Bullion Bother

The is scary, especially for US citizens. The gold was removed by secret flights in unrecorded and unidentified planes. Only a small amount was removed from Ottawa, it being collateral damage. What on Earth has that Orange McNugget done to the world?

This comes from a Substack called I ***king Love Australia. Please do not ask me what a Substack is, nor Discord. I do not know. The former requires and age check here, and Discord confuses me. I am just getting to understanding Reddit, quite a useful site but also one that should have age restrictions. Actually, I think it does.  

Experts also say the recent spike in bond yields reflects rising concerns about the immense levels of debt across the developed world and, especially, in the United States.

The American government is spending more money on servicing its US$40tn debt pile than it is on defence. In fact, net interest payments of US$1.2tn a year make it the second biggest spending item in the US budget.

Nobody thinks the Americans are about to default on their debt, but the developed world’s borrowing burden is chipping away at trust in governments’ capacity to manage their budgets, and bond investors are demanding a higher interest rate to account for that.

the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) recently finished moving 86 tonnes of gold out of North America (the US and Canada) to the Bank of England in London. [1, 2]

The operation concluded in August 2026 after several months of coordination. [1]

Why the Gold Was Relocated

Crisis Preparedness: The Dutch central bank explicitly stated the move was made to handle "increasing geopolitical unrest" and ensure the country is better prepared for severe global crises. [1, 2]
Market Liquidity: London hosts the world's largest over-the-counter gold market. Keeping the gold in the Bank of England vaults allows the Netherlands to buy, sell, or trade the bullion much faster if an economic shock happens. [1, 2]
Strategic Shift: This matches a broader trend of European nations pulling assets out of the US; France similarly removed its gold reserves from US soil earlier in the

Public photography

I can't speak for other countries, but in Australia you are free to take photographs in public spaces. Defining public spaces is difficult, and I would certainly call anywhere government owned as a public space, with restrictions as defined by government law.

Our Spencer Street Station Southern Cross Station is privately operated but it is certainly government owned, so I reckon it is fair game for the public to take photos. After checking, personal and amateur photography is fine. 

What about Museum Melbourne Central Station?  The same as Southern Cross. 

Well, to my surprise this post is going nowhere. My suspicions about photography at private company operated railway stations seems unfounded.

Even at  a car service station where you might fill your car with petrol, while privately owned on privately owned land is considered a public space by Victoria Police.  

This was inspired by an article in an English electric newspaper, https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/use-a-dslr-in-a-railway-station-you-get-questioned-use-a-smartphone-youre-ignored-why/ 

Speaking of English newspapers, their free versions are hideous. The Telegraph had an ad over the text of a news story that didn't disappear, and nor had any usual method to close the ad. Only by refreshing could I read the article. Other electric English papers are just as bad with overwhelming advertising, and the pages jumping around on the screen as you try to read something. If I lived in England and wanted to read newspapers, I think I would buy a hard copy at the corner shop. 

And I thought our own advertising was intrusive enough. 

A visit to Switzerland

I've read two or three Agatha Christie books, and of course they were ok. But I absolutely loved the tv series Poirot, based on her books. My favourite episode was called The Labours of Hercules, which I believe is the name of a work of art.

The scenery, Series 13 Episode 04 was lavish. The hotel where it was filmed was lavish. The story line was excellent, the acting faultless and I haven't finished watching it yet. But oh the scenery, and a funicular, and my long time readers will know I do like a good funicular. 

If you are still reading my blog, thanks to the person who pointed out Daily Motion to me to find older films and tv series, and there I found a not so good copy of the episode. I am not paying, so I cannot complain. The stills I took are far from illustrating the lavishness of the series, but you'll get your idea. The name of the uploader is oddly called Deaddogsdam.

Ok, here we go. A bit of research work will be needed.

The journey to the resort begins with the funicular. To appraise those who don't know, funiculars are rail vehicles that can climb steep hills by the weight of a connected descending car. Power is still needed but not much.

Ready to board below the mountain resort.  

 

A passing loop, before the car enters a tunnel. Spoiler alert, there is an avalanche whereby the tunnel is filled with snow, making the funicular inoperable. 

 

The view from the car looking upwards. The interior of the vehicle is a prop built in Pinewood Studios, London. Hey, and aren't we worried about AI?

The car creaked, squeaked and groaned as it carried its passengers to the ascent destination.

Perfectly safe.

Here's the hotel on the horizon.

Exiting the funicular. 

The hotel was for very swank guests. 

What wondrous views. 

The denouement: While the setting was Switzerland, it wasn't actually. Le funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet is in France and was built to service a sanatorium, which is used as the hotel. Who knows where the hotel interior scenes were filmed. 

Metric Madness

Written 08/25

I think it was in the 1970s when Australia became metric, and everything became metric. There was no wishy washiness of showing the old and the new. No, this is metric, this is how it is. You learn it, and we did, because we had to. For some, no doubt they had to make mental conversions, but younger people such as I was, quickly picked up the new system.

A bad moment for me was when we were driving in England, looking for a turn off I saw a sign with the name and 200 yards ahead. I know a yard is a bit less than a metre, but my brain would not instantly calculate the distance to being not very far ahead. England is half metricated. 

Friday Funny

Later edit: I thought she was funny the first time I watched the clips. I watch funny clips more than once before using them here. After a couple of watches, I wasn't finding hers so funny. Still, with so many subscribers, there must be something in them. I will see what others think.

With a bit of introspection, I think what appealed to me about the clips were the two attractive racing car drivers, and how they interacted with her.  

Why wasn't I told? Told about Amelia Dimoldenberg, that is. I find her amusing, and clearly so do her 3.32 million YouTube subscribers. She has being 'performing' for a very long time.

I am brand new to her channel, I've watched a few of her videos. They aren't long, and she seems to have an unhealthy interest in motor car racing drivers. That's ok with me.

Firstly, the English racing car driver Lando Norris.

And the Australian driver, Oscar Piastri.

Scandals

It is remarkable how similar the English Post Office scandal is to our own Robodebt scandal.

I've just watched the first of a series of a tv programme The People versus Robodebt. It is probably geoblocked if you are a foreign type. As I understand it our social welfare government department, Centrelink, took payment beneficiary information from the tax department of annual income, whereas Centrelink payments are based on fortnightly income. 

In both situations, it soon became apparent that there were issues. The Murdoch media in both England and Australia both ignored it, both supporters of the conservative governments of the time. It was left to other media to tell the story in Australia, as pure logical information came spewing out. Yet, no one acted. The government buried its head in the sand, only occasionally popping up to say welfare cheating was wrong and it was committed to stop it.

Some media kept fighting, along with advocates for social security recipients, legal people, and those within the system, who would bob their heads up, to have them quickly cut down by their seniors.

Even now with hindsight, like the Post Office scandal, it is hard to understand how long it went on when it was clearly wrong. In both cases, there were suicides by some of those affected. Houses were lost, marriages and partnerships broke. 

I am angry that I didn't do more. I am angry that our media didn't do more. I am angry that our common garden variety politicians didn't act. I am most of all angry with then Prime Minister Scott Morrison's conservative government. 

And in another parallel, no one has had their head chopped off, and someone's damned well should have been severely punished, in both cases. 

Let's see what happens with extraordinary Grenfell Tower inquiry, still ongoing eight years after 70 odd people died in the fire, in one of the most important and richest cities in the world, one that couldn't provide people with basic building fire protection. 

A Hexham Holiday

That's Hexham in the north of England, not the one in New South Wales, Australia.

Ray's sister and her third husband owned a semi permanent caravan there, which Ray and I mostly used as accommodation the first time I visited England in 2008, I think. It was very comfortable, connected up to power, water, sewerage and gas, and only a short walk to the market town centre.The gas fire kept us warm, but I clearly remember the freezing cold unheated bathroom area. I found it too cold to shower with limited hot water pressure, and so I used the bath. 

At the bottom of the park was the River Tyne, and one day it rained steadily the whole day. As we say in Australia, the river was running a banker, but it didn't flood. I had never seen narrow fast flowing rivers like the Tyne before. I was super impressed. Australian rivers tend to be lazy, without a rush by the waters to reach the sea. 

The town centre was lovely, and very historic. The locals, as I subsequently learnt, tended to vote conservatively. Being surrounded by farms, I wasn't surprised. 

Hexham Cathedral. I still have a leather bookmark I collected. Note the blue clock face.

The outdoor market was larger than it appears here. 

An Australian connection.

I think from the road bridge looking down onto the town, the river and railway line.

There was partly disintegrated monastery or something like that, so perhaps that's where these gates led. 

It is a delightful town. Just don't visit for good fish and chips.

Dear ABC TV

I am tired of seeing Kevin McCloud documenting rich ***** ever so special home buildings.

 

When McCloud was in Australia, his management laid down the law to then Melbourne ABC morning broadcaster. Jon Faine was not a broadcaster who avoided asking hard questions, so when Faine asked McCloud about where he lived, McCloud was very pissed orf, and replied that it was not an appropriate question for interview.. McCloud could have joked the question away but chose to go hard back at Faine for asking the question. That was the beginning of my dislike of McCluod. Should describe him as a pompous git? I am not sure, but I am moving on.

Moving on to another wankery tv show about gorgeous Spanish gardens. Sorry Monty Don,  but you bore me and while the gardens are lovely, how many lovely gardens do you expect Boomers to admire.

How about a tv show about renovating a two up and two down? Maybe a show about greening England and some environmentalists?

I am in a foul mood after my procedure this morning, being up at 4am. I just need a good night's sleep. I am ignoring official advice to not write or sign anything for twenty four hours. 

Agatha Down Under

I don't know why I didn't know Agatha Christie visited Australia. The State Library of Victoria informed me. 

Agatha's husband was appointed financial advisor to the British Empire Mission, so this involved travel to the colonies to promote the upcoming 1924 British Empire Exhibition.  As his wife, Agatha travelled with him with their expenses paid for as a couple, and I assume a wage for her husband. 

They disembarked their ship in Adelaide caught the train to Melbourne and travelled quite extensively around Victoria by train, as they attended various functions to promote the exhibition. 

They were based at the very impressive Menzies Hotel, since demolished.

One such trip they took in Victoria was to the lovely timber mill township known as Noojee, in the West Gippsland region, and I know Noojee well. 

Agatha wrote:

"It was lovely, all through the bush, very dense undergrowth, and great tall tree trunks. The engine flung out showers of sparks, but a kindly stoker was on duty to extinguish me if I was smouldering in more than two places at once! We got out at the Goodwood Saw mills, right in the heart of the forest. I shall never forget it."

Quite amusing about smouldering in two places. No doubt she passed over this marvellous train trestle bridge, well actually its very similar predecessor that was burnt in the 1939 fires. Photo from TripAdvisor. 

While researching, it was no surprise that a post by Hels popped up, where I discovered Agatha and her husband separated in 1926. Read Hels concise post to see how Agatha handled the break up. 

That will do for this post. It's become hard to concentrate with foam bullets flying past my head. 

Pleasing the residents of Isle of Man

10.10pm. "Phyllis, shut up and stop distracting me. I am faced with a blank page for tomorrow's blog post and frigging well move your shell collection as the printer needs to be loaded with paper".

I think this is a better map of Great Britain than I last showed and less likely to offend those on an semi independent island off Great Britain's west coast. Can any of you see a problem with the map? 

Vale George Negus

Just an update about the word route, it is rather inconclusive that it is American influence in Australia. After all, Nat King Cole sang route rather than rowt with the line, Get your kicks on Route 66. I'm sure many did. To repeat Tasker's comment yesterday, Get your snout on rout 66.

------

George Negus could probably be described as an old style knock about journalist, and that is a positive. As a journalist, an overseas correspondent, one who spent time in war zones, a television reporter and tv current affairs host, he knew his craft. Sadly he has died from Alzheimers at the age of 82. Ha, he and Thatcher died from the same disease.

For anyone my age what may stick in our heads is those of us who were watching, was this interview of Iron Lady, aka the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher used up the interview time by delaying questions into time spent questioning Negus' questions. On the face of it George was on his backfoot, but I rather think Thatcher showed her true posh and imperious persona, to not take an Australian journalist seriously. My goodness, so many years later, how her soft posh accent irritates me. Note a a slight licking of her lips at about 35 seconds, indicating....something. 

George's interpretation. Right at the end of the interview, look deeply into her malevolent eyes, with not an ounce of empathy towards anyone ever. 

Water and War

I listened to the podcast linked below and if our ABC is similar to the BBC, you should be able to listen to it anywhere. The podcast is is made by the RN radio programme Rear Vision and discusses the disastrous privatisation of the water and sewerage system in I think, England and Wales. I am not sure about the other countries in Great Britain. 

The privatisation was initiated by late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (she without empathy) and has been an utter disgrace, so if you want your blood to boil in fury about sewerage flowing into fresh water and governmental permission to rip off the people of the aforesaid countries, take half an hour to listen to the podcast. It is very enlightening. 

Sadly ABC no longer allows direct downloading as it wants everyone to use the ABC app, which I believe you can use overseas. You can listen online though. 

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/rearvision/water-privatisation-in-england-and-why-it-s-failed/104238770

In other matters, for months the Australian government has been warning its citizens against visiting the Middle East and over the past several weeks, it has been urging Australians to return to Australia before things really kick off in area. Well, it seems kicking off is pretty close to being underway. 

Now the government is talking about emergency evacuation flights and ferries. If my government was urging me to return home, I damn well would have at the first serious warning, promptly. I suppose there are some citizens of Australia in the Middle East who would be reluctant to uproot their established lives there, but at least they know the situation and can make educated judgements. Wouldn't it to be better to be safe than sorry? I do not like the idea of Australians or anyone being put at risk to evacuate those who were too stubborn and could now be screaming help. Of course down the track our government will receive bad press, by leaving all those, 'innocent and desperate people overseas who are innocently caught up in a war'. 

Yes, I am in a bit of a grump tonight. 

There will always be an England

 Well, English PM Richelle Snuck has pulled the pin on the grenade he has been holding. 

And Sir Keefe Stammer (I say nuffin') will be the next PM. 

You just wait 'Enry Higgins, citizens of England, to see how your lives immensely improve under the new Labour government. 

The English public health care system is widely admired around the world, but it seems it is grossly underfunded. Over to you Sir Keith.

Bumping another car

I once had a bit of an inappropriate laugh when I read in the online Fiji Live electric newspaper that someone in Fiji was killed after two cars bumped together. 

Aside from the important King Street thoroughfare, motor cars have been strongly restricted within the bounds of Melbourne's Central Business District boundaries. It is fair to say it is a nightmare to drive within the city boundaries and that is how it should be. The area is abundantly served by trains, trams and buses. Most Melbournians are spoilt for choice to get to town by public transport, even more so when the new underground train line soon opens. Some of course will have to catch a bus or drive to their nearest railway station. 

Within the city the speed limit is 40 km/h, 25 mph and there are cameras to check your speed, quite a few of them. The fines are high, as is the demerit points against your driving licence. 

I expect this figure may apply to 2023. 'Research by Monash University found the crash rate was down 46% and bike traffic up by 22% in the CBD'. This is primarily the result of the speed limit being reduced and proper protected bike lanes. 

Also the speed limit in the small streets with lots of pedestrians has been reduced to 20 km/h, 12 mph.

So crashes within the CBD are down by nearly half. The statistics don't lie. 

I think mostly related to a lot more traffic after the lifting of Covid travel restrictions, in 2023 the Australian road toll rose by 7.3%. Comparing my experience of driving and observations in England, Australian drivers are quite bad. By my calculations, and I am notorious for getting simple arithmetic wrong, our road deaths per million figure is 48. That isn't great by world standards. 

But not as bad as some first world countries. Australia would be coloured the light green colour. For someone who knows more about American demographics than I do, what is it about the dark and red states with very high death rates? Poor states? #45 voters? Gun toting? 

Mr Bates and the Post Office

If you don't know about it, Post Masters (and Mistresses) were we found to be defrauding the British Post Office of thousands of pounds after the implantation of a computer system in the early 2000s. There were hundreds of them. They lost businesses, they had make up thousands of pounds in discrepancies, some were sent to gaol, some suicided. 

They were not guilty. Like our Robodebt system in Australia, it was an absolute disgrace. The good people of Australia did not speak out loudly enough about the very obvious wrongs of Robodebt. 

A commercial tv station picked up the three part made for tv series of Mr Bates versus the Post Office. I can't say I thought it was a quality production, but R recorded it through our Fetch box and he is an expert at skipping through ads.  I kind of knew the story already.

What I thought was much better was the subsequent documentary called Mr Bates, the Post Office and the Real Story. If you aren't in the UK, it is probably not available to watch online. I found it much more satisfying. For Australians I think you can find it on Channel 7 catch up tv. 

Nothing of the above really illustrates the disgraceful behaviour of the British Post Office. The CEO of the Post Office at the time, one  should be stripped of her CBE and in my opinion should go to gaol for what she oversaw.

Ah, she has now handed back her CBE, but as I read it, she did so before King Charles took it away from her. Wait, a correction. The King has taken the award from her. 

Hopefully now Mr Bates who tirelessly fought against the injustices perpetrated by the British Post Office will accept his CBE for his two decades of work to seek justice for himself and many others.

The Post Office is paying out bigtime in compensation. Unfortunately this is British taxpayers' money and I can't see a cent or penny coming from the company responsible for the failed system, Fujitsu. 

It is always good to criticise corruption and wrongs in the world, but it is far preferable to do so when your own doorstep is clean. First world countries need to be beyond reproach, and they aren't.    

A laugh

What we used to refer to as 'pay tv' has now become 'streaming', if I correctly understand. We pay for one streaming service, Britbox, at $9 per month. That won't send us into penury. R makes good use of Britbox and it does have some great shows and I mean to watch many of them. But I am a retired person and I just don't have the time. 

There is an Australian gay movie or series I want to see and will be streamed but not on Britbox. I don't want to sign up for anything and I am happy to pay per view. I am quite ignorant about streaming tv. Oldest Great Niece proclaimed to us, there Auntie Andrew, your tv has Netflix. No darling child, it is just a link and we will have to pay. Darling child, let me just switch the tv to YouTube for Kids. I find there is more than enough to watch on the big screen from free to air tv and YouTube. 

Britbox began quite low key here but is now advertising itself quite prominently, displaying many old tv shows, oddly though not Love Thy Neighbour. That must be cheap to buy the rights to.

Via Facebook, I came across a group for Keeping up Appearances. Hyacinth, aka Dame Patricia Routledge is just brilliant in so many ways. When she was here in Melbourne, a friend of years ago carried her in his taxi cab and said she was just the loveliest of people. True class, unlike Hyacinth. 

There are a number of promotional clips I can choose from, and this is wot ya get. 

I once knew a Manxman

I worked with a Manxman. I was in my twenties and he was in his sixties. He told me he was a Manxman and I really had no idea what that was. He was a reliable employee in that he was punctual for work but he was terrible at his work. He would be in the 'office' every second day to answer a 'please explain'. I can't remember his name, but there were the remains of a handsome military kind of man. He was always perfectly attired and groomed, and quite a charmer. I've remembered his name now, Alf Vary. 

Right, so here is my and your edjicashun. 

Forty years later from Alf Vary, I now have a nice blogger (request to read) on board who hails from Isle of Man. I have a vague memory of seeing a tram video online with a stark landscape on IOM. So Let's investigate JayCee the Isle of Man. 

The small island between England and Ireland has historic rail transport, so that interested me even more.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that IOM is not England but a crown dependency. While it relies on England for foreign affairs and defence, it has its own government and its own currency which I expect might be more useless than Scottish pounds in England. 

I wanted to see YouTube videos of the railway systems but learning about IOM was quite interesting. 

It is both wetter and sunnier than most parts of England. Its population is around 85,000. The residents can have an IOM passport or (perhaps and) a UK passport. It has never been part of the EU. It has its own language, probably a dying language like Welsh. 

The negatives? I can't find the information now but as I recall the general health of its residents is not good, with obesity being a huge problem. It is a tax haven for some and a good place to launder money by others. 

The old ferry to England, The Steam Packet made its last journey a week or so ago, replaced on a sunny and warm day by the new ferry, the Manxman. The following day the weather changed it was judged the new £78 million ferry could not cope and the old Steam Packet ran the service.

The Steam Packet ferry from Shipping Today and Yesterday magazine. 

The new Manxman ferry from Wikipedia. 

 Douglas is IOM's capital and the next largest city is Ramsey. From southern Douglas to northern Douglas you can catch a horse drawn tram and then transfer to an electric tram to travel to Ramsey. You can stop off on the way the tram at Laxey and catch another electric tram to the top of the highest mountain on IOM, Snaefell. 

Also from Douglas you can catch a steam train south to Port Erin. A Google map image of the island. 

Photos from Wikipedia and the IOM tourism website. This is one of the tram models to travel between Douglas and Ramsey. 

The steam train between Douglas and Port Erin. 

The tram to Snaefell peak is unusual. Rather than using a pole or pantograph to pick up power from the overhead wiring, it has what are called bow collectors. With a steep descent from the mountain it has a very old emergency Fell braking system. I read a little about it but I am not much the wiser.  I think it is unusual to have two bow collectors. My theory on this that if one collector for some reason loses contact the other will maintain contact and ensure the tram's, a later addition, dynamic braking will work. 

The steaming

This is nice and easy quick post. Jabblog mention a sadly cancelled steam engine festival and reminded me I found this clip a few days ago. 

English drivers must curse this vehicle on the streets. I have posted a clip before featuring the Whitby steam bus. Note at around the two minute mark where the bus is really struggling as it slowly climbs a hill. I have learnt from train fans that the best place to watch diesel or steam trains is as the ascend steep banks, as they call hills. What fun!

Train travel at speed

Over the last four years with a combination of newer, faster and more comfortable trains, along with better train tracks, technology and competition between companies, train travel in the UK and Europe has increased its share of medium to long distance travel. There will be great figures from many European countries but here are a few examples. I think they are figures of competition between flying and trains for fast and convenient comfortable travel.

London to Edinburgh trains, from 33% of market share up to 63%. That is substantial and has killed domestic airline flights, but it should be even better. 

Madrid to Barcelona, 12% of market share by trains up to 73%. The train is very fast.

Milan to Rome, 36% of market share to 80%. This too is a very fast train. 

Carefully controlled competition between train companies, often against a government owned rail operator has improved services no end. 

Four companies compete on the Madrid to Barcelona train route and they are very fast trains at a cost well below flying, making travelling between the two major cities a no brainer decision.    

The Italian designed and manufactured train running under the brand Iryo is the best looker and perhaps the best choice, depending on your needs. It's interior was designed by a famous Italian interior designer, so famous I can't recall his name, and it's beautiful and ultra comfortable. 

We in the Antipodes can only look on with envy and wonder why we can't have such a train company or four to choose on one of the world's busiest flight route, Melbourne and Sydney. The flight is longer than it once was as there can be lot of taxi time in Sydney and to allow for plane congestion in Sydney, but even so, at 80 minutes as against 11 hours by train, well, what can I say. There is no defence. 

The Italian train Frecciarossa 1000, running high speed, 300 km/h I think, between Madrid and Barcelona.

Clearly first class and I think there are four classes to choose from. 

England Wrap Up

There is not really much more to say. 

This is a video I must have taken at The Denton Hotel. It was very busy and there were sports on tv. Normally it is such a pleasant place to meet, have a drink and a meal. But this night it was just too noisy. Sister 1 rarely complains but she certainly did this night. We left as soon as we could after our meals.

Later note: Given I can't remember taking the video, it could have also been at the Fox and Hounds pub.

Sent to me by a friend, footage taken at a Melbourne gay bar.

The model railway at York Train Museum was very good. I wish I had more time to watch all that was happening with various trains.

This vehicle is what I know as a rail motor.

Wink was a bar in our Colombo hotel. Rather swank.

The spicy nibbles were complimentary and very nice. R had an Aperol and I had a martini, too much vermouth and not enough gin (yeah, one or the other written would have done).

The hotel grounds were of many hectares, some groomed and some semi jungle.

I assume the "I do" balloon was an answer to a marriage proposal to someone who would soon appear at the airport exit door. 

Later edit: I failed to mention that my voice cracked as I hugged R's Sister 1 goodbye. I kind of knew it was the last time we would see her. 

Also, this was supposed to be posted tomorrow, and I do have history of mucking up when a month changes.