Three Strikes, You're Walking

Common folklore lore suggests that trouble always runs in threes, and Local Canberra resident Phillip Gatt is now ready to agree. A recent spate of unlucky events has left Phillip scratching his head in wonderment as tragedy thrice struck his beloved motorcycle.

It began with a minor incident when reputable motor dealer (who shall remained unnamed to protect his business) reattached the gear shift lever in the wrong position. Three weeks later, in bizarre circumstances, the speedo drive was shattered by a piece of blue stone. However catastrophe struck early on the Wednesday morning when his Motorbike, a Suzuki GSXR750 was stolen.

The enitre escapade was captured on Fenner Hall's CCTV, however due to shadow faces were not able to be clearly identified.

Phillip (pictured far left) and his family around his beloved Suzuki

The first incident occured when the motorcycle was taken to a professional for a routine chain and sprocket change. When the bike was picked up by Phillip he realised that changing gears was more diffilcult than usual. "I had to lift my entire foot off the foot pegs in order to change gears," he said, "however I was on my way to Brisbane and it was only a small problem that I could live with."

"I had accidently returned the lever to a postition one notch too high," remarked the embarrased mechanic. The job was given priorty and fixed free of charge.

The second incident occured 30 kms north of Byron Bay, just as Phillip was returning from a holiday in Brisbane. A small but incredibly hard piece of blue stone was kicked up by the front wheel of the bike to collide with the speedo drive, smashing the small metal disc into three pieces.

The shattered speedo drive

The speedo drive, which is attached to the front sprocket, tells the speedometer how fast the bike is going.

"When Phillip told me his speedo wasn't working I thought it was something I had done," replied the mechanic when questioned about the problem, "but once I removed the body kit, four pieces fell to the ground, three from the speedo drive and one piece of road."

"Its utterly amazing that the rock managed to snake its way through the bodykit, like some magic stone thrown by a Lee Harvey Oswald type of road" said Phillip. "Riding 1000km not knowing your speed is diffiluclt, but do-able."

The third incident was conducted between the hours of 3:00am and 4:00am. The two men, aged between 17 and 25 scouted the carpark for over half and hour, before removing the cover off the motorbike. One of the men proceeded to lift the back wheel off the ground and roll the bike on its front wheel, thus rendering the steering lock useless. They waited in the carpark for quite some time, and unforunately the CCTV stopped recording (its not 24 hrs) and when it started again at 5:ooam the bike was gone.

The incident left the victim lost for words. "..." he said.

Constable Conlan, who attended the scene of the crime with Constable Sandon (the hot one, as remarked by one Fenner Hall staff member), believes the two perpertrators were just out for a joy ride.

"I hope they are out joyriding. Ideally they'll write the bike off and in the process themselves as well," Phillip commented.

When one of his friends, David (Toby) Mcgill, was asked as to if he thinks Phillip would be angry at the incident he replied, "not if he has insurance."

Don't worry, He has!

April O'neil, Canberra Times.

A day at the cricket

My last day in Brisbane was great. First of all I went to the XXXX brewery with one of my cousins - Tim. For $20 you get a full tour and four beers - bargain! We were told about the exciting history of beer and the history of XXXX. This was followed by a tour through the beer making process. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos. However it was exciting to see the massive vats, storage tanks and conveyer belts filled with beer, bottles and cases. At the end Tim and I settled down for a few quiet ones at the XXXX bar before we made our way back to Tim's brother's house (who amazingly is also my cousin) to await the next exciting event

I'm a big sporting fan, and I had eagerly been awaiting my first Twenty20 experience and tonight was the night. Unfortunately at major sporting events the beer is quite expensive and you can usually only buy midstrength or lights. That isn't good enough for the Gatt's and so we developed a devious plan.

First we checked what could be taken into the ground, and a certain clause caught our eye (in bold)...

• Soft sided bags (six-pack size), open top fabric bags (such as green supermarket bags) or clear plastic bags
  
• Water and non-alcoholic beverages in plastic or cardboard packages which have not been previously opened


• Food, but not in packaging that could be used as a projectile ie pizza box


• Tea or coffee thermos (which will be checked)


• Binoculars and personal cameras

Next we pooled our collective skill together - my cunning streetsmarts, Nick's access and proficency of cutting edge medical equipment, and Tim's knowledge of fine liquor, and this was the outcome
This photo shows Nick syringing the Bundy from the bowl into our unopened bottle of coke (we also have Johnny Walker). The next photo shows the results.

And everyone was happy.The cricket was fun, every time their was a wicket or a six the fireworks went off, which we were sitting directly behind. It also turns out that a Canberra friend of mine was sitting about 30 metres away (I met him at a pub in the 'berra a week later). They also played snippets of songs over the loudpseakers, everything from Sweet Child of Mine (Guns 'N' Roses) to MASH and the Simpsons theme songs).

On our way out we found this sign...someone should alert the Australian Cricket Board before they get into trouble

We ended the night with a few beers at a pub, a walk home, and a game of Baseball with a glass bottle and a metal pole as a bat - check out the cuts on Tim's arm (the shirt's funny too).

Thanks for the fine fairwell Cuz

We're all going in a summer holiday

Hello everyone, I've been a bit lax in updating my blog since I left Melbourne.

I rode my moto up to Brisbane in a three day trip which was fantastic, stopping off at Newcastle and Byron Bay to visit some of my cousins. I than went to Lismore and saw most of the family on my fathers side (I haven't seen them for about twelve years) - to give you and idea the cousin count is in the fiftes and I heard the second cousin count ahs reached the hundreds. Needless to say I didn't know many people.

I have been in Brisbane for around two weeks, it has rained most of the time successfully washing away my plans including a state twenty twenty match and a climb to the top of Mount Beerwah. However plans are to see Tasmania smash the QLD Bulls tonight in another cricket clash.

I spent Christmas with some of my father's brothers and their families which was great fun and for New Years I tagged along with my cousin and her partner which was good too.

I've been lucky in that lots of circus friends have made their to Brisbane also and so we have caught up a few times for dinner and lunch and even a trip to the science centre here (We got in for free because we worked at Questacon).

Unfortunately I have no photos because 1. my computer hard drive crashed and had to be replaced so all my photos we wiped (most are backed up at home luckily) and 2. I didn't take any.

I'm making way back down to Canberra on Friday and I should arrive on Tuesday pending any flooding.