Ben was left behind!

This is the last photo of Ben - taken in Seoul.

Well it’s packing time. We leave tomorrow morning.
This is easy for me as I only wear T shirts and jeans. The only complication is that we are going to the USA and Manila where it’s hot, and Australia where it’s cold.

It will be a lot harder for Cate as she has to pack for work in the USA and Manila so the inevitable question to me will be ‘how much room do you have in your bag?’

I will do my best to Blog during our travels but given my track record of actually finding an Internet connection that works with my laptop I can’t guarantee anything. Theoretically I can Blog from my iPhone so I might have a go at setting this up.

Of course I could just use Twitter and send my Blog to you in bursts of 140 letters (just kidding).

There has been a near tragedy as Cate left Ben behind in Korea.

LEFT BEN BEHIND!

She says she woke up late and had to rush to get packed and out to the car that was waiting for her. Rozalin was on to this immediately and has nominated a colleague of Cate’s in Korea to bring Ben home safely.

The hotel in Korea rang Rozalin to tell her that Ben had been recovered from the window sill, was receiving counselling and would be given to Natasha. We have been able to confirm that Natasha now has Ben and will bring him back.

Moni is a bit frightened of the visitors so has taken up residence on my bed – and has also been joined by Sissi.

Muffin has watched this with some amazement from her position on the ledge behind the bed but so far there have not been any major skirmishes – so maybe this will be the catalyst (get it!) for a rapprochement and an end to the problems.

It’s news day and The Austrian Times reports that:

“More than 4,000 cyclists suffer head injuries every year in Austria as more than two thirds of riders refuse to wear helmets, new figures have shown.The Committee for Traffic Safety (KfV) said today (Tues) 4,300 Austrian cyclists, including 1,800 children under 14, suffer head injuries annually while 65 per cent of cyclists do not wear helmets.”

It’s difficult to imagine why anyone would not want to wear a helmet while cycling but these Austrians are strange people when it comes to stuff like this. One the basis that the Austrian authorities don't seem to care how their citizens kill and maim themselves I see no prospect of legislative action.

The Austrian Times has also reported that a toddler almost drowned in a bathtub in Styria – and have helpfully provided a picture of a bathtub for those who haven’t see one. (I guess they assume that everyone has seen a toddler).

A finally on news day Governor Sanford of South Carolina has demonstrated forcefully why if you have an affair with someone you should not send them emails - because they may end up in the newspapers.

A short, excruciating quote:

"You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light”

Oh Dear. I wonder what Mrs Sanford thought of this when she read it over her coffee in the Daily Bugle.

I suppose it seemed romantic at the time but it loses something when it’s published on the front page of every newspaper in America.

Muffin and I are suffering from Post Natal Depression.

Maria Island and bushfires on the Tasmanian Coast.

It has been raining for days and Muffin and I are suffering from Post Natal Depression.

We apparently caught this from Moni (who shows no signs of it) and is as happy as a clam – as is her daughter Sissi.

They live in their own happy little world while Muffin skulks in the bedroom.

I have been scuttling around get things ready for the Woods who arrive this evening. I am going to collect them from Südbahnhof and there should be no trouble identifying them as Lisa says that Lindsay looks like Bert from Sesame street.

I have been wondering for years who Darryl reminds me of and now I know.

I have been following with glee the ‘utegate’ affair in Australia and have had lots of Laugh Out Loud moments.

Australian politics, both Federal and State, are always entertaining and this has been a particularly fine episode.

I love that the mole who has been leaking to the Opposition for years has been the one to stitch them up with a fake email. And then Malcolm blames the Treasurer because the mole worked in his department. Thought I’d die laughing.

I must say that I have always found Malcolm about as appealing as a breakfast sausage (but with thicker skin) and am sorry the Peter Costello has left the scene.

I am sure he will survive but wouldn’t it be fun to have Tony or Joe in the job?

I forgot to mention to Rozalin that I have changed my will and have left the cats to her in the event of the wings falling off any of our planes.

Garn da hawl

Palau Dive Trip 2008

Cate has indeed found some pressing business to do in Manila so we are going there on the way home. For some reason we have to overnight in Bangkok but won’t see much as arrive very late and leave at dawn.

I do like the look of the hotel Rozalin has booked us into in Manila as it has complementary cocktails each evening.

This is the advantage of travelling with Cate (plus of course the Senator status on Austrian Airlines).

Over the weekend and Monday I have watched some of the US Open golf championship and have paid close attention to the strange behaviour of the many spectators.

These people dress mainly like they have been sent blindfolded and naked into an Op Shop and told to kit up by feel.

They cheer and screech and hoot at every shot played by every player but there is another group of Loonies who hoot ‘garn da hawl’ every time a player hits a ball towards the green.

This is apparently American for ‘go in the hole’ and there is a sizeable group of extremists who feel the need to loudly exhort the ball to do this every time the player hits or putts the ball.

From a distance I can’t see his group but there are lots of them. I also have a pretty good idea that there is a Kangaroo loose in the top paddock in each and every one of them.

I would find it very wearing if every time I played a shot a group of people hooted ‘garn da hawl’. In my case of course the hoots would be meaningless unless I was playing my tenth or eleventh shot.

Even on a par 3 I have never reached the green in less than four shots – and only then because my fourth shot ricocheted off the head of another golfer standing on the next fairway.

It must take a great deal of effort by someone such as Tiger Woods not to take a 5 Iron and set amongst them.

As we are about to travel I have been keeping a close eye on aircraft issues and note that yet again a number of people have been injured when a Qantas plane hit turbulence and made a very sudden descent.

Someone said something like ‘the plane suddenly dropped and Mavis hit the ceiling with her head and received a nasty cut. She has a really bad headache and a sore head’.

To which I would have replied ‘Why wasn’t Mavis wearing her seatbelt?”

On every one of the 6 million Qantas flights I have been on the Captain or cabin crew have warned the passengers to wear their seat belts at all times in case of turbulence.

By now Mavis will be talking to Slater and Gordon and will try and sue Qantas for a million dollars. She will do this because she was too stupid to wear a seat belt. This is only fair – Mavis is stupid – she needs to be compensated for that.

This will add to the cost of my air fares. If I see Mavis I will tell her exactly what I think of her. I may give her a black eye to go with her sore neck.

I am of course concerned that they have not found the ‘Black Boxes’ (which are in fact red) from the Air France flight.

I don’t like the thought that there are unknown things that can happen to airplanes. I have watched every episode of ‘Air Crash Investigation’ and similar shows on Discovery Channel and know almost everything that can go wrong.

There is an astonishingly scary number of these. My favourite is the one where the engineer used the wrong bolts when he fitted the windscreen. These gave way and the Pilot was sucked half way out of the airplane.

Watching these shows you get to hear the cockpit voices recorders. My favourite one of these is a plane that lost some important widgets and ended up flying upside down over the ocean.

When it finally dived into the sea – upside down and at about 600 kilometers per hour – the last thing Pilot said was ‘Here we go’.

This shows some style. I am sure I would not have said that. I might have used that many words but they would not have been quite as elegant.

Back to Air France. There is always a really good reason planes crash. The Air France flight worries me because we don’t know the reason.

I will continue to worry about it until I see the Air Crash Investigation episode where they reach a conclusion about the Air France flight. It doesn’t matter that they will just make this up – I am happy to hang on to anything they tell me as long as it is plausible.

Now I will have to worry about every crack and creak on our flights over the next two weeks.

It also gives me no comfort to know that – as we are flying Business Class – we will expire first if the plane nose dives into the sea. Admittedly the people behinds us will only get an extra nanosecond of life – but shouldn’t those who pay more last longer?

Not that we are paying – but you know what I mean.

So much for being a Senator then. I have decided what my last words will be just as the plane hits the ocean. They will be ‘garn da hawl’.

Wimbledon has started (groan) but at least I don’t have to worry about the parochial Australian commentators elaborating on every ghastly aspect of the Australian players inevitable demise in the early rounds.

We don’t have that problem here as Austria has no tennis players of note. Well it probably does but they will certainly also ski and will also almost certainly be killed in the carnage on the slopes each winter. This probably wipes out most Austrian sports people which may explain why there are not very many good ones (apart from the few skiers who survive).

Incidentally – Boris Becker was married recently and this event was televised on German TV. It was fascinating. I was transfixed. So was Boris. I think he might have resorted to something with a calmative effect prior to the ceremony.