APEC Week

Back to work today and the university computer people have been farting about with my desktop while I've been away, which means it took me until half eleven to work out where they'd hidden my e-mail. Nothing stands still for long in Sydney.

This week marks the beginning of the APEC summit in the city. George Bush has decided to fly in early, which presumably means there's going to be even more extra security on top of the road blocks and clearways and newly-phased traffic lights they've set up for the occasion. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the horses at Randwick Racecourse have come down with equine flu so now there's travel restrictions on horses and the mounted police have to, well, dismount, which is an absolute boon for the climate-change protesters.

The government has been urging the Sydneysiders to get out of the city for APEC for months now, almost chucking them out with their swags and shouting "clear off", and I'm astonished to report they've actually agreed to this and the Monday morning rush hour looked more like a Sunday afternoon than any Monday morning I've ever seen in my life.

(I read in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that George Bush is apparently unaware of the chaos his visit is causing in Sydney. He's apologised for any inconvenience to the locals, you know, like the expense of a week's holiday in Queensland to get away from him, but says he's looking forward to visiting Sydney because he's heard it's the most beautiful city in the world. I mean, he's how old and he's absolutely loaded and he's never been to a major world city like Sydney? I can't decide whether it says more about him or more about this place; like I've said before, Australia thinks it's a big on the world stage, but it's really just a shiny tourist destination with funny animals).

Anyway, rumour has it they're all staying at the Intercontinental, though if I was George Bush and I really wanted to beef up my security, I'd stay at the Bondi Breakers Backpacker Hostel because nobody would think to look for him there.

He's not welcome round here though. In common with at least two thirds of the Sydneysiders, I'd like to tell him to get his swag and clear off back where he came from.