My excuses:
- been really busy with teaching
- been really busy with daughter, in support mode for her school work, reading over assignments and she likes to debrief and tell me what she learned in history
- tonight is her Year 12 formal, so been busy with that as well. It's mental how out of control these girls get. It's a bit like a wedding. I shall be glad when it's over.
- have been really busy with the rewriting as well
- have been social, a lot of writery stuff on which is nice but I don't really like being so busy. I like to nest at home.
- this means I'm behind with Orange Is The New Black and Alex is waiting for me to catch up and discuss. Sorry Alex. We watched one last night, I hope to finish sooooon
- finished watching Game of Thrones, loved the season but haven't had time to discuss with Alex properly. SORRY!
- still struggling with being sick and it's getting really fucking boring going to the doctor and having tests all the time but I'm feeling better in some ways (the cough) and I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy on Monday and the doctor said he could see a hernia and evidence of reflux. The reflux is no surprise - I've had that for years and was on the Nexium and then off and self-managing the last 12 months of so, GOD THIS IS BORING YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS anyway I still have back pain but the other day I noticed something on my back YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO, IT'S SO FREAKING DULL but I might get the GP to have a look at that. I'm booked for dermatologist for skin cancer check later in the year but maybe something's going on there. [SNORE]
- but my finger is ok (ie the meat-TB-whatever that was!)
- I have to go. I've baked an upside-down pear cake to take to the formal parent 'pre-drinks' and we are staying on for dinner which will be nice. But I'm really tired.
Ciao.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
I don't like the new look
I wanted to keep the old one but also wanted to install that google statistics thingy and you needed an updated blog blah blah. I can't find a template like the old one and can't even find a neutral looking one so went all dark. It's a shock every time I come here. The old one felt like home.
When I have more time maybe I'll try and see what I can do but I did spend a few hours looking before and with nothing better than this it seemed.
Nothing much else to report. Reading. Teaching. Writing. Wrangling. All as normal. Going out for dinner tonight with Clokes and another couple to Indian, so yay for that. Caught up with a friend I had lost touch with for 5 or 6 years, saw her Tuesday. Yay for that as well, happy to be back in touch. Princess finished her Maths IA, and is almost finished her History IA, Extended Essay and TOK Essay. So they will be massive things for her to cross off her (our) list.
Weather had turned chilly but it's ok. Our heating has been fixed and so we won't freeze.
And my tax return is done AND I have a big bill cause of capital gains AND Clokes asked about it (we keep our money stuff pretty separate) and when I told him how much he said it was wrong. Seems the accountants don't know it was my primary residence, it wasn't a fucking investment property. So I shouldn't have to pay so much. Seems they have fucked up. Seems I will be changing accountants (and not having to pay so much. I really hope. Let's all cross fingers together and I'll take you all out for dinner, okay?)
Other than that, well, yeah. I'm tracking with my morning constitutional powders and vitamins, and my evening ones too. Feeling I'm over the mucous, or nearly, with just a little sputum coughing in the morning. Got my energy back, mostly, although this week have been stuffed, really tired. Had two periods in a month, one after 19 days and another after 18. Great.
It's been a really long week, not least because Game of Thrones wasn't on Monday night. Bloody Memorial Day in the US.
So what's your news? What are you reading? What are you eating and drinking?
OH AND HOW IS THIS?
Bob Ellis reckons Abbott will be gone by end of next week. Party here if so.
When I have more time maybe I'll try and see what I can do but I did spend a few hours looking before and with nothing better than this it seemed.
Nothing much else to report. Reading. Teaching. Writing. Wrangling. All as normal. Going out for dinner tonight with Clokes and another couple to Indian, so yay for that. Caught up with a friend I had lost touch with for 5 or 6 years, saw her Tuesday. Yay for that as well, happy to be back in touch. Princess finished her Maths IA, and is almost finished her History IA, Extended Essay and TOK Essay. So they will be massive things for her to cross off her (our) list.
Weather had turned chilly but it's ok. Our heating has been fixed and so we won't freeze.
And my tax return is done AND I have a big bill cause of capital gains AND Clokes asked about it (we keep our money stuff pretty separate) and when I told him how much he said it was wrong. Seems the accountants don't know it was my primary residence, it wasn't a fucking investment property. So I shouldn't have to pay so much. Seems they have fucked up. Seems I will be changing accountants (and not having to pay so much. I really hope. Let's all cross fingers together and I'll take you all out for dinner, okay?)
Other than that, well, yeah. I'm tracking with my morning constitutional powders and vitamins, and my evening ones too. Feeling I'm over the mucous, or nearly, with just a little sputum coughing in the morning. Got my energy back, mostly, although this week have been stuffed, really tired. Had two periods in a month, one after 19 days and another after 18. Great.
It's been a really long week, not least because Game of Thrones wasn't on Monday night. Bloody Memorial Day in the US.
So what's your news? What are you reading? What are you eating and drinking?
OH AND HOW IS THIS?
Bob Ellis reckons Abbott will be gone by end of next week. Party here if so.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
A balmy week in Melbourne
Seems like all I am talking about at the moment is the weather.
Last night I took my mum to see two Wes Anderson movies at The Astor. The Astor, for those who don't know, is a wonderful old-time movie cinema in Chapel Street, just this side (south side) of Dandenong Road. The address listed is Melbourne but I'd say it's St Kilda East or maybe St Kilda, not sure where the boundary lies. I always thought Chapel was the boundary.
The Astor does double billings and their choc tops are really good. Old style as well, and big.
So we went along, it was busy. Lots of Wes fans but also, curiously, quite a few older people, like my mum's vintage. They can be Wes fans as well of course. People can have a drink, it's pretty relaxed (though there is a man on the microphone who introduces each movie and woe betide you if you think you can still be looking at your phone after the lights have dimmed ready for the film. Last night he came back on the mike and said 'Still waiting for some of you who still have your phones out.' I reckon he was up the back in the box and could see the lighted phone screens. And there used to be a cat Marzipan who would slink through and sit on people's laps, walk along the top front ledge of the upper seating area.
The Astor Cat
Marzipan died in March last year and her facebook page is still up with more than 2,000 friends.
The double show cost $15. I don't know of a cinema in Melbourne where you can get to see ONE movie for that price. The first show last night was The Grand Budapest Hotel. I'd seen it already with Clokes a few weeks ago when it came out. Like with all Anderson films so far*, I LOVED it. There is something about Wes. His colour palettes, the whimsy and quirk, the nostalgia. The symmetrical framing. Some people, who like to be all serieux with bearded chin in hands and talk about filmography and major versus minor artistes say Anderson is not a major. Well, good then. I think there's something too playful and childlike about his movies for some people. I think possibly they are confronted by, and taken surprise by, the intense emotion that can spring in your eyes when watching these films. You recognise yourself, or you recognise a better self, and either of these realisations can be sad in a way. You miss things about your younger self, or if not, are glad to not be in that place anymore. You meet characters you can admire, but they can be heroic one moment, like M. Gustave in Budapest standing up against the 'Nazis' for Zero the Bell Boy and then in another scene, berating the dogged, faithful Zero for forgetting to bring something, and then lapsing into a nasty tirade about refugees staying where they belong and not getting above themselves by seeking a better life. It's wonderfully nuanced and reminds me of the way Chris Lilley manages to set you up to think one way about a character, lulls you into a false sense of comfort by encouraging you to think it's 'just a comedy' (although some people don't find any of it funny at all) and he lets you think you know that character on the screen because so far it's only a stereotyped view and we can't get away from preconceived notions and then showing Jonah, say, vulnerable and motherless and showing you why he is so angry, reactive and well-defended with all his tagging and swearing and hostile behaviour. He is seeking attention. He is craving someone to show him love and patience and affection. All he gets is the opposite of those but of course it's because he provokes it. (I know there is criticism about Lilley and his cultural appropriation in the Jonah character and storyline. Some people have said it's offensive and I get that. Everyone's going to have a different reaction to this as well as film as well as books. But for me, Jonah is the character with the most pathos about him. And he's realistic. Maybe not a realistic portrayal of the way Tongan boys would behave in general, but surely there's one Tongan boy out there off the rails and in pain like Jonah? Sometimes when people accept stereotypes they expect to then be fixed but that's the very thing about individuals. Maybe Jonah is an example of a boy, just one, and if there's truth in one then that's worth showing. And what's true in Jonah might then be true of other boys of his circumstance, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, and so you get commonalities across large groups of people.
I'd love to hear what other people think about this.
Anyway. Back to Wes. Mum loved Budapest too. Then we watched The Darjeeling Limited, which is possibly my favourite if I had to pick a favourite but it's too hard to separate the joy of Rushmore, Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom. The Life Aquatic I love but maybe not quite as much as the others. I'm not sure maybe I have to look at it again. I cried again in Darjeeling. I see it as a beautiful, sad and real portrayal of family with comments on competing birth order, grief over lost parents, messy relationships, and how people want a spiritual experience and can do all the things, visit the temples, wear the beads and flowing clothes but it's not deep in the end. It's only things that happen in life, the full-on real things, like birth and death, events like these that can cause real transformation. Also that you might be looking for something and you won't find it; it's when you're not looking that things sneak up on you.
I think another reason people poo-poo the Wes is because he uses humour, his films can be so funny, and of course you can't have serious themes and commentary if there is humour, right? No, you must be all self-important and grave. Also his strong styling and occasional use of very fixed and fake-looking sets, in Budapest there were quaint little funiculars and a very faux ski scene which to me was hilarious but others might go what the fuck, it's so fake, couldn't he be more realistic about it? Another thing is actor faces are very blank, they deliver their lines with little affect often, so the whole feel is artificial and stilted (apart from Owen Wilson, in Darjeeling. He is the 'animated' elder brother.)
Me, I love it, all of it. I think Anderson is a genius. I think he was either like the guy in Rushmore or wanted to be like the guy in Rushmore. And the boy in Moonrise. And he is possibly one of the brothers in Darjeeling (although I just looked up an article and it seems that movie came from him travelling around India by train with Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola. Article here). But yep, he's got two brothers.
24 Things About Wes Anderson
* Apart from Fantastic Mr Fox. I didn't really like that. Not sure why.
Last night I took my mum to see two Wes Anderson movies at The Astor. The Astor, for those who don't know, is a wonderful old-time movie cinema in Chapel Street, just this side (south side) of Dandenong Road. The address listed is Melbourne but I'd say it's St Kilda East or maybe St Kilda, not sure where the boundary lies. I always thought Chapel was the boundary.
The Astor does double billings and their choc tops are really good. Old style as well, and big.
So we went along, it was busy. Lots of Wes fans but also, curiously, quite a few older people, like my mum's vintage. They can be Wes fans as well of course. People can have a drink, it's pretty relaxed (though there is a man on the microphone who introduces each movie and woe betide you if you think you can still be looking at your phone after the lights have dimmed ready for the film. Last night he came back on the mike and said 'Still waiting for some of you who still have your phones out.' I reckon he was up the back in the box and could see the lighted phone screens. And there used to be a cat Marzipan who would slink through and sit on people's laps, walk along the top front ledge of the upper seating area.
The Astor Cat
Marzipan died in March last year and her facebook page is still up with more than 2,000 friends.
The double show cost $15. I don't know of a cinema in Melbourne where you can get to see ONE movie for that price. The first show last night was The Grand Budapest Hotel. I'd seen it already with Clokes a few weeks ago when it came out. Like with all Anderson films so far*, I LOVED it. There is something about Wes. His colour palettes, the whimsy and quirk, the nostalgia. The symmetrical framing. Some people, who like to be all serieux with bearded chin in hands and talk about filmography and major versus minor artistes say Anderson is not a major. Well, good then. I think there's something too playful and childlike about his movies for some people. I think possibly they are confronted by, and taken surprise by, the intense emotion that can spring in your eyes when watching these films. You recognise yourself, or you recognise a better self, and either of these realisations can be sad in a way. You miss things about your younger self, or if not, are glad to not be in that place anymore. You meet characters you can admire, but they can be heroic one moment, like M. Gustave in Budapest standing up against the 'Nazis' for Zero the Bell Boy and then in another scene, berating the dogged, faithful Zero for forgetting to bring something, and then lapsing into a nasty tirade about refugees staying where they belong and not getting above themselves by seeking a better life. It's wonderfully nuanced and reminds me of the way Chris Lilley manages to set you up to think one way about a character, lulls you into a false sense of comfort by encouraging you to think it's 'just a comedy' (although some people don't find any of it funny at all) and he lets you think you know that character on the screen because so far it's only a stereotyped view and we can't get away from preconceived notions and then showing Jonah, say, vulnerable and motherless and showing you why he is so angry, reactive and well-defended with all his tagging and swearing and hostile behaviour. He is seeking attention. He is craving someone to show him love and patience and affection. All he gets is the opposite of those but of course it's because he provokes it. (I know there is criticism about Lilley and his cultural appropriation in the Jonah character and storyline. Some people have said it's offensive and I get that. Everyone's going to have a different reaction to this as well as film as well as books. But for me, Jonah is the character with the most pathos about him. And he's realistic. Maybe not a realistic portrayal of the way Tongan boys would behave in general, but surely there's one Tongan boy out there off the rails and in pain like Jonah? Sometimes when people accept stereotypes they expect to then be fixed but that's the very thing about individuals. Maybe Jonah is an example of a boy, just one, and if there's truth in one then that's worth showing. And what's true in Jonah might then be true of other boys of his circumstance, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, and so you get commonalities across large groups of people.
I'd love to hear what other people think about this.
Anyway. Back to Wes. Mum loved Budapest too. Then we watched The Darjeeling Limited, which is possibly my favourite if I had to pick a favourite but it's too hard to separate the joy of Rushmore, Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom. The Life Aquatic I love but maybe not quite as much as the others. I'm not sure maybe I have to look at it again. I cried again in Darjeeling. I see it as a beautiful, sad and real portrayal of family with comments on competing birth order, grief over lost parents, messy relationships, and how people want a spiritual experience and can do all the things, visit the temples, wear the beads and flowing clothes but it's not deep in the end. It's only things that happen in life, the full-on real things, like birth and death, events like these that can cause real transformation. Also that you might be looking for something and you won't find it; it's when you're not looking that things sneak up on you.
I think another reason people poo-poo the Wes is because he uses humour, his films can be so funny, and of course you can't have serious themes and commentary if there is humour, right? No, you must be all self-important and grave. Also his strong styling and occasional use of very fixed and fake-looking sets, in Budapest there were quaint little funiculars and a very faux ski scene which to me was hilarious but others might go what the fuck, it's so fake, couldn't he be more realistic about it? Another thing is actor faces are very blank, they deliver their lines with little affect often, so the whole feel is artificial and stilted (apart from Owen Wilson, in Darjeeling. He is the 'animated' elder brother.)
Me, I love it, all of it. I think Anderson is a genius. I think he was either like the guy in Rushmore or wanted to be like the guy in Rushmore. And the boy in Moonrise. And he is possibly one of the brothers in Darjeeling (although I just looked up an article and it seems that movie came from him travelling around India by train with Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola. Article here). But yep, he's got two brothers.
24 Things About Wes Anderson
* Apart from Fantastic Mr Fox. I didn't really like that. Not sure why.
Friday, May 09, 2014
Cold and quiet
Hello. It's cold and it makes me quiet. I just want to curl up and read in bed with my hotwater bottle. I know this is feeble but I'm still trying to shake off my 'whatever illness thingy' it is that is hanging around. I've had tests, all negative so far. Need to do poo tests for parasites, the doctors are 'seeing so many parasites at the moment.'
Great.
Quiet weekend ahead. The week has been fine if a little busy. Taught Tuesday afternoon/evening, a parent-child session at a school nearby. It went really well so that was good. A huge group in the first session, about 40 people, which is big for these types of things.
Then taught Years 9s at a secondary college out east yesterday and Wednesday, covered six sessions over the two days, so I'm pretty tired. Then went out to dinner last night with my Dad and that was nice. It was the restaurant we used to go to as a family in the late '70s and through the '80s, and the same people are running it, a bunch of Lebanese brothers (it's an Italian restaurant, you know it, it's quite well known, there was a big food poisoning case a few years ago, big fines etc but so well patronised because the portions are so huge, I'm supposing, and the food is not bad.) Anyway, the guys all remember my dad and they just love him. He's like the big man walking into the place, feted by everyone and we hadn't been there for probably 15 or 20 years before we went once last year and then again last night. They kept coming over, telling him how good it was to see him. Brought us port (blech; they are still living in the '70s man) and it was a fun night especially as my daughter spotted a man at a table who looked like Hitler would have, if he'd lived to mid-sixties. he had the moustache, he had the facial features, so then of course we were saying that Hitler had a son, to a French nurse when he was a soldier in WWI. That kind of thing. And here was the secret son. And then we were saying imagine growing up with people telling you that you looked like Hitler; imagine growing up with you not knowing who your father was and then you work it out somehow.
That's a story. Dinner with Hitler. Maybe it's already been done. So. He was there, he ate fried calamari and took a doggie bag with him when he left. They didn't stay that long, maybe they heard us talking about Hitler.
In other news, there isn't any. Not really. So. Am writing (revisions) and rewatching GIRLS (again. I just love it.) We finished watching Puberty Blues, it wasn't terrific. I am not investing in Master Chef, those days are over. Am loving Game of Thrones but only one a week: deprivation. Have started the second book but am having a break and reading other stuff, including at the moment I just started We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler which I'm really enjoying so far. Yesterday I finished The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker: very badly written but I could not stop reading it. It was compelling, annoyingly so. So, what is the mark of a successful book? It has to be that people read it and finish it. That has to be the first mark of whether it works or not. So I suppose in this case, it is true. There is so much buzz about this book, I get it but I don't get it.
Hope everyone is okay, and keeping warm if you're down south.
Great.
Quiet weekend ahead. The week has been fine if a little busy. Taught Tuesday afternoon/evening, a parent-child session at a school nearby. It went really well so that was good. A huge group in the first session, about 40 people, which is big for these types of things.
Then taught Years 9s at a secondary college out east yesterday and Wednesday, covered six sessions over the two days, so I'm pretty tired. Then went out to dinner last night with my Dad and that was nice. It was the restaurant we used to go to as a family in the late '70s and through the '80s, and the same people are running it, a bunch of Lebanese brothers (it's an Italian restaurant, you know it, it's quite well known, there was a big food poisoning case a few years ago, big fines etc but so well patronised because the portions are so huge, I'm supposing, and the food is not bad.) Anyway, the guys all remember my dad and they just love him. He's like the big man walking into the place, feted by everyone and we hadn't been there for probably 15 or 20 years before we went once last year and then again last night. They kept coming over, telling him how good it was to see him. Brought us port (blech; they are still living in the '70s man) and it was a fun night especially as my daughter spotted a man at a table who looked like Hitler would have, if he'd lived to mid-sixties. he had the moustache, he had the facial features, so then of course we were saying that Hitler had a son, to a French nurse when he was a soldier in WWI. That kind of thing. And here was the secret son. And then we were saying imagine growing up with people telling you that you looked like Hitler; imagine growing up with you not knowing who your father was and then you work it out somehow.
That's a story. Dinner with Hitler. Maybe it's already been done. So. He was there, he ate fried calamari and took a doggie bag with him when he left. They didn't stay that long, maybe they heard us talking about Hitler.
In other news, there isn't any. Not really. So. Am writing (revisions) and rewatching GIRLS (again. I just love it.) We finished watching Puberty Blues, it wasn't terrific. I am not investing in Master Chef, those days are over. Am loving Game of Thrones but only one a week: deprivation. Have started the second book but am having a break and reading other stuff, including at the moment I just started We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler which I'm really enjoying so far. Yesterday I finished The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker: very badly written but I could not stop reading it. It was compelling, annoyingly so. So, what is the mark of a successful book? It has to be that people read it and finish it. That has to be the first mark of whether it works or not. So I suppose in this case, it is true. There is so much buzz about this book, I get it but I don't get it.
Hope everyone is okay, and keeping warm if you're down south.
Friday, April 18, 2014
What I'm reading, and what I'm reading next
Hey, it's Friday, and the family is all here. I went and sat with my husband and his two kids in the kitchen for about four minutes to discuss the day's activities. We have a ritual on Good Friday that includes: walking the dog off-lead at the park, having a feast-brunch, playing a board game as a family and, in the evening, watching Life of Brian. We're not having brunch, because we're doing it on Sunday instead, with my family including bro who is down from Canberra. The weather looks pretty shitty, so not sure about dog walk as we just washed her the other day. Board game: well, I don't think the 18 year old will do it, she's been not into it for a few years. But the 17 and 15 year olds will. And Life of Brian? It might just be me and my daughter and Clokes.
But sitting with 3/5 of my immediate family for four minutes was hard. They have these silly in-jokes that are exclusive and, well, silly. It's something I've noticed creeping up. It does make me feel excluded and annoyed in an adolescent way. I should be happy they are bonded and having fun, and I am. I'm also happy that I don't have to be with them, they can get on by themselves. But it's still annoying. And strange. We are a strange situation. Two families in one house. I have fantasies of leaving; going away under the guise of writing retreats and workshops in other countries, and just not fucking coming home.
But all my books are here.
*
What I'm reading. I'm back on the first book of the Game of Thrones series. I've decided I just want to read ahead. It'll take me a while to get past where the series is, and my daughter tells me that the series is not in the same order as the books. I'm also reading Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. And I started The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane. It's on the Stella shortlist I think. Lined up I have Pnin by Nabokov, as well as his memoir Memory, Speak. Both of these have been highly recommended by people whose opinions I rate. And I'm going to re-read Love in The time of Cholera because Gabriel Garcia Marquez has just died and I've chosen it as one of my favourite books for a short piece I was invited to write.
*
There is no publishing news, but there is some movement. I spoke with my agent on the phone earlier this week, then gave the novel to someone else to read. There's a huge story behind that, but I can't say much about it here, other than things lined up quite extraordinarily, and I am seeing this person - a published novelist, quite high-profile, established and establishment - tomorrow to discuss it. Which means she's read and has something to say. So I feel like I'm inching towards *something* but I also feel like it's all pretty impossible.
My dear, supportive, writer-friend, the other day over coffee, drew me a picture. It was something like this:
And I'm like: yeah.
But sitting with 3/5 of my immediate family for four minutes was hard. They have these silly in-jokes that are exclusive and, well, silly. It's something I've noticed creeping up. It does make me feel excluded and annoyed in an adolescent way. I should be happy they are bonded and having fun, and I am. I'm also happy that I don't have to be with them, they can get on by themselves. But it's still annoying. And strange. We are a strange situation. Two families in one house. I have fantasies of leaving; going away under the guise of writing retreats and workshops in other countries, and just not fucking coming home.
But all my books are here.
*
What I'm reading. I'm back on the first book of the Game of Thrones series. I've decided I just want to read ahead. It'll take me a while to get past where the series is, and my daughter tells me that the series is not in the same order as the books. I'm also reading Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. And I started The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane. It's on the Stella shortlist I think. Lined up I have Pnin by Nabokov, as well as his memoir Memory, Speak. Both of these have been highly recommended by people whose opinions I rate. And I'm going to re-read Love in The time of Cholera because Gabriel Garcia Marquez has just died and I've chosen it as one of my favourite books for a short piece I was invited to write.
*
There is no publishing news, but there is some movement. I spoke with my agent on the phone earlier this week, then gave the novel to someone else to read. There's a huge story behind that, but I can't say much about it here, other than things lined up quite extraordinarily, and I am seeing this person - a published novelist, quite high-profile, established and establishment - tomorrow to discuss it. Which means she's read and has something to say. So I feel like I'm inching towards *something* but I also feel like it's all pretty impossible.
My dear, supportive, writer-friend, the other day over coffee, drew me a picture. It was something like this:
And I'm like: yeah.
Monday, April 07, 2014
The Sleepers Almanac is launched today
So if anyone's interested in my poem, which is in the latest Sleepers Almanac No. 9, it's the one about cricket, but not really about cricket. You know how poetry is.
The Sleepers online store is here: No HERE.
The other thing is tonight the Episode 1 of new season of Game of Thrones and I have to be back not too late to watch that. I've spent the day in bed reading the first book and last night we refreshed with the last 4 episodes of the last season, including the Red Wedding again.
It's all a bit exciting.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Friday report
1. The rugs are gone
2. The ex is gone
3. He got his visa but only for a year
4. Which means he will be back, within a year
5. The weather has gone dark
6. I don't like that
7. My mum's dear old school friend's dog died. I wrote her a card to say how sorry I was (I knew how upset she was, because my mum told me. This is a woman without a partner and without children. Her dogs are her family. You know the type.) In the card I said I'd written a poem about her dog, but that I wasn't enclosing it because I didn't want to presume. But if she wanted it, now or in the future, I would send it to her. The day she got the card she rang and left a message saying she would love to have the poem. I sent the poem, it took me a few days because at the moment everything is taking me longer than I'd like. The day she got the poem, yesterday, again she rang and left a message on my phone. She was sobbing, saying how much it meant to her, how beautiful it was, that even though she was crying, the poem helped. And that she loved it, and loved me for writing it. This filled my heart.
8. I have been sick for months now but am starting to feel better. Coughing up less gunk, coughing less generally. Feeling less sinus'y. But headaches still. Chest x-ray clear. Nose swab for whooping cough clear. (Fuck, just on that, the doctor measured my index finger length against the probey stick, then shoved it up my nose to that length. It was horrible.) Also sputum sample, tested for parasites: clear. (A friend of mine had a gut parasite, he's the airline dude who gave me his flying benefits. Has been to Hong Kong a lot, thinks he got it there. But he was using tap water to brush teeth and rinse. We didn't.) So next is blood tests. I'll do those next week. Also am seeing naturopath again next week, to do more work with healthful living, ie maybe a liver cleanse thing. My liver has never been cleansed/detoxed; I'm sure it needs it. I've been avoiding alcohol, and am feeling good about that. Sleeping really well. Waking up feeling good especially when I remember I didn't have X glasses of wine the night before.
9. Am going to P's school musical production tomorrow night with my Mum. P will be there as well, not sitting with us, but with a friend. Looking forward to that.
10. Need to get back to the walking, plus Alex has given me some exercise tips for strength building. Will start on those as well. Did I mention my bone density test? Spine = fine; hip not so. Haven't been back to doctor about that yet.
11. While on health issues, my daughter has got Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. It's basically the heart's electrics oversupplying and she can get palpitations. There are three options: do nothing (it's not dangerous); go on medication for the rest of her life; have a procedure called a catheter ablation. We are seeing doctors at the moment and looking into the ablation. There are risks. This scares me shitless. But one doctor said that they could get worse, and she could have episodes that go for days, and if she is travelling overseas like all good Aussie-backpacker-younguns, and is somewhere remote or somewhere with hospitals you would avoid, it could be problematic. He also said with pregnancy, it could be another strain on the body. I went back to see him yesterday to clarify a couple of things and talk to him about getting a second opinion. So we will do that.
12. Nothing has happened with the MS.
13. I have gone back to the first one and am radically revising it, just playing around with it to see what it would look like with major changes. It's a bit exciting and scary cause I really liked it as it was. But it needs a contract. Also it's years since I wrote it and came up with the story/structure. My question to myself was: How would I write this story now, with the development I've had since I wrote it. It's an interesting question.
14. Then I have a Plan A and a Plan B depending what happens with the current MS (let's call is SUGAR). If it gets a contract, I go to Plan A, which is writing a new book which is 'in the style of' the first two MSS. If SUGAR gets shelved, then I go to Plan B which is one of two project ideas, that are different. Different in voice, in focus and in aperture of the lens. One I have about 30,00 words of what will be 49,000 words (this is the one I described earlier as Helen Garner's The Spare Room meets Bladerunner, which is a very poor description and got Alex a bit excited.) The other one is something completely new, which I've done nothing on other than collect news clippings. Let's call this one GOD. Then there's another project idea which could fit into Plan B, called BIG, but unlike GOD it would be very long and very complex. GOD is pretty simple, the idea of it in my head. Sorry. This is boring but it's helping me process it all.
15. TGIF
16. On Monday, my work partner and I are teaching a group of Year 12 girls, and the topic is sexual assault. With this school we were running sessions on pornography at Years 11 and 12 (as well as another session at each year level, Year 11s on contraception - yes, we do do contra earlier, then we recap) and Year 12 the other session is all things pregnancy. We realised two sessions on porn wasn't necessary so have replaced the Year 12 porn session with a new program on sexual assault. It will be interesting to say the least, but luckily we recently did some training, so are more skilled and confident to discuss, especially around things like disclosure, and the language to use. And activities. I'm looking forward to it.
17. I submitted an essay to Overland journal and they declined it saying it wasn't polemic enough. Interesting.
18. The dog needs a bath and I need to cut out the matted hair underneath.
19. Yesterday I got a text from Sarah Toa about a tiger snake that had taken up residence in her bush hut. And also that she is up there at her bush block to kill a Queen bee (she has started bee-keeping.) So she is up there, sleeping in her car, because of this snake. Man I love that woman. When I was with her, and we were out of Albany, looking around, going to beaches and caves, we walked up a river and the track was pretty bushy and grown over. At one stage there wasn't much of a track at all. When we walked, Sarah was stepping heavily. I am not such a city-slicker that I don't know what that means. So I was fucking stomping, very uncool. She was much more considered about it. Then she told me she'd been up there with a friend, and as they'd walked they'd scared a dugite which had rushed up the branch of a shrub to get away from them and then dropped out of the plant and fallen back onto the path. Just imagining this makes me feel strange. I'm ok with snakes if they're not going to bite me and aren't poisonous. I've held snakes, they don't freak me out I think they're wonderful. (Spiders are my freak out, but only big ones. I can hold Daddy Longlegs and move them outside). Anyway. I only recently found out dugites are snakes. For me, they were always an '80s band. But at least I knew it before we were on that path and I didn't say to Sarah: What's a dugite?
20. Am finishing reading a book called A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, by an Irish writer Eimear McBride. This book took 6 months to write, and 9 years to get published (I love the way these things can become part of a marketing plan.) Part of the reason it was considered unpublishable, or unsaleable, was the voice. It is a Joycean stream of consciousness and pretty hard to read. Hard to sustain over a long period. The book itself is not that long, I'd say middling. And the narrator is a young child in the beginning, and as she grows up, so does the voice a little. It's very disjointed, you are inside her head, and inside her head is not a great place to be because the other thing is the content is pretty confronting. Lots of pain and sadness in her life, some might say the 'typical Irish family story.' Here's a sample of the writing, the opening page:
For you. You'll soon. You'll give her name. In the stitches of her skin she'll wear your say. Mammy me? Yes you. Bounce the bed, I'd say. I'd say that's what you did. Then lay you down. They cut you round. Wait and hour and day.
Walking up corridors up the stairs. Are you alright? Will you sit, he says. No. I want she says. I want to see my son. Smell from dettol through her skin. Mops diamond floor tiles all as strong. All the burn your eyes out if you had some. Her heart going pat. Going dum dum dum. Don't mind me she's going to your room. See the. Jesus. What have they done? Jesus. Bile for. Tidals burn. Ssssh. All over. Mother. She cries. Oh no. Oh no no no.
This is the voice of the very young protagonist, whose name we don't find out. There's her mother, and the 'you' she mentions is her older brother.
Here is some text from later in the book, where she is about 19 or 20:
I pace chew. Jesus. Does he know a thing? You did always. Yes you. Always had. Your hand your foot a bit. No problems please her and nothing new. Hear Ahhh. Hear open wide. Hear squeeze my hand. No. Harder than that. Now the hardest you can. Both at once. Now right then left. Don't wig I say to myself. You'll soon know full well. Wipe the kitchen over. This j-cloth. This scouring pad.
Above I hear her turning. Hit her headboard with her prayers. Why don't you shut up? No now. You're here to care I say. I say so don't complain. You're clean here. You're calm and kind. I hear. Her shuffle. Her move. Across the floor. Are you down there? she shouts. Did you get the door? Yes. Did the doctor come in he? Yes he's with now. Put that kettle on. I'm coming down now to see him. He's. I'll talk to him when he's done. Yes Mammy. Don't. He'll not I'd say be in there long.
What I want to know is how she wrote this? Did she write in more standard prose and then move everything, cut things, put in full stops, create this effect OR did she write it like this, first time? Either way, it's pretty amazing, but it does feel a bit tricksy and it is definitely a one-time-only kind of deal. This book is on the prestigious UK Bailey's Prize longlist (formerly known as the Orange Prize) and has been on other lists and won prizes. I'm not sure that I think it should win. I don't think it will.
Anyway, that's it for me. Over and out, have a good weekend.
2. The ex is gone
3. He got his visa but only for a year
4. Which means he will be back, within a year
5. The weather has gone dark
6. I don't like that
7. My mum's dear old school friend's dog died. I wrote her a card to say how sorry I was (I knew how upset she was, because my mum told me. This is a woman without a partner and without children. Her dogs are her family. You know the type.) In the card I said I'd written a poem about her dog, but that I wasn't enclosing it because I didn't want to presume. But if she wanted it, now or in the future, I would send it to her. The day she got the card she rang and left a message saying she would love to have the poem. I sent the poem, it took me a few days because at the moment everything is taking me longer than I'd like. The day she got the poem, yesterday, again she rang and left a message on my phone. She was sobbing, saying how much it meant to her, how beautiful it was, that even though she was crying, the poem helped. And that she loved it, and loved me for writing it. This filled my heart.
8. I have been sick for months now but am starting to feel better. Coughing up less gunk, coughing less generally. Feeling less sinus'y. But headaches still. Chest x-ray clear. Nose swab for whooping cough clear. (Fuck, just on that, the doctor measured my index finger length against the probey stick, then shoved it up my nose to that length. It was horrible.) Also sputum sample, tested for parasites: clear. (A friend of mine had a gut parasite, he's the airline dude who gave me his flying benefits. Has been to Hong Kong a lot, thinks he got it there. But he was using tap water to brush teeth and rinse. We didn't.) So next is blood tests. I'll do those next week. Also am seeing naturopath again next week, to do more work with healthful living, ie maybe a liver cleanse thing. My liver has never been cleansed/detoxed; I'm sure it needs it. I've been avoiding alcohol, and am feeling good about that. Sleeping really well. Waking up feeling good especially when I remember I didn't have X glasses of wine the night before.
9. Am going to P's school musical production tomorrow night with my Mum. P will be there as well, not sitting with us, but with a friend. Looking forward to that.
10. Need to get back to the walking, plus Alex has given me some exercise tips for strength building. Will start on those as well. Did I mention my bone density test? Spine = fine; hip not so. Haven't been back to doctor about that yet.
11. While on health issues, my daughter has got Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. It's basically the heart's electrics oversupplying and she can get palpitations. There are three options: do nothing (it's not dangerous); go on medication for the rest of her life; have a procedure called a catheter ablation. We are seeing doctors at the moment and looking into the ablation. There are risks. This scares me shitless. But one doctor said that they could get worse, and she could have episodes that go for days, and if she is travelling overseas like all good Aussie-backpacker-younguns, and is somewhere remote or somewhere with hospitals you would avoid, it could be problematic. He also said with pregnancy, it could be another strain on the body. I went back to see him yesterday to clarify a couple of things and talk to him about getting a second opinion. So we will do that.
12. Nothing has happened with the MS.
13. I have gone back to the first one and am radically revising it, just playing around with it to see what it would look like with major changes. It's a bit exciting and scary cause I really liked it as it was. But it needs a contract. Also it's years since I wrote it and came up with the story/structure. My question to myself was: How would I write this story now, with the development I've had since I wrote it. It's an interesting question.
14. Then I have a Plan A and a Plan B depending what happens with the current MS (let's call is SUGAR). If it gets a contract, I go to Plan A, which is writing a new book which is 'in the style of' the first two MSS. If SUGAR gets shelved, then I go to Plan B which is one of two project ideas, that are different. Different in voice, in focus and in aperture of the lens. One I have about 30,00 words of what will be 49,000 words (this is the one I described earlier as Helen Garner's The Spare Room meets Bladerunner, which is a very poor description and got Alex a bit excited.) The other one is something completely new, which I've done nothing on other than collect news clippings. Let's call this one GOD. Then there's another project idea which could fit into Plan B, called BIG, but unlike GOD it would be very long and very complex. GOD is pretty simple, the idea of it in my head. Sorry. This is boring but it's helping me process it all.
15. TGIF
16. On Monday, my work partner and I are teaching a group of Year 12 girls, and the topic is sexual assault. With this school we were running sessions on pornography at Years 11 and 12 (as well as another session at each year level, Year 11s on contraception - yes, we do do contra earlier, then we recap) and Year 12 the other session is all things pregnancy. We realised two sessions on porn wasn't necessary so have replaced the Year 12 porn session with a new program on sexual assault. It will be interesting to say the least, but luckily we recently did some training, so are more skilled and confident to discuss, especially around things like disclosure, and the language to use. And activities. I'm looking forward to it.
17. I submitted an essay to Overland journal and they declined it saying it wasn't polemic enough. Interesting.
18. The dog needs a bath and I need to cut out the matted hair underneath.
19. Yesterday I got a text from Sarah Toa about a tiger snake that had taken up residence in her bush hut. And also that she is up there at her bush block to kill a Queen bee (she has started bee-keeping.) So she is up there, sleeping in her car, because of this snake. Man I love that woman. When I was with her, and we were out of Albany, looking around, going to beaches and caves, we walked up a river and the track was pretty bushy and grown over. At one stage there wasn't much of a track at all. When we walked, Sarah was stepping heavily. I am not such a city-slicker that I don't know what that means. So I was fucking stomping, very uncool. She was much more considered about it. Then she told me she'd been up there with a friend, and as they'd walked they'd scared a dugite which had rushed up the branch of a shrub to get away from them and then dropped out of the plant and fallen back onto the path. Just imagining this makes me feel strange. I'm ok with snakes if they're not going to bite me and aren't poisonous. I've held snakes, they don't freak me out I think they're wonderful. (Spiders are my freak out, but only big ones. I can hold Daddy Longlegs and move them outside). Anyway. I only recently found out dugites are snakes. For me, they were always an '80s band. But at least I knew it before we were on that path and I didn't say to Sarah: What's a dugite?
20. Am finishing reading a book called A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, by an Irish writer Eimear McBride. This book took 6 months to write, and 9 years to get published (I love the way these things can become part of a marketing plan.) Part of the reason it was considered unpublishable, or unsaleable, was the voice. It is a Joycean stream of consciousness and pretty hard to read. Hard to sustain over a long period. The book itself is not that long, I'd say middling. And the narrator is a young child in the beginning, and as she grows up, so does the voice a little. It's very disjointed, you are inside her head, and inside her head is not a great place to be because the other thing is the content is pretty confronting. Lots of pain and sadness in her life, some might say the 'typical Irish family story.' Here's a sample of the writing, the opening page:
For you. You'll soon. You'll give her name. In the stitches of her skin she'll wear your say. Mammy me? Yes you. Bounce the bed, I'd say. I'd say that's what you did. Then lay you down. They cut you round. Wait and hour and day.
Walking up corridors up the stairs. Are you alright? Will you sit, he says. No. I want she says. I want to see my son. Smell from dettol through her skin. Mops diamond floor tiles all as strong. All the burn your eyes out if you had some. Her heart going pat. Going dum dum dum. Don't mind me she's going to your room. See the. Jesus. What have they done? Jesus. Bile for. Tidals burn. Ssssh. All over. Mother. She cries. Oh no. Oh no no no.
This is the voice of the very young protagonist, whose name we don't find out. There's her mother, and the 'you' she mentions is her older brother.
Here is some text from later in the book, where she is about 19 or 20:
I pace chew. Jesus. Does he know a thing? You did always. Yes you. Always had. Your hand your foot a bit. No problems please her and nothing new. Hear Ahhh. Hear open wide. Hear squeeze my hand. No. Harder than that. Now the hardest you can. Both at once. Now right then left. Don't wig I say to myself. You'll soon know full well. Wipe the kitchen over. This j-cloth. This scouring pad.
Above I hear her turning. Hit her headboard with her prayers. Why don't you shut up? No now. You're here to care I say. I say so don't complain. You're clean here. You're calm and kind. I hear. Her shuffle. Her move. Across the floor. Are you down there? she shouts. Did you get the door? Yes. Did the doctor come in he? Yes he's with now. Put that kettle on. I'm coming down now to see him. He's. I'll talk to him when he's done. Yes Mammy. Don't. He'll not I'd say be in there long.
What I want to know is how she wrote this? Did she write in more standard prose and then move everything, cut things, put in full stops, create this effect OR did she write it like this, first time? Either way, it's pretty amazing, but it does feel a bit tricksy and it is definitely a one-time-only kind of deal. This book is on the prestigious UK Bailey's Prize longlist (formerly known as the Orange Prize) and has been on other lists and won prizes. I'm not sure that I think it should win. I don't think it will.
Anyway, that's it for me. Over and out, have a good weekend.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Nothing to report really
Other than this:
ABBOTT HAS FOUND THE PLANE EVERYTHING IS OK
And this. What do people think about the recent cyclist dooring incident in Melbourne, that is people who know about it and people who give an actual fuck?
To me there's something about this that seems odd.
Check the video and see if you notice anything:
ABBOTT HAS FOUND THE PLANE EVERYTHING IS OK
And this. What do people think about the recent cyclist dooring incident in Melbourne, that is people who know about it and people who give an actual fuck?
To me there's something about this that seems odd.
Check the video and see if you notice anything:
Friday, March 14, 2014
Friday, phew
So my week has been very messy. Rugs, annoying exes and their even more annoying (is it even possible?) partners. Still battling my sinusitis, there is work going on in our street (someone is building a swimming pool. SO MANY TRUCKS, SO MUCH NOISE). Plus the Grand Prix has started with its helicopters and fly overs. PLUS I can't write, am in a holding pattern. Have pottered with some short stuff, but really, it's no go.
Today I plan to go and hide out at my mother's place and read. It's the only way I can get some peace today. I had written more paragraphs about this but have deleted. It was just one big boring whinge. So I'll keep this short but I did want to mention the Budget Rent a Car scam they tried on me at Perth Airport. I returned the car, but it's a long way where you park it to where you hand over the keys. So they don't go and check it, and sign off on the condition report. This works in their favour. When I picked the car up in Perth, I saw a dent that the guy hadn't put on the outgoing CR. I pointed it out and he circled that area on the form. Two nights after I'm back in Melbourne I get an intimidating and rude text message about me filling out an accident report immediately otherwise I'd be charged for the full amount of repairs.
WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT ACCIDENT?
So I email the address in the text:
On their scanned and attached 'quality control document' they have circled the dent as being to the right of the number plate, not the left. This was inconsistent and I pointed that out. I also googled and very quickly had three links about scams like this one. I replied with three emails over the period of the next day or so.
Dear
Ms Simpson
Dear Melba May,
According to our records, you recently rented a vehicle with Budget.
As part of our ongoing commitment to customer service, we would greatly value your feedback on your experience. This quick survey should take no longer than 2 minutes of your time.
To complete, please click on the following link:
Budget Customer Feedback
If you have problems accessing our survey please copy and paste the link located at the bottom of this email into your browser.
HOTMAIL USERS: Please copy and paste the URL into a new browser window.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Budget Customer Service
Today I plan to go and hide out at my mother's place and read. It's the only way I can get some peace today. I had written more paragraphs about this but have deleted. It was just one big boring whinge. So I'll keep this short but I did want to mention the Budget Rent a Car scam they tried on me at Perth Airport. I returned the car, but it's a long way where you park it to where you hand over the keys. So they don't go and check it, and sign off on the condition report. This works in their favour. When I picked the car up in Perth, I saw a dent that the guy hadn't put on the outgoing CR. I pointed it out and he circled that area on the form. Two nights after I'm back in Melbourne I get an intimidating and rude text message about me filling out an accident report immediately otherwise I'd be charged for the full amount of repairs.
WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT ACCIDENT?
So I email the address in the text:
Dear Sir/Madam,
There was no incident or accident while the car
was in my possession. You give no details as to what the damage purportedly is.
I have all my paperwork including the ‘quality control document’ given to me at
the time of pick up. It details two areas of pre-existing damage.
Please advice more fully what this issue is
about.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Melba.
This is the reply:
Ms Melba
PLEASE READ THE BELOW CAREFULLY.
We refer to your query & empathise if you were not aware of this new
damage however Section 8 of the Terms & Conditions (t&c) states the
renter is liable for all new damage. All relevant evidence is attached.
The existing damage you mentioned is on the driver rear door & the drivers
rear bumper.
It is not necessary for you to complete the Accident Report Form as being
unaware of this occurring, there is nothing you can complete. Your email is statement enough, thankyou.
Information:
- Check-out qcd is completed by Budget staff when the vehicle is parked for the booking.
- Customer receives a copy to check against the vehicle themselves & must advise us promptly if there is any differences.
- Receiving the check-out qcd shows that vehicle checks are done by Budget & if a check-out is done, then its reasonable to expect that a check-in will be done as well.
- All customers know if check-in was done with them or if they just returned the keys before leaving.
- Budget does the check-in asap however exact time depends on many factors.
- Locations are predominantly for collections & returned vehicles are dealt with after bookings.
- Staff receive the check-in qcd & compare it with the check-out qcd.
- If there is new damage, the rental Excess (or lesser estimate) is charged for each & Budget does have desk signs to highlight this for customers.
- Check-out & check-in may not be done immediately or with the customer at some locations, due to the property owners restrictions* &/or staff availability#.
- Customers choose their collection & return locations & can change a return to be at an open Budget office if they prefer the check-in is done while they are present.
- The rental period in t&c ends on the day the vehicle returns to Budget.
- There is no time stipulated due to */# which may cause a check-in delay.
- Due date & time on the rental agreement document are only a guide & for Budget overdue vehicle reports.
- All charges are debited
immediately (per 11.1 & 11.5) & auditing & any adjustments
(per 11.2) are done as soon as possible & advised to the customer
wherever possible.
I hope the above answers your questions however if there is anything else
you require, please contact me at any time.
Thankyou for your business, we do appreciate it.
So I check the attached 'evidence' and see that their copy of the form (I suppose the 'original') doesn't have the circled dent. How can this be? My copy is a carbon copy, so how did they manage that?
The first one sent at 10.23pm, Tues 3 March (I'd received their text message that evening):
Dear Ms Simpson
PLEASE READ BELOW CAREFULLY.
I do understand the renter is liable for all new damage,
however in this instance there was no new damage. I am aware of previous
scams that Budget Rent a Car (and other car rental companies) have enacted,
particularly at Perth Airport. The internet gives several indications where
this has happened before. Here are three instances found in one minute google search:
This is testimony that your company has done this before.
Another thing is that your documentation does not even match
up.
1.
On the copy of the ‘quality control document’
that you have attached to your email, the indication for the dent is to the
right hand side of the number plate, but in the photograph, it is to the left.
How can this be correct?
My copy of the quality control document shows a circle in
the correctly corresponding place to the dent in the photo, which was
pre-existing and noted as such.
2. Your statement that the two pre-existing damages
are “on the driver rear door & the drivers rear
bumper” is also incorrect, as neither of these spots are marked
on the quality control document. How can this be?
All the information above is in my legal favour and shows
that your organisation has been derelict in its documentation.
I will not be paying any excess or extra charges (which
incidentally, you don’t detail either). If charges are made to my credit card,
I will instruct the bank to reverse them. There is no authority for you to make
charges, based on the erroneous documentation you call evidence.
Tomorrow I’ll be ringing people at Budget Head Office and
elsewhere to complain about this matter while I wait for your response.
Yours sincerely
MELBA.
Further
to our communications yesterday I wish to advice you that I’ve contacted my
credit card to dispute the extra amount of $300 your company has charged to my
account, and they will be mounting an investigation in the next week or so.
I
will provide them with all my documentation and testimony (including a
statutory declaration if necessary) to say that the damage you are trying to
charge me for on the car was pre-existing. I will also provide them with your
paperwork and highlight for them the instances where your photos and
documentation is contradictory and therefore suspect.
I
am requesting that you reverse the $300 charge to my credit card, as it is a
fraudulent charge especially considering this is something that has happened
several times before at Perth aiport.
I
will not be contacting you again about this matter, rather will be leaving it
to the credit card company’s representative.
Yours
sincerely
Melba.
The second one, sent 11.43pm that night after checking my credit card statement:
Dear Ms Simpson
I’ve just seen that a charge of $717.38 was made to my
credit card yesterday (3 April) before I was even contacted by your
office this evening, with the text message coming through saying I had until 17
March to provide an accident report.
Can you please explain why these charges were made before
even contacting me?
I will be taking this matter further tomorrow with my credit
card company, and will request a chargeback. I am extremely unhappy with this level
of customer service from your company. Please provide me with your manager’s
name, so I can follow up with him/her as well.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely
MELBA.
And then this one, sent 2.13pm the next day, Wed 5 March:
Dear Ms Simpson
Further to our communications yesterday I wish to advice you
that I’ve contacted my credit card to dispute the extra amount of $300 your
company has charged to my account, and they will be mounting an investigation
in the next week or so.
I will provide them with all my documentation and testimony
(including a statutory declaration if necessary) to say that the damage you are
trying to charge me for on the car was pre-existing. I will also provide them
with your paperwork and highlight for them the instances where your photos and
documentation is contradictory and therefore suspect.
I am requesting that you reverse the $300 charge to my
credit card, as it is a fraudulent charge especially considering this is
something that has happened several times before at Perth aiport.
I will not be contacting you again about this matter, rather
will be leaving it to the credit card company’s representative.
Yours sincerely
MELBA.
Then this, from her at 2.29pm that Wed:
Ms Melba,
I have seen the 3 emails you have sent
me but I just have not got to replying to any of them yet.
You’re of course within your rights to
have your bank investigate for you however we do not charge for pre-existing
damage as that would be a waste of everyone’s time.
I will of course double check the matter
as you have requested & please note that I am not the one who solely
handles damages. There are many steps to the process with hiring &
returning a vehicle & many staff involved at different points.
Thankyou
Then I got this, from her Wed 5/3, 5.38pm, in red:
MELBA,
Thankyou for giving us an opportunity to review this for you
& I’ve answered your 3 emails below,
section by section in red as per herewith, for easier reading.
In short, we are happy to refund you & Accounts will get the $300.00 +taxes ($341.55) removed from
your rental invoice in the next day or so.
Thankyou
Dear
Ms Simpson
PLEASE
READ BELOW CAREFULLY.
I
do understand the renter is liable for all new damage, however in this instance
there was no new damage. I am
aware of previous scams that Budget Rent a Car (and other car rental companies)
have enacted, particularly at Perth Airport. The internet gives several
indications where this has happened before. Here are three instances found in
one minute google search:
This
is testimony that your company has done this before.
Another
thing is that your documentation does not even match up.
1. On
the copy of the ‘quality control document’ that you have attached to your
email, the indication for the dent is to the right hand side of the number
plate, but in the photograph, it is to the left. How can this be correct?
My
copy of the quality control document shows a circle in the correctly corresponding place to the dent
in the photo, which was
pre-existing and noted as such.
2. Your
statement that the two pre-existing damages are “on the driver rear door & the drivers rear bumper” is
also incorrect, as neither of
these spots are marked on the quality control document. How can this be?
All
the information above is in my legal favour and shows that your organisation
has been derelict in its documentation.
I
will not be paying any excess or extra charges (which incidentally, you don’t
detail either). If charges are made to my credit card, I will instruct the bank
to reverse them. There is no authority for you to make charges, based on the
erroneous documentation you call evidence.
Tomorrow
I’ll be ringing people at Budget Head Office and elsewhere to complain about
this matter while I wait for your response.
Yours
sincerely
MELBA.
There is new damage on the vehicle & in this instance,
the person that has completed the check/in document, has noted it on the
incorrect side of the number plate. Of
course that is our error & we are therefore happy to
refund you. I would have done
this yesterday except I simply missed that error myself.
With regard to the links, I have not read them. The internet is full of half-stories & many customers just don’t bother to read their Terms & Conditions so when they do get charged for something, quite legitimately, they go online without checking it out properly, or they tell only the part they want everyone to hear.
With regard to the links, I have not read them. The internet is full of half-stories & many customers just don’t bother to read their Terms & Conditions so when they do get charged for something, quite legitimately, they go online without checking it out properly, or they tell only the part they want everyone to hear.
If there is ever an anomaly with a Budget rental charge – as
there is here - we will always err on the customers side as we do value their
business & we want to encourage them that if we make a mistake, we will
accept that without reservation, once review has taken place & the
situation been made clear. We are a
business though & in order to provide the competitive rates we have that
inevitably are part of the reason many customers choose us, we must ensure our
costs are covered where possible.
I myself saw the 2 pre-existing damages on the door & the
rear bumper, on the vehicle & in carbon on the copy of the check-out
document that remains with us. Nevertheless, without seeing your actual copy, I
cannot really talk further about this point.
I do hope you have allowed us at least 24hrs to reply to you
before involving another office. They have nothing to do with WA as a Licensee
& it just involves a lot of people in a query that can be handled easily
here by one person, which is what has happened today.
Dear
Ms Simpson
I’ve
just seen that a charge of $717.38 was made to my credit card yesterday (3
April) before I was even contacted
by your office this evening, with the text message coming through saying I had
until 17 March to provide an accident report.
Can
you please explain why these charges were made before even contacting me?
I
will be taking this matter further tomorrow with my credit card company, and
will request a chargeback. I am extremely unhappy with this level of customer
service from your company. Please provide me with your manager’s name, so I can
follow up with him/her as well.
Thank
you.
Yours
sincerely
MELBA.
The $717.38 is the rental & damage charges in full &
of course your refund will be the damage Excess only
which will be done in the next day or so & you will see this in your
statement in about 7days (even if it leaves us tomorrow). If there is any
delay, speak to your bank first please as they often hold your funds to earn
interest of them. Thankyou
Dear
Ms Simpson
Further
to our communications yesterday I wish to advice you that I’ve contacted my
credit card to dispute the extra amount of $300 your company has charged to my
account, and they will be mounting an investigation in the next week or so.
I
will provide them with all my documentation and testimony (including a
statutory declaration if necessary) to say that the damage you are trying to
charge me for on the car was pre-existing. I will also provide them with your
paperwork and highlight for them the instances where your photos and
documentation is contradictory and therefore suspect.
I
am requesting that you reverse the $300 charge to my credit card, as it is a
fraudulent charge especially considering this is something that has happened
several times before at Perth aiport.
I
will not be contacting you again about this matter, rather will be leaving it
to the credit card company’s representative.
Yours
sincerely
MELBA.
There is no need to concern your bank Ms Melba. I have
reviewed & I am happy to refund based on our error of marking the damage in
the incorrect place. The photos do show the new damage on the day of return
& that damage is not on your check-out condition report, but we do accept
that we have a responsibility to mark damages correctly & we will therefore
wear whatever consequences occur due to our failure with this.
So don't you love the swipe she takes at the bank? The way she backpedals, saying that no one else needs to be involved now that the money has been refunded?
Who the fuck lives like this?
Anyway, do not mess with The Melba, especially not at the moment. I am so close to snapping about a few things. Just saying.
PS And then the next day, they send me this:
According to our records, you recently rented a vehicle with Budget.
As part of our ongoing commitment to customer service, we would greatly value your feedback on your experience. This quick survey should take no longer than 2 minutes of your time.
To complete, please click on the following link:
Budget Customer Feedback
If you have problems accessing our survey please copy and paste the link located at the bottom of this email into your browser.
HOTMAIL USERS: Please copy and paste the URL into a new browser window.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Budget Customer Service
Survey link:
http://www.informinsights.com/BudgetAU/Participate.aspx?EID=fcae875f-2832-455a-b2a2-e22a17b6d727
PLEASE NOTE:
You have to paste the entire link. If the link is on more than one line, you
have to reform it into one complete line when you paste into your browser.http://www.informinsights.com/BudgetAU/Participate.aspx?EID=fcae875f-2832-455a-b2a2-e22a17b6d727
Hahahaha.
The money has been returned to my account too.
So, should I bother taking this further? I want people to know about it so they don't get caught. I also want to expose the FUCKERS to their senior management. But I kind of can't be fagged.
What do you reckon?
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