Last week I claimed that summer had arrived in Sydney.

I lied.

It is currently 14.1 degrees Celsius outside and it’s overcast and drizzly. Last night we discussed “wind chill” on our pub crawl and further away in the Blue Mountains it snowed.

No one here likes it but I am certainly not complaining about a little bit of Vancouver weather here in November.

1. We are currently having an electrical storm.

2. There is cricket on the television.

3. I can hear cicadas endlessly buzzing outside.

4. I am sweating just sitting on the couch.

My first American election outside of North America went even better than I hoped it would. I know it sounds incredibly patronizing but….

We’re proud of you, America. Thank you for reminding us what a great country you can be. It’s often been hard to remember that over the past eight years.

I had some time away from the kids at work today so I snuck into a back room and watched CNN for a few hours this afternoon up until 3pm local time (8pm on the west coast of America) when the networks called the election for Obama.

Overall I felt that most Australians were really interested in the outcome of this election…and everyone I spoke to hoped for an Obama victory; certainly all my students were hoping it would turn out that way. I even got to explain to a few of them today how the American electoral college system works.

Amazing.

I had an awesome title for this post involving a foreign sex-worker but then I remembered family read this thing so you’ll have to see if you can work it out for yourself.

The weather in Sydney is kind of nuts at the moment. It will be cool one day (21 degrees, say) and then scorching hot the next (today was 36 degrees!). I went to make dinner two hours ago; at that time it was still 34 degrees outside. 120 minutes later and it is 19 degrees outside.

34 - 19 = 15

A 15 degree drop in two hours? Crazy. Not that it isn’t appreciated, at it was disgustingly hot this afternoon. Tomorrow it is supposed to be cool and rainy. Beautiful, Vancouver weather.

A few days ago I had three odd emails to an email account primarily used for my music blog. Normally, that inbox is filled with PR companies pushing bands on me so I was a very surprised when between the music-related emails I found three separate emails pointing me to this article:

Giant Spider Eating Bird Caught On Camera

Clearly, I have a reputation around these parts. So thanks to Geoff, Lucky, and Tristan for the emails. This country is insane.

I’ve noticed that a rather high percentage of Australians when confronted with an escalator will simply board the device and then proceed to stand there immobile. Even if they are blocking others. I don’t think it’s so much a matter of rudeness as it is of laziness. Seriously, I get so frustrated whenever I’m on an escalator.

(Aussies have a reputation of being sporty but this is, in fact, the most obese nation on Earth.)

Back in May I wrote:

But I may be that prick at work who wins stuff without any skill whatsoever. Hate me, hate me now.

Well, a few weeks ago when the NRL regular season wrapped up, our footy tipping competition at work came to an end. And it turns out that I CAME IN SECOND PLACE! How does that taste, LOSERS? You all (well almost all) lost to a Canadian in a footy tipping competition. Ouch.

My achievement was awarded with a cool $255! It all came down to the last weekend when I picked one result more than someone I had been even with for weeks. He was not pleased. My pick ended up costing him some cash (we would have split the second place prize).

People at work were not happy with me for a couple reasons. First, I obviously know nothing about the sport. In fact, I find it really dull. The Grand Final just wrapped up a little while ago and I didn’t watch a single second; I probably saw 15 minutes of game play the entire season. Second, I was tipping the last few weeks via email while I was on vacation in Vancouver; a Canadian beat them….FROM CANADA.

Anyway, it was a great day at work when I walked into the office to be greeted by accolades, scorn, obscenities, and an envelope containing $255 cash.

As I’ve mentioned several times on this blog in the past, anytime I am more than 45 minutes from Sydney’s CBD, I expect to see some crazy Australian wildlife. Generally, I fail. This past weekend Amanda and I once again ventured down the Hume Highway as we attended a wedding in Bundanoon (another thriving Aussie metropolis!). We didn’t get on the road until Friday evening and it was pretty much dark by the time we left. Still, we were in the bush and I was on the lookout.

As we departed the Hume Highway we made our way to Bundanoon on a road that I’m pretty sure was called The Perfect Place to Dump the Body Highway. It was pitch black. The road was curvy. The speed limit was a death-begging 100kmh an hour (a narrow two lane country road!). And then all of a sudden, there were two cars behind us, and a few cars coming toward us (and they didn’t always get their high beams off quickly).

All this is a way of saying: NOT A GOOD TIME FOR SLOW MOVING WILDLIFE TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE.

But they did.

As we were screaming around one corner, a wombat was lumbering across the road. I didn’t come that close to hitting it but man, that thing was not in a rush. It’s amazing a creature so slow and fearless (or dumb?) is still alive. The thing was huge - about a metre in length. About a minute later we saw another…and yet again it was closeish to be flattened. Unfortunately, the car behind us from stopping to get a photo.

But that’s another animal scratched off the list…and it’s my favourite!

Total lack of writing here lately. Not entirely due to laziness. The back end of this blog has been totally inaccessible to me for a week or more now meaning I haven’t been able to do anything with the site. It still seems like it’s not working 100% but I managed to get this through. If it goes dormant again, find me here and here.

And just because I am not around to make a noise, doesn’t mean the Australian animal attacks don’t happen. This guy was attacked by a kangaroo that he had to “fight off.” This guy was dragged by shark when the shark got tangled in the leg rope dangling off his surf board. And now even waves are becoming a threat!

Hopefully not too long before another post.

So I’m currently back in Vancouver for a little visit. It’s kind of odd being back at times. While I’m thrilled to be able to spend time with friends and family, I kind of feel like things have moved on without me in Vancouver. HOW DARE THEY. The fact that Vancouver is hosting the Olympics in 18 months hasn’t helped; many parts of the city are undergoing pretty big changes at the moment (rapid transit in Richmond!).

When I moved away (three years ago today, actually) I secretly hoped that Vancouver would just freeze as it was when I left. This way I could come back, things would unfreeze and everything would be exactly as I remember. The buildings, the restaurants, my friends, everything.

But I’m back and things have not worked out like that. Things change. Some for the better, some for the worse. I still find things to take comfort in, however. On my second day back home, when I was feeling particularly stuck between Vancouver and Sydney, I was in the car listening to the 99.3 The Fox and Econoline Crush’s All That You Are came on the radio. It’s very comforting to know that some things never, ever change.