The Week In Brief

1. On the same day we learnt of Tony's death, the boss's granddaughter was born. Hello, Nikita. Or as the boss himself put it: "Ah, yes, another child to hang on the Christmas tree."

Gotta love that wacky East European sense of humour.


2. Noel's recovered from his flu, but Wendy still wasn't available, so I did both lessons this week with good old Noel. On Wednesday, after warming up with U-turns on Moore St, he took me out to the Horation/Nile circuit again and had me get up to 4th gear. This was particularly exciting because 4th gear is a hell of a long way to gear down from when you're on a turn, approaching a corner, flailing for the inidcator, checking your mirrors, and then suddenly you're at the intersection having to avoid the ruddy big Blue Cat sitting on the most inconvenient point of your turning arc. That's when I mounted the near kerb, missed the pole (and the Blue Cat), still in 3rd gear, while Noel clutched his shirtfront and said, "Oh, my heart!" We stayed out of 4th gear by mutual consent after that.


3. Noel, however, is an optimist. Thursday saw me navigate through the centre's shared carpark and out onto Wellington. I don't entirely remember how I got into the new development in East Perth, since I was dealing with real traffic and lights for the first time in my life, and I was in a state of near terror all that way. After a respite reversing down a slope and hill-starting (deliberately), Noel sent me out into real traffic once again, and this time I was prepared for it. This time I could handle 4th gear. This time I enjoyed it even, though I have only the foggiest idea where I was, but we were up past the East Perth Railway Station and we did pass the Australian Naval Association at some point (they have a torpedo and a sea mine in their front yard, you can't miss it). I pointed out to Noel that I tend to get distracted easily. He said I was doing just fine. I like Noel. He's very reassuring. Even when I keep stalling the car at the lights, and there's traffic backing up behind us.


4. Channel 31 are a bunch of incompetents. Instead of broadcasting the Penelope episode this week for Gallery Watch, they re-broadcast an earlier episode on Regina Noakes by accident. So the entire Gallery Watch schedule has been pushed back a week, Penelope is understandably annoyed, and the next couple of shows on current exhibitions - like the WA Cartoonists Retrospective at Constitution House - are going to be irrelevant by the time they air. Unbelievable.


5. 109 votes. 2 weeks after the Federal Elections - two weeks of recounting postal and absentee votes and scraping every last vote out of every last cardboard ballot box - incumbent Kim Wilkie was finally declared the winner in the seat of Swan. By 109 votes. It's official, Skribe and I live in the most marginal (read: indecisive) seat in all the wide brown land of Australia. How lovely to know that come next election, we're going to be the target of even more political proselytising than anybody else. It's nice to be needed.


6. Skribe and I are taking Sunday off. We haven't had a Sunday off since whenever, and if we can't figure out when that was, it's definitely time to take the day off. Maybe check out the Open Day at Government House. Maybe catch up on sleep.