Dream

We're on a W-class tram, the old wooden ones with the nice seats that were comfortable in the heat and whose brakes didn't seize up - but let's not get into that. You could still get on these things and do a tour of the Melbourne CBD on them before COVID struck. Anyway, there's me and Mum and incredibleloon (whom we'll call 'SuperJase' for the time being) and a white German Shepherd that is gallivanting around on the empty seats.
"Don't touch that dog," says SuperJase. "It's very important."
So I just let the dog go about it's business until ti says; "The weather's getting worse."
Mum then collapses. I leap to her aid, and get her head up so I can hear what she's saying.
But it's only a whisper that I can't hear, and she dies in my arms.
SuperJase looks on in shock. The white dog is gone. The tram keeps rolling along.

Well, after that, I rang Mum to see if she was alright, which she is. I took it on faith that SuperJase is alright, he being younger and fitter than me, and the last time I saw a white German Shepherd in real life was in a past life, I assume. Therefore, I don't know whether it could talk or was a portent of anything, let alone death.

I can tell you that that dream was had under the influence of four pints of cider and a Murphys burger from Irish Murphy's, after watching the new Ghostbusters movie.

Said movie experience was had at the Regent Cinemas in Lydiard St Nth. The cinemas themselves were nice and convenient, and the staff very helpful to a blind guy who couldn't find his way around at all. They took me to the box office, I paid $15 for my ticket, then they took me up to the cinema and came to get me at the end of the picture. The start time for the movie was 2:50PM, so the 'feature presentation' proudly announced—through a very mediocre sound system by cinema standards—started at 3:07PM. I won't spoil any part of it if I say that it's a good tribute to Harold Ramis and has revived my interest in the first movie, but it's also good evidence that it's possible to parlay a fanfic piece into a real script. What evidence do I have that it started as a fanfic? None. It just felt that way. The important thing is that it isn't 'written by numbers' and the writing is far better than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—but then, what isn't?

It was probably visually interesting, but the sound in the cinema wasn't great, and the screen is so dark compared to a TV that I could barely see what was going on. It also had the reverse of the bit that totally confused me in Jurassic Park 2. In that movie, white Jeff Goldblum had a black child; in this one, the black sheriff has a white daughter¹. Are we supposed to ignore this? But at least all the female characters were played by cisgendered woman, and the males by cisgendered men, so no annoying chunks of political correctness to distract you from the actual narrative.

Prior to going to the movies, I took the vacuum cleaner in to The Good Guys in Mair St to get it serviced under the warranty. Under the fucking warranty. The shop lady was very nice about, took it away to check whether it needed repairs and turned it on. You could hear it across the shop. She brings it back and says:
"OUr store manager and I agree that all it needs is a new filter and new bags."
"You think it's normal that the thing is so loud I could hear it over this half acre of floor space?"
"See, the filter needs replacing and the bag needs to be changed."
$88 later I haven't had the thing serviced and I've got a ne filter and bags. Why fucking argue with me? It's not your money that will be spent fixing the fucking thing!
You may ask why I put up with this shit. Because we're not armed is why. Why do they even go on with this shit? Because they can, because we cant' shoot them. And don't get me started on Qants…

This is hardly a new rant for me. But now, With fewer people on staff because of the COVID, more and more defenceless consumers have to put up with this crap. Avoidance may be the best strategy. Don't buy a Miele vaccumn cleaner, and don't buy from The Good Guys.

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1. Or so it sounded to me. The picture of the actress on the IMNDB shows that she is black. Her non-blasck accent may be explained by her being born in Kenya.