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.

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...

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.

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. 

 

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 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?

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.