I understand you can have a bad day at the office, so when Singapore Airlines cabin crew have a bad flight, plenty of people are affected. On a recent flight, the dinner service was delayed to the poor organisation by the cabin crew in my section – no problems I thought.

As I was in the centre aisle, I was easily able to judge the time lapse between service within the port/starboard aisles; I can live with that. On my connecting flight before, the cabin crew brought out the wrong meal, naturally I never said anything and thought nothing of it, but a trend was emerging. The starboard aisle was served first, they had actually finished eating their meals when our meals in the port aisle arrived. So when my meal choice was temporarily unavailable, I thought nothing of it as it happens, they just quickly grab another meal from a cart in a different section, only takes a couple of minutes. However, when my meal request actually arrived, even the port aisle had finished eating and I had been sitting there patiently waiting – the only person eating in my whole section about to start my meal.

I had been working on my laptop computer prior to the meal service, I packed it up in preparation for the service and was sitting there waiting for them as I would be unable to move properly when the meal actually came to pack up and stow my computer – so it was pretty disruptive for me. The person in the seat next to me had finished her meal and started back working on her computer while I watched on still waiting. When the cart was finally wheeled down the port aisle; I requested a drink and I was acknowledged only to be forgotten for the person in the next row, that is when I asked again, it was like I was ignored – still no food, I just wanted a drink while waiting.

This sounds like a first world problem – it probably is; however, it is not what you expect from Singapore Airlines. So when my meal arrived, my glass of wine was empty, a request for another glass of wine is not unreasonable in the circumstances. Regardless, if I make a reasonable and polite request, don’t ignore me and certainly don’t roll your eyes at my request. I never complained once, not when you forgot my meal, my drink, my bread which I never received at all, my coffee and finally the desert.

However, you have to remember that I have paid good money for this service that is attached to this ticket; this is not a budget airline and you expect them to honour their advertising. It these days of strong competition, you would expect a full-cost carrier like Singapore Airlines to provide higher levels of service to justify their ticket cost – they are certainly not doing that. They are behaving like a budget airline and not a full cost carrier, I am now seriously considering changing carriers when flying in Asia, this is happening all too often with Singapore Airlines. I don\’t complain to staff, I change carriers and support their opposition.

In what turned out to be a huge surprise, Eli Zawadzki who was bitten by a shark near Pyramids Beach at Dawesville, just south of Mandurah in Western Australia headed off for surgery to remove a tooth embedded in his foot.

The retrieved tooth identified the culprit as a grey nurse shark when most thought a bull shark was to blame. This is the first recorded case of a grey nurse shark biting anyone in Western Australia. Hunted mercilessly in the 1950s due to its fearsome appearance, the grey nurse shark is now firmly entrenched in the critically endangered list. The grey nurse shark is known as a pretty docile creature despite its top of the food chain predator appearance, I certainly held no fear diving with them.

I have a lingering fear that opposition leader Bill Shorten is trying to sabotage the Chinese free trade agreement for political purposes. I fear Bill Shorten would be willing to plunge the country into recession (if it is not already) to achieve its goals of a political return to power after just one term in opposition. Bill Shorten, through the Labor/Greens alignment has already blocked the government’s budget savings in their first budget through the senate in a move that was designed to destabalise the Abbott government for short-term political gain. 

Shorten expressed concerns that provisions in the free trade agreement related to the ability of companies to import Chinese trades that included skills testing provisions and labour market testing for major projects to be undertaken. Naturally, Bill Shorten’s concerns have been driven by the union movement that he is unable to distance himself from.

However, the agreement indicated sufficient safeguards were actually in place to protect Australian workers and salary rates . Shorten has not put any workable amendments forward, instead failing to explain what exactly is the problem here we are going about to address these concerns, so far it has merely been a negative campaign with no solutions offered.

In fact, there had been no changes to the labour market testing regime that were enacted by the Gillard government that he was a member of under the 457 visa program. Skills assessments under the agreement are the same for 180 other countries covered by the agreement. Shorten needs to wake up and be willing to solve real problems instead of just attempting to run a union sponsored fear campaign and obstructing this important agreement for political gain.

There are plenty of dive shops scattered throughout south east Asia, what I noticed at the Kapoli dive shop is how well it is run as dive shops in this region tend to be a little casual in management – this is a well run dive shop.

You prepare your equipment that is stored in the tidy area, once you have set your equipment up, it states to the staff you are diving as your name is attached to your equipment and they will allocate you a speed boat.

The pre-dive briefing takes place in the shade, there are dive location maps but no actual underwater maps, this isn’t an issue as all dives are guided and your guide is able to give a site briefing just before rolling into the water.

The rules of the dive shop are in Japanese and English, the rules are fairly self explanatory with no gloves, no solo dives, no surface interval less than one hour, no dive over one hour and naturally – no drinking and diving.

The speed boats are prepared by the shop staff, all you do is grab your mask and fins and hop on board and depart at the correct time.

The speedboat moves slowly past the shore dive entry/exit platform, there is unlimited shore diving at Kapoli, I do think the dive site is a little ordinary and wouldn’t spend too much effort on the local dives. After your first dive at Kapoli, you have pretty much seen this site although it does provide some good photo opportunities.

You have to love children’s television; across generations, Playschool has played on the ABC and has been educating young Australian children since 1966. It is estimated more than 80% of the population under six years of age tune into Playschool at least once a week.

I wonder what Big Ted, Little Ted and Jemima think about this; I wonder what window they will be looking out of today, the round window, the square window or the stoner’s window. As a kid, I recall frequently watching Playschool on our black & white television as it is an educational television show; but I don’t recall ever being taught how to make a bong – this is a skill set every aspiring stoner kid needs.

Maybe it is just me, because I do not see the attraction of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I understand they are very popular. On my travels to the Philippines, I saw a number of outlets, especially at the airport. The Manila residents heading out to the provinces would carry on as hand luggage boxes of this stuff – I thought they were mad.

You could imagine my surprise when the first store opened in Perth and people lined up outside for hours – you have to be kidding. I have had Krispy Kreme doughnuts before and I don’t think they are particularly good, their toppings are too sugary and they are over-priced. Yet, you have to respect their marketing abilities, they have taken a mediocre product at best and made it a sought after product.

Hailing from Perth where hot and dry summers are the norm, a refreshing gin and tonic on a hot day is wonderful. Likewise, when I am on holidays in South East Asia, a G & T is my choice of alcoholic drink. A slice of lime to compliment and finish the drink is excellent, this is a great complimentary taste for a summer drink.

A gin based martini is to be stirred and not shaken, I always thought a gin based martini beats the vodka based martini; better known as a vodkatini that is shaken and not stirred. A Gordon’s based martini based on a 5:1 ratio with dry vermouth is my choice of high powered drink; it is a pure alcohol based cocktail with no mixer – so buyer beware.

I was hanging with one of my mates in Florida, we come from the same trade background and have worked together in the past, he has a pretty formidable resume. Yet he was lamenting the current declining job opportunities due to his lack of tertiary qualifications – that’s what companies want now. I decided to apply for an MBA to also prevent this happening to me, not long after my return to Australia, he sends me a message informing me he has been accepted in an executive MBA program and his company is willing to pay for it – well played on his part.

The Master of Business Administration has been around a long time, there are a number of reincarnations of the MBA course; the executive MBA has been developed specifically targeting corporate executives and managers allowing participants to earn an MBA degree within two years whilst maintaining working full-time employment.

Participants are recruited into EMBA programs from a variety of organisations including profit, non-profit, military and government – naturally representing a multitude of industries. As a result of their current employment backgrounds; EMBA participants typically have a higher level of work experience than standard MBA students, usually 10+ years as opposed to 3 -5 years work experience of standard MBA programs.

EMBA programs are a mix of classroom teaching, generally conducted on evenings and over weekends including online tutorials and some full-day sessions. In response to an increasing number of EMBA programs on offer; the Executive MBA Council was formed to advance executive education to ensure senior managers and executives have the best options available.

Naturally, career advancement and increased prospects are primary motivators for managers and executives to embark on the EMBA program. As EMBA participants work full-time during the duration of the program; they are able to apply the management techniques and best practices learned in the classroom to real-life situations as opposed to traditional MBAs who are full-time students.

My team limped into a Friday night AFL preliminary final, I contacted my father to make sure a good red wine befitting a preliminary final was available. My old man made an excellent selection with a 1995 Leeuwin Estate Art series cabernet sauvignon that didn’t disappoint.

According to the notes, the 95 Art series cabernet sauvignon holds chalky, mineral edge to the expressive nose – this has somewhat softened on this excellent aged wine. The 95 Art series held a perfect balance of lush berry fruit and chunky savouriness. The tannic structure has softened along with some minerality that has resided; the fruit is beginning to fade just a tad and is still drinking well in 2015. The 95 Art series described as somewhat more complex than the 1996 and a little more restrained – this was an excellent drop. Unfortunately, the game didn’t pan out how I had hoped but it didn’t stop both of us from enjoying this excellent example of Leeuwin Estate cabernet sauvignon.

Taking on a new aftershave, I decided on Polo Red by Ralph Lauren as the spicy overtones really had a bit of bite – this turned out to be a great daily aftershave. This cologne has some bite – I like it.

Checking the notes, I began to find out where the bite comes from, this was a far more complex fragrance than I expected. This eau de toilette from perfumer Olivier Gillotin opens with red grapefruit with notes of cranberry and Italian lemon. Red sage, red saffron and lavender form the base tapering off with red wood, hot amber and coffee beans – I’m happy I decided to pick up the new fragrance, it really is red hot.