Buying a badge

I had a little talk to the guy diligently selling  "Vietnam" badges.    Or, rather, I lent him my ear for a couple of minutes.  He was quite happy to tell his stories, but he wasn't much of a listener!  Just for the record, he was an infantryman in 1 RAR.
 
And I'm not sure that I like the design of the badge (but I didn't tell him that), although I assume that it represents the Long Tan cross.

Supermoon

My efforts at photographing the lunar eclipse a while back weren't brilliant, but since then I've learned a little more about my camera.  I now know how to work the controls, although they're so sensitive and fiddly it's quite a challenge to set them.   So when I was reminded by the ABC weather report that there was a "supermoon" (because its orbit had brought it close to the earth), I though I'd have another attempt.

Still not all that terrific, but maybe with a bit more practice?

Machi

Inkerman Street, St Kilda isn't our usual stamping ground, but we were with a group that included family members, and went to Machi.   I now know that this neighbourhood includes Mr Wolf and the Newmarket Hotel, (both in Good Food Guide) so perhaps the area might be deserving of closer attention in the future.

Machi gets mixed reviews on Urbanspoon (of course, it's not alone in that regard) and doesn't make it into the current Good Food Guide.   There's a bit of a Western edge to the Japanese menu (slow cooked lamb shoulder?).  As one review puts it, it has "a menu that includes traditional Japanese dishes and imaginative mod Oz creations".  But the Japanese side shone through in other ways, as everything was attractively presented and the service was certainly attentive.


We shared everything and so were able to have quite a range of dishes, but in particular we loved the prawn tempura.  The miso baked barramundi was good too, and there were good reports about everything on the seafood platter.  As for the desert platter......!

But no, it wasn't the cheapest night out we've  ever had - but this was partly because we like to have some wine, and the wines on the list (and other drink prices) are a bit on the pricey side (we weren't there on Tuesday, when apparently you can BYO).

Buying a cable....

We all agreed that we needed a longer VGA cable as part of the AV set-up at the Church.
I checked at the local Dick Smith and was surprised that the price was nearly $60, and at Officeworks it was nearly $40.   My initial reaction when I first saw it at Dick Smith was, it's what we need, it's here and I can have it now.    But, for once, I paused......

Back home, and a few mouse clicks later, yes, it was in Mr Smith's on line store, on special for about $12.    But on attempting to place it into my "cart" on the Dick Smith site, lo, the price reverted to the store price.   Seems the one-day special was just ending, so instead of getting hot and bothered, I just moved on and found what we wanted was readily available on e-Bay at prices from $15 upwards.   But there would be a delay while it was mailed, and I don't have Paypal....all too fiddly.

Long story short - I remembered Computers and Parts Land!  It's been a while since I have patronised them, but they're still there and the item was on their website for $12. It did involve a trip to Notting Hill, but I was out and about in the car anyway (and just happened to find a reason to drop into the nearby Bunnings as well), and the instant gratification made up for the time I spent going out that way.

Not the smartest looking retail establishment around and set in a field of warehouses, but as in the past, they've got just about anything you might need and the prices generally seem to be as good as you'll get anywhere.







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Occupying seats

Noticed on a recent train trip. The passengers concerned quite deliberately placed just a couple of items on the opposite seat as soon as they boarded.


No, the train wasn't completely full.  Perhaps about 50%.    But I wasn't impressed.

Tracking aircraft

The loss of MH17 was a true disaster.    It's a bit sobering to reflect that this is the very flight we travelled on last October (from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur).

However,  I was interested in the map that appeared on the internet shortly after the event, showing that hardly any commercial aircraft were near Ukraine.

On closer investigation, I find that you can see the location of a lot of the world's commercial  flights (including corporate planes) at Flightradar 24 and at Planefinder.   These sites use information transmitted from planes, particularly from ADS-B transponders (but also other sources).  They take a moment to load, but it's fascinating that this information is available to the world on just a click of the mouse button.  There are clearly some committed people out there that go to all this effort.

Just the same, some of the information looks a bit dodgy, particularly on Planefinder.  This site appears list a number of Aeromexico flights in Australia, but I think they are actually Pel-Air Aviation flights (do they use a similar flight prefix - perhaps something like AM)?   Also, Planefinder appears not to have a good coverage of China, but this doesn't seem to be an issue on Flightradar24.   Perhaps there are other strengths and weaknesses, too, but who's complaining, as the sites don't even carry advertisements. 

Flying to conclusions

The following post appeared in a Trip Advisor forum:
"I will be flying in from UK to Melbourne and note there are 2 airports and with price differences.
I plan to stay in a central /CBD location.
Do I select Melbourne International (cheaper fairs [sic]) or Tullamarine (more expensive)?"

Just goes to show that a little bit of care has to be taken when doing it yourself on the internet.    'Coz "Melbourne International" is the name of an airport in Florida!

Auction technique

Every real estate auction is different, and - apart from knowing what your upper limit is - there's no one rule for bidders that's invariably applicable.    However, as a long-term observer of the auction scene, I do know that agents' usual advice to "bid strongly" is not necessarily the way to go.  It seems to me that often it just communicates to the auctioneer that you're interested - with the risk that the price might drift upwards before the property is put on the market, and that this is likely to more than off-set any possible effect of "scaring off" other bidders.

Be that as it may, we recently attended a nearby auction, where there were two bidders, both quite diffident.  True, it was an executor's sale, but successful purchaser impressed me.  She dithered in her bids, asked for time to consult her husband, suggested a coffee break and generally gave every indication of being indecisive.   Perhaps she was - but I wondered if it was all an act?   Because the upshot was that the auctioneer put the property "on the market" at what I considered to be quite a low figure, and the consensus amongst the neighbours (who watch these things very closely!) was that eventual sale price was very reasonable.

I still don't know whether the "strategy" was by accident or design....but I came away impressed.

Winter

Winter has really caught up with us!

Over the past few days we've had very low temperatures overnight, cold winds, rain, thunder and hail (see images)......but also some wintry sunshine.















Edit:   Perhaps this was the same hailstorm that Daniel Bowen experienced?

Restaurant "attitude"

I guess this post belongs in the "letting off steam" category, but just the same....

We went for a casual meal at one of the newer restaurants in our local shopping strip.  It was a wintry week night, and there weren't many people about.  In fact, when we got to the restaurant, there was only one other table occupied, with two people on it.   But where were we seated?   On the table immediately adjacent to them, almost shoulder to shoulder!    This is a restaurant with perhaps a dozen other tables (I'm guessing), none of which were occupied, but apparently it was felt that the groups of two had to be placed at the tables most suitable for that number (all of the others seemingly seated 4 or more people).

Lots of restaurants around!

Perhaps we ought to have said something, but we made the best of the situation.    It was the attitude that "got" to me.   Why cram people up so that the small groups sit on the smaller tables just to "save" the larger tables for larger groups "in case they arrive" - which needless to say, they didn't.

The food was nice, but running a middle-of-the-range restaurant in our part of the world is a highly competitive business.


Another issue is that we weren't allowed to BYO wine, on the basis that they had a "full bar".   Errr.....yes, the bar structure was indeed nice, but there was no wine list, just a couple of choices in each category. Well, that's the restaurant's decision, but in this part of the world, BYO is nearly universal.

I won't mention names but in a strip where restaurants regularly open and close and even some of the more established places seem to have fewer customers, I'm not sure that the people running this one fully appreciate that little things matter when it comes to customer service.