Happy Pancake Day, dear reader. I must say that you are looking fabulous today.

Shrove Tuesday is one of the very best days of the year. Days when pancake consumption (with lemon juice and sugar, naturally) is encouraged are to be celebrated heartily!

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which is (rather appropriately) the day that Anti-Smoking laws change here in Victoria. This will mean that smoking at bus or tram stops will be illegal. This may signal the start of long delays on the public transport in Melbourne: as I understand it, the one way of guaranteeing the instant arrival of your bus or tram is to extract a cigarette from its packet, put it between your lips and set it alight. We shall see. I hope this doesn’t cause too many problems from the influx of visitors expected to arrive in a fortnight for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

On the subject of The Games, keep your eyes peeled for us on the television. Yesterday K bought two tickets for the closing ceremony, which I reckon will be pretty fantastic.

I have just changed this paragraph as I have taken a phone call to say that we have been accepted for our second choice of flat, which is a huge relief. It means that we’re not going to be homeless during the upcoming games. According the letting agent, who tells me that she had a choice of three couples, she had to choose us because the agent who conducted the flat inspection said that were the nicest couple! We are due to sign the lease tomorrow and move in a week on Saturday. We are going to chase the agents on our preferred flat as the facilities there are better and at the same rental cost.

On the subject of successful applications, I’m delighted that two of my good friends have emailed me to say that they’ve got exciting new jobs. One is in West Africa involving pyramids of Fererro Rocher. The other is working in the best industry in the world: booze! K and I wish them both all the very best in their new positions.

This time next week, K, herself, will be settled in at her new office overlooking Albert Park and impressing her colleagues with her charm and knowledge of how water works (work).

I have no news to report on my own quest for gainful employment except to say that my résumé has been delivered to a select few mailboxes in the city. I’m being particularly choosy with the positions that I am applying for while I can afford to be, which is good. Thank you for the kind words which have arrived in my own mailbox. I can only apologise for the lack of email coming from me at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll understand that I’m not ignoring you. I look forward to a day when I can sit in our new flat and email you all wirelessly without feeding golden coins into a machine or being bombarded with the most depressing music at volumes that even an iPodful of heavy metal would struggle to drown out!

Update: It’s All Good! We’ve got our first choice of flat. Even better than all that, we can move in TOMORROW! Very chuffed indeed.