po faced pm

Obviously I was tempting fate yesterday when I referenced this post as one of the strange things I've seen on my walk...

Because our Prime Minister, Little Johnny Howard, is in town again and I went past him and his entourage on both sides of the river. Since I had no idea he was in town I couldn't initially work out what the big group of people coming towards me was all about... and then I saw a guy with a camera... but I thought he was photographing the swans, since he was right in the middle of them... then I realised he was shooting the walkers... and then suddenly there was LJH leading the pack.

He did look incredibly po-faced though... but checking online for photos of him walking (which are somewhat harder to find than you would think) just before, I came across the reason he was probably a little cranky on the AdelaideNow website...

"Mr Howard is in Adelaide today and was walking along the banks of the River Torrens when a passing rower jeered him.

'Bloody arsehole', the middle-aged man yelled at Mr Howard.

Mr Howard was otherwise greeted by many well-wishers, including a rowing crew of five high school girls. "
I had my headphones in, so I didn't hear anything... but it could have happened just before I saw them... that would explain the photographers running to get a shot of the PM looking all cranky (especially given that it's the second time in two days he's been heckled... hehehe).

And at least if you're a rower (and presumably in the middle of the river at the time) then the PM's bodyguards aren't going to wrestle you to the ground or cart you off in a paddy wagon (although there were at least two police wagons that I spotted near the river... or else the same one in two different spots).

Also, being able to find a "rowing crow of five high school girls" on the River Torrens in the morning is a bit like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel... the river was just lousy with boy and girl crews again this morning.

As a brief aside, the website has the story exactly as I pasted it in... the word "arsehole" in full... but the Herald Sun website (which is also a "News Network" paper) has it with the word censored to "a**ehole"... not sure what that's about... maybe Herald Sun readers are more easily shocked.

I just want to know who the hell all the people with Little Johnny were... there must have been at least 20 of them all walking with him/behind him. A fair few were journalists or photographers or cameramen, but mostly they were easy to spot (the photographers and cameramen anyway)... as was the lone boom mike operator. Poor dear... carrying all that equipment, especially the big long pole, and trying to keep up with the PM (who, for an old fogey, can really move).

What a difference an election makes though... last time there wasn't a camera in sight (at least not on the second day of his visit when I actually saw him).

I did notice that the guy I mentioned last time... with the glasses... was there again... but at the back of the pack this time. And I'd still love to know what it is he does...

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