Sunday, February 24, 2013

Stormy weather

Wild weather is something that has always filled me with a strange sense of comfort.  Whenever there are storms, my thoughts are almost always drawn back to childhood and thoughts of being in my warm bed listening the rain.  Growing up in Melbourne, rain was a constant and I missed it terribly living in Canberra through some awful drought years.

Living in Sydney had brought me back into contact with the rain.

What I didn't expect was the ferocity of some of the storms that Sydney could experience.

When I was in Singapore, I had experienced truly torrential rains where it felt as though the entire sky was falling.  In Sydney, it was windy and ferocious storms that I experienced.
I woke up one morning after a party (completely saturated) to find the kind volunteers from the SES cleaning out the partially destroyed tree outside of my apartment block.
Even with this destruction, I still find it all so calming.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Car-less

This is annoying.

I can't even imagine the inconvenience I have caused for the other person either.

Having smashed my car, I found myself relying entirely on public transport.  This is fine for the short daily commutes to and from work, but anything else becomes a mind numbing hassle.

Sydney is simply not built for public transport if you want to go anywhere other than the city centre.

I found myself having to go to Newcastle.

It's not very far from Sydney, being only 160 km away.  Yet somehow, this trip of 160 km takes about two and a half hours on the train.  It really is outrageous that this is considered acceptable in a first world country like Australia.
I really wish I had my car back...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Prang

Well this just sucks.

I feel like an idiot and I'm sure the guy who's car I just hit would be in complete agreement with those thoughts.
I was driving out of the golf course at the strange time of night when it isn't quite dark and when the street lights haven't come on yet.  Most cars don't have their head lights on and I was lucky enough to start pulling out into the road just as a car that did have its headlights on pulled up directly behind me, blinding me for only the briefest of moments.  Somehow, I managed to completely miss seeing the car that was driving past to my right.

I drove straight into the poor guy.

Luckily neither of us were hurt and we were both able to drive away from the accident... but again.... I sure feel stupid....