Pedestrians!

The more I ride my bike, the more pedestrians really annoy me.

I don't begrudge them the use of the roads and footpaths, but do they really have to walk right up the middle of the path and weave from side to side so you can't safely pass them either way?

And, when they walk in packs, why must they take up every available inch of path even if they don't have to? It never ceases to amaze me how humans will completely take up whatever space is available for them. So you have a path that's wide enough for four people to walk abreast? Those two people walking side-by-side will walk in such a way that they take up all of that space. Then they'll look at you funny for trying to pass them.

I "passed" (with some difficulty) two people the other day - one of whom was carrying an inflatable dolphin. They walked up either side of the path carrying the dolphin in the space between them. Why? There is no reason to take up so much space, just because it's there.

The worst pedestrians are small children and old people. A two-year-old child will veer to your side of the road and walk straight towards you - and it won't even occur to them that the bike heading towards them might be a problem. As for old people? They have every right to go up the middle of the path and take their time. But they don't hear you when you ring your bell or call out "bike!", and then they give you dirty looks when you try to overtake them while they're tottering about in the middle of nowhere.

The thing that really gets me about pedestrians, though, is that they seem to have no concept that they are actually the most flexible people in any given situation. If a pedestrian and a bike both have to negotiate a tricky bit of path at the same time, the pedestrian is better able to (literally) side-step the situation. The cyclist has a few issues, involving speed, size and some certain laws of physics that make it harder for them to move out of the way. Does this occur to people on foot? No. They just keep walking their own track and expect you to move around them.

Strangely, I haven't noticed people wearing mp3 players as being worse behaved. Largely, they seem quite happy to stick to one side of the path and move in a fairly straight line. I would have thought they'd be much more oblivious to the people around them. Maybe they just know they might be and make a point of staying out of everyone's way rather than worry about it?

More people should do that.

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic of Estonia

"Actually, I am Estonian."

It still feels weird saying that. I've spent my entire life being aware of Estonia, but not really knowing that much about it. Suddenly, it turns out that I actually am Estonian.

It feels like I should say I've become Estonian recently, although I've technically "been" Estonian (at least, that's how I justified getting the Estonian passport).

If I had taken out Estonian citizenship, or something, there would have been some sort of ceremony. I would have been able to say a few words (that I would probably have mispronounced), shake a dignitary's hand and have some sort of official declaration that "now, you are an Estonian."

Instead, because I took advantage of the fact that my grandmother left Estonia because of the War (and the Estonians are desperate for numbers), it was more a case of "oh, by the way, you're Estonian."

All of my life I've been Australian with one grandparent who was born in Estonia (a grandparent who helped raise me, mind). Now, all of a sudden, I'm an Estonian-Australian (or is it an Australian-Estonian), and I always have been.

It's bizarre on a few levels, but it's also fun. Lot's of exploring to do.

Since my grandmother came over here when she was a child, married a British immigrant when she was still quite young and promptly moved far away from any Estonian community, she did what many immigrants did and "forgot" most of the culture from her country of birth. She lost the language and almost everything else (except the cooking - we still managed to eat a lot of Estonian food in our family).

From the time I was a child I was always trying to pump more information out of her. While I always took pride in what culture I could lay claim to as a White Australian (bush dancing, folk songs, damper, that sort of thing), there was something in me that just wanted to be a part of something older. Seeing as most of my grandparents came from the UK originally, with a lot of Scottish heritage in the mix, part of me always looked to Scotland for that "something older", but I also wanted to learn more about this place my grandmother came from - and from which I inherited my fondness for pickled food...

However, asking my grandmother was about as useful as a cheese burger to a drowning elephant. She didn't remember most of it and didn't really care about the rest. Trying to find out more mainly resulted in a "why?" "what could you possibly need to know that for?" "does it matter?"

Now that I amEstonian, this is my culture with which I'm getting acquainted. I have a legitimate reason to care about Estonian history and customs. And I have a whole new range of holidays and anniversaries I have some claim to.

Take the Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic of Estonia (aka Estonian Independence Day). That fell last Sunday (24th February). I completely forgot about it during Sunday, but since Monday morning was still Sunday evening in Estonia I feel I managed to do a little bit of observing. I read the speech by the President, for example.

I suppose I can also pretend I actually did do something on the Sunday that could be construed as reasonably celebratory - I took my Estonian grandmother to the Strand and we ate hot chips while looking out across the sea to the island. Sure, that's far more Australian than Estonian, but there were bays and islands and potatoes involved. That's a little bit Estonian.

Just like me, really.

Fancy-pants swim suit

So, I've gone and signed up for this half-triathlon thing that's happening in Julia Creek in just over a month (yes, I have completely lost my marbles), and I've started cobbling together something resembling "preparation".

This "preparation" involves swimming/riding/running a few times a week (soon to double) and looking at whether I can do it with what I already own, or if I need to invest in new stuff.

The other day, I rode to and from the pool in my swimming gear. That's when I discovered my swimming gear isn't terribly comfortable for riding. I decided I didn't particularly want to ride 25k wearing it. Running for 5k would probably be just as uncomfortable - if not more so.

Now, I was thinking about what sort of clothes would be comfortable for completing all three legs when I came across a shop in Brisbane which sold "race suits" that were especially designed for such things. Unfortunately, I found this shop online, and I usually prefer to try things on in the store before I buy them. However, Townsville stores seem to be bereft of anything similar, and I was okay with the price and style of the thing in Brisbane, so I handed over my credit card number and had this fancy-pants swim suit mailed to me.

Thankfully, it does actually fit. Once it's on, it's actually quite comfortable(ish). I can definitely see myself wearing whilst swimming, riding and running. I cannot, however, see myself wearing only it. It looks ridiculous. Or, rather, I look ridiculous wearing it.

It's really hard to get on, too. I feel as if I've already managed to get some of my exercise for the day after struggling with the darn thing for five minutes. Oh, and I recently discovered that parts of it go transparent when wet (thank God they aren't important parts).

The getting wet thing was something I wouldn't be able to tell at try-on phase anyway, so I don't feel too gipped.

Of course, now I definitely have to go into some triathlon somewhere - otherwise I just bought a hideously ugly fancy-pants swim suit for nothing.

The Apology to the Stolen Generation

Well, here's my two bits:

a) Yes, it's about jolly time that the leader of the Australian government apologised to a group of people who were deeply and undeniably hurt by a long running policy that was implemented by the Australian government. Even if it was a different government in a different time, and no one currently involved in any level of the government had any direct responsibility, it was something done by "the government" to "the people" for which "the government" needed to acknowledge and apologise for so "the people" can start trying to put that part of our history to bed.

It will never be (should never be) forgotten or forgiven, but at least now it's closed. Without that acknowledgement/apology, it was an open issue that needed to be addressed. It's been addressed now, so we can close that chapter and start writing a new one.

Rudd's managed to secure himself a place in the history books simply by being the first bloke to do what was a no-brainer, really.

b) Flippin' Brendan Nelson. What was he thinking? Sure, he had a lot of good things to say, but some of them were really out of place today. All of the Indigenous people converging on Canberra and glued to their screens/radios waiting for "their moment", and he goes and brings up the dirty laundry. The celebration is not the time to bring up the dirty laundry. That can wait for the day after.

I was listening to his speech (and the jeering that tried to drown it out) and I couldn't help but feel for all of the people who were expecting to be proud and happy today and just ended up feeling angry instead. Heaven forbid we give them a whole day to feel good about themselves.

"Right time and place" people. There's such a thing as a "right time and place".

Are we really that pathetic?

So, I was in a staff meeting the other day where we were discussing the possibility of putting IT support personnel on the "Help Desk".

One of the points that came up in discussion (apparently a big one) was that the average punter doesn't know the difference between a library enquiry and an IT enquiry. As a result, the IT person will be dealing with library questions and the librarians will be dealing with IT questions, no matter how clearly signed they may be.

Fair enough, some of the library enquiries can seem terribly technological, while some of the IT problems can seem not quite technological enough. I can understand completely that someone who can't figure out why the database isn't giving them the page they want would think it's an IT question.

However, the "problem" with this is not that people will occasionally be confused by confusing things, but that we can't ask them to move to a different queue and wait for another five minutes.

The forgone conclusion was that people would get into the wrong line, and we wouldn't be able to send them to the right line without damaging our good will in some way.

Are we that pathetic, as a people, that we can't accept the fact that we were standing in the wrong queue? Is our time so goram precious that the thought of wasting minutes of it on a mistake, and then having to spend a few more minutes to get what we want is unthinkable?

What is wrong with us? It takes as long as it takes, darn it! And if it happens to take a few minutes longer than we thought it would because we miscalculated, then so be it.

It's no wonder we, as a culture, are so stressed out. If every minor inconvenience is treated as a tragedy (and allowed to be treated thus by all and sundry), then our lives must be full of woe.

We aren't that pathetic, surely? Can't we just take things in our stride and feel better for it?

Dream Car

How's this for sad:

At the moment, my dream car is a dual cab Holden Rodeo. Wait, it get's worse, I actually prefer the models from the mid to late 1990's. I just think they look better.

Now, I currently own a Mitsubishi Magna stationwagon from 1998, which cost me $7,000. It's starting to show it's age (and the fact that I've driven it up and down the continent and around Tasmania a couple of times, and the guy who owned it before me used to take it to Darwin regularly), and I'd be lucky if I got $2,000 for it.

So why would I look longingly at a 1996 model of a ute that would cost me $8,000?

I don't know either. I think there's something wrong with me.

Lunch - Our Mum's Café

This is not an advertisement, it is just me giving praise where due:

I managed to have lunch at Our Mum's Café today. It's been too long since I've managed to buy my lunch from that establishment, and it will probably be far too long until the next time I get the chance.

I'd just like to say, if you're ever in Townsville and in the Mount Louisa area (especially in the industrial area near Pilkington Street), and you find yourself in need of lunch, you should definitely consider dropping by Our Mum's Café.

I discovered them quite by accident a few years ago, and I have to say they make the best roast pork sandwiches in the country (at least, in my experience). The pork is neither dry nor dripping with fat, there's plenty of it and the gravy is pretty good, too.

Ever since I started buying roast pork sandwiches from Our Mum's, I've never been happy with any such sandwich bought from any other store. They all seem over-priced and under-stuffed by comparison.

Of course, roast pork isn't all they do. They also have a full complement of other types of sandwiches, hamburgers, fried food... anything you could want for lunch, really (well, within the usual Western fair - they don't do a lot of Chinese or Indian, for example). Apparently they're also open for breakfast from 7:00am, so that could be something to think about, too.

Being smack in the middle of an industrial area, they cater for the "working men" that surround them. That means good food and lots of it.

So, if you're in the area and looking for something to eat - or you just want to ruin your experience of all other roast pork sandwiches in the country, you should drop by Our Mum's:

Our Mum's Café - 46 Pilkington St Garbutt - Phone/Fax 4814(07) 4725 7000

Girls will be boys...

Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

Of all the many crimes a woman cannot be forgiven for, one is being ugly, one is being smart mouthed, but far worse is daring to be both.

I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald singing My Funny Valentine on the way to work today. That's one of the many songs that were clearly written for one sex to sing about another, but for some reason people thought they could change a couple of words and - hey presto! It could change sexual orientation.

Not so much. In every song that was written for a man singing to a woman, or a woman singing to a man, there are little references to the expected roles of each that just don't translate. For example, in My Funny Valentine, there are several references to things that are considered unattractive in women, but no one really cares about in men (such as the "are you smart" reference mentioned above). Sure, you can change some of the lyrics to match insults levelled at undesirable men (I believe the word "goofy" was mentioned in the version Ella sang), but there are still some things that just don't quite sit.

Then you get songs like How About You, which have lines that don't make sense either way. "Franklin Roosevelt's looks give me a thrill"? Since this is an attempt to find things you have in common with your belle or beau of choice, this is a really weird line. What girl would want to date a man who thought Franklin Roosevelt looked thrilling? Have you seen Franklin Roosevelt? Okay, he was passably good looking back in his Assistant Secretary to the Navy days (during the 1910s), but by the time this song was written, he was definitely "Uncle Frank" material.

While this gender swapping may have been most noticeable in the "golden oldies", when gender roles were more obviously defined and therefore harder to ignore, there are any number of more modern songs that just seem odd when you try to switch the genders. I've noticed Alison Krause and Union Station often play songs that would make more sense if a man was singing about a woman, rather than, as recorder, a woman singing about a man.

What I find interesting about these gender swapping songs is that they help to highlight exactly what we think about the sexes. Why should calling someone "smart" be less insulting when applied to a "gent" than when applied to a "lady"? Moving up to more modern times, why does it sound weird when a girl refers to her boyfriend as "little boy", but perfectly normal when the boy refers to his girlfriend as "little girl"?

Of course, most people probably don't care and are just happy to listen to the song.

You get that.