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Afternoon all,

Windy day in Melbourne which means something is coming from the west. The wind is changing from cool to warm then back to cool. Whilst it is sunny, not much warmth in it.

Off across the city again tomorrow. A cleaning day ahead. Using the hand held steam cleaner. It keeps things cleaner for longer. Will see how the back holds up. Can't get up too easily off the floor these days due to the knee issues. Starting the next tradie task next week. Only on more tradie to employ after that. Spring isn't that far away. The year is moving quickly.

No great surprise that things in Sydney have got worse. Can't have a lock down if all retail is open. Shoe shopping and going to IKEA during a lock down is not essential shopping. Can't understand why general retail was allowed to stay open. There is still nothing stopping people in Sydney getting in a car and shopping on the other side of the city. Being allowed to exercise 10km from where you live is a joke. The gold standard in Sydney is now the gold standard of how not to do a lock down. The fact that so many people of all ages are in hospital and the daily numbers are above 100, comes down to a lack of leadership in NSW. Can't blame the general public if the language from the leadership is rather lay back and unclear. Gladys is doing what all politicians do, try to blame someone else when things turn to shit.

All politicians in the other states will use Sydney to justify future actions in regard to the virus. We now have had three incursions into VIC from NSW of infectious people since the lock down in Sydney began. Not surprising that Smoko has not criticized Gladys as he did with the VIC govt in June. He reluctantly came up with limited support packages with rather harsh criteria, as a way of showing the VIC govt he was still in charge. Those criteria have been scrapped for Sydney. Funny that. Smoko continues to be reactionary and only acts when things get worse.

As for that new ad from the Feds. Well what the fuck does it mean? Just showing lots of arms doesn't mean anything. At least it's just not whitefellas. Smoko is supposed to be the marketing guy. He's pretty shit at that. The ad could be for anything. They could be advertising a new type of bandaid. Why aren't they using some celeb's?

Just saw the news that Italy has won the Euro Cup. The coverage wasn't on the free to air channels. Either way lots of crowds gathering so no doubt more COVID cases will result in England and Italy. Only the security was wearing masks. Silly.

Hope you have a good week.
 
Hi all,

I did see Italy got up last night. Hasnt it been a massive few weeks in sport. Firstly Barty winning Wimbledon which was and is an amazing effort, the first Aussie woman in 41 years and to do it after being injured, simply amazing. Obviously the euros has been huge in Europe (I too am concerned about the covid infections post this). The NBA finals are currently on with two new teams and a couple good stories. Australia getting belted in the cricket and of course AFL carrying on like usual. As much as I love the AFL I am definitely not convinced about some of these teams getting special provisions to travel interstate in this current climate.

Luckily living in South Australia hasnt been disrupted too much bar the lack of travel opportunities. We have been very lucky that Covid has been quite a minor disturbance too us. I for one am booked in now to get the vaccine.

I hope everyone is safe and healthy and enjoying this amazingly cold and nasty weather we currently have been having.
 
I can tell you what is coming in from the west, 5 cold fronts in 8 days and a big bomb low cruising through now with 100km plus winds.
And the Kangas just pinged the Eagles at Optus and probably ruled a line through their season. Big win for NM. We came out of all restrictions again today so the game was open to be a full house. I *reluctantly* accepted some client hospitality and sat in a nice box.

Plenty about Barty, deservedly so, she is a dream with her level headedness and just plain niceness. It is not hard to identify with her. Match that with a huge sports prowess and she is the package. Sadly, not a lot of press coverage of Dylan Alcott and his victory. Now the most successful male player in Australia. If you didn't see his game see if you can't search for his speech at the end. He is an accomplished speaker but if that bloke doesn't wheel straight into commentary or a top position there would be something wrong. I'd back him into politics or sport boards for sure.

Soccer... one thing for sure, England has just done its chances on its bid for the 2030 World Cup. Unbackable after that stuff around the stadium and the streets, let alone the stuff flowing on social media. Channel 7 twitter team needs new jobs after that one coming out on the highlight reel around the world.

I flew up to the Pilbara for a rodeo on the weekend. It was really enjoyable, people having a great time. It was great to see all the local mob from all around come in, lots of faces I knew. There were a lot of stories of the rain that fell and all the out of season stuff, the birds and animals around lakes that are only full every 20 years or so. There are shrimp that stay dormant in the mud but then fill the lakes when the water sits in it.

Enough said on Greater Sydney and NSW. There's some pain ahead for a while until it comes good. Consulting with health authorities and business on what to do, has one word too many in there. Golden fuckup indeed. I think they might start getting serious about it sometime this week. One thing for certain, there will not be a federal election until the vaccine rollout is complete and everyone forgets. Barnaby and co will be dropping the daggers in picking up ground in country NSW and QLD after this.

Tax department is auditing post-fact eligibility for jobkeeper and jobseeker from the last year, plus tax due on super withdrawals. Their indicated numbers and hitlists are downright scary. Whilst they gave it out willy nilly, it was always on the basis of an audit later on and an onus on giving it up when the circumstances changed. Even some of the bracket creep it created for some will be a bit nasty. I have a neighbour that has just received a letter for expected capital gains on his cryptocurrency holdings. He mistakenly thought that because it was crypto it was outside of the mainstream tax monitoring. He had been bragging about his $6000 to $40000 per coin windfall, but you can imagine the letter content...

About sick of this rain and cold, lets get the sunshine back.
 
Afternoon all,

So with the lock down now here in Melbourne it's back to starting the day with watching the latest COVID numbers and checking the website for new exposure sites. Thought we were over that last month, but now we are back at it again this month. And yet again a lock down has impacted another tradie task on the other property. I'm now taking things one week at a time. I've given up on pre-determining an end date to all the tasks required.

Went to yet another specialist this week and was given good news so not sure why I had to go. Need to go back just for a check. That's now three specialists I've had to see in the last couple of years. Geez.

The virus numbers here in Melbourne are less than 20 so now it's 50/50 whether we get out of this by Wednesday next week. If they don't go down to single figures in the next few days, we probably won't end the lock down on time. The lock down last month went on for three weeks for me because they re-introduced the 25km travel limit for the third week. They might do the same again this time, which means I'll be stuck on my side of the city again.

As for Gladys well she still looks frazzled. Nothing calm about her news briefings. Compare that to Danny Boy who looks calm and in control. Plus he doesn't walk away from questions. I can't believe that Sydney still had most retail open and also home reno's and building was still going on. Taken 3 weeks for her to finally wake up. The three lock downs we have had this year in VIC has been due to the virus coming from other states. We've had 4 incursions of the virus from Sydney due to latest outbreak of the virus. So we have every right to be pissed off with the those state govt's. Gladys now has the honor of fucking up the lives over 10 million people in this country. Yet no criticism from Smoko for the lock down. Pays to be a Liberal state. If you are a Labor state well you have to fight for everything. No free rides and no money till you shame them into doing something. And even now there are pollies in the NSW govt who believe a lock down in Sydney was not necessary. They wanted to "let it rip". Fuckwits.

Lots of rain in Melbourne today, which finally matches the weather forecast. Was expecting more yesterday. Hope the weekend is good for you. Obviously if you're not in VIC or NSW, it's life as normal which is good.
 
We had a few friends over for a BBQ and a couple of reds last night, including the brother of a friend who we got to know while he was living in Japan at the same time. He is currently in the Federal Police doing interesting stuff. Mid way through, he excuses himself as he has to go out to the airport for a special duty. Vaccine shipment arriving in from Europe. Now he's not your usual airport wander about fellow, so we ribbed him about being back on the anti-hijack squad for non-existent passengers. Not far off the mark, he said, it was hands on deck to make sure the vaccine shipment got through and on its way to the federal storage centre.

Most isolated capital city in the world (great stretches of desert and ocean sent bad things these days) and you think crooks will come in and roll the shipment... How are they going to go anywhere useful with it? No, the Feds are scared a state will appropriate vaccines and not go with their distribution. I could see an organised gang of teens to thirties knocking it off and redistributing it away from the oldies who can't get their act together but seriously, keeping an eye out for states?... There is lobbying for some areas to get more/all, understandably, but even those states understand that if you have more today you don't get it tomorrow on the even up.

That said, I'm now two doses done, so have my nice green tick certificate. Keep rolling up the sleeve people and let the younger gens get done. You may fuck around with debating which one you will get while you are on the can-get age group list, but you are fucked without it when the tide goes out and we see who is naked.

Talking about naked, weekend controversy about a UK far right wing commentator who now has been visa revoked and waiting on a seat on a plane out. How dumb do you have to be? As for importing them in for a stint on big brother, surely we have enough right wing loud mouths here to do a local employment. Seven and Endemol Shine AU would have been hoping for ratings and and attention on the likely outbursts that would have been part of that show, especially after she had been on Sky News Outsiders six times this year sprouting her bullshit. Very calculated move to see how right wing they could push the family prime time discussions but fortunately we are spared that now. We really don't need that shit here.

France rolls out laws saying you need a vaccine passport to go to bars, restaurants, cinemas, concerts now. Getting real. Instantly the bookings for the jab goes through the roof.

The new Australian immigration form for when you arrive, once they reopen, came out last week. Have you had covid? Show documentation. Time place and brand of first to third shots. Show documentation. Third is interesting in section 8.2 as they are gearing it up for booster shots. Don't get on the plane without documentation. Probably an algorithm for if and what sort of quarantine you require.

Sports... Getting into some hard weeks ahead for a few teams. Hopefully Victoria going hard on it will get the job done quickly and get that end back on track. If you were a pro athlete and team you would be pretty much home - training - home, don't go for coffee, don't go to the rugby now. Iso bubble competition is probably a welcome way of managing that at the moment as you don't know where you are going to get an exposure notice from.

One of these mornings it is going to ease up enough to go for a surf and swim. The winter warm current is really nice, freeze your toes off on the sand running down and then jump in the warm water. It's just one of those years, or should I say a normal year 30 or more years ago but not typical lately. Should see the deep blue green of the crops inland. The wildflowers are all out up north and some of the inland "dry" lakes are proper lakes with shrimp and bird life. How do the shrimp survive the dry years because some of the lake beds don't get much in the way of retained mud underneath either in the dry?

Anyway, stay safe in your areas, do the right thing, get rid of it and then get back to doing your thing. It doesn't listen to arguments nor politicians nor media opinion pundits, so don't bother with the games.
 
Afternoon all,

Well it was coming from the figures we saw on the weekend, Melbourne is in lock down till the 27th. We only have 13 new cases but most of those were in isolation when they tested positive so the lock down has worked from that perspective. The more worrying issue is the regional areas. It spread from the two sports events to the country areas. We now have over 350 exposure sites which is similar to what we had in the previous outbreak over a month ago. This time a couple of those exposure sites are near my suburb but not adjacent. Keeping away from people is a strategy that keeps working for me.

Seems a vast majority of the Pfizer is going to NSW which is appropriate given they don't have the virus anyway near under control and keep looking like a deer caught in the headlights. It just keeps spreading and they can't cope. A similar thing happened in Melbourne last year so we know what Sydney is going thru. Let's hope they can get it under control over the next month. From our experience, it's going to take that long. Now we have three states with lock downs. With different strategies. Would be nice if there was a nation wide game plan, but the individual states have been left on their own on how to deal with the virus. We can't even agree on what is essential work. Over the next few weeks if NSW keeps getting the vast majority of Pfizer the other states will not be impressed. Hopefully the Feds won't rollout Pfizer the way they allocated the car park money. Everyone will be watching. There has already been speculation that NSW is getting special treatment because it's an LNP state. The Feds would be really dumb if that is what is happening behind the scenes. You can bet Four Corners will be keeping an eye on that.

The pictures coming out of Sydney is a tale of two cities. The eastern part had people freely moving about going to the beach, while the west was shutting down and cops searching people's shopping bags with mounted police roaming the streets. If the only pictures that made the international news was from eastern Sydney, people OS would assume the outbreak is not that bad. Again something similar happened here in Melbourne where people in some of the public housing had cops ring fencing their location and wired fencing was put up over night to keep people in that area. Not a good way to manage the situation, not good optics for the state govt. Danny Boy has learnt from that, so that won't happen again.

With all the mask wearing we've had to do in Melbourne since last month, I've decided to go for the beard again this Winter. Also I was feeling lazy. If nobody can see your face what's the point of shaving. This time though will have to try and keep it trimmed a bit more. Might have to invest in a beard trimmer. Last year had someone compare it to Santa's beard. Then she said it looked like I wash it. Well yep, why wouldn't I. Obviously she only knows guys who don't wash their beards. At one point I thought she was going to try and run her fingers through it. It was rather thick and wavy mainly cause I wasn't sure how to trim it properly. So will see how it goes and how long I keep it this time.

As for sport well the Olympics kick off on Friday. Only 1 hour time difference from the east coast so no 3 am starts as with some previous Olympics. Have mixed feelings about it. Yes it is something positive, but given that the COVID situation in Tokyo is not good it looks like elitism. The IOC has overridden what the people of Tokyo want. It's like a dictatorship. Yes lots of money tied up with it but most of that goes to the IOC. Daddy obviously needs his sugar. Still, given most of the country is in lock down it will give us something to watch and take our minds of the virus if only for a short time.

Lots of rain in Melbourne today. Been raining since yesterday evening on and off. That chilly wind is back. The prediction is for rain into next week. Will see if that actually happens. It might clear up in time for us when we come out of lock down.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you even in lock down. Just think of all those tasks you were putting off and now have the time to do them or just veg out on the couch and binge watch stuff.
 
F me, there are some dumb arses in this country. Mass protesting an airborne virus is like fucking for virginity.

Best news of the week was the contract for the follow up Pfizer booster shots with the new formulation. For once we are ahead of the pack and not behind. I would still like them to get the Valneva one, the variant proof formulation.

Brisbane getting the 2032 Olympics is a great outcome. There will be some serious investment into infrastructure for SEQ. With Japan joining China in putting targets to reduce coal use, the market for it is slowly drying up. Lets hope that work force is now able to be redeployed into Olympic construction, and the permanent workforce of NQ able to transition to the setting up of the hydrogen economy.

Olympics should be giving a bit of viewing interest. We didn't get all of the drone stuff on the Seven coverage but a bit of searching should find the complete video. We had friends send us videos of it from their balconies 10km away. Certainly a shame about the crowds but everyone making a show of it.

Love that Indonesia has thrown their hat in the ring for the 2036 Olympics. As our neighbour we will have to back them for that. I am guessing it will form part of building a new capital to replace Jakarta. Geopolitically, getting it would ensure that any South China Sea shenanigans stops coming south as the focus would be too much.

After a fine weekend, there is yet another storm front about to come through over here. The lawn is soggy and no longer has much structure, which the dog is not helping by doing broadies on it. Even the farmers are saying they'd like it to just ease off a bit.
 
Afternoon all,

Well it's looking like the lock down in Melbourne is going to end midnight tomorrow, however the restrictions to be put in place will be the real key to what is possible. Lots of options for Danny Boy. In the last couple of lock downs removing the 5km limit is replaced with the 25km limit and the reduced number of people allowed to visit your home. If the 25km limit comes into the play well then I'm stuck on my side of the city. If only one person can visit the home, well then the tradie work I had lined up before the lock down will have to wait again. Just have to wait till tomorrow to find out.

Was watching the swimming when the news conference came on, so I was switching between the two to find out what the restrictions would be. As Melbourne and Sydney were locking down there was comment of a social experiment as to which restrictions would quell the virus and it seems Melbourne's game plan has worked again. We are very good at knowing what to do when it comes to eliminating the virus in the community. What is going on in Sydney is tragic but unlike the bushfires, it's a man made disaster which could of been drastically lessened if Gladys followed Danny Boy's lead. She still hasn't taken responsibility for what has happened in Sydney and probably never will. Not sure the people of western Sydney will be quick to forgive how they have been treated. They might remember that for the next election. The fact that both young and old have died in Sydney is a human tragedy and shows that nobody is safe from COVID and the choices made by politicians has real world consequences on people's lives.

Was very surprised by the outburst from the NSW Health Minister considering he and their Treasurer were two members of that govt that wanted to let the virus rip. His name suits the situation as he is a "Hazzard" to the people of NSW. What I didn't know was that in the previous lock down in Melbourne, Danny Boy asked Gladys for more vaccine and she told him to go fuck himself. This was while there wasn't any virus in Sydney. Gladys also demanded that Danny Boy re-task the contact tracers in Melbourne, during Melbourne's current lock down, to help the "gold standard" contact tracers in Sydney. So you can understand why Danny Boy would be pissed off. Let's not forget Gladys shut the border to all Victorians early on in the outbreak last year then went on to vilify all Victorians. There has always been rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney but COVID has shown how NSW sees itself in respect to the rest of the country. From the anger on talk back radio, NSW is not on anyone's Christmas list right now. Gladys still hasn't tightened restrictions 1 month into the lock down. People are allowed to be 10km from their homes and able to be exercise for 2 hrs. That isn't good enough. They should reduce that to 5km and 1hr of exercise. As we saw with the lock down last year, some people were pushing the rules by going out to exercise then come home then go out again taking the dog for walk for 1hr. People will push the rules so they need to be very tight.

You can't keep blaming the people of Sydney as to why the lock down is not working. Gladys made a social contract with the people of Sydney that they "don't do lock downs" (in her words) and wearing masks is optional. Even in the first week of the virus outbreak in Sydney, she told people to wear a mask if you can. It was not mandated. So it's not surprising people are confused as to why they find themselves in the current situation. People in Sydney have lived a relatively normal life since COVID hit the country with very few restrictions, so they are not used to having their freedoms cut. The protest in Sydney was dumb but the people behind that were from the usual suspects. A mixture of the far right, the "free speech" boffins who only recognize free speech if it agrees with their view of the world, and those who didn't have anything else to do. They just saw a crowd and thought there was free stuff being handed out. They don't represent a majority of people in Sydney but it did make the international news, even in countries who don't speak English. It was all over the Euro, Asian and African news channels. Australia's lack of a proper vaccine rollout is also making international news as being poor for a western country. Our border might be closed but the internet is still open. What happens here doesn't stay here. The world is watching and we keep getting the wooden spoon.

People in Sydney shouldn't give up hope. To put it in to perspective, Melbourne's outbreak last year at it's worst had daily numbers above 700. I remember seeing the daily figure go past 720 per day. If we had a daily number around 150, that was considered a good day. It was in fact a sign that things were improving. At that time there wasn't any vaccine either. So Melbourne managed to get rid of COVID just on restrictions because we didn't have anything else. We also got rid of the Delta variant last month and we are doing it again. So why would you not follow methods that work and get rid of the politics out of the decision making process. Makes no sense. Danny Boy sent the VIC contact tracers to Sydney to improve the processes here in VIC. Sydney did contract tracing better than Melbourne, so why not learn from that. There is no place for pride or egos in these times.

Now in the interest of free speech I don't expect anyone to agree with my views. It's a free country, but as in the past if you want to have a go at me, then I get the right of reply. After all free speech works both ways.

Hope the rest of the week is a positive one for you.
 
Afternoon all,

Well the Olympics is a positive thing for the country. I was apprehensive if it was a good idea given what the people of Tokyo are going through, with the virus numbers getting worse. But for Australia it has been something positive to see and celebrate the Aussies winning medals and doing their best. Jess Fox finally cracking a gold medal and her dad calling the action. Not sure how he kept it together. The women are leading the way in the Aussie team. The mixed swimming relay was interesting with no constraints on men vs women. We've found some new stars in the pool, so Aussie swimming standards remain high. We've done better than we did in Sydney on home soil.

People have been talking about when we can get back to normal after COVID. Well the utility companies are back to normal, all the charges are going up again. Private industry still has to make a buck even when times are tough. That's one thing you can count on. Thousands could be dying, but Private industry will always try to make a buck. Private industry is profit first, people next to last. We saw that last year and it's happening again.

Tried to bring my next vaccine jab forward but was told that was not possible due to the health rules. So all that talk from Smoko and his mates about getting your second AZ jab after 8 weeks is absolute bullshit. You have to wait 12 weeks. You can delay it without a problem but can't bring it forward.

Apparently 40% of people above 50 have not booked in for their first vaccine jab. Which is rather stupid. The Fed's scared off lots of people getting AZ, now people are waiting for Pfizer, but then there will be a bun fight between people above 50 and people under 40 for the same supplies. At this rate we will keep lock downs an option till March next year. Just dumb. We have so much AZ that we are sending millions of it offshore because we have an oversupply. AZ has done the heavy lifting in the UK. Firstly Smoko was happy to hide behind ATAGI because he fucked up the vaccine supply, now he is throwing them under the bus, because he doesn't want to pay people when lock downs happen. That's the real reason he is now attacking ATAGI. He just thinks people are too dumb to see thru that.

The LNP now has the standard line that Melbourne got more money from the Fed's last year for the lock down. Well of course, because the virus was still circulating in the community for over 100 days. With the way things are going in Sydney, they will surpass that. But you won't hear about how much Sydney will get. This year Vic was totally ignored and Danny Boy had to essentially beg for money. For that initial 5 day lock down this month, people in Vic didn't get anything. The money given to NSW has been more and is back up to Jobseeker levels. That didn't happen to Vic. It smacks of decisions being made on political lines. If you live in a Labor state you have to beg for assistance, if you live in a Liberal state you get money without restrictions and you get more. We have had three lock downs in Melbourne this year but only received money for two weeks in total out of 5 weeks of lock down which started at half of the old Jobseeker rate. So small businesses in Vic have missed out and people have struggled to pay for things like groceries. Unlike last year their hasn't been any financial help with mortgages, rent, paying bills. Rents have in fact gone up and people had to move homes or go homeless since they couldn't work. You won't hear about those stories in the media since most of the media is controlled by Rupert. Even the ABC was very parochial since it's controlled thru Sydney. It was interesting to watch that from Melbourne in the first few weeks of the outbreak in Sydney. It's gone from "nobody loves us" to "why isn't Gladys doing more".

Had a chat with an ex-work colleague in the previous lock down and he mentioned that Deta+ is becoming the dominate strain in India. Heard that from one his contacts. Then I heard the same info from the international news a few days later. So if Gladys is at a total loss of how to tackle the current Delta strain, she will have no fucking hope when Delta+ hits Australia. It is coming. As for Gladys, she just looks beaten and has raised the white flag. Still refuses to lock down all of Sydney and reduce the travel limit. The virus will just do a slow creep to more parts of Sydney and regional NSW. Nearly one month of lock down and the numbers are still going up, just not as fast. Yet more people in hospital and ICUs in Sydney are close to being overwhelmed. Yet Gladys will not tighten restrictions and treat Sydney as one entity. Locking down only parts of the city doesn't work. Given the numbers in Sydney the lock down won't be over in a month. The modelling I saw last week suggested that the lock down in Sydney will continue into Oct given the current rules. Didn't believe it, but now I'm beginning to think they might be right.

More Pfizer is on the way in the next 4 weeks so it will be interesting to see if Smoko sends most of it to Sydney or will he keep to the agreed plan. If he doesn't, well national cabinet will be rather robust. We'll be able to hear the yelling from our respective home cities. Interesting to see Gladys now trying to play the martyr in all this. Still hasn't acknowledged her part in what is happening to Sydney. Have reached out to my friends up there just to see how they are travelling since they haven't had to face anything like this since COVID first came to Australia early last year. Anyone in Melbourne is now a veteran of COVID so we know what Sydney is going thru.

Got news of another death in the immediate family. That's 2 in the past 12 months almost to the day. So off to another funeral. I don't have to organize this one. Still dealing with the outcomes of the last one thanks to these virus outbreaks. Normally I don't go to funerals, but this is family. Seems as you get older you're invited to more funerals than parties. Seriously thinking I might not go to my own funeral, might go on holidays instead. They can't bury you if you keep moving. Whenever you pass an elderly person taking a snooze on a park bench, you have the urge to check if they're still breathing.

With skateboarding and surfing now in the Olympics, I'm waiting for marbles and chess to be introduced, then I'm in. Won't be long after that they'll introduce crocheting and baking. It'll be like going to the agricultural shows, just cost a hell of a lot more.

Hope the weekend is good for you. Another windy day in Melbourne. No rain to speak of but it was forecast for the weekend and into next week.
 
The week rolls on, its August, its the Noongar people's Djilba season starting.

Small victory. With the update to the certificate I just managed to get the Covid vaccination certificate onto my phone. You can do it from the Medicare vaccination proof section of MyGov and put it onto the Google Pay or Apple Wallet apps on your phone. Some of the mine sites here have asked for proof lately so much easier than carrying a piece of paper. It should make it easier to show proof when we start allowing businesses and events to open only to vaccinated.

Shock horror, its the kids and 20-40's that are the conduits between schools, workplaces, and homes. Geez, you might get a Nobel Prize for that. Everyone who needs a bit of help getting done has had their chance now, so start in the conduit age groups and get the buffers in. The booster shots have been ordered for next year so it doesn't matter which one you put in your arm now. Honestly, there is a bucket load of AZ about the place that will be fine. Put that into if you haven't already and leave the Pfizer to the kids.

The rain and wind has finally eased off here. 10mm short of the all time July record since 1892. Its quite nice to have still days. Even going to have a nice 23C sunny day on friday so think I might go get some sun on my bits on the beach. Looked at the sea temps yesterday, no wonder WA NSW QLD all like winter swimming, its 20C plus. Poor old Melbourne and Hobart at 12C temps show why its a bit cold down that way.

I have been suffering from a White Tail spider bite this past week. The bugger got me right between the toes and it flared up like coral wound. A week of antibiotics and steroids. You think Pfizer boobs are the new thing, should see what a dose of steroids does to the girls. In tomorrow to get it cauterised and all should be good again.

Cinnamon Buns.... I have a lifelong love of cinnamon buns. Proper deli/tuckshop ones, not fancy. Rather keen if they have a slather of butter in them. They are pretty hard to find these days. Certain places give their take on them but not the same as the old school ones that used to be everywhere. Barring that, can you go past a Vanilla Slice? I'd go down the list and hop into an apple turnover if the top two weren't there. Got to bring back the good stuff. Imagine if you could that stuff on delivery driver apps. Things a bit stressed in lockdown, here's morning tea to get your head back into gear.

Lighthearted look at things I know but there are some zones in Oz that are in a bit of trouble at the moment. Queensland is going hard at it to smash it, good heads prevailing there.

Talking about Queensland. 2032 Olympics. Good work. Loving the Olympics in Tokyo, even without a crowd there. Mel Brock is advising them up there so had the banners thanking the Japanese public hanging from the balconies which the local media there thought was great. Cate Campbell did a great press conference where she acknowledged that the public had done it tough and half didn't want the Olympics to go ahead, so again thanked them for the hospitality and putting up with it. Pretty simple stuff but the diplomacy of it was well received by the media and public. You'd have to reckon their might be a bit of interest in tourism down under again.

NZ Weightlifters.... yes lets go there. She qualified under the current rules of her country and competition. Understandably, the rules will now be reviewed after the games. I'm happy to let people be who they want to be, but, XX sports will have to choose between fair and inclusive because you don't get both. If you deviate away from fair then it is taking away from XX sports. XX sports codes were developed away from XY sports because there are differences in performance. Outside of sports, I don't want to see penises in womens' changerooms, in front of kids, in gaols, in hospitals or mental wards. You get the picture. The most well intentioned folks will always cop the fallout from the one crazy but you can't give away XX space and rights which are there for a good reason. I had a blue about this with a bloke on another forum who rightly pointed out all sorts of things in favour, but at the end of the day he was a bloke saying open up and give up your rights, not give up his rights.
 
Afternoon all,

Well, you take one day away from watching the daily news conferences and shit happens. Didn't pick up on the lock down here in Melbourne till later in the day. Was at the specialist earlier in the day and discussion turned to the possible lock down. Every interaction you have with people in Melbourne these days includes where the virus is at and what type of restrictions will be imposed. As to where this latest virus infection came from, well there are hints that is came from NSW again. The only people allowed in to Vic are those returning from red zones in NSW, so highly likely it came in to Melbourne from one of those people. The issue flared up due to one dude thinking he would just power thru feeling unwell and then went to work and also participated in his local footy comp. So he has potentially spread it to lots of people. No excuse to not get tested at the first sign of feeling unwell. Now it's impacted millions of peoples lives due to one person's stupidity. The messaging around getting tested if you feel unwell has been broadcast extensively. It's mentioned at every press conference so no excuses to say you didn't know what to do. Just bloody mindedness and the "me" generation mentality fucking up everyone else's lives. It well get on social media as to who the fuckwit is since he is a member of the local footy team, so he is in for some angry posts.

After the news of the latest lock down, got another round of phones calls to rejig funeral arrangements again. Got that phone call late last night, so now I'm not going. We are down back down to only 10 people at a funeral again. More than enough family on that side to fill the numbers. Moved my COVID jab to attend the funeral, now it seems I could of gone to that appointment. The chaos of when snap lock downs are called. Even after lock downs are lifted there are still tight restrictions. We were a week into a two week period of restrictions including no visitors to your home when this latest lock down was announced. This is the third consecutive month when we have had a lock down here in Melbourne. All the lock downs we have had has been due to the virus coming from other states, mostly from NSW. That gift that just keeps giving and fucking up everyone's lives. It's a basket case of state thanks to Gladys. Was interesting to see that Hazzard is now blaming people from refugee families for the spread. Way to go dude. Next he'll be blaming terrorists for spreading the virus. We don't have boat people anymore, so they have to find another scape goat. Anything to take the spotlight of the govt.

No confidence that any type of vaccine jab passport will work on my phone. Thus far none of the other apps have worked. So will have to settle for the paper version if that is needed. MyGov is a secure system but once you take those digital files outside that secure system, you can't guarantee forgeries can't happen. What they should do is just issue everyone a card, like they do when you get the jab and make the next appointment. You only get it when you attend the appointment. Simple. If they can spend $660 Mill on car parks that aren't needed then they can spend some dollars on a vaccination card for everyone. If you are travelling OS then get it stamped in your passport. What's the point of having two passports. They don't stamp passports these days, so there are lots of empty pages. Again a simple system not requiring the right version of technology to make it work. In all my travels OS I've never taken a mobile phone, usually just buy a throw away one. When PC's were first introduced there was lots of hype of not needing paper anymore, well the use of paper actually went up, not down. We keep leaving behind a whole part of society by relying on technology that is not available to everyone. I'm still finding small businesses that don't have paper registers. It's either use the QR code or don't go into the shop and if you do then you can get a fine.

Seems the ABS has learnt from the last Census screw up. Was surprised to get the letter stating that I could fill in the Census early. With the restrictions here in Melbourne for the past week, there is no chance anyone but you will be in your home on Census night. Also this time around it seemed that there were less questions. Managed to get thru it in less than 15 mins. Got my receipt as proof.

The people in Newcastle are obviously not as important as kids in Sydney. Gladys is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Vaccines being removed from regional NSW to give to Sydney. I guess that shows what Gladys thinks of regional NSW. I could be cynical and say most of those vaccines will go to private schools, but I'll wait to see. Why are we imposing tests on kids in Sydney given the virus is raging there? Just let them do a test on-line. Why is Gladys potentially setting up a super spreader event? Doesn't make any sense. We keep setting kids up to fail by telling them that the only way to a successful life and a good job is thru the uni system which is in fact a lie. It's a fairy tale told by universities to get a larger pool of students. What we don't tell kids is that the uni system is like a game of musical chairs, as you progress each year there are less chairs than people. It's part of the design and if they don't get a chair they feel like failures. Lots of millionaires didn't go to uni and don't have multiple degrees. They found something they are good at and perfected it. COVID keeps showing us what is important, but only if we are open to seeing it.

Not sure why people in Sydney are being allowed in to Bunnings with their high virus numbers. Same issue happened in Melbourne till Danny Boy imposed restrictions that included only tradies could go to Bunnings and other hardware outlets. It was mentioned a number of times at press conferences that lock downs are not an opportunity to do DIY projects in your home. No doubt there would be lots of wives giving a long To Do list to their husbands of tasks to do while in lock down. These dudes will suddenly find that exercising is way to get away from the the wife for an hour or two. All the golfers will be pissed they can't meet up with their mates.

Noticed that Coon cheese is now Cheer cheese. Some may say that's PC gone made, after all Coon is a family name. At the end of the day it's how the cheese tastes that sells. It's actually produced in Warrnambool here in Vic as is Cracker Barrel. If anyone has been to the Great Ocean Road, you would of heard of Warrnambool which is just a little further than Port Campbell at the end of Great Ocean Road. If anyone makes it to the Cheese World just before Warrnambool, their milk shakes are amazing. The milk comes from the dairy just across the road. So creamy. Yummo.

For those old enough to remember, there was a licorice bar called a Gollywog and a red sweet bar called Redskins. All those are either gone or renamed. As kids we really didn't care about the name, it was about the sweets. And yes Wagon Wheels were larger back then. Now that's a debate topic. A jiffy bag was what your pie came in, not a bubble pack as it's now known as. A pie cost 40c and a can of coke was 18c. Nobody liked the fact they phased out coke bottles. Couldn't get a refund on a can which meant you couldn't get your 2c bag of lollies which you could get when returning the soft drink bottle. A simpler time.

Two gold medals yesterday that were not expected. The heat in Tokyo is taking it's toll on the athletes and now there is a Tsunami warning. Reckon they got the time of year wrong, but it was probably driven by the Summer holidays in the US and Europe. Same with when the finals of the track is being run, during the heat of the day rather than at night like we are used to viewing them.

Staying on the chilly side here in Melbourne for the weekend. The odd shower, nothing major just annoying enough for the garden to be wet. Not a mowing day. More coffee. With the entire east coast in lock down, it's hard to stay positive, but we will find a way to get thru this at least in Vic and Qld. NSW will be in lockdown till the end of Sept at the current rate of new cases. Anyone in Sydney who thinks their lock down will end by the end of this month is smoking the bad stuff. Hope everyone on the east coast manages to stay safe.
 
Afternoon all,

Well what a difference a day makes. Yesterday the entire state was in lock down, as of midnight tonight regional Victoria is out of lock down and the restrictions have gone back to what they were prior to the lock down. There will be still restrictions in regional Vic such as no visitors to the home, but travel and the 5 reasons to leave home will be lifted. So not total freedom. Given the new daily number, it seems people here in Melbourne are not confident the lock down will end on Thursday night. We know from past lock downs, that we need a couple of zero days of community transmission before the lock down will lift. If the new cases in the next few days are only in quarantined people then we should be good.

So with the lifting of the lock down in regional Vic, the funeral is back on for me. But have to take the restrictions with me, so can only attend the funeral then drive back home. No visiting family. Another couple of hours of phone calls to sort that out. Phoned the COVID number only to be told they couldn't give me any advice on my situation because they haven't been given the latest info. So ended up calling the local cop shop since the cops are the ones that will be handing out fines. Was informed there was no issue and unlike last year I didn't need a piece of paper to attend a funeral. Last year with the "ring of steel" you needed to apply for permission to come into Melbourne from regional Vic. The cops were also scanning license plates to check if people were trying to sneak into or out of Melbourne.

There would be a lot of happy people in regional Victoria, and all small businesses would be scrambling to get ready for tomorrow but can only have patrons from regional Vic. The lock down in Melbourne means we can't travel for social reasons, so we can only do the 5km thing. Can't even go to my regular Dan Murphys.

Weather wise this week the only day predicted for rain is the day of the funeral, of course it would be. Nothing like a drive to the country on a rainy day. Joy oh joy.

Seems crazy that Gladys is thinking of opening up Sydney next month. Can only sit here in Melbourne and shake your head. Danny Boy says he doesn't like to criticize Gladys but when pushed he has a dig. Smoko is even slowly walking away from Gladys. NSW might not be the LNP stronghold it has been when this is all over in that state.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. Chilly mornings still in Melbourne but the daily temps are at least getting above 15. A balmy 17 was predicted today but the afternoon chill is back. Nearly time to fire up the heater. Not sure we can say that anymore these days considering they are all electric starters.
 
Wagon Wheels

Here in the UK Wagon Wheels are minute compared to when I was a kid. They used to be the size of a dinner plate, then a side plate now theyre more like a large digestive biscuit.
As for Mars bars ...
Incidentally Why do custard creams globally have a fern imprint?
 
Morning people.

Fining up again over here, its popping up to 24 a bit later so the human solar batteries might get a recharge over the next few days. I'm definitely not an indoors type. Heading off on the boat tomorrow I am now told. Suits me. A bit of swimming, bit of sun, a few fish, a beverage or two at the Rotto Pub.

AFL finals looking more likely to be going over this way. Not ruling out the Melbourne until the last minute, but SA and WA look safer bets should it come to it. They'll have to be fast for the first weeks though. We have Bledisloe Cup here next week, and rugby australia is putting together a deal to have South Africa and Argentina fly in for the beginning of September for a round series between all if they are allowed to quarantine at the gold resorts used by the AFL.

Can't believe the kerfuffle with SA enforcing the rule that anyone coming through Sydney airport has to go into quarantine for 2 weeks in SA. Why do you think the swimmers made it to Darwin and Howard Springs to avoid that. They used JAL commercial flights for the athletics lot and brought them into Sydney instead of anywhere else... Have to back them on that as it would be a precedent for anyone else coming in that way, with known transmissions coming through the airport. Some places take things more serious than others.

SA again, but they have the smarts rolling out the jab to 18-30 year olds. The most mobile years they are the prime lot in moving stuff about and the least reticent in getting it in arms. Changing to vaccinating the transmission vectors rather than those who might cop it hard is a better idea now. Get it into the kids too. Only after all that is finished to do you offer anything left over to the oldies who are vaccine shopping. Too late to pander to them anymore, its all about getting the numbers up.

The wildflowers are out now from north to south and a very pretty sight all over. The canola fields are also bright yellow and every other crop a deep green and tall so some big contrasts out there. Looks like it is going to be bumper crops all over the place at this present point in time. They are struggling to recruit workers for the harvest later though. One uni has moved forward exams and providing training and transport to students to be assigned out the wheatbelt so looks like a few thousand extras recruited there. The smart farms are already offering double amounts of the usual rates to lock in people, others are persisting with the delusion of the set rate is the only rate and woe is me because I can't get cheap labour. The tonnes per hectare forecast is so high they could triple and not even blink. If I was a student in the east I'd be applying for a contract and border exemption, do the two weeks quarantine on a farm campus, earn a bucketload and then probably stay for the entire WA summer before heading back in March.

Actually there are some smart kids out there. Without the travel, a lot of them have knuckled down and dropped their expenses into savings. Around my daughters age groups, uni students, 18-24 types and they are signing up to deposits on housing schemes. A lot of them are figuring on a big chunk of farm work over the next 6 months and making some big inroads. After years of seeing it go the other way this next generation is setting themselves apart a bit. It could well be a watch this space on conspicuous consumption if they revert back to the age old lock in the big ticket stuff and get up the ladder.

The anti-abortion anti-family planning mob were dealt a blow here last night with the passing of law similar to other places where they are not allowed to be within cooee of a clinic or pressure people going in and out. Predictably a couple of upper house members from the religious right were against it all and were out making a fuss this morning alongside the mostly older white males who are the regular protestors. Demanding regulation and counseling from different viewpoints be mandatory now. I laugh that the same tossers wanting legal barriers are the same anti-vaxers who claim freedom of choice and the rights to not vaccinate nor have vaccine passports.

A great giggle yesterday at the photo doing the rounds from a certain person. They reached their weight goal and posted a photo of the readout on the scale on facebook, Obviously didn't look at it too hard as the dark glass surface of the scale is also reflecting straight up the legs and fanny of the person in the bathroom standing on it. Thats one way to introduce your bits to family friends and followers. When I had my first kid and living overseas we would take heaps of photos and email them back. The photo of smiling baby face from the bath happened to have a bit of a view in the mirror to the side of naked mum holding up daughter 1 for the photo. That was somehow missed before the mass mail out, so suddenly everyone has copped a view.

Have a good one. If you are in lockdown do it right.
 
Afternoon all,

Well we are now officially in week two of our extended lock down here in Melbourne. Given our experience with case numbers, I don't think anyone in Melbourne was surprised that the lock down was extended. More mystery cases today so will see what that leads to. If we are coming out of lock down next week then Tuesday will be the trigger day, but if the major news day is Wednesday next week then we won't be coming out of lock down. That has been the trend in the past lock downs this year. Good chance that even if we come out of lock down, the rules of no visitors to the home will be implemented. Which means for some people that kills off the rest of the month to get work done at home. No visitors means no tradies, reno's or auctions. Only emergency repairs are allowed. We actually lock down properly in Melbourne and we keep beating the virus spread, so the rules work, but nobody likes them.

Wednesday was a shocking day to be on the road. Not good visibility and even the wind screen wipers were battling the wind. Got some unexpected rain last night. Garden is still wet so no mowing today. Starting to get some of the late Winter blooms. The front garden will be full of various dwarf flowers in the next week. Lots of colour. Gets lots of views from people out for their walks. The secret is quite simple. I don't do anything, just good soil.

Well the creep of COVID keeps going in NSW. Numbers in Sydney have not peaked yet and Gladys has given up trying to suppress it and allows the virus to leak from Sydney to regional NSW and into other states. Once again people from Sydney with COVID were allowed to leave NSW without any checks and two managed to get on a plane from Sydney and made it all the way to Melbourne airport before they were caught. This is not the first time this has happened. It just keeps happening and NSW doesn't give a shit. Obviously there aren't checks at Sydney airport if you are departing. If Gladys can't control the NSW borders well don't blame other states if they stop anyone from NSW travelling to their respective state. Don't get angry at any other state if you're in Sydney and can't travel. Blame your own state govt.

The only people allowed to travel from Sydney to Melbourne are those travelling for "end of life" reasons or essential travel. Everyone else is banned. Travelling for a funeral or wedding is not essential travel. Look what has now happened to the ACT in the last 24 hrs. Lots of pissed of people in ACT today thanks to NSW. Only takes one infectious person from Sydney to cross a border to shut down an entire city or region.

As for the discussion that NSW is important for the economy and most goods and business going thru NSW ports, well that is by design. NSW has battled a long time to retain that monopoly. It goes back a long way and hasn't moved with the development of the rest of the east coast or the rest of the country. The current reliance on NSW sets up a single point of failure for the economy of the country. Gladys seem to believe that the entire east coast should go back 150yrs where NSW covered the entire east coast. If it wasn't for gold being found in Ballarat, Victoria would not have been formed. The solution is quite simple, re-route the flow of goods to other parts of the east coast. Gone are the days when all international goods and flights had to go thru Sydney. I remember even in the late 80's that I had to fly to Sydney to get an OS flight then change flights again in Sydney to come back to Melbourne. There weren't any direct flights OS from Melbourne back then. We need to move with the times and stop living in the past. We aren't a colony anymore.

Lots of debate around the country about the unwillingness of Gladys to implement proper lock down rules in Sydney. Had a chat to a couple of friends in Sydney who are frustrated with where things are going and they can't see an end to it. Crazy talk from Gladys that she will loosen restrictions when they get to 50%. Nobody knows what that means. Don't even think she knows. Keeps talking about getting out of lock down by the end of the month. Not going to happen unless she is happy with more people in hospital and more people of all ages dying. She still seems determined to pander to private industry above the health of people. Using concern for people's mental as an excuse to not suppress COVID is reckless and just political spin. The pictures of people in the eastern suburbs going to the beach, no masks, catching up with friends at the beach and just generally having a good time, whilst in the west, cops and the army. It is just nuts. What it will mean is that the past 7 weeks could turn into 6 months. Sydney will break Melbourne's record of 112 days in lock down. But we went hard and with a proper lock down. So NSW, I'm fucking happy Gladys is up there and not here otherwise those 800 who died, would of been thousands. NSW is becoming the Florida of Australia. At the moment Glady's is political dynamite for Smoko. The rest of the country will not tolerate one state Premier going rogue. Wonder how long it will be before regional NSW revolts against Sydney? It seems that Gladys cares more about eastern Sydney than the rest of the state. The wealthy given priority cause they fund the LNP.

Not sure how long it's going to take to get to 80% of the population vaccinated. The Feds just keep talking about the % of the population vaccinated but that's not a % of the total population, only those allowed to get vaccinated. No idea yet when kids can get vaccinated. So any talk about opening up is rather silly till all of the population is eligible for vaccination. Getting my second jab on Monday. Looking forward to that. Have family members on with either side of the age scale who aren't concerned about COVID. Have had words with that lot. Still surprised when people tell me they can't get COVID. Nobody is bullet proof. I know what damage a bullet can do the human body. If you designed a bullet proof species, humans wouldn't make the list.

So we still have members of the Feds who believe global warming is not real. It's Winter right, what global warming! I mean it still gets cold so what's the problem. Yep sounds like a far right LNP member. Free speech after all. Lets lean on that. Given the LNP will win the next election and now we have less than 9 yrs to do anything about climate change, basically we are fucked. There will be more of the country that is uninhabitable and people will move for environmental reasons putting more pressure on our cities. The voting public care more about their own personal wealth than anything else. If there was a lift boat, we'd get on first with all our money before worrying about any other life. We seem to think that the Earth needs us to survive. Actually COVID has shown us that life on the planet can get on quite well without us. We are not crucial to the flora and fauna of the planet. We can destroy it. We have done such an awesome job of that. Seems wanting a future for the kids is somehow a lefty thing. Don't live in the inner suburbs, hate lattes and don't wear sandals.

Hope the weekend if good for you. Find your happy place. May the blue bird of happiness shit on your enemies.
 
Polranny said:
Here in the UK Wagon Wheels are minute compared to when I was a kid. They used to be the size of a dinner plate, then a side plate now theyre more like a large digestive biscuit.
As for Mars bars ...
Incidentally Why do custard creams globally have a fern imprint?
Click to expand...

No idea on the custard creams, don't buy them. Probably more an English thing. Seen them without a pattern. Can't tell the younger generation Wagon Wheels were bigger in the before times. Try telling them there was one phone in the house in the hallway. Blows their tiny minds.

Hope things in the UK are getting better.
 
Given it's Sunday and Smoko believes he is doing God's work and therefore chosen by God and also I figured Gladys needs some divine intervention. Face it she needs help. I penned a little prayer for the LNP.

The LNP Prayer

Our donors who art in Sydney's east
Allowed be thy funds
Thy tax cuts will come
Thy spreadsheets with be done
In secret as directed by heaven
Give us our franking credits
And forgive us our racism
As we forgive those who trespass against coal
And lead us not to drink lattes
But deliver us from scrutiny
For thine white privilege is the power and our glory
Fossil fuels forever and ever
Old white men
 
Hi guys.
I'm in country Victoria. This lockdown business is dragging on and on and on! I hope 2022 starts to resemble normality or I'm going to go crazy (crazier). Long for overseas holidays and throwing away the mask for good. This delta strain is unstoppable except by the jab and even then I expect to catch it sometime, but hopefully mild symptoms. (I'm old and frail and feeble).
Stay well and strong.
 
Well about 410 Australians died today.

Seven of them with or from covid ( there's a difference).

Can't believe how we default to these dangerous lockdowns. Hearing from my brother the harm being done to late teen mental health in education ( he's a teacher and shattered by the suicides and kids dropping out). I truely believe the cure is worse than the disease and we'll look back on our short term risk aversion with deep deep regret.

We have to look for non lockdown solutions, be brave, be innovative, accept some risk.

Sweden, Singapore seem to have the balance right. Some mitigations, pretty low fatalities last few months. ( not that fatalities on face value are a good measure, as here we lump all deaths with covid into the reports).

I'll sign a waiver accepting moderate covid risk if it means my kids can play sport, socialise, and not inherit a debt smashed economy.
 
Afternoon all,

Good to see more Aussies on the thread. The only way the thread survives is if more people post stuff. Everyone is going thru different stuff in these COVID times so just post stuff that impacts on you, positive or negative. What made you happy or what pissed you off today.

Had my second Astra jab yesterday so now waiting for the antibodies to have an orgy which I'm told will take a month then I'll be mostly covered from a severe case of COVID. Takes a few days to get the paperwork finalized on the MyGov account. I reckon we should get a badge a COVID safe badge. Would work far better than the COVID safe app.

As with the previous vaccination site you needed a compass and a cut lunch to actually get to the spot where they do the jab. Again not sure how older or disabled people would cope. Lots of walking required. And of course it rained on me on the way back to the car. The process itself went rather smoothly, run by nurses again. Was busier than the last time because they were doing both Astra and Pfizer. Had more questions to answer. For some reason they wanted to know my nationality and heritage. Didn't need to do that for the first jab.

By the end of this lock down in Melbourne we would of been in lock down for the entire month of August. After the lock down is over there is a good chance there will be a couple of weeks of restrictions on households which is essentially an extension of the lock down. So expecting that again. Thankfully nobody has died thru the previous virus infections coming into Victoria this year. The difference this time around is that half the cases are kids. That wasn't happening even in the last lock down. The early lock downs in Melbourne have worked thus far since nobody has died.

There were people doing the wrong thing in Melbourne which has led to this lock down being extended. A few people believing that their rights to not follow the rules is more important than the health of the rest of the community. That shit is not on. Lots of people have missed out on family rituals due to the virus led lock downs. No govt will lock down their economies just for fun. Comparing the circumstances of deaths is not helpful, all life is precious and every death impacts a family. Not sure telling a family that a death in their family due to COVID is not as important as the freedoms of people to hold a party or go on a holiday or go to the park. There are young people dying of COVID now, that didn't happen last year. When a majority of the country is vaccinated then we can have debates about managing deaths vs freedoms. In normal times hospitals risk manage deaths vs treatment on a daily basis, but these are not normal times. People are dying of COVID who didn't need to. We have just over 20% of the eligible population fully vaccinated and have 60% not fully vaccinated. Smoko reckons we need 80% fully vaccinated. There isn't a plan yet of when we can vaccinate kids. No point decorating a house till you build it first. Who would of thought at the start of last year we would be dreaming of just going for a drive to the country.

Since most of the cities on the east coast are in some type of lock down, hope those people can find something to stay positive. And yes if some regional spots want to call themselves cities, you guys are included I guess. Stay safe everyone.
 
Afternoon all,

Another day of cases in the 50's today in Melbourne town. That's two in a row which seems to justify the extended lock down, not that anyone is happy about it. Don't buy the fact that people have lock down fatigue because millions of people in Melbourne are doing the right thing. Only takes a few to fuck it up for the rest of us. As with previous outbreaks the virus seems to be spreading fast on both sides of Melbourne. We have seen this before. If we keep having cases in the 20's and above this time next week well the lock down will be extended here in Melbourne. People just have to stay home and away from others. Just fining people is not good enough anymore. From that party in Melbourne the total amount of fines is around $350k and counting. Yes the people who organized that party are fuckwits but so are the people who attended. Getting an invitation to a party doesn't mean you have to go. Seriously what a stupid thing to do. There were people in age groups from the very young to the very old. Again just plain stupidity.

Have to laugh that Sydney is now imposing a curfew but once again it is a piece meal approach. No curfew for the eastern suburbs. Another back track from Gladys. Doesn't give anyone any confidence she is on top of this. Previously Gladys said that lock downs don't work, couldn't even say the word. Then she said the 5km restrictions Melbourne imposed don't work. Then said locking down the entire city of Sydney was not required and masks were only required in the western suburbs. Then said that curfews don't work. Melbourne imposed all these restrictions and they worked. Gladys is being forced to impose the same things Melbourne did last year. Now she is saying that others states can learn from how NSW has handled Delta. Well she is right. All the other parts of the country can learn from NSW on how not to manage Delta. It is the gold standard on how to mismanage Delta and transport the virus to other parts of the country. And the latest wisdom is not to publish all the exposure sites because they don't want to overburden people with information. Treating people like little kids. Yep that's going work, just don't tell people where the virus is. If they don't know well then COVID doesn't exist. Head in bucket of sand stuff.

If you reckon I'm pissed off with the NSW govt impacting my life and millions of people in Melbourne you'd be right. Don't have an issue with the people of NSW. Not their fault they leadership is a basket case. I am concerned for friends in NSW even though they are totally vaccinated now. Their mental health is being tested given they can't see much hope right now.

So just to cheer everyone up the latest news from Israel is that they are facing a new wave of COVID and that the vaccines only last 6 months so into the future we will all need booster shots every 6 months even when we get to 80% fully vaccinated. The WHO is not in favour of boosters mainly because there are still lots of countries that still haven't got their first jabs sorted out. So all the talk about getting to 80% then just opening up the country might be giving false hope to people. Lets hope Smoko doesn't fuck up the booster supply otherwise we will be back where we are now.

The big winner from what is going on in Afghanistan is Pakistan. They have been funding and supplying a safe haven for the Taliban for many decades. They fooled the US into eliminating Al Qaida which allowed the Taliban to take over that territory. The US got wise to that too late and stopped trusting the Pakistani security forces. The main reason for Pakistan to encourage the Taliban is to have a militia to fight any threats from India. Has nothing to do with terrorism against the west. They were never a threat to the west. All this is well known and kind of an open secret. Lots being made about the Taliban now having more sophisticated weapons and military vehicles and aircraft. Well that's not much of a threat. They are guerrilla fighters they don't fly planes and once all that stuff breaks down they'll just let it rust. So what happens to Afghanistan is now up to the people of that country. They outnumber the Taliban and if they want to take their country back under their terms then its up to them. No western country will have the appetite to put in another military force. What we can do as one of those countries that was as part of the occupying force, is to resettle Afghan people who face persecution from the Taliban and those who helped us do our job. Can we trust the Taliban to do what their PR campaign is saying? Well no of course not. As for Smoko well he is true to form. He only takes action when everything has gone to shit. Not surprising we have left people behind to their fate. Too little too late. Seems to be an LNP mantra.

Well the knives are out for Gladys from her own party. They are quite happy for her to manage the current outbreak, but when that is eventually under control she won't last long. Alan Jones will make it his mission to ensure she is replaced. Sky News will jump on that band wagon as well. They are just all holding fire and waiting for Smoko to utter those fatal words..."I have total confidence in the Premier of NSW...". Nobody in the NSW LNP wants the top job in the current circumstances. She will be the only Premier to lose their job in dealing with COVID. Every other incumbent Premier has seen their vote increase. I guess another example of the gold standard in the NSW govt. With all that extra vaccine now going to NSW, in a perverse way NSW is being rewarded for a fuck up. They might get to 80% before the rest of the country because of the extra vaccines, but if the rest of the country isn't up to the same % don't expect them to allow people from NSW into their respective states. The lock down in NSW will last at least another couple of months and if they don't try something new and find news ways to get the message across, NSW will be in lock down till Christmas. The NSW govt just has to be honest with people. They won't be out of lock down by the end of Sept unless they want the NSW hospital system to be overrun. Hopefully they aren't that stupid.

Looks like we are in for another storm in Melbourne town later today. Rain predicted for the weekend and for most of next week. Lucky we are in lock down. We can all stay dry and what a shame we can't mow the grass. Did it yesterday knowing more the wet stuff is on the way. Hope everyone stays in touch with friends and family. A simple phone call can make the world of difference. Stay safe everyone.
 
Off doing some mental health support work with SF veterans this past week. My part is more minor and relates to past stuff prior to the invasion and the economic side, but if that line of discussion crops up then we have a conversation. Many of the people want more information and wider viewpoints, rather than cottonwool approaches, so there have been some really detailed discussions.
The documents surrounding the February 2020 surrender agreement between the US and Taliban negotiators, leaving out the Afghan government and other participating nations kind of solidify the whole thing. At that point all other parties were just riding the train to the end. I think a lot more of that needs to be in the open for the general public to understand the circumstances. The non-signatory Afghan Government was hardly going to hang around much after that got activated.
There are some national discussions that need to happen surrounding this. We can't have another Vietnam after the loss there sent veterans into the woodwork to stay quiet. Our national monuments and remembrances are dedicated to wins, and are not framed for losses. We are going to have to change that as we have 20 years worth of not only military but the various contractors that did the other stuff. People will argue that we don't have to find different ways, but the fact will remain that with the US and UK pushing us to to take 20-30000 Afghan refugees per annum, not 2000, we will not be able to integrate them if we are celebrating something that caused their situation, nor be able to negotiate diplomatic agreements to move people with the Taliban government if we are positioning wrongly. It's going to be tricky.
The number of fellows who are opting to have Crusader Cross tattoos removed now, having fallen under the spell of the traditionally more religious oriented US special forces, is large. The Middle Ages Crusades ended the same way too, so somewhat prophetic and not going to be a good focus in the mirror in the mornings for some.
Not so bright news for some of our Eastern States people. For all the good work of people doing the right thing, there are a few cretins that become vectors and make it worse rather than see results. Noone around the country is going to loosen things up and take a backwards step to a common denominator. If the situation was reversed you would expect the same as a matter of intelligent course.
Bledisloe Cup got called off over here as New Zealand decided it wasn't in their players interests to go ahead with it. AFL finals may or may not be considered for here. One of the sticking points is the entourage of AFL people, wives, guests, sponsors and the need for them to depart afterwards back to their home states and not stay on over here. I guess a few people have ideas of an extended WA stay afterwards. We have the Afghanistan evacuees starting to fill the hotels here on their arrival from UAE, and there are a bunch of military units due in shortly to Learmonth as well as here. I think quarantine for interstate arrivals of regular folks has to take precedence over AFL sponsors in the greater scheme of things. I'm sure less negotiating and more reality will occur in the coming weeks.
Both of my kids have got in in the first week and got their first vaccinations. There is a very willing uptake rate in the younger generations and the mass centres are full. Later on it will be chasing up the stragglers and less technically competent that can't make bookings. I think a govt letter with a ref number date range and a phone number to call to get it sorted will go a long way in chasing the loose ends as they emerge. I imagine the younger age vaccinations are going to start reducing the vectors in the community, as school age immunisation programs will as well.
It's warming up a bit over here. Sun is definitely getting up earlier, birds are waking me up before my alarm, so I can put that away again. I'll have to put the solar blanket back on the pool to warm it up bit by bit. I could do with a day in the sun on the beach again soon to recharge my own solar batteries.
 
Afternoon all,

Having a lazy day. The current lock down has people in limbo, so planning to do stuff is on delay. Given our higher numbers today which were not in isolation doesn't look good for us to come out of lock down here in Melbourne on Sept 2. Expecting that to be extended. If we were coming out of lock down next week our numbers need to be in the 20's this week. That has been the previous form from the govt. Usually don't open up till we get at least one day in the 0's.

Sydney has broken our daily record of COVID cases by over 100. Frankly they can have it. The LNP can't now keep pointing at Melbourne in their ongoing rhetoric. Danny Boy can bite back and point to NSW. NSW will probably break thru the 1000 mark by the end of the week. Doesn't look like it is has peaked yet. Gladys wants to change the focus. The old "nothing to see here" approach. She's been taking tips from Smoko. Vaccinating their way out of it is a long way off. If she opens things up by the end of next month the numbers will get worse and their health system won't cope. People who need ICU's for other health issues will end up dying unnecessarily.

The AFL won't take the chance of holding the Grand Final on the east coast given the rampant cases in NSW which has impacted the whole of the east coast. Brisbane was a safe haven last year, not now. Perth seems the only safe place to have crowds. The NT wouldn't want more people coming in given their recent COVID scare. As to whether the teams for the Grand Final need to isolate prior to the game well the cancellation of the bye week gives the AFL some freedom in time. The other option is to push the Grand Final date back. They've done that before. Either way the Grand Final will happen just won't happen in Melbourne. Only thing that needs to be sorted out are the logistics.

The uptake of the COVID jab for the younger age group here in Melbourne is going gangbusters. Has been open here for a couple of weeks. Was surprised when Danny Boy announced it since it wasn't agreed to by the Fed's as it is only with Astra not Pfizer. There hasn't been any hesitation with the 16-39yr olds. They are showing up the over 50's. The over 70's are even worse. They seem to be waiting for Pfizer so they will be last to get vaccinated. Not clever. Got my certificate to prove I've been fully vaccinated. Would be nice if it was wallet sized. Since we are going to need boosters, they should come up with a card. Get your booster and get a free coffee!

So the protesters seemed well coordinated in all the major cities. These protests were going to happen in Melbourne regardless of the lock down extension. The people that showed up were looking for a fight and a majority of them were young men looking to hit someone. Just a bunch of thugs. There was even one dude with a 9/11 placard. Using the US date system I might add, so just a lemming. And as usual it was the usual groups at the core of which are the far right. It's all about creating anarchy. They don't believe in any form of govt except one that conforms to a single set of rules which crushes any sense of free will. A dictatorship in other words. They keep going on about free speech and their rights, but once in power they kill of those two things. Anyone who doesn't agree with their doctrine is literally killed off. They only exist in Australia because we are a democracy and they enjoy all the freedoms that comes with that. They live in a safe western country yet go on about being oppressed. They should take a look at what is going in Afghanistan, that's real oppression. They need a reality check but that's assuming they have rational thought. Not much of that in their ranks. The people who join their far right groups are those people with a chip on their shoulders and who think society owes them something. Society owes you jack shit. Blaming everyone in society for your circumstances is the easy option.

Seems we are dragging the chain in getting people out of Afghanistan. The US have airlifted over 17000, we are only airlifting less than 50 on each flight. That's less than a domestic flight. Smoko knew this was coming and told the US to fuck off when they were planning the withdrawal earlier in the year. Now we will have to rely on the US to get our people out including those locals who helped us. The US is now choppering people from outside Kabul to the airport because the roads are too dangerous. The end of the month is only a week away after which there is no telling what the Taliban will do. They don't have to honour the agreement after that. They have already executed those who oppose them in regional areas. As for those Afghans on protection visas here, well just make them permanent. Their visas run out in a week and they can't go back so it doesn't make sense to keep them in limbo. It's quite ironic that the leaders of the Taliban believe in Sharia law but have had their kids, including their girls, educated in western schools and universities. Smacks of hypocrisy.

Regardless of what else is going on in the world, the seasons keep going. Seeing more early Spring growth on the trees. The bare trees are now filling with green growth and flowers. The weather I thought we were going to get on the weekend didn't arrive. It was rather sunny. Got some rain late last night, expecting more sometime today. It is Melbourne so who knows when that is going to arrive. Being a weather forecaster in Melbourne is difficult work since the weather is so changeable thru Spring. Hope the rest of the week is a positive one for you. Now if we can just stop Barnaby making speeches. Wishful thinking I know.
 
Doubling down by the PM on the opening plan. 70% 80% doesn't include kids, so in fact it is 50%. Throw the kids into the number, given the high infection rate with kids in Sydney, and then we have a decent plan. For them it should be a fast process if it is like the mass vaccinations we all had at school. Just bring it to them and you should have the whole place done in a day, school at a time. The current 16-30 pick up should be indicative of how fast they all will move for it.
Add workplace vaccinations to the mix and no jab no job requirements and you eliminate the economic pressure. Especially in the west where the national imperative has been to keep those iron ore mines and gas fields running no matter what. Add to that the hospital system at full capacity already before any extras and you understand the political imperative here. Our other major problem is the remote indigenous vaccination rate. Some of that has been the silly AZ vs Pfizer idiocracy that went through, some has been the supply that was temporarily allocated to Sydney being restored.
It is a plan that has acceptance in NSW and Vic as a step forward, but obvious to everyone means a big step backwards in QLD, SA, Tas, NT and WA. ACT maybe on the fence there now, but essentially part of NSW for this exercise. QLD is probably the bigger litmus test as it will be the first to get people heading north. McGowan will keep border controls and the benefit of the Nullabor distance through the kids immunization program and until the remote Aboriginal communities are done.
Sick kids and lines outside of children's hospitals are recipes for political disaster. The old line of kids don't vote so don't matter is still probably true, but mums looking after sick kids do. The U.K. with its high immunization rate is good data for what to expect. We just didn't have sick kids to begin with. At least we are not going to be a Florida.

Looks like the Kiwis are coming to finish off the Bledisloe Cup in Perth after all, just a few weeks later. They haven't offered any refunds on tickets yet anyway so the original holders should all go. AFL Grand Final a good possibility of being here too. Teams know the drill, they get to stay and train at the golf resort up in Joondalup and the Vines then play at the stadium. If they want to have a grand final parade then they need to be here for a week beforehand, like Essendon and Richmond did for the Great Walk before their game. They are all tested to the nth degree at the moment so nothing new on procedures.

25C over here this week until Thursday. The wild flowers are out and the beach beckons I think. It will be good to be solar powered. Commodity prices are easing off so the pressure on the market to get things done over here should ease a little. New gold or iron ore deposits needing finance and listings have been insane. BHP selling out of all gas and oil to Woodside has released BHP from its carbon future worries, and given Woodside something to work on until it can work out what to do with itself in the future. A few happier people here now that Woodside is rehiring half of its people. There were a lot of folks that started with them in the early 90's and had been one company people for decades until getting the arse last year. Just as they were finishing their new building. Only a few of the mining companies here have rooftop pools with their corporate gyms...
 
missswannie said:
Doubling down by the PM on the opening plan. 70% 80% doesn't include kids, so in fact it is 50%. Throw the kids into the number, given the high infection rate with kids in Sydney, and then we have a decent plan. For them it should be a fast process if it is like the mass vaccinations we all had at school. Just bring it to them and you should have the whole place done in a day, school at a time. The current 16-30 pick up should be indicative of how fast they all will move for it.
Add workplace vaccinations to the mix and no jab no job requirements and you eliminate the economic pressure. Especially in the west where the national imperative has been to keep those iron ore mines and gas fields running no matter what. Add to that the hospital system at full capacity already before any extras and you understand the political imperative here. Our other major problem is the remote indigenous vaccination rate. Some of that has been the silly AZ vs Pfizer idiocracy that went through, some has been the supply that was temporarily allocated to Sydney being restored.
It is a plan that has acceptance in NSW and Vic as a step forward, but obvious to everyone means a big step backwards in QLD, SA, Tas, NT and WA. ACT maybe on the fence there now, but essentially part of NSW for this exercise. QLD is probably the bigger litmus test as it will be the first to get people heading north. McGowan will keep border controls and the benefit of the Nullabor distance through the kids immunization program and until the remote Aboriginal communities are done.
Sick kids and lines outside of children's hospitals are recipes for political disaster. The old line of kids don't vote so don't matter is still probably true, but mums looking after sick kids do. The U.K. with its high immunization rate is good data for what to expect. We just didn't have sick kids to begin with. At least we are not going to be a Florida.

Looks like the Kiwis are coming to finish off the Bledisloe Cup in Perth after all, just a few weeks later. They haven't offered any refunds on tickets yet anyway so the original holders should all go. AFL Grand Final a good possibility of being here too. Teams know the drill, they get to stay and train at the golf resort up in Joondalup and the Vines then play at the stadium. If they want to have a grand final parade then they need to be here for a week beforehand, like Essendon and Richmond did for the Great Walk before their game. They are all tested to the nth degree at the moment so nothing new on procedures.

25C over here this week until Thursday. The wild flowers are out and the beach beckons I think. It will be good to be solar powered. Commodity prices are easing off so the pressure on the market to get things done over here should ease a little. New gold or iron ore deposits needing finance and listings have been insane. BHP selling out of all gas and oil to Woodside has released BHP from its carbon future worries, and given Woodside something to work on until it can work out what to do with itself in the future. A few happier people here now that Woodside is rehiring half of its people. There were a lot of folks that started with them in the early 90's and had been one company people for decades until getting the arse last year. Just as they were finishing their new building. Only a few of the mining companies here have rooftop pools with their corporate gyms...
Click to expand...

I think when Kerry Stokes starts backing it, the vibe from WA will change?
 
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