Amid all the aggro directed at Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s ill-fated visit to Geelong this week was at least one speck of humour.
Geelong’s Trades Hall dispatched a flyer alerting comrades to the pending arrival of their nemesis, seeking a big turnout to protest the PM’s presence at Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre.
“Budget smuggler”, cried the leaflet around an image of Speedoes overflowing with paper moolah.
But after Mr Abbott’s no-show, it was Trades Hall left holding the budgie.
Fans of old-style pinball machines might like their characteristic sound but it made an Indy ad rep come a cropper this week.
He was on the landline about to close a sale to a prospective client when his mobile phone went off.
This would normally be no issue except he’d just changed the ringtone to, yes, the sound of a pinball machine – and set it to full volume.
The rep’s still trying to ring the client back.
A pinball wizard he’s certainly not.
The changing face of Geelong, with iconic long-standing names and landmarks disappearing, has inspired a bout of nostalgia from one of the city’s hardened politicians.
Federal Member for Corio Richard Marles said new Shell refinery owner Vitol recently assured him the facility’s highly-visible smoke stack, with its red and white bands, would be retained.
“As a child, whenever we returned from long trips away from Geelong, being able to see that stack said that we were home,” he reminisced to parliament.
Truly a sight for sore eyes.
Cats giant Tom Hawkins proved an affable subject this week when interviewed on a Channel 31 rev-head program as it filmed at a rural car show.
Standing around a vehicle on display as other patrons wandered in and out of shot, the host subjected Tomahawk to a brief questionnaire about all manner of subjects.
Big Tom was able to impersonate a crow and knew who wrote Waltzing Matilda all right but drew a blank on the first two lines of Australia’s national anthem, explaining he’d only just sung Advance Australia Fair with mates but was encountering a momentary mental block.
Hope he’s better-prepared in front of the camera this Friday night if he has to sing another anthem.
