Entries from August 2006 ↓

On returning to Brussels (wet), there was a pile of post (largely dry, often junk). The pile included a notification from Taxipost (post that isn’t delivered by taxi, despite the name). It told me that I’d missed a delivery and that they’d keep it for 7 days.

7 days, in the middle of August, when everybody is on holiday.

7 days, before they send it back halfway around the world.

7 days.

7 days later, when I was still abroad, they sent me another note telling me that it would be returned to sender. This was a week before I got back.

So this morning I called them.

It turned out they had it, but they sent it back. To China. To somebody called “Anus Scott”. And no, there’s nothing I can do about it.

So I called “Anus“. Turns out it was two kilos of tea.

Damn.

I’m not very happy with Google at the moment. Since they’ve launched Blogger beta, I get signed out of Gmail every time I sign in to Blogger. This is because my email account and blogging account should be the same. But I don’t want them to be the same. I much prefer them being different. So this is a pain. And defeats the benefits of tabbed browsing.

I also suspect Google isn’t very happy with me. A few days ago, I inadvertently clicked on one of my own Adsense ads (strictly forbidden) and promptly sent them an email telling them the same. A lady called Winnie replied very quickly and said “Thanks for letting us know about the click on your ads. We appreciate your honesty and your continued efforts toward avoiding such clicks going forward.”
So they didn’t pay me for the click, the advertiser didn’t get charged, I’m happy I’m honest and so are Google.

So why haven’t I had any paying ads on my home page since then? Overnight my three ad banners were replaced one public service one for Gulf Hurricane Relief. Is Google punishing me? After I was so good and honest?

(Note - the situation may well have changed by the time you read this - apologies if so. I also realise I’m tempting fate by complaining in public … perhaps it will be Yahoo Ads on here next time you check in …)

Our guests have gone home, we’ve a little time to ourselves, and Mrs K is complaining of there being “nothing to do on this bloody island”.

I have abandoned the survey on Malta’s tourism crisis for lack of bus-journeys, sawdust-filled food and rude locals. There is nothing to report. Malta is as vibrant as ever. This is official. Let it be sung from the precariously-built rooftops.

Yesterday I almost inadvertently bought another apartment. Good sense prevailed.

When I returned from Asia at the beginning of the year and decided to start writing again, I decided I’d adhere to the simple rule of not insulting colleagues or friends. And the other simple rule of not mentioning work. And the other simple rule of never starting a sentence with “and.”

As a self-preservation tactic, this has been wise. The quality of the prose has suffered for the lack of vitriolic spleen, though, and occasionally finding things to write about is tough.

So I was lucky to ogle a few breasts in recent times and am happy to share them with you.

The above picture is one of several glorious photos adorning billboards over the island, incentivising women to breastfeed and men to spend more time driving around, looking at billboards.

The other major breast-related episode of the week was the happy discovery of two female porn-star-wannabes sunbathing entirely naked on a boat not fifteen feet from ours, liberally applying suncream to each other’s chests. The girls on our boat tut-tutted and said it was disgusting. The boys on our boat told them to shut up and let us concentrate.

In non-breast-related news, I have been sent an email from somebody called Bert, who wants to link to Kim Bah Lee in return for a link to www.lets-plan-our-holiday.com. Although I can’t quite see what their site does, or why I would want to use it, here you go Bert, this one’s on me.

That’s all folks!