Parking Fee Doubles in Perth

Thursday was a shock when I went to pay for my parking. I had to pay double my normal fee. Well, it had a bit to do with the ticket machine taking the money from my credit card and not issuing a ticket. Rather than receive an infringement notice for parking illegally I had to purchase another ticket. That explains the doubling of fee. The next ticket machine provided me with a message "Credit Left" as I purchased the second ticket so maybe, just maybe, the system is smart enough to realise that I'd paid and the money was left over.

I visited the City Of Perth Parking Website to see how I could protest the charge and notify them that there was a faulty machine. They have a service for just this sort of complaint whereby you complete an online form and it emails your complaint. Let's see how long it takes to receive an answer.

One thing I did notice though was that the price for parking would increase by 50% as of July the 1st. Now this isn't something that has been widely publicised (although there was a full page add in today's paper with a few groups not pleased by this decision being made without consultation). I stuck the new fees up on the noticeboard and it got a few people talking in the office. Nobody else knew of this and I find the increase a little difficult to justify, especially in the current economic climate. Not only will the fees increase markedly but earlybird parking will be reduced from prior to 7:30 am to 7:00 am. That will surely catch a few people out and raise more funds for the government's coffers. No word where the extra revenue raised is going to be used either.

Not happy, Jan.

Strange Sight When Leaving Work

I got a bit of a shock the other day as I left work. There were a number of women being trained in the art of attacking with knives. Ok, I'm all for people being able to defend themselves but knives are dangerous. Besides, it's illegal to carry a knife as a concealed weapon. And who is actually trained in being able to pass on the skills of attacking with a knife?

Maybe it was about the other women involved and about self-defence.

Sonia Kruger's Domination of Local Television

Todd McKenney wants a baby. He's openly gay and is pressuring his glamourus co-star, Sonia Kruger, on Dancing With The Stars to be a surrogate mother for him. That's not something you would announce to the world without some serious thought and you'd fully expect Todd to have broached the subject with her before making the announcement. If not, it might be a friendship breaker.

I read a little more into this. Sure, they've been friends for 26 years, but Sonia Kruger is a career woman. She is 43 years old and doesn't have kids. Her face and body are still holding up well enough for her to be a mainstay in the television industry (that's being realistic, not sexist). Why would she even contemplate this? I'm almost certain that it would lead to more TV shows. In fact, if she plays her cards right she wouldn't even have to disappear from our screens. Think of the possibilities.

- Dancing with the Surrogate Mother
- What Pregnant Women Should Wear
- My Surrogate Pregancy
- Masterchef for Pregnant Women
- Pregnancy Survivor

I don't think that there would be a pregnant pause in her work. If you'll pardon the pun.

A Little Bit Of Poetry

Smelly Fart - by Frugal Bastard

The pong,
Is strong,
And lingers for long.

Exhausted Exhaust

For a couple of weeks I had noticed a bit of a rattle out of the rear end of the car. It didn't seem to be anything major or getting any worse. Then the other day as I was about to go for a drive I noticed that the tailpipe was pointing upwards which was rather strange. Closer inspection revealed that the exhaust had rusted through and I don't really understand how it hadn't fallen off.

Took it down to a nearby exhaust and brake shop who could do the job the next day after giving me a chance to drop it off after work had finished. It must have been two, possibly three, years since the exhaust pipe was last replaced. The mechanic said that if you get two years out of an exhaust you've done well. Apparently unleaded petrol coupled with low kilometres leads to exhaust failure quite early as it rusts from the inside even though the outside looks almost brand new.

Exhausted Exhaust

It's an expensive habit to develop, methinks. The mechanic also said that he'd seen much worse and people asked for it to be welded back together.

Bus Driver Falls Asleep on the Bus

I had the interesting position of seeing a bus driver asleep on the bus recently. Pretty harrowing situation. Normally. Except in this case he was a CAT (Central Area Transit) driver and he was obviously on the way home having finished his shift so there was nothing to worry about.

I wonder about a driving falling asleep when the heat is turned up though. What happens if he's a bit tired on the job and the cabin is a bit warm and feels like a kip?

Michael Jackson is Dead

I was a little surprised to see the news this morning that Michael Jackson was dead. The story was broken by gossip site TMZ but was unconfirmed by other sources. So I didn’t take it too seriously. I mean, how many celebrities past their use-by date create some headline to make themselves newsworthy? But it has been confirmed.

I guess the autopsy would make interesting reading. That is, if only they could cut the body open.

There was a report that he had skin cancer. I’m afraid that that wouldn’t have killed him as it wasn’t his skin so he would have been unaffected.

There’s no truth to the rumour that Michael Jackson has faked his own death so that he can move to Thailand where he can actually afford the little boys. None whatsoever.

What a climax to his life though. A warped talent that he was. Now hear this – I’m almost certain that one of his albums will be No. 1 somewhere within three weeks. His album sales will be huge in the coming month and the record companies won’t be able to churn them out quickly enough. That’s probably just what he needed to pay off his debts – die.

Shortest Day of the Year

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. In the southern hemisphere, at least. It's also known as the winter solstice. How did we spend this day? Well, fruit and veg shopping had to be done, followed by a nice warm breakfast with crumpets, then off to the pool for heaps of laps (31 seconds for breaststroke, 28 seconds for backstroke, 25 seconds for butterfly and 16 seconds for freestyle [my best by 2 seconds]), then home for lunch. Followed this by computer games with The Boy before going to the park for football and chasey before heading off for a bike ride. After tea we started watching "Flags of our Fathers". Pretty full-on day really.

Funny, but it still felt as though it had 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0996 seconds like any other true sidereal day.