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If you love someone, set them free.
If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were.
-Richard Bach (author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull)

On St Mikulas, St Nicholas, our Moravian maid asked for a pay increase.

My wife was very upset about this and decided to talk to her about the raise.

She asked: 'Now Anka, why do you want a pay increase?'

Anka: 'Well, Madam, there are three reasons why I want an increase. The first is that I iron better than you.'

Wife: 'Who said you iron better than me?'

Anka: 'Your husband said so.'

Wife: 'Oh.'

Anka: 'The second reason is that I am a better cook than you.'

Wife: 'Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than me?'

Anka: 'Your husband did.'

Wife: 'Oh.'

Anka: 'My third reason is that I am a better lover than you.'

Wife: (really furious now) 'Did my husband say that as well?'

Anka: 'No Madam...the gardener did.'

Wife: 'So how much do you want?'


St Mikulas of Moravia

Moravian History - Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread


A bohemian city is more than the sum of its parks, buildings and houses; it is more than the sum of the souls who live there. It is the spirit and imagination that resides in all its grand mansions, shanties and slums, and on the streets and in the hearts and heads of its people. As Russell Brand says, quoting a discussion with a schoolfriend, in his philosophical tome My Booky Wook: "'See all these buildings? All these buildings were once a drawing on a piece of paper and before that they were an idea in someone's head. Any idea that you have, you can make manifest' ... Wow. Man. That, like, totally blew my mind."

Inner-city Sydney was severely dispirited this week as the buildings between Pitt Street and Castlereagh Street were permanently vacated by tenants. They are to be pushed down to the ground to make room for a concrete tribute to a bank, ANZ, and to commercial lawyers Freehills, funded by Grocon.

I'll miss the cheap Christmas presents I got at the last minute at the Closing Down Store, the self-selected sandwiches at Castlereagh Gourmet where they know your order without asking and, of course, number 77