Archive | March, 2014

are you sirious…

11 Mar

I was amused this evening to see ‘Mr 50 Something’ completely absorbed in conversation with Siri, his ‘other woman’. I would have thought that he had his fill of difficult conversation with me ….you know, hard to understand at times and off in her own world.

But it got me to wondering …HOW??? siri_pro

I mean,  I almost get the direct question and answer part . BUT don’t understand how it works when the Q&A becomes conversation….it all  starts to get a little bit spooky. Too many personal questions to her about her likes and dislikes, lead to a curt and monotone response that “this is all about you …not me” .

A wedding proposal was knocked out because she has had so many offers….and apparently she is full of great ideas if you are looking for a place to ‘hide’ a ‘body’ … giving the co-ordinates of rugged bushland, swamps and parkland … what the ????

Welcome to the 21st century….matchmaking made in heaven !!!

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boy racers

10 Mar

I was back at work today and while driving between offices I found myself daydreaming about life on the other side of the globe. On this day a  week ago … I was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in minus 12 deg temp.

As I turned into a suburban backstreet I was jolted back to reality with                                                                                     a laugh as I scooters spotted 2 elderly gents drag racing their mobility scooters down the street.  …you’ve gotta love boys that never grow up.

New York one day ….Mt Druitt the next.

I’m 50 something and I wouldn’t be dead for quids.

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hazy memories …

9 Mar

Today saw me jumping straight back into the saddle (and the drivers seat) after putting life on pause for a couple of weeks while we circumnavigated the globe….but I soon realise that one’s memory can become rusty fairly quickly.

Having not needed to remember PIN numbers or passwords for a couple of weeks, I suddenly found myself with sweaty palms as I realised that I needed to buy petrol today. …Not only was there the pump number to remember, but also the six digit odometer reading and petrol card password….it went something like this ~ 16, 106466,2758

After queuing for several minutes and repeating the sequence of numbers over and over in my mind, I finally made it to the register to pay for my fuel. As soon as I swiped the card, an error message appeared and the attendant started asking me some questions (distracting from the delicate balance of the number sequence). The error indicated that my card had been stolen and therefore the account had been stopped … both interesting, but new news to my ears. credit cards

As  my heart skipped a beat and the queue behind me grew,  I reached of another plastic card to quickly pay (thinking I would sort out the mess later)… but you guessed it by the time I did, I had so many random numbers floating in my brain that I couldn’t retrieve the correct PIN number for THAT account.

Finally it all came together and I managed to get out of there without any further embarrassment… I’m hoping this was just an anomaly. I’m ‘50 something’… but not dead yet.’

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beaten by technology….and the international date line

8 Mar

Well despite my very best effort and perfect track record so far… My 365 day blog challenge tripped over somewhere between New York City  on March 6th and arriving home in Sydney today March 8th.qantas

While I was prepared for the crazy time travel…what I wasn’t prepared for was a complete technology failure. ARRRGH… Having prepared some (fairly brief and banal) words to post when we had a quick stop in LA… I was shattered to discover that my laptop and phone were BOTH dead and unable to be recovered in the short stop-over. Bugga !!.

So now that the explanation is out of the way. I’m happy to tell you that the flight was good …all 23 hours of it !! and paying a premium for ‘Exit Row’ seats definitely made ALL the difference to these long legs.

It made me reflect on the number of fabulous Americans we met while we were away, who, immediately after asking “how many Aussies REALLY get attacked by sharks when surfing?” …in the next breath said they wanted to visit Australia… but couldn’t ’cause it was just SO far away.

Hello ….NEWSFLASH my American friends!!!!  It is the same distance whichever way you fly (and this was our 3rd visit to USA) so feel free to jump on board, buckle up… and come on down…. I promise to keep the sharks at bay.

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mad hatters…hats matter…

6 Mar

The extreme change of temp from Sydney to NYC has called for an extreme change of wardrobe too. Now, for the most part that’s been fun, and I must say I’ve done OK in keeping warm … BUT there is one fashion item that I am really struggling with, and will be glad to leave behind when we return to south of the equator….that’s the poor humble hat !!

hat6 hat7

Call it want you want, a hat…beanie…tuque…toque…bonnet..or balaclava, I can’t seem to get it right, and let’s face it, they are deadly when it comes to the hair-do!

I have had a keen eye on the head-wear of the passing parade but seriously……….?  it seems like ANYTHING goes.

I can honestly say, that apart from sitting around the Christmas table, or at the Royal Easter Show …I have never seen so many adults sporting comical head attire.  I’ve seen animal hats complete with faces and ears, Russian Cossack hats, woolly handknits and beaver and rabbit creations… all making interesting fashion statements (especially when teamed with a business suit on the subway in morning peak hour).

So despite my difficulty in getting in right….I’m reassured that really, no-one gives a damn, and the point is really just to stop your brain from freezing !!!

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the book according to ….

5 Mar

All I can say tonight is …  The Book of Mormon do yourself a favour if you are anywhere near NYC

brace yourself for one crazy ride

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what’s your tip ?

4 Mar

tips

OR

???

because it’s doing my head in ……

trainspotting…

3 Mar

After another fabulous day of amusement riding the New York subway…I reckon we can almost claim ‘local status’. Today we’ve been uptown, downtown, cross town and out of town, with only a couple of slip ups which were quickly sorted.

As always though the best part is the people watching (well it’s sure not the scenery given that at one stage,  we travelled almost 25kilometres underground and underwater, to the far reaches of Queens….just to get a feel for ‘the burbs’). The thing is that by the time we got there almost every one of the curious characters was sound asleep… mouths gaping heads nodding.. even Mr 50 Something managed to nod off and start mumbling to himself. But MY real treat was seeing a guy that was the spitting image  of Homer’s dad, Grandpa Simpson… complete with his trademark protruding ‘rubber’ lips and high receding hairline… I just wanted him to speak just to consolidate that image (but by then HE was asleep too).

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The other interesting subway observation is the ‘in-carriage’ advertising … (SO different from our Aussie adverts) …Some of it cryptic, but most of it overt .

‘call 1800-DIVORCE’…placed right alongside ‘call 1800 – BANKRUPTCY’

Just a couple of the cheery travel messages bought to you by the New York Subway system.

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from Russia with love ….

2 Mar

furSo… today’s observation involves many ‘slightly-older-than 50 Something’ women hanging out in politically incorrect ‘head- to- toe’ fur.

We took the subway out of Manhattan to check out the infamous Coney Island. Despite the fact that it is heading toward spring… it  felt more like middle of  winter with temps around minus 8 deg… BUT, rugged up in our winter woollies, we headed for the (rather desolate) boardwalk to take in the beach and all it had to offer.

As we pondered the depressed greyness of what is meant to be a ‘fun park’ the thing that struck me was the number of more mature women wrapped in a variety of animal pelts… The striking similarity between them all got us to wondering…. and then all was revealed.

Coney Island and it’s surrounds, is apparently a Russian enclave … full of Slavic ex-pats bringing with them a range of fabulous food …and ‘fur fashions’. I saw more fur hats, wraps and full length coats in a square kilometre than I have seen in a lifetime… What they were in a past life is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure, these well dressed Russian women were certainly warmer than those of us wrapped in our synthetic coats and acrylic scarves.

The fur trade? …. politically incorrect perhaps;  but like it or loathe it…maybe it’s a case of recycling at its finest (just saying).

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say what ???

1 Mar

subwayWhen I was young(er) I was always under the impression that people who walked the streets talking to themselves where candidates for the psych  unit…you know ‘mad’ !!! In fact I recall someone from my school days who regularly spoke to telegraph  poles, and was subsequently being “managed” for odd behaviour…. Yet these days it’s a whole different ballgame.

Walking the streets of NYC I have been witness to SO many one sided conversations…. loud animated and without any obvious respondent. …BUT connected to someone somewhere…..not that you would know it at first glance, because ear plugs have become a fashion accessory, often tucked inside woolly ear muffs….and the handpieces themselves are stowed away on coat pockets, so really there is little to alert the onlooker that there is even a phone involved.

Today I got the inside story on domestic disharmony in one household… the poorly organised financial arrangements of a woman’s (adult) offspring in another…  and the highs and lows of a teenage love affair.

All on a 5 minute subway trip….who needs TV for entertainment when you can live it ?

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