Every trip down to Margaret River in the South West coast of Australia has seen me miss every opportunity to visit Moss Wood’s Wilyabrup winery. Just three hours drive south of Perth, this winery remains elusive for me to visit.

I found the soft oak influences not overbearing, this Bordeaux style wine is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot. I have drunk pure Petit Verdot and found it a little too strong in tannin although it has fantastic blackcherry and violet flavours. Likewise, I have found Malbec to be too one dimensional as a stand alone wine but perfect for blending with generous blueberry flavours. The Moss Wood Cabernet is a very expensive bottle of wine, what I like about the Amy\’s collection is I am able to drink Moss Wood on a budget.  

I was looking forward to a day in Ghent, I know of this city from the wife of a good friend and really wanted to explore this interesting city in Belgium. Fantastically, Ghent is just a 40 minute train trip from Brussels, the ticket cost was a reasonable €11 – so here we come.

I hadn’t done too much research into this city, this is a normal practice for me as I want to be surprised instead of expecting to see certain sights. I did know they had some wonderful canals throughout the city, that much I did know. It is fair to say Ghent exceeded my expectations, the areas around the canals were very picturesque as expected. There were some interesting churches to explore and just walking the streets was worthwhile. I especially enjoyed the views from the numerous bridges, I would certainly recommend a day in Ghent to any of my friends sightseeing in Europe. This was the best city in Belgium to visit in my opinion.

We all develop workplace sayings and comebacks, they change with workplaces and situations, but they can define what is accepted in the workplace. This creates the culture of the workplace, whilst the leadership defines the culture, what is accepted practice is what defines the working conditions.

My favourite comeback is “Where’s Larry?” This is a very poignant comeback as Larry is no longer with us. No need to worry, Larry is still alive, he hasn’t left this world, he is just no longer employed in our workplace. So, what happened; well, Larry was moved on to a less significant role within the organisation. How did this come about? Well, ironically Larry didn’t fare so well after the CCC investigation. So what is the CCC you ask?

The CCC is the Corruption and Crime Commission; apparently, public sector corruption is frowned upon and misappropriation of government funds is considered a bad thing. The CCC was established to investigate state government corruption. So, when you are accused without evidence of reporting misappropriation of government funds to a regulatory body; apparently, you are the bad one. However, I am still there and Larry isn’t. The cronies he embedded during the period of mismanagement are still there, just the leader is missing.

Still, they are no longer as brazen as they once were; they are very cautious, whilst they are not ashamed of their actions, they no longer enjoy the benefits they once did. The nervousness is laughable, they still think they control the place despite everyone there claiming higher salaries. So they are now where I want them, they have easy jobs; sure, but no longer claim inappropriate benefits and they are paid significantly less than the rest of us. In this case, cronyism hasn’t resulted in more money for this crowd.

This is the appropriate remuneration that they should be paid, their corrupt payment cycle is being watched, they work for us now and they are paid less than us. Their little pathetic power comes at a significant financial cost – there is justice after all. Yet, when they see the chance, they will try it on again so everyone needs to be vigilant to prevent further occurrences.

It is no secret the TWG Tea is my favourite tea, I didn’t really seek out a tea that I liked. I just happened to wander in a TWG Tea outlet and they made a pretty decent recommendation – great recommendation actually.

Transiting through Changi allows me to top up my supplies as this tea is difficult to obtain in Perth. Sure, there is David Jones in the city but their range is limited and David Jones at Karrinyup shopping centre no longer retails any TWG products. Likewise, when I am in Singapore I can head to Marina Bay Sands, Orchard Road or more of their numerous locations for silver service. So for Red of Africa tea, I am mostly limited to trips to South East Asia at the moment.

So what do I like about Red of Africa tea? The red robista tea is very much to my tastes, I learnt that after a recommendation in a TWG branch in the Shangrila outlet in the Philippines. The red coloured tea is perfect when served cold in a highball glass. You can add sweetener to flavour if you wish, but my preference is unsweetened and that’s the way I will continue to drink it.

I can’t say I’m a fan of Philippines beer, the leading brewery in the country is San Miguel in terms of sales and brand awareness. An option worth exploring when in the Philippines is Red Horse Beer.

Not that I reckon it is great beer, it is in my opinion the best of a series of poor options. So what is better about Red Horse? Firstly, I will have to compare local beers as none of the Philippine beers stack up against imported beers. So, apart from the obvious, why would you choose Red Horse over San Miguel? I believe Red Horse is a better beer because it has a stronger flavour first and foremost. My research indicated this is indeed a full strength beer with an alcohol content of 8% What really threw me is learning this is brewed by San Miguel Corporation, the beer was developed as a direct competitor to higher alcohol imported Asian beers. Whilst an enormous business in the Philippines, the San Miguel Corporation produces plenty of dubious quality beer, at least Red Horse is a half decent product.

So I came off my bike at high speed on a downhill run. I was going flat out, I couldn’t go any faster and it is fair to say, I snapped the bone my arm right at the joint. It all happened very fast, what I do remember is flying through the air and thinking, this isn’t very good.

My arm fractured right at the ball on my shoulder, very high on the bone and my arm and was just hanging off. I would like to tell you it didn’t hurt, I shook it off and jumped back on my bike and started pedaling again, but there was no chance of this. This was a long trip, fortunately, we had a full support team following us and they helped me up as there were people all around. I would like to thank the people who helped me, to be honest, I cannot remember it all that well, I was pretty dazed.

Even the two-hour trip back at just over walking pace was pretty much a dream, the roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the rainy season have to be seen to be believed. The roads are filled with stacked logs to allow light vehicle access through, that made for an interesting return trip. Needless to say, the bikes were making better progress than the light vehicles, we were faster than the motorised transport – hard to believe. So a two and a half hour trip at walking speed wasn’t fun, then we were able to hit some decent roads and gather some speed, not exactly what I was hoping for but I have no complaints.

I was flown down to Johannesburg for surgery, this required a pin to be inserted in my arm and that immediately fixed the problem. After four days of a fractured arm, it was starting to wear thin, I was immediately wheeled into surgery after meeting with the surgeon, so I guess it was fairly well buggered. I was still in his consultation room at the hospital waiting for the insurance claim to clear before the doctor returned in his scrubs and I was off to pre-op. It all happened pretty quick, I had not eaten since the evening before so I was ready to go, there would be no holding me back getting that arm repaired.

I thought the pre-Christmas is high season the Philippines, this is the first time I have been there at that time of year, so I am a little surprised.

Normally my first trip is around April/May right at the end of the high season. The sky is still sunny and I have missed the majority of the crowds, this is the last of the European holiday makers. I didn’t really plan this trip as well as I should have and now I’m paying. Still tropical downpours occurring but not quiet wet season conditions, I do come to the Philippines in September and that is typhoon season so diving is marginal. I had expected a sunny sky every day based on what I have been told – no complaints though, still good to be here.

In Western Australia we have the one metre rule, that is, motor vehicles must give cyclists a one metre clearance when overtaking. This is expanded to one and a half metres when the motor vehicle is overtaking the bike at a speed exceeding sixty kilometres per hour – fair enough. We should all be courteous on the road, that is fair, we should treat each other with respect.

So, we also have a situation where cyclists are using dual use pathways, now they are the party that has the potential to cause harm to pedestrians. So I ask, should not the same rules apply? Cyclists can get pretty precious all dressed in lycra pedaling on their expensive bikes. Despite the racing coloured lycra outfits, we are not dealing with professional cyclists here. There is no time trials, no prize money at stake or state and national titles to be awarded. These people go whizzing past pedestrians at breakneck speed to fulfill their own illusions.

This is not an individual pursuit being raced at a velodrome, the bicycles have gears and brakes fitted. This means they have the potential to slow down as you pass pedestrians. The gear-set on the drive allows the rider to accelerate as required, this is particularly useful after slowing down near pedestrians. Bells should be fitted to all bicycles, as a cyclist passes a pedestrian, the general courtesy is to ring their bell to indicate their presence to pedestrians. Unfortunately, we know that cyclists generally are not courteous and if they are not causing troubles on the road, they are creating issues on dual use pathways.

Now that Carousel Shopping Centre has been renovated, the improved shopping and recreation amenities are expected to draw increasing crowds to the centre. The next shopping centre to undertake renovation is Innaloo Shopping Centre closely followed by Karrinyup Shopping Centre.

Now the issue of paid parking at the three shopping centres has been raised. Never before in Perth have we had paid for parking centres, the decision to charge for parking at hospitals has been met with opposition in the community. In relation to hospitals, you don’t have much choice, nobody wants to go to hospitals, this is the one place we seek to avoid at all costs. Not so with shopping, there are a multitude of choices from local shopping centres, the main shopping precincts of Perth and Fremantle are also entertainment centres with restaurants, bars and other facilities such as cinema, showrooms and service providers.

People now have the option to shop online avoiding bricks and mortar retailers who are already reeling from the take-up of online sales. Now Amazon has opened in Australia we can expect greater online competition. If retailers wish to attract people back to large shopping centres then they need to reduce and remove barriers for people to remain customers. Now, I realise the first three hours are free at this stage; however, the ticketing system has been installed then the situation could rapidly change and shorter times introduced or no free parking at all. People will just not go, another reason to shop online.

Just as bad, employees of retailers are not offered special conditions and pay for their vehicle to sit in car parks. Generally speaking, retail workers are on lower pay structures and conditions, this decision affects the more vulnerable workers. One hopes shopping centre managers are listening as large grocery retailers such as Coles and Woolworths and large retailers such as David Jones, Myer, Big W, Kmart and Target are able to exert influence on Westfield management and cut a better deal for not only their employees but their customers too.

I have been lucky enough to travel on a few subways internationally; for me, it is the favoured mode of transport in a foreign city. Travelling on the Tokyo subway is something else, this city of 9 million people needs an efficient transportation system. This complex network of lines takes a little navigating, mastering the subway map is the first step in navigating the network and these days of online devices certainly assists newcomers to the system.

There is English translations on the subway maps, this certainty aids navigation but what really impresses me is the sheer complexity of the system. The absolute volume of people utilising this rail system daily is astounding, yet it is relatively simple to navigate for a tourist. The fare adjustment machines aid fast movement, when you have exceeded the fare on your paper based ticket if you are not using an electronic transit card. You can easily add the required funds to the ticket and pass through the turnstiles – it’s a pretty decent system.