Skyring

I went out to set the chickens free for their daily romp and found that some leftover rainwater on the sheltering sheet of corrugated plastic over their coop had frozen.

I didn't actually see the temperature get below zero last night - the cab has an external sensor which I highlight on the dashboard display to frighten people who have just gotten off the plane from the Gold Coast or anywhere, really - but it got to 00° and then I decided to come home and get into a warm-ish bed.

I've begun a new blog, in co-operation with some co-writers. Flat Jay Walking is a vehicle for displaying the photographs of the lifesize picture of Discoverylover I took to Amsterdam (and left there, to be picked up and carried around Europe by various fun-loving folk). I'm hoping that everybody who had a hand in the adventure will make a post or two and upload some of the fabulous photographs.

It's easy to register as a contributor, and if I or my co-admin (RealJay) recognise the name, we'll upgrade the privileges.

Yeah, it's silly, but it's fun. There's a marvellous photograph of BookCzuk having a laugh as she cuddles FlatJay, sandwiched between her two menfolk, who look as if they'd rather be somewhere else.

I've discovered Goodreads. Aaargh! Another booksite. Which is better, does anybody know? This or Librarything or Virtual Bookshelf or anything similar? I like books, I really do, but I'm not going to spend ALL my time reviewing them on a dozen sites, including my own blogs.

I thought our new Prime Minister was doing really well, but I think she may have lost me with the asylum-seeker plan. Not the plan itself, which would likely work, but her declaration that it wasn't anything like the "Pacific Solution" of the Howard Government which cut the boats to zero and was roundly condemned by Labor. Every newspaper in the country is talking about the "Timor Solution", lady. It's the same bloody thing with a different name!

Is she going to try to win the election on the trivial differences between her plan and the last one? She's going to lose credibility big time if she tries that.

There's one more issue to be cleared off before she makes the trip out to see the Governor-General. That's climate change. I think that, rather than dream up a whole new plan, she'll advise a double dissolution election on the old one that Rudd didn't have the guts to stand up for. That doesn't mean she is required to have the joint sitting to pass the legislation after an election win, just that it clears the issue off the table and makes her appear firm where Rudd was foul.

She's the favorite to win the election. I can't say I love her - I love very few politicians, apart from Jed Bartlet - but she seems marginally less unsuitable than Tony Abbott, the Liberal leader. Why is it that the only people we get putting their hands up to be elected nowadays seem to be those who have been active in student politics and working as a party functionary ever since? Aren't there any real working people around? People who haven't spent their whole lives telling lies?

Friday was the opening day of the Lifeline Bookfair. I collected Ken from work and we were able to spend an hour or so browsing. Of course, we both headed for the travel section!

I picked up a few books, and trust me, this is restrained for me!

Susan Kurosawa, coasting: a year by the bay. Susan K and Graeme Blundell retreat from Sydney to the Central Coast. Hardback with DJ, signed by author.

Paul Theroux, grumpy railway traveller:
Sunrise with Seamonsters: Travels and Discoveries 1964-1984. HB with DJ
The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean. Trade PB
The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas. Mass market paperback
The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. Penguin MMPB
Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China. Penguin

Folio:
Joan Sutherland,The Folio Book of Literary Puzzles.
Saki, Short Stories. HB, No slipcase.
Siegfried Sassoon, Sherston's Progress. HB/SC
Anthem for Doomed Youth: Poets of the Great War. HB/SC

Lonely Planet: Edinburgh 2002
The Rough Guide to Edinburgh 2002

Michael McGirr, Bypass, The Story of a Road, TPB
Tony Hawks, A Piano in the Pyrenees, PB
Edward Rutherfurd, Sarum. MMPB
Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, Penguin

I'm pretty sure I've already got copies of the last three, but I can't lay my hands on them.