One day i went to drop off some of my ex-boxes, and discovered the Reservoir Tip computer recycling facility. Masses of old rubbishy broken machines, and one smashed up MacBook Pro!!

i thought maybe Tim could use the parts so i surreptitiously grabbed it and drove off. Sure enough, later on that night we took it to pieces, and found the hard drive and the battery were still in working order.

Working enough to find out that somebody had left all their data on the drive. So Tim gets all the data off and then does the decent thing, contacting this person and asking if they need the backup.

Turns out this person, whose identity shall remain secret, had taken the laptop to the shop. The mechanics had said, “Can’t do anything love, it’s broken. Can’t get your data off, but don’t worry we’ll make sure noone else does either.”

What kind of computer shop doesn’t know how to get the information off a working hard drive??

The moral of this story? Don’t trust a computer shop with your data.

And don’t sit on your macbook pro.

What a beautiful day.

i am completely blessed .. as the wonderful Louise invited me to a delightful brekkie in the wilds of westgarth, only moments from the action.

Yes this is the first year i’ve been an off-world visitor to planet northcote during the high vibes festival. i was feeling a bit sad, but being rescued with French Toast and Fruit Salad is such a good way to build up your spirits and get ready for a day of pleasure.

as i arrive, gray is tapping away on Renato’s drum kit, in time with Bessie Smith. Life is deliriously gorgeous.

The sun is shining, there are thousands of angels pouring gigalitres of love into the whole festival, and i’m filled with joy, as we wander up the hill to join the throng.

Everything is so packed, and the weather is so gorgeous that we don’t actively listen to much music .. but i dance to a couple of Tzigas numbers outside Open Studio; and Gerard has a funky dj in his backyard next door. That was fun.

The gig that i really savour later on is the magnificent spoonbill at 303 .. who plays a very enjoyable set. Listen here to his version of Gum Tree:

It was a bit weird when he invited dj drizzle on stage to do some MC work, and this guy just wouldn’t let go of the microphone. Some of the crowd shouted at him to get off so we could enjoy the spoon .. but mr bill was too polite to grab back the mic.

Ah madness. Oh fun. Potato cakes and broken yellow buckets. Huge sunglasses and crazy thongs made out of rubber LP shapes. Lots of wonderful people from the Northcote tribes.

.. and i forgot my camera, so only mobile phone photos. Will post if i can get the blue teeth to work.

Later in the week, i read in the local paper that there were 100,000 people at the event .. 30,000 more than last year. Big !!

Ciao.

So i had a go at playing indoor soccer. The boss got a team together, and joined us into a competition at the council. We were so bad, we lost again and again, eg 13 goals to 3.

The other teams played rough, although it was supposed to be friendly, and they had skills – which we did not. Rohan could do a fair simulation of Maradona, Maria kicked a major goal, and Nick the coach was a real player, but i could barely stay upright. Massive hand bruises thanks to falling on hard gym surface. Ouch.

Trying to drive later on, had to get Louise to operate the gear stick. Too friking painful. That’s it, i’m over sport for ever.

xo michael

(image, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Gertrud K. at flickr, thanks)