attacked by vigilantes which makes it almost impossible for police to continue monitoring them - this then increases the chance of a repeat offence
• they increase apathy amongst lazy parents who rely on the list as if it were exhaustive
• they undermine the basic principles of our justice system
• they waste valuable resources that could be put to better use

to clarify, i oppose these laws for the above reasons and because they are useless. if they were proved to work i would obviously support them fully. we currently have the list that the unthinking masses are demanding but it is only accessible by police... and that's the way it should stay!!

i reckon there are much more important and useful things we can do to protect our kids. the first thing that i believe should be done is for it to be made illegal (with harsh penalties) to smoke in a car or building where kids are present. there should also be an exclusion zone (is 50 metres far enough?) around kids where it's illegal to smoke. this would actually make a practical, everyday contribution to protecting kids. and how about bringing in some sort of law ensuring kids receive adequate nutrition? this is an area where kids are routinely abused. and if people really want a public register, then how about making one for people who are a real threat to kids (as opposed to a 'today tonight' threat) - convicted speeders and drink drivers! i'd be on the speeders list unfortunately.

it would be interesting to see whether people are serious about protecting kids or just jumping on a populist bandwagon. i have a funny feeling that many of the people who are so quick to demand enactment of 'sofia's law' wouldn't be so quick to support the measures i suggest. i can hear cries of 'nanny state' and 'big brother' already. there's a word to describe these people - hypocrites!!

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22484549-5008620,00.html

small small cox

he may be tall in stature but dean cox is a small, small man. his on-camera reaction last night when josh carr was given 3 brownlow votes for the second western derby was pathetic and completely lacking any degree of sportsmanship. the judges on the day awarded carr the ross glendinning medal as the best player on the ground. the umpires awarded him top brownlow votes as the best player on the ground. it's time for the e-girls players and supporters to just build a bridge and get over it. face facts - carr was clearly the best player on the ground that day and him roughing up druggie cuzzy was just the icing on the cake.

soft tigers

those with even a passing interest in footy will know that the worst insult that can be levelled against a team is that they're soft. it's ok to be crap, as long as you're not soft. well, yesterday's grand final really sticks in my throat as my beloved tigers played as soft as i've ever seen. i hate to admit it but subi were very hard at the ball and put unbelievable pressure on claremont which our players simply couldn't handle. after such a fantastic season and successive wins over subi, to come out and play like that in a grand final is pretty devastating. i'm sure the players and feeling very sore and sorry for themselves today. i do love my tigers and know that they're not an inherently soft team but yesterday's performance was just so disappointing, especially as we've shown during the season that we're a better team than subi. i just hope that the senior players make a pact to continue on next year and make amends as we've now lost 3 of the past 4 grand finals and it's time to realise the potential we have.

still, as i say.. the monts to be great in 2008!

all at peace

ok, i know this is most likely of no interest to anyone but me but i'm gonna post it cos it's my blog and i'll post whatever i like!!

i just had the best lunch break i've had for a very long time. there's a little park over the road from work and i went down and sat in the mild sunshine leaning against a jacaranda tree reading a really good book. the grass was such a vibrant green and the zephyr was taking away the excess heat leaving it a perfect warmth. it's enough to make one sleepy so i lay down on the grass and had a very relaxing rest. even coming back to the office isn't too bad as the swan river is so blue today that it's particularly beautiful.

and it's nearly the weekend.. yay!

keeping up with the joneses

i'm very happy with the result of anthony jones winning this year's sandover medal. he's a claremont boy through and through having come through our junior system and played colts and ressies with the club before going on to play 82 games for freo. it's just a shame that he suffered so many injuries during his afl career as he was a pretty handy player in the backline. these days he's dominating the forward line for claremont and i reckon he must be loving kicking a few goals. as i played most of my footy in the backline i know i'd love to have been able to kick a few myself. AJ's dad, mark, was also one of my lecturers when i was studying for my teaching degree many years ago. now i just hope we can get another win over subi this sunday to claim our first premiership since 1996.

top 5 songwriters

the great thing about having a blog is being able to share my opinions with the two or three people who actually read it. anyhoo, i was thinking recently about who would be my top five songwriters and i've managed to come up with a list. i've cheated a little as i've counted songwriting teams as equal to individuals simply because they sometimes cannot be split up. so here goes (in no particular order)...

1. bob dylan
2. kurdt cobain
3. morrissey/marr
4. neil young
5. lennon/mccartney

as i said, songwriting teams have been put in together. obviously morrissey and johnny marr wouldn't be separated but one may wonder about lennon/mccartney. well, i wouldn't include a solo john lennon or paul mccartney in my list of top five (or ten for that matter). some people like mick thomas, leonard cohen, frank black and bruce springsteen don't miss out by all that much but still don't get a guernsey.

any suggestions of alternative top 5's will be read with interest.

disgraceful

let me preface this by saying that i know quite a few e-girls supporters who are decent people and actually know a bit about footy... it's just that not many of them can have been at subi for the semi final on friday night. i watched the game on tele and was disgusted to hear the crowd booing nathan buckley whenever he touched the ball. now i can understand booing a player under some circumstances (when he's a drug crazed knobend with an oversized ego for example) but to boo someone like buckley who's done nothing except be an absolute champion of the game just shows the mentality of the wet toast members and their lack of understanding of the game. their behaviour on friday night, along with the throwing of pies and bottles at the best player on the ground in the last western derby, is simply disgraceful and is a perfect crystalisation of why i hate west coast so much and have no respect for the bulk of their supporters. they don't derserve to have a player of judd's stature wearing their jumper.

and.. as the old joke goes.. how do you know when a plane load of weagles supporters has landed? the whining continues after the engines have stopped. i can't wait to hear the whining this week as they try to blame everything under the sun for their team's failure to win a final. face facts.. THEY SIMPLY WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH!!

oh yeah, one final thing. to the beached whale who made snide comments to me during the week about it being sad (meaning pathetic) to barrack for a team that's missed the finals yet again.. i laugh in your general direction. i'd retort that i'd rather barrack for a team that misses the finals than for druggie scum that make the finals but aren't good enough to win a game but i reckon that would probably be a bit below the belt.. so for now i merely extend a satisfied grin and await to renew my freo membership

kanye vs fiddy

fantastic news this week for anyone who enjoys seeing third rate 'gangsta' rappers getting their comeuppence. curtis jackson III (aka 50 cent.. cos that's how much his truly dreadful cd's sell for in the charity shops) has said that if kanye west's new album outsells his this week he's gonna retire. from what i've read it looks like kanye is well ahead and hopefully it will be the last we hear from mr cent... although something tells me we won't be that lucky. now if only someone could find a way to get a few other ppl to retire....

2.24 million watch chaser

wow.. about 10% of the australian population tuned in last night to watch 'the chaser's war on everything'. naturally the week's controversy over their stunt at the apec summit (or opec if you're george jnr) drew a lot of people but it's great that a bit of political satire manages to pull a crowd. i really love the chaser's humour which reminds me a great deal of the wonderful 'late show' that screened on the abc about 15 years ago. of course, the guys who did 'the late show' went on to form 'working dog' and have been responsible for such wonderful programmes as 'funky squad', 'the panel', 'thank god you're here' and 'frontline' as well as movies 'the dish' and 'the castle' (which is one of my favourite movies of all time). it'll be interesting to see what the chaser boys do over the next decade or so.

joys of home pt 2

sunsets over scarborough beach

conservapedia

if you want a bit of a laugh along with a fair amount of frustration check out http://www.conservapedia.com/. yep, as you'd guess by its name, it's the reaction by the right wing to what it perceives as 'liberal biases' in wikipedia. as would be expected, the contributors to conservapedia consider the best way to deal with biased, subjective entries in wikipedia is to create biased, subjective entries of their own. the more controversial entries (eg. george bush jnr) are locked to prevent anyone amending the record with a dissenting view whilst anyone, conservative or otherwise, who even asks questions that could lead to dissenting responses is decried as a 'liberal'. there's an area for discussion where one can find such enlightened opinions as the person who stated that most democrats (yep, it's a very america-centric site.. and proud of it!) are atheists and the ones that go to church are just hypocrites.. lol!! unfortunately for a site that is trying to present itself as an alternative online encyclopedia, there is actually very little actual educational value. for example, virtually the entire entry on dinosaurs is devoted to arguing that evolution is wrong and that it can be proved that dinosaurs co-existed with humans whilst very little about dinosaurs is actually included.

anyhoo, if you have some spare time on your hands and wanna check out the effects of lobotomy on the mind's ability to think logically then check out this site. it's a hoot!

has the world gone topsy turvy?

i don't believe it!! in the three and a half years i lived in london the one thing that could be relied upon was that the service provided by the northern line would be crap and certainly the worst by far of all the tube lines. i used to have to take the thing twice a day and it was a truly dreadful service. i had to put up with it being hit by strike, being delayed by 'signal failures' more often than you could poke a stick at, having extended closures, trains terminating unexpectedly and even a derailment. it was usually referred to in the media as the 'misery line'.

now i see that it is one of only two lines not hit by suspensions! what's the world coming to?? how typical that it suddenly becomes reliable once i leave. hmmmph!

bush the bully

thank goodness the reign of george bush jnr is coming to an end. i read with disbelief in the paper this morning that he's planning to attack iran and destroy any military capabilities they may have (the australian - 3/9/07). this will be the third unprovoked open attack on another nation during his presidency and further proof that not only is he one of the worst presidents ever to have been in power in the USA but that he's also a warmongering lunatic and, by many definitions, a war criminal.

when iraq invaded and occupied kuwait in the 90's the reaction of the international community was swift and decisive and yet we have a situation where US forces have invaded afghanistan and iraq and are still occupying these countries without any organised consequences. now the plans are to attack iran. the USA is the nelson muntz of the world community who, along with its gang of bullies, picks on anyone who dares to be different or who has more lunch money than they do... and that's nothing to be proud of!

cheers cookie

"he's played the game the way i expect the game to be played". that's what mark harvey had to say about troy cook on his retirement and i reckon that pretty much sums him up. cookie is one of the hardest players i've ever seen play the game but was always an unquestionably fair player as well. he wasn't the most talented player in the afl (although you've gotta be a lot more talented than the average footballer to play nearly 200 afl games) but he plays in a style built on courage and discipline. i've seen him put his safety on the line so often since he came to freo and no matter how hard he's hit, he goes at the ball just as hard the next time. the guy just oozes guts. i'm really proud of the club for playing him in the last three games to enable him to get life membership. it's something that great clubs do and shows that the spirit of the game hasn't been completely diluted by the big money that the afl revolves around these days.

i'm gonna miss watching cookie play.

six suspended

after a hard year of underachieving for freo the season is ending on a high note with harvs suspending six players for disciplinary reasons. i reckon this really bodes well for the future as we have needed a tough coach for a while now and finally it looks like we've got one. as much as i love chris and damian, they were probably too nice for their own good and the players tended to get away with a lot (at least that's the impression i get from what i've read). hopefully next year there will be a new discipline around the club and we can get on with the business of winning our first premiership.

naturally there's also the added benefit that a sub-strength team going to play port adelaide at footy park this weekend is unlikely to play well enough to give west coast second spot on the ladder. yay

today tonight sucks

anyone who has had the misfortune of watching 'today tonight' will know what a pile of steaming parrot droppings the show is. it's amazing that it hasn't been done for false advertising by calling itself a current affairs show when it's really the televisual equivalent of 'that's life' magazine. well, wednesday night was a new low for this rubbish programme with one of the most self-serving, objectionable pieces of bile it has screened when it responded to the boycott of channel 7 by the AFL players. in attempting to defend the 'journalist' who thought it appropriate to air details of stolen medical records for which the channel had paid, the show proved once and for all that it doesn't have a shred of objective journalistic integrity but is rather just a mouthpiece for spouting the subjective opinions of station management. comparing an outraged brendan gale to a jilted lover and disputing the amount paid for the stolen medical records as if somehow this was important or justified their actions was ludicrous. no one really expects any sort of serious journalism from 'today tonight' but this was really beyond the pale.

says it all really...

farmer judd brown

i've found the workings of the afl tribunal and reporting system to be quite fascinating lately.

first there was the admission from campbell brown that he lied (or fibbed as they put it on the tele.. what exactly is the difference between a fib and a lie and where do they fit in the spectrum of untruths?) to the tribunal when he said that chris judd didn't commit one of the most cowardly acts there is on the footy field in eye gouging. for this moment of honesty he was fined $15,000 by the afl. naturally judd hasn't had any sanction imposed on him. so let's think about this for a moment. by fining brown, the afl is confirming that his original testimony was untrue and, by extension, that chris judd was guilty of eye gouging. yet somehow judd has escaped scot free and brown's ended up with a huge fine. that'll teach brownie for getting his eye in the way of the finger of a clean-cut brownlow medalist.

next came the case on the weekend of jeff farmer's face spontaneously exploding in the game against st kilda. we know it was spontaneous as there was no video footage of baker punching him. the fact that farmer had to be helped off the field with his nose spread across his face and not knowing if he was arthur or martha doesn't prove anything. if there's no video footage then no one can be charged. how ridiculous! it wasn't all that long ago that players were charged and convicted based on verbal evidence alone as there was no video footage to rely on. these days we rely far too heavily on the tele footage. it's a great tool but shouldn't be the only acceptable evidence. i hope baker gets his just desserts but am not holding my breath. i remember only too well when aaron sandilands' jaw spontaneously broke in the immediate vicinity of seaby during a western derby and nothing ended up being done.

postscript:
well, baker got 7 weeks so i guess there is still some chance of justice for victims of gutless off-the-ball thuggery

post postscript:
hmmm.. maybe i was a bit hasty. it's sounding like baker was a tad hard done by so i guess i should retract a bit of my original postscript (but not all..)

joys of home pt 1

sausage sizzle outside bunnings.. yum!!

footy

wow, what a great weekend of footy results. on saturday i drove up to claremont oval for the top of the table clash between my mighty tigers and subiaco. going into the game we were second on the ladder and subi were the favourites to win the clash, especially as they had chad fletcher and shane parker playing. as it turned out claremont were way too hard at the ball for subi and ended up winning by 38 points which puts us equal top on the ladder but with a game in hand. this means that if we win every game for the rest of the season we will end up as minor premiers and earn a home final.

then yesterday freo were fantastic in the second half to crush essendon. our first half was pretty ordinary with a lot of skill errors that a better team would have made more advantage of but after halftime we were brilliant. after spending last sunday arvo sitting amongst the rabble and low-lifes that make up the majority of weagles members, it was nice to be back amongst a freo home crowd who seem to be somewhat better educated footywise. i was particularly proud of the standing ovation given to kevin sheedy before the game and again after the game as he left the ground. there's no doubting that freo's members are more passionate about their team than the weagles members but we're still able to recognise and aplaud someone as central to the success of the game as kevin sheedy.

there's still a very hard run towards the finals for freo but if we make it we will certainly be in full momentum. as for claremont, it may finally be our year after having gone for 11 long years without a premiership. having lost the 2004 and 2005 grand finals will make winning this one even sweeter.

perth

i've been travelling up to work each day on the bus from golden bay where i'm housesitting for my brother and it really struck me this morning how beautiful perth actually is. i've always said it is but sometimes one takes it for granted and doesn't really see the beauty. well, this morning my eyes were opened again as the bus drove along the kwinana freeway towards town and i was able to look out over the river. there were swans and pelicans swimming peacefully whilst cormorants sat on rocks with their wings opened to catch the morning sun. the water was lapping gently against the shore and the boats were bobbing in their moorings and the view across to kings park was stunning. i've been to quite a lot of beautiful towns and cities in other parts of the world and it's true that perth doesn't really have the grand historical buildings of a place like prague or sibiu but the natural beauty of perth is truly unbeatable.

derby 26

what an absolute ripper of a game yesterday. i must admit that i wasn't particularly confident going into the game given what i'd seen last week against geelong but obviously that was the kick in the pants my boys needed because they were brilliant yesterday. their ferocity at the ball and the more direct play is exactly what we need to display on a more regular basis if we want to fulfil our potential. i really love going to the derbys as they're usually a good, close game played with all the hardness that the freo derbies were known for. yesterday was no exception with both teams showing a real aggression. i'm very proud of my boys and hope that they can keep playing this way.

another thing i find with western derbies is that they usually serve to intensify my dislike of west coast and many of their supporters and yesterday was no exception. the booing of josh carr when he went on stage to accept the glendinning medal was inexcusable in itself but the sheer hypocrisy of the west coast members was staggering. it was only last year that they took the moral high ground (a very rare place for west coast supporters to be) when chris judd was booed by freo members upon winning the glendinning medal. at the time i sided with the wce members and said that i was very unimpressed with the behaviour of the freo members. for them now to exhibit what they so recently claimed to be disgusting behaviour is yet another example of how morally bankrupt they are. at least the freo members were booing the decision rather than the player but there was no doubt yesterday that the boos were directed purely at josh carr.

i've now read in the paper this morning that carr also had cool drink bottles and even a meat pie thrown at him by the rabble that pass as wce members and that police had to intervene at half time when a wce moron tried to physically have a go at jeff farmer. these people are the lowest of the low and should be banned from attending anymore football matches.

bring on derby 27!!

update on me

it's been a while since i gave an update on what i'm up to so i figure now's a good time. i'm still homeless at the moment and counting down the days until the tenant moves out of our flat in scarborough so that i can move in... less than a month to go now!! i'm currently housesitting for pete and ali in golden bay which involves a long commute to work and back each day. presently it's taking between 2.5 - 3 hours for each round trip which i can handle as i know it's only temporary. i started working for schlumberger last wednesday and so have now done just over a week. the work is fine and the people i work with are very friendly. i'm working in the payroll dept so it's familiar territory for me. probably the worst aspect of the job is that i now have to wear a suit every day (except for dress down fridays) which is something that i've not had to do before.

i've had the opportunity to catch up with quite a few people since i've been back which has been really enjoyable. corey's new coffee shop (http://www.epicespresso.com.au/) is really lovely and vanessa's coffees are as delicious as ever. i'm enjoying the footy and even got a hug from the elderly lady i sit near at the freo home games. all the crew there seem pretty glad to have me back in my old seat at subi oval although we've lost both games i've been to so far and i have a bad feeling that this could be extended with the western derby this weekend.

so, all in all, it's lovely to be home and it kinda feels like i was never really away.

freo coaching

it's been a huge few weeks in the afl with four coaches now out of a job. what i reckon is pretty significant for freo is that there are now three very experienced coaches available. personally i think we'd be foolish to go down the road of an untried assistant yet again when there are coaches with proven track records available. i reckon our best option now is to approach sheedy to take over as senior coach and do a deal with harvs under which he would be sheeds' senior assistant coach with a view to him taking over outright in three or four years. this way we could have the benefit of a coaching legend to guide us during what is likely to be our best chance for a premiership for a while and in the meantime harvs would know that he will be the heir apparent. this would give him the opportunity to work closely with sheeds and they could gradually bring in the support staff that harvs wants so that his structure is firmly in place by the time he takes over as senior coach.

if we don't offer the job to sheedy then i reckon we should ask either daniher or pagan but should do everything possible to get someone with experience and who can instill a fair bit of discipline.

R.I.P. sodastream

yep, i know it's now quite old news that sodastream have called it a day but it's new to me as i've only been back in perth for the past 2 weeks. i've loved the music of sodastream for a long time and was actually at their first gig (supporting gary wiseman for his cassette launch) when they were a 3 piece and their music was still quite reminscent of the wonderful thermos cardy. they've changed a lot over the years but karl's touching and beautiful songwriting has always remained a constant. they were the first band i saw after arriving in london in 2003 and saw them again in january this year which makes them one of the last bands i saw before leaving london. i just hope that karl still finds a way to put his music out there as it will be a huge loss if he doesn't.

a nice win

well it was a great first up win for harvs and begs the question of why the players didn't play with such desperation under chris. let's just hope that they can carry on like that for the rest of the season and perhaps a miracle can happen with us making the finals. if we did get into the eight we'd certainly be playing with a fair bit of momentum and anything can happen from there.

i've been interested in the debate over the prospect of sumich coaching us next year. i'm obviously no fan of the weagles and would prefer that we didn't get a former west coast player as our coach, but i know that any dislike of him would evaporate very quickly if the team found early success. i remember gerard neesham taking over as coach of claremont from mossie in 1987 and i was very much opposed to him but after a few wins i was glad he was there and now i reckon the man's a saint.. and a bloomin good coach as well. if only he'd had a good list during the early freo days...

jeffrey

to quote the beatles.. "i read the news today.. oh boy". i simply can't believe that the wiz has stuffed up again and at such a difficult time for the club. as if there wasn't enough going on without this to worry about. for once i'm really glad that i'm not in a position of power within the club but rather just one of thousands of members cos i'd hate to be having to make the decision on his future. there is no question that we are very much poorer onfield without him in the side but how much more of this behaviour can be put up with? i've been very critical of the weagles for the amount of rope they've let their players have over the years so i spose the chickens are coming home to roost as some really tough decisions need to be made down at freo oval now. i really don't know the best way to go forward with this and am glad that we've got some pretty bright people in charge of the club.

most importantly, i really hope the club can help jeff address the issues he obviously has and assist him to overcome them in the long term as i'd hate to see him end up going down the same road as jimmy krakouer and ending up in gaol. if this means he doesn't play for us again, then so be it.. as long as he ends up ok in the end.

thank you chris

so the inevitable has happened and chris connolly has stepped down as coach of freo. i know the press are always in need of a good story but they really need to stop and think about what they're doing sometimes. the speed with which they've turned on chris has been despicable and there are a number of 'journalists' in perth who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. the fact of the matter is that my mob were a laughing stock when chris took over at the end of 2001. i still clearly remember that season as i turned up week-in, week-out to watch us lose consistently. the final game against adelaide, which was the only home game we won that year, was a rare treat. the turnaround following chris' appointment was immediate. since then we've made the finals twice, including a preliminary final last season. of course, that's not enough for the vultures in the press who lick their lips at the first scent of blood.

i want to thank chris for all the work he's put into the club, for the humour he's shown and for being a simple, approachable bloke who has more integrity in his little finger than many of the 'journalists' combined. i honestly hope he gets another chance at senior level (melbourne next season maybe?) and proves just what he's capable of.

as for next year, i reckon it's time we went for a proven senior coach and therefore i'd like to see neale daniher appointed. he's been very unlucky this season with the number of injuries at melbourne and he's proven himself by coaching melbourne to a number of finals campaigns, including the 2000 grand final. he's also another coach with a great deal of integrity and knows the culture of the club after being assistant to gerard neesham.

so, good luck chris. thanks for the memories and i hope 2008 proves to be a fantastic year for you.

a little update

hey ho.. i've been home now for a week and a half and gradually things are returning to 'normal'. i'm still at mum's and on monday start housesitting for my brother and sis-in-law down in golden bay. i'm really looking forward to moving into my scarborough unit but it's still a few weeks away. yesterday i bought a car so now i have wheels and today i had a job interview and was offered the position. it's a payroll position for an oil company on st george's tce so is perfect as it will make it easy to catch public transport to work once i get to scarborough. with any luck i can start on monday! it's also been cool catching up with various friends and family. i went down to have tea with trev, ruth and family last night and had a great time catching up. trev would be my oldest friend as we've been mates since i was in primary school.

i enjoyed watching claremont and freo play on the weekend in two very similar games. both games involved a lot of errors and poor play from my teams but fortunately claremont managed to snatch a 7 point win whilst freo went down to nth melbourne by 4 points. barring some sort of miracle i really can't see freo making the finals this year. still, one must stick by the team and keep up the support regardless of whether we make the finals or not.

i'm still having moments of missing london and krakow but i guess that will always be the case. i still haven't found a good polish restaurant here yet but am determined to do so. after all, how long can someone last without a good dish of pierogi z miesem??

another great thing about being back in perth is bumping into people you know just about everywhere you go. there's only been a couple of times that i've gone out since i've been back that i haven't bumped into someone. it used to bug me but now i really appreciate it.

this saturday is the release of the final harry potter book and i can't wait. i've already ordered my copy so i'm guaranteed to be able to pick it up on saturday morning. i think this saturday will be spent by a long time in a coffee shop down at scarborough beach reading the book.

hopefully everyone reading this is doing well and i'd love to hear from anyone who feels like dropping a line.

oh yeah.. nearly forgot.. i've also bought my first concert ticket since getting back for the silverchair/powderfinger show in september which should totally rock. can't wait!

back home

i've had a pretty eventful week. just over a week ago i was in krakow anticipating an extended trip around se asia. today i'm in karrinyup library back in perth. so.. here's how it happened.

i left paris last monday night and headed to bangkok via dubai. the signs weren't good on the leg from dubai to bangkok. i got stuck next one of those prats who whinge the whole trip. the guy was tall.. much taller than me and before we even started moving on the runway he was demanding to be upgraded to business class as his legs were too long for the economy seats. it was pretty obvious that he regularly pulls this trick and i guess it usually works for him. well this time the business class was full so there was no moving for him and he was not impressed. his next try was to ask if someone at the front of economy (where there's more leg room) could be moved for him. thankfully they didn't give into this demand. so he humphed and groaned and started giving me dirty looks as he wasn't able to stretch his legs into my space. after a while the guy in front of him decided to put his chair back which made him even more annoyed and he started pushing the guy's chair back up. eventually they had to call the head stewardess to tell him that he'd just have to put up with it. so he reckoned he was gonna put in a complaint although i really can't see what grounds he has for complaint.

anyhoo.. that was just the start. to cut a long story short, i arrived in bangkok to find my visa card suspended as i'd not told them i was travelling there so i had no access to my account. this problem, coupled with rather severe jetlag and quite a bit of homesickness made me decide to postpone my trip and head back to perth. so after two days in bangkok it was back to the airport and onto a plane to perth. fortunately i had enough cash on me to pay for the ticket or else i would have been really stranded. i arrived at perth airport at 6.20 friday morning after about one hour's sleep and caught public transport to mum's place to give her a surprise.

so here i am back home. i went to the claremont vs sth freo game on saturday with dad and saw a great win by the tigers and went down to pete and ali's for a family lunch yesterday which was also very enjoyable. now i've gotta start getting everything sorted jobwise, carwise etc back here. it's nice to be home but i know it's gonna take a while to fully settle in. i can move into my place in late august and am really looking forward to it. i just hope i manage to find a job soon.

when we left for the uk, the only time i'd been outside of WA was a one day mystery flight to sydney. now i've been to 21 countries (including england and scotland) and had a chance to see much of the world. i never thought i'd get the travelling bug but i guess it's bitten me pretty hard. it'll be strange to live in a place where i can't just pop over to another country for the weekend but i spose there are trade offs no matter where one lives.

homeward bound

well, my time in europe is finally coming to an end and my sights are on my return to perth via se asia for a cupla months backpacking, diving and beaching. by the time i arrive back home i will have been away for four years and in that time i've seen and experienced so much - some good, some bad and some ugly.

i've really enjoyed my time in kraków for the past three and a half months and can say that poland has gotten into my blood. it's a fantastic country that i've grown to love with really wonderful people. also i've been extremely fortunate in meeting my colleagues here who have now become friends that i will really miss when i leave. it's always sad when it comes time to say goodbye but i spose that it's a part of life.

updates to my blog whilst i'm away are likely to be few and far between and depend on how often i make it to internet cafes. i also won't have a phone so will be able to enjoy an extended period of being incommunicado. beaches, massages and relaxation here i come!!

benny boy

now maybe i'm a bit of a cynic but i find it hard to believe that in four months mr cousins has completely overcome his drug addiction and is ready to focus back on football. as i've said before in my writings (rantings?), i really hope ben is able to overcome his problems and get his life back on track. when it comes to things like addiction, even i try not to make cheap shots at the guy. but seriously, i do find it hard to believe that he's beaten his problems in such a short space of time and would really be interested to hear from other people who have suffered similar addictions about how long they took to finally break the shackles. as i said, i may be a cynic, but it does seem rather coincidental that when west coast were travelling well they were saying it was unlikely he'd play this season and may possibly never play again and now that they've lost four of their last six games he's suddenly being touted as looking at starting training on monday. let's hope that the interests of ben cousins the person come ahead of those ben cousins the football genius.

good luck bomber

following in the footsteps of greats such as moloney, neesham, allan and moss, 'bomber' riley takes over at melbourne after this weekend's game against essendon and becomes another claremont coach to also coach in the vfl/afl (with 'bluey' mckenna another possibility next year). i remember well when he took over from neesham in 1994 and that grand final against old easts where we ran out of time (another 15 minutes and we'd have snatched that one!!). i've never heard a bad word said about bomber and it says a lot about him that he's described as a "teacher rather than a ranter" (see the great article about him here). ranters are a dime a dozen in footy circles and i really believe it takes someone with a special character and a deeper knowledge of the game to try and teach and guide players rather than berate them. paul roos is another example of this. so good luck to bomber and i hope he is very successful.

on the note of the coaching roundabout.. possibly connolly to melbourne and daniher back to freo next year? i love chris and really hope he stays on at freo but if he has to move i reckon daniher would be a great choice as replacement. of course, mark harvey might disagree with me!

pearl jam in katowice

wow.. what an awesome night last night. to set the scene, we had a day of thunderstorms with lightning flashing across the south of poland and the deep rumble of thunder crossing the land. it was grey and wet and oppressive and not at all promising of a good night in an outdoor stadium watching pearl jam. to make matters worse, i hopped on the train from work to katowice only to realise one stop down the line that i'd left my ticket in my desk drawer in the office. so, off i had to get and back to the business park to get the ticket and wait for the next train... in an hour. the journey pt 2 wasn't any more promising as it was raining most of the way.. then..

arriving in katowice the rain had finally stopped and the air was still warm. i had no idea where i was going so followed some people who looked like they could be going to a rock concert. sure enough, my pied pipers led me to the stadium in the park in chorzów (i think it's a part of katowice but i'm not really sure) where the sounds of linkin park were already filling the air.

to cut a long story short, i made my way into the stadium and met up with zbyszek and aga from the office and settled into waiting for the band to appear. the sky was pretty clear and the air still and warm.. in short, perfect conditions for an outdoor show. it didn't take too long before the sun had gone down and the boys arrived on stage to launch into 'rearviewmirror'. they played a great set and eddie was in fine form as he interacted with the crowd. someone had written down a spiel for him to say in polish which was quite humourous but, as i don't speak the language myself, i had no idea what he was saying. the set was full of songs that are very well known (set list below) and the crowd responded accordingly. when 'daughter' morphed into a short cover of 'another brick in the wall pt 2' the singing from the audience almost overpowered eddie's singing. it was the first time i've seen pearl jam and can now see why their live show gets such great reviews.

the show finished just after 11pm and zbyszek and aga were kind enough to give me a ride back to kraków so i managed to fall into bed at 1.45am. today i'm tired, but very pleased i went.


main set:
rearviewmirror, animal, hail hail, corduroy, given to fly, worldwide suicide, elderly woman behind the counter in a small town, i am mine, lukin, even flow, comatose, nothingman, state of love and trust, spin the black circle, severed hand
encore:
leatherman, improv/daughter/another brick in the wall pt2, whipping, black/we belong together, jeremy, indifference

the land of the free

i've just been watching a fascinating and disturbing documentary on BBCworld about the CIA using secret prisons in eastern europe and afghanistan to get around their own laws banning the use of torture. the evidence is compelling that this abhorrent practice has been used extensively by the USA and further undermines their claim to be a bastion of freedom to the rest of the world. no-one wants the terrorists to get the upper hand but surely when countries that claim to stand for freedom start using torture to gain (often false) confessions and information then they are no better than the terrorists themselves. after all, how can we ask other countries to behave in ways that we are not prepared to do ourselves?

weekend in ukraine

i thought i'd celebrate my new british passport by heading somewhere on the weekend that i can't get into with my aussie passport without a visa so i headed for the ukraine. last time i was there i only saw kyiv and had wanted to also travel to lviv so, since lviv is quite close to the polish border i thought this would be a good location.

the first lesson learnt is not to enter the ukraine in the car as the border crossing is SOOO slow. on the saturday morning it took about two and a half hours to finally get through. but once through it was worth it as it is a very pretty country (as is much of eastern europe) with the things that make these countries such special places.. horse and carts, little villages with wooden houses, people in traditional dress etc.

i got to lviv and it is a very nice city although it probably would have been helpful if i had a map a bit better than the one in my lonely planet book. eventually i found the hotel i'd planned to stay in and also found secure parking for the car and set out for a bit of sightseeing and some tucker. the food was very nice but the heavens decided to open and there was torrential rain for the best part of an hour. once the rain started to lighten off i headed out with umbrella and saw the sights whilst still managing to get quite wet... my cons won't ever be the same again!! as with many of the towns i've been to in this area of the world, the main sights are a town square, some old and huge churches and various fortifications. this is not to diminish the specialness (is that a word??) of these places as they are certainly worth visiting, just to point out that when the guide books make out as though they're unique, it's usually not quite the case.

anyhoo, the town itself is lovely and not at all what people would picture when they think of the ukraine. it is clean and the historic buildings appear to be in good condition. unlike the people of kyiv who i found to be quite rude and unhelpful, the people i came across in lviv were quite the opposite. i was only there for a short while but enjoyed it very much.. even with the rain!!

sunday morning i got up and did a bit more sightseeing before heading back towards the polish border. arriving at the border crossing i figured it may take a little while to get through but there was no way i expected it to take the 4 hours it ended up. i arrived just after 1pm and finally managed to get on my way just after 5pm. aaarrgghh!!!

kraków 1257 - 2007

saturday marks the beginning of the celebrations for kraków's 750th anniversary. a huge stage has been set up in the square and there are decorations around the city. it's quite exciting to be living here at such a significant time and i'm looking forward to some of the events that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. who would've thought as a kid growing up in karrinyup that one day i'd be living in poland and celebrating a city's 750th anniversary?? it's funny how things turn out sometimes.

oh the arrogance

so george bush jnr has finally accepted that climate change is a real phenomenon and also that it's caused by human actions. well good for him.. if he truly believes it. i spose it's better late than never. what is truly breathtaking is the arrogance of the man in trying to dictate that america will now take charge of the problem. as one of only two major nations to refuse to ratify the kyoto protocol (us being the other) the usa is hardly in a moral position to start trying to dictate to the rest of the world how the issues facing us will be addressed. to a cynical observer it would appear that bush (or, more likely, his advisers) have realised that the world is going to deal with these problems with or without america being involved on the inside and has decided to try and head things off at the pass. it was clear that the germans were going to take the initiative at the upcoming G8 summit and obviously the americans couldn't allow that to happen so the man who has tried for so long to deny that climate change is a scientific fact or that man is responsible for it has tried to get in first. well, as far as i'm concerned america has had more than enough opportunity to take the lead on this and now needs to demonstrate a bit of humility and learn to follow the lead of the countries that have already started to make changes.

climate change is a reality and we need leadership from people and countries that take it seriously; not from someone who is only prepared to address it for political expediency.

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).

legends of freo

as a diehard claremont man i'm naturally in awe of the blokes who've worn the old gold and blue but regardless of how one-eyed one may be, it can't be denied that some amazing players have come out of the two freo sides. i'm naturally a bit biased towards souths as my father and grandfather are both staunch bulldogs but the old easts have also produced some legends too. having read that a combined team is going to be announced from the champions of the past has got my mouth watering with anticipation and the talk that even the great john gerovich may miss out on a guernsey shows the depth of talent available. it'll be fascinating to see how the selectors make their decisions.

dave the brit

yep, after living in the uk for three and a half years i've finally taken the big step of swearing allegiance to lizzy and becoming a british citizen. it's not such a huge step for me as she's already australia's monarch but still, to now have dual citizenship is a rather strange feeling. but fear not, perth is still my home and i'll still be barracking for australia in all sporting events!!

the most overrated artist ever?

ok.. having read opinion polls in the uk that list oasis as one of the greatest bands of all time and their first two albums in the top 5 albums of all time got me thinking... who is the most overrated artist of all time? i find it hard to get past oasis for this dubious honour. don't get me wrong, i thought 'definitely maybe' and '(what's the story) morning glory' were pretty decent albums but as far as i'm concerned there's no way they are amongst the best ever recorded. i've been trying to think of a band more overrated than oasis and i really can't at the moment.

the only artist i can think of as being on a par with oasis is richard ashcroft. he wrote a few average songs and people talk of him like he grew up on mount olympus as the forgotten son of zeus. to misquote monty python.. "he's not the messiah, he's a very overrated boy".

.

now i've kicked off proceedings, i'd like to hear feedback about who others consider to be the most overrated artists of all time.

new blog added

in what has to be one of the biggest coincidences i've experienced over here, i found out today that megan, an old friend from perth, and her daughter vera were at the same national park in czech as me on the weekend. unbelieveable!! anyhoo.. i found her blog quite interesting as they detail their trek around europe together so i've added it to my links.

have a look at it here.

dirty mongrel eagle

i've never been too comfortable with the efforts of some to make the relationship between freo and wet toast all cosy and harmonious... they are the enemy for pete's sake and we should never forget it! we owe them for the merciless beltings they gave us in the early days. we owe them for the crap/hobbled players they offloaded onto us (fewster, godden, hynes, metropolis). we owe them just for being a bunch of arrogant, drug addled knobs.

but a healthy rivalry is one thing; selwood's comments to DJ on the weekend are something else - completely uncalled for and below the belt. it's one thing to insult a bloke; we can all take that on the chin and play on. but to insult his six year old daughter says a lot about the bloke making the comment and he deserves to have the book thrown at him by the afl. i just hope DJ managed to plant a cupla good ones on his moosh before being dragged off. let's hope the payback in the next derby is worth the wait.

click here for the herald sun story

derby disaster

it's often said that there are only two games each year that freo supporters consider unacceptable to lose (when we make the finals that number increases but as we've only made the finals twice the rule is usually in place) and yesterday was one of those games. there was so much riding on this derby that it really stings to lose it. being in poland i'm pretty far removed from the afl scene and am limited to reading news accounts but it sounds pretty dire for us at the moment. fortunately we're only three rounds into the season and there's still plenty of time to recover. i've no doubt we'll be in the eight by the halfway point of the season and, injuries and suspensions permitting, will be a force in the finals. it's times like this that separate the true supporters from those who like to hop on and off bandwagons. as for me, i'm with them for the long haul!!

bohemian switzerland national park

no.. it's not in switzerland. it's in the north of the czech republic and is named after two 19th century swiss artists. it's also the place i headed for this weekend. sometimes it's easy to forget that less than 20 years ago this country sat behind the iron curtain and was portrayed in the west as being the generic grey, drab place that all soviet countries were portrayed as. of course, as with most propaganda, the truth is very far removed from the stereotype.

the walk i took starts from the eastern end of a town called hrensko which is a few hundred metres from the german border. it would be quite a picturesque town if it hadn't been invaded by hordes of people from south-east asia who have set up endless stalls selling tacky crap. i don't know how so many of them ended up in the czech republic but it's a scene quite common along the border with germany. the walk itself is 16km and took me about 6 hours (including a stop for a cold czech beer). the scenery is simply spectacular. the initial part of the walk is alongside a river which has been dammed in parts. to continue along the dammed areas, one pays for a ride in a punt which takes you up the river. the cliffs along each side are covered in moss and pine trees and the water is cold and fresh. i was in the company of a number of germans in the boat and after we alighted from the second punt we found the pathway blocked with a sign in german telling us that entry was verbotten. being a horror movie fan i should know better than to ignore a sign like that as usually people who do so end up being picked off by inbred mountain mutants. nevertheless, i'd come that far and wasn't about to turn back... besides i'd paid for a day's parking and couldn't waste that! so i followed the germans under the warning sign and we continued walking. the scenery gradually changed into pine forest which gave off the most beautiful fragrance with the heat (yep, it was warm enough for me to be sweating!). it was different to the fragrance of the pines back home in nanga and was quite sweet.

the aim of the hike was to reach pravcicka brana which is the largest natural rock arch in europe (like nature's window in kalbarri but much, much bigger). the views of the rock were extraordinary but as often happens, my fear of heights limited where i could go.

after a few pics i headed off back towards hrensko and a nice meal at a restaurant in town.

today was spent driving back to kraków using as many back roads as possible. the motorway is so mind-numbingly boring that i'd rather spend an extra hour or so driving than to suffer it again. besides, driving through towns on the way back is always interesting.

i'm back at the apartment now and looking forward to a good night's sleep.

pics of the hike will be posted soon.

0-2

ok.. i think it's time for a little perspective now. both my teams are 0-2 but the reality is it's only early april and the finals are still a long time away. freo's only lost by 16 and 10 points respectively and have a lot of players out that will be automatic selections when fit/not suspended. my mighty tigers got flogged by subi but a lot of teams will suffer a similar fate this season. we were unlucky against west perth and just got pipped at the post but i'm sure this week we'll commit some regicide against the royals. along with a good derby win to freo next weekend things are looking up for all my boys!!

bialowieza national park & vilnius

another weekend of driving, this time just over 1800 km. fortunately it's the easter looong weekend so it hasn't been so manic getting from one place to another. thursday night and friday morning i headed to bialowieza national park in the north east of poland just a few kilometres from the border with belarus. it is rare in that it is both a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. in the national park are found elk, wild boars, wolves and the only wild european bison left. they were previously extinct in the wild but have been reintroduced and now number about 800. access to much of the park is prohibited but a small part can be accessed only with a licensed guide (at a rather hefty price of course). still, i'd come all that way so i wasn't gonna let the price of (quite a) few zloty put me off. the guide took me on a 3 hour, 8 km walk through forest that has minimal human intervention. it was pretty awesome and i'm glad i did it although i didn't see any of the animals that live there. apparently they tend to hide deep in the parts of the forest that are only visited on odd occasions by scientists with special governmental permission. i did visit a small zoo, however, that had the bison, a rare polish breed of horse, wolves and some other animals. not quite the same as seeing them in the wild be still better than nothing.

on sunday morning i headed north and crossed the border into lithuania. to be honest, i wasn't all that impressed as the land was mostly flat and non-descript. still, i'd heard that vilnius was a city to behold and i continued on my way until i found it. how would i describe vilnius? well, as homer said when tasting the 'flaming homer' for the first time - it's not without its charm. perhaps it had been built up a bit much for me as it wasn't nearly as awe inspiring as i'd been led to believe. yep, there were plenty of huge, grand churches (how many churches can one small city need???) in the old town and a castle on the hill but certainly nothing that made it stand out from many of the other places i've been. the things i found most interesting were the more unusual such as the frank zappa memorial and the arty district of uzipis. also interesting was the former KGB building which has the names of those killed inside by the communists carved into the outside wall. amazingly the vast majority of those killed were in their early 20's!

as i headed out of vilnius the snow that had fallen lightly on and off through the afternoon really started to come down which thrilled me somewhat. i crossed the border back into poland and found a motel in which to spend the night. when i awoke this morning it was to find a blanket of snow covering everything. there's something really special about opening the blinds to find that it's been snowing; everything seems so clean and bright and fresh... and cold. my drive home was pretty uneventful except that it was nigh on impossible to find any bars, grills, restaurants etc open as it's easter sunday. as a last resort i ended up stopping at macdonald's which was as horrid as i'd feared. still, it stopped the hunger pangs. my usual taxi driver met me at the airport where i dropped off the car and his driving was as terrifying as ever.. he loves to point at the speed sign that says 40 and then laugh as he points at his speedo which is hovering around the 100 mark. the speed combined with overtaking on blind corners makes for a rather exciting/ hair-raising ride. still, it gets me home quickly.

after having driven several thousand kilometres in the past three weekends i'm feeling a bit travelled out so i'm planning on staying in kraków next weekend with perhaps a visit to auschwitz or the salt mines.

last weekend in czech & germany

wow, it's getting hard to find the time to keep this up to date with all the travels i can do now. also i still have no internet connection in my apartment and i'm flat tack at work but here goes!! last weekend (my second since moving to poland) i used to do a 1500km round trip through the czech republic and germany. what a great experience it was! on friday evening after work i set off from krakow to kutna hora. kutna hora is a small town outside of prague which is most famous for its Kostnice Ossuary. this is a small church found in the district of sedlec which has used the bones of approx. 40,000 people to make works of art. there's a chandelier that is constructed using every type of bone found in the human body. there's four candelabras that are taller than me. there are four huge pyramids and the coat of arms of the family who used to rule the area. the most interesting part of the coat of arms is the depiction of a rook pecking out the eye of a turkish soldier. although this all sounds gruesome and macabre it is actually quite engaging and beautiful. i only wish my remains could be put to such a creative use someday.

from kutna hora i headed off to cheb which is a town close to the german border. of course it has the obligatory grand church and old castle. one problem (if you can call it that) with travelling around eastern europe is that one gets rather blasé about all the ancient buildings as there's just so many of them. still, it was a lovely town and a good place to visit.

i only hung out in cheb for few hours before hitting the road again as it got dark. i crossed the border into germany and parked the car in a field and slept the night in it, turning on the heater occasionally when it got a bit cold. the view in the morning as the sun rose over the fields was stunning and reminded me that i must get up early enough to see the sunrise more often. i hit the road fairly early with the intention to head straight back to kraków but as i came towards the dresden exit on the motorway decided to make a detour. it was a spur of the moment decision and one that i'm very glad i made. i'd heard of dresden but never how lovely it is. the buildings are what you expect from a european city but what i found surprising is that none of them are very old. dresden was decimated during WWII and only in recent years has its buildings been recreated. it was certainly worth the visit if only for the wonderful apfel strudel i had whilst sitting looking at the opera house and horse drawn stagecoaches.

finally i departed dresden, crossed the border back into poland and spent a few mind numbing hours speeding along the motorway back to kraków with only two accidents along the way to break the monotony. lesson learned: avoid the motorways if at all possible!!

pics are here

weekend in slovakia

well, the benefits of living in poland have started. on friday night i hired a car and drove with michelle and steve down to slovakia. it was the most nervous i've ever been when driving as i've hardly driven in the past 3 and a half years, i had to drive on the right hand side of the road in busy traffic with manic drivers and it was raining. still, with steve's navigating we managed to make it safely out of krakow with only one close call. the journey down was quite magic. at one point we were driving through the mountains with snow piled up against the sides of the road when it started snowing again with the wind blowing it fiercely across the road. there were no lights anywhere and no other cars on the road. it was a truly exhilarating experience. we crossed the border into slovakia and then tried to navigate to the town of levoca. steve did a great job of map reading and we finally drove into the walled town at about midnight. amazingly we were able to find a hotel that was still open and got a room for the night.

the old town of levoca is still completely surrounded by a wall and you enter through a couple of gates. it is such a quaint little old town and has been done up quite nicely. we spent a bit of time on the saturday morning walking around town, taking photos and freezing our arses off. leaving levoca we headed towards the spis castle which was built in the 11th century and has been empty since a fire went through it in the 17th century. it's now a unesco world heritage site and we spent some time wandering though it after having a really good (and exceptionally cheap) lunch of pierogi. we also picked up a middle aged german lady who was hitchhiking and gave her a lift back to levoca as our good deed for the day. we stopped at another lovely little town which was almost completely empty.. very strange for a saturday arvo.

from here we headed towards the mountains near the border and found a lovely little place to stay for the night. of course the guys running the place spoke no english and we speak no slovakian but we still managed to communicate with them and arranged a couple of rooms and some beers.

sunday was time to head back to poland so we made it through the border crossing and stopped for lunch at a mini ski resort. again, the food was lovely but way too filling.

all in all, it was a fantastic weekend with good company, good tunes (from our various ipods) and great scenery.

anyhoo.. pics are here

cousins

yep, i hate west coast as much as the next guy (well, as much as the next guy if he's a fair dinkum freo supporter) and i've been pretty hyper-critical of ben's off field antics for a long time but to be really honest, i'm getting no pleasure with this week's developments. as much as i think the guy's a self-obsessed, arrogant, pretty-boy jerk, i can't deny that he has a pretty rare footballing talent and it is sad to see his life spiralling out of control. as was the case with michael gardiner last year, benny-boy is a guy with amazing ability who had the world at his feet and has thrown it away through some pretty poor choices. hopefully he can pull himself together and get healthy.

i've gotta say that i'm rather (begrudgingly) impressed with west coast for taking the tough decision to suspend him indefinitely. given how integral he is to their side and how well he can play even when abusing his body i really didn't think they would be prepared to make such a big sacrifice. ultimately though it is the best thing for the team cos if cousins can be axed then anyone can.

new beginnings

well, it's been a long time coming but finally my stint in krakow has commenced. i arrived on saturday evening and was met at the airport by someone holding a sign with my name on it.. i actually felt quite important. from the airport i got taken straight to the apartment shell is renting for me. it's a bit smaller than i was led to believe as there was a mixup and i got a studio apartment rather than a one bedroom one. still, it is quite comfortable and once i get an internet connection there it will feel more like home. i'll be here in poland until early june and then return to the UK.

the office here is very big and in a completely open plan setting which i don't particulary like but i'm getting used to it. the guys in the service team here that i helped train are all really nice and i enjoy their company. hopefully they'll be able to take me out on the town sometimes as my polish is pretty awful and doesn't extend beyond a few words.

of course, i'm sure a lot of people have heard the sad news that hols and i have split up. naturally we're both pretty devastated cos we both went into the marriage believing that it would be forever. i spose most people enter marriage with this belief and a lot don't make it but even so, i'd not thought that we'd be one of the couples who didn't last. the one positive is that we've remained good friends and are still in constant touch. i guess it will be good for me to spend this time in poland and get away from london for a while. it snowed here in krakow last night and so all is looking fresh and beautiful. perhaps it's a sign. or perhaps it's just really cold weather

mr johnson

yesterday i heard the very sad news of the death of mr johnson following an accident on the farm in wagin recently. i don't know many of the details but am really sorry to hear of his passing. in my younger days i visited the johnson farm on a number of occasions as i was pretty good mates with two of his children, dale and paula, and found him to be a true blue country bloke who was always very welcoming and happy to sit around and share a yarn. he was someone i had a lot of respect for and i certainly send my condolences to the family.

katie's little finger

i thought my story about getting chased by a bear in romania and breaking my hand was good but i've been completely outdone by katie's story of how she lost part of her little finger. naturally if it was going to happen to anyone it would be either murray or katie.

read the story and see the pics here.. it's a good read!!