Having recently passed another birthday, once more my attention turns to a continuing question of the last few years, where the bloody hell am I going to spend my 40th ? I don't want to be at home, ideally I'd like it to be somewhere remote and not awful or nasty. An early idea was South America, however August isn't the most hospitable of times to visit. A few months ago, when flying over Greenland I thought it might be a nice possibility. However it's just a wee bit more expensive than I'd like. Maybe a lot more expensive. Actually it is, no maybe about it. Today a new destination popped into my head, Iceland. A friend met her husband there many years ago, and the photos of the terrain look great. Lots of outdoorsy stuff, good food, not too pricy (compared to Greenland), and August is at the end of the tourist season so crowds should be bearable.

Posted at 3.50pm, August 23 2006 | permalink

While it's nice to read that dangerous threats are being contained, some of the initial security restrictions for carry on luggage demonstrated a very northern hemisphere-centric perspective. There were bans on just about everything including books, ipods and laptops. For those in the southern hemisphere, facing 20 odd hours in the air, with nothing but inflight entertainment consisting of 20 rotating songs and a few dud movies, this is enough to send shivers down the spine. My iPod has been my saviour on the long, international flights, not to mention a good, chunky novel. I'm happy to read that "All Laptops and large electrical items (eg hairdryer) are now permitted...". Less than a week after the panic, folk are rediscovering sanity once more.

Posted at 3.35pm, August 15 2006 | permalink

Last night was Census night in Oz, a grand event that takes place every 5 years. I'd been looking forward to it then almost forgot. As I'm often hard to catch at home I figured I'd be doing the census collectors a favour by doing it online, plus it meant not having to worry about bits of paper. Around half a million aussies did similarly with the ACT having almost twice as many folk doing so as any other state. It turns out that an unofficial campaign during the last census in 2001, for folk to register jedi under religion, resulted in around 70,000 people doing so. However noone was fined for deliberately providing false information.

Posted at 4.20pm, August 09 2006 | permalink