Sunday, October 30, 2022

Sunday Selections

I am joining with Elephant's Child and River for Sunday Selections. As usual, just random photos.

Eight year old great niece Little M is staying for a couple of nights so we are rather busy. R is a great carer. Me, not so much. Her mother posted a photo of herself on FB with five year old Little Em, watching a movie together. I replied, Where is Little M and did you say she could stay up until 10 pm? Then later, did mummy say 'Never say no to Little M'. Daddy is in LA for some motor car show.

On to selections.  

Luvvy, your shoes don't match.


Fallen out of someone's shopping bag perhaps.


The tightest curve on the Melbourne train system, near Rushall Station. 


Why? Because long trucks cut the corner because of bad road design. 


This is so simple. Pedestrians on a footpath should not have to look out for truck trailers. Footpath is exactly that and you should be safe. Yes, people have been injured by turning trucks.


Electric boats on Yarra River for hire. I think about $120 an hour. More if you want a chiller box for beer or wine. It is not too much money if there are four of you. 


There doesn't seem to be space for the driver.


People used to gas themselves to death with domestic gas ovens. Now they can do it with diesel fumes at So Cross Station, Spencer Street Station, Southern Cross Station. Steam trains used to belt out smoke, earlier diesel trains pumped out black fumes and stations were well ventilated. Was early experience of ventilating stations lost along the way?


I just thought this was an ok erect penis building photo.


You have no idea how this china glittered in the sunlight. The sunlight shining in the shop window lit them beautifully but the phone camera did not quite capture what I saw. I think I was in The Block or Royal Arcade.


Saturday, October 29, 2022

The rice cooker

Is this my best blog post ever? Maybe not.

We are not Asian so we don't have a proper electric rice cooker but use a microwave rice cooker.  We eat rice at times but not that much. It is not our daily staple. 

I think this is our third microwave rice cooker and it is very good. It even came with a rice fluffing up spoon, that is also perfect for serving rice.

The whole unit goes in the dishwasher after being used and as it is plastic, it does not dry well, so I give it a wipe over with a tea towel and then assemble the individual parts. 

For about two or more years I have continued to make the same mistake before putting the rice cooker away.

I've dried the bowl.


Dried this bit of the rice cooker.


And put the lid on.

Then I remember the very well designed rice fluffer spoon. The spoon fits perfectly inside the bowl for storage.


So then I take off the the two rice cooker lid parts, put in the spoon and put the whole unit back together and put it away. I don't think I've ever remembered to put the spoon in before putting the cooker parts together. 

Maybe it is brain fog that causes me to continue to forget about the spoon, or early stages of dementia, but do give me some sympathy for my rather first world problem.

Friday, October 28, 2022

Ban the BoM

Over the past couple of weeks our state has suffered terrible flooding. Amid the flooding of people's homes and how reliant people were on weather forecasts, The Australian Bureau of Meteorology took time out to publish a press release after paying a couple of hundred thousand dollars to a private company commissioned to 'correct the name', approved by our former conservative government.

My summary is that is what The Bureau wants is in the first instance it should be referred to as Bureau of Meteorology and subsequently the weather bureau. What media should not do is refer to it as the BoM, as in bomb. Media is not to say bomb when quoting the Bureau. 

After derision and criticism by the general public, along with media broadcasters and the federal minister in charge of the BoM, the BoM relented and said, call us what you like. 

The weird thing is that our media generally doesn't use the word BoM. I don't use the word BoM and I don't know anyone who does. I say bureau or weather bureau. 

$270,000 pissed in the air by our former government. Yes, pennies in our federal budget, but look after the pennies and the pounds will look after itself. 

ABC Melbourne breakfast radio host and comedian Sammy J put it to music. I can't insert the video, only give you the link here.

Meanwhile at the Bureau of Meteorology website, what do we see in large letters? And as my phone app says...

Thursday, October 27, 2022

London Style

Admittedly this is in central London in the 1930s, an area where poor EastEnders dropping aitches everywhere would not be but there was something very telling in the colourised clip from back then. 

I did watch the whole eight minute clip but you will see enough in the first location if you give it two and half minutes. In the clip I saw one stout man. The rest of the men were not and so nicely dressed.

As for the women, they looked stunning; beautifully dressed and not one person with a weight problem to be seen. I think we have really got something wrong with our diets and exercise in the twenty first century, me included. 

I should leave out that many children in England back then suffered Rickets because of malnutrition and hence vitamin deficiency.  Ah yes. I don't know the location and no doubt I could research, but save me the time and tell me where it is if you know.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Balcony door update

R proclaimed, 'Why am I living in this hell hole'. He was so stressed he took to his bed. While the tradespeople were here, and I dealt with them and I made all the phone calls while he hid in his bedroom sleeping and watching tv.

I fudged it on the question of where is your wife. I said at work. It seemed the easiest thing to do. But a lesson learnt. R must be here at home with his presence when tradies are here. He can't hide away during the process and then have a hissy fit later because of ...nothing. 

But the balcony door glass replacement was a nightmare. I wonder if we should have employed a local glazier rather than the national one with an Irish name. 

Wednesday between 12 and 4 the glazier, a couple of hours late but he let us know, turned up with glass way to thin for our balcony door and luckily had measured wrongly and the glass was too small so when he returned the next morning with the correct glass, it was thicker but not as thick as the original which was perhaps too thick and weighty for a balcony door.

It became very clear to us that when we had the door rollers replaced a few weeks before, the installed had drilled screws into the glass and broke it, but not immediately. 

Keep in mind every time trades people come and go, I have to go down to the car park to let them in and out. I spent a lot of time on the phone pressing phone menu buttons.

I had the door roller replacement at least refund the cost of their work, $300. The company did not argue as I pointed out how much its damage was costing us.

The window tinting on one of my bedroom windows is breaking down, I expect because SOMEONE used Windex containing ammonia on the window, so that has to be replaced along with tinting the new glass in the balcony door glass. Without the tinting, there is so much glaring light. 

Ten years ago it cost $1200 to tint four average sized windows and six floor to ceiling living room windows. The quoted cost for the two aforementioned windows was around $900. I argued back and the price was reduced by $100, still a lot of money but apparently our old tinting is low quality and the replacement won't be. 

It has been a nightmare in one way, more because of R's stress levels than me handling the whole thing while he stayed away.

Yesterday, Tuesday the almost final appointment was made via phone sms. How great. It gave us time to think before responding. We have nothing on next week except for something Monday morning and that was the suggested time for the tinting. We thought about ways to deal with and concluded no. The time will have to change, as I replied with a text. How about early Friday afternoon then? Fab. Agreed.

Truly though, the door roller company should have born nearly the whole cost. Look at what the most nice and friendly tradesperson did. Drove four screws into the balcony door glass. Maybe I got it all so wrong and should have just handed it over to our home contents insurance, except I am sure it wouldn't be covered. 

 


Tuesday, October 25, 2022

The revolving door at Number 10

By the time you read this Rishi Sunak may well be Prime Minister of England. What baggage does he come with? He is very rich but I am not sure how he made his riches. 

Photo from the Daily Mail.


He married his wife Akshata Murty 
in England in 2005 but as I understand it India will not allow her to have dual citizenship so while she must have the status of being a resident of Britain, she is Indian not British. Murty is the daughter of one of India's richest men. Wouldn't you think that the wife of England's Prime Minister would want to be British, especially as she has lived there for so long? 

PM Sunak with a foreign citizen wife! 

However, do not feel sorry for her for not being English. By having non domicile status, she has not had to pay £20,000,000 plus in English taxes on overseas income. This non domicile status is a shocking and flabbergasting rort. Apparently the London suburb of Knightsbridge is chockers with non domiciled overseas born residents who do the same. Think Russian oligarchs among others.

One of the first actions of PM Sunak should be to kill the rort. While his wealth is reported to be £200 million, his wife's worth is around £500 million.

I know greed knows no bounds, but PM Sunak already being very rich may act to benefit everyone in England and not just rich mates? Oh, I just saw an air born pig.

Monday, October 24, 2022

Monday Mural

Joining in with Sami for Monday Mural.

This is a bit different for a mural post. I wonder if this Southbank building is slated for demolition. The painting mural screams India to me, but maybe it isn't. What's your opinion?


Sunday, October 23, 2022

Spirit of Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island state to the south of the State of Victoria with Bass Strait in between. A ferry known as the Spirit of Tasmania transports people, cars and trucks in both directions in about eleven hours between Station Pier, Port Melbourne and the northern Tasmanian town Devonport. 

It is a sad day for many people as the last sailing from Station Pier happens at 7.30pm 22/10/22 and as I type it is 7.39 and I should be able to see it in the bay but of course it is late. It was late when we took our car on the ferry to Tasmanian in 2020. The ferry loading is chaotic in the very tight space, including car queueing on public streets and limited passenger handling space on the pier along with sharing the space with cruise ships. I understand the change to its Victorian port changing to Corio in Geelong, but that doesn't stop us being sad as we may never see the ferry again. 

It is nearly dark so I can't take photos and the ferry is late. Here are some photos I've taken over the years.



But wait, I did manage to catch her last voyage from Station Pier at about 7.50 and in spite of low light, the pic is not so bad. Bon voyage.

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Thanks for the chills dude

Who invented refrigeration? An Australian of course, one James Harrison. He was Scottish born, a large regional town newspaper owner, The Geelong Advertiser now a Murdoch paper, and a member of Victoria's upper parliamentary house called  the Legislative Council.

I had no knowledge of this and I was surprised when I came across this plaque somewhere in the north in the city. 

You can read more about him here. It isn't too heavy.


Don't we have a lot to thank James for? Now, time for a glass of chilled and crisp sauvignon  blanc. Cheers James.  Set to publish at 5am, so clearly not written at 4.50am.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Miracle Healing

Maybe my spinal arthritis developed symptoms in early 2020. I had xrays and a scan to discover what I had already been told. It was arthritis. The spinal problem meant something different to pain. It was very bad in the mornings between 9 and noon as I showered, dressed and went out for brunch. I was often walking along the street with my head falling forward. I had to consciously try to keep my head erect. The more I stood, the worse it became and I was always looking around for a seat with back to give me some respite. Driving was a nightmare and caused me great pain. In spite of R's protests about one handed driving on freeways, it was best to let my left arm rest down low. I did find ways to ameliorate the pain. At times in the mornings I struggled to even eat, such the effort it was. It was an effort just to move my jaw to chew.

I received five visits to a physiotherapist in 2021 at no cost to me from our health system as a sufferer of a chronic disease. She gave me massages and helpful advice. She prescribed exercises to strengthen muscles to support my spine and I think they helped and I am still exercising.

Painkillers like strong Panadol were like lollies and I didn't want to become addicted to them as Mother is. I used them when I was at my worst but just did not seem to help. After twenty minutes of showering dressing and making myself presentable for the day, most days I would have to sit in an armchair to relieve the discomfort. I could then stand and get my head up.

Was it four weeks ago we were dog sitting for Sister. Nothing had changed. When we returned home the really bad morning neck problems kind of disappeared to be replaced with with some kind of all over spinal pain. 

Oh joyous news. For whatever reason, I am pretty well pain free now. There is minor pain but whatever has happened, I am so happy. Highrise grumpy arse has even noticed how my posture has improved and I am moving better. My walking speed has improved too. 

But is this normal? Some of you I know suffer from arthritis. Is this a temporary reprieve as you have experienced? 

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Dirty Housewives

Confession; I have the view that if it can't be seen, it doesn't need a clean. Cleaning under large whitegoods appliances or furniture is only done when they have to be moved for other reasons.

While R dusts my minimal bedroom furniture, I  don't expect him to pull things apart to dust them, including this nest of tables. I had noticed the tables becoming rather dusty...very dusty. So I had to take the nest apart and give it a wash. No Andrew. Do not take the individual tables in with you when you have your morning shower. A bit more effort is required. For several months I procrastinated over what took half an hour. I spent more time thinking about doing it than actually doing it.

I half filled a bucket of very warm water with a light dose of liquid hand soap and got to work. The intricate bits at the side took some cleaning. I didn't clean the nest enough to put up for sale in an antique shop but it looks much better.

There was a time in three of our houses where we lived the nest was regularly used in our lounge rooms, pulled apart and used as side tables. That was back in the days when we were social and had friends. I had forgotten how beautiful they are. They are black lacquered and finely polished back to expose some of the... I forget, rose wood or cherry wood. I will clean them in another ten years.


Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Stable Leadership

Italy was renown for changing leaders but other countries haven't done very well so what about 'more stable' western countries.

Let's look at home first since 2010. Australia has not done well with so many Prime Ministers. 

2010, Kevin Rudd/Julia Gillard (Labor)

2013 Kevin Rudd (Labor)

2013 Tony Abbott (Conservative)

2015 Malcolm Turnbull (Conservative)

2018 Scott Morrison (Conservative)

2022 Anthony Albanese (Labor)

Six in twelve years.

Canada. They're a bit like us but eat poutine.

Some many years ago Pierre Trudeau. Oh, then was there some other bloke or two? I can't remember since then until Justin (drool) Trudeau became PM in 2015. Wow, that is a long time stable government and leadership.

Ok, I will do it properly.

2010 Stephen Harper (Conservative)

2015 Justin Trudeau (Liberal)

The US leaders? 

2010 Barak Obama (Democrat)

2017 Donald Trump (Republican)

2021 Jo Biden (Democrat)

Why start at 2010? 

That is because that was the year England's Prime Minister David Cameron was Prime Minister.

2010 Gordon Brown/David Cameron (Labour/Conservative)

2016 Theresa May (Conservative)

2019 Boris Johnston (Conservative) 

2022 Liz Truss (Conservative)

Well, I thought there were more English PMs since 2010 but it seems not. Australia has the dubious honour of having the most leaders since 2010. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Broke

The glass, not me, although at a replacement cost of over $900 plus retinting, it may be us who are broke too. What a pity we didn't break it ourselves! The building's insurance would have paid or our home contents insurance. R pointed out that the glass had cracked. I suggested it might be a scratch. I was just hoping in vain.


Over a few weeks the crack spread when early morning hot sun hit the glass. It extended even more after these photos were taken.



Can someone be both bombastic and nice? The big burly guy who came last Wednesday to measure up the replacement glass was both. He is in his early sixties and has worked in the industry for his whole working life. I may well have worked with his wife at some point in my life but her name meant nothing to me. 

He will return this coming Wednesday to install the glass with a young compatriot to assist with heavy lifting.  

Life is not easy at times when you have first world problems. 

As for my blog, I have been working on it and there had been so much to fix up, including my photo in my profile, WordPress re-creation and commenting ID. I have the same header photo with the new blog name made, but it doesn't fit well. I had the same problem when I first uploaded it as a header photo and of course I forget how I made it work. I'll get there but it will be simpler and less crowded with other stuffs.  

Monday, October 17, 2022

Monday Murals

Not much here at this blog! Third post and some rather ordinary mural photos from a St Kilda laneway. A good opportunity to get rid of them. Identify where it is if you know.







Saturday, October 15, 2022

I am close to being old

It was my birthday. I became the age where I should receive an old age pension, except I won't. I missed out by a number of months and I have to wait until I am 67. Won't I be dead by then? That is the government's cunning plan. 

It was a nice enough birthday. R had an early medical appointment and was home by 9.30. We shopped for my favourite John West small tins of chilli tuna, but people are bulk buying at half price and two supermarkets had none. We bought some Steelo steel wool pads, increasingly hard to get. 

I was quite overwhelmed by all the niceness from friends and family on FB for my birthday.

We ate salad rolls in Prahran Square with take away coffee. Smoked cod was also bought to make kedgeree next week, along with a loaf of bakery freshly sliced bread. 

I visited Caulfield for coffee, travelling on our very nice new trains.  Note folks, the door open buttons are touch buttons, not hard press buttons. 

A new building on the southern side of the train line at Caulfield has a Coles supermarket.

R took me out, well across the road, for a nice dinner. We will see Mother tomorrow for a birthday lunch, and listen to the endless details of her medical problems while trying to divert her to other subjects, like her children, grand children and great grand children. 

Sister and Bone Doctor are seeing a performance this Saturday night in town and we will have the company of Jo, who we will take out for dinner.

Sunday an evening pub meal with Brighton Antique Dealer and her toyboy, along with our Hairdresser Friend. 

Way too busy. 

I'll leave you with a Dad Joke I saw on tv today. R did not find it amusing but I did. What did the fish say when it swam into a concrete wall? Dam. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Well well well

Somewhat edited but I felt the need to:

Here I am with a new blog as my old one has gone. I am not sure if I will attempt a reconstruction or renewal. At least by starting this I can visit your blogs and leave a comment. Please, no questions. It's all about Ts and Cs. 

Blog archived by Pandora at the State Library 2004 to March 2022.  

Monday Mural

Sami and others will join me for Monday Mural. This seems a little familiar, so maybe I've posted it before but it would have been on m...