Burnt out sofa, burnt out life

Photograph of burnt-out sofa on Stanmore Road, Enmore

“Want to buy a sofa, going cheap?” Mike, the bloke sitting on the veranda, laughs — amused that the discarded furniture was torched. He’s annoyed they started the fire too close to the fence, though, scorching the paw paw plant that’s just starting to come into fruit.

Somehow the conversation turns to the weather-beaten old homeless guy who was camped out nearby most of this week, but who’s now been moved on. “Keith? Nah, he’s not into money,” Mike tells me. “He’s a millionaire though.” Come again?

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A flawed 3G Wonderland

OK folks, an update on my continuing saga to join the wonderful Digital 3G Wonderland… now that I’ve overcome my indecision about network choice, my fears about the Nokia N80’s battery life, my frustration with poorly-chosen web addresses and the annoyance at Vodafone’s crappy telephone etiquette.

I have finally bought a Nokia N80 outright, and plugged it into Vodafone‘s network. Here’s my thoughts so far — after a couple bottles of sauvignon blanc over dinner and a random play with the technology.

  • I am very happy with the friendly service of Computer World, where I bought the phone.
  • I am thoroughly pissed off that — despite being bought from an independent vendor — the N80 is pre-loaded with Telstra BigPond settings. Now I’m spending two hours removing the BigPond configuration and connecting it back to Vodafone. Not pleased. Even the “Music” button takes me to BigPond Music!
  • The case feels a little flimsy — will this phone cope with day-to-day wear and tear?
  • The high-resolution screen is very nice.