I Wish I Was Ern Malley

As I’ve mentioned before , I was pretty happy that Ford had dropped the Futura, Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia nameplates with the launch of the new FG Falcon. Apparently plenty of people were pretty attached to the old names, at least judging by recent letters to Wheels . I’m the opposite. I’m actually slightly embarrassed to own a Fairmont. Partly because it's (IMHO) a slightly poncey name, and also a bit posh—which I don’t really like. I’d prefer that the car be called Falcon because: I don’t like seeming posh I like the associations the Falcon name has with Ford’s illustrious racing history. Specifically, Falcon GTs are Falcon GTs—even if (in the old days) they were based on the Fairmont. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Drive corrections The Sydney Morning Herald's Drive writers continue to make really basic errors. First there was Joshua Dowling's mystifying (and embarrassing) assertion that the original XC Cobras were 400 sedans and utes, not coupés . As...

So we’ve just watched the last episode of the second series of Robin Hood and it sucked. Really, really badly. So much so that I very much doubt we’ll be watching series three. I presume there’ll be a series three, because the bad guys got away instead of being shot down by an expert archer as they should have been. Instead of a happy ending, we get a really crappy implausible ending, and a half-baked cliff hanger which will invite us back next year. Except that it sucked so much, that we won’t be back. This is especially sucky because for the last couple years we’ve really enjoyed our Sunday night in front of the TV with the children. Pretty retro, I know, but it’s something we all enjoyed. The boys had a hero (Robin), the girls had a hero (Marian). The bad guys were bad, the good guys were good it was all good clean fun. Forget the historical inaccuracy, the odd plot implausibility, the nauseatingly PC treatment of the crusades and Christian-Muslim relations, and the silly on...

Grandma died on Tuesday morning. Her funeral was yesterday. She was 98, but it was still sad. Without any disrespect to my other Grandma, it's fair to say that Grandma was my favourite. Although we probably saw her and Grandpa less often, we always looked forward to seeing them. Maybe they had more to say to us or paid more attention, or maybe Grandma remembered birthdays and always sent a package—wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, one of my favourite things. I have to say that lately we didn't see much of her. Just Christmases and other times when Mum brought her for afternoon tea when we visited. As her memory faded, she didn't seem to recognise us as much, and it was harder to talk. I feel sorry about that, but it's just life. We're busy with our own children, and time flies away more and more quickly. It was important, then for us to take our children to the funeral yesterday, and it was very valuable for us. Partly for them to honour and mourn thei...

I love the new Falcon. I've spent the last few days drooling over every article on the net I could find and I think it looks awesome in all its forms. Even the base model XT looks neat and stylish, the new XRs are especially nice and the G-series cars look classy and very nicely equipped. The design is beautiful, taking an already great looking car and making it even better. I must confess that, having really loved the BA Falcon, which I regard as the best Falcon ever, I was worried that the new Falcon would not look as good. To my eye it looks even better. It's a very elegant design, but still looks tough, but not over the top. I also like that there are now only Falcons. No Futuras, Fairmonts or Fairmont Ghias, just different Falcons—XT, G6, XR6 and R6. Oh, and Ute. It all looks very good from here. Can't wait to find out how it drives.

While browsing a major software vendor's website recently , I noticed this little gem: Heh, heh. They said “poo”.

“No Santa for Suri” announced last week’s New Idea as I walked past on the way to catch my train. I was part-way through thinking “That’s because they’re a couple of Scientology weird…” when I realised our kids weren’t having Santa either. This is because we prefer not to lie to our children. We’d prefer them not to confuse the truth about Jesus being born with a silly myth. I was surprised how much flak I copped for this at work—anyone would think that lying to kids was a good thing. Besides, we gave them the option. Santa is pretend, and if they wanted to pretend, that was fine. And in any case, our oldest wasn’t sure who to believe, her parents, or her best friend who assured her that Santa was very real. In the end I don’t think they noticed that Santa didn’t deliver. They got just as many presents and had just as much fun. And what was the first thing they did on Christmas morning? They prayed and wished Jesus “Happy Birthday”.

It’s nice to see the Australian Federal Police getting in on the whole black, unmarked SUV thing. And their weapon of choice? Ford Territory Turbo . Mmmmm … Territory Turbo. Updated: They also have white ones.