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So, the ABC logo is to go the way of the Dodo.
Let me guess, the new one will be minimalist, have the letters ABC in small font, all lowercase, and have some totally basic image attached to it, probably 3 random lines or something. Like the BHP Billiton logo (which actually looks like diarrhoea), it will probably be designed by some bunch of corporate muppets who charge a quarter of a million or more for the design, "branding" research and focus groups.
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I've had contact with two opposing sides of society recently. Starting with the cretin first, I decided to set aside my dislike of used car yards and see if I could trade my ute and buy something else. I've tried to sell it privately, and had lots of calls and people driving it, but no-one bought it (over the period of about 6 weeks). But I digress. Anyway, I went and saw this old codger at his yard which shall remain nameless, expressing an interest in a well priced VS Commodore wagon. The trade he offered me for the ute was good, and the condition of the wagon was also good. However, I noticed it was unregistered.
Cretin: Yeah, just out of rego mate, no worries, I'll put 6 months on it no problems. It's been in the yard for ages so I haven't re-registered it yet until it sells.
Me: How long have you had it?
Cretin: Oh, ah, ah, [pause to end all pauses], oh a fair while.
Me: How long has it been out of rego? You'll be aware that it will need to go over the pits for inspection if it's been out for more than three months.
Cretin: Oh, no, not that long mate, nah, wouldn't have thought it was that long.
I didn't know if he was just getting slow with his age, or if he was full of shit. So I said I'd go home and get the ute so he could appraise it, but as I left I noted down the rego of the wagon and checked it on the state government online registration status service when I got home.
Two friggin years it had been unregistered for. God knows why it had been off the road for that long and what was wrong with it. So instead of just not going back I rang him and told him why I wasn't going to buy his car. He said: "Oh, nah mate, I wouldn't have thought it had been out that long, nah, that couldn't be right". Dickhead, I think you'd know if you'd had the car for two years.
So I decided all used car yards were out of the equation from that point. I later revised this, and decided to only look at cars in the used car yards of new car dealers, ie. those dealers which actually care about their reputation, and only keep a certain standard of car in their yard. They get rid of their crappy trades to wholesalers and smaller yards, like my mate the cretin.
On the other side of the coin, Dani and I were walking the dog down by the river the other night and this bloke yelled out to us asking if we liked trout. Turns out he had been testing some new lures his mate had made not expecting them to work but he'd actually caught a good sized trout. He didn't want it, but as it was injured from being caught he didn't have the heart to throw it back either so he wanted to give it to someone who would use it. He even took his boots and socks off and got into the river to pick it up for me, before I could do it myself. Top bloke. Then he rounded up his dogs, got on his motorbike and off he went. I thought I was the only one who had a thing about not returning injured fish to the water, so it was nice to find a kindred spirit. It cooked up beautifully on the BBQ.
I went fishing myself on Australia Day. I jumped on the bike and rode along the river to a couple of spots. Didn't catch a thing, but listened to the end of the Triple J Hottest 100 on my little radio. Here's a couple of crappy phone photos.
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