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[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Ticked off a couple of more tasks for the month. Just funny how these tasks involve spending dollars. Even got my new pensioner Myki working for the PT. Haven't used it in anger yet. The top up system sucks if doing that online. They still haven't worked out a way to update the card when you pay online which takes 24hrs for the card to update, but when you do it at a train station, it's updated instantly. Will also need to find a new place to get the car serviced. The previous one used was bought out by a land developer so he could build more apartments.

Another Lib stalwart is worried about his seat. Tim Wilson is now concerned he could lose his seat to a newbie. Who is a professional and a woman. A lot more women are standing for seats in this election and the old guard are worried. Went to the early voting and mainly saw older people. It went off nice and quickly. Now a big fan of the early voting. Used that now in the past two federal elections and the last state election. Hopefully they keep that into the future. Given COVID is still in big numbers in the community, election day could turn into a COVID spreading event. So a good idea to wear your mask when waiting in line to vote. Was surprised that Clive has spent big on advertising his candidates at polling places. Money better spent if he paid his workers and his bills. Slomo is now walking away from Clive, but last year he was backing Clive in his court challenge against WA. Not a peep from Slomo about Clive this year.

Petrol is back up over $2/L here in Melbourne. In my area, it's around $2.15 this week. The halving of the petrol excise has been wiped out. The Feds should get rid of all of it for the rest of the year. It will give them practice of how to cope when petrol cars are gone. The petrol excise is a tax on drivers. For a govt that doesn't like tax, it's fine with this one especially when the cost of everything is going nuts. Went shopping today and saw the price of red meat has gone up again. One piece of steak is going for $22. I'm not struggling for income, but even I think twice about paying those prices. Lots of people must be surviving on soup, but GP's want you get more iron in your diet. If wages don't go up, lots more people are going to be on or below the poverty line and more people will need help from Centrelink which will cost the tax payer more. Inflation is not relevant if you don't have enough money to feed yourself and have a place to live. The deliberate tactic to keep wages low in the past ten years is now causing a lot of people pain and increasing mental health issues.

Lots of talk about interest rates. We've been living in a fairy tale on that topic for nearly a decade. People have been fooled into getting larger mortgages, now banks are tightening up on approving loans which is also leading to people not looking to buy a house or any property. Funny enough houses are selling better than villa units and apartments are on the nose. Seems nobody wants those now which is why they are going cheap and taking much longer to sell. Depending on where you are, property is on the market for months rather than weeks. The old rule of thumb of 4 weeks on the market is longer a measure of value. With interest rates going up again, selling property will get even harder. The trick is not to get greedy.

The weather in Melbourne town has still been on the warm side during the day. Single figures during the night so chilly mornings the last few days. Waiting for the rain to hit towards the night. Getting the rain from the north initially for the next few days then more rain from the west next week. No plans to be out and about during that.

Well The Great Barrier Reef is not looking so great. Now over 90% of it experiencing a mass bleaching event. So we are on track to lose it and the jobs that rely on it as well. See what we can do when we do nothing. Damn we are good. I'm sure tourists would love to see a dead reef. It'll be like going to the pyramids.

Can't wait for election day so these political spats can end. Not sure why people are asking Labor to have a more progressive set of policies, given the voting public rejected a progressive set of policies last time. Why should Labor do that again and lose again because voters don't want a progressive govt. If you've put a muzzle on the dog, don't blame the dog if it doesn't bark.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

Back from travels, only for someone in the house to have covid so nothing doing for a week. Not a bad outcome given the rain and extraordinarily low temps. 12C one day, we get that once a year at best in July. Fortunately that end of the house is almost separate, so noone else caught it. It was interesting on the planes though. Masks on from terminal carpark to terminal carpark. You can remove it to quickly eat or drink, but not while the attendant is within two rows of you. Checks to see that you have popped it back on immediately. One dickhead at the back of business refused to put it back over his nose but got the "if I have to tell you again it will be as a flight crew direction and you really don't want to breach that"

Sydney wasn't too bad, a few people out and about. A lot of Eid celebrators. Brisbane was going well. It was that great May Queensland weather, prior to the rain, but a lot of people out and about. The Brisbane Club turned it on yet again. The daily soufle is a thing there worthy of saving room for.

RBA chickens out of matching the US interest rate rises and goes a half dose. AUD drops three cents. Fuel is USD denominated so you can see where thats all going if they don't get with the program. Either the interest rates are going to hurt or the inflation caused by not going there is going to hurt, take your pick who gets hurt.

Libs look in bad shape so far for the election. Labor running a smart campaign of no wedges, just we are not them. A lack of action over the last term is going to hurt the incumbents, plus some quality independents. I like the word Teal, Green credential blue side. Quite frankly get the ICAC up and running and sweep the broom through.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well only a few more sleeps before this election campaign is over. The result of the election however could take a few days to finalise. The first milestone will be to see if the LNP will retain govt, after that it's just how many independents will get a seat. Lots of talk from voters about how Labor is not showing too much difference from the LNP, well after the last election you can't blame them. Voters say they want progressive policies but when given the choice they punish any political party that has any so why would any politician say they will put forward any major progressive policy. The Australian public doesn't want anything to change their personal circumstances. Unless we are willing to take some personal impact we will never progress and end up in the circle of diminishing returns. You want free child care then taxes have to go up. You want better health care then Franking Credits and negative gearing has to go as well as tax cuts for the wealthy. We can have the situation they have in places like France and the some Scandinavian countries where things are free but it means higher taxes for the wealthy and corporates pay their share of tax. Get rid of the loophole that allows big corporate companies billing their own branches thus avoiding paying tax. The working poor already pay their share of taxes. You want to do something about climate change well then work towards getting rid of coal mining and get on with mining minerals that are needed for renewables. By the end of this decade we have to bit the bullet, but they way we are going that bullet will be coming out the end of a gun. We have plenty of minerals for renewables but not doing anything about digging that stuff up. The coal industry and oil industry are on the decline and the rest of the world knows it, seems we think our island makes us untouchable. Head in the sand stuff.

Slomo doesn't do "humble" well. Nobody believes him when he says he will change. People don't change just how they react to circumstances. Good people can react negatively to their circumstances but a fuckwit will act the same no matter if they are in a good or bad situation. People are very good at masking their true selves, but when put under pressure their real personalities come out. It's like flicking a switch. Seen that more times than I care to remember over many decades both in my professional and personal life.

Am surprised to see some things still in short supply in the supermarkets. For some reason toilet paper is still being sold out, but it's selective. Had a chat to one of the shelf stackers and was told certain brands are being purchased in bulk as soon as they hit the stores. As to why this is happening is not obvious. The only reason must be lots of people are catching COVID and are having to isolate and also people are still hoarding in case they catch COVID.

The latest stupid idea from the Fed's to raid your super to pay the deposit on a house means tax payers will have to pay for more pensions. It's also a scheme that favours blokes. Women have less Super than men, that's a fact. People already raided their Super in the past 2 yrs to pay for stuff the Fed's wouldn't. So those people are now even further behind and will have to work till they die, so no retirement for them. Living on the aged pension is difficult. The rosy picture of retirement and all that leisure time is as much a fairy story as is buying that dream home. There are only a small percentage of the retired population that have a comfortable retirement. As for the scheme about pensioners downsizing, well firstly most of those houses are in inner city areas which aren't cheap and secondly their kids are depending on the sale of that house to help them with either buying a house of their own or using that money to pay off their mortgages. So the kids of those pensioners don't want house prices to fall. It won't lead to affordable houses. When those pensioners purchased their houses decades ago, houses were about finding a place to live not using houses as an investment and then get a tax break so you pay even less tax. Change the culture if you want people to own houses. No house is worth what they are currently valued at.

Saw that the Fed's are relying on the public service to cut their budgets even further which is a trade mark of the LNP. Just keep cutting services to save money. If you are frustrated how long it takes now to get govt services wait till the public service is cut even further. Lots of talk about the cost of the NDIS going up. Yes so what. If it allows people to be productive and pay tax then that's a good thing. We just paid $5 billion for submarines we aren't getting. The Fed's have been spending our money like it belongs to them and at the same time giving large corporates free money during the pandemic to pay to their shareholders and their respective boards getting incentive pay worth millions. Mean time you can't get anyone from Centrelink to talk to. If you live in Melbourne, you've been screwed over by the Feds in the past 2yrs. We got less money during COVID than NSW. We were told to fuck off by Slomo when we asked for money to help people who lost their jobs. Only when people in Sydney started losing their jobs, did the Fed's act. Those long lines at Centrelink offices in Sydney made the LNP shit themselves, because they were voters in the LNP heart land. People in Melbourne will not forget how we were treated by the Feds during the bad scary days of COVID. We even got less vaccines because of Slomo's dislike for the Danny Boy. Slomo even demonised WA which has kept their people relatively safe in the past 2 yrs. The Fed's must think people can't remember how they were treated during the natural disasters and COVID. How dumb are they?

The weather here in Melbourne town has been all over the place in regard to forecasts. Firstly it was supposed to rain most of the weekend and into the start of this week. Then that all changed was supposed to be dry for the start of the week but then it rained at the start of the week. Then said it was supposed to be dry today, now some showers are predicted. And boy has it been windy for the last few days. So flick a coin. Who knows what the end of the week will bring. I don't have any democracy sausages but did make some sausages rolls so I guess it's the same as it has sausage in it.

Hope the weekend is good for you in exercising your democratic rights. We are lucky to have those rights.

 

[darkelf9]

If I hear the hole in the budget(bucket) advertisement one more fucking time…

You need cheese stuffed in your ears.....reference Allo Allo. I would suggest something like Edam.

 

[missswannie]

Well well well. We start the week with a bit of a change coming in. Much hand wringing and lamenting in some circles.

Despite what the news and newspapers kept telling everyone about ground discontent with the incumbent labor governments in Victoria and WA, both states punished the feds in a big way. The so called Teal brigade performed pretty well. The inner city mob were not being listened to and they voted their conscience. Many of them former moderate liberals, but that is a big chunk of the fundraising area gone now. Sydney Harbour is now surrounded by non-Liberals. The Greens picking up a seat in Brisbane, unheard of. Other than Victoria (5%) and WA (13% swing) it wasn't necessarily that Labor won the vote, but won the election. A third direction with voting power is perhaps a new direction for Australia.

From an afternoon on the beach on Saturday to pouring with rain Sunday and today. The usual spring sunshine is deserting us here. The thought of an early winter is a bit depressing.

For whatever reason it is busy here. They want me to go and audit a new place, on the border of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, at 5000m altitude. probably take me a week just to get there. I'd prefer to do an easy trip to London or Tokyo to get my feet wet again first. Still, begger and choosers and all that stuff.

Enjoy yourself.

 

[waratah]

Dramatic weekend for sure.

I don't think ALP won it, I think Libs lost it. Too corrupt, and significantly too far to right. Lost touch with the sensible centre.

If Labor/greens make the same mistake (too left) they will be spanked in 3 years, or perhaps 6. (I'm talking about Animal Justice Party type of balderdash).

Don't mind Albo, or Plibesek. As long as they stay centre left rather than left.

 

[missswannie]

Dramatic weekend for sure.

I don't think ALP won it, I think Libs lost it. Too corrupt, and significantly too far to right. Lost touch with the sensible centre.

If Labor/greens make the same mistake (too left) they will be spanked in 3 years, or perhaps 6. (I'm talking about Animal Justice Party type of balderdash).

Don't mind Albo, or Plibesek. As long as they stay centre left rather than left.

Wise words, the sensible centre. Not a good idea to try and drag that meaning to the right or left and claim that is the new centre. Australians aren't that dumb or suddenly forget what they are all about, despite the media's best attempts at being complicit to that.
As someone wise said, Hawke was the best Liberal PM.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well a new govt and I'm sure people will expect their issues to be addressed immediately so it won't take long till people get annoyed the issue they voted on isn't being addressed. As to what booby traps the LNP have left for the new govt will only be revealed over time. One today has already been spoken about which is in regard to the higher power prices which they knew where coming but buried the report. So we are set for higher power prices and Albo can't do anything about it. The fuel excise halving will cease later this year so fuel will jump again. Was out yesterday and saw that petrol prices in my area are back up over $2.15/L and if you have one of those diesel 4WD then it's over $2.30/L. People will be rethinking their choice of cars as we saw when petrol prices went above $1/L. The second family car might be knocked on the head as mortgages get more expensive. With everything continuing to go up with no end in sight something has to go from the home budget. I continue to be amazed at the price of beef. Are the cows now driving the trucks? It can't all be explained away by higher petrol prices. Somebody in that chain is making a massive profit.

So yet another report about private entities ripping off the tax payer during the COVID JobKeeper payouts. Now it's private schools which used that money to increase the incomes of their staff. Not what JobKeeper was meant for. One of the first things the new Feds can do is to go after those private entities that used JobKeeper to increase their profits and used the money for other things than just keeping people in jobs.

Last election it was the LNP putting out how to vote cards in the colours of the AEC. This election it was the LNP sending a text to people on election day about a refugee boat coming to Australia. Once again a rather despicable tactic by the Libs to try and influence people that a vote for Labor would start the boats again when in fact the boats haven't stopped in the past 10 yrs, the LNP just didn't report it as part of national security, but they were OK with releasing that info when they were facing defeat in an election. This is yet another tactic from the far right that they picked up from the US. You'd expect that type of crap from the Republican party in the US.

What is becoming obvious is how much Slomo was disliked by European leaders and also several Pacific countries. Fiji thought he was arrogant and that came from Barney who led a coup. Albo has a lot of repairing to do. Was funny to watch JoeB's reaction to Albo showing up to the Quad. With Mr Potato Head now being the leader of the LNP, it seems they haven't learnt anything from their defeat. Even their moderates are blaming the voting public as being too dumb to understand the LNP policies as the reason why they lost the election. Really! So will the LNP learn from this loss? Not fucking likely, which means Labor will get a second term. If the LNP was smart they would look to get a talented female in the their senior leadership roles. If they don't well then the female vote won't be coming back to the LNP anytime soon. If either of the major parties don't engage with women as equals then they won't get that vote back.

Was rather surprised to hear the term "educated women" used a lot when referring to who turned away from the LNP. If you went to school then you are educated, however the media seem to imply that you are "educated" only if you went to Uni and came out with a degree or Masters. So everyone who didn't get a degree is somehow an idiot? I had to interact with a lot of so called "educated" people then had to re-educate them as how things worked in the real world which blew their tiny minds. They kept thinking all they needed was to read up on a topic and they were an instant expert. What a lot of people fresh out of Uni don't understand is that their piece of paper is only a starting point. The only expertise they poses is the ability to pass exams. If you want to be "educated" be humble and soak up as much knowledge as you can from people you interact with. Everyone you meet can teach you something.

So still have the beard which reminds me of what my hair used to look like when I was younger, thick and wavy. Might have to trim it though otherwise birds might think it's a good place to nest. Now that we don't have to wear masks in most places here in Melbourne the beard is making the mask more of a sealant when I do have to wear one. No room for anything to get around the mask. Not sure how long I'll keep the beard. The greeter at the bank likes my beard manly because he can't grow one so he's gone for a mo instead. I reckon lots of men have gone the beard option thru COVID and just kept it like me. Also means you don't have to shave just trip stuff. Still thinking about investing in a beard trimmer. Might just wake up one day and shave the lot off. Doesn't take me long to grow facial hair. Usually happens a few hours after I shave. Now the hair on top of the head well that is a different story.

Been watching the spin off series from The Walking Dead. Prefer the original in regard to story. Fear The Walking Dead series takes a bit to get used to. Seems to be taken from the perspective of the younger generation, only problem is every younger person character is basically an idiot intent of killing themselves and their parents. They all have personal issues and are so wrapped up in themselves they can't deal with their new reality which in a way mimics the younger generation who has got so used to a world where they are so focused on themselves that when reality comes a knocking they can't deal with it. We are not teaching our kids resilience in these western countries.

So we are in for some rain here in Melbourne from today onwards into next week, and of course the day I have to be out and about next week is the day predicted for the heavy rain and I'll be on the PT so that should be eventful. Will get a chance to test out the new seniors Myki card I was given back in Jan.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well the rain and windy stuff has arrived in Melbourne town and the Winter temps are a couple of days early. Rather chilly in the mornings now and the temps are not going to get much above 13 all week so Winter is here to stay for a while.

Seems the Lib's are not as smart of the Nat's. By appointing Mr Potato Head as the new opposition leader, the LNP has just handed the next election to Labor which I'm sure Albo is happy with. As with Slomo, Mr Potato Head is trying to reinvent himself but given all the things he has done whilst in govt that were not only stupid but also painted various groups of society as the enemy, people are not going to forget his actions before the next election. Barnaby is now free to act out and run his mouth off. So will be interesting to see if Littleproud will be able to control the knuckle draggers in his party. If nothing else it will be interesting sport, knowing that these fuckwits can't do any damage.

Another week and yet more stories coming out about how much Slomo was disliked, this time by more leaders in the Pacific. Seems our reputation was trashed under Slomo not only in our region but also in Europe and our western partners. Albo has a lot of work to do to repair our reputation on the world stage, plus all the domestic issues. Hasn't taken long for the politics from the opposition to start by stating things will be more expensive under the new govt, given they knew these increases were going to happen when they were in office. Will people punish the new govt for the increase in expenses? We'll see in 3 yrs.

Now that the main election is over, we here in Vic are in for another election later in the year, have to go thru this stuff again.

Was out on the PT yesterday and down at the local shopping centre. Only a couple of people on the bus and whilst there were people at the shopping centre, it wasn't that busy as it has been previously. Feels like a lot more people have gone back to the office.

Purchased series 10 of The Walking Dead so will be watching that over the week. Picked up where the last series finished so no need of a recap. Only one more season being made so looking forward to getting that later in the year. Don't have any pay TV mainly because I can't find enough stuff on there to justify the expense. Might change my mind down the track. Paramount+ seems to be increasing it's content with more sci-fi stuff, it also purchased CBS so that might be worth a look.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you and that you stay dry and warm. Will have to break out the scotch and bourbon to keep warm.

 

[marriedpervs]

Hi from Melbourne, everyone. Well the incredible run of great weather has finally ended with our first arctic blast. Snow on the mountains and those wintery, chilly winds have arrived. And guess what - our ducted heater gave up the ghost last Friday. Waiting to get new one fitted but running a couple of split systems to heat the kids rooms. Murphy's Law I guess.
Maybe we should just go outside and jump in the spa?

 

[MilfDirector]

Wise words, the sensible centre. Not a good idea to try and drag that meaning to the right or left and claim that is the new centre. Australians aren't that dumb or suddenly forget what they are all about, despite the media's best attempts at being complicit to that.
As someone wise said, Hawke was the best Liberal PM.

That's the broblem the left went hard left

 

[MilfDirector]

Melbourne boy.
Man has it changed hopefully next Spring we all have a better year.

 

[missswannie]

On the way back to Oz, after a trip to northern Argentina. It is nice to be down at sea level again, but it is a three day journey back home. There are some cool people over here, just living their life up in the mountains. Great wine too. Their love of bbq's extends to most days so I am all bbq-ed out for a while and will give the vege option a go on the plane to the US.

Whilst away the ticket man has been doing his thing, so on top of the Dockers games there will be NRL State of Origin, Wallabies v England, and a Man U v Aston Villa game to go see as well.

As for the spa in Melbourne I agree that warming up in that then piling straight into bed is a good way of avoiding the old cold foot drifting across under the doona and killing any ideas of a bit of fun. Must tell the bloke to turn the heater on on ours to warm me up when I get in other wise it will be cold hands drifting as well.

I'm hoping the warm western current has started so I can get some waves in. Looking at the overnight temperatures in Perth it still looks south to north. Nothing like running across 5C sand and jumping into 22C water.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well the rain keeps coming here in Melbourne. Had front after front sweeping across Melbourne all day yesterday and it was chilly with that wind. Stepped out briefly then just as promptly stepped back in the house between the rain showers. More rain for the rest of week into the weekend and till the start of next week. Will be driving across the city at the end of the week so set for a slow journey. Also the start of the long weekend so the trip back in the afternoon could find myself in the middle of the usual long weekend escapees. Given all the COVID restrictions are lifted, could be another boon weekend for those tourist areas.

So the interest rates are on the rise again, but putting it into perspective interest rates for home loans is still relatively low. If your mortgage can't take the increases at this stage, you've over committed and living in fantasy land if you thought those extremely low rates were going to continue for the life of your mortgage. That inner city coffee in walking distance from their home that people crave is a fucking expensive nice to have.

What's the go with the Monkey Pox? Who the hell is swiping right on monkeys? There are billions of humans on this planet and people are going for monkeys. Like I know they share 98% DNA with us, but really people, are you that choosy? Makes you wonder if monkeys are going..."hey dude those humans can't get enough of monkey sex, they're also really into bananas".

Have now watched the last complete season of The Walking Dead. Looking forward to the next season which is apparently is the last one but there is some cross over with the Fear The Walking Dead series. Still not a fan of that one, but curious to see if more of the characters from the original series make their way across.

More damage control by Albo and his team. Penny has spent more time repairing relations with our neighbours than back home since she took office. All this has damage from the previous govt gone under the radar so expecting more stories coming out as to how our reputation has been damaged by Slomo and his mates in the previous years. They all seem to say the same thing, that Slomo was an arrogant bloke and he said himself he was a bulldozer. I think everyone is surprised with the quick action Albo has taken on various issues. Even the Murdoch press has been nullified. They can't find any negative stuff to publish. Then you watch Q+A and see Downer just not accepting the reality of the election. The Libs are stunned and totally at sea, but still putting out the same old mantra which shows they don't get it. They are even more shy at going on the ABC, but happy to appear on Sky and on talk back radio in Sydney as their normal echo chambers. Now they are grabbing on to nuclear power since they have lost the fight on coal. Another touch of fantasy land. They have lost touch with reality.

So the Tamil family is heading back to Bilo which is a good thing. This only happened because of Albo. Lets hope the kids don't suffer from mental health issues when they get older. Even Barnaby was on their side. The Libs have a lot to answer for claiming keeping this family in detention was stopping the boats while at the same time lying to the public about the fact that boats were still coming for the entire time this family was in detention. If they published these facts, their argument would be totally hollow. Yet another secrecy of the previous govt. What else have they not told us? We now know they buried a report about the increase in energy prices.

Watched some of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. Not a royalist. We should be a republic. For the Queen to be 96 and still able to conduct business is amazing. Her brain is still very active and capable, just that her body is now letting her down. My mum felt the same frustration as she got into her mid 80's and had mobility issues but refused to use a walker till she had no choice but to use one. That generation is tough given they went thru WWII and harsh times. We went thru COVID and went thru a melt down but nobody was bombing our homes, we just had to stay in it for a while and we have come out the other side pretty well in tact because of the respective state govt's.

Good to see Rafa winning Roland Garros and that he knocked out The Jackass. Rafa now 2 ahead and Roger it seems is done. Rafa himself might be done given his chronic foot injury.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

Mortgage stress is a sad thing. I understand people getting in deep because prices weren't easing and they had to get on the market somehow. Thats lack of inflation and investment buyers competing against first home buyers, but your calculations had to include a much higher interest rate or jobs that have the prospect of big increases in pay. With 14 years of declining interest rates there are some people who have never seen an interest rate hike. There are probably people who have never seen a pay packet like they did 14 years ago either. Despite the line of the average mortgage is $300k, the real numbers are $265 per month increase on a $1m mortgage per every 0.5% increase, and we have a few to go yet. Given the current circumstances of people less reliant on offices its not a bad time for Australia to develop smaller city and town populations and concentrate efforts there.

The big question will be how far we need to go to pop the bubble and stay within reach of the US. Otherwise you blow the dollar out. They are in big shit but we can discount high metals, gas, and farm produce prices that should send our dollar flying but zero effect it. Flip side is there is no reward for Aussies from the high prices and exports. Look at Japan. They can't raise their interest rates as they are only getting their first bit of inflation in 28 years, but that has sent the yen to the bottom. In Aussie terms, the yen has gone from 0.80 to 0.95 and likely to hit parity again. Good time for a Japan holiday or buying property up there, but if you think we have pain at the petrol bowser or gas bills add that sort of currency drop to the oil price!

Domestic gas reservation. Thats built in to West Aust supply so we don't have that sort of problem, but the East coast still haven't sorted that problem out from the last crisis. License to operate says you have to supply the country's needs first. You can then export any left over from the reserved quantity that wasn't used. Otherwise we will have to send LNG tankers around the Bight, although Australia doesn't have storage, just pressure reduction pipelines. You think the people of Qatar pay export price for gas? I am constantly surprised that a lot of the manufacturing doesn't chase a stable gas supply.

Time for a weekend relaxing after weeks of travel.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

So the lack of an energy plan has finally given us a kick in the arse and now we have the energy providers essentially blackmailing us to get higher prices. They remove the supply till the price goes up then they let it thru again. This is a tactic they use in the US and it seems our energy providers are now doing it to us. Again another lack of oversight from the previous govt who just left everything up to the market so it's become a free for all for energy providers. We have plenty of gas so it's not supply that is the issue. We keep paying international prices for our own domestic resources just so energy providers can make massive profits whilst low wage earners have to decide whether to turn on the heater or eat. It's unacceptable in our so called lucky country.

Found out something interesting in regard to rentals. Seems it is now becoming normal for landlords and estate agents to demand the full 12 months rent up front. This really surprised me. Last time I rented was over 20yrs ago. Not sure how many people have that amount of money in their bank accounts. May be a reason why people are finding it hard to get a rental within their budget.

OS call centres are back in full swing again. Depending on the day and the time of day depends on which country you talk to. Also have to get around the fact that English is not their first language so getting them to understand your issue can be a test of patience. These call centres can be here in Australia but it hasn't taken long for service providers to go back to cheaper wages and sending jobs OS again.

Off to the next medical appointment today at a more reasonable time. The weather is still wet here in Melbourne town and that wind has picked up again. Have to fill up the car so will see what that costs. Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Evening all,

Was on the PT today with a trip to the city and found it to be very busy for a Monday. Lots of people around. No issues with the transport but everywhere you went you were tripping over construction. Went to park the car at the station I use when travelling to the city and all the car parks were ripped up as well as some of the street parking. Doesn't seem to matter where you go there is either construction, road works, drainage works and lets not forget the never ending apartment building that they can't find buyers for. Even my little street hasn't escaped the road works. Can't even drive to the shops without being impacted by road works. All these private companies are making a killing on the tax payer and all we get in return is disruption and frustration which seems to be never ending. I get the need to build for the future, but Christ this has been going on for years now.

Since I was a good boy at the dentist I went to the chocolate shop across the road and got my bundle of choc's. Didn't notice any price increase, since everything is going up. Coffee is back up to $20 for a 200g jar. Filled up the car late last week and it cost me an extra $30 than normal. Now we can't find a lettuce. We thought we were thru the bad times.

Had to laugh at people who frequent KFC complaining about the substitution of lettuce for cabbage. If you're eating at KC on a regular basis, you've got bigger issues than complaining about no lettuce for your burger.

Seems the news report from the UN saying we are eating too much has fallen on deaf ears. Hasn't got much traction. The first world countries aren't going to change their ways. Telling Americans they have reduce portions is like telling them they need to get rid of their guns. We are also going down that path with the food we consume. It would be a blow to all those TV chefs that go on to create 10 course dinners. We are not only polluting the hell out of our planet now we are eating it to death. The biggest threat to the planet is us!

Saw an interesting sign on the rear window of a car...'Pet on Board'. WTF does that mean? Is the dog now driving the car? It wouldn't be a cat. A cat wants to be chauffeured around and a ferret can't reach the pedals. Not sure what other drivers on the road are meant to do in regard to that sign. People need to get a life and be more concerned with their own driving. Lost count of the number of times I've seen cars containing baby seats weaving thru traffic cutting other people off and just driving dangerously and speeding. What those signs should say is 'Bad Driver on Board'.

Off across the city again this week to wrap stuff up from the other property. Still have family on that side of the city but at least the trips will now be infrequent. Doing it several times a week for most of the year has been fucking annoying.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. Had a couple of dry days in Melbourne town so of course we're getting some wet stuff in the next couple days.

 

[missswannie]

Ok third time lucky in posting in here without half of what I wrote disappear....

Winter Solstice today. I did the charity skinny dip this morning before dawn for charity. Quite a good turn out. The warm winter current from the north is in so it definitely is warmer in the water than out. As it turned out it is a beautiful 22C sunny day here, again.

No gas or power problems here so no read on how that is going, other than not having a domestic reservation policy is a shit show for citizens. No shortage of lettuce or veges here either so all burgers are made in the proper way!

A little too wet on occasions, which is not surprising as it is the three months when it actually rains here. Pool and lawn is loving being well watered so I can put off repairing the bore pump which got shorted out by a lightning strike in the area. They are under the price of insurance excess these days so it can wait until August.

FINA seems to have come out with a good policy for swimming, with open and women's categories going forward. Entirely sensible outcome for somethng people have been too scared to talk about. All the other sports are now looking at it now that they won't get "cancelled". Nice to see the adults in the room getting on with things.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

It was damp and cool this morning here in Melbourne town. Dashed out earlier to put the bins out since I was up early. The garbo's come thru a little later in the morning these days. No more 6:30 am wake up call of rubbish trucks and the annoying beeping noise cutting thru the silence.

Another life chapter closes today so a big day in some regards. Certainly won't miss the frequent trips across the city. Drove back across the city yesterday during what turned out to be an early peak hour which was a reminder why I came to hate that trip. Only need to travel across the city a few times a year now whilst I'm still in Melbourne. So will be spending more time on my side of the city. Did find a new doughnut shop over on the other side which has only been open for 6 weeks and their doughnuts are huge. Better than Krispy Kreme and more varieties. Krispy Kreme here in Australia is only a shadow of what it is in the US. The doughnuts in their shops over there are much better.

So it turns out the airlines lied to all of us when they said they were open for business. What the didn't tell us is that they used COVID to sack thousands of workers in the industry to be replaced with lower paid workers. People are really pissed off with QANTAS only telling people their luggage was left behind when they land at their destination. This was not by accident, it was a planned action. So imagine travelling to the London and being told when you arrive that your luggage is back in Australia. The reason...they put on extra fuel. So they knew the luggage wasn't being loaded before they took off. These airlines were given tax payers money to keep their staff, but they pocketed the money then sacked the very people they got the money to support. They are no better than the large corporates and private schools who used Job Keeper to increase their budgets.

Saw one apartment owner bleating about the higher interest rates. Turns out she purchased an apartment worth $1 million. Now if you purchased an apartment worth $1 million you're an idiot. Secondly if you can only afford the repayments on very low interest rates, you shouldn't be buying that property in the first place. Don't come on the TV in your designer specs and tell people how hard you've got it. Get your head out of your arse. There are people shivering thru Winter living in a tent because their house was smashed by the floods who have real life issues.

Watched a bit of Q+A last night whilst chomping on a doughnut. It eased the annoyance at seeing Bridget talking more crap. Once again the issue of the wage rise was questioned by small business. Small business only exists because customers have the spare money to spend and that will only happen if their wages can spread that far. Speaking to a couple of small business owners in the last couple of weeks, they told me that customer numbers have not come back. People are holding on to their dollars to spend on more immediate things. So an increase in wages is a good thing to keep up with the cost of living.

Had a laugh last week when Eric Abetz lost his job. I guess the universe had enough of his racism and colonial ideas. One less dinosaur in parliament and one less far right fuckwit in the federal ranks. I'm sure that Aussie with Chinese heritage he harassed in Senate estimates is having the last laugh. Besides Abetz isn't very anglo. I'm sure if I showed up at Senate estimates, Abetz would take a look at my skin colour and get very confused as to why I have a very anglo name. He would accuse me of changing my name even though it's a Herald name, has it's own Latin motto and shield.

Saw this morning that Danny Boy is losing 4 of his front bench. May be they are seeing the election in Nov isn't going to be a good one for Labor. The Lib's are hardly seen. They don't get much air time. Will see how that plays out later in the year.

More paperwork to do in the coming weeks but at least now I have some room to breath. By the time I'm done doing the additional paperwork, Winter will nearly be over. Intend to do bugger all on the weekend plus I have cake and doughnuts and $70 worth of chocolates that I purchased on Monday so I intend to indulge.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Ok third time lucky in posting in here without half of what I wrote disappear....

Winter Solstice today. I did the charity skinny dip this morning before dawn for charity. Quite a good turn out. The warm winter current from the north is in so it definitely is warmer in the water than out. As it turned out it is a beautiful 22C sunny day here, again.

No gas or power problems here so no read on how that is going, other than not having a domestic reservation policy is a shit show for citizens. No shortage of lettuce or veges here either so all burgers are made in the proper way!

A little too wet on occasions, which is not surprising as it is the three months when it actually rains here. Pool and lawn is loving being well watered so I can put off repairing the bore pump which got shorted out by a lightning strike in the area. They are under the price of insurance excess these days so it can wait until August.

FINA seems to have come out with a good policy for swimming, with open and women's categories going forward. Entirely sensible outcome for somethng people have been too scared to talk about. All the other sports are now looking at it now that they won't get "cancelled". Nice to see the adults in the room getting on with things.

Hey Misswannie,

The only way I can post on Lit now is by doing a copy and paste to a draft email, then do a refresh on Lit then copy the content back from the draft email. There is a definite refresh issue with Lit and it just times out and doesn't refresh. Seems Lit doesn't want to do anything about it so only the one liner posts get thru. Makes you wonder if they want to reduce the size of posts but not tell anyone and just let people get pissed off and self moderate.

 

[missswannie]

Hey Misswannie,

The only way I can post on Lit now is by doing a copy and paste to a draft email, then do a refresh on Lit then copy the content back from the draft email. There is a definite refresh issue with Lit and it just times out and doesn't refresh. Seems Lit doesn't want to do anything about it so only the one liner posts get thru. Makes you wonder if they want to reduce the size of posts but not tell anyone and just let people get pissed off and self moderate.

They just bought a forum software package off the shelf (XenForo) but am guessing that they don't have anyone to run it. The same software powers a few different places and the general consensus was you had to download all the third party fixes to make it behave. Keeps IT folks in business "fixing" things! Sometimes frustrating but I figure its free so...

 

[MadisonK]

Hi from chilly south east queensland. Nice to see other aussies on here. Have been lurking a while and trying to get a handle on the place.

 

[missswannie]

Hi from chilly south east queensland. Nice to see other aussies on here. Have been lurking a while and trying to get a handle on the place.

Sunny WA. To paraphrase someone else, it's mostly fucked but now and again someone chirps up and you remember why you logged in.

 

[missswannie]

Went to the NRL State of Origin game here in Perth. I didn't think we had so many NSW supporters over here so they got their money's worth. Normally you would think a pile of Queenslanders when you think about the days of the Western Reds. I keep hoping NRL will expand West and start up the Western Reds again. Put a team in Adelaide as well. One of the struggling sides can start doing co-locations in Darwin and Tasmania to get their fan base up. The Perth mob who just go to any sporting event got into it once the kicking game started up, they understood that part.

We were right alongside the Queensland lass who walked up behind the ABC reporter doing the live cross and flashed her boobs. There were a few in the crowd flashing as well, all the more when the drinks had been flowing. Probably a few more at the NRL than in a typical 3rd and 4th quarter AFL game at Optus Stadium when they start to make an appearance. Cops and security here don't give a rats, so long as you don't go on the ground.

Good to see people being normal again.

 

[MadisonK]

Went to the NRL State of Origin game here in Perth. I didn't think we had so many NSW supporters over here so they got their money's worth. Normally you would think a pile of Queenslanders when you think about the days of the Western Reds. I keep hoping NRL will expand West and start up the Western Reds again. Put a team in Adelaide as well. One of the struggling sides can start doing co-locations in Darwin and Tasmania to get their fan base up. The Perth mob who just go to any sporting event got into it once the kicking game started up, they understood that part.

We were right alongside the Queensland lass who walked up behind the ABC reporter doing the live cross and flashed her boobs. There were a few in the crowd flashing as well, all the more when the drinks had been flowing. Probably a few more at the NRL than in a typical 3rd and 4th quarter AFL game at Optus Stadium when they start to make an appearance. Cops and security here don't give a rats, so long as you don't go on the ground.

Good to see people being normal again.

Didn't see any of the game but had a bloody excellent night. Hubby hosted a boys only night for his work mates and from the sounds of things queensland didn't do so good. Mum and i had an exceptional night though. We've just moved to a larger farm and while i miss our modern little brick house some of hubby's reno's on the old queenslander have been fun. Especially the little playroom downstairs next to the bar with the hole in the wall if you know what i mean. A good night was had by all despite the score.