The JaYmes Escape

Every few days I extract cash from the ubiquitous hole in the wall. I frequently boast about my Nationwide account – no fees for cash withdrawals anywhere in the world, and a quality exchange rate to boot. Trouble is, one day you end up using a faulty machine, your card gets stuck in the mechanism, and you never see it again.

Thankfully I’d considered this possibility, so I have a number of cards from different banks. My only pain will be paying some fees on cash withdrawals until my replacement card arrives.

I’m not going to rant on about the news, but there are a number of important articles linked to the top right of the page under the ‘current affairs’ heading. Right now, these are even more recommended than usual. Above all, this article by Matthew Parris in The Times seems to really hit the spot for me.

I am very pleased to announce that, beginning on Monday, I will be working on DAB Digital Radio trials at Commercial Radio Australia, here in Sydney.

One of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in recent days is the political reaction to the London bombings from outside the UK, and particularly from west of the Atlantic. For some seem to be reacting with the sort of secret smug glee you might feel when your disliked neighbour’s house gets burgled instead of yours. On America’s Fox News an anchorman declared that it ‘works to our advantage, in the Western world’s advantage‘, the implication being something along the lines of ‘maybe those inconsiderate Brits will understand now’.

Meanwhile our old and beloved friend George W Bush is Read the rest of this entry »

No need to say that I feel very uncomfortable about yesterday’s events in London. Edgware Road station is particularly close to home for me, having worked in that vicinity for over six years. My thoughts are most definitely with my former colleagues at UBC who are undoubtedly feeling very close to this.

Still, very important to keep a sense of proportion. It is of course a tragedy for those directly involved but it could have been a whole lot worse, and London has experienced many disasters in recent years. The death toll doesn’t seem that far removed from the Paddington rail crash, for example, and terrorism is nothing new to Londoners either.

If I was still there today I would be determined to take a deep breath and carry on living my life as before. There is no reason to let a wimpy little bomb attack change things, and anything it does change is a success for the perpetrators. Stay away from the media frenzy and keep it real. Life must (and will) go on.

1) The emergency telephone number is 000; the international access code is 0011.
2) Burger King isn’t called Burger King, it’s called Hungry Jack’s. But they still sell whoppers and have the same logo.
3) Australians don’t generally eat Kangaroo or Crocodile, or drink Fosters. These are things they just export to the rest of the world with a sly chuckle.
4) There are only five terrestrial TV networks; despite the fact that three of them are called Seven, Nine and Ten.
5) The towers on Sydney Harbour Bridge don’t actually have any functional purpose; they’re there only to make it look safer.

Sydney was a proud and fine Olympic host in 2000; let’s hope London can live up to the promise and match that enthusiasm for 2012. Please Mr Blair, can we now finally build Crossrail?