Saturday, March 31, 2007

Sunny Saturday Arvo

Our friend Shane is here from London. Lucky Scotland turned on the weather - it's been beautifully clear and sunny. We visited Glasgow Green, the People's Palace and the dodgy Barras Markets. On the way hame, I bought a McSweeney haggis from Peckhams and walked doon tha street wi' it. It was kind of in the shape of a fat discus, and fitted neatly in my hand. If someone were to piss me off, I could have easily chucked it at them. That image then made me laugh most of the way home, until I bought some leeks at the fruit and veg stall and acquired a shopping bag, so the haggis in hand was no more.

Glasgow Green, The People's Palace and a fountain with Queen Vicky on it.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Yo! Bro! Happy 25th Birthday

I can't believe my little brother is 25. I was 25 once.

In a tribute to my little bro, and the fact that I can't be there to share his quarter of a century milestone, I have arranged for my friends Jim-Bob-Jimbo and Mary-Betty-Lou-Betty to sing Dave a song...


Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Angel

Angel likes walks along the beach, quiet nights at home and steak on her cornflakes in the morning.

Angel's perfect date would be a dinner by the fire with a vintage bottle of protein shake and sharing the sheepskin rug with that special someone whilst listening to Barbra Streisand records.

Angel is not related to Barbra Streisand.

You can see more of Angel's friends by clicking here.





Sunday, March 25, 2007

I'm still in London still

I took out a million pounds from the ATM and it's all gone. I have nothing to show for it except a sore head from part-taying and vague memories of a taxi ride back to the hotel in the middle of the night, about 6am actually.

It would have been 5am but daylight saving has kicked in, and distant memories of the sun barely getting above the skyline in Dark December have been replaced by Twilight Nights with G'n'Ts (with lime of course). Roll on summer!

I love a good London party. Always so many interesting people from around the globe. I met people in TV and films. They all seemed to know Jude Law. I had to look him up on google to remind me of what he looks like. I'm not very good with celebtocracy, much to the amusement of the telly crowd at the party.

Well, right back at ya idiot box people, you weren't very good with capacity building and education as a means of economic freedom.....It's always a pleasure to talk stuff with others. I love it!

Friday, March 23, 2007

I'm in London Still....

I'm hanging out at the T&G in London and lucky me, it just so happened that the fantabulous Helen Creed was in town at the same time. We were able to find the most ordinary indian restaurant in London and when you converted the cost of the meal to aussie dollars, one piece of pakora was like twenty bucks.

It was great to talk to Helen about the union and labour movement. The T&G membership has just voted to have a merger with Amicus, so together, we will form Britain's largest union. The thing is, we want to form Britain's largest organising and growing union, not servicing and declining union. Amicus aint that sold on organising, and I'm sure there are people who think the merger is going to address the decline. I did some research yesterday and found that over 6 years, the total loss of membership when both unions are looked at is 426,000 members. If you take the T&G loss out, the total Amicus loss (which includes lots of mergers of smaller unions) is 353,000 members. A very stark indication that mergers don't stop the decline.

We are at the foothills of a very large mountain in order to turn around the decline. And as Michael Crosby says, if a Tory government comes in to power and UK unions aren't organising, there will be ramifications felt around the world. It will take generations of working people to turn around the decline and stop the exploitation of marginalised workers.

So, there are days when my organisation drives me bonkers and I want to run to an easier job, but there are other days, like yesterday when I caught up with Helen Creed, where I think of the challenge ahead and just as Rosie the Riveter says..... We can do it!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Chavs and the Chav Knots






















In a tribute to weddings, given my sister Jude and her beau Trevor are gettin
' hitched (congratulations!!), here is how the chavs tie the knot.....I'm certain that Jude and Trev won't resemble this at all. I'm just using their engagement as the segue.

1. ooohh, here comes the bride, with her da, who looks a little bit like a cross between Bill Kelty and Les Patterson.
2. doesn't the groom look chuffed (is that a shot gun under her dress?)
3. is that Princess Bea and Princess Eugenie???? I knew their mum was chav all along
4. they breed....and they all wear hats.
5. I want the green one.
6. and you thought the bride looked ridiculous.....

For more pics of this wedding, click here

Four Years Ago Today

Australia, the UK and the US, among others, went to war with Iraq..... I still feel numb. I feel like the war is history actually, like it's already happened and is no longer in the forefront of my mind. Lest we forget. And somehow we always do, and so the war continues.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Faithless: The Concert

Just got home from the Faithless concert. We've seen them before at Metropolis, but this time it was at the Glasgow entertainment centre with a lot more people. Faithless ROCK. They are my ultimate favourite live band. Their music and lyrics are just so engaging and can get you high without the need for additives or preservatives. I love the fact that their percussionist has a zillion pieces of equipment. And Maxi is like a god on stage. On Myspace they have "21248 billion friends".


I'm going to bed now....it's a school night and I'm tired. It's been a big weekend which included a trip to Edinburgh to see Pendulum (we're officially now groupies), a trip to Ikea (we only bought glasses to replace ones we broke and some elderflower cordial), snow, apple pie for dinner on Saturday night (and that was it - a well balanced meal don't you think?) and of course the Faithless concert. Next week I'm in London, then the following weekend it's a visit from our mate Shane, then it's Eastbourne for work, then a car trip to Wales during Easter and then sometime in August I think I have a free weekend.

Life's busy. Love ali

PS - somehow amidst all this gallivanting, we bought the flat upstairs.

Neo Con Fashion at the Night Club

I'm really concerned about fashion. We were at a gig on Friday night and it just happened to be at the Edinburgh University student union. I don't think the boys who wear their troosers lower than their underdaks realise where the fashion came from.

When African Americans went to prison, their belts were taken from them, so their pants hung below their undies. When they came out of prison, they continued to wear their pants this way as a badge of honour of being in the clink. Now, young men spend heaps of dosh to wear their underdaks above their jeans, with the must-have Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabanna, Tommy Hilfinger...etc at $50 bucks a pop. Ridiculous. There were guys dancing with their daks lower than their bum cheeks.

Which at least are covered in expensive undies, unlike the chicks who wear their jeans so low you can park your bike in their crack. I thought feminists won this argument with council workers in the '70s.

Then, and much worse, there were lots of people of both sexes wearing scarves around their necks resembling the Islamic men's head dress with the black and white checks. Now, the story from this one goes that American soldiers take them back to their kids as a trinket from a dead Iraqi that they've killed...and so the kids are wearing them.

Has fashion always been this way? Is this fashion a sign of the new conservative times? I read today that John Howard has Generation Y thinking he's the man in the age of new conservatism. These same underdak over daks wearers, along with their checkered scarves, will be the same ones who wave the aussie flag with "support the flag or fuck off" written on it and think that this age of prosperity we live in will last forever.

Maybe I'm too old to go to nightclubs. God, I'm turning into a grumpy old man.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's quiz time!

NEW! On Invisible Inkblot! It's the fantastically fun neeeeeewwwwwww Quiz! This week's quiz question is:

Is George Bush as smart as a Bonobo Chimpanzee?

Bush says:
"What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society. So I don't know how that fits into what everybody else is saying, their relative positions, but that's my position."

The Chimpanzee says (spoken on behalf of Wikipedia)

"One early attempt was performed by Allen and Beatrice Gardner in the 1960s, in which they spent 51 months attempting to teach a chimpanzee named Washoe
American Sign Language. Washoe learned 151 signs in those 51 months. Over a longer period of time, Washoe learned over 800 signs. However, there is still debate among some scientists about the great apes' ability to learn language (in reference to George Bush's ability).

Monday, March 12, 2007

Happy Birthday to my sister Jude

Hi Joofer!

Happy Birthday...and here's 80's classic, Altered Images, to help you celebrate!


Monday, March 05, 2007

The Dream Team


Oh how I wish
I was a rising star..
fish..
ing for a seat
In Brine Burke's
Team

I'm young and cool
and Right and Cath..
olic
Brine Burke's
arse some more

WA Inc
Way In..
comprehensible
How Brine can be such a
Wa-Inca

Carps e diem
Carpenter
Seize the day..
dream
of stamping Brine out



Friday, March 02, 2007

A Week in the Life Of.....

Yes, readers, at last. A fabulous new column for Invisible Inkblot. It's.....A Week in the Life Of! YAY! This week we spend A Week in the Life Of... A British (Korean Made) High Definition Flat Screen 82-Inch Wall-Mounted Television.

Saturday 24 February, 6.40pm, ITV1
Dancing on Ice Take That and Torvill and Dean together at last.


Sunday 25 February, 8.00pm, BBC2
Top Gear The team head to the countryside where they try out some high tech tractors and try to make their own fuel.


Monday 26 February, 8.00pm, ITV 1
Speed Guns Misfiring Tonight flawed speed guns.


Tuesday 27 February, 10.35pm, BBC1
One Life Bodybuilding pensioners. Grandparents obsessed with working out.

Wednesday 28 February, 8.45am, BBC2 Scotland
Ag Lonnsachadh Le Blarag Which is Gaelic for "Neighbours" or Glasgwegian for "Are ye having a laugh? Is the pub closing already?"


Thursday 1 March, 11.35pm, BBC1
This Week Skiing Weather.

Friday 2 March, 7.30pm, Channel 5
Mean Machines Bulldozers. Makes and models of bulldozers.

The writer of this column would like to thank The Guardian for inspiration and material.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Birthday Poem for me Mam

Sixty years old today,
Yet looks more like 53
Gracious elegant hands
Even with speed hump wrists

Cancer survivor
Three children survivor
Nifty with glue and crepe paper
For Easter hat parades

Fluent in French and German
And in the art of moving
Procrastinating spouses and offspring
Gentle but forthright

Happy Happy Birthday
Ann Gordon (Sinclair) Bunting
As your daughter
Can I ask….

Why is my roast
Never as good as yours?