Silver Service

Ever since I've had to frequently catch cabs home from work after hours, I have introduced a Silver Service only policy. I hopped into a few cabs today and (2 Combined and one SS). My experience in each, along with a charming SS driver reminded me why I generally only SS it:

Non SS

• grotty cab (which often smells funny), with vinyl seats for easy cleaning after a protein spill on a Sat nite;
• drivers who (i) insist on listening to talk back (during the day) or Richard Mercer's Love Song Dedications (at nite); (ii) insist on driving with both front windows open in the middle of winter; and (iii) get shitty with you when you ask them to either change the radio station or close the windows;
• drivers often start driving off before you are properly in or out of the cab and have closed the door (happened today);
• drivers who have issues with English (speaking it, understanding it, or listening to it on the radio).

SS

• clean, unoffensive smelling cabs (and drivers);
• comfy seats;
• drivers more than happy to (i) change radio station and (ii) close windows / change air con;
• wont drive off until you're completely in or out of the cab - the driver I had tonite was nice enough to let me know he was going to wait till I got into my car before he drove off;
• willing to have an intelligent, and usually pretty interesting conversation with you, which makes the ride home a lot more enjoyable.

I learnt that you should never make assumptions about your cabbie - I was chatting with my driver tonite and he had one hell of a bohemian and interesting life to date:

• has lived in Dubai, Canada, Sydney, Lebanon, Paris;
• retiring in 4 months (jealous), to his farm house in France, near Nice (super jealous);
• two ex wives (yet still managed to hang onto the farm house - told him that was an impressive accomplishment);
• has worked as a freelance photographer, insurance salesman, and muso (plays piano, violin and something else which I cant remember).

It got me thinking, maybe there is something to be said about being cabbie ... I dont know many lawyers who own property in France ...

The Count of Monte Cristo in Malta

I watched the Count of Monte Cristo recently, and while I was watching it, I had a sneaky suspicion that parts of it had been filmed in Malta. Not only did I think it that certain scenes were filmed in Malta, I thought I could actually pinpoint some of the locations.

The Maltese coast, for example, is basically all limestone and only certain sort of plants can actually survive on it, so the coast has this particular texture and colour when you look at it from a distance. And its often scattered with mini-fortresses and castle like buildings, which were built as a result of various attempts of invasions over the ages. There are also a couple of really pretty lagoons where the water is incredibly blue (the particular place I am thinking of is called the Blue Lagoon, funnily enough), as well as some really distinctly shaped rock formations (one of which is called "The Window" - needs no explanation) ... anyway, some of the shots in the film really reminded me of these places. (I'll try put some of our Malta holiday snaps up on my Flickr over the next week or so.)

So I turned to trusty Google to see whether I was actually right and lo and behold...I was : )

This is the best site I found about the Count.

As well as the Count, some of the more "big" movies to make Malta's filmography include:

Popeye (1980);
Cutthroat Island (1995);
Gladiator (2000);
U-571 (2000);
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003);
Troy (2004) - which I did watch and didn't recognise any of the locations...

which I think is pretty impressive for a country that has a total area of 316 sq km, and under 200km of coast line (ie tiny). Apparently, "Malta makes more films per head than LA" ... I actually cant believe I haven't done one of those film tours when I've visited - maybe next time.

Finally out and about... to Naniwa-Tei

I've been getting v busy at the office, and have not been able to blog, let alone come up with anything *ahem* sharp and witty ... work doesn't provide the most interesting material to write about ... even if it did, I try to impose a "no writing about work" policy - which then leaves me nothing to share!

However, the tide is turning and yesterday, I got up to something fun. Mel and I went and had Japanese at Naniwa-Tei, in Circular Quay, in the lane, just next to Herringbone. The restaurant itself it kitted out pretty sparsely, and is not flash looking, but apparently, by Foodie Mel's standards, the food was really good, compared to other Japanese she's had. As my only interaction with Japanese has been limited to Wagamama's (which probably doesn't count as real Japanese) and Masuyas (more often than not, after hours and take away), I'm not really in any position to comment on how the food actually "rates". However, I can say I really enjoyed my meal (a Japanese salmon risotto with egg - it reminded me of this soup/rice dish my mum makes), although I think our second pot of green tea smelled a bit like brussel sprouts, which was not good. The place was also filled with Japanese diners, which was also a good sign.

I spent most of the evening eyeing off everyone else's food : ) ... it ALL looked so good! I was also in awe of how much those tiny Japanese girls eat! There were a number of them having the "all you can eat" deal and seriously pigging out ... one couple had been eating for so long that the gas cylinder that was keeping their hot pot thing going ran out (ok, so maybe that wasn't entirely their fault, but it was very funny!).

Unfortunately neither of us had our cameras with us (I know!!), so there are no pics of the food. I did have my camera phone and took a pic of our dessert, which was a pancake thing filled with red bean and was in the shape of a fish. V cute. But I am having IT problems and cant se

My desk chair

Mel just blogged about a chair. I just saw her on msn and told expressed my disbelief that she blogged about a desk chair.

Then I found out she has desk chair envy because I sit in one of these all day (see below - well mine has a different back, and there aren't as many stainless steel components in mine, otherwise it looks the same).

So I decided my desk chair deserved a blog too.



She also blogged epsom salts. I'm leaving it at the chair.