November cricket

Ollie throws one in from beyond the boundary.
Ollie has played his first season of cricket (one more match left at the time of writing.) I'm a real convert to the game. Ollie really enjoys the sport. He's doing so well at batting. Last game he got 30 not out. He loves to smash every ball, so he tends to get bowled by yorkers.
His bowling is coming along really well as well.



Some action.








More action.









Ollie throws.
Another excellent piece of fielding work











Action man Ollie.
Running in for the ball.
Sadly they didn't win this one!









Ollie coming in to bowl from the eastern end of the ground.
Fine work that.







Bowled him!!
How's that? Or huzzah as Ollie insists it is.
Dead on bowling, perfectly pitched, takes out the stumps, and the batter is off walking.

Happy birthday Charlie

Went to Cockatoo Island for Charlie's big 11th birthday.
Man that is a beautiful place. It's screaming out for some serious use, other than being an open air museum of a former major ship building yard.
The images from back in its heyday were very smoky, a lot of serious industrial activity, probably not that healthy, but the upshot: a beautiful place overlooking the harbour.
We camped overnight.



Ollie hauls all others.
Mr Muscle poked out his arse, broadened his chest and took a big dose of Croatia to haul the other boys in this strange wheelbarrow. As they say, he obviously didn't get it from me.







One of the boat holding docks.
A marvel of engineering and building sitting idle now.









How come these buildings are so beautiful?
They are as simple as, built for a function, in sympathy with their surrounds, and follow the contours of the land. I guess that's the answer.





Old sandstone master's residence. Not bad.











The gang.
Tony, Evonne, Brett, Sev, Marie, Ted.
Halfway there, getting stuck into cheese and crackers, plus wine and beer. Ah that is the life.







Lou, Charlie, school buddies Leo, another one, Holly and Jack from down the street.









Jack, Sev, Marie, Ollie, Charlie, class mate, Evonne, Louis light the cake.









I think this used to be a prison back in convict times. Massive awesomeness, even the prisons are drop dead beautiful. Why aren't these occupied by people now?







View over the harbour.
If we ever drag our French friends over, no matter what the cost, must stay on top of the hill in one of the residences!!

November 2017

One post had to be about work.
This is the standard work day: looking at the hour glass thing turning its wheels. Imagine if we had fast internet, we'd probably only need half the number of people. Customers are so jacked with the bad service, we're getting half the number of calls. I guess it balances out.




And my other worst enemy the phone.
It just won't stop ringing. I will be glad to be away from this beast, or trade it for a less busy one.

Am talking with the L2 support people this week, so with any luck, I'll at least have 4 news walls to stare at, and some new work mates. Lee may be the boss there, which would be awesome.



Left, the arts district.
Right across from us is the arts district. It's really pretty awesome to have this right next door. The developer, Auswin TWT, wants to use this to allow them to build much much higher. That's a shame to get the height, but great to have these kinds of neighbours. The businesses get cheap rent in return for good will. I don't even shop at these places, apart from Eckersley's the pen paint brush and art supplies place, but it is really nice to have them here.


Right: soccer mum.
Me and Ollie ride to the game, and get the best parking ever.
We are the only ones who ride to the game.





More bike porn left.
The view on the way home. It never gets boring. Each time, it's such a vista.

November days, 2017

Goodbye to the old GT bike.
It's been a constant companion for about 5 years, but alas the rear triangle fully cracked through, and it's time for retirement, and possibly sending it back to the smelter. Probably from overloading the rear racks with all kinds of junk.




The replacement bike on the right.
My old ten speed racer from about 1989 or 90 (not sure exactly when) got out of retirement and back into actively doing 11km each way per day.
The shot here is near the Lane Cove River, part of the Great North Walk. Should do that one day. For now it's a dream that can be visited every day.






One of Ollie's buddies from school Konrad has a pretty nice home. One that is pretty rare, and has not a bad view eh.
They went off go carting for his birthday.






Ollie and the view.









Stevens 50th birthday party.
John, Anna, Evonne, Vince, Angela and Marie.
Ate too much, didn't drink enough.

October jots

This is an old photo of Ollie sailing with his buddy from school Tom. That's them on the left here. Ollie has done the first 30 or 40 hours of sailing school, and can impress with his knowledge of boat parts, how to rig it up, do knots, sail etc. Shame he didn't take to it long term. Maybe he'll do some more later.









Friday night noodle market on the right here.
The council has a great evening of food stalls, music, and the kids run around and go nuts. As soon as they arrive, there are buddies from school, and they're off playing chasing, climbing trees, and just having a good time. Us parents pull out the wine and beer, and it just all soooo relaxing. 10/10




Justin in the big picture.
Sorry Mum I gave this frame away. Not really sure what to do with it. Justin was happy to take it, and to pose for this exquisite shot. Justin is a fan of expensive whiskey, expensive bicycles - mainly his Soma with the gum wall tyres, and old vinyl records. One day we'll listen to those. For now, he listens to my tiny phone via Bluetooth into a tiny speaker while we drink whiskey and talk bikes etc.







This kind of thing doesn't happen too often.
Just as well. The mums from school getting together with partners on Halloween. The boys are here somewhere too, playing with the other kids. The hostess Adriana is in the middle.





Most of the males who were present.

And me with Zareena with the devils horns and Koo(?) who has some excellent face paint there.

Tom and Kasey's wedding 21-10-17

The groom nervously waits








No nerves from his mum or his bro.










Kasey makes her big entrance.

Adam as James Bond 007









Tom arrives at the reception








Steve and Ang at the reception

October days

One of the buildings that are only a few years old being demolished for appartments.
Another high rise luxury ghetto in the making. With 4 lanes of heavy traffic next door, and proximity to Uni and jobs, it's sure to be a hit for dormitory living.
Modern architecture is such a miss. Macquarie Park is entire suburb of boringness that typifies the failure of modern planning to create any kind of charm.



On the right, is a night of information and protest against the state government's motorway madness. We had several speakers talking about the pointlessness of more roads, the air pollution killing kids, and the suffering of having your home forcefully purchased by the government at a low price. With any luck, the finance just won't work out.















On the left, a sensational risotto in Goulburn on teh way to Libs 50th bday. Was nice to see her, Kyle, Hughie, the boys etc. Went down with Ceal. We had a good time chatting along the way, stopping for a bit of shopping, food.








More random shots - the cat's getting to feel more at home.