I’ve been very ill recently, and I have no idea what could have caused it, nor do I know what the sickness actually was. However, I do respect the comfort of my readers (as hard as that may be to believe), so therefore will not go on and describe the last 48 hours in detail, even though it is tempting.

Instead, I’m going to whinge about Melbourne. Specifically the weather. April and May were by and large extremely warm. I seem to remember hearing that the average temperature throughout April was an all time record, sitting somewhere about 24 degrees, with two separate 30+’s in there somewhere. So I suppose that extremely warm autumn we experienced can be blamed for our lack of preparation for the onslaught of winter, which only really started in earnest this week, and bajesus it’s cold all of a sudden. The last couple of weeks have only peaked around 15 degrees, and Monday night’s low pushed down to the point where the grass was all frosted over in the morning. There has been a low lying fog descending on the city for the last few nights, which just increases the yuckiness of the situation, ensuring the overall outlook is just generally depressing.

However, the main reason I’m whinging isn’t because of the cold – it doesn’t take that much extra effort to rug up – but because of June still having been bloody dry. I think we had one, maybe two days of drizzle, but so far none of real rain, and this is the start of winter! This is also the year that meteorologists predicted was supposed to be the one that broke the Australian drought. So much for that – it’s just miserable, cold but still dry. Stupid weather.

Pete

A couple of really big milestones for this week.

Firstly, what you are reading right now – PETEblog – turned three years old on Friday. Although it sometimes feels a lot longer than that, the three years have really zipped by. Oh and for those wondering, the stats for the anniversary stood at 641 posts (up to sunset at 5:08…. le sigh) and 1073 comments. That’s a post every 1.71 days. That quite clearly shows that I’ve taken the foot off the pedal a bit in the last 18 months, but meh – I would like to think the quality of posts has risen.

Anyway the second anniversary, or cause for celebration is that tomorrow Samo celebrates the entry into the 3rd decade of his life. I bet he expects a big arsed present, and this is coming from someone who completely forgot my own 20th last week, and who found it neccessary to ring me up every few weeks or so to totally abuse the shit out of me last year, because I was ‘too far away’. Happy Birthday Sam, you bastard!

Pete

Make some science yourself! Click on the piccy and give up 15 minutes of your time!

Pete

Although I don’t mean to rub into the non-believers just how right I was, it’s interesting to see how easily some (weak of heart ) can lose faith so quickly.

For those I’ve baffled with that little outburst, I’m speaking of the Australian cricket team’s start to the Ashes tour, which resulted in 4 losses on the trot, to (in chronological order) England in a Twenty20 match, then Somerset in a tour match and Bangladesh then England in the Natwest Series.

Papers hit out at the team for being ‘too confident for too long’, bookies odds for Australia to reclaim the Ashes went plumetting, and Imran Khan, a former cricket great labelled Australia as ‘not as good as the West Indies of the 80s by a long way’. Now, a solitary week has past since the last loss to England on the 19th, and the media’s criticism towards the Aussie team has silenced.

The reason behind the onslaught stopping? Two wins. How pathetic that the most successful Australian team for decades can be brought to its knees by the media thanks to a dodgy week, all to be retracted after an equally unnoteworthy patch of form comes back.

At least I never gave up hope. If only I was a betting man……

Pete

Oh happy winter/summer solstice for you all! Today, the 21st of June marks the shortest day of the year for the southern hemisphere, and the longest for the northern. May our days start to get warmer, as (according to Pagan beliefs) the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the new sun, restarting the cycle of the seasons, and starting our push towards summer!

Pete

In my procrastinatory, pre-exam state today, I came across what could be described as Japan on a stick. So typical of the crazy, weird but strangely alluring things that the country is famous for. The item I stumbled over is a flash game in which you are a bicyclist, who, after selecting angle and strength, crashes into an innocent park goer, turning a casual ride in the park into a game of human bowling. See if you can figure it out too, there about half a dozen distinctly different people you can crash into for different effects, and special outcomes which I’ll leave you to figure out. Click here to try your hand.

Oh, and try to beat 2727.28 3079.64 metres. That’s an awfully long park.

Pete

I’ve been a bit down recently. Exams are a killer, and winter isn’t the greatest time of the year, but just this evening I remembered why June is the best month of the year (at least for this year):

Pete

It’s my 20th birthday today! Have some cake!

Pete

To follow on the theme of sports, let’s talk about soccer. I don’t think that’s ever had a mention on this blog. With good reason

So. Australia has once again shut up critics by showing that the national team is competent and serious about the world game. The Socceroos went down fighting to lose to Germany in the opening match of the Confederations Cup 4-3, after a half time score of 2-2. The only reason the Aussies lost to ze Germans was a difference in experience – the socceroos outplayed the germans for most of the match, but never led due to stupid, costly mistakes in defence.

Although this is a definite sign that the boys have a long way to go until they play the 5th placed South American side later this year (assuming they beat the Solomon Islands in a two match series in September) to ensure a spot in next year’s World Cup final, there are many positive signs that suggest the socceroos of late are a far cry from the teams that were so very close to the France 1998 and Japan/Korea 2002 finals of the World Cup. That said, the road to next years finals won’t be any easier than in previous years.

Australia, and the rest of the Oceania qualiying group has the most grueling qualification requirements of any FIFA confederation. For every other continent around the world, automatic qualification spots are handed out – Europe has 14 of them for 52 countries – but Oceania, a confederation with 12 teams within it has to fight for half a spot, or the chance of gaining entry after playing the 5th placed South American side in a home-and-away playoff series. This extra hurdle has meant Australia has not appeared in a World Cup Finals for over 30 years.

The last two attempts have been particularly tough to take. In 2001, after winning the Oceania group stage, Australia was forced to play Uruguay. On the Melbourne leg Australia won due to a penalty shot on goal 1-0, but during the away leg Uruguay ran away 3-0, in what I believe were questionable circumstances – or at the very least pretty shitty hosting. Qualification for the 1998 WC in France was even more painful, with Iran (why the middle east?) Australia’s final challenge for entry. The Iran leg of the playoff was first, which ended in an extremely well played, 1-1 draw. The return Australian leg saw the socceroos take form and absolutely dominate. The score was 2-0 at 75 minutes, when a fan invaded the pitch, climbed a goalpost and delayed the match for almost 10 minutes. This lapse in concentration, coupled with a desperate dig by the Iranians resulted in a 2-2-draw, with Iran winning the overall two match series due to higher away goals, and screwing Australia over once again.

These two results illustrate hows ludicrous it is that a world class tournament still uses playoffs to decide such important outcomes. Playoff series are supposed to be used to give high ranked losers a second chance, not form the only chance of qualification for a winner of a confederation, which is why this week’s announcement that Australia will be jumping ship and joining the Asian confederation next year is such good news. The move will most likely cause New Zealand to follow suit, which will mean the remaining ten countries will be forced to join one of the bigger confederations, removing the biggest current inequality in World Cup qualification. Perhaps the Oceanic confederation could become another group within Asia, playing group matches for eventual guaranteed entry to World Cups, Olympic Games, Confed Cups etc.

At least this way we might see a World Cup finals in the next twenty years….

Pete

Here’s that video I promised you: tear jerkingly patriotic as described earlier. Bloody Poms.

Pete