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[missswannie]

Another hot week over in the west. Finally the ships are arriving with containers held up with freight routes down, so over the next 6-7 weeks we might start getting some normal supply back in the big chain supermarkets, if you are dependent on them. Shame they all stopped using sea borne freight interstate over domestic crews vs overseas crew rates. If you are going to have a slim just in time distribution system then you better have some resilience in it. Darwin and the NW need a few ship deliveries now to restock a few more items. The rail line has just reopened.

Of course, local fresh stuff was in ample supply at the non big 2 stores.

Just got the latest gas bill in since the leak was detected in November. Looking at the historical graphs, seeing as we don't use gas for heating, just water heating and cooking, the leak must have really kicked in Mid 2021. About $100 difference. Trying to reconcile it with construction in the area, or when the earthquakes in the wheat belt started intensifying.

Rather large increase in people going to the nude beach here. Quite noticeable. The usual summer influx of farmers and with uni going back next week the students on the beach there in big numbers. A lot of people in from interstate getting back into it I'd say.

Now that they have decided to open up the borders we will see if the decrease in cases east makes it a bit easier on imported numbers. It's limited to triple vax and G2G pass testing afterwards but not restricted. A lot of grumbles of going back to venue restrictions to accommodate it. It is interesting seeing the WA connected people returning in the last month doing negative RAT tests to travel but then getting picked up on PCR tests on arrival. The numbers are not in line with accuracy difference. As the Reddit article says, go get a saliva only test kit, gargle with listerine, test negative, submit it, travel while positive. Still won't be pleasant for a West Aussies who haven't had to deal with anything to date, but a massive vaccination rate. First case in a vulnerable Pilbara remote community last night so the big worry area will now be tested.

Not that it will affect the CBD. The big companies and mining houses ordered their city workforce to work from home weeks ago, so pubs and restaurants are bleeding before we start. Still laughing at pub owners getting caught on audio planning to ditch the "pretty ordinary" looking local kids and hire good looking backpackers cheaply when they get them in. At the same time as asking for another handout. Pretty ordinary alright. We hope that people coming across chasing the mining jobs take note of what the local wages are and don't sign cheap contracts and undercut.

Could be the right time for pensioners and social security people to ask for an extraordinary top up. Fuel prices up, rental expectations up (prob time to ditch negative gearing tbh) food price inflation rising. US is about to go on a sustained interest rate rise, so if we don't stay with them the AUD will go through the floor. The worlds largest fertilizer supplier with 15-20% share just declared force majeur on 2022 deliveries so AG output will be down. Of course, if the AUD sinks through the floor, the miners will make giant profits. BHP is now 11% of the ASX valuation now so maybe mining heavy super funds will do well.

Anyway, time to strip off and spend an hour in the pool prior to mums 80th birthday party by the Swan River. Only 37C today so relatively cooler than the rest of the week, but still.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,
Took a while to find my subscribed threads and back to here. Not much in the Help to navigate the new look. Not sure about the new look, I'm sure some people will struggle to get used to the new methods to get to stuff. My post could go all tits up so here goes nothing.

Interesting to see yet another energy retailer pushing to remove their coal assets sooner than scheduled. It has certainly got the LNP on the hop. They thought there was plenty of time at least another decade before they had to make a decision on going to renewables. The biggest issue is the infrastructure in the electricity grid. It isn't built for solar panels and power going into the grid which is why it takes so long to get connected to the grid if you want to have solar on your property. So the Fed's have been given notice that coal is on the way out and they need to come up with a transition plan for those impacted by coal winding down. Seen it too often that when there is major change to industry, govt's are slow to plan. Was involved twice in those types of major shifts and saw people's lived shattered because of the lack of proper planning. Had older workers breaking down in front of me realizing their working life is over and were too old to learn something new with different skill sets. A lot of them took early retirement which they didn't want. The last big change was the demolition of the car industry by Tony. The LNP didn't give a fuck about what happened to those workers and the same will happen to the coal industry workers. Those stories will appear on the news in the next five years.

Happy that we have scrapped QR codes here in Vic for everything except hospitality venues, however if you've booked all the venue should need to do is tick off a list rather than you having to check-in. When going to the GP you have to check with reception when you arrive so then having to check-in didn't make sense. Masks are still a thing here and I don't think that is going to change this year. Thankfully you only need them when stepping into a venue and of course on PT, that bit makes sense. Unlike what is going on in NSW. It's rafferty's rules again. Now the NSW govt is calling train drivers terrorists. When the nurses held their rally they weren't called anything. The wheels have really come of in NSW.

So things are progressing with the other property. Hoping to move to the next stages quickly. Hasn't helped that my internet has been down for most of the last two days. The internet company was supposed to do this work on Friday last week, but without any warning my landline and internet went down Monday morning and didn't get it back till close to 4pm. Then yesterday same thing happened for the entire afternoon. Didn't get it back till nearly 6pm. Was expecting emails to finalize docs so fucking annoying. All I got from the internet company is a standard message that the work will be completed as soon as possible. Have noticed that since we have gone to the NBN system, the phone and internet can go down without any notice. The previous systems were much more stable and least people had a landline to contact people. Now every elderly person has to have a mobile phone. The younger generation don't get why this is an issue. They don't remember when there was only one phone in the house on a cord usually in the hallway or if you were hi-tech, you had a wall phone in the kitchen. That was it.

Just lost the rest of my post. This new version of Lit has some major bugs, they need to fix. Not fucking impressed.

 

[darkelf9]

I feel your pain. The old suck it and see method with most IT changes to software just pisses people off. Would of been nice if Lit either sent everyone a one pager stating the major changes or had something similar in the FAQ section. When I logged on I was totally lost as to where things are. Even something as simple as changing Subscribed to Watched Threads was not obvious. Didn't have a clue what Watched meant. Sounds like you're perving on someone. They should issue trench coats and a spy kit. There also doesn't seem to be an auto save. The little green light flashes which you assume is an auto save but then you lose stuff when posting. So not sure what the purpose of the green light on the floppy disk is meant to do.

Will take a while to understand how to use the new stuff. Even now I can't tell if what I'm writing will fall under your post or just be posted as a separate post. The preview option doesn't show what the post will look like, just shows what you've typed. If there are limits on this new system it should be obvious such as truncation of posts after a word count which is what happened on my last post. I got the Oops pop-up which made no sense then it published my post missing the bottom third. The only way to ensure all your words are posted is to do a cut and paste from another media, which is annoying and doesn't allow people to respond as they have a thought. I'm sure more people will complain about the new changes.

 

[missswannie]

Yes I lose posts halfway through writing them. Not sure what is going on with that.

The share button is a lot more problematic. Hit that on any post (not just your own) and there is a copy of it and your user profile on whatever social media site you select. I don't see that as being conducive. Apparently you need that instant share functionality if you are a writer, according to the site owners....

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Don't

Yes I lose posts halfway through writing them. Not sure what is going on with that.

The share button is a lot more problematic. Hit that on any post (not just your own) and there is a copy of it and your user profile on whatever social media site you select. I don't see that as being conducive. Apparently you need that instant share functionality if you are a writer, according to the site owners....

Hey Misswannie,

At least I know it wasn't me that screwed up when doing my post yesterday. Just on here to day to see if what I posted stuck or not. I now also realize that Reply means replying to someone's post, previously it was Quote. So the confusion continues. When I post I just post what I'm thinking about on the day, I don't come here with pre-written content. So I can't repeat anything in a post that is lost. If that's what we now have to do then it loses spontaneous conversation on here which doesn't make any sense. Otherwise we are reduced to the one liners...."Hello my name is Bruce and I want a root call me"...more like a post-it note for dating apps. Not my thing.

My ISP has caused my internet and landline to go down for long periods of the day without notice which has been happening since Monday, so I was already pissed off before logging on to Lit. Have needed the internet this week to review and sign off on docs. Saw that you guys are back in the heat again. No rain in Melbourne unlike Qld and NSW, just humid here again today. Hope your day is going well. Don't worry about the infected coming your way, it's part of life these days. We've gone thru the worst of the restrictions, so for us it's more freedom where as for you guys it means a change to what you've been used to. 2022 was supposed to be better than 2021, thus far I don't see it. Crossing my fingers before I post this...here goes nothing.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Keeping this short in case I lose stuff again.

Putin, he no good. New refugees in the making. Scomo silent on possibility of accepting them.

Me go now. Note to self...buy pigeons, Lit no good

 

[missswannie]

Afternoon all,

Don't

Hey Misswannie,

At least I know it wasn't me that screwed up when doing my post yesterday. Just on here to day to see if what I posted stuck or not. I now also realize that Reply means replying to someone's post, previously it was Quote. So the confusion continues. When I post I just post what I'm thinking about on the day, I don't come here with pre-written content. So I can't repeat anything in a post that is lost. If that's what we now have to do then it loses spontaneous conversation on here which doesn't make any sense. Otherwise we are reduced to the one liners...."Hello my name is Bruce and I want a root call me"...more like a post-it note for dating apps. Not my thing.

My ISP has caused my internet and landline to go down for long periods of the day without notice which has been happening since Monday, so I was already pissed off before logging on to Lit. Have needed the internet this week to review and sign off on docs. Saw that you guys are back in the heat again. No rain in Melbourne unlike Qld and NSW, just humid here again today. Hope your day is going well. Don't worry about the infected coming your way, it's part of life these days. We've gone thru the worst of the restrictions, so for us it's more freedom where as for you guys it means a change to what you've been used to. 2022 was supposed to be better than 2021, thus far I don't see it. Crossing my fingers before I post this...here goes nothing.

I see you are right on the reply part. That's probably why the site owners were pissed at me bagging them yesterday in a reply to post.... I'm still pissed at the share function.

Yep dry as a nun's... over here. 37 today which equals the hottest summer on record, and with one more above 35 it will be the hottest. We last had rain in early November and the retic is going overtime trying to keep the grass alive, let alone green here. I think they have given up trying to enforce the 3 days a week watering for those with bores and move everyone to 2 days a week. Just the pool evaporation is in the region of 1.5 inches a day in a 50000 litre pool, so that needs topping up. Fortunately an inline filter from the bore.

I believe we get a break on tuesday and wednesday next week at 28, but not much in the way of cyclone activity yet so nothing to pull the weather system up from the south. Likely to be hot right through April.

Yes normal over your way is a big change for us. Sydney had its Eastern suburbs bus driver, we had our "massage" specialist who flew in from Tassie. It is starting to go around, university O week this week should see that happening, but mostly school kids now. Poor kids have to have school with the windows open now, its hotter in the classrooms than the 40C outside. Still, like at the beginning, its beach weather and coffee in outdoor cafes. Most sensible people and companies abandoned the city offices a few weeks ago so they are looking at emergency assistance packages for retailers. I shall be the one underneath the beach shelter working on the laptop for a while.

Clive... wouldn't want to see him on my sort of beach. End of comments

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Up early this morning. A bit of a warm night but not enough to use the fan but enough to make sleeping a task. The humidity will persist here in Melbourne for the next few days. Was out in the garden for a short period yesterday and just sweated out my t-shirt and shirt with little effort. Some of that rain in the north is coming our way thru NSW. Not as much as I've seen on the TV thru QLD and NSW coasts.

So Putin is showing his true nature. Lots of people thought he was a shrewd leader. They now think he is just another dictator off his nut. Putin accusing the President of Ukraine a neo-nazi is rather stupid considering the President is actually a Jew with relatives who were victims of the holocaust. Putin is using a Rump style campaign of lies. He has totally misjudged the people of Ukraine. Putin thinks the people of Ukraine are just peasants who will fall in line, well he is realizing they don't want Russian rule and will fight collectively. Now Russia is being isolated by the EU as a trading partner, even Turkey is acting against Putin. Poo Bear is even walking back his support. Just saw that Russian sporting teams are being banned from international sport. The Russian economy is now also being impacted with a drop in their dollar. All that needs to happen now is that the UN demands a change in Russian leadership before Russia is allowed continue to participate on the world stage.

Back home the flooding in QLD and NSW is tragic and didn't need to happen. The LNP has just ignored the previous reports indicating flood prone areas will need money to improve their flood proofing such as higher levies. Lismore was on the top of that list. They have just been ignored. The LNP has been in government long enough to address those issues. Continually pointing OS to the big emitters doesn't help making changes in our backyard. Also local councils are to blame by rezoning flood prone areas as residential. As with our smaller Pacific neighbours, parts of Australia will require people to move away from low lying areas that regularly flood. Insurance companies are increasingly not insuring people who live in flood prone areas. We will have to rethink where we live but also govt's around the country need to have the guts to stop new residential areas being built on land that will flood. Climate change is real and we need to change how we decide on where to live. Lots of talk of impacts on the economy by other things, well if the Fed's have to spend millions on disaster relief every few years then that will damage the economy. It's all linked. Asking people to continually donate to disaster relief will result in donation fatigue. We will have to spend more money on infrastructure and have a dedicated properly funded disaster relief service and not just populated by volunteers.

Off to the other side of the city today and tomorrow for viewings. In the final phase of dealing with the other property. The work load has drastically dropped off, but having to keep everything neat and tidy is a pain.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

A couple of days since allowing people into WA again. I love all the talk of 668 days since borders dropped, they just forget all the months in between until the Sydney plague started. Makes for good politics I guess. Looking at some sneak numbers from Treasury and I think Dom might have another cow when the 2021 economy and export numbers come out.

The old flight routes might be getting a dust off because I don't think the ones over Russia are going to be palatable anytime soon. Quite a few things. Going to have to keep an eye out for white diamonds if you are in the luxury purchase thinking pattern, as there a bucket load of them that are mined there. If a retailer tells you you can't tell where they are from then leave as they don't know their stuff.

The week of cooler weather leaves us again for another round of hot weather. A very pleasant 32C today for the first day of the long weekend. We set up camp on the beach early and stayed until a very red sunset tonight. It was good to just have skin sun and salt.

Warnie passing away is a bit of a shock, only a day after we were all mourning Rod Marsh. As a doctor was espousing today, be very wary of strain on a heart that has suffered stress with past covid infections. He has had a larger than normal number of people showing up with minor heart attacks doing relatively low stress activity. Warnie certainly lived it large with a crazy amount of talent. You might have predicted that it would not be a fading end down the track, but not at 52. The renaming of the stand at the MCG is fitting, probably a few statues. Victoria will no doubt do a huge state funeral. I think it would be a good public outlet after a couple of hard years.

We've got extra hot weather forecast through
May, the east coast has wet weather through the same. There is going to have to be a review on what gets built where because it's all catching up with us. With 900bn in debt, the capacity to change it is going to be tough coming out of the public purse. We are going to have to get creative on new industry to get a few more dollars through the door.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,
Well a new week and parts of the east coast is getting hit with more heavy rain. Here in Melbourne we only one day of heavy rain but a majority of that happened overnight till the early hours of the morning before sun rise. Had to drive across the city on that day but thankfully all the wet stuff had moved on and was tracking to the east coast. Melbourne being on the south coast we don't normally get weather from the east. Still getting weather mainly from the west so the temps are still capable of the 30's and still humid most days. That will all turn around by mid April and the cool weather arrives. It's like a light switch is flicked as it happens suddenly.

Been watching the misery in those flooded areas. Lots of people are angry with the NSW govt over their lack of effort in the first couple of days. Dom is getting the same reception Smoko got when he finally visited bushfire areas. The 1 in 100 floods are happening every 5 yrs and even normal flooding is now higher and wider. Building levies will not be enough. More people in Lismore are talking about relocating the town. A number of people will now look to move away. Either we move towns or build deep 15-20m trenches around river towns and build levies further into the ground. Water has a way of finding weaknesses in infrastructure and undermining the ground. The biggest issue in Brisbane is the water coming up the drains causing flooding on streets. Doesn't need to rain in local areas for flooding to happen. That stuff doesn't happen in Melbourne. We don't have tidal rivers linked to our storm water drains. There needs to be a major rethink on planning infrastructure by govt's around the country, including where people are allowed to live and how we expand cities and build towns. Our love of living around the coast needs a rethink also with climate change. Unless you live near a fucking high cliff

Like everyone I was shocked to hear about Warnie passing away. Mainly because of his age. Having two cricket legends passing away in the same week would of been a shock to most cricket fans. Spent many Summers as a kid watching Lillie and Marsh at the MCG. They were a magical combination. Marsh's death wasn't that much of a shock. Lots of men die in their 70's. For men the 70's is that age when men start dying. If anyone has been to a retirement seminar, one of the slides they show you is the difference in % of men vs women living into their retirement years. There is a reason that most of the retirees on a bus trip are women and it's not because hubby is home on the couch.

I find it ironic that Smoko is looking to put a submarine base on the east coast. Well I guess if you are going to house submarines putting them in a place that gets smashed by flooding couldn't hurt, after all they are designed to go under water. Which ever place they pick you can guarantee it will be political. It will be costly because there will most likely not be any serviceable infrastructure. If the Fed's are worried about China then putting your major Naval strike weapon on the opposite coast doesn't make a lot of sense. You can't deploy them quickly. It's like when Defence purchased northern hemisphere tanks then deployed them from here in the south to the tropical north. So naturally they failed to perform because they broken down all the time due the local temps. Not a lot of forward planning on that one. The only winners for the new Naval base will be private industry which would be rubbing their collective hands together at how much profit they are going to make. That basic rule is that when private industry bids for Defence contracts they just add a couple of more zeros on the end. That's just pure profit and they always make a good profit. That's our tax payers money making their profit. You can also be assured that the people managing that contract are accountants with no expertise in what they are contracting for. It will come down to whatever is cheapest not what is required. Then years of more money being paid out to private industry to fix the fuckups. That is the play book mainly because Canberra makes the decisions not where the expertise lies which is in the respective parts Defence in other parts of the country.

Now that the other property is on the market, I now hear that the property market has cooled. Now investors are telling real estate agents that the market has cooled as a way of paying less for property this month compared to last month. People over estimate how much their property is worth. Most auctions end is a no sale. As to what is a house worth, well it's worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And yes, no house is worth what it sells for. Just like diamonds, it's a false economy. Then your other half loses it down a drain.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. A thought for those that have been impacted by the floods. Have friends in those areas and have been in contact to see if they were safe.

Note: I think Lit posts have a time out. Noticed that if I have a post open for a while the rest of what I type doesn't stick.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Moomba is on here in Melbourne and it's a long weekend with the public holiday on Monday. Not sure how the Moomba Parade will go with numbers. The Grand Prix set up has been happening this week as well. Driving around the track you can see the stands being assembled and the fencing is up. It looks more like a race track. They will be shutting down traffic access to that area any day now and it won't be accessible till a few week after the Grand Prix next month.

Petrol prices are still going up. It doesn't seem to matter which side of the city you live, all the prices are high. Even the smaller independent operators are not much cheaper than the big companies. Won't be long now that it will be up around the $2.50/L. All those people with 4WD's that never leave the city might have to rethink the cost of their choice of car. Mum's might tell their kids to catch the bus rather than drive the 4WD to and from school pick ups. The price of petrol going above $1/L killed off the 6 cylinder family car and a lot more people were taking public transport which caused issues with public transport and the govt needed to beef up services to cope with the large numbers of people using the PT. Prior to petrol prices going past $1/L I could get a seat on the tram going to work. When they went above $1/L it was standing room only. This change happened within a few days. May be the price of petrol going thru the $2 barrier will see another rethink about what car to buy.

So Smoko finally got his photo op but was too scared to talk to the people of Lismore and so close to the election didn't won't any potential bad press so didn't allow the press to follow him. It showed a lack of respect to those people who were flooded and his refusal to even address people's concerns. He should of held a town hall gathering not run away to only have contrived staged photo ops. Was noticeable that he mainly talked to the military on the ground and ignored anyone not vetted by his minions. As per usual the Fed's are slow to act in the face of a disaster. Smoko should of picked up the phone and got things moving sooner. The money being given to those people flooded out is rather pathetic considering these people have lost everything with in lots of instances no place to live. There is $80million in interest just sitting there. Smoko has gone to Slomo. The people who have been flooded out and lost everything have every right to be angry at Slomo and his govt. Dom looked shaken at his press conference. The fact we live in a flood and bushfire prone country should not be a surprise to anyone least of all the Feds. These events have got more intense in the past 5-10 yrs. I've noticed in the past 5 Summers that the previous norms of Summer are not happening. I've noticed this mainly because I'm usually doing work around the house during Summer. The weather has changed and what we could depend on no longer applies. Given what we just heard from the IPCC our weather is on track to permanently change for the worse.

Lots of discussion about why the ADF were so slow to move. The ADF is not set up as a disaster relief force. It's not their primary role. They cannot operate in this country without being "invited" to deploy, it's part of the law. The extra troops being announced by Slomo is not for disaster relief. It's the Feds job to manage disasters in this country. So people having a go at the ADF is not appropriate. It was interesting that only the Army was deployed. There are Navy and Air Force groups in those areas that were flooded but not used. Army is not the only military group that has helicopters either. So it seems confusing given the scale of the disaster that only the Army was deployed. As for the response well there is a major disconnect between State and Fed govts. There is a now a specific organization set up to deal with disasters. WTF were they doing? They were set up to cut thru the so called red tape. Obviously that isn't working.

Will be interesting how we deal with refugees from Ukraine. It's going to happen. Will the Feds treat them like other asylum seekers fleeing war? Or will they be treated differently because they are white Christians? You can bet Slomo will be there for a photo op. Might even host them at The Lodge. One thing we can be sure of none of the refugees from Ukraine will end up on Christmas Island is a detention centre. We reserve that for toddlers and non-Christians. The way we treat refugees is shameful but the Feds know it's a vote winner so they will keep doing it and we keep voting them back into power to keep doing it.

Off across the city again tomorrow. Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

Life continues in the hot zone. We have come down to low 30's for the week but who knows when it will go up again.

Covid is interesting here. I don't see a great deal of anything about the place. Certainly the vacced are ok, and smaller than anticipated people in hospital are almost 60% unvax from the 2.5% holdouts remaining. It is predominantly kids being the transmission vector and parents in the same household. Uni students otherwise. Other than wearing a mask nothing much changes other than check ins and bouncers to boot unvacced out of restaurants cafes and pubs. Everyone has it down pat. The stadiums will be at 50% for the first few games The West Coast Eagles player who was a holdout has got himself jabbed when told his 700k salary was being reduced to 20k on the inactive list.

Fuel is painful. Best not to own a boat with an 800 liter tank that needed filling with diesel...ouch. Its fishing time might be limited and just be happy moored over at Rottnest over weekends and the like. The solar panels do well in topping up the batteries for day to day stuff and not needing to turn the generator on too much.

Supermarket shelves are starting to fill bit by bit now that the train line is open and they are still using ships. Goes to show Australian shipping is still a necessary service. Odd things are in short supply here and there still. Some crazy decisions though in what they could bring in during those few months. You could have as much chocolate as you wanted, all the brands, but someone decided that there would be just one type of tampon, no toothpaste or toothbrushes....

Should be interesting times for the LNG producers in the west. I dare say there will be a few people looking for extra supply routes. I'm not sure Europe has the shipping stock to send gas around the Cape because those tankers don't fit in the Suez. We still have the pipeline down from the north and the guaranteed domestic supply, so it won't be sold out from underneath us by the exporters. It will be interesting to see what the producers on the east coast do as they don't have restrictions on their volumes. Might be a repeat of a few years ago. I hope it is not a cold winter over there as there might be some tough choices on energy costs and inflation. I laugh at the RBA only mooting an interest rate hike later in the year. The genie is out of the bottle and if the US raises theirs to get their nightmare 7.1% under control, they can't wait too long here or the exchange rate drop will fuel our import price increases. Quite interesting seeing the private equity firms starting to dive for cover. All the take overs and easy funded mobs around, tech especially, are now getting the call to find out when they might expect some profits.

The beach weather continues over here so happy. Should go well into June or July at this rate and the weather system in the centre of the country trapping everything. Thats not a bad thing. We don't need heating like other places do, but the aircon electricity bills are pretty high this summer!

Enjoy your self, conserve your cash, and work out the new normal all over again.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well my internet issues seem to now be resolved by me making yet another phone call to the ISP but this time I got a local rather than an OS call centre. The issue was narrowed down to my modem. With all these "upgrades" (I use that term laughingly) it fucked up my modem by it not resetting when it would come back on. I also learnt that with the NBN your home phone is linked to your internet with Voice of Internet so it's not a separate line. In short if your internet goes down so does your landline. And you who still uses landlines you may ask, well a lot of people. For some it's their only option since mobile phone plans are so expensive as are mobile phones. With all these digital systems now dominating our technology we've gone backwards in having reliable stable communication systems. Even our power networks are now less reliable. I discovered last year that when the power companies shut down a main exchange your home power doesn't fully come back. You have to do a manual reboot yourself. Now this is from a so called more efficient power network. We've actually gone backwards in reliable services and people just accept it. There are areas in my house where my mobile drops out. So just telling people to use their mobiles if the landline fails is total nonsense. We have a third rate internet which is now the main line of communication to your home. And no service provider wants to talk to you. They all say use their app. So it's the customer that has to do all the work to solve their issue. That's not customer service, that's a cop out. It seems we just accept that these days.

Put some more petrol in the car yesterday on the way back across the city. Since the price started to rise in the last week, I haven't filled up the tank. Prices across Melbourne now are between 217-220cents/L. The independents are cheaper but not by much. Never paid above $2/L, however petrol prices have been high since late last year. Been a while since it was $1.50/L. It's always higher in my little pocket of the eastern suburbs. So how long these prices are going to stay high is not known. It is now an issue for Slomo. The oil companies are also part of the problem making profit from war. The war in Ukraine shouldn't be impacting our petrol prices since our petrol price is tied to the Singapore prices which isn't right either. We are paying more for our own oil and always have thanks to the oil companies and the Feds which like the higher prices because they make more money from the fuel excise. The Feds could remove the excise for a short period, it's happened before. But they don't want to lose that money especially with the election as the LNP wants that money for their campaign.

House prices in Melbourne have cooled off. People are holding back on buying houses hoping prices will fall with higher interest rates on the horizon. That's not to say property is not being sold, the issue is the price. House prices have not bounced back as was predicted. Property was worth more prior to COVID, however council rates have jumped in the same period. What has increased is property in regional areas. Noticed that house prices in regional Victoria have gone up by at least 100k compared to 2yrs ago. Not putting me off moving out of Melbourne, just have to pay more but still cheaper than buying property in Melbourne.

Had some rain in Melbourne in the past 24hrs. Just got home yesterday before the heavy rain started. Some more showers this morning. Which was forecasted so they got it right. Weather forecasting is not exact it's a prediction. We just expect it to be totally accurate all the time. Might be ok in places up north that hardly change but anything south of Brisbane it hard to predict and here in Melbourne well the 7 day forecast never works. We can do a 2 day forecast but anything longer than that is mostly never right. Not sure blaming the BOM for the disaster in Lismore is fair. NSW SES needs to admit they were caught short and to say there is not case for a review after the fact is just head in the sand stuff. The blame game forced those LNP members not aligned with the NSW faction to leek those stories of NSW knocking back help from ADF. The main issue is that the Feds knew which areas in the country are at risk of higher flooding and they didn't do anything about. There was a report back in 2015 what was needed for places like Lismore and it was ignored. They shouldn't of done more and have failed all those people.

So the war in Ukraine continues to sacrifice the lives of the people of Ukraine. Poo-tin won't stop just by talking. How far this will go is anyone's guess. What is obvious is the resolve of the Ukrainian people. They are going to make Russia pay dearly. Poo-tin has shown he is not the strategist all those experts thought he was. He is just another dictator drunk on power and has pushed the button to his own demise. Reports are now coming out of Russian solders killing unarmed civilians and also journalists. This is not going to end well for Russia when all this is over. The only winners from this are the private companies which supply Defence departments here, in the UK and US. So they make profit from misery. We used to have our own Defence manufacturing 30yrs ago which was not for profit. It was for defence of this country, now we are part of the global profit war machine which we shouldn't be proud of. There was lots of talk about the expertise being in private industry which is crap. All those private munitions companies rely on govt standards and specifications to make their product. That hasn't changed, only the money we pay for those goods which has cost the Australian tax payer more and things have become less reliable than they were when part of the Defence supply organisations. So it's in the interests of those Defence suppliers that war continues somewhere in the world.

Have a medical appointment tomorrow and I actually get to see a doctor face to face. Been a while since I could do that except for the GP. Apparently it was ok for GP's to meet patients face to face but not specialists. Had lots of issues with the phone consults due to the unreliable internet in the past 2 yrs. I'm sure I'm not alone in that respect. NZ has a better internet than we do, then again they have a better govt than we have.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. Seems to be a refresh issue with Lit which causes posts to truncate. So don't go to toilet with a post open, you'll lose your content.

 

[missswannie]

Feeling quite smug paying 185 for fuel. There is a corridor of road with 9 petrol stations in a 2km length nearby that play games with each other. a few of them have abandoned the price cycle and attack each other midweek or in the off week. Maybe they make less margin per litre but clearly volume... Nothing like pure competition to clear out the games. I didn't think I would ever be happy seeing those prices but better than 220.

A few people excited with the return of winter sports, with AFL the last to come online. Not a bad round, a few good games, a few people coming out to see it. I hadn't intended to go to any this week but had a last minute invitation to the Eagles Gold Coast match yesterday evening so that's the 2022 sports event virginity taken care of.

Still piles of people heading west. I can get flights to Sydney for $200 but the flights back over are running at $1200+ for back of the bus. I should be up the front of the bus for that price. The airlines need to make a bit of dough to maybe voluntarily pay back some of that tax payer prop up, ahem, so probably should ramp up the flights again once they can pull the planes out of storage and requal a few more pilots. That's not happening in an election year. I do have to head to Brisbane and Sydney sooner rather than later but I will see when its reasonable to do a quick run. No surprises with Morrison hanging around in the west for the week speaking to all the mining folks. There are some big dollars there. The gas industry over here should pull in some major dollars as well at the current prices so on top of iron ore and gold the country's accounts should be healthy. A lot of that goes directly into the federal accounts and bypasses the state, with the offshore petroleum rent tax.

It is still good beach weather, 30 plus. Waves had picked up a bit and a couple of baby reef sharks were cruising on the surface picking off sand whiting feeding on the stirred up bits of weed and whatever. Probably 80cm if that, a few inches of tiny fin staying on top of the water and going in between everyone. We often get shags/darters/cormorant types swimming and diving amongst everyone about this time of year. Its great interaction with people and noone or animals making a fuss.

Enjoy your week. The pollies are back east again so you can all get your share of promises. We are still laughing at Morrison trying to be mates with McGowan but cringing every time someone reminds him he backed Clive Palmer's High Court challenge against WA. The dally with the far right and its acolytes is a double edged sword.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Well my internet issues have continued so I'm having to check things like emails at very odd hours. Been three weeks now and I finally got someone from the ISP to listen to my issues and I'm getting a new modem, which is what I asked for at the start of the month. Turns out that my modem should of been replaced a while ago as it is now considered an old model. With intermittent failure of the modem, I kept being told there isn't an issue. I also found out that NBN Co determines what ISP's can do. There was supposed to a technician at my place to check the modem on Monday but nobody showed up. When I called the ISP I was told the technician was cancelled because NBN Co determined there wasn't an issue. No input from the customer was required. I was also told NBN Co dictate terms and customers don't have a say in any issues. So we now have an organization managing our broadband network who are a law unto themselves with no oversight. You can't even contact NBN Co, they only deal with ISP's but on NBN Co's terms. So they determine if you have a problem with your internet. In my case they determined I didn't have a problem so that was the end of the issue according to them. Seems the contractors are paid by how many tickets they close not how many issues are resolved. I've seen this before where an IT contractor would close issues just to get paid a higher rate. Then you would phone up with the same issue and other ticket would be raised. Survey companies do that as well usually by the end of a reporting phase when you get a phone call then they hang up. Every number contacted is considered a survey completed which is how they get paid. With all this technology we have these days, the ability to communicate has got worse and people just have to put up with it apparently.

So Slomo is doing his rounds. Just seen him and Barnaby doing the dog and pony show up in Qld announcing a new dam which in Barnaby words needs to be pushed through regardless of the impacts on wildlife in the area. His words of making Australia better faster, echoes Rumps MAGA catch phrase. If you don't support the new dam well you are a lefty, fuck the local flora and fauna. Lets just build more dams cause that apparently will deal with climate change. Which is no good during a drought it's how Australia works it's in the poem, "drought and flooding rains..."

Speaking of climate change, the Barrier Reef is experiencing another mass bleaching event which is caused by warmer sea temps. The Feds reckon well there is 200km of reef, just look at the good bits, nothing to see here. Issues with the reef are apparently the fault of farmers with run off being the main problem, fuck all do with climate change apparently.

Disturbing stories of flood victims being kicked out of accommodation after 3 days. Really! That's how we treat Aussies that have lost everything due to a weather disaster. We seem to treat refugees better than our fellow Aussies. At least the refugees have ongoing accommodation, might not be good accommodation but they aren't thrown out in the street after 3 days. There are people living in cars and tents because there isn't anywhere else to go. And these are not proper camping tents. WTF are the Feds doing? Why haven't they deployed the military to set up temporary accommodation in those areas. Those resources are available. Winter is fast approaching. In by next month the daily temps will be cooling down. Once again we have everyday Aussies who are sending their caravans and mobile homes down to those flood victims. At the same time Slomo and his entourage are travelling the country splashing cash to buy votes. The priorities are all wrong.

Had to laugh at Slomo having a shot at Albo for losing weight. As a bloke who turned 60 a couple of months ago, I know what if feels like when doctors keep banging on about older blokes to lose losing weight. I'm always being asked what my weight is currently. Fucking annoying. So Slomo trying to shame someone for losing weight goes against all the health advice for guys over 50. Slomo is also saying that people who lose weight can't be trusted, they must have a hidden agenda. Scotty from marketing has lost the plot.

So Poot-tin seems be following thru on the scorched earth policy. Saw the latest pictures of Ukrainian average citizens outwitting the Russian army. They herd the Russian tanks and APC's into a shooting gallery then took out every vehicle. So much for Russian smarts. Shows the difference between people who believe in their fight for their country and invaders who don't respect their opposition. Poo-tin's reputation is taking a massive hit as a leader the longer this goes on. If the Russian army can't defeat a group on armature fighters what are they going to against battle hardened Ukrainian troops when it comes to ground assault. When looking at the pictures of Mariupol it looks a lot like what the Russians did in Syria. If it wasn't for the snow you would say you're looking at pics of the war in the Middle East. Either way Russia can't win this war. Now they are taking hostages by diverting humanitarian convoys into Belarus and Russia. All this stuff is being documented and recorded. Everyone has a smart phone these days so hiding these atrocities is virtually impossible.

Well the Libs got thumped in SA which goes against the trend of other state elections during COVID. Even defrosting Little Johnny and rolling him out for the election didn't work. Most of the people who voted for Little Johnny are probably dead now. He doesn't cut thru with younger voters, i.e. anyone under 50. They'll probably have to stuff and mount him for future elections, he can't live forever.

Hope the upcoming weekend is good for you. COVID is still out there so people should act accordingly. A friend of mine recently had COVID but was acting as if COVID was no longer an issue. Sydney keeps being the place to be if you want to catch COVID. They should add that to their tourism adverts. Not going there any time soon. I'll just keep phoning my friends up there.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

A new week and has started off with receiving the new modem this morning. All going well thus far. Will see if the issues continue. Still convinced that the upgrades to the NBN caused the issue which it seems NBN doesn't want to admit.

Had some rain today which wasn't predicted. Was just about to walk outside to do some work in the garden when the rain hit. Didn't last long but was heavy. Was rather warm this morning just prior to the rain. Not sure where it came from. So much for believing the weather forecast. Just listening to the latest rain event in NSW again. The authorities have told those people who are homeless due to the previous flooding to find proper shelter. Well yep that's a given. What's not a given is the govt finding them some proper accommodation.

Well the the Fed's scheme on carbon farming has proven to be a complete lie. Once again the LNP are faking it. There isn't enough surface area on earth to do carbon offsetting by planting trees. You would need another planet to do carbon offsetting properly. Also it's a cop out scheme in that it doesn't address emissions, it just lets polluters to keep polluting, in fact they have increased their emissions due to this scheme. It's the "emperor's new clothes' scheme. Total bullshit.

Interesting how Slomo is denying his association with his happy clapper mate. Slomo didn't even wait for the cock to crow three times. Not very Christian of him. Well Easter is coming up. Wonder if Slomo will ride an ass into Parliament House. At least Barnaby has a new hat with a feather in it. Who's a clever boy. Hopefully he's toilet trained.

Poo-tin has shown the Russian military is not capable of fighting a war. Far from the strong man mantra. A crazy dude in charge of a weak military that can't even supply their own troops and equipment. Vehicles being abandoned cause they can't get fuel to them in the field. The countries around Russia will see that they don't have much to worry about. Poo-tin and his mates have stripped a lot of money out of Russia and weakened their own military. He has no hope of re-constructing the old USSR.

So fuel prices are on the way down here in Melbourne. Noticed that prices have dropped by about 15c/L, around $2.05/L now. The previous week it was up to $2.20. As to why the sudden drop, who knows. May be those oil companies were shamed into it. If the war in Ukraine was the issue, well that's still going on so the price here in Australia had fuck all to do with the war in Ukraine.

Have a few days break before having to drive across the city again this week. The year thus far has been a pain in the butt. Hope the next few months are more positive. Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Ending the week with lower petrol prices. Compared to last week some parts of Melbourne have petrol prices down by another 20c/L, that is a 40c/L drop compared to 2 weeks ago. For some reason in my little pocket of Melbourne prices are still high, so I'm now filling up across town when I'm there. The 20c/L cut in excise should have come a couple of weeks ago not now as part of an election campaign. By the time the excise kicks in, prices could of dropped again. That's 6 weeks after the fact. The Feds are bit like the cops, they only do anything after the incident. Funny how the reason given to reduce prices or even interest rates is the same, in that it has to be factored into the process. But when prices and interest rates go up, it happens in a day. Same process. Which must have a one way valve.

A windy old day in Melbourne. Tried to get into the garden twice this week only to be stopped by rain that wasn't forecast. Spent most of today doing paperwork and getting organized for another trip across the city tomorrow to the other property. Another week of that before I can bring that aspect to a conclusion.

It's now official that house prices have plateaued here in Melbourne. No bubbles. Knew that this time last month speaking to estate agents. Prices are still cheaper than Sydney by about 200k, still expensive though. Good luck buying a house in the inner city suburbs for around the $1million mark. A villa unit in the inner west went for just over $1 million a couple of weeks ago. Even doing a total reno doesn't guarantee a higher price. Given the Fed's have admitted that their economic strategy has been to keep wages down for workers but at the same time they don't have an issue with exec's on boards getting multimillion dollar incentive pay for keeping wages down and sacking people to improve profits. Given also these exec's pay less tax. You can bet they have a negative geared house or two as well.

Was an interesting Q+A last night. Always entertaining when Jackie is on the panel. Barnaby looked like an elephant in a small tent. Just crashing into every topic raised. Didn't bring his hat either and just got shut down by the women. The labor dude didn't even need to turn up. Barnaby was drilling holes in his own canoe. He just can't relate to the younger generation. The budget is interesting in that a number of things announced only go for less than 1 year so either the LNP doesn't think it will be in govt after the election or if they get back into power they will scrap all those items and they were only meant to win votes.

Noticed that a few things in my local woollies were in short supply such as milk. Which was very surprising. Didn't remember hearing anything about panic buying on the news. As I wandered around doing my shopping I overheard two staff members talking about the shortages. Turns out Woolies are changing warehouses which is causing shortages in their stores across the city. The floods in NSW had nothing to do with it considering Victoria produces most of the milk in the country.

Hope the weekend is good for you. Expecting a wet weekend here in Melbourne. A thought for those people in the NE of NSW dealing with yet more flooding. The response from state and federal govts is woeful. People being kicked out of their new accommodation to make way for tourists and sending these people who have lost everything to Qld. WTF is going on this country? We can't even look after our own people who have been traumatised by a disaster.

 

[missswannie]

Almost two weeks of humid cloudy weather from the cyclone system and not a bloody drop of rain. 'Storms Tomorrow' they kept saying but north south and east got it, but there was a black hole over the city. I keep putting off washing the cars because it is going to rain, but the only thing is dirty cars.

Further north there were some floods. Mount Magnet was flooded out. The water is gradually making its way down the river systems to the ocean in the Gascoyne. Those rivers are dry most of the year so its great seeing videos of water pushing through leaves and bushes to the dunes and then ocean is great.

Getting hard over east. Two cyclone systems forming off Queensland could keep April rain at peaks. I'm not sure those towns are going to be ready to be dried out and fixed until winter comes at this rate. It's not the time be a politician and having an election because I don't think you could say anything remotely substantial yet, and the way its going not in time for an election funding grab.

I'm glad an interim trade deal with India has gone through. It has been hung up for years because they didn't want all of our dairy and select foodstuffs that would underprice their scale-inefficient but socially necessary farming systems. At least everyone has had the guts to say lets lock in what we already agree on and keep dealing on the rest, rather than wait. The Vics have wanted the dairy market there but will have to wait. There is nothing however to prevent processed foods in ready to go packs being manufactured here and sold there, so we should pull fingers out and get country manufacturing up to bigger scales. No point building any more in the cities, the regions have to be the key.

In the fashion industry our swimwear designers have been pulling major sales contracts around the world. It's not something we see a great deal of in the public eye but there are some serious numbers coming in for predominantly small companies. The thong/g-string or brazillian bikinis are definitely in the majority once again in all colours. People are ok with their bodies once again. I think the active wear boom of the last 5 or 6 years got a big pick up with lockdowns and people are just comfortable being themselves again. Reality has taken over from what the fashion police want to dictate.

In support of said industry I shall endeavour to spend time on the beach tomorrow. The nights have been cool the past few days (14C last night, actually had to put a blanket on the bed for the first time since November) but it has been edging higher during the day and back up to 32 tomorrow. The cooler nights had reduced the temperature in the pool a bit so I diverted the return water to the black pipes that go over the roof for some passive solar heating. Only problem was that I forgot about it and todays 30C has the water at luke warm temperatures.

It's going to be a fun two months of elections.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The Grand Prix is in full swing here in Melbourne. Was driving back across the city past Albert Park on Tues and saw the Ferrari guys trucking in their stuff. The usual traffic chaos around Albert Park is on. Giving the place a wider birth than normal. Cops were blocking of streets around the race track which have nothing to do with Albert Park. Not sure why, so decided to go back to the St. Kilda road option with all those lights. Need to go back across the city again tomorrow. Getting really tired of doing that every week. Hopefully all that activity will come to an end tomorrow. Haven't had any time off from that stuff since the start of this year. Thankfully the price of petrol has drastically reduced almost back to pre-invasion petrol prices. The 20c/L excise has helped but prices have been dropping for the past 4 weeks. Filled up the other week when the price dropped by 40c/L so won't need any more for another week at least. The drama of petrol prices is over, now we just have to deal with the normal high price of petrol which has been increasing since last year. Prices are cheaper in Sydney.

Saw Slomo in Avalon today on the news. Although he seemed to be confused as to where he was. He was in Avalon then mentioned he was in Corio which would be of news to the people of Corio. There is fuck all in Avalon apart from farms. For those not familiar with Melbourne, Avalon is where they hold the annual Air Show and also has a domestic/international airport used mainly by the budget carriers. It's good for those living around the Geelong area but you still need to catch extra transport to get anywhere. It does confuse some people thinking they are landing in Melbourne.

The weather here in Melbourne is having it's last gasp of Summer temps. Going to be 26 here today and similar temps tomorrow. Was rather cool a few days ago. Almost cold enough to fire up the heater. Had just put away all the fans. Daylight savings got me this year. Totally forgot about it. Too much other stuff happening. No need for Daylight Savings any more. It needs to be put in the past. We are now a 7 day a week society. The need for late night shopping is gone. The only thing it does these days is extend the drinking time after work.

So Poo-tin is on track to be stamped a war criminal. Since he is charge he is responsible for what his troops do in the field. The lack of respect for human life shown by the Russian military is evident and there are plenty of witnesses to their atrocities in Ukraine. As one elderly women who lived thru WW II stated the Russian troops are just like the Germans during WWII only difference is that she could understand what they were saying. All this reminds me of what happened in Kuwait. Where the invading force ransacked the country, raped women and killed the locals without thought then tried to steal anything for personal profit. The same thing is happening in Ukraine. It does show the Russian military is weak and could not win a battle against a properly trained military, in fact they can't win against a local militia. They seem to be fine against unarmed civilians but run away when faced with a capable military. The US and Europe must be now more confident about their capabilities against Russia which as time goes on proves they are rather weak as a fighting force.

It's about time that the UN takes action against Russia. They've been kicked off the Human Rights Council now they need to be kicked off the Security Council. The UN most of the time is a toothless tiger because of the single vote veto rule. Which is why nothing gets done in that place. There is zero accountability by countries in that forum.

So we are now past the point of keeping temps below the 1.5 degree global warming. Countries had their chance and did nothing. So now we on track to the 2 degree global warming line. We are actually on track to get to 3 degrees given our current go slow progress. So weather events are going to get worse. Higher degree of bushfires, worse floods and higher insurance premiums for the rest of the country outside those bushfire and flood zones. Somebody has to pay for those insurance payouts and it's us. The rich will be fine. They will just buy an extra holiday home in a safe zone. It will be a bit like the days of British Raj where they all moved north to cooler parts of India during the very hot Summers. As we have seen, the rich have driven up house prices in regional areas pricing out the locals from owning a house or even renting a property. The people impacted by climate will be those on the other end of social scale. We don't need to look for climate change refugees coming from OS, we are creating them here in our own country.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Travelling across Melbourne this week I noticed the price of petrol price has dropped again which has nothing to do with the petrol excise being halved. Still pockets of high petrol prices. Also noticed the daylight hours are lessening. Driving back across the city earlier in the week, night descended rather quickly. Was dark by 6pm, so Winter is not far off. The nights and mornings are also getting cooler. The loss leaves on the non-native trees is more obvious. Nearly time to fire up the heater at night. But still having warm days. Going to be a warm Easter here in Melbourne. Will be 28 on Easter Sunday so the little kiddies will need to get out on the egg hunt early.

So the political campaign circuses are in full swing. Albo couldn't remember the cash rate and unemployment rate and the media is making a meal of it. Then Slomo didn't know the cost of milk and bread when asked before the election was called. Also Slomo made sure under the cover of darkness that refugees detained for 9 yrs were let out of detention with $300 and a plastic bag, then told to go forth, oh and by the way you could still be deported. Funny how Slomo hasn't been quizzed on that by journalists. Not a surprise Albo got that gotcha question from a Sky News reporter.

As to how Australia will vote, well the voters have shown both major parties that they don't like any change that will impact their ability to get a tax cut, get Franking Credits, get another tax cut by having an investment property or three. Forget about wages keeping pace with inflation which only impacts low income wager earners. Blue collar workers earning $200k in the mining industry will vote LNP again. Australia has also sent the clear signal to the rest of the world we don't care about the impacts of climate change, it's China's fault apparently. It was also clear from the last election that we are not a progressive country. So no political party that wants to win office will put forward a clever set of policies. We'll wait till things turn to shit before doing anything. It's now known that global warming of 1.5C is a certainty and we on track to reach 2C by 2030 if we keep doing what we are doing. So get ready for more severe bush fires and worse floods and we will see yet more sad stories on the news of people losing their homes. Makes for good news but not much else. The UN thinks we are laggards and they are right. The smart and lucky country is fast becoming the place not to be.

Will be voting early when that is available. Much better way to go than doing it on the day. We already know what both sides stand for. Not much to choose from because Labor has gone gun shy. Don't believe my vote will count but that doesn't mean I will do a donkey vote. We have the ability to make a difference so lets not waste it.

The Grand Prix may be over but the chaos around Albert Park hasn't gone away. Traffic is still heavy around that area. Will take a few weeks till the track is clear of infrastructure and traffic can flow thru that area freely again. Lygon Street went off with the Ferrari win, which is the main Italian area in the city. If you like Italian food when visiting Melbourne, Lygon St. is the place to go. Lots of other things like gelato shops and cakes. Also has the first pizza place established in Melbourne. Went there for my year 12 break up. Always take any visitors to Lygon St. It's a must do for any visit to Melbourne.

The war in Ukraine rages on and the evidence of Russian war crimes keeps mounting, none of which is being reported in Russia. Russia is fast becoming North Korea. Just waiting for Poo-tin to come up with his own calendar. He is living in the past, might as well reset the entire country to his time line. So the Ukrainian refugees get a tourist visa when coming to Australia with a 3 year time frame. Will take a lot longer than that to rebuild those towns and cities in Ukraine so they will be here long term and some won't be able to go back as their isn't anything to go back to. So the message we are sending refugees is that if you are white Christian you get a gold ticket to Australia, if you are of any other faith or skin colour you get a detention camp as the first step. Gotta stop them boats even though more refugees have been coming via planes for many years.

As for Easter well I'll be spending most of it in the garden since the weather will be dry till Monday. Lots to do as I haven't had the time since the start of the year. Got lots of cake, not much chocolate and got some more booze yesterday. Hope Easter is a time for everyone to reflect and chill out, unless you're trying to get thru an airport. Off across the city again today.

 

[missswannie]

What a lovely Easter weekend. Nice weather all the way. Restaurants and pubs complaining noone is going there, but good numbers of people out in the parks beaches and forests so its all healthy stuff.

I managed to wear a beer at the football last weekend. Dockers v GWS. A bunch of dickheads on a boys afternoon out were in the row behind. Trying to out do each other in yelling out and showing off to each other, which you have to put up with but made you question the ticket values. One tosser was pouring parts of his beer out to cut down his intake in front of his mates but was just flowing down the terrace and onto my handbag under my seat. He scored a half time set of nasty words. Midway through the third quarter old mate trips carrying a tray of four beers and put it over a few of us. Rightfully he looked fearful he was about to get sorted out. I was beer soaked until I got home.

Have to do a run down the East coast after Anzac Day. Qantas and Virgin aren't half trying to cancel out 2 years of debt in a quarter. It is still running at $1500+ return down the back of the bus and $2000 up the front. Sydney Airport queues don't look very appealing, especially the number of bags that don't make it out on arrival. Cheaper to courier than to delay the next plane's unloading. Into Canberra and then down the road or train line might be a better way. I can go via Singapore for $1200... In the day to day consequences of business travel you just wear it but out of principle you have to argue.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Has been a wet day timetable for the start of the week. Been timing my outings between the showers. Spent the weekend hacking stuff in the garden before the rain set in on Monday. It was 28 on Sunday then Monday the temp dropped by 10 degrees. Haven't had a dry day yet this week. The mornings are getting chilly. The heater might get a run tonight.

Well Easter is over but another long weekend coming up or for some people the Easter holidays just get extended till next week. Was very quiet in the street during Easter. Was expecting more noise but lots of people obviously ran away for possibly their major getaway since rules eased here in Melbourne. More easing of rules coming on Saturday. Was interesting speaking to some local business owners that the local council has visited small businesses the other week enforcing rules for patrons and that masks were mandatory for staff. Patrons were required to check-in and show vaccination status as part of the check-in. Having to show vaccination status was scrapped a while ago so was surprised that if you sat down in-house they still applied. Fines were close to $2000 for small businesses that didn't apply.

So the campaigns keep going and the web of lies keep coming out. The LNP claims Labor will introduce a tax for retirees, well that already exists under the LNP. I've been retired for 5 yrs and have to still pay tax because my pension was over the threshold which was a little known clause in the changes made by the LNP in the last ten yrs. The idea that no retirees pay tax is totally false. If I converted all my super into cash and played the stock market, I'd be getting a tax refund even though I wouldn't be paying tax. Changes of the rules on Super Funds meant if the market made a loss you lost money from your fund. Previously Super Funds had a war chest to top up the schemes in bad market times. Again a little known clause in the changes made to Super Funds. So if you are wondering why your super went backwards in a FY, that's why. The assumption that all baby boomers have Franking Credits and investment properties keeping new home buyers out of the market is also false. There are a number of young investors who own properties for negative gearing purposes. Banks have tightened up their criteria for home loans and are rejecting young home owners but less critical of investors of any age.

Didn't see the debate mainly cause it was on Sky. The LNP has refused to hold a live debate on the ABC, they will only accept a debate on media that favours them. What's next? Alan Jones as the moderator! From what I see on the news it seems people went with Albo and Slomo forgot himself and showed his biases. His backing of the candidate in Warringah is meant as a distraction. Whilst people are talking about that, the LNP doesn't have to talk about policy. If you can get the public fighting each other then nobody is focusing on the policies of the LNP, which is nothing. Albo is the nerd so he will never be able to sell snake oil. Slomo not only sells it but gets it from low paid workers.

Interesting that the AEC has got on the front foot this time and told people to contact them if voters want a postal vote rather than sending their application thru the major parties. I've received a postal voting form from both major parties and if you look at the reply paid address you will notice the address is different which isn't the AEC postal address. If you use those application forms then both major parties will strip your private details before sending it on to the AEC. Last election the AEC didn't say anything about this practice. No doubt the LNP will colour code their voting paperwork to mimic the AEC colours. That shouldn't be allowed but apparently that is ok as there is no rule against it.

So the CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria is backing the LNP. Not the first time she has done this. Nothing happened last time so nothing will happen this time. Thought charities were supposed to be neutral when it came to political campaigns. I guess I was wrong. I gave to the Guide Dogs previously, guess I won't be doing that again. At least they should make it clear that they are affiliated with a political party. A bit like newspapers who are media arms of either of the major parties should declare which political party they are affiliated with. The Australian for example is clearly an LNP supporter but doesn't say it. If charities are going to support a political party they should be transparent to all those who support them. Although you would think that supporting any political party would only hurt them. Obviously lots of echo chambers happening.

Seems the private industry set up by the LNP to take over from Defence manufacturing now can't be trusted to build a row boat. We had a robust ship building industry in Defence but when that was privatised those once busy ship docks became very silent. Here in Melbourne the Williamstown ship yards were a hive of activity. When you drive past it these days it's like a ghost town. The only activity close to it is when you see the cargo ships coming up the river to the port. We have fallen into the mantra of the 50's where it was believed things built OS were of better quality. A hangover from the British days. The colonies attitude hasn't left us which is why we don't invest in our own smarts. The inventors and designers have to go OS for funding. The US right now is investing in Aussie designed renewables, yet our govt is still stuck on digging up coal. It's nuts. If we don't invest in our people then we will continue to be a service led economy and continue to be the servant and not the master.

Not surprised the Solomon's went to China. They came to Slomo prior to COVID and he told them to fuck off. Slomo was more concerned about the Back in Black mugs. The Solomon's wanted money and so they went to a country who could give it to them when we told them to bugger off. Other Pacific countries will follow if we keep ignoring them. China will always say yes but the devil is in the small print with China. Same play book they've used in other parts of the world. It's always poor countries who can't pay back the debt and have to give up territory to China. They've done it in Africa, in Pakistan and now they are doing it in the Pacific. Mean while we are off surfing and counting our tax cuts.

Was out and about yesterday and today and didn't see any ANZAC Day badges. Usually buy one every year. Could be a hangover from COVID but surprising.

Hope the weekend is good for you. Will be watching the ANZAC Day march like I do every year. Another must do for kids in Melbourne. Remember the marching bands and those bagpipes. Left a lasting impression. The first time I heard them was like a wall of noise coming up the street and then you felt the noise going thru your body. You can't get that from watching it on TV.

Lit has a definite refresh issue. I keep losing content. Annoying but it seems they can't or won't fix it.

 

[missswannie]

It's going to be sad not having 4 day weeks. Not that I don't allow myself 3 and 4 day weeks much of the time but it has been a pretty casual April, to the point that most people are looking around thinking where did the month go. I did things, have the photos to prove it, but honestly it has been a bit of a blur.

They roll back most of the covid restrictions here at midnight tonight. Mask mandates, pubs and restaurant vacc checks, G2G pass to enter the state only if you are triple vacc. The employment vacc requirement still continues. Three jabs or no job. Hospitals and aged care still require masks and check in, as does public transport. With the high vacc rate the peak didn't happen, so they looked back and thought that must have been it a month ago. Still predominantly school kids, uni students, their families, and people who went interstate, otherwise nothing detectable anyway. The RAT flights still come in so a few dozen appear in the letter box every month. There will be a few more places that I will wear them.

Off to Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra next week. Time to get some work done in person and rattle a few cages. Qantas is still trying to make back all their losses in one hit judging by the fares. The leg to Sydney costs twice as much as all the other flights combined, including 6 hours Brisbane to Perth.

Pissing down with rain the last few days here. Hopefully a lot of this is getting through into the wheatbelt as well. With a third El Nina in the pacific and a IOD negative in the Indian Ocean we are possibly going to test the 1974 record for a wet year across both sides of the country. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to fix any only superficial flood damage over east. The usual old blokes are rubbing their hands here. There were a few areas developed on flood prone areas of the Swan and Canning Rivers here in the 90's on most likely dodgy planning decisions. Everyone who remembers the wetter times before climate change took half our rainfall from the 80's on has memories of these areas completely underwater and waiting to see if it will happen. Said politicians of the time have long retired.

There is some speculation as to how big the state surplus will be when the budget is announced in May. Probably in the 5 - 6.5b range although Fitch advises they think it could be as high as 8b. Every other politician is over here pitching 50:50 projects between Commonwealth and State trying to spend it.

Agricultural wage reform kicks in this week. Nothing wrong with that, it has been rorted for a long time by bad players. It may kick into produce prices at the supermarket which further impacts inflation. Stagnant wages for a decade is more of a problem now than inflation that underperformed. If they delay interest rate rises then the AUD drops like a rock and that gets reflected in import costs. To note though, jumping from 0.1 to 0.5 or 0.6% against some of the historic highs is nothing really. The biggest problem has been 14 years of next to no cost money and all the not-yet-profitables but valued in the billions. When old Elon came along and said he would buy out Twitter (successfully got their annual loss down from the billions to only $360 million) the shareholders were on to the board in record time to get them a paycheck. As interest rates rise and private equity have to show higher and higher return on investments watch it get interesting. There might be a few melting snowflakes. A lot of businesses have PE investment capital these days so the pressure to provide higher returns is going to test a few. The race to the bottom ended so that barrel is dry.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Has been a relatively dry week thus far but that is set to change later today. The day time temps have been relatively warm. The rain was initially going to cover the weekend and into next week, but now it should be all gone by Sunday. More rain predicted by mid next week again. Had another day in the garden due to the dry weather. A lot more work needed in the back yard as I've let things go because I've been busy since the first week of Jan. That other task has come to a conclusion so I can focus on my tasks for a couple of months. May is shaping up as an expensive month and one to play catch up on those tasks I've been putting off. Need to get a new car battery as well. These new batteries fail without warning and almost to the date of the last one being replaced. Better to get to that done before I need to use the car for any major trip.

The week has been good for Albo. His team has shown they are competent and possibly a new leader in that mix. Slomo didn't have anything as a come back apart from personal attacks. Has not been a good week for Slomo with Matt again going off on his hobby horse. So will be interesting to see if Albo can manage on his own on the campaign trail. Q+A was interesting. The audience wasn't buying any spin from the LNP. The mixed signals from the LNP on climate change shows they are just after a sound bite on climate change with no plans to do anything about it. They are correct saying nett zero by 2050 is dead, but not for their reasons. If nothing is done by 2030, it doesn't matter what we do by 2050 it will be too late. Coal will be on the nose by 2030 and the market will shrink which means jobs will be lost between now and then with no plan as to how to save jobs and create new ones. The massive job losses of the 90's will happen again but this time in the coal industry and towns will die off. That is all coming if the govt of the day hasn't got a plan to move towards renewables. Most of us remember the loss of the car industry which was killed off by the LNP, thanks to Tony. Cars haven't got any cheaper as a result. When Ford was making cars here, they were selling the same cars in the US for half the price we were paying. The same excuse is used to the pricing of things in this country which is the size of the population, but we have gone backwards to grow the population which has been a deliberate govt strategy.

Seems ironic that the stronghold of the LNP is set to get higher power prices. The people who are climate change deniers and are totally invested in LNP policies are the ones going to be hardest hit by higher power prices. The wholesale price of power is going up 141% in NSW and Qld. Not impacting WA nor Victoria and Tassie. The biggest issue moving away from coal is that the power grid does not have the infrastructure to move to renewables. Again a deliberate strategy by the LNP. The private companies that manage the poles and wires don't want to spend the dollars to make this upgrade, in fact they have written to customers warning against getting solar on your roof. Anyone trying to put solar on their roof is met with delays by power companies connecting it to the grid. Coal fired power stations keep failing and require to be supplemented by renewables. So the lights will go out if we don't sort out the power grid to make it ready and in the mean time power prices will keep going up using coal. Any claims by the Fed's that using renewables is more expensive than coal is total bullshit. The market which the LNP keeps banging on about, is telling them that sticking with coal will cost everyone more. Those on low incomes or/and on the poverty line will keep trading off using the heater and fan against eating everyday. The rich don't give a shit.

Now that the long weekends are over and the kids are back at school the days are more normal. It's safe to go to shopping centres and out to tourist spots. No plans for the weekend. Taking a break from everything. Even turned off the mobile. Hope the weekend is good for you. The Grand Prix infrastructure is still up at Albert Park. Will take a few more weeks before that area is back to normal. It's a very popular spot for people to visit. Has a few dinning spots as well as lots of spaces for exercising.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well a new month but the political stuff is still dragging on. Waiting for the early voting places to open next week. Slomo might now be regretting his long campaign. The longer it goes the worse he looks. His lies are catching up with him. As usual it's always everyone's fault things are not good for the average Aussie. Even Josh is shitting himself as he is now going after the family of his opponent. Spending big on advertising. Josh might find himself without a job, now that would be a laugh given he is being touted as the next leader of the LNP. All plays into the hand of Mr Potato Head as he is hoping all the moderate Lib's lose so he can take the party to the extreme right. Smacks of what Rump did in the US.

Only a couple of days into May and I've already ticked off two of the jobs this month but both cost dollars. More dollars to spend on stuff this month so the credit card is getting a run as is the rain this week. Looking overcast at the moment and the wind has picked up. Rain from tomorrow into early next week. Even though the morning temps are cooler the day time temp isn't too bad.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. Mother's Day this weekend so people will be out and about, even cemeteries will be busy this weekend. Hope all the mothers are remembered this weekend.