Happy Birthday Mum!

Click image for full size photo. Full gallery here.

Keating's post election spray

Divisive leader who squandered Australia's hopes

Paul Keating
November 26, 2007

On Saturday night, when it was clear the Howard Government had been defeated, many Labor supporters around me said: "You must be so happy." But my emotion was not happiness; rather, it was relief.

Relief that the nation had put itself back on course. Relief that the toxicity of the Liberal social agenda - the active disparagement of particular classes and groups, that feeling of alienation in your own country - was over. And over in the only way that could be final: with a resounding electoral instruction of "No more".

Read the whole article here.

RUDDSLIDE!!!

Well, it's finally happened! John "The Rodent" Howard is no longer at the helm of Australian government. After eleven long years, Howard and his conniving Liberal cronies were booted out in a landslide by Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party. (story continues below photos)

It even looks like the smarmy git may lose his seat, which he has held since 1974. It would be such beautiful poetry if votes from Australia House in London were the ones that tipped him into oblivion. The unflushable turd* finally goes down the u-bend!

Katie and I played a part in yesterday's result, by hading out How to vote cards for Julie Collins and the ALP in Franklin electorate. By lucky coincidence, we were posted to the town of Franklin, in the Huon Valley. Mum was born there, and my grandparents owned the local store, so while not really a local, there definetly was some genetic connection to the town.

The Greens had a few people handing out there, as well as the ACTU's "Your Rights at Work" campaign, which was bloody handy, considering their preferences in the Lower House were the same as the ALP. Kind of a double pronged attack. There was one bloke handing out Liberal papers for a while, but he scarpered at one pm. In a real show of the conservatives' true regard for the environment, they attached a banner to a tree in the school yard (a giant Sequoia, almost 100 years old and listed by the National Trust) with ROOFING NAILS. Anyway, Julie dispatched her opponent, Vanessa Goodwin without too much trouble. Tasmania actually returned five out of five seats to the ALP in the House of Reps...awesome! Thanks to Mark, Lisa & Merlin for dropping some much needed refreshments and allowing me to go for a bit of a stroll in the afternoon.

In London, I hear that the party booked at the Pendrels Oak pub in Holborn was a raging success. Fifty off people were expected...apparently over three hundred turned up. Must've been some serious pressure on the bar when alcohol was able to be served at 9am! Does anybody have an pictures? Please send! Channel Four News led their Saturday night bulletin with a seven minute story on the election, including a studio interview with ALP Abroad President, Paul Smith.

After we finished in Franklin, it was back to Lindisfarne and the House of Comrade Tim for "Ron's Party". We watched the results come in on the ABC, ate pizza, sang, and drank much beer. I think I've only just sobered up now.

What a day, what a result, what a return to being able to be proud to say you come from Australia!

There's a full album of photos here.

*Quote courtesy Ivan Pagett

Burgers from heaven.....

It's tops to be back in the land of the great Greek shop hamburger! This little beauty (Hamburger with the lot $5.40: Meat, egg, tomato, cheese, lettuce, onion, BBQ sauce...pretty good, but coulda done with beetroot and pineapple) came from the EZY store, corner Warwick and Hill Streets in West Hobart, just across the road a bit from where we're housesitting, at Sophie and Braz's place.

AC Butchery - A great logo destroyed

When I lived in Sydney, I sometimes went to a great Italian place in Leichardt called AC Butchery. Apart from their fabulous meats, smallgoods and snags, they had a fantastic logo, which was a cartoon of a laughing cow going through a meat grinder, with sausages emerging from the other end of the grinding machine (see first photo). I used to have a fridge magnet of the logo.

Katie and I were driving along Norton Street the other day, and I spotted the shop. I jumped out of the car and ran into the shop, asking if they still had the fridge magnets. They didn't have any, and in fact the logo has been modified where the grinder and emerging sausages have been replaced by...a serviette! Seems the shop was being harrassed by anonymoous callers, death threats and red paint splattered on their windows...I mean, its only a bloody cartoon!

A quick snifter with Mum

You just can't go to Salamanca Fruit Market without stopping for a quick one at Knopwood's!

PS, for the time being this blog will hereby be known as Tassieblather.