Snipers … latest addition to the famed Sydney skyline:  these pictures were taken on Bridge St earlier today. Be alert but not alarmed…

 

First marriage on the rocks? Pinched nerve. Nah … Laura Bush, a friend in LA tells me, is all over the US tabloids which are talking First Marriage breakdown.

The CIA are in the gutters . I work part-time as a barmaid at a pub in the Rocks, which has become the favoured watering hole of CIA agents in town for APEC. Last night, after many beverages, talk came around to some undercover work that some of the select agents are carrying out – disguising themselves as “tramps” and positioning themselves around town to keep an eye on things. The gutters have ears, or so it seems.

Blinded by Bush . An acquaintance who works in the AMP Building at 50 Bridge St Sydney advises that all tenants have been instructed to draw the blinds on the eastern side of the building for the remainder of the week, since a certain personage is staying at the Intercontinental Hotel over the road and we can’t provide potential sniper access can we? She is considering whether to attach a “Welcome to Bush Week” message to her blind but fears that irony is not studied at Quantico these days (if ever)…

A shocking banner . This banner is shocking the North Shore empty nesters who now inhabit Potts Point. It’s also clearly visible from Garden Island, AKA the APEC Spouses Petting Zoo. Photo by Larnce Gold

APEC traffic cops . Heard this morning on College St in Sydney City, as a police officer was duly booking a taxi driver for having the audacity to pull over to the side of the road, “Mate, what if George Bush needs to get through here in a hurry?”. I’m not kidding…

Slack APEC airport security . My sister and brother in law arrived at Sydney Airport last Sunday morning at 6.30am. They arrived on a Qantas flight from San Francisco. They passed through customs quickly — a bit too quickly. They were ushered past the X-ray machines without their baggage being X-rayed! They were therefore amazed to learn of the heightened security around around the city because of APEC after their experience at the airport. How slack was that?

Webcam down . Apparently the NSW State Government has told the operators to take down the famous Rocks webcam till after the APEC conference because of “no reason”. How paranoid is that! What are they scared of, that someone will watch?

APEC leaders’ outfits 1 . According to well informed sources the leaders costumes will be supplied by Yakka.

APEC leaders’ outfits 2 . I think I have the answer to the vexing question of what the Aussie APEC-ers will wear. With George W being such a good mate of our fearless leader, of course, the answer can only be one choice: “The Bush Outfitter”, RM Williams.