Awww shit.

Photos of the Month July 2007... No, wait... In memory of all those months that passed without content.

January 2015 in Adelaide has been a mild one.

Continue Reading Phone Photos of the Month - January 2015...

Our recycle bin did not get collected by the council yesterday morning. I rang up the waste hotline and asked if it was because of my journal entry last week. They said no, they didn't know what I was talking about.
The whole street got skipped. I think it's unlikely someone from every household made an arrogant post on the internet about how good they are at knowing which bin to put out, especially seeing that half of them put theirs out incorrectly last week, it was more likely because of some roadworks.

My call to the Waste Hotline lasted less than sixty seconds. I went into the empty boardroom, dialed the number, told them my address and they said they'd send a truck out today or tomorrow. I was like, hmm, this is what it's like being in senior management.

There's an old man who lives down the street from me. There might be one who lives down the street from you, too. Every day that I pass his house I see him, sitting on his porch, or by the rusted front gate. He's never with company; always alone. I see him early in the morning, late in the afternoon, any time of the day. He sits, idling, watching, lonely. He's passing the rest of his time on this world with the nothing for entertainment. Nothing except passersby and jobless birds. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Sometimes, when I see him, the orange glow of sunset on his blank, wrinkled face I wonder if anyone in my neighbourhood has ever had the courage to talk to him. To say, "Hello". To ask him the obvious questions, "What's wrong with your internet connection? You're locked out of your house, aren't you?"

From my balcony I can see the next stage of a housing development under construction. For a week there have been humans in high-visibility vests driving and digging on the emptied lot. I was happy to see that, no matter how much dust they disrupted, they had been leaving the old trees rooted and intact.

On my way to the train today I was pleased to witness the arrival of a fleet of trucks emblazoned with "AUSTRAL Tree Management" on the side. I smiled, happy to think that these trucks had come to manage the relocation of all the trees to somewhere new where they could continue to refresh the planet's oxygen and be green and live.

Then the trucks finished turning in and I was sad.

Yes, they know.

I was in Adelaide this week and I bumped into someone I knew. We didn't have much of a conversation, they just asked, "Did you see anything at the fringe?"
"Yes!" I said, pleased I could respond positively. "I did see anything at the fringe, at somewhere at the fringe."
"That's great! Isn't it wonderful that local, national and international acts like anything at the fringe come to Adelaide?"
"Oh, definitely. It helps me feel hip, kind of makes up for spending the rest of the year getting my culture from American television and reddit. Plus I get to be a part of this citywide festival that everyone else is taking part in too. So when people ask if I saw anything at the fringe I don't have to admit that I spent the whole month at home."
"What did you think of somewhere at the fringe? Wasn't it so Bohemian?"
"Oh, it was the quirkiest, the atmosphere totally suited seeing something at the fringe."
"Would you recommend it?"
"Definitely, I give anything at the fringe five stars just because afterwards I can say, 'I saw anything at the fringe' and it was amazing."
"Wow. Did you see any other shows at the fringe?"
"No."

I feel a stronger than usual sadness that this summer is fading to an end.

It's forecast to be 37 degrees tomorrow, but it feels like it won't be long before I'm making soups and arriving home from work after dark and eating porridge with home-made blackberry jam for breakfast.

Maybe I'm just sad because tomorrow might be the last acceptable casual Friday I can wear shorts to work for a little while.

In 2010 as I was nearing completion of my wrist rehab the physiotherapist gave me a piece of strapping I could use as a brace during physical activity.
"It's a bit pricey," he said. (Eighteen Dollars). "But hopefully you'll get a few uses out of it."
In 2015 I decided to replace that strapping.

The difference is incredible.

What I want to know is why did they change the strapping colour from blue to white and gold?