Another week lost
Sep. 19th, 2006 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringThe mailman just delivered the post - advertising, mainly - and my police check wasn't back. As the governmen taxi examiner does his testing once a week on Thursdays and stops taking bookings on Tuesdays, that means that the earliest I can now get a practical driving test is next week.
Assuming the thing comes in the intervening week. They advertise 4-6 weeks, and it's been five weeks now, so I'm in the zone.
That's assuming it's positive, which it should be. All my past sins are either minor or so long ago that they can't be counted, according to the legislation, though I wouldn't put it past some idiot bureaucrat to make a mistake. No skin off their nose, but every week I'm not working means another thousand dollars I'm not making.
Mutter grumble. Still, they have a week to go before they are officially tardy.
Last night we had a birthday celebration for one of the junior members of the family. We went along to "Harem", a Turkish restaurant. Took along a bottle of Merlot and had the small banquet for four. All of it totally yummy and healthy, finished off with turkish delight. Lebanese and Turkish tucker is my favorite, really. Luckily the kids like it too, which isn't always the case with spicy foods.
A Monday night and we four were the only party in the whole restaurant from 1830 to 2000. The staff said that Mondays were quiet and if nobody else turned up they would close up about nine. Seemed a bit of a waste to have the whole thing going for just us.
Oh well, that's their lookout. There was a space on the docket for "tip", and my hand kind of hovered over it with some shock. It's not that we didn't get excellent service (as you'd expect when staff outnumber customers), it's that I'd hate to see tipping become the norm here. What would happen is that an already poorly paid job would become even less well-paid.
Maybe. The way things are going is that as the baby boomer bulge hits retirement, jobs are opening up. Retirees don't stop consuming, so they still need people to provide goods and services, but with fewer arrivals in the workforce than departures, it becomes more of a seller's market.
What got me into considering taxidriving was a current affairs show five or six weeks back, where they talked of importing foreigners into Western Australian regional towns to earn $60 000 a year as taxidrivers. With a bit of research, I discovered that this sort of money was available in Canberra, so I thought I'd have a piece of that.
Good money, as much work as I want, take time off when I need it, and I don't have to go away to (say) Port Hedland to get it. Plus it's an area where I can work the system and compete effectively from Day One.
If Day One would ever get here, that is.
Assuming the thing comes in the intervening week. They advertise 4-6 weeks, and it's been five weeks now, so I'm in the zone.
That's assuming it's positive, which it should be. All my past sins are either minor or so long ago that they can't be counted, according to the legislation, though I wouldn't put it past some idiot bureaucrat to make a mistake. No skin off their nose, but every week I'm not working means another thousand dollars I'm not making.
Mutter grumble. Still, they have a week to go before they are officially tardy.
Last night we had a birthday celebration for one of the junior members of the family. We went along to "Harem", a Turkish restaurant. Took along a bottle of Merlot and had the small banquet for four. All of it totally yummy and healthy, finished off with turkish delight. Lebanese and Turkish tucker is my favorite, really. Luckily the kids like it too, which isn't always the case with spicy foods.
A Monday night and we four were the only party in the whole restaurant from 1830 to 2000. The staff said that Mondays were quiet and if nobody else turned up they would close up about nine. Seemed a bit of a waste to have the whole thing going for just us.
Oh well, that's their lookout. There was a space on the docket for "tip", and my hand kind of hovered over it with some shock. It's not that we didn't get excellent service (as you'd expect when staff outnumber customers), it's that I'd hate to see tipping become the norm here. What would happen is that an already poorly paid job would become even less well-paid.
Maybe. The way things are going is that as the baby boomer bulge hits retirement, jobs are opening up. Retirees don't stop consuming, so they still need people to provide goods and services, but with fewer arrivals in the workforce than departures, it becomes more of a seller's market.
What got me into considering taxidriving was a current affairs show five or six weeks back, where they talked of importing foreigners into Western Australian regional towns to earn $60 000 a year as taxidrivers. With a bit of research, I discovered that this sort of money was available in Canberra, so I thought I'd have a piece of that.
Good money, as much work as I want, take time off when I need it, and I don't have to go away to (say) Port Hedland to get it. Plus it's an area where I can work the system and compete effectively from Day One.
If Day One would ever get here, that is.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 01:56 am (UTC)I'm sure your Police report will be AOK - none of my friends are crims and really, no one looks less like a crim than you.
{{{{{{{{Patient Skyring}}}}}}}}}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 06:26 am (UTC)I did notice a few places in Australia that had a space for a tip at restaurants and I wondered about that... Not tipping was hard to get used to. Large tips are the norm here.
Hmm. Maybe all your round-the-world trips have caused the background checkers to be suspicious. :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 08:03 am (UTC)On the police papers: gaH. What a nuisance. Can't you go there and knock on their door? No, probably not.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 07:24 pm (UTC)There's certainly more than enough to see, and you seem to be a great spokesman for your city.
Our tour of Canberra was great, and our driver gave us special directions just so we could see the Griffin City Plan. He even knew most of the details about Griffin and Wright in Oak Park.
You'd be a natural at it!