Enter the Parkour

The distaff side of the family are heavily into Zumba at the moment. This female-orientated fitness movement is on course for world domination. My isometric exercises are seen as old hat. To combat the constant jibes from the femaliens that I should really have moved on from Bruce Lee by now I discovered a new form of training that encompasses many disciplines. Continue reading “Enter the Parkour”

Not a happy camper.

I am really not happy at the moment. My kitchen is sopping wet, not because of anything that I did, but because the water heater that my neighbour Osama and I share burst. It happens to be directly above my flat. For the past 24 hours, despite all efforts, it has continued to leak. The concept of calling the contractor seems like a simple one, right? Well, you’d be mistaken. The landlady is on holiday in Taiwan at the moment and her son, Osama, cannot communicate with the contractor as he doesn’t speak Cantonese. Despite his having lived in the USA for 30 years, the contractor never bothered learning English which puts us at a distinct disadvantage when she is not around. Osama has promised to call the assurance company and have them send someone, but the amount of water damage to my kitchen is fairly bad. About a fourth of the paint had boiled and I’ve spent much of the night moving things around to mitigate any potential damages to property.

Now if you excuse me, I need to begin heating water for my sponge bath.

The Monarchy and Rangers – a Surf through two Nations

I am a regular reader of the ABC’s Drum – a fact that probably leaves most of you cold unless you happen to recall the occasional article that I have linked here for your amusement.

Most of the time the articles are too specifically Australian to be worthy of exposure on The Chariot, but today there is a beaut inspired by the imminent arrival of Betty and Phil in Canberra this evening for a short visit which will, at last, include Brisbane, and will culminate in the opening of CHOGM in Perth in ten days time.

Strangely, the piece – entitled “Long to reign over us – God save the Republicans” – was not written by an Aussie, but by an antipodean-savvy Brit; it’s a lament for the failure of republicanism in both countries, and a damning, but amusing, indictment of the movement’s shortcomings.

Having chuckled, I decided that I needed to learn more about this bilingual Brendan O’Neill, so I did a little armchair  surfing.   It turns out that the gentleman is the editor of Spiked, a UK web-site vaguely similar to the Australian Punch, a source that has also been linked here to the dismay of our more restrained members.

Now, this is where the story really takes off.

Now peruse the unexpected dénoument . . .