G'day maaaaate!

well, I'm back in the world of whitey. It's really nice to be in a house that's actually lived in for a change, sleeping in a bed with a duvet and real pillows! My relatives I'm visiting, who I've never met before, have turned out to be absolutely lovely and are going out of their way to make me feel at home. Their house is in a suburb of Perth called Kalamunda, which is such a contrast to my last 7 months it's quite a culture shock. Greay haired grannies with a blue rinses walking dogs along quiet suburban tree lined roads past shops so new the brickwork is still irridescant orange. Everything is so clean it shines. Not even a bit of moss or lichen, let alone mildew, blemishes the walls of the newly constructed shopping arcades and community centres that make up the small neighbourhood. Part of me enjoys the familiarity of it all, but another part of me yearns for crumling dusty buildings coated in black mildew, the smell of spices and foodstalls, the noise of traffic and people and dogs and cockerels....

We went for a drive along the coast yesterday. The beaches are beautiful, but we left quite late in the day, so didn't have time to go far from the city. What struck me about the beaches was how neat and orderly they were, all with identical car-parks, neatly bordered by identical wooden fences, with signposts proclaiming the beaches name in matching colours and styles. The grass cut to a respectable stubble, the dunes set back and fenced in; only the seaweed along the tideline seemed to challenge the ordered cleanliness of it all. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this made the beach less attractive. After all, this is how half the beaches of my childhood looked, although maybe not quite so well maintained. The abscence of litter and plastic bottles was a breath of fresh air after the pointless littering that so many people in asia seem unable to control. But I think for me I always prefer to see nature untamed; allowed to run free without fences and footpaths. But not to worry, I'm sure that in a country the size of australia, there'll be plenty of that to come!.....

I finally managed to get me flight confirmed for the 8th of september to fly to Cairns after hours on the phone. In the end I had to tell the nice girl on the phone at Quantas that I wanted to give someone some serious shit, and as she probably wasn't in a position of authority would she please put on someone who was. She was more than happy to pass me thru to her supevisor, Rodney.

"Alright Rodders", I said. "I have discovered that the flight which you have been telling me is fully booked for the last 3 weeks actually has 40 seats available in a class that is cheaper than mine and identical in all but the letter before it's name, and that you only have 9 setas allocated to MY class anyway, meaning that there is no chance of a seat becoming available for me. So Rodney, I want you to put me in one of those 40 empty seats, and don't tell me you can't do it, because I know you can".

"Ummm, I wouldn't know about the availability sir, as I would have to check our system..."

"Don't bother", I interrupted, "I've already told you, there's no need to check".

"But how do you know that sir?" he asked with a barb in his voice.

"I have my sources" I said mysteriously. (The girl I spoke to before told me by accident: "Ah yes sir, there's 40 seats available on this flight... oh... no, hang on a minute... no that flight's full sir...." Too late mate!! Ha! After further grilling she admitted the truth)

"So Rodney, would you please make on of those empty seats available to me".

"Ummmm, I'll put a request thru to head office, but that's all I can do".

"Thank's Rodders, you're a star!"

And so he was! The next day I rang up and found that my flight was confirmed just like that. I called ready for a big argument, but before I even had time to set up my opening move the woman interrupted me and said "Yes sir, that's confirmed for you". I rekon rodders had put notes on my file saying "Just give him the bloody confirmation and hang up! Do not speak to this man!"... :)

We went to see a movie last night: "Once upon a time in the midlands". Before the movie we were talking about how hollywood movies were so formulaic, and I commented that enlish movies were starting to become a bit formulaic too: Working class families doing bugger all except watch tv and wear tasteless clothes have some kind of crises that affects their relationships but it all works out in the end and everyone is happy and free to go back to eating chips and watching "Who want's to be a millionairre". I couldn't have been more right! It was as if I had been talking abou tthe plot of this exact movie! It was alright though. Great cast and great acting, holding up a very thin and uninspiring plot. Watch it on video.

Right, not really got much of interest to say at the moment. Just to round up my Indonesia trip, I'd like to repeat myself: Go to Indonesia, it rocks. Amazingly friendly and honest people, stunning scenery, good food... just go there! (But not to Papua, they've been shooting each other with bows and arrows, 4 dead so far. All part of another oil powerplay involving an american company.... grrrrr)