Saturday, July 22

Fascinating people the North Koreans and their late night radio shows must be a delight. Certain people who are paid to monitor such things intercepted a strange message the other night.

Commencing now, I will give review work for the subject of mathematics under the curriculum of a remote education university for exploration agents of the 27th bureau. On page number 459, number 35, on page 913, number 55, on page 135, number 85, on page 257, number 2.

What could it mean? The best suggestion is that it is a coded message to spies or sleeper agents in South Korea. Or an esoteric North Korean version of Sudoko. John Le Carre would have been so proud that his legacy is alive and well.

Monday, July 11 (2)

So, we have a new government. Sadly, of all the possible outcomes, we have probably ended up with the worst. We seem to be stuck with a disunited mob with a minimal majority, forced to deal with a revitalised ALP with wind in its sails and a motley crew of senators all anxious to promote their own narrow agendas.

Who would want Malcolm's job? The Murdoch papers this week have been full of calls for Malcolm to resign, and the conservatives are demanding that Mr Abbott be recalled, even if only for a Cabinet position. The Conservative commentators smell blood and are becoming more strident in their calls to be listened to. And the Nationals are demanding another ministry since they have taken a seat from the Liberals. It's a recipe for another three years of stagnation.

Does Malcolm have the character to hold it all together? I fervently hope so.

Monday, July 11

Now that the new Government has been decided the AEC is getting on with the counting of the votes in the Senate and I am delighted to say that Tasmania is showing some remarkable sophistication in choosing who they would like to represent them.

Both the ALP and Liberal party machines misused their power when they published their list of candidates. The ALP selectors demoted Lisa Singh, a sitting senator, to the number 6 position, probably because she spoke out against the ALP policy on asylum seekers. The Liberal party placed Richard Colbeck, the Minister for Tourism, in the vulnerable number 5 spot, apparently because he was the only Tasmanian MP who voted for Malcolm Turnbull in the leadership coup.

However, instead of blindly following the party line, many Tasmanians chose to vote below the line, giving their first preference to either Lisa or Richard. Good on them! Democracy in action.

On today's figures, Lisa is likely to be elected and Richard is still in with a chance. In fact, one report is that he received more #1 votes than Eric Abetz. I don't think the Age of Dinosaurs is over yet, but it is starting to look a little shaky.

Friday, July 8

Now that the cold weather is here, I went looking for my winter clothes. Hat, scarves and gloves were easy, the jumpers turned up and lightweight jackets, but two heavy jackets, suitable for the bleak days in the dead of winter could not be found.

They usually hibernated for the summer in a plastic box under our bed but that box no longer existed. I had a bit of a search in our shed but with no success so I was at the point of deciding it was time for a Kathmandhu down jacket I had been lusting after for some time. The $400 price tag brought me up short so there was nothing for it but a deeper search among the boxes in the shed.

The jackets were finally found, in a small cardboard box along with a single curtain. The jacket I was particularly keen to find was a large cream parka. It was a little grubby so I turned out the pockets before I put it in the wash. And I found a scrunched up receipt dated 18th April, 2013 from Inverness Railway Station in Scotland. At 12.29 that day I bought a cream cheese and bacon bagel, a 4-finger KitKat and an Oat and Raisin Cookie. With a diet like that, it's no wonder I'm so healthy.

The snack must have hit the spot because I remember that I dropped off to sleep and missed changing trains at Perth. I had to travel on to Edinburgh and get a train there to take me to Glasgow.

Thursday, July 7

If our local library doesn't have a particular book on the shelf, they are happy to source it from another branch. These 'holds' as they are called are put on a particular shelf with a slip of paper tucked in with the name of the customer.

I went in today to collect a DVD which Marilyn had ordered; there it was and beside it was a book waiting to be picked up by Michelle Christie. It struck a chord with me because today is the 10th anniversary of the death of our Michelle, nephew Simon's wife and mother of Jack and Ty. Funny how coincidences like this occur. Some might say Spooky.

Wednesday, July 6

Politics really attracts the most unsavoury characters. There was a photograph in yesterdays's Australian of Pauline Hanson with her campaign manager, James Ashby. Hmmm, that's a familiar name. James Ashby is the former Liberal staffer who met with Mal Brough, Wyatt Roy and Christopher Pyne in the process of bringing down former speaker, Peter Slipper, by accusing him of sexual harassment. This claim was subsequently dropped (but doesn't mud stick!) and the only crime for which Mr Slipper was found guilty was rorting his travel allowance by $600. Anybody else making an illegal claim, even if they are a serial offender, is simply allowed to pay it back when they are found out, but Mr Slipper was not given that privilege; he was hounded in the courts and his reputation dragged through the mud.

Well Peter Slipper is gone, Mal Brough is gone, Wyatt Roy is gone, but Christopher Pyne and James Ashby remain. It seems that James has found his niche and Christopher continues to be the darling of the blue-rinse brigade.

Monday, July 4

I know it's unedifying to say 'I told you so', but I did. On March 24th I suggested that Mr Turnbull might have made a tactical error in calling a double dissolution in the hope of getting a more compliant Senate. After a DD, the quota for getting in to the Senate is halved so it opens the door to every ratbag splinter candidate who wants a platform for their point of view. We might have lost Ricky Muir and Glenn Lazarus but we've gained Derryn Hinch and Pauline Hanson! I'd forgotten Pauline was still lurking in the bushes and nothing good can come from her elevation.

it now seems we might have to wait for two weeks before we see the final result. If I were Mr Shorten I would be hoping that things don't change in his favour. Who would want to be Prime Minister in this situation? And I wouldn't be Mr Turnbull for quids. You can hear the knives being sharpened as we speak.

Sunday, July 3

I worked yesterday at the local polling booth and realised I'm starting to feel my age. At the end of the day, I was hobbling like an old man, back and knees aching and brain in lockdown. I blame all the hopefuls who put their hands up to try for a seat in the Senate. The ballot paper, therefore, becomes so unwieldy that it has to be sorted and counted on the floor, no place for a 73 year old with dodgy knees and a hip replacement.

At the end of a very long day, the OIC asked if anyone of us was weary. I was just about to open my mouth to express my feelings, when she reminded us that the answer was No. If we had said Yes, she would have been obliged to send us home in a taxi! Occupational Health and Safety and Duty of Care gone mad.

Dilston is a small polling place with just 8 booths and 2 people handing out ballot papers. However, we still had the stalwarts outside, handing out How to Vote cards. The first of them arrived at 6 in the morning to hang up his banners and he was still there when we shut the doors at 6 in the evening. The oldest volunteers were, as is often the case, representing The Greens. It may be the party most supported by the youth, but the hard yards are being run by their grannies and grand-dads.

When I look now at the mess we're left with after all out hard work, I wonder whether I would have been better to stay in bed. I feel my efforts are only encouraging them. Still, the wages I earned will fund the Thailand to Malaysia leg of our big trip at the end of the years.