Sunday, January 30, 2005
Five of Diamonds
(subtitled "The Worst of All Possible Worlds")
I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this evening's tennis any more. This has to be the worst possible match-up that could have come out of the semis, from my point of view.
I detest Lleyton Hewitt with a passion, and playing against Safin gives him a greatly-increased chance of winning, as compared with Federer. Of course, a final without Hewitt altogether would have been even better! Safin is a far better natural tennis player, and watching him is probably second only to Federer when it comes to tennis as an art form.
I just have this horrible sneaking suspicion that he's going to lose against Hewitt who's essentially in the same position as Henman would be in a Wimbledon final - it's nearly 20 years since an Aussie got into the final, and 30 since one won, and the media over here are just as pro-Hewitt as the British press get with Henman. Just that Hewitt is in with a much better chance! This is the first time he's ever got past the 4th round of the Aussie Open, and here he is in the final.
My prediction is Hewitt in 4, with Safin losing the first set on a tiebreak, winning the second on a tiebreak then going to pieces, so something like 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-1 to Hewitt.
That, needless to say, is not my desire, just my expectation!
Hellos (that might be read this time) to Angela and Gavin. Hope you remember your glasses this evening, Angela!
I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this evening's tennis any more. This has to be the worst possible match-up that could have come out of the semis, from my point of view.
I detest Lleyton Hewitt with a passion, and playing against Safin gives him a greatly-increased chance of winning, as compared with Federer. Of course, a final without Hewitt altogether would have been even better! Safin is a far better natural tennis player, and watching him is probably second only to Federer when it comes to tennis as an art form.
I just have this horrible sneaking suspicion that he's going to lose against Hewitt who's essentially in the same position as Henman would be in a Wimbledon final - it's nearly 20 years since an Aussie got into the final, and 30 since one won, and the media over here are just as pro-Hewitt as the British press get with Henman. Just that Hewitt is in with a much better chance! This is the first time he's ever got past the 4th round of the Aussie Open, and here he is in the final.
My prediction is Hewitt in 4, with Safin losing the first set on a tiebreak, winning the second on a tiebreak then going to pieces, so something like 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-1 to Hewitt.
That, needless to say, is not my desire, just my expectation!
Hellos (that might be read this time) to Angela and Gavin. Hope you remember your glasses this evening, Angela!
posted by Chip : 03:49
2 comments
Friday, January 28, 2005
Three of Diamonds
I know this is very frequent posting by my standards, but I had to say something.
The tennis was bloody brilliant yesterday. I honestly don't know how Sharapova (the "fit Russian" in the words of a certain Neil S - I've got a "reverse angle" photo of her, just for him...) lost it - Serena seemed all kinds of out of the match, and then somehow turned it around. I've also got a recording of Sharapova's "grunting", which is very funny.
While I was expecting to see at least (and realistically speaking, at most!) 6 sets from Federer, the 5 I did get were spectacular. As was Safin. How he saved the match point against him in the 4th set I don't know, and how he carried on through another 7 (I think) match points before finally beating Federer was unbelievable. Good birthday present for him though! Got home at just after 1 am, and couldn't get to sleep for another hour.
Day 2 today, and after that, I'm thinking it might be a bit of an anticlimax!
And finally, thanks to Karen from South Melbourne. She'll never read this, but I was brought up to be polite.
The tennis was bloody brilliant yesterday. I honestly don't know how Sharapova (the "fit Russian" in the words of a certain Neil S - I've got a "reverse angle" photo of her, just for him...) lost it - Serena seemed all kinds of out of the match, and then somehow turned it around. I've also got a recording of Sharapova's "grunting", which is very funny.
While I was expecting to see at least (and realistically speaking, at most!) 6 sets from Federer, the 5 I did get were spectacular. As was Safin. How he saved the match point against him in the 4th set I don't know, and how he carried on through another 7 (I think) match points before finally beating Federer was unbelievable. Good birthday present for him though! Got home at just after 1 am, and couldn't get to sleep for another hour.
Day 2 today, and after that, I'm thinking it might be a bit of an anticlimax!
And finally, thanks to Karen from South Melbourne. She'll never read this, but I was brought up to be polite.
posted by Chip : 01:37
1 comments
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Two of Diamonds
(again, I think!)
Day before yesterday officially marked the halfway point of my actual holiday. So it's downhill from here - literally, once I reach Canada! For those of you that wanted a party at mine, you'vve only got 24 days left...
I like Melbourne. It's a very cosmopolitan city, quite similar to Paris or other European cities in many ways. Loads of pavement cafes, wide avenues and lots of people. What I don't like here so much is the weather. Anyone who managed to catch any of the tennis from Tuesday or Wednesday will know what it's been like - they had to close the roof and stick on the air-con on Tuesday, it was so hot. Since the Australian news follows the commendable practice of telling you what the weather was today, as well as what it should be tomorrow, I happen to know it hit 36 on Tuesday, and 37 yesterday. In other words, hotter that I was yesterday!
Today, my fourth-most-anticipated day of the holiday. Women's semis. I get to see Davenport, Williams (S), Nathalie Dechy, and hear Sharapova today. Then the men's semi that's the repeat of last year's final - Safin and Federer (possibly the best match I'll get to see). And, if I can be bothered sticking round for the late night match, Martina Navratilova. And this is only tennis day one!
Went on a fun day tour yesterday - a steam train ride, then a walk through a rainforest, then wine-tasting (no photos - sorry!) and finally another wildlife sanctuary, where I saw my first duck-billed platypus. They're very ugly animals. I can see why the 19th century scientists thought it was a hoax animal! Going penguin-spotting next Tuesday, and the Great Ocean Road on Monday, in an open-topped minibus, which sounds really fun - I've been wanting to see some of the sights along here since my parents drove the whole road from Adelaide to Melbourne a few years ago (search for Twelve Apostles or Loch Ard Gorge if you're interested, or wait for my photos!)
Finally, I would like to offer my unreserved apologies to all the flies of South Australia, who, by comparison to their Victorian cousins, were positively restrained in their enthusiasm for greeting me.
Day before yesterday officially marked the halfway point of my actual holiday. So it's downhill from here - literally, once I reach Canada! For those of you that wanted a party at mine, you'vve only got 24 days left...
I like Melbourne. It's a very cosmopolitan city, quite similar to Paris or other European cities in many ways. Loads of pavement cafes, wide avenues and lots of people. What I don't like here so much is the weather. Anyone who managed to catch any of the tennis from Tuesday or Wednesday will know what it's been like - they had to close the roof and stick on the air-con on Tuesday, it was so hot. Since the Australian news follows the commendable practice of telling you what the weather was today, as well as what it should be tomorrow, I happen to know it hit 36 on Tuesday, and 37 yesterday. In other words, hotter that I was yesterday!
Today, my fourth-most-anticipated day of the holiday. Women's semis. I get to see Davenport, Williams (S), Nathalie Dechy, and hear Sharapova today. Then the men's semi that's the repeat of last year's final - Safin and Federer (possibly the best match I'll get to see). And, if I can be bothered sticking round for the late night match, Martina Navratilova. And this is only tennis day one!
Went on a fun day tour yesterday - a steam train ride, then a walk through a rainforest, then wine-tasting (no photos - sorry!) and finally another wildlife sanctuary, where I saw my first duck-billed platypus. They're very ugly animals. I can see why the 19th century scientists thought it was a hoax animal! Going penguin-spotting next Tuesday, and the Great Ocean Road on Monday, in an open-topped minibus, which sounds really fun - I've been wanting to see some of the sights along here since my parents drove the whole road from Adelaide to Melbourne a few years ago (search for Twelve Apostles or Loch Ard Gorge if you're interested, or wait for my photos!)
Finally, I would like to offer my unreserved apologies to all the flies of South Australia, who, by comparison to their Victorian cousins, were positively restrained in their enthusiasm for greeting me.
posted by Chip : 22:46
2 comments
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Jack of Clubs
(corrected)
This is not the most comfortable place I've ever blogged from (standing up at a terminal in Adelaide airport), and all the keys are horrible and in the wrong place, so I'm not going to worry about spelling or typos - sue me. I'll be in Melbourne in less than 3 hours!
All sorts of little bits and pieces that I wanted to record here
Being mistaken for an Italian to the extent of the tour guide giving me a leaflet in Italian, and asking me (in Italian!) where in Italy I came from.
Being correctly spotted as a Scouser by Mark, the Aussie coach driver, within 30 seconds of getting on the bus. Now what's your excuse for continually getting it wrong, Lint?!
The much-harder-than-it-should-be search for a copy of The Confusion - they have Quicksilver, System of the World, Cryptonomicon, etc., but no Confusion!
The equally hard search for a postcard with an image of Sir Donald Bradman on it, to satisfy one of only two specific postcard requests I had. Time will tell whether I succeeded on that one...
Our parent company sponsoring the Australian Open ballboys and girls, and forcing them to wear a delightful turquoise and orange uniform, complete with silly floppy-eared hat.
Flies. Lots of flies. And they seem to like me. A lot.
Pam Ayers. Oh how I wish I hadn't had to sit through that!
Going to the shark museum in Glenelg, and taking lots of photos for my shark-mad brother.
Two unexpectedly-located rainbows - one of them photographed, one of them not.
A great thunderstorm.
Juice. Lots of juice. The flies like that, too...
And finally some quotes that have lightened up my week.
"We will not be overruling the machine."
"You can have just this beautiful experience."
"You're very good at tennis, Tim." (shouted out in between the first and second services of a double fault!)
This is not the most comfortable place I've ever blogged from (standing up at a terminal in Adelaide airport), and all the keys are horrible and in the wrong place, so I'm not going to worry about spelling or typos - sue me. I'll be in Melbourne in less than 3 hours!
All sorts of little bits and pieces that I wanted to record here
And finally some quotes that have lightened up my week.
posted by Chip : 23:27
3 comments
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Eight of Clubs
Australian Inventions they aren't famous for :
Air conditioners that drip dirty water all over you
One-sided motorways that run one direction in the morning and another in the afternoon
Extraordinarily complicated ticketing systems for getting on a boat - took the coach driver 4 minutes to explain it, using Mallett's Mallet rules (mustn't pause, mustn't hesitate, no repetitions)
All of these have impinged on me (or dripped on me) in the last week.
Went on a cruise this morning with the intention of swimming with dolphins. Unfortunately, there was a really big storm last night, which usually means no dice, as it did today. Saw 2 or 3 from a long distance away, and was in the water for about 30 seconds, but not really "swimming with dolphins"! Oh well...
Spent yesterday on Australia's 3rd-largets island, Kangaroo Island (there's a competition question again - I actually got nos. 1, 2 and 4 correct myself without being told too!) Lots to see there - mostly natural rock formations, but also a seal sanctuary, and a walk along a beach where sea lions rest and breed. Saw several tens of sea lions from just a few feet away, including an extremely cute little one, less than 3 months old.
Tomorrow going to be visiting some of the museums around Adelaide, and maybe going up to North Adelaide where a lot of the bookshops are, doing some browsing - I've finished all the books I brought with me, and so I need to get The Confusion now!
I'm sure I've done lots more, but I need to think about what to write better next time!
PS - happy birthday Badfriend.
All of these have impinged on me (or dripped on me) in the last week.
Went on a cruise this morning with the intention of swimming with dolphins. Unfortunately, there was a really big storm last night, which usually means no dice, as it did today. Saw 2 or 3 from a long distance away, and was in the water for about 30 seconds, but not really "swimming with dolphins"! Oh well...
Spent yesterday on Australia's 3rd-largets island, Kangaroo Island (there's a competition question again - I actually got nos. 1, 2 and 4 correct myself without being told too!) Lots to see there - mostly natural rock formations, but also a seal sanctuary, and a walk along a beach where sea lions rest and breed. Saw several tens of sea lions from just a few feet away, including an extremely cute little one, less than 3 months old.
Tomorrow going to be visiting some of the museums around Adelaide, and maybe going up to North Adelaide where a lot of the bookshops are, doing some browsing - I've finished all the books I brought with me, and so I need to get The Confusion now!
I'm sure I've done lots more, but I need to think about what to write better next time!
PS - happy birthday Badfriend.
posted by Chip : 01:29
0 comments
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Ace of Clubs
Well, a lot's happened in the lasty week since I updated this!
After the cross-border shenanigans of last Friday, Saturday was more relaxed - we went to the Singapore Zoo, where it pissed it down for about 4 hours solid. Still, it was a very good zoo - they've got a significant percentage of all the white tigers still in existence (3 to be precise!), and many other endangered (and cute!) species.
Sunday was a non-day really - 4.5 hour flight from Singapore to Perth, arriving early evening, so there wasn't a great deal open in the city to see. Still, hotel's pretty good - I've got 2 (!) balconies, one overlooking the WACA (Bertie and GD, race for which of you gets that one first) and the Swan River, and the other of the main road outside the hotel.
Monday was my orientation day, so I did my usual of walking backwards and forwards around town taking random turnings till I had a proper picture in my head of where everything was. Then I went to the Botanical Gardens, which has a really good bush walk, considering it's in the city centre, and lots of great views. Steep hill to climb in the bright sunshine though! Got a bit burnt... Also went to the Western Australian Museum, and the Museum of Western Australian Art, both of which passed the time. Then I bought some sunscreen, and quite a bit of snack food, which turned out lucky, because...
Tuesday and Wednesday, the fun part came to an abrupt halt, which is annoying, as I really like Perth, and would have liked a lot more time here. I got my regular-as-clockwork bi-monthly (do I mean bi-monthly? Once every 2 months, anyway) cold, only this time with added bonuses of horrible hacking cough, voice loss and lots of shivers. Pretty much what many of you might remember laughing at me for, about a year ago! I didn't actually leave the hotel room on Tuesday, and only ventured out on Wednesday afternoon to go book my tour for today, in the hopes that I'd be up to it.
Which luckily I was. Very busy day today. It was a guided coach tour, and we went all over. First to a nature reserve, where we got to stroke koalas and feed kangaroos (Colm, remain calm...). Then to Lancelin, where we got to go sandboarding, which is pretty much the same as snowboarding, only with the snow replaced by sand, you go much slower, and there are no handy lifts to drag you up the 50m slope, so you have to climb upo yourself and are knackered by the time you get there. Then finally on to the Pinnacles, which are a weird Martian-like landscape of limestone pillars in the middle of an extremely windy desert. (Found out that Perth is the 3rd windiest city in the world - practice for Big Iain's quiz - where are cities 1 and 2? Answers on a postcard...)
The tour guide was really good, very informative and friendly, except she did make a few howlers in her commentary, e.g. of the town where we had lunch... "Cervantes is named after an American shiop that went down off the coast by the town in the 1840s. Where the ship got its name from, I don't know - I've always thought it sounded French, so maybe it's something to do with the Statue of Liberty", dating American independence in 1866, and telling us that she could only think of one building in the Perth area which was built before 1850 while parked opposite a sign advertising the special sale of a listed building circa 1841. And I topped it all off with sushi for tea, in the restaurant down the road. Buzz seems very expensive right about now...
Off to Fremantle tomorrow - the port on the coast near Perth. Looking forward to my first coffee of the year on their "cappucino strip" - I somehow accidentally ended up doing what Lint did deliberately last year! Then on to Adelaide on Saturday, but not before I've had an Asian breakfast of chicken rice porridge with shallots and chillies from the cafe nearby.
After the cross-border shenanigans of last Friday, Saturday was more relaxed - we went to the Singapore Zoo, where it pissed it down for about 4 hours solid. Still, it was a very good zoo - they've got a significant percentage of all the white tigers still in existence (3 to be precise!), and many other endangered (and cute!) species.
Sunday was a non-day really - 4.5 hour flight from Singapore to Perth, arriving early evening, so there wasn't a great deal open in the city to see. Still, hotel's pretty good - I've got 2 (!) balconies, one overlooking the WACA (Bertie and GD, race for which of you gets that one first) and the Swan River, and the other of the main road outside the hotel.
Monday was my orientation day, so I did my usual of walking backwards and forwards around town taking random turnings till I had a proper picture in my head of where everything was. Then I went to the Botanical Gardens, which has a really good bush walk, considering it's in the city centre, and lots of great views. Steep hill to climb in the bright sunshine though! Got a bit burnt... Also went to the Western Australian Museum, and the Museum of Western Australian Art, both of which passed the time. Then I bought some sunscreen, and quite a bit of snack food, which turned out lucky, because...
Tuesday and Wednesday, the fun part came to an abrupt halt, which is annoying, as I really like Perth, and would have liked a lot more time here. I got my regular-as-clockwork bi-monthly (do I mean bi-monthly? Once every 2 months, anyway) cold, only this time with added bonuses of horrible hacking cough, voice loss and lots of shivers. Pretty much what many of you might remember laughing at me for, about a year ago! I didn't actually leave the hotel room on Tuesday, and only ventured out on Wednesday afternoon to go book my tour for today, in the hopes that I'd be up to it.
Which luckily I was. Very busy day today. It was a guided coach tour, and we went all over. First to a nature reserve, where we got to stroke koalas and feed kangaroos (Colm, remain calm...). Then to Lancelin, where we got to go sandboarding, which is pretty much the same as snowboarding, only with the snow replaced by sand, you go much slower, and there are no handy lifts to drag you up the 50m slope, so you have to climb upo yourself and are knackered by the time you get there. Then finally on to the Pinnacles, which are a weird Martian-like landscape of limestone pillars in the middle of an extremely windy desert. (Found out that Perth is the 3rd windiest city in the world - practice for Big Iain's quiz - where are cities 1 and 2? Answers on a postcard...)
The tour guide was really good, very informative and friendly, except she did make a few howlers in her commentary, e.g. of the town where we had lunch... "Cervantes is named after an American shiop that went down off the coast by the town in the 1840s. Where the ship got its name from, I don't know - I've always thought it sounded French, so maybe it's something to do with the Statue of Liberty", dating American independence in 1866, and telling us that she could only think of one building in the Perth area which was built before 1850 while parked opposite a sign advertising the special sale of a listed building circa 1841. And I topped it all off with sushi for tea, in the restaurant down the road. Buzz seems very expensive right about now...
Off to Fremantle tomorrow - the port on the coast near Perth. Looking forward to my first coffee of the year on their "cappucino strip" - I somehow accidentally ended up doing what Lint did deliberately last year! Then on to Adelaide on Saturday, but not before I've had an Asian breakfast of chicken rice porridge with shallots and chillies from the cafe nearby.
posted by Chip : 13:47
2 comments
Friday, January 07, 2005
8 of Hearts
One week down, 6 to go. As I type this, it's almost exactly 168 hours since I left York. Not that I'm counting these things...
For a brief period today (about 20 minutes) I was an illegal emigrant! (And yes, that's spelt right...read on.)
Adrian and I jacked in the idea of going to Indonesia today, when we found out it was a 4 hour bus ride there and back, and the timings of the few buses we had available to us would have meant both a 7 o'clock wake-up and only having 2 hours there. So instead we went over the bridge to Malaysia - a half-hour tube journey and 10 minutes further by bus.
Johor Bahru, the city we visited, was pretty rank. Smelt awful, very smoky and practically nothing there. We decided to leave after about an hour and a half (which beats my previous record of 2 hours before deciding to leave Bratislava). Spying a handy gap in the fence which meant not having to walk nearly 3/4 of a mile back out of town to get to the bus stop, we crossed the road, got on the bus and headed back to Singapore.
Immigration at Singapore then caused some problems. Our "gap in the fence" was apparently a major immigration loophole! We'd not actually exited Malaysia, as we hadn't had our passports stamped, so we weren't allowed to come back into Singapore. Fortunately, the extremely helpful and jovial border guard explained what was going on, and how he saw 3 or 4 such events each week! Glad I was there with a Singapore resident ... not sure how cheerful he'd have been if it was just me!
So back on the bus to Malaysia, and we're at entry checking again. Ooops! Fortunately, after explaining the predicament again, (perhaps they breed them specially) another happy jolly soul waved me straight through and pointed out the 3/4 mile walkway back into the city...
And now I've got 3 Singapore exit stamps and 2 Malaysia entry stamps in my passport!
Now that's over with, here's a few phrases, mainly to jog my memory when I get back...
Incroyable! (Adrian's favourite French word.)
Hui Sim (the ... again! ... happy jolly little tour guide round the Asian Civilizations Museum)
SpacePORK (TM) (Lint, I have a photo for you of this one...)
Fire Noodles (marked as hot in a real Thai restaurant - couldn't resist...)
Alexander (not a good film!)
The Aviator (a better film)
My next post will be from Oz.
For a brief period today (about 20 minutes) I was an illegal emigrant! (And yes, that's spelt right...read on.)
Adrian and I jacked in the idea of going to Indonesia today, when we found out it was a 4 hour bus ride there and back, and the timings of the few buses we had available to us would have meant both a 7 o'clock wake-up and only having 2 hours there. So instead we went over the bridge to Malaysia - a half-hour tube journey and 10 minutes further by bus.
Johor Bahru, the city we visited, was pretty rank. Smelt awful, very smoky and practically nothing there. We decided to leave after about an hour and a half (which beats my previous record of 2 hours before deciding to leave Bratislava). Spying a handy gap in the fence which meant not having to walk nearly 3/4 of a mile back out of town to get to the bus stop, we crossed the road, got on the bus and headed back to Singapore.
Immigration at Singapore then caused some problems. Our "gap in the fence" was apparently a major immigration loophole! We'd not actually exited Malaysia, as we hadn't had our passports stamped, so we weren't allowed to come back into Singapore. Fortunately, the extremely helpful and jovial border guard explained what was going on, and how he saw 3 or 4 such events each week! Glad I was there with a Singapore resident ... not sure how cheerful he'd have been if it was just me!
So back on the bus to Malaysia, and we're at entry checking again. Ooops! Fortunately, after explaining the predicament again, (perhaps they breed them specially) another happy jolly soul waved me straight through and pointed out the 3/4 mile walkway back into the city...
And now I've got 3 Singapore exit stamps and 2 Malaysia entry stamps in my passport!
Now that's over with, here's a few phrases, mainly to jog my memory when I get back...
Incroyable! (Adrian's favourite French word.)
Hui Sim (the ... again! ... happy jolly little tour guide round the Asian Civilizations Museum)
SpacePORK (TM) (Lint, I have a photo for you of this one...)
Fire Noodles (marked as hot in a real Thai restaurant - couldn't resist...)
Alexander (not a good film!)
The Aviator (a better film)
My next post will be from Oz.
posted by Chip : 13:14
2 comments
Monday, January 03, 2005
Four of Hearts
4 degrees North, 104 degrees East - better known as the island of Singapore.
Well, I got here all right, despite being on the smallest plane I've ever been on - 54 seats total, and I couldn't stand upright in it! 5.5 hour layover in Frankfurt was very dull - not a good airport to sit round in on New Year's Day evening!
Yesterday was a very short day, allowing for all the time changes - I spent the 5 or so hours of it I was in Singapore for trying to wake myself up properly from the flight. Did have excellent chilli squid at a hawker's market.
Today has brought much walking and sweating. It's a bit hot! High 20s, not much wind, and lots of humidity. Still, there are plenty of air-conditioned shops to wander into. Most of them appear to be Marks and Spencers - I saw 5 separate ones today!
Had one of those peculiarly young-Asian meals tonight, where you have each course at a different restaurant. Noodle soup for starters, then Sri Lankan curries on a rooftop terrace, an ice cream and then iced tea, making 4 restaurants in total. There was a 5th one we saw that I rejected, but I'll be going back there to take a photo later in the week...
Well, I got here all right, despite being on the smallest plane I've ever been on - 54 seats total, and I couldn't stand upright in it! 5.5 hour layover in Frankfurt was very dull - not a good airport to sit round in on New Year's Day evening!
Yesterday was a very short day, allowing for all the time changes - I spent the 5 or so hours of it I was in Singapore for trying to wake myself up properly from the flight. Did have excellent chilli squid at a hawker's market.
Today has brought much walking and sweating. It's a bit hot! High 20s, not much wind, and lots of humidity. Still, there are plenty of air-conditioned shops to wander into. Most of them appear to be Marks and Spencers - I saw 5 separate ones today!
Had one of those peculiarly young-Asian meals tonight, where you have each course at a different restaurant. Noodle soup for starters, then Sri Lankan curries on a rooftop terrace, an ice cream and then iced tea, making 4 restaurants in total. There was a 5th one we saw that I rejected, but I'll be going back there to take a photo later in the week...
posted by Chip : 16:02
0 comments
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