As Far As You Know

I am now on the western coast of Australia, on the Indian Ocean. My hotel is in the city center. It's a smallish city--especially compared to Melbourne and Sydney, with just a few skyscrapers and an extensive outdoor pedestrian mall (like the one I remember in Adelaide).

Paul McCartney called this tune from the landmark Pet Sounds album the most beautiful song ever written. It's Brian Wilson in top form with "God Only Knows."

I watched the first four hours of Season 6 of 24 in the last day and a half. Although the show is preposterous in many ways, it's damned entertaining, too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm addicted--so much so that I shelled out $45 for a Season Pass in the iTunes Music Store so I won't miss an episode while globe-trotting.

I rearranged my Egypt plans, visiting a travel agent here in Perth and booking a tour that will cover Cairo and the sights around Luxor and Aswan for the week I will be in the country. This way all of my hotel, transport, and sight-seeing will be arranged for me. I'm usually skeptical of these set-ups, but I concluded this approach will be a lot easier, especially after working my way through India on my own itinerary.

"I like to dream . . . " Thus begins "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf.

I got my hair cut this afternoon, so it will be maintenance free for the rest of the trip. The barber was a friendly guy who explained to me that western Australia is in boom times right now, largely because of the Chinese demand for raw materials. It's a huge mining area around here and the locals are benefitting from the construction boom in the Middle Kingdom.

I called the airport shuttle service to arrange my trip back to the airport tomorrow morning for my flight to Singapore. It's an 8:15 departure, so conventional wisdom would have me at the airport (about 20 minutes away from the city center) a bit after 6 a.m. Unfortunately, the 5 a.m. shuttle doesn't go to the international terminal, so I've been asked to take the 4 a.m. trip--UGH! The woman on the phone was unhelpful; when I asked how far apart the domestic and international terminals were (thinking I could sleep a little later and just walk to the other terminal) she said she had never been to the airport. This is someone whose job it is to arrange airport transportation! So I've got my bags all packed already and two alarms set for 3:40 a.m.

The Andy Roddick/Marat Safin third round match in the Aussie Open was great tennis. Roddick prevailed in four sets in front of coach Jimmy Connors who returned to Australia for the first time in thirty years.

Connors was the 1974 champ in Melbourne but in the late 1970s and early 1980s the Aussie Open was considered lacking in prestige and few of the top male players made the trip Down Under to contest it. A quick look at the honor roll of champions reflects that: Mark Edmonson, Brian Teacher, and Johan Kriek--hardly household names for the general public--all won titles in that era. Even clay court king Guillermo Vilas was able to nab two crowns on the grass at Kooyong. The tide turned a bit in the mid-1980s and certainly in 1988 when Tennis Australia moved the event to the new Flinders Park (now Melbourne Park) venue and hard courts.