Day 34 (Friday)

Fear-mongering and finger-pointing: thank goodness we are on the final countdown because I don't think the Australian public - voting or otherwise - can take much more of this. The full-page ads in the daily press are brutal: Don't Let Gillard Do To Australia What Bligh Has Done To Queensland; Thinking Greens? Think of the Consequences (followed by 7 points designed to generate the most concern in a non-informed voter); The Greens are the Watermelon Party - Green on the outside but RED on the inside (and their radical left policies are anti-family, anti-religion and anti-industry). Yes, as one commentator in the Courier Mail put it: It's hard to remember an election which is driven by such negative motives and arguments. And let's not forget "Tomorrow, take the smile off her face" with a picture of the New Federal Labor Party President Anna Bligh - or the action contract that we've seen a lot of lately "End the Waste; Pay back debt; Stop new taxes; Stop the Boats; Help families". Doesn't really make one feel proud to be Australian.

Almost as unfathomable are the current odds. 90 per cent of punters betting on the election have their money on the Coalition but Labor remains favorite at $1.28.

So $2.05 doesn't look too bad. Being a local and a regular seemed to count for something today as the woman behind the counter at Maccas watched as I counted out pocket shrapnel (totalling the princely sum of $2.05) to see if I had enough for toast and coffee. Serves me right for thinking there would be no problem with not going to the bank to cash up and splashing out and buying two papers on the way in because ... Maccas has EFTPOS. Not this morning. Seems like all of Westpac's connections were down. The change left after the newspapers purchase wasn't going to take me far although maybe there was a "free" coffee card somewhere in my wallet. Anyway, to cut a (very) long story short, she rang up my order and didn't charge me for it. And it wasn't even my old school buddy!

No word yet from D who we are supposed to be taking to the airport tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it so I can see the huge feet and spider's web there - both of which are part of the lead-up to the Swell Festival as curated by Natasha Edwards. This year they're planning to have 56 artists exhibit their works along the Currumbin Beach foreshore in mid-September.

Not sure if there will be protestors there (at the airport) having their say about the new charge some say the Gillard Government (if/when they get back in) is thinking of imposing. The real question is "When is a departure tax not a departure tax?" ... and the answer is: when it's called a "passenger movement charge". This is how out of touch I am - who knew that it hadn't been called a departure tax since 1995!

And if we needed another reason to go to the Gold Coast Show (GCS) - here it is ... Dances with Dogs. Watch out Pearl because you might soon be doing the "spin, twist, turn and leg weave" which has come to represent modern interpretive dog dance. A Benowa dog trainer (and former ballroom dancer) competed with three of her Belgian shepherd malinois at the Ekka, and took out second and third; she's planning to make an appearance at the GCS and who knows - the winner might turn up with the #1 Dancing Dog as well.

We haven't heard much about the Vuvuzela lately - and wouldn't you know that I didn't win one in the Bulletin's competition - but even so, many will be glad/amazed/intrigued to hear that "vuvuzela" was voted the word of the World Cup in a survey of linguists, and is set to have an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of English. Of course, it is already in other dictionaries so it's not totally surprising then that "It was one of more than 2000 new entries in the third edition of the dictionary". It seems they have a lot of catching up to do.

I am still occasionally using the vuvuzela app on the iPhone but have not taken the next step to see if it is represented on the range of coasters currently being offered on www.meninos.us. The coasters are washable and are made in the design of the key iPhone app icons - so they're colorful and cool - and just the thing for Apple "fan boys" like M's son Lu who went out last night wearing an Apple sticker on his chest - placed over his heart. I haven't seen such excitement over a sticker since S and I got temporary tattoos from the SSS Steakhouse!

At last ... word from D whom is now not heading back south until Monday morning and asked if he could spend Sunday night here. So we said yes - and that a lift to the airport was still on as long as it was an early flight and/or he didn't mind going early. Now we just have to work out what to feed him for dinner - besides S's leafy garden greens - and reds - because her tomatoes are fantastic!

So, jobs for tomorrow include mowing (happy dance!), checking what's happening to the bananas under the blue bag, looking in H's troughs for any signs of red worms, ensuring we have diesel fuel on hand for the tractor, finally going to Crave for breakfast, and, last but not least ... voting. Oh, and seeing if I can power through to the end of "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" ... it's going to be a busy day tomorrow.