Gingerella

Prime Minister threatened with violence by angry mob. No arrests, no charges. Embarrassing..

Valient

Brave Hewitt went out last night. Valiently..

Ripper!

Leighton Hewitt played well last night, in the match with surly Roddick. I noticed an ease and confidence in the Aussie's style that had been absent recently. At one point I thought Roddick might spit the dummy but no such luck. At least there's another Aussie through and tonight we'll see electrifying Tomic in action again. Ripper!

Sporto

The Australian Open rages once more, down in Melbourne, and once again I am hooked. What a glorious game to watch is tennis. From Tomic coming back strong to win convincingly, Federer's style and grace, Murray's mercurial wiles, it's a joy to behold. What mental agility as well as acumen and fitness these players must possess in order to perform like this.

Top Gear Drive

Sydney is one big town and today, once again, that was brought home to me as I drove my family out west to Emu Plains to see the relatives. Didn't get to see any emus, mind you, plain or otherwise. But leaving the bright lights of the central part of the city, my trusted GPS voice said as we entered the M4: "Continue straight for 47 kilometres.." 

Sad state of affairs for pharmacies

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It comes to something when a perfectly functioning arrangement between providers and pharmacies is unilaterally broken off, causing inconvenience and chaos to so many patients and pharmacy patrons. What on earth is going on, you may well ask. Allow me to elaborate on this situation involving Walgreens and Express Scripts . It is quite unfortunate and, for some of those involved, positively heart breaking to say the least.

For ages, Walgreens had an agreemen with Express scripts that seemed to work absolutely okay for all those involved. Customers liked the fact that they enjoyed loyalty benefits and also Walgreens outstanding competive pricing, not to mention the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens .

Because Walgreens is now no longer part of Express Scripts customers are unhappy that they have to change their familiar pharmacies  but they are now also  finding that in some cases they are having to travel further to find a suitable pharmacy, depending on their specific personal needs.

 

Tricare, as you may or may not know happens to be the health and prescription drug scheme for the U.S. military service. They are one of Express Scripts clients. Walgreens went out on a limb when it offered press Scripts an water tight assurance that Walgreens prices would match or even beat the average costs per adjusted prescription of all other pharmacies that are actually within the Tricare network.  Walgreens after all did not want brave men and women losing out unnecessarily. All to no avail, I hasten to add.

 

Check out more information on Walgreens on Twitter and you can show your support for Walgreens there as welll as here with Walgreens on Facebook .

Christmas provided a welcome break for me and my loved-ones. A break from work, from everyday cares, from always being in a rush to get everything done. It was also a very peaceful time and a most welcome break from the Droning One, our spectacularly ungainly PM Gillard. She's back though. Comforting flood survivors in Brisbane, sucking up to Japanese whalers, preparing her daggers to knife K-Rudd all over again. The droning has started right up again. Is it Easter yet?

Out and About

Just the other day, my wife and I were enjoying a few days off over the Christmas period and we decided to go and visit Vaucluse House, an estate in the Eastern Suburbs. The drive there was gorgeous, along Rose Bay and into exclusive Vaucluse. The house and grounds were lovely, not too ostentatious and I enjoyed reading the history of the Wentworth family, erstwhile residents. It would make for a ripper film or  telly drama with all the requisite ingredients; convict heritage, high society intrigue, exploration, daring entrepreneurism, scandal concerning births out of wedlock, exotic travel and more besides.