I’m sitting here watching Roland-Garros with my mother again. We’re waiting for Grigor Dimitrov and Jannik Sinner to play in the quarter finals. I’m supporting Sinner. He’s a young guy who won the Australian Open last year, and I think he’s going to be as good as Federer. He’s number two now, and I can’t wait to see what he achieves in the years to come.
Above you can see some coins and a coin bag. I was so excited when they came in the post today. I ordered some Lithuanian coins for Nanny, and I’m going to give them to her tomorrow along with a beautiful little bowl I bought for her in Alice Springs. It was painted by an Aboriginal artist, and I thought she could put the coins in there.
When I showed Mum the coins she said, “What the fuck is she going to do with them?!” I told her that Nanny can handle them, admire them, and think about Lithuania. Mum does not seem convinced they are much of a present.
I used to have a stamp collection that included a lot of stamps featuring bioluminescence — fireflies, glow worms, and bioluminescent fish. I also had a range of other stamps. I’ve searched everywhere and I can’t find my collection. I didn’t keep them in an album, more of a folder, and I just don’t know where it’s gone. So I decided to start again from scratch.
Luckily, collecting stamps doesn’t have to be overly expensive, and the stamps I’m interested in are reasonably priced. A few weeks ago I ordered a whole heap. This time, as well as my previous interests, I ordered a stack of stamps of hominins and, oddly, Wernher von Braun — a former Nazi employed by NASA who was instrumental in the moon landing. I’m not a fan of his; it’s quite the opposite. But I think he serves as a reminder of what people are willing to forgive in order to get what they want.
Below you can see two sheets of stamps that came in today’s post along with the coins. They aren’t great photos because of the reflections, but I wanted to show you the Neanderthals. I absolutely love the artwork on these stamps, and I have a number of others featuring different hominins, so I’m starting to build quite the collection.
I'm thinking of joining a stamp-collecting club. I know there are a few around, and I’d especially like to join one that focuses on envelopes and letters — I know those clubs exist.
Today ended up being a very postal-themed day. As well as receiving my goodies in the mail, I took all the envelopes for my letters to the post office. When I got there, a young woman was at the counter. I hadn’t seen her before, and when she asked if she could help me, I asked whether Jimmy was around.
He came out, and I showed him that I had all my envelopes ready so we could order the stamps. Jimmy and the young woman — her name is Natasha — went through the envelopes and sorted them into regions so we could price them correctly. It was actually a big job, and I could have sorted them myself, but because I’ve never done a whole-world mail-out before, I took them to Jimmy like he suggested.
Once everything was sorted, he calculated that it would cost me $808.00 to send all the letters. I know it’s a lot of money, but I put funds aside for this, and it’s something I’m passionate about doing. Jimmy ordered the stamps and told me to come back next Tuesday.
So between now and then, I have to mail-merge the letters and have everything ready to go. They need to be posted by the end of this month because stamp prices go up again next month.
Honestly, I think it’s unreasonable of Australia Post to keep hiking the cost of stamps and postage. I know my project would be considered a luxury, but what about people writing to family overseas, handling important documents with their home countries, or sending essentials to loved ones?
I love the postal system and I don’t want it to die out — but I know it probably will. Delivery days are already being cut back, the prices are outrageous, and hardly anyone uses the post anymore. I suppose it’s only a matter of time.
Today I saw something interesting on the news. P&O Cruises is shutting up shop in Australia. I’ve been reading more about it, and P&O is part of the world’s largest cruising company, Carnival Corporation. P&O Cruises Australia will be folded into the Carnival Cruise Line brand, and they’re doing this due to high port charges and difficulty obtaining berths.
Carnival chief executive Josh Weinstein said:
“Carnival Corporation remains committed to Australia and we will continue to be the largest cruise operator in the region with 19 ships calling on 78 destinations and representing almost 60 per cent of the market.”
I get it — this part of the world is not as populated as the Americas, Asia, or Europe, and I can see why they’re doing this. But all I see is job losses, and I predict there will be many. Apart from all of that, I’m really interested in this because I go down to Outer Harbour and stand on the Esplanade watching cruise ships come in and out of the port. It sounds a little cheesy, but I literally dream of going on a world cruise. And I want to go on a world cruise that leaves from Australia. I’ve seen a few that leave from Brisbane, and I would love that.
Going on a world cruise by myself is going to cost me around $70–$80K, but if I had the money I would pay it, because I want it so much. I went on a “cruise” down in Antarctica, but it wasn’t a cruise ship — it was a Russian research vessel that hired out rooms to a tourist company to help fund its operations. I was unbelievably lucky to go there, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just making the point that I’ve never been on a luxury cruise liner with cocktails and swimming pools and all of that.
I don’t know if it’s because one of my favourite books is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and they travel the world under the ocean, but I’ve always loved the idea of travelling around the world by sea. But there is something I am particularly scared of when it comes to being on a large cruise ship: I’m scared that I will sleepwalk and jump off the ship. I know the chances of that happening are incredibly low, but it’s something I think about. I don’t have a history of sleepwalking, but I’ve read stories of people doing the most bizarre things in their sleep.
Still, I think I’ll get to go on my world cruise one day.
It’s funny — down at Outer Harbour you can often see the buses bringing passengers back to the ship after a day out in Adelaide. I always wonder what exactly they do in little old Adelaide. If I were the tour organiser, I’d take them to the museum, the art gallery, Hahndorf, Glenelg, Rundle Mall, and also show them around Port Adelaide, which is nice and close to the dock. There’s more than enough to keep people interested and busy.
I like our Police Commissioner a lot. I actually find him hilarious. I was watching an interview with him once and his mobile started ringing — his ringtone was I’m Too Sexy. He also seems like a very decent person.
My heart absolutely broke for him when his 17-year-old son Charlie was killed in November last year by 18-year-old Dhirren Singh Randhawa, who hit him with his car at Schoolies. And then drove off. Today Randhawa pleaded guilty to killing Charlie by careless, but not dangerous, driving.
I know he’s just a kid, but I really hope whoever sentences him has the balls to send him to jail. If he doesn’t get a custodial sentence, I am going to write a letter to the Attorney-General. If he is old enough to operate a motor vehicle and take a life, then he is old enough to face the consequences and do time.
I watched Charlie’s funeral online and it was gut-wrenching. He sounded like a loveable ratbag, but most of all I got the sense that he was a really good person. He was going in a different direction to his father with carpentry, and his boss spoke — he sounded like a hard worker who loved his family and his mates, all of whom spoke as well. You could see, from the people who loved him so much, that he was irreplaceable and that his loss has left a real void.
