First Day Back Blues

Same old desk. At same old cubicle. On same old floor. In same old building. Does it sound like I’m glad to be back at work? Really? Its that obvious?

Yes, EDM is a workin’ man once more. The joys of daddy day care & a chilled and relaxed life on the Sunny Coast have come to an end. I have but mere memories now. To go along with my security, coffee & go cards. I’m a slave to them now.They say the anticipation is sometimes worse than the event. Well actually, I said that. So Sunday was largely spent in denial with the odd feeling of dread creeping in. I tried not to think about it too much but things like ironing an shirt, trying to find black socks in a drawer and fishing my shoes from the bottom of a box bought it all back. Alas, I ventured to bed on Sunday night feeling at peace with it all and resigned to my predicament.

Monday morning was much the same except for the fact it was very real and the illusion of it being far away was gone. I ate my breakfast with a nervous kind of feeling imagining what awaited me given the upcoming election and what that might mean in terms of workload and busyness. It was not likely to be a normal caretaker mode based on discussions I’d had with my boss the week before. My clothes were all waiting for me after my shower but I had to have a chuckle when the son stopped and pointed at me while I put shoes/socks on and said “What’s they?” Understandable really given I’d spent the six months before in thongs.

I was blissfully ignorant of my situation while sitting on the train though and surfed the net on my phone. It wasn’t until I got off the train at Central that it really hit me. And wow, didn’t it hit me. Watching all the worker drones filing out in front of me and then filtering into the many tunnels beneath bought it all back and I had to force myself to take the steps towards them and join the long lines waiting to ‘touch off’. I quickly became part of the masses working their way through Anzac Square and all the memories of doing this day-in day-out for years came flooding back.

I eventually made my way towards my building up on George Street and remembered I needed some cash from an ATM. Then a coffee. Then a water bottle for my desk. Yes, I was procrastinating big time and doing my best to delay that first walk back inside and to the office. I eventually ran out of options though and there was nothing left but to take a deep breath and face the inevitable. I ran across the street as rain started to fall and before I knew it was crossing the threshold and holding up my photo card to tell security I belonged. Although, ‘belonged’ was the last thing I was actually feeling.

I then entered the lift and had a complete blank. “What floor do I go to again?” Quite amazing what six months can do. Forgotten where work even is. It came back to me just in time though as someone else strolled in. They assumed I was holding the lift for them rather than not having a clue which button to press so a small win there.

The lift opened a few moments later and I was outside the security door of my floor. “Ah yes, I need to swipe my security card don’t I. I didn’t need anything like this to access the beach, the national park...”. I swiped quickly and found myself walking the corridor toward my desk. No-one seemed to be around at the time so I managed to slink past a few offices and avoid the inevitable questions and mindless chitchat, before coming to my bosses. A tap on the door and a quick turnaround then revealed a big smile. “Thank god you’re back” my boss said.

Yes, I was back. Back to the same old desk. Back to the same old cubicle....

I’m in my second week back now and I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. I was fairly flat all last week and missed the son like crazy but glad that first week is done. It was always going to be tough. Alas, the election result has created quite a bit of excitement around the place, some good and some bad, and my brain is getting back into the mindset that is needed.

What the coming weeks hold is not known but one thing I do know is that there’s no way of stopping the staring out the window and dreaming of what I was doing a mere few weeks ago. Surfing. Playing. Enjoying.

Nah, not missing it at all. Can’t you tell?

EDM.

Best Laid Plans...

Regular readers will no doubt be aware that EDM and Family are having to move back to Brisbane after enjoying six months living in the hills behind Noosa. It's with regret that we're having to do so, but as I explained in this post a few weeks ago, the realities of mortgages and job security has bought it on.

We made the decision back in late January and it's been action stations in getting the move organised and getting prepared for a return to our former lives in Brisbane. The plan was for me to go back to my public service job, the wife to find a new job and for the son to return to his old daycare centre that we loved so much.

Accommodation-wise, it seemed quite fortuitous that an opportunity to house-sit for 5-6 months had come up so it was all arranged and we were pretty much all sorted. Alas, that housesitting opportunity has now fallen through a mere week or so before the move and we now find ourselves homeless. Well, homeless from next Monday when we actually move out of our Sunny Coast home.

So what to do? What to do? Any one got room at their 'inn' for a small family of three? Relatively clean and very courteous. Don't take up much room at all. Except for the son and his many trains, trucks, cars and bikes. We can even throw in a trampoline or multiple sherrins if that will sweeten a deal. Any one?

In all seriousness, looks like we'll merely continue down the path of moving most of our stuff into storage and may well have to land on our respective parents for a week or so while we find something more permanent. We could try and rush down to Brisbane and find a rental today/tomorrow for next week but there's too much risk that we'll rush into a decision being so desperate and make a bad choice. We certainly can't afford to get into any bidding war either.

One thing that I have noticed through all this, is that both the wife and I have been remarkably relaxed about our predicament. It's quite daunting thinking about what we'll need to be doing and organising over the next month but we haven't been too anxious or stressed by it all just yet. Maybe the word 'yet' is the crucial one there.

So maybe this little period up the coast and spending some quality time with each other has changed us both in some small way. Perhaps the 'chilled outness' and more relaxed state of mind up here has rubbed off and that's why we haven't turned into stress monkeys by the current scenairo. Just can't help thinking our previous selves back when we were living the 'rat race' in the big smoke would have reacted somewhat differently.

Who knows really. Just some amateur psychoanalysing and overindulging in the 'thinky' stuff. Perhaps as a form of denial and a way of diverting attention away from our predicament. You know, shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic and all that.

In any case, my frequency in posting over the next fortnight or so might come down a notch. There's plenty to think about, plenty to decide upon, and plenty to do. EDM is a man of action as well as a wordsmith, and an action man is what is needed right now.

So signing off until the next time, hopefully with some better news on living arrangements and alike.

EDM.

PS - Living through another 24 hour period of upwards of 200mm of rain falling here and in the towns around us. It was only Friday a week ago that we got 260mm in 18 hours which resulted in no access to Noosa and plenty of damage to the roads and infrastructure around Cooroy, Eumundi and Doonan. It was unbelievable to sit through, with a storm that last nearly six hours.

Well, today we're going through something similar. Tried to head into Noosa this morning for some groceries to find Eumundi-Noosa Rd closed again. Headed to Eumundi instead and plenty of tourists and out-of-towners walking into shops trying to get directions to here and there now that some of the roads are closed. There's also water across some of the access roads in and out of Verrierdale where we live.

Anyone got blueprints for an Ark?

Ears Are Slowly Healing - 'The Stoush' Wrap Up

It chased me all last week and even into this week. I just wanted to enjoy my last few weeks up here at Noosa but there it was, right in front of my face the whole time. Of course it needs no introduction. The Gillard-Rudd 'stoush'.

Given the unrelenting coverage and my two posts last week, thought I might as well do a follow-up seeing it is meant to have come to an end on Monday morning. That remains to be seen but surely 95% of the population are glad its over, let alone actual Labor caucas members and their minders.

I am still a little damp from the saturation coverage. Drying off slowly but it was a real drenching so it's taking a while to get there. Now I know the 'spill' was to elect our PM (won't say highest office in the land because it's not - I have republican issues), but the media coverage was way over the top on Monday morning. It was a big issue for sure, but six hour 'special editions' on every channel with some starting at 5am was a bit too much. Particularly as we already knew what the result would be so it all went around in circles and merely rehashed things we were already aware of.

The media's role in the whole fiasco must be further evaluated as well. Some press gallery members had been typing up weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, stories on 'leadership speculation' that hounded Gillard and the Government for more than a year. And the end result of Monday's spill goes to show they were blind to the truth and more interested in rumour and innuendo than hard facts and hard numbers. I mean, if I see the phrase "sources close to..." again I'm going to spew. Lazy journalism which turned the whole issue into a game of 'he-said-she-said'.

What has been revealed about the media's role is that one K Rudd (his choice of words, not mine) was actually 'backgrounding' members of the press and providing a lot of the fodder for those journalists and their articles. Backgrounding is an interesting term, as it seems that one K Rudd was more into bagging than backgrounding and used the media to promote his strategy platform of a messiah returning to save the day.

The whole sorry circus, that went on for months and months, was all for nothing in the end. All the media space. All the media attention. The rumours. the speculation. The 'backgrounding'. It all came to nought. Someone owes us our year back. Particularly as there's probably been some real issues to debate and some real policy to discuss that have slipped through while the media and the politicians were preoccupied.

Yeah, thanks guys. And what a choice we are left with. One party that is good on policy but stinks on the politics (Labor). While the other is good on the politics but stinks on policy (Coalition). Hopefully 'good policy' will end up being 'good politics'. Certainly that's what Labor is hoping for.

As to the players, the eventual numbers were a good result for Julia and her supporters. She's got one hell of a task to bring it all together again though and probably only has 6-10 months before another challenger may rise. But I'm sure she appreciates having some breathing space to just get on with the job and not have to answer any more leadership speculation questions at every press conference.

One K Rudd. Well, he did seem pretty genuine in his assertion that he'll be happy to serve on the backbench and not challenge again. I have my doubts though and reckon he must be scheming up something else. Not another challenge mind you. Just something else to occupy his very busy mind. To go from criss-crossing the globe and hop-knobbing with Presidents and PM's to door-knocking the hot and humid streets of Brisbane's inner east (Griffith electorate) is quite a stepdown.

Now call me crazy, but here's a suggestion anyway. What if Rudd serves his current term on the backbench (roughly 18 months) before announcing his resignation before the next election. He then seeks a seat in the Queensland Parliament via a by-election or something and takes over the Labor leadership following Bligh's departure. The next State Election in three years time would then be a Newman vs one K Rudd contest that would be one for the ages given Rudd's popularity in Queensland and the likelihood that the LNP may have a few slipups in it's first term in Government in over 14 years.

You heard it here first folks. There may be a reason for that. Such as it's improbable and unlikely. But hey, let's just see all it all pans out.

Regarding Federal politics over the next 18 months, a lot of people are saying Labor is dead and that Abbott might as well take the keys to The Lodge already. To that I have to say that a lot can happen in politics over the course of that time and who knows what will happen. Just ask Mitt Romney. It was merely a few weeks ago people were assuming he was the shoe-in for the Republican nomination. Now look at what has happened.

Yes, a week is a long time in politics let alone 18 months. John Howard myself was often way behind in the polls over the course of a term but would come out on top when the only poll that matters took place. I'm certainly not saying Labor for the next election. I'm just saying there's plenty of time for a reversal of fortune and given my last post, I'm not even sure Abbott will contest the next election as the Leader of the Opposition.

Time will tell ladies and gentlemen. But it can surely wait for a while can't it? I'm over it all and just want the footy season to come back in a hurry. The other game of winners and losers.

EDM.

Ears Still Ouching But Wondering What's Next?

Wow. And there I was thinking this blog didn't have much of a readership. In quantity I mean. Not quality. You are all lovely people I'm sure. Or that just friends and family read it and took note of any of my musing and rantings. Oh, but how I was wrong obviously.

You see, a mere day after I wrote my last post calling for the Gillard-Rudd stoush to be bought to an end, Kevvie (I can call him that now that I know he reads Nah Seriously) calls a late night press conference to inform us all that he's quitting the Foreign Ministership and returning home for a ballot to decide it for once and for all.

I had no idea he was regular reader of Nah Seriously but he must be hey? To have taken my concerns on board so readily and to have been inspired into such action. I'm humbled folks. Truly humbled. About as humbled as one can be.

Much like Kevvie I guess. Because he has done the truly humble thing by resigning due to 'not having the support of the PM anymore'. Yes, he's done the honourable thing. For the PM. For the party. For the country. Apparently.

One thing though. I can't help this nagging thought that perhaps he hasn't gone down this path for honourable reasons only. Just maybe it's all about him. Still riled by the way his PMship finished up, he's quietly been calculating and strategising on destablising the Government to the point that he now looks like the only one who is electable. Even though it might be him and his other colleagues that have destablished things to the point that the polls are this bad for Labour.

Will the real Kevvie please stand up? Now that we know you read Nah Seriously, maybe just leave a comment at the bottom of this post. You know, with all the details and some honesty about your intentions. My readers would love it I can assure you. Carn, be a man of the Nah Seriously people.

As to Julia, it was always going to be a tough gig being the first female PM of this country and coming into it from a position that looked a little shaky ie. the kniving of a serving and elected PM. Whether she was plotting in the days before Rudd was turfed, I don't really care. Politics is a dirty business and I think people have forgotten just how bad Rudd was going at the time.

I don't just mean the polls. I mean more along the lines of the way his Government was governing. Or lack thereof. Obviously I wasn't privy to the inner workings of the inner sanctrum, but it did appear that his Govt, or more precisely his Office, was paralysed in fear of focus group opinions and unduly worried about the media cycle. They seemed pretty spooked by things they didn't need to and gave up on some important policy principles (ETS) just because the polls went south for a bit.

I therefore think Julia did step in and try to steer the ship on a more appropriate course and she's tried pretty hard at doing that. I'm not naive to think she did it for purely altruistic reasons mind you. Of course she got to be PM as well which must have been the realisation of a lifetime dream.

Alas, I think she's copped undue criticism over the course of her PMship and reckon she has been unfairly treated by some very powerful sections of the media. She has her faults for sure. Most notably not being able to 'sell' policy but also in not acting more strongly to quell internal dissent.

But the life of a minority Govt is not easy and in reality anyone in her position of having to regularly compromise to ensure delivery of legislation/reform would have had similar issues in regards to perceived performance and associated polling. Mind you, she certainly hasn't been helped by some of her own staffers and supporters' actions though. Like some pretty idiotic leaks and statements and the very recent youtube video.

So where does that leave us? Well, it sounds like we'll get some sort of result on Monday. Although I don't think it'll end there I'm afraid. Even if Rudd loses, which the numbers indicate, he'll probably do a Keating and bide his time on the backbench until he challenges again in a few short months. All the while hoping that his fellow MPs forget just how badly he treated them last time he was PM.

One thing that does look very likely though, is that Labour will not be in Govt after the next election. I've been telling the wife since the last election and all the wrangling that went on to get the Independent's support, that whoever got it, and therefore won Govt, that they would not win the next election. A minority Govt just throws up too many curveballs and in the end it almost always looks indecisive and unworkable. So since that very time, it's looked more and more likely that a Coalition Govt will roll on in next and return to the comfy benches.

But will it be Abbott? My god, I hope not. Regardless of my hopes, I don't think he'll be the next Coalition PM anyway. While no doubt he has plenty of supporters, he's too risky for a big section of the electorate and could be considered a liability come election time. He's definitely playing the right game at the moment in just letting Labour destroy itself but in the pursuit of power, I reckon the Coalition will want a safer bet.

Come on down Malcolm Turnbull. Yes, my very limited crystal ball has Turnbull as PM come the next election. I know many within the Coalition don't like him, and he did fail to forsee rumblings against him last time, but I think he is a far safer bet than Abbott as he can actually take votes from Labour and turn a lot of traditional Labour voters who are sick of the current leadership game and internal struggles. It would be a mighty comeback for the man, and some might ask what I have been smoking, but surely the Coalition and its supporters see a move to the centre being the best bet rather than any further move to the right under Abbott.

So you read it here first folks. Turnbull to be PM. Well actually, there's quite a few people who've been saying the same so I can't claim its me and my crystal ball only. In fact, Centrebet has Turnbull at shorter odds of being PM than Abbott so there must be some very wise people at Centrebet for agreeing so wholeheartedly with me. 

But anyway, it's a real sausage factory at the moment in Federal politics and who knows what the coming days bring, let alone coming months and years. The noise is still ouching my ears but I find myself drawn to it all nonetheless. I don't want to. I'd rather just enjoy my last few weeks here in paradise on the Sunny Coast. But hey, what's a poor boy to do?

EDM.