Paul's journal

Another hot day in the city. The office has kept me cool though. I went out at lunchtime to check out JB's 20% off sale, but it hadn't reached the 40 degrees mark by then.

It had when I left to go to goodbye drinks for Drew. Fortunately the pub was cool. Stayed about an hour and then got a bit eager to get going.

The train was really slow most of the way home but getting out of it I was hit by this wall of heat. The house is alright today though and I'm happy to hear that the cool change is coming around lunchtime tomorrow.

Melbourne had a tropical storm today. Lightning was cracking overhead as I got to work. Our fancy new office building couldn't cope and our lights flickered off and some people's computers turned off. We wondered about the safety of the guys in the crane next door.

When I went out at lunchtime it was grey and like it was going to rain again. I came out of QV and the sun was shining and it was so hot and humid. Very uncomfortable.

Then as the afternoon went on a second stormfront approached. This time the rain hit the building hard. Most of us stopped to watch it sweep past the windows. And of course the Connex messages started coming through.

A tree fell down on the Dandenong line and at 930pm the line is still blocked. Must have been a big tree. I didn't want to face an hour delay trying to board buses on such a busy train line so I hung at work for a while.

When I left, with no update to say the line was clear I got on the Frankston line instead and arranged a pick up. About 9 stops short of that stop though the train driver came on to tell us that because a tree had fallen over the tracks the train was going to be terminating.

How do two train lines get blocked by trees on the same night? How do four hours goes buy and the line's not clear? Did they bring the powerlines down?

My trip home last night, even with the guy not looking back, was so much better.

At the start of the week it felt like this week was going to go forever. But, even with a bit of sickness, it feels like it went pretty fast. We had a goodbye lunch today that I felt a bit flat at but it was followed by farewell drinks which went much better. I was louder than usual, helped by the people and the acoustics in the "nightclub" (I prefer calling it "diary room" but I don't think that will catch on).

It's got really hot too. This weekend would have been a nice one to head down to the island but I haven't planned well enough. I did some shopping tonight, watched an excellent episode of The Office and despite the heat feel like catching up on some sleep with an early night. I slept in a bit this morning so I think I could use a few good zzzs.

I need a new Work icon too, the one above is very, very old.

A late summer heat wave is melting the house tonight. I went out only this morning to have another look at the place in Armadale. I really do like it but it's too popular so it's going to auction. I will go to the auction but it's sure to go out of my price range too quickly so I can't get my hopes up.

I had a brief shop at Waverley Gardens (new two-packs out but I'll wait until there's a discount) and have spent most of the day keeping cool. I played a bit of FFIX, watched some Ally on DVD, and kept the fan going.

I was thinking of going to the movies but it was too hot to consider the drive. Nothing on this week that I'm dying to see but there's still a few movies I'd like to see. I'm still waiting on my free 'reel deal' tickets. I've seen six movies, I should have two free tickets. I've sent off in complaint but I hope that next year they bring back the stamps or something.

Forget about the Day After Tomorrow on TV, tonight there were real funky storms. I watched with interest as a huge black cloud seemed to descend on the western suburbs of Melbourne tonight. I missed being caught in the rain but did seem the effects on the train ride home with some minor flash flooding about. It hasn't really cooled the day down though, and it's still going to be really hot this weekend.

I did also watch The Day After Tomorrow. Did I not notice how bad some of the SFX were when I saw this film? The film studio Antarctica? The CGI wolves? And the all American triumph that made me refer to this film tonight as ID5. I had considered buying this cheaply on DVD (mostly because of Jake...) but am glad I never did.

Wasn't sure I'd get home tonight once the emails from Connex started coming around. There was no way I could put up with a slow moving train all the way home on a hot day like today. Luckily I could and did get a lift home with my sisters from the tennis.

I walked to the MCG carpark with Jane. I was going to get a drink at the station but of course the dodgy machine ate my coins, so I had to go to a nearby 7-11. Had a bit of time any way as the game was still going.

The drive home was pretty painless and after watching the news I'm very glad I didn't catch a train home! I am really feeling the heat tonight, more so than the last few hot days.

The city was covered in smoke today and the building's airconn was no barrier. Very uncomfortable day all around, hard to concentrate. The smoke didn't go away all day and again it reminded me of the fog in winter. I decided going to aerobics tonight was out. My lungs have felt heavy all day and I don't think I could have made it through a class. Hopefully there will be another before the end of the year.

It's really hot today but it's also really smokey. When I woke up today the light outside was a nasty looking yellow and the far distance was obscured by smoke. Driving down to Karingal it reminded me of all that fog we had a few months ago. This is the complete flipside of that. The fog also didn't bring on asthma.

The smoke also reminds me of Ash Wednesday, or to be more precise my only memory of Ash Wednesday. I was three on that day but I recall being taken up the street to Kindergarden and the whole suburb being covered in this hot grey smoke and then being brought home because they thought it was best for kids to stay home that day. That's the extent of my memory but it's one of the earliest memories I have.

Melbourne's got the heat! After some really cold days, there was snow!, it's in the high 30's again. I'm still a bit sore from my sunburn over the weekend. I knew it was sunny but I didn't realise it was as hot as it was. Tonight I'm busy watching TV: an ep of Enterprise, an ep of Ally and I did give Black Books a go (but not really sold on it.) I tried to copy some files to my MP3 player but it doesn't want to accept non-audio files now. I may need to reinstall a few programs? The MartinMolloy files are in digital heaven now so I will have to start from scratch, but not tonight. It's too hot!

I was hoping for snow today but none fell around me. There was hail and wind and rain but no snow at home or in the city. There was snow in the country though. It's half a month away from Summer how can it be so cold? I managed to avoid the rain which was good and braved the cold to go to aerobics, but I didn't wear my shorts! Not a lot on TV tonight. One of my fave guys, Hamish, was on the final Spicks and Specks. Then in ER, another fave (Noah Wyle) made a cameo appearance in yet another storyline In Africa. Noice. Taping Survivor to watch tomorrow as aerobics and a restless night last night have left me a little sleepy.

Today was a bit of a non-event day. The weather turned icy, the week has dragged on, I didn't get much sleep last night. All contributing factors.

Before I went to sleep last night I had to go outside to investigate a dripping outside. Apparently our hot water system has an overflow that drains out a pipe near the laundry. I never knew that. How did I never know that?

Then when I had just got to sleep, I must have been too hot as I woke up sweating, hallcuinating a large spider on my wall that made me jump up. Not a good way to get to sleep.

So today I tried but I just wasn't in a work mood. I did a few things but it was pretty slack. I started working on a joke set of css to make the Intranet look like the original version. That was kinda fun.

After yesterday's record breaking hot day it's a bit of a let down to hear it's only going to be 27 today. But just a few weeks ago 27 would have been great. Doesn't make a real big difference in air-conditioned offices eitherway but it does affect the trains. I missed my usual train, the next one I would get was cancelled so I got on the one inbetween (which is double express but never has a free seat). I could never catch a train like that every morning, although it's a bit of a leg work out.

Driving home tonight Berwick was covered in fog. Couldn't see more than a car or two ahead at times. Around the Freeway it looked really weird. Very artificial with the number of lights shining through the haze. It looked kind of like we were inside though we weren't.

This morning was so cold and foggy. I couldn't see anything out my window. The sun has not come through for us today. At lunchtime I could still see my breath when I went outside. Checking the web we found it hadn't got up to 10 degrees today. Even now it's just pushing it. It will be snowing 'Day After Tomorrow' style soon. Hope I end up in the library with Jake if it does.