Good for the Trees

Our broadband connection is operational again, and I am a much happier dude. We're trying our best not to blow the limit all over again, but there's just so much wonderful stuff out there, and some of it is even legal! Online gaming is actually possible as well, although just every gamer I meet should be beaten about the face with a running lawnmower.

Tropical Cyclone Beni is in the process of ploughing into the Queensland coast, triggering several days of steady rain and cool temperatures here in Brisbane. It's very pleasant, not like the dribbly, apologetic London rain at all. It lances down purposefully, swooshing in waves over the house, leaving shrubs dancing and drainpipes gurgling. Watching the downpour from our back porch is great fun, particularly if there's a fat woman in a floral dress struggling up the hill, sheltering under an umbrella the size of a dinner plate.

My spiral into hellish debt may also be at an end - I now possess my very own Australian Business Number, which allows me to earn money in this country without being taxed at a bum-tearingly high rate. My ABN is 5, which leads me to believe the whole program is a little underused.

The number of devices plugged into my little laptop has grown frighteningly large, leaving it looking a bit like that Annabel Chong from those nature videos my flatmate keeps downloading. A laser printer, a webcam, a scanner, a digital camera, an external Firewire hard drive and now 21 inches of Sony viewing goodness - it's all a bit sordid and nasty. Cool though.