No Train Today

No train posting today as I drove in this morning and now sit at my desk.  I think because of school holidays, I had an absolutely dream run and went from the mountains to the city in an hour!  

The reason why I drove in is that I am playing my Belltower League match tonight.  I would probably drive everyday if I could afford it as it is generally quicker to get to and from work.  Whilst my train journey is an hour as well, I have to spend extra time getting to and from the station and at the city end, I have a 1-2km walk from Town Hall to my office.  But with petrol regularly at $1.10/Litre and tolls ($4.40 a day) and parking ($10/day early-bird) it is way too expensive to drive.

Anyway, so I am in early this morning and have plenty to do, I will post something else tomorrow once I am back on the trains….

God: Frequently Asked Questons

LOL! Classic....

F.A.Q. Philosophical Content

Weekend Bush Walk

Today we went on a bush walk through the National Park at the back of our place. We walked along the Lennox Bridge track which is an easy 20 min walk. The Lennox Bridge is, according to the plaque, the oldest stone arch bridge in Australia! It was built in 1833.













[Edit: here is a link to a map of the bushwalking tracks around Glenbrook / Lapstone]

Donuts Win 4-0

Tonight, Mr Whippy's Donut Boys won 4-0 in the Mammallian Conference League X of the Southern Wastes League.


We played dirty tonight too... we were kicking those guys when we had them down in numbers!

Great, just great! :(

I just broke my Sony Walkman.  I had it sitting on my laptop with the lid open changing a disc when it slid off my lap and onto the floor with a thud.  They’re hardy little machines these Sony Walkmen but when it hit the ground I heard something crunch.  The lid spring seemed to lose its spring but the lid could still be opened and closed.  However when I put a disc in an hit play, I could hear it doing an unusual crunching/whirring sound and it refused to play.  Eventually it tried to tell me there was No Disc in it… yeah right, you cant bullshit me little Walkman!

So I must move on.  I presume this means I am now in the market for an iPod.  But I am under the impression that it won’t run with Windows 98, which is what I run with at home.  I know, my O/S is archaic, but what can I do?  I run a PIII 1000MHz with 256MB of RAM with a 20GB hard drive.  How can I upgrade to Windows XP?   I will have to suss out my mate Ray Siebs and see if he can help me out.  If you need software, Ray Siebs is the man to talk to.

(/me touches my nose knowingly)

So today has gotten off to a bad start.  I thought it was going to be a lot worse though when I got to Glenbrook station.  I was greeted with Bill the Station Man spruiking into the PA system “Attention Ladies and Gentlemen.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, the 7:10am train to Central is reported to be running 2 minutes late”.  You’re kidding, 2 minutes late and they announce it!  Some mornings it’ll be 10mins late and they won’t say boo.  That Bill certainly is a joker…

The weekend ahead looks promising as the weather seems to be clearing.  My girls’ dance concert was supposed to be on Sunday but has been postponed until the 24^th due to the venue being flooded.  On one hand, I am happy to have a free Sunday, but as Niki said, it would have been better to get it over and done with.

 

Frank Farina Sacked

I have been in a long running debate with friends today about the demise of Frank Farina as Australia’s soccer coach.  I am a very big supporter of Australian soccer and have watched the serial blunders that have plagued our World Cup efforts since 1974 (not that I remember the 78 debacle!).

My position, if I can be so bold to state, is that the FFA should have sacked Farina 12 months ago and that to do so yesterday a mere 6 months from qualifying is a disaster.  Having said that, I don’t believe Australia would have qualified in the end anyway if our very sorry performance at the Confederations Cup was any indicator.

I think Frank Farina should be remembered for bringing the game forward in this country and for being the first Australian coach to understand the plight of our overseas players.  By using London as a base and a venue for International Friendlies, I think that legacy will be fondly remembered.  Unfortunately whilst he was a good people manager and motivator, he was not a great technical coach and the fact that the team seems to have lost the plot in defence is the reason why he was not the man for the job and with Frank at the helm, we were never going to win qualification in a one off match in South America.

Instead, we will have a change.  A change that has been incredibly badly managed and whilst I believe it is warranted, does not absolve the FFA from blame.  Lowy et al should have bitten the bullet when the results against NZ and other lesser games did not go as planned.  Poor results against Jamaica and South Africa 12 months or so ago should have been the writing on the wall.

We, as a soccer nation, were not embarrassed in attack and showed great glimpses of skill and talent in front of goal and we were harshly judged by referees.  But we should have overcome that relatively minor adversity if the defence could hold firm.  Instead, the defence was embarrassingly poor and amateurish.

A change was required, but only history will judge if the change has a positive or negative impact on qualification for Germany 2006.  My view is that nobody should be buying tickets to Germany yet.

When it rains, it pours...

Overslept this morning and find myself on the later train (7:40am) because I was up until 1am playing a fumbbl tournament.  I didn’t think I would, but I got to the final and hence had to play three games straight.  Lost the final, in a cliffhanger 1-0 but you can read about my comprehensive first round win here.

But I tell you, its worth sleeping in today.  It has been pouring torrential rain since 10 o’clock last night and is still bucketing down.  The weather has been rainy this week, but today is the worst rain I have seen in a long time.  You can tell how heavy it is and how long the ‘drought’ has been going on by the reaction of kids.  The girls this morning were particularly amazed by how wet it was… I guess they have never seen rain like it ever!

So, my last couple of postings have been about habit and I am now on a foreign train with foreign commuters.  I may have taken someone’s regular spot perhaps… hee hee.

I don’t have a lot to write because my brain is sleepy.  A late night, coupled with snoozing the alarm too long means that my head is drowsy.  I may just signoff here (at Emu Plains) and catch some zeds.