Week Three - Some Sydney Observations

Back to Sydney again this week and I thought I would pass on some more observations. Now I know there will be some who do not agree with these. But hey you get the idea:

1. Not all Sydney Walkers are slow. But most of them are.

2. I have a pair of shoes that when scuffed on the footpath make the same sound as when the red man turns green at the pedestrian lights. I nearly sent a kid into the fron of a bus the other day because he was too busy texting to bother to look to see if the actual lights had changed. (insert evil laugh here)

3. I have to admit i like the way some pedestrian traffic light work to allow ease of traffic flow without hindering pedestrian movements.

Why do they ask Gai Waterhouse?

Firstly I have won as many Melbourne Cups as Gai Waterhouse.

She has shit me for decades. She has done nothing in the Melbourne Spring Carnival. A few weeks ago one of her horses won a Caulfield Cup, her first one. Seriously she has no idea how to train horses for Melbourne. She should stick to the Autumn Carnival in Sydney.

When she wins a Melbourne Cup I might listen to her bullshit ramblings.

Post Race Update:

Gai continues her amazing streak. No doubt Channel 9 will be crossing to her for all the action. I do not know why. how did her big chance go:

Descarado did not finish.

Shonky Products and Zooper Doopers

When I was a teenager I played tennis during the summer months. Being in a country town I would often have to play the same people in the competition. One particular day I came up against a tennis player who i had never beaten before.

It was a hot day and before the game i ate an orange zooper dooper. I went on to win the game of tennis. "Wow" I thought, "the zooper dooper must have made a difference."

So for the next 4 weeks I ate an orange zooper dooper before the game of tennis but never played quite as well as that week.

So today I read the following article and was not surprised. Orange zooper doopers are cheaper and who knows, there may be some benefits in the flavourings and suger content!

Choice statement October 26, 2010 - 11:59AM
.People's Watchdog Choice unveils the 2010 shonkiest companies

The shonkiest, meanest and silliest rip-offs and scams have been named and shamed today at the 2010 Annual Shonky Awards, hosted by the people's watchdog , consumer group Choice.

A total of eight companies and products were chosen for this year's awards: supermarket giant Coles; Commonwealth Bank; pain relief brand Nurofen; whitegoods brand LG; wristband "sporting aid" Power Balance; rope producer Medalist; website babynamemeans.com and a selection of olive oil brands.

Advertisement: Story continues below While 2010 brings revised processes and new consumer and credit laws the annual Choice Shonky Awards continue to act as a reminder that consumers need to be as vigilant as ever.

Christopher Zinn, spokesman for Choice comments: "This is the fifth year of the Shonky's and you'd think most companies would be doing their best to ensure they're delivering good honest products and services.

"Yet year after year we're continually amazed by marketers' efforts to take Australians for a ride."

The 2010 Shonky winners:

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Company: Power Balance

Product: Power Balance band

Background information: Despite the promotion blurb promoting benefits for natural energy flow the Power Balance band is simply just a rubber band bracelet with a plastic hologram. Heaving endorsed by sporting pros it retails for a mere $60 alongside claims it somehow makes you stronger, more poised and just better. The band was tested at Choice under controlled lab conditions which showed it did little else than empty purchasers' wallets.

Dam Buster of.... Ballina

Yes readers the magical tour continues. I am just back after two days in the Ballina area of northern NSW. Some notes:

How long does it take to get a coffee made in the Northern Rivers area of NSW?
How can anyone function with the daylight savings / no daylight savings issues on the border and specifically the ariport.

Anyway back to Sydney for a few days.

Dam Buster of .... well Sydney

Hello everyone,

Yes I know it has been a long time between posts. The life and times of DB have been a little hectic to say the least.

So where am i? Sydney
WTF are you doing there? Workin
Why? Because I was requested by a client to help with a project
How long? until xmas at least

So there you go. Expect a few posts about why this place is different to Melbourne.

First thing - Coffee. In Melbourne you cannot turn around without tripping over a Barrista with a proper coffee. Sydney expect Gloria Jeans instead.. errk. I have found a few decent ones so far.

Second thing - Walking pace. Melbourne will take over as Australia's biggest City soon. Why? because we walk faster than Sydney-siders. Melbournians walk like they are 3 mins late for the 5;15 to Belgrave. Sydney-siders amble taking up the whole path while at it!

more to come...

In China they do things Different

The Herald Sun is reporting that in China they have the fastest trafic jam around:



Hmm 100km/hour is pretty fast for traffic that is not meant to be moving.

Seatbelts Do Save Lives

Or should I say, not wearing them costs lives.

The fact that it is 40 years since the law was passed regarding complusory seat belt wearing in Victoria has some signifigance to me. You see when I was 18 in my first year of Uni living i nMelbourne away from home I got a knock on the door on a Sunday night.

The girl who knocked on the door was from the same country town as me and she told me that her parents had heard a good friend of mine had been in an accident. Scott my mate, probably one of my closest friends at the time had been back to the country for the weekend to play footy, to catch up with mates and to have a good time before heading back to Melbourne to work.

He and I used to hang out in Melbourne as we were the only 2 guys from my year who moved to Melbourne, he for a trade, myself to go to Uni. Scott and I would catch up after work/uni and go for dinners, or beers, or both! In fact when the knock on the door occured I had a bag of his clothes in my cupboard because i lent him some clothes to go out in.

Back to the Sunday night.. the girl told me that it was quite serious and that I should make some calls. I rang my parents but the had not heard much. I rang friends and the news came back that things were not good.

Scott had been taken by Ambulance to Hospital where he was on life support. two days later his parents turned off the machine because he was brain dead. He was 18, the oldest of 4 boys and a true friend.

Over the following days I heard that what had happened was that Scott and another friend had been to visit some others and were on the way back to town, Scott a bit of a risk taker was not fond of the seatbelt in the old car as the clip was hard to undo (he had told me as such on previous road trips). He took a dodgy bend too fast and rolled the car about 400m from his parents house. Scott was thrown out, the passenger escaped with a fractured arm.

Again - he was 18, eldest of 4 brothers and a friend to everyone. he died within sight of his parents house all because he didnt like doing up his belt.

I do reflect on what could have been with Scott. A true mate who would have been a friend for life. To me it is already half a life ago.

So please Buckle Up.