Jeeezuz!
My ex-school just emailed me a completion of service form today. They are bloody hopeless.

"A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that freemen prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny..." - Winston Churchill.

I wonder what happened to free press? Did it ever exist?

I rang the super people today. They finally got official notification on Friday - the same day I got the letter saying they hadn't!
So now I have to wait another 3 weeks.
The car will be there tomorrow. I'll have to go to the caryard and at least say hello to it.

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you. Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show. People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate. But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

What Color Green Are You?

Daylight saving has started. Guess who forgot. Jeez, it must be old age. The bookshop opened an hour late today. My Sunday Morning Guy will be pissed off.

I am so fucking furious. I cannot believe the incompetence of some people. I resigned from teaching on the 13th October. I saw the financial people, got my super sorted and went out and ordered a new car. Toyota rang me yesterday to tell me the car will be ready on Tuesday. I told them I probably wouldn't have my money through till a few days after that. No worries, I've put a deposit it on it so it's fine. Then yesterday there was a letter from the superannuation people waiting for me when I got home.
My stupid fuckwit of an ex-employer hasn't informed then officially of my resignation. Once they receive that THEN they'll start processing my money - which takes 3 weeks. It's been two weeks since I resigned. They've cut me off the department email system, they've stopped my pay, they've done all those things that suit them. But have they done the one thing that I need them to do....NO. I am so angry. I am more than angry. I am seething, furious, spitting chips.

Hey Shirl....

The fridge is working again. Hmmmm.

The boss has just returned from the accountant. In the last financial year the shop made a profit of a grand total of $100. I guess that's better than being in the red. I suppose.

Speaking of Jasper Fforde, I finally finished The Well of Lost Plots. The concept of a whole world of characters, plots, etc., is very clever. Fforde has an ingenious imagination and his use of literary allusions and puns is very funny. The central character, Thursday Next, also features in Something Rotten which is waiting for me at home.

Meanwhile I've started High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It begins with the central character's top five most memorable split-ups. Easy to read and very amusing so far.

The Fourth Bear - Jasper Fforde

Another Nursery Crimes novel. Must grab this if it ever comes into the shop. The Big Over Easy was hilarious.

The Barnes & Noble Review:

Detective Chief Inspector Jack Spratt and his trusty sergeant, Mary Mary, are back in another sidesplitting Nursery Crime adventure from Jasper Fforde: the sequel to 2005's The Big Over Easy. In The Fourth Bear, Spratt must track down a legendarily violent criminal known as the Gingerbreadman, a "seven-foot biscuit with a bad attitude."

After successfully apprehending the infamous Great Long Red-Legg'd Scissor-man, who cuts the digits off children who suck their thumbs, Spratt is inexplicably forced to take a leave of absence while a medical review board assesses his competency. With Mary Mary working as the acting head of the Nursery Crime Division -- and Spratt as her "consultant" -- the misfit members of the NCD are faced with two very different cases: to help track down the deranged Gingerbreadman, who has just escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane, and to find Henrietta "Goldilocks" Hatchett, an investigative reporter who mysteriously disappeared while working on a story about prizewinning pickles. The last to see her alive: a family of three bears who have recently experienced strange porridge problems…

Here it is, 3pm and I've had a total of 4 sales today. Slow as a wet week. The electricians are here doing some work on the wiring - the lights mostly. The way things were just hanging around was illegal so they're making it all legit. Coincidentally the fridge has stopped working. They say it's nothing they've done - of course! Mind you, it's an antique fridge so maybe it's just that its time has come. Mighty suspicious coincidence, if you ask me!

Finally managed to convince eBay that when I requested that our account be closed I meant that I wanted it closed. They didn't like that at all. Tough. It was costing far more to operate than we ever made from it. Serious book buyers don't go to eBay. Now that the lady who ran it has gone there's no need to have the account anymore. If she wants to keep doing it she can start up her own account with her own credit card, not ours.

Bit of a kerfuffle in the gunshop next door earlier today. A man stormed out yelling all sorts of not very nice stuff at the guys inside. Turns out he went ballistic when he tried to buy some ammo and they asked to see some ID. Which they have to do, by law. Seems he didn't like that and got a bit angry. Drove away like a maniac. Makes me wonder what he wanted the ammunition for!!! I don't like having that shop next door. I want to kick them out and use the space for BOOKS! God knows, we've got enough to fill both premises.

It's raining! I just hope it's also raining in the catchment areas and out in the country where it's really needed.

Alchemy.
All it entails is matching colours and/or shapes to clear lines but it is SO addictive!

This month's most popular author: Jane Austen. All of a sudden we're completely out of stock of all things Austen. Not good.

I can't decide what 5 books I'd take to a new planet but I do know which 5 CDs I'd take:
Disintegration - The Cure
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Live Seeds - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Decade - Neil Young
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

This place is a mess! Up until now I've only been working in the bookshop on weekends and school holidays but, now that I'm CEO (hehe) I'm here full time. The lady who was working here Mon-Fri has moved on to another job. I've been trying to figure out the accounts - 'cos it's all been a big secret 'till now. All I can find out is that we've got unpaid bills coming out of our ears! The Post Office account is suspended because it hasn't been paid. The advertising account hasn't been paid and has gone to a debt collection agency. The accountant hasn't been paid. It's a bloody nightmare. Plus the electricity bill just arrived. It's going to take months to dig us out of the hole 'cos we just don't make enough to pay everything off at once.
But I'm going to do it.

Yesterday, fully recovered from my hangover, I went into town to see the finance people about what to do with my superannuation. I can't access most of it till I turn 55 but I can get a bit now.
So......on the way home I bought one of these:
(Mine will be Merlot Red though) Pick it up in 3 weeks!!!!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
For the first time since I was 17 I am not a government employee.
For the first time since I was 4 I do not have to go to school.
I have such a monumental hangover.

I've read a bit more of McCarthy and I really don't like his style very much and the way he uses the word and all the time and uses no punctuation especially for dialogue she said and the way he doesn't use names and so his characters are he and she and it gets confusing about which he and she he means and I have to keep rereading to figure out what's going on and I think he's a bit too pretentious for me and I might give him a miss for now.

"It came boring out of the east like some ribald satellite of the coming sun howling and bellowing in the distance and the long light of the headlamp running through the tangled mesquite brakes and creating out of the night the endless fenceline down the dead straight right of way and suckling it back again wire and post mile on mile into the darkness after where the boilersmoke disbanded slowly along the faint new horizon and the sound came lagging and he stood still holding his hat in his hands in the passing ground-shudder watching it till it was gone."

From All The Pretty Horses by Cormac mcCarthy

Whew, what a sentence! An endless sentence to describe an endless train. I like the concept. Hard reading though - I keep having to go back over passages to figure out what exactly he's on about. It'll be interesting to see whether I stick it out on this one or not.

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
- Ozzy Osbourne.

What five books would you take to a new planet?

Pinched this from So Many Books.
Hmmm, I'll have to think about this....
Lord of the Rings for sure, but what else?
Does a series count as one? Hehe, then I could take Dorothy Dunnett and Robert Jordan. But I think that might be cheating.

Well it's done. My career of 28 years in the Education Department is over. I will be resigning at the end of next week.
Full time bookshop, here I come.

Eagles by one point. One point!
It was an exciting last quarter - the Swannies very nearly snatched it at the end. They must be devastated to lose by the smallest margin. Poor lads. But, well done Eagles.
Sainters next year!

A man called Peter, a regular customer, has just talked me into reading The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. He's just stood here and waxed lyrical about McCarthy's work for 15 minutes.
I love it when people are passionate about their reading. Warms the cockles of the heart, it does.

Meanwhile, in the shop.... History's been tidied up but not organised exactly how I want it. New bookcase is going in down there soonish so I'll be able to set it all up as I want it then.
The new display case up the front, behind the desk, looks really good. People can actually see our collectibles now.
There's a book up there that I want - History of the Civil War in the USSR, written by, amongst others, Joseph Stalin. It's a deadly dull read and quite a deal removed from the truth. But, for its pure historical value it's an excellent find. It's worth hundreds of dollars, though, so I can't just 'borrow' it.

Grand Final today. Sydney Swans V West Coast Eagles.
I'm supporting the Swannies as they have an ex-Saint as their captain and their colours are 2/3rds the same as ours.
Should be a good game - these two teams always put on a very close match when they play each other. They played off in last year's GF as well, Swans won by just a couple of points. Very exciting.

Hahaha, Shirl's been playing funny buggers on the Other Side.

Sometimes I wish I had magic powers. The History and Politics sections just look far too daunting this morning.
And the front desk is being replaced as well, which means I have to clean out all the crap that's accumulated in, around and under it over the years. Oh me oh my.

Taya turned five during the week so we had a family get-together yesterday to celebrate. Very pleasant evening.

There are differences between English and US publishers. I'm not sure why but I'm discovering that it can be quite significant at times.
There's William Collins in the UK, Harper and Row in the US and HarperCollins in Australia - all part of News Corp, by the way. There's Mills & Boon in the UK and Harlequin in the US. Etc.
Even books can be published differently. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldan is called Outlander in the US. Lee Child's The Visitor is Running Blind in the US.
I think, here in Oz, we mainly get UK editions, which all have "not for sale in the US or Canada" clearly printed on them. I guess it's the same for US publications and sale in the UK.
Strange is the world of big business.

Romance is done. We've got rid of about 5000 books from that section.
The History/Politics plans have changed again! The case I wanted to use isn't going to be big enough - so I might leave the old case where it is and just organise the books properly. But not today - too many aching muscles. Tomorrow will be better anyway 'cos Sundays are always a quieter day customer-wise.

Another one

The things that turn up in email...

The article's a little bit old now, but still cute.



SICHUAN , China -- One zoo in southwest China has its hands full with 16 baby pandas.
Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breed Center is dealing with the results of a breeding boom -- 16 pandas have been born since July, 2005. The brood includes five sets of twins. The cubs are weighed and measured every five days by a special panda nurse.
The heaviest tips the scale at just over 24 pounds, whi le the lightest weighs about 11 pounds. The pandas are due to stop being suckled by their mothers in February, 2006 just about the time they'll start learning to walk. Once weaned, the panda cubs will attend panda kindergarten. In the meantime, more little ones are expected at the center, since 38 giant pandas were artificially impregnated.

Change of plan:
Romance is to be culled first. I've just arranged for Book Inn in Ferntree Gully to take about 1500 Mills & Boons off our hands at 10cents a piece. That's about a third of our M&B stock. Then the general Romance section has to be culled by 20% as well.

The bookcase you can see on the right of the pic (a couple of posts below) is to be replaced and that will then become the new History case - which means that the History section has to be emptied, the old case removed and the replacement one put in and then filled. It'll be a good move tho' because it's got good, deep shelves. Lots of the History books are rather big - currently they have to lie down. It'll be good to be able to stand them up properly.

"Publishers Houghton Mifflin and HarperCollins have announced that an unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien, will be released in Spring 2007.

The Children of Hurin is an epic tale that Tolkien begain in 1918 and later abandoned... and then taken up again by his son Christopher 30 years ago, piecing together the entire tale from his notes and other works."

Just read this over at theonering.com
Exciting.

Biography section is all organised now as well. Woohoo, we're on a roll.
But, the hard part is still to come - the History and Politics sections. They are in absolute chaos. There is no rhyme or reason to the way they've been shelved. we're going to have to take all the books off the shelves and start again from scratch. As you can see, there's not a lot of room to move in here.

PS. It's not quite as dark in here as the pic makes out.

Did I mention the Queenscliff Music Festival? Last weekend in November. Tickets have arrived. I saw/heard some great music the last time I went, two years ago. Judging by the list of artists already booked, this year should be just as good.

Crime Fiction is done! Bronnie came in and helped me - it took us about 8 hours to reorganise it all properly. Two and a half thousand books in that section. It looks so neat now.

Story Operating Systems - The Early Years

"...First there was OralTrad, upgraded ten thousand years later by the rhyming (for easier recall) OralTradPlus. For thousands of years this was the only Story Operating System and it is still in use today. The system branched in two about twenty thousand years ago; on one side with CaveDaubPro (forerunner of PaintPlus V2.3, GrecianUrn V1.2, SculptMarble V1.4, and the latest, all-encompassing SuperArtisticExpression-5). The other strand, the Picto-Phonetic Storytelling Systems, started with ClayTablet V2.1 and went through several competing systems (WaxTablet, Papyrus, VellumPlus) before merging into the award-winning SCROLL, which was upgraded eight times to V3.5 before being swept aside by the all-new and clearly superior BOOK V1. Stable, easy to store and transport, compact and with a workable index, BOOK has led the way for nearly eighteen hundred years..."

From The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

Jobs to do in the shop:
Reorganise the Crime Fiction section so that the books all fit on the shelves properly and in order. (alphabetically by author)
Reorganise the History section so that the books are in some sort of order.
Ditto for the Politics section. (Not sure what order to use here - Dewey? Chronology? Countries/Regions?)
Reorganise the Biography section so that the books fit on the shelves in proper order. (alphabetically by subject)
Cull the Romance section to get rid of some of the junk.
I'd also like to reorganise the Horror/Thriller section to separate them into the two distinct genres.
I've got two weeks, minus the trip to the Canberra Book Fair (if we go to it). It's not gonna happen, but I'm going to try!

So now the Saints have sacked the coach.
I'm ambivalent about whether this is a good move or not. He did make some weird decisions at times - playing injured players in last week's final was definitely a bad idea. It's why we lost the game - half the team just couldn't run.
Given the talent in the team, they have definitely underachieved in recent years. Maybe that's the coach's responsibility, maybe not.
Anyway, the search is now on for a new coach. Let's hope they get a good one.

Ho hum, another season ends prematurely

Saints lost their elimination final last night. Sigh.

Saints finished the season with a good win over Brisbane last night - the first win up there since 1991!!!
Currently, they're sitting in 4th spot. But it depends on how Collingwood and Sydney go today - either or both could jump above us if they win (tho' Collingwood will need to win big).
The top 4 sides get another chance if they lose in the first round of finals next week. Sides 5 -8 are finished if they lose. So it's kinda important to us that Sydney and Collingwood both lose today - tho' it's not gonna happen. But...you never know your luck in a big city. Fingers crossed.

Currently reading....

Life Is So Good by George Dawson.
Bit of a change for me as I don't read a lot of biographical stuff. George Dawson was 101 when he wrote this book. He learned to read when he was 98. He's black and from Texas.
The first chapter tells the story of a young black boy being lynched because somebody's daughter got pregnant. Obviously the black fella raped her. When she gave birth to a white baby six months later, no one said a word. The next chapter revolves around his grandmother's and great-grandmother's recollections of the ending of slavery.
That's as far as I've got so far.

Saints are back in the good books. Beat the Bulldogs by 50 points. One more home and away round and then it's finals time. Woohoo!

Not talking about the Saints this week. They were disgraceful last night.

Bought myself a new home theatre system the other day. DVD/video/CD/radio all in one little box with six surround sound speakers. It's only a $350 cheapie but it's more than good enough for the bedroom. (The stereo out in the lounge is kinda antiquated!)
When I set it up I then couldn't decide whether to watch a DVD or a video, or listen to a CD or the radio. I fell asleep instead!
Now I have to figure out how to hook up my old amp and turntable - then I can listen to all that old vinyl as well.
I'm quite pleased with my new toy.

The next project is to convert all that vinyl to CD. It's not so simple on the laptop - I need an usb audio adapter to plug the amp/turntable into the sound card or something. And, of course, I need hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blank CDs. I'll get there one day.

The rrr radiothon is almost over. I have to say that this last week has been super-enjoyable listening. Highlights: Gary Young and co playing rockabilly blues live in the studio on the Chicken Mary show on Monday, presenter and guests singing along with the tracks on The Word on Tuesday, GWB's version of Imagine on On The Blower yesterday (hilarious!).
I just love the way the various contributors to various shows all come in to the studio and chat with the show's host, exhort listeners to subscribe, etc. It's been really energetic radio fuelled by people who really love what they're doing. You can't help but love it too. (Well, I can't at least)
It's the station's 30th birthday in November and I can't wait to hear what goes on then. 30 years for a public, community station is pretty good going I reckon.

Bizarre

Serb police open hire business

Serbs seeking a bit of extra protection or perhaps a helicopter for the weekend can now turn to the police, which from this month will be renting out its personnel, transport and even animals for private use.
According to a detailed price list published in the official gazette, the cost of hiring a policeman to guard money transports or sports events would be 300 dinars ($A5.80) an hour.
A police horse goes for 2,400 dinars a day, a trained dog for 1,800 dinars a day, and a helicopter for between 45,000 and 140,000 dinars per hour depending on the type.
The Government says the scheme is designed as "a chance for police to gain additional financial means and have their own income".
A statement published on the official government web site says both individuals and companies will be entitled to use those services.
The process will be under the strict control of the Interior Ministry to prevent abuses.

- Reuters

I phoned in my subscription to rrr yesterday. $110 (that's the 'passionate' rate) for the year. Normal subscription is $66 or $33 concession. It's not a lot really. These subscriptions make up over half of the station's yearly income so it's important to give them that support. If you haven't listened to rrr then you should. 102.7fm. The scope and variety, and the sheer independence, of the programming is just a joy. There's even a special prize for overseas subscribers (via web streaming) - an iPod I think. I heard, this morning, a couple of people in California subscribed. That's awesome.

Morgawr by Terry Brooks. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. Lots more action in this one than in the previous two books. The main characters keep getting themselves in more and more difficult situations. I'm getting a bit tired of chapters ending with "everything went black." Rather lacking in imagination there, Mr Brooks!
Some of the main characters have died but those still in action keep making the most miraculous escapes. I find myself losing patience with this at times. I also find myself thinking that if they can do that now why didn't they do it earlier? I think it's a quite lazily written book. Shannara by numbers. Disappointing.

Free Range Radio

Triple R starts its annual subscribathon on Friday. Spend a few bucks and help keep this most excellent station alive.
rrr.org.au

what I'm reading

By Terry Brooks. I read the original Shannara series years ago and decided to read this later trilogy. Book 1 (The Ilse Witch) started off a bit slowly. At first I thought it was all a bit predictable but, once the action got under way, it surprised me. It's a traditional fantasy tale in that there's good versus evil, magic, etc. But the lines between good and evil are rather more blurred than usual. Book 2 (Antrax, which I'm reading now) has thrown up a few interesting twists to keep me interested. I'll be into Book 3 (Morgawr) soon and am keen to see how it all unfolds.

Not only did the Saints lose on Friday night but Matt Maguire broke his leg as well. That makes four or five key players out with long term injury. But, after winning the previous five games in a row, we're firmly in the top 8 and will play in the finals, barring total disaster!

I saw Dead Man's Chest recently. What a hoot! Not much plot, I must admit, but the set piece action scenes are really well done. Some scenes are just laugh out loud funny. The human kebab is hilarious.

www.wherestherum.com
(can't get the link thingy to work so it'll have to be this way.)

worth a look

Takes a little while to load but it's worth the wait.
The Big Ad

Meanwhile I'm stuck here in cold, grey Melbourne. The sun was out earlier but it's well and truly in hiding now.
And I've got a horrible cold....cough cough, splutter, sniff, cough. I'm not exerting myself too much today.
I think I'd much rather be on the beach.

Tallow Beach
When I did my trip up the east coast last year I spent a bit of time at Byron Bay - on the way up and again on the way down. Huge backpacker town. I stayed in a caravan park just south of town...lots of space. Plus, it was the off season. The locals were all wearing jumpers, I was in shorts, hehe. A five minute walk and I was on Tallow Beach looking out at the Pacific. Magnificent. I walked along it every morning. I was a bit too early for the whales...they are more easily seen a bit later in the year.

and then there's Byron Bay

hey Shirl.....Rainbow Beach

Sainters by 3 points. Jeez, against the bottom team they should've done better. Still, a win is a win.

Meanwhile, here in the bookshop, I was looking forward to a nice quiet day scanning the shelves ( for the database).
Hahahahaha! (definitely maniacal!)
Some guy just dumped 154 books on me. Fortunately for the bank balance, he took exchange/credit rather than cash. But now I've got to scan, price and shelve them all.
So much for an easy day!!

Sainters! An easy win against Collingwood (the team we all hate with a passion). Sweet.

Tricky

I think this might be my next read.

Went to a friend's birthday party last night. Had way too much champagne (as usual!). I wonder if it's possible to get done for being drunk in charge of a bookshop.
I wrote "welcome to the other side" on her card....wonder where I got that idea from????

Finished The Hobbit. A good lesson in what can happen when greed overcomes reason. Fortunately, Thorin and Co do come to see reason at the end.
I think The Hobbit began as a bedtime story that Tolkien created to tell his own children. And thank goodness he did.

I got home yesterday and decided I wanted to read. Home alone, peace and quiet. So I picked up The Hobbit. I haven't read it for years and thought, 'why not'? I love Tolkien. He is one of my all-time favourite writers. I've read Lord of the Rings many, many times and will, no doubt, read it many more times still.
But, as I was following along with Bilbo and the dwarves, I suddenly realised that the images in my head were the film versions, particularly Bilbo, Gollum and Gandalf. I find that a little bit distressing. I'm struggling to remember what my own image of hobbits was before I saw the films.
Damn you, Peter Jackson!! I loved the films, don't get me wrong, but I want my own images back!!!

Boy, oh boy. It's only quarter past two in the afternoon and I've sold over $450 worth of books already today. Everything from Crime and Punishment to Harry Potter. Haven't even had time for lunch! I think I'm just going to sit for a little while.
Oh shit! I just remembered.....Saints are playing, right now! That's how busy I've been, I even forgot about my boys. Eek!
Okay, got the radio on the right station....I think we're winning but it's only the first quarter.

Always remember that in the journey of life two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left.

My sympathies go out to Shirl and others who knew Mandarin Meg.

Another busy day in ye olde shoppe. Still, we're starting to make real inroads on all the junk hanging about the place. I can even see the carpet in places! Not that this carpet is worth seeing! It's green and purple squares. Ugh!

Australia lost 0-1 to Italy overnight. No more World Cup for them. I must say that they had plenty of chances to score but the finishing was pretty wayward. The penalty that gave Italy the last-minute goal was dubious, to say the least. Some of those guys could slot right in to the Olympic diving team. But, enough sour grapes. The green and gold played well and I think they won't be taken so lightly on the international scene from now on.
So now, it's England all the way for me.

It's been a busy couple of days in ye olde bookshoppe. Laurie has been in the back room reorganising. It's possible to get in there and actually walk around now. Amazing effort. About 1500 books have gone to the tip. Sad, but true. He'll write those off on his tax. He's hoping to get rid of ten times that in the next week or so. We have to be a bit ruthless and get rid of a lot of old stock that's been sitting around for years and years. It's the only way to make room for new stock. The place is chockers and getting more so everyday. Except for the old sci-fi and classic literature fans, most people don't seem to be interested in reading stuff that was written more than a few years ago. And to make room for newer stuff we, unfortunately, have to ditch the old stuff.
A big part of me wants to keep them all. It's somehow not right to throw books away. But, we have to be practical and think in terms of the shop's survival.


Meanwhile, England won overnight and are through to the quarter finals. Australia plays tonight (well, 1am tomorrow morning to be exact) for their chance to advance. The way the draw works, it could end up with an England - Australia final. Now that would be exciting. But, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves!

Why do my links have a bullet in front of them????

Awake at 4.30 this morning to watch the football. Australia is now through to the second round.

Checked out

Pink Floyd

and sadly, they don't tour any more. They are reforming for a one-off performance at Live 8 but that's it.

Set the controls for the heart of the sun....

Watched Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii last night. Just the band in an amphitheatre. No audience. The music is pre Dark Side of the Moon. Excellent stuff. The interviews/comments in between tunes are interesting. Lots of justification going on about the use of electronic equipment - they were in the process of recording DSotM at the time. Ironic really, 'cos nowadays no one gives it a second thought.
There's an hilarious (I think) bit with Dave Gilmour when he's desperately trying to convince the interviewer that the band doesn't do drugs. It probably would have worked if he didn't look and sound so obviously stoned.
I really would have loved to have been there....the sound in that amphitheatre would have been amazing.
Saw the post-Roger Waters version of Floyd several years ago. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. Would go again at the drop of a hat. Dunno if they still tour though.

oops

Australia aren't through yet. They have to win tomorrow morning to guarantee a place in the last sixteen.

Since the bloody World Cup started I haven't done any reading. That's bad. I've been staring goggle-eyed at men in shorts kicking a round ball around instead. Both my teams (England and Australia) are through to the second stage. That gives me a 2 in 16 ( 1 in 8??) chance of backing the winner.
And, of course, once that finishes Wimbledon starts.
Sleep? What's that?

We (ie., the books) are now an official rrr sponsor/discounter. In return for offering a discount to rrr subscribers we get free listing on their website and in their Trip magazine (which goes out to at least 10,000 people!). Yay!

from the Little Book of Wrong Shui

Storing sugar in the salt cellar and salt in the sugar bowl will help to discourage complacency in many ways.

Plants with pointy leaves are bad for you. So are friends with pointy faces. Avoid both.

If your toast always lands butter-side down, plan ahead. Butter the other side instead.

That Sinking Feeling: the all too familiar combination of impatience and frustration encountered when trying to find something in the cupboard under the sink. Eliminate the problem by fitting your sink in the floor.

You Are 14% American

You're as American as Key Lime Tofu Pie Otherwise known as un-American! You belong in Cairo or Paris... Get out fast - before you end up in Gitmo!

How American Are You?

Phew!
What or where is Gitmo?

who wants to try?

Apparently, if you cut an onion in half and rub it on the sole of your foot you'll taste onion in your mouth an hour later.

Holly

Got an email today. She's liking her new job, saving madly (haha, I bet!) so they can get a place of their own and has met lots of boys.
Way to go, Schmoll.

Here's a word...

triskaidekaphobia

Fear of what?

Good morning

The sun's out but it's icy cold out there.
Got a sale happening in the shop - kids books, as it's school holidays for the next two weeks. Hope that'll bring some customers in, been far too quiet lately.

Hmm, that's Taya on the left, Holly on the right. I messed up the labels.

And isn't blogger.com being a bit temperamental lately!

I got it wrong

Evan's b'day is actually today (Monday, 19th here), but his b'day tea was yesterday. Bad auntie!
I gave him some books (surprise, surprise) which he accepted with great joy. He's a big fan of Winnie the Pooh. Mind you, the books were immediately forgotten about 'cos there was a game involving running, jumping on the couch and generally being silly in progress. :)
I had to give Taya (his sister) a book too, just to keep things even. She's four and, to my eye, a dead ringer for Holly at that age. If she sings like Holly it'll be a bonus.
Speaking of Holly; she's flown the coop. Got a job in Brisbane and moved up there last weekend. Her mum says that the house is strangely tidy all of a sudden. She misses her terribly though.

Taya.

Holly

Evan is seven today

Happy Birthday!!

100 best opening lines (novels)

From the American Book review

here

The World Cup continues

Sleep deprivation increases.

busy busy busy

Haven't had time to scratch myself today. Busy little book shop!

suicides at Guantanamo Bay

"They have no regard for human life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us" - Navy Rear-Admiral Harry Harris, base commander

So suicide is now an act of war. These people never cease to amaze me.

two points

is all it takes to beat Sydney in Sydney. Yeah!

temperature

7.8 degrees, down from a high of 8.1
(that's degrees C Shirl).
So, technically speaking, it's not freezing. Technically.

Disgraceful

Australia currently has military personnel in East Timor to try to help stop the rioting, etc that's going on over there. As the troops left, our illustrious Prime Minister said that they were being sent into a dangerous situation and that there could be casualties. But now he's saying it's not a war like situation so that the government doesn't have to pay them combat rates. This impacts on their superannuation payouts, their service records, everything.
What a horrible little man he is. Send them out there, tell them they could get killed and then cheat them of their pay.

I have to stop picking up these books!

Currently reading:
A Feast for Crows - George RR Martin (still)
Ilse Witch - Terry Brooks
The Well of Lost Plots - Jaspar Fforde
Death Sentence - Don Watson

and now I just picked up Dirt Music by Tim Winton. The opening is good so I have to keep reading.

So we went to the football

What a day! Saints lost by 13 points. The third quarter got a bit exciting but we were behind all day.
Georgia insisted that we sit next to the Melbourne cheer squad - good for her, not good for me! And, my god, can that kid yell!! Nearly deafened me a couple of times, hehe. But she enjoyed herself so that's the main thing.
After the game we took the wrong path out of the MCG and ended up walking for an hour before we found a train station. Bloody hell!
Turned into a very long day.

Goin' to the football

Tomorrow. I haven't been for many, many years, in fact not since Waverley closed. But niece Georgia wants to go and has told me I'm taking her! Hehe. My team (Saints) versus her team (Demons). I hope 1) It's not raining 2) It's a good game and 3) Georgia doesn't get too upset when we win. :)
I nearly got out of it when I heard last week that she was behind with schoolwork. I told her she had to get up to date or the game was off. Apparently she's worked her backside off to get up to date this week. So now I have to go. Oh well, it'll be an adventure.