Summer... The hottest for over 40 years?

I woke up this week to warm mornings (unusual for late August), a haze in the air that was quiet eerie and the rancid smell of smoke polluting the air.  It didn't matter where I was, south of Sydney, south west of Sydney or in the city, the haze was the same and the smell of smoke permeated the air and my clothes.

It was back burning and hazard reduction in the Blue Mountains and a timely reminder that summer is on its way.  We didn't experience bush fires last year, for the most part, but they are saying that this will be the hottest summer in 40 years in Sydney and the worst bushfire season for a very long time.  I hope this goes unfounded. 

I was in Sydney for the bush fires of 1994 (evacuated from my home for 3 days, sleeping on the floor at my bosses house along with 7 other work colleagues) and the bush fires of 2001 (on Christmas Day we were holed up in my house with all windows and doors closed, with wet towels around any possible window/door frame that ash could get in.  It was a 40 degree day and I remember watching the ash fall through the air like snow and cover the back yard).  Those experiences were horrific but not nearly as horrific as the bush fires, dubbed Black Saturday that ripped through Melbourne on the 7th of February 2009.  Black Saturday saw the worst bushfires ever recorded in our nation’s history. 

My point is, I'd rather a rainy, humid summer like the summer of 2011/2012 than one filled with heat and bushfires.  I hope the experts are proved wrong and summer passes by uneventfully.  It all makes me rather nervous.  Remind me of this blog if it is a rainy, humid summer...

Princess Diana - 1/7/61 to 31/08/1997

It is 15 years ago today that Princess Diana was involved in the accident in Paris that claimed her life.  I am not a royalist, per say, but I did admire and respect her and wanted to remember her.  This is one of my favourite photos of her (and it seems the rest of the world also). 

The 31st of August is my mum's birthday so the date is etched in my mind for ever. 

It's funny, I miss a person I never met...

“I like to be a free spirit. Some don't like that, but that's the way I am.”  Princess Diana.

Someone, Somewhere.. Always has it Worse..

Following up on my blog about the time I spend commuting to work each year (just over 20 days) seems someone at the SMH may have read my blog (I wish)..  This article is timely but for those who can't be bothered reading the whole story below is an extract:

•  Some people in Mexico have a round trip of over four hours per day.
• We don't have to get to work via Bolivia's Yungas Road, which literally translates to 'Death Road' and claims some 300 lives each year
• Some children in China scale 1,000 foot high cliffs (almost as high as the Eiffel Tower) on their 200 kilometre journey to school
• There are tower climbers in America whose commute involves scaling to the summit of a 1,700  foot structure (higher than the Empire State Building and around 200 metres taller than Sydney Tower), sometimes without harnesses to fix electrical problems
• Students in Juarez, Mexico make a high-risk commute daily from the drug cartel-driven border city, where over 1000 people were killed in 2011, to attend the University of Texas-El Paso

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/business-travel/crushed-by-the-commute-20120828-24yd1.html

If I had one wish..

This is what I call my “selfish” wish.  It goes without saying that if a genie magically popped out of a bottle and I had one wish it wouldn’t be what you are about to read.  But genies don’t really morph out of bottles except in kids movies and in Major Nelson's house thanks to Barbara Eden and some smoke and mirrors..

But back to my selfish self.  If someone told me tomorrow I could have one wish I would close my eyes and ask to be transported to the happiest day of my life for every year I have been on this earth. From the day I came into this world until right here, right now.  The best day I experienced for every year of my life.  I want to relive it from a distance, peering through the looking glass, so to speak..  See what made me happy at 1, 3, 8, 12, 15, 19..  You get the drift..

I know in my mind what stands out as special, I can even pin point some very happy days of my life but to relive them a day at a time for 40 days would be amazing.

So there you go, my selfish wish.  What’s yours?

P.S. if a genie did really pop out of a bottle I would wish my mum’s Parkinson’s disease would disappear.  I’d actually wish all diseases could be eradicated.

New York.. New York....

I just realised nearly a year ago I was in NY..  This photo is one of my favourites; combining the skyline by night and you can just make out the lights that stand where the twin towers used to be.  We were on a night cruise (very cheesy but a fabulous way to see NY by night)..

NY how I miss you.

Shoes? Look closer...

As far as I can tell, while this photo may not belong to the below mentioned small business in Adelaide, these cupcake shoes are/can produced for $10 a pair.  (pushnpop@internode.on.net).  Shame there is NO delivery to Sydney (for obvious reasons)...

https://www.facebook.com/trina.shuga#!/Push.n.Pop

If by chance this is incorrect, feel free to correct me and point me in the right direction.

I want to bring back the wave.

Bring back the wave.  No, not the Mexican wave.  The “thank you for not being an ass and for letting me into your lane” wave to prove courtesy on the roads is not dead.

I live in Sydney.  I expect bad traffic but it is still the bane of my existence.  On average I spend 2 hours a day commuting.  Multiply that by 5 days per week = 10 hours.  Multiply that by 46 weeks (allowing for annual leave, public holidays and sick days) and that equals a whopping 19.166 days a year I spend in the car just getting to and from work!  I get 20 days per annum annual leave, to put in into perspective.

I live 17 kilometres from work and on a bad day it can take an hour and a half each way.  17 kilometres should take 25 minutes. 

Sydney peak hour traffic is about jinking and weaving and most importantly; making sure you leave just enough distance between you and the car in front of you so if the traffic stops all of a sudden you WON’T run up its backside BUT not too much of a gap so that you allow a car to sneakily dart in, thus causing you to slam on your brakes and risk someone running up the back end of you! 

Apparently; 3 seconds is a good indicator of how far the car should be in front of you.  I kid you not.  Somewhere the other day I read that some organisation out there recommends 3 seconds.  How do you measure 3 seconds?  In my day it was half a car length, or maybe a car length (we also walked 1o kilometres to school in the rain with no shoes, but that's a whole different story).  That’s how long ago my day was, I can’t quite remember.  BUT I do know it was not 3 seconds.

So I’m throwing it out there, bring back the wave.  It costs nothing.  It’s polite.  And by waving, maybe next time you are jinking and weaving in and out of traffic, the person you cut off won’t think you are such an ass.  Or if they do think you are an ass, they might think you are a polite one.

Important side facts:

Sydney driving is about remembering that some people got their drivers licences out of a Cornflake packet (or bribed their local RTA – link as follows to prove I am not making this up:  http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/dmdocuments/pub2_9ia1.pdf). 

Of course I do not take away from nor wish to be confused with Melbourne driving (hook turns, I ask you, hook turns across 8 lanes of traffic in front of a big metal tram), Queensland driving (U turns, anywhere anytime, no indicating required), Tasmanian driving (more than 8 cars at a set of lights constitutes a traffic jam) or any other city/town/suburb of Australia.

AXA, Some Outdated Policies & the Possibility of Identity Theft

We live in an age where identity theft is very real.  So why do AXA have such ridiculous policies (and I am sure they are not alone)?

I received a letter in the mail last night telling me they had received my updated details that I submitted in June (I didn’t, turns out the ATO had provided my details to them) and just to be sure it was me, they were sending me a letter to the updated address they had received and one to the old address that they had on file for me.  I left that address 12.5 years ago.

Turns out I had some lost superannuation from 1999.  I am not sure why it didn’t come up when I have done lost super searches and consolidated but it didn’t.  So AXA took it upon themselves to get my updated address (I am fine with that) AND then send a letter to somewhere I have not resided for a long time.  On that letter it will have my full name and superannuation account details.  Perhaps not enough to steal my identity but you never know, it is, after all, 2012.

I questioned the policy and process to the customer service agent, who basically told me it was my problem, had I of let them know I’d moved, it would never have happened.  I had no idea I had “lost” super; I’d taken steps to clean this all up a few years ago.  I’m amazed it took them 12 years to “find” me considering I had another AXA account during that 12 year period. Common sense would say if they had my full name, DOB and TFN from years before could they have matched the data and suggested I roll together.  But I’m sure they don’t have a policy for that yet and will continue to send details out to far flung places people haven't lived for decades.

Not good enough AXA.  A review of your policy should take place immediately.  I have ideas if you wanted to hear them.  It is not rocket science.

Mazda CX5 - a personal review

As my Mazda 3 approached its 7^th birthday I decided it was time to trade up.  Cars hit that magical age of 7 and start to pose a few issues (although this one never missed a beat in 7 years, how I loved that car).  So, with a heavy heart and after a fair amount of research, I traded it in on a Mazda CX5 (I used to work in the car trade, I am big on research). 

Mazda CX5.  You know the one I am talking about; the ad has a cheetah in it, running through the streets..

I’d owned a Honda CRV previously (and a Rav 4 but let’s pretend I never said that) and loved it.  I researched the smaller SUV’s and it came down to the Honda CRV and Mazda CX5.  A few spec differences between the two and the CRV has a 2.4 litre engine, the CX5 a 2 litre. 

I’d heard on the grapevine there was going to be a waiting list for the car, so 3 months after it was released I visited a dealer and test drove one.  In the 15 minutes (x 2, before I signed) I drove it, I liked it, it was comfortable and drove smoothly.  It was around city streets, so no chance to see what it would perform like on open roads.

Any way to cut a long story short I bought it.  While I don’t regret the purchase, I wouldn’t recommend one to anyone who asked me (and haven’t to date).  Yes, it’s comfortable, stylish and looks great but I wish the engine was a 2.4 litre.  I do a lot of open road driving and it struggles with hills and is slow off the mark (I am not Fangio but when a Mazda 2 shoots off from the lane next to you and leaves you for dead, you know it is sluggish). 

I’ve also had a host of issues with the new Sky technology…  The Bluetooth freezes, the fuel gauge is never accurate, it constantly tells me the tyre pressure is low (and it’s not) and it has this annoying habit of letting me know the person in the passenger seat doesn’t have their belt on.  When there is NO ONE/NOTHING sitting in the front seat.  Mazda’s answer to me queries?  Turn it off and “give it 48 hours for the computer to reset itself”.  Really?  I paid nearly $40k to “turn it off” have a car “reset itself”.

I wish I’d have gone with the Honda CRV.  Oh well, only another 2.7 years until I can trade her in.  In the mean time I will endeavour to enjoy.

Music Makes the World A Better Place…

I grew up influenced by music.  Especially Australian rock.  As I was driving home last night, singing to Living End’s “For Another Day”, it occurred to me that I must look like a raving lunatic. A 40 year old woman driving home singing like there is no tomorrow.  And here’s me, looking frighteningly like an older version of the "doof doof" brigade whom I curse regularly.  Most would call this not cool.

Let me set the scene. I grew up with a relative who was and is still quite well known in the music industry (for the record the family element of the book he published a year or so ago sucked, but he’s allowed his opinion, just like I am allowed mine).  Therefore when I was a kid right through till I was about 20, not only did I get to go to concerts but I got to sit right up the front and on a lot of occasions I had “access all areas”.  From a very young age I wore that lanyard with pride at every gig I went to.  I met a lot of crazy, interesting people and saw a lot of crazy and interesting things.  I loved it.

Music makes the world a better place.  I knew ever lyric to every song, I listened to country (my dad), jazz (my pop) and pop/rock (my mum) and opera (my nan).  Then I discovered pub bands – I think I was 15 (I’d like to think my mother doesn’t know about my under age pub jaunts but I’d hazard a guess she does..)

When I moved to Sydney 20+ years ago I was always out, I’ve seen the Wiggles when they were The Cockroaches, Diesel when he was Johnny Diesel & the Injectors, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Absent Friends (Wendy Matthews), 1927 – the list goes on.. 

My point is I loved music when it was music, without all the techno garb that goes with it today.  I’d take heavy metal over the stuff they palm off as music today.  But the world would be a boring place if we all listened to the same music. 

So my point to Michele and all my friends who listen to something other than what I do, don’t diss my country (Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash and hey, even Willie Nelson), Aussie rock (Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Hunters, INXS) right through to music today (that you can understand the lyrics to – my golden rule is I have to be able to understand the word and I prefer songs minus copious amounts of profanity – I never really got the song “smack my bitch up”) and I won't diss yours.

Shanghai, Beijing & Malaysia

I'm soon to spend some extended time in Shanghai for work..  I've never been so some tips would be appreciated!  Then I'll move onto Beijing and finally Malaysia, a place I absolutely love, for the final stretch.

Pretty excited to be off exploring Asia again, it's been a while since I was last there as the US has taken up considerable time over the last five or so years...  The husband is not so keen as he has to look after the cat and cook his own dinner..  I suspect there will be more meals eaten out than at home..  And I suspect the beer fridge will be kept well stocked!

I've never been away from home, the husband and the cat for longer than 8 days or so, so it will be interesting to see how I go!  Wish me luck.

The Olympics 2012, Newspapers & Paparazzi

Anyone who knows me knows I have not purchased a trashy magazine since the day Princess Diana died on the 31st of August 1997.  Childish?  Maybe.  But it is my way of boycotting the rubbish that gets printed in those magazines on a weekly basis and the so called paparazzi that hound people and print absurd stories and air brushed photos.

Which brings me to the Olympics 2012.  Good god, what is the Australian media and certain parts of the population doing to our athletes?  Leisel Jones is fat?  James Magnussen is a failure.  We haven’t won enough gold medals.  We didn’t train or prepare enough.  Honestly, enough!

I am over the negativity and while I obviously can’t boycott newspapers, it has certainly soured my Olympic experience.  It’s a lot different to Sydney 2000, which I still say was one of the best few months of my life.  Everyone in Australia pulled together and we were show cased globally as a great country and Sydney one of the most fabulous cities in the world.  How quickly it has changed.

To our Olympians, congratulations on being chosen.  Congratulations on representing our great country and congratulations on being the athletes you are.