Monday Mural

Sami and others participate in Monday Mural. This is a mural I snapped while Marcellous drove me around inner western Sydney last October under brilliant blue skies. Only later when looking at maps did I work our where we had been. 

Views

My apartment has good views, slightly north east, majorly to the east, to the south east and south, even the south west.

But my neighbour HH on the other side of the building, has fantastic views. There are advantages and disadvantages to both apartments. My apartment balcony gets blasted by cold and gusty southerly winds, while HH gets blasted by hot northerly winds.

I took a few photos of the views from her balcony. The first looks more like a view from my balcony...maybe.

City views, with the war memorial, Shrine of Remembrance, in The (King's) Domain in the foreground. 

The most prestigious boys school in Melbourne, The Church of England's Melbourne Boys' Grammar School. Some of the boys will go on to great careers, and perhaps some will become politicians. It is not unknown for some them to become very well spoken drug users and/or homeless. 

HH still has the easterly views I have. 

And she can see down St Kilda Road.

Ten years ago

Almost ten years ago, that is.

These were quite interesting clips, the first in Alaska, the second in Minnesota and the third in Toronto. The post may be a little slow to load. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20160219012656/http://highriser.blogspot.com/

And, happy Valentine's Day. Luv youse all. 

Friday Funny

Kitty Flanagan is a great actor and she is very good at stand up comedy too. In these clips she talks about tech and how non digital natives have adapted to the world of phones and tablets. And let's face it, if it isn't us, we will have all seen it happen.

Could I learn to text with my thumbs? I doubt it, and I text as I write here. It takes me longer to insert BRB and an emoji than it does for me to type it in full.

OMG, I am not suspicious but it is Friday the 13th today. TTFN.

The Brethren Cult

There are so many wrongs in the world and there always have been. We'll just ignore # 47, as the world is learning to do. Sadly the despot can't be ignored in his own country as the actions of a crazy man continue, and sadly his actions are affecting the world. 

Each day I wake to listen to the radio news with dread at #47 news and it just keeps coming, such as portraying the Obamas as apes. If he didn't do it himself, he employs people who have such an astonishing mindset. that they would even think such a thought. I am not keen on insulting women by calling them bitches, but that is clearly what his press secretary is, one Karoline Leavitt, and a stupid bitch for that matter. If it was a man, I'd call him a bastard.

I'd better get to the point, that's the Plymouth Brethren cult, as our right honourable Prime Minister has called it. But he has done nothing about removing the cult's faux status as a religion, and hence it is able to receive tax exemptions for its various large income streams.

You can do your own research about the evils of this 'church', but let me assure you, I've followed the reporting about this cult for many years in great detail, and it is a baddun. 

The members of the cult were called to arms to support the conservative party at the last election, whereby they aggressively harassed people at polling booths, as I experienced myself when I voted. Normally the interaction between opposing party supporters who hand out how to vote cards is friendly banter. It was not so this time. Tension sat over the queue of those lining up to vote. 

So, you get what the Brethren is about, and don't underestimate its power. 

But hey, it has charity arm, the Rapid Relief Team, that turns up at national disasters to help, in what manner I am not sure that is not already done by locals, governments and fantastic Sikhs who just feed people, and yes perhaps attempting to ingratiate themselves into Australian society. They are going the right way about it. 

From The Age:

The Exclusive Brethren’s Australian-based charity, the Rapid Relief Team, is suing a former member who escaped the church aged 17 after what she says was years of childhood sexual abuse.

has complained to police in her home town in Canada that she was sexually abused between the ages of about three and 12 by an elder of what’s now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

produced a podcast on YouTube called Get a Life: Ex-Cult Conversations. The podcast focuses on what they say is widespread abuse and mistreatment within the church, which is run out of Sydney by so-called “Man of God” Bruce Hales.

Now the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), the church’s public-facing charity, alleges Bawtinheimer infringed its copyright in some of those videos. The Brethren charity is demanding a jury trial in California, unspecified financial damages, and that a number of Bawtinheimer’s videos be taken down.

Jass at play

 

Jass' hiding spaces since she arrived:

Under my doona/duvet.

In my wardrobe, after she learnt to slide the door open. Ditton the spare room wardrobe door.

Under the spare bedroom bed.

The linen press, after she learnt to put her paw under the doors to pull them open.

But now her firm place is under the lounge room chairs, where she runs to when she sees Phyllis, or even hears him moving around in his bedroom. This will  change in a week or so after the new lounge room chairs arrive, well, after the old ones are disposed of.

Jass did not take to me initially but to Phyllis and Kosov. But my quiet daily presence when they were at work won her over. I don't spoil her, rarely giving her treats, but I do feed her most of her meals. I am now a bit harder on her when I think it is necessary. 

I think she grew to dislike Phyllis because he is loud and full on. Kosov it gentler with her, sits with her on the floor and talks to her, strokes her cheeks and lets her sniff his fingers. I'm sure she'll get over her hate on Phyllis in time. She doesn't hate him when he feeds her treats. We should be grateful she isn't as bad as John Gray of Wales cat, Weaver, but even he is making progress with his enemy.  

Personal Stuffs

Written last week. Already behind. I took the batter off a fish at the venue and ate mashed potatoes with the fish. White diet on track, 

with the procedure done today, Monday.

Well, back to square one with me now teaching Kosov how to drive. Phyllis is quite competent at driving now and has not banged up my car. Kosov has an Indian driving licence which makes it an easy administrative process. He needs to sit the test, and he's done the theory, so as he has an Indian driving licence, driving a manual car, stick shift as I believe it is called in America, it should be easy. 

It isn't. He doesn't know how to drive at all. I would almost say he is worse than Phyllis at the beginning. I had to smack his left leg to get it away from the brake pedal and on to the footrest. One day driving around Albert Park Lake, with quite some improvement the next day, I'm sure he'll get there. Twice I told Phyllis who was in the back seat to shut up at advising Kosov about his driving in their language. 

It interests me how they switch from their language to English and back. Oddly sometimes with me around they will talk their own language, but from their bedroom, I hear them talking in English and their own language. Their language sounds quite rapid fire, and they tend to speak English very rapidly, which at times makes it hard for me to understand them. Phyllis' spoken English is better, whereas Kosov's is slower, and at times he struggles for the correct English word.

It's been a busy week, with three medical appointments and dinner out with Bone Doctor and Jo, who called in after spending a couple of days with Bone Doctor's mother in south Gippsland, who is rapidly deteriorating with MS.

They parked here and went out to explore the new Metro Tunnel, before returning for an early dinner with me and then going off to see a new production of Pirates of Penzance at the Palais Theatre. Sister and Bone Doctor bought Jo a car from an elderly couple across the road and Jo's university where she will live in, is a long way from home, and she will return to home each weekend. 

Today I went food shopping, and I say that advisedly as I mostly buy tissues and Vim, along with restocking my metaphorical wine cellar. Phyllis and Kosov buy most of the fresh food to cook. It has become a lot harder to find a car parking space where I shop, so I need to leave home before 10.00. This does not suit me, so I am thinking of another way to shop. 

Sunday there will be a family celebration for my great niece's 10th birthday. It's over an hour away, in Balnarring, which most people, including me pronounce as Balnairing, but last weekend at the great nephew's first birthday, my niece's husband argued to his wife and children that it is more like the a in apple, and he was quite right. I hate being wrong so I did check. 

Sadly I will be on the 'white diet' on Sunday, some of you will know what I mean, and I've looked at the menu and I can have grilled fish  and chips, no vegetables or salad. 

Can I chuck in a photo? Let me look. Don't we all need a blue Aga?