Relief and rant

Ray's relatives left yesterday morning. As lovely as the couple are, it is a bit of a relief, but also very sad as it is unlikely I will ever see them again. I had three dinners out with them and took them out on two long day trips, and they were very appreciative, and I heard about all the people I know in Ray's northern English city. They have flown to Bali, and four days later supposed to fly via Bahrain to England. Their flight has been cancelled, and alternative arrangements will be made.

A huge security guard company recently collapsed and the owner has fled overseas. We are told they underpaid security immigrant and student workers, insisting the students work more hours than they are allowed. There were many who were not paid. Superannuation was not paid, the responsibility of our tax department, and a huge amount was owed in unpaid taxes. There was sexual harassment of staff and eyes turned blind by the companies that used the security company. 

"Has collapsed owing tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands/millions in tax payments to the government", is a phrase we almost hear daily, well maybe weekly. This is an absolute disgrace. It is money lost that will have to made up by all taxpayers. There is really something seriously wrong in our tax department when it lets go unpaid tax and unpaid workers' superannuation for long periods. Never mind that the owner of the company should have had his passport blocked. He won't return to face the music.

I will shop on Thursday before a dental appointment in the afternoon. Otherwise, nothing more this week until Sunday when it will be a great niece's 12th birthday celebration. Ray's and Mother's used to be celebrated at the same time. 

A friend is just about to clear from a Covid infection. It is ages since I've heard of anyone having Covid, but the beast is still with us. She was well vaccinated and so her symptoms were mild.

Why does one Yarra Trams tram driver ring the gong seven different times when passing by (to warn flying bats I guess) and the next driver does not ring the gong at all? Yarra Trams provided an excellent service for attendees at the Grand Prix, but bugger the locals. It was awful to try to get anywhere by tram. Thank goodness for the new Metro tunnel train. 

The Chinese cult 'religion' Falun Gong has a performance called Shen Yun happening around Australia, in Melbourne at a place I didn't know, but what we call Jeff's Shed. I am bombarded by advertising for the show on YouTube. But let me tell you the organisers, if you want to advertise in Australia, at the very least use Australian voices to promote the show, and not American. I can wear American car advertisements with the steering wheel on the wrong side as the cars travel along beautiful coastal roads, because there is an Australian voice over, and I know the the ads cost a lot to make.  It may be an urban myth, but I remember a remark from Germany. 'If you want to buy something from us, we speak perfect English. If you want to sell us something, sorry, we don't understand English'. Not using an Australian voice over for Shen Yun really pisses me off.                                                                               

Hopefully something less whiny tomorrow.

Sadness

Sometimes a public death really gets to me, as has this one. It is rare that anything like this happens but once is still too often. 

Aidan Becker was an off duty security guard who intervened when a 14 year old lad was being attacked by four young males at a train station.

Aiden walked the boy away but it is alleged that the gang of four followed and attacked Aiden with knives and simply stabbed him to death. 

A good guy killed after helping someone who was being attacked. That really is fucking shit.

Dear Aidan, your wonderful character dictated your actions and there is no more to be said. May the full weight of the law be imposed upon your murderers. 

Monday Mural

Along with Sami and others, here is my contribution today.

It is a mural but on a hoarding, so it will disappear at some point. A repeat of nice panels works well enough, and I think the artwork is good. 

On the very left is a blue fairy wren, a delightful bird that hops and flits around, galah a raucous bird of the parrot family, then a wattle bird, your early morning wake up call, and in breeding season if near their nests, they will swoop down at you, making a clacking noise, but not make contact with you. Yes, I have been swooped by one. Lastly is a rainbow lorikeet, noisy and a very colourful parrots

The Grand Pricks finale

In memory of her late Ricardo, Ingrid will have been glued to the screen watching the Australian Grand Prix, as Rick did. No, Ingrid?

As I type just before 9pm, fireworks have gone off so that's the end the Grand Prix and the most awful invasion of inner Melbourne.

Sadly Australia's Oscar Piastri bumped into a wall before reaching the start line and a wheel fell off. He's not a bad looking dude.

No worries mate. Next time.

Sunday Selections

Along with River and others, here is my Sunday Selections effort.

Bottles are behind plastic that has to be slid along a track, I guess in an effort to prevent mass theft when a number of people storm a store. This is in Collingwood, an 'interesting' part of our city.

This photo was taken last year and the building is nearing completion, replacing a taller and more bulky 1960s building.

A colourful storage container of some kind.

Curry leaves on the left, some kind of limes and I'm not sure what the other leaves are.

Neighbour HH and I lunched here in Brighton some time last year. It is a bit of hidden cafe and connected to a nearby Buddhist educational facility. 

Chapel Street Prahran has some very nice historic buildings, and many are receiving a freshen up.

I don't think the sailing ship Polly Woodside can move from her present berth anymore, but a couple of decades ago she could.

A snap from the car and I've shown this before, but I still think it is cool.

Many gears and cogs turning in these young brains.

This view after a horrible hotel was demolished and the old building was exposed but now, a tower block is under construction and I'll never see the mansion again, although it will remain in situ.

You've left it too late if this is happening.

A rather interesting modernish clock tower in Moorabbin, I guess dating to the 60s or 70s.

I think the same envelope was used by both Kosov and Phyllis. 

The pink card was from me to them, and small white card was from them to me.

I thought this building looked a bit interesting. It is clearly public housing. I Guggled it and found an old article complaining about how hot the flats were in the summer. Clearly the lobbying had some effect as they all have visible air con units now.

Media Lies

About a week ago I came across this video. I immediately wondered why I had not heard of this? How come there weren't alerts on my phone? How come it is not a news flash interrupting our normal tv? 

I watched on and my disbelief heightened. I checked online and I couldn't see anything about the matter.

I reported it to YouTube for being false report pretending to be genuine news. I phrased my report with great care, but there wasn't a response. I tried again and the second time I did receive a pro forma response.

I noted others had already done so, yet it still is online a week later. While YouTube gives me much pleasure, it is clearly not a responsible media organisation, or tech company if you like. 

Could Canada close its airspace to US airlines? I don't know, but I do think the repercussions would be as huge as described.

YouTube leaves lies like this report online for a week, and clearly longer, what a disgrace. Just the headline of Canada closing air space to the US should have triggered something at YouTube to verify the report. 

Update: According to YouTube, the video has now been removed. I am sure it wasn't just me alone who protested. Better still, the account has been suspended. While I didn't look at them, there were other videos at the same site, no doubt in a similar vein. 

Frightful Friday Pt 2

Frightful Friday turned into Sad Saturday. I proudly sat in my brand new lounge chair next morning and rechecked its features, the electric footrest, the electric recline, the electric head rest, the electric fold out drinks holder, the seven electric charging points, that is 3 sets of USBA and USBC, plus a flat surface charging point and the electric reading lamps from the non electric centre fold up part of the centre console. 

I lowered the fold up part with the lamps and I noticed it looked a bit skewiff in its folded down position. I investigated. Under a loose flap of leather were the hinges, with the screws of one hinge ripped out from the timber. I am old, I am not rough with things. Phyllis and Kosov looked at the chairs the night before while I was there. The rest of the lounge room furniture is over twenty years old and I've never broken furniture.

I discussed the matter with Kosov. I knew I could fix the issue with some matches and super glue. He said, 'Nooo, Andreeeewww. The company must fix it'. He convinced me. I sent an email to the store where I bought it, with this photo and heard nothing. Three days later. I called the store and staff informed me after sending the email, I would be contacted within two days. I wasn't, but I had a suspicion that the email direct to the store wasn't the right thing to do. Here is a photo of the screws ripped out from the timber. The hinges are very tight as they need to hold the fold up part in place when raised, and I wonder if that contributed to the screws being pulled out.

I looked at the company website, and there was a clear complaint system. Sure enough, after filling in this online form and providing a photo, I was contacted. The process was smooth, except there won't be someone to visit to check the problem until 18th March. I assume then there will another wait for repair or replacement. I replied, querying why it would take so long for someone to look at the problem and received a reply with an apology explaining that their preferred technician who deals with such matters was away on leave

Aside from this issue, I am quite happy with the chairs and the centre console.