Sure it was great to get my own name badge after years of trying, but personally was disappointed the WAEC couldn’t put the title ‘ORDINARY Issuing Officer’ on my name badge, and really emphasise the ORDINARY.

Still, what a riveting day it was.

“I don’t make mistakes, I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong” – Murray Walker

Clive James once said that even in moments of tranquility, Murray Walker would sound like a man whose trousers were on fire….

Which is the perfect way to describe his commentary to those who never got into Formula One.

It’d be an understatement to say Murray Walker would be in my Top 5 favourite commentators in human history, alongside the likes of Richie Benaud and Dennis Commetti, because unless i’m VERY MUCH MISTAKEN, Murray with his ‘Murrayisms’ was to Formula One as Sir David Attenborough is to wildlife documentaries.

Of course, Murray had so many great moments that didn’t just involve F1, like his commentary of the British Touring Car Championship, in particular the memorable 1992 finale at Silverstone between Tim Harvey and John Cleland, in which Murray perfectly captured Cleland’s middle finger towards Harvey’s teammate Steve Soper and his aggressive driving.

“I’m going for first says John Cleland!”

Cleland and Soper later took each other out to hand Harvey won the title, and whenever a driver gives the finger to someone, I instantly think of “I’m going for first!”

His impromptu call of Ronnie O’Sullivan playing snooker after Jeremy Clarkson hands him a microphone:

The fabled Pizza Hut commercial with his good friend Damon Hill – “And Hill finishes second again!”

The classic “You’ve got an enormous bump on your head” interview with Nigel Mansell

An example of the working dynamic that Murray, who rarely criticised drivers, had alongside former World Champion James Hunt, who had a list of grudges 8 miles long

Interviewing Bernie Eccelstone about buying McLaren, only for Bernie to tell him that he doesn’t remember buying McLaren…. Because he’d purchased Brabham.

And more locally, outside of the Australian Grand Prix, Walker did have plenty of involvement in Australian Touring Car racing, making several guest appearances as the trackside voice for the Adelaide 500, belting out his trademark “Go Go Go!” at the start of Race 2 in 2011:

True story – When the event was axed last year, Walker, living in his nursing home, was as annoyed as the rest of us were.

Of course, Walker also went for a lap around Bathurst with Brad Jones in 1997, as only Murray Walker could:

Another chip off the old block.

Stories from Election Day at South Perth Primary

So first of all, at about 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, a nice old lady walked in and placed a small sprig of jasmine that she’d picked from her garden on my desk, which probably would’ve gone to any of the other 5 issuing officers if she’d seen them first, but being in no position to say no, I wore it for the rest of the day and took it home, where it finally died this morning:

And let me tell you, that was a lovely sprig.

Another moment was when a bloke came in just to get his name ticked off so he wouldn’t get fined for not voting, and so he could throw his ballot papers in the trash, so little did he think of the major parties, which is something we, the good folk at the Western Australian Electoral Commission, do not encourage.

And one last one was a bloke who walked up to me, and I kid you not, the first thing he said was:

“The US Election was BULLSHIT.”

I tell you, we have some unique characters in this country.

Another thunderbastard of a goal in the A-League from Cameron Devlin

The highlight of a fantastic game on Monday night – The Phoenix took the lead 3 times, only for the Wanderers to pull them back each time, and win it 4-3, just 8 minutes from time.

That said, Cam Devlin, take a bow – The kind of randomly brilliant goal that the A-League can produce from time to time.

A Happy Austin 3:16 Day To You All

Drink a beer, give a two finger salute, raise hell, stun someone, then leave.

Well, Bob Peters had a Saturday from the 5th layer of Hell

It all kicked off on Friday when Arcadia Queen was found to be lame, then she was scratched from the All-Star Mile after failing another vet check, which turned out to be the good news of the day for the Cerise and White brigade, because it was revealed that Truly Great, who won the Kingston Town Classic just 4 months ago, and ran 2nd in that fantastic Perth Cup just after New Years’, had died after a suspected snake bite.

But hey, at least Arcadia Queen is still with us.

Forget about the Golden Slipper this week, how about Hobart running at Hobart!

Those Tasmanians, I tell you something must be wrong with them… you don’t see Rosehill running at Rosehill.

Amazing to think that this week was the anniversary of two earth-shattering moments in International Cricket, both of which Australia just had to lose

March 14 was the 15-year anniversary of the Australia vs South Africa One Day International at Newlands, in which Australia recorded the first score of 400+ in the history of ODI cricket at 4/434…..

Only for South Africa, with Herschelle Gibbs scoring 175, to chase it down and score 9/438 to win with 1 ball remaining, as Mick Lewis got carted for 113 runs off his 10 overs, an ODI record that also still stands from that match.

And March 15 (Monday) was the 20-year anniversary of India winning the legendary Kolkata Test after Steve Waugh enforced the follow-on, the third time in Test cricket history that Australia had lost after enforcing the follow-on.

There are some things you just have to see on TV to believe…. those two events are examples of things I did not witness on TV.