So, I have taken some time out to jot down some notes.. ans keeping it apolitical, here is what I have observed or has stuck out in my mind:

• The Vic Market food hall.. It is so good and should be a national institution. I know the Adelaide Market is excellent, too.. maybe better. But there is something about that building which has changed little since I can remember it; my earliest memory is when I was 5; which is 55 years ago. The selection/variety of produce; the quality, and the prices are not that much more than supermarket from what I could see. 
• Speaking of food - the bad.. It is expensive - more so than in the UK and by a way. 
• Also on food, the supermarket quality - at least where we are and where I have visited has improved markedly. When I first moved to the UK, unbelievably, the UK supermarket food was better than Colesworth... But, the tables have turned again. 
• The consumer chocolate bars - are the ugly. I should get quite trim after moving back as I can't see myself eating many at all. I know when I left Australia and the first visits, they were very similar to the UK, but somewhere along the line, the majors here changed the recipe to US style 0 mire sugars, palm oils I guess and the rest... it tastes like US chocolate now... Which was a real shame as I finally got my hands on a Chokito... which was my childhood favourite. Probably never again.  
• Multiculturalism: For some peoples complaints on here, it doesn't seem to be particularly different to when I left, nor when I was a kid. The nature of the multiculturalism has changed, and I have noticed in Melbourne in particular, there is a proliferation of Asian eateries, but to be honest, while I think it is quite OK, on the scale, it is a bit meh? I know someone will point out that I can go to areas which are quite different..
• It seems in Victoria, wherever they can put a shop, they will. I think it is over-developed commercially, and that it is bland, US style mass shopping architecture. Definitely a bad.
• I think Melbourne has become more Bohemian.. It has a vibe that shouts emerge from the conservative past and embrace different. I really like its vibe.
• Although, with the development of all those high rises around the market area, it did feel a little claustrophobic. Not great.
• The roads, despite some potholes and crumbling are fantastic. Getting around during the day with the traffic levels was a breeze... but
• Having to watch the speedo to ensure I wasn't a few licks over the limit was a pain.. I could easily have done 120kph on the Hume and it would have not been one iota less safe in reality..

I am sure there is more of the good bad and ugly, and no doubt as I recall or come across them, I will add the to here.. But it really  has whet the appetite to get moving. 

just a general place for musings etc...

Today I had a new "thats doing well in life" moment,

sending parts to a customer, got his address....

XXXX valley
suburb

state postcode

asked for the street number....
oh no there isn't one, that's the property.

admittedly it was a cattle property. but still imagine having a enough land that you get your own address

[ATTACH]49502._xfImport[/ATTACH]

In the greater Taunton area, we don't have the luxury of late night pharmacists. However, there are two supermarkets; ASDA and Sainsbury's that are open 6am --> midnight that have in-house dispensaries. ASDA is a couple of miles closer to where I live, so it was off to there to get some stronger medication to sooth the symptoms of this lurgy while being drowsy inducing so I could get. good nights sleep. This suff has to be provided by the pharmacist to give them a chance to assess us before handing over the goods. While I was waiting in line, feeling all gloomy, the man in front asked if they had masks suitable for COVID as his wife had contracted it while he was away on business. They were fresh out of them and only had some cloth kids masks. However, pharmacists can perform basic diagnosis of minor conditions here on strict condition that if within 3 days symptoms persist to see a doctor (reminds me of the old Bex commercials). As a result they have stock of masks for such assessments, so she nipped into the diagnosis room and pulled out a handful for the fella - no charge. Yes, the top and bottom ones had her prints on them, but she did say to discard them.

Then, she offered me a generic brand alternative to the medicine I was looking for, which saved me £3 (around 30%), claiming it was made on the same production line as the branded one. 

Two kind gestures lifted my sullen spirits. 

Let's make it the custom here to play the ball, not the man.

This thread is for having a Jolly good moan about stuff you're not happy about, no rules, apart from those of the forum, family show, keep it clean.

All in all, she was much loved by song lovers right around the world, and she has left us some good song memories. RIP, Judith.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-06/seekers-lead-singer-judith-durham-dead-at-79/101308234

Wonder if this is driven by the uptake of home batteries - they're losing money from the supply of power so they're charging more to stay connected to the grid?

Australia politics live: energy minister asks regulator to investigate big jump in power companies’ supply fees https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/jun/24/australia-politics-live-war-memorial-tax-reform-greens-labor-deal-ndis-review-coalition-question-time-anthony-albanese-angus-taylor-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-24/why-power-bill-may-rise-despite-lower-default-market-offer/106830428

This popped up in my Inbox this morning: (Click on the image to be able to read it)

Now, I'm expecting a parcel to be delivered by Austpost, so I clicked the <START CHAT> button which brought up a screen with something like those chatroom thingies. I should have twigged when I was asked to confirm the tracking number they showed. It didn't look like an Austpost number, but I am expecting a parcel from another reputable supplier , and that tracking number is not a typical Austpost one.

 As I went through it I was shown a picture of a parcel. I noticed that the parcel was blue - not the usual white that everything else that I get is. When I got to the bottom of the page, there was this:

Notice the last paragraph and the $3 fee. I did and immediately realised that this was a scam.

As I was writing this post, I decided to click that red button. and this is what I got

The cruncher came when I looked at the sender's email address

HTTP//          .ninjaboywonder.com/14191/110345?tc=9489dceef41244c5ab093b1cfdfaecdc&aff1=10-3991&firstname=&lastname=&address=&zip=&city=&email=&phone=

Texas has legislated against school children wearing masks, and now they have passed a law that if a 12 year old is raped by her father or grandfather and becomes pregnant she is not allowed to have an abortion after the first six weeks. It often takes nearly that long to realise you are pregnant. The child and the doctor are punished, the snitch who reports it gets $10,000 and the parent/grandparent are unpunished. Heaven forbid!

First, I was looking at my Facebook feed, and this interesting photo came up,  and I downloaded it.

I wondered what it would look like in colour, so I searched "colorise photos", (I used American spelling to speed things up), and found this link:  https://www.img2go.com/colorize-image. All I had to do was uplod the B&W image, select output format (.jpg) and press Start. In about a minute, the converted file was ready to download. Here is the result:

The ANZ Bank has announced it will no longer handle cash over the counter. All cash transactions, withdrawals and deposits, will now be done via ATM's. The use of cash has certainly dimished drastically, but some people still rely on it, particularly for small purchases. Also, elderly or disabled people who are unable to come to grips with the technology.

But there is a darker side. Our privacy is being attacked surruptitiously. There have been lots of ways to track us, by our mobile phone, internet, social media, etc., but now, every time we make a purchase using tap-&-go, we are being tracked.

Buy a Maccas or Hungry's - we are being tracked. Buy a paper - we are being tracked.

Sure, this has been the case for some time, but we have had the option of using cash. Are we now being forced to use tap-&-go every time? EFTPOS cards to start with, now mobile phone apps.

I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to phone apps. I don't have any on my phone. I don't even have the internet turned on, uses up the battery too quickly. However, now you seem to need an app for everything - the Macccas app to order a burger, the Dominos app to order a pizza, the Woolies app to buy groceries etc., and so on. And we are being tracked every step of the way. 

Has the genie been irrevokably released from the bottle? 

Westpac and the NAB have said they are not planning this  -  yet. CBA has not stated its position. How many will close their ANZ accounts?

Oh! And don't forget all the processing charges added to our purchases, filling the coffers of the banks.

What is the impact of immigration - not only to Australia, but around the world?

There seems to be a lot of opinion about it - naturally. 

In my eyes, there is good and bad about immigration. 

In the UK, immigration, which has been on a net basis quite high compared to Aus, even on a per capita basis, is under immense pressure at the moment. And it is blamed for the eroision of public services. But this is a convenient blame., A lot of the publoc services have suffered real cuts over the years, leading to less capacity regardless of whether there was any net immigration. For example, this morning on the BBC, I hear that in England and Wales, the number of health visitors has reduced over the last 10 years form 10,000 to less that 5,500. So, even if the population stood still, there is just a little over half the capacity - that is noit the fault of migrants. 

Then there is the cultural impact - how prevasive is it, when the population of nany new wave of migrants is so small?

Then there's the discussion about crime. The stats say they commit less criome per capita than the home population, but there are a couple of things to consider. What is the nature of the crime? Is it petty stuff, or serious? And there was the Rotheram grooming gangs debacle, where there is credible evidence the police didn't take it seriously because they avoiding beign called racists - or was it more sinister - let the grooming gangs get on with it to make all migrants look worse and feed an agenda?

Do they keep wages low. We often say migrants come in and do the work no locals want to do. I was discussing this position with my son and he disagreed somewhat, or had qualified agreement - whichever way you want to look at it. Locals will be willing to do these jobs; just not for the pay that migrants are willing to do it, and therefore keeping wages artificially low. I am not saying one is right or wrong, just stating a viewpoint. 

The reality is humans have been migrating for time immemorial. Without it, none of us would be Australian (unless there are First Nations people on the forums). 

So, when you cut through all the rhetoric, stereotypes, ideological opinion and the like, what has the impact of immigration been on you personally as well as what do you think it has been on the country?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-30/hume-highway-truck-crash-multiple-vehicles-drivers-injured/106859504

After an hour of brain racking and doing searches, it all suddenly fell into place. Rod Lovell frequented the Historical Commercial Vehicle Club forum about 10-12 years ago, and I did for a while, too.

I knew he had some antique machinery such as a Chamberlain tractor and a 1960's B61 Mack truck (a very nice restored example, I must say) - and I also dealt with him over the 'net, and sold him some large wheel studs he needed.

He struck me as a fairly decent bloke, and I knew he'd been a pilot - but I knew nothing about his life story. Then yesterday, when I was doing searches on his name, up came a book he's written - "Hero to Zero".

Basically, Rod Lovell was PIC of the DC-3 (VH-EDC) that ditched into Botany Bay in 1998, as a direct result of an EFATO. However, in the accident investigation, Rod claims he was made a scapegoat for the crash, and he didn't deserve it.

Essentially, the company that Rod was working for, were a bunch of cowboys, anyway - and the old Dakota was a badly maintained 40,000 hour pile of junk, that had had no-one in charge of its maintenance.

The engines were being run on condition, with the CAA allowing a 100 hr run extension over their overhaul limit time - even though a recent engine check had shown up port engine distress, which the CAA hadn't even noticed.

In addition, the co-pilot was not properly licenced to fly the DC-3, had a minimal level of training and experience, and had never been checked through a full DC-3 EFATO procedure.

But the CAA and ATSB came down hard on Rod for not weighing every single item that went on board, and taking off nearly 600kgs overweight - and for not ensuring his co-pilot was properly trained and licenced and run through an EFATO test.

One of the things that amazed me was that no Australian flight manual had ever been produced for the DC-3. Everyone with a Dakota just utilised out-of-date American versions of flight manuals - which all varied.

Rod is obviously very bitter that the CAA destroyed his life and his piloting career by suspending his pilots licence and blaming him entirely for the DC-3 crash. Many pilots seem to be in agreement with Rod.

Rod sees himself as another Chesley Sullenberger - a hero who crash-landed a crippled aircraft into the drink and saved everyone on board. Only the hostie was injured and that appears to be because she hadn't fastened her seatbelt.

I personally believe the truth is probably a little more nuanced. I believe Rod has been poorly treated by the authorities and he doesn't deserve to be the solitary scapegoat for the crash.

The investigation showed up some serious CAA deficiencies, with safety oversight failures galore - including not knowing that the company had sacked its chief engineer some 12 mths before the crash - and which basically left no-one in charge of repair work.

However, I believe Rod has to accept a degree of responsibility for the crash - particularly taking off overweight - and also not carrying out the many important flight checks demanded of a PIC.

I don't know if his book will assuage his bitterness or change anything. I think he's simply got to live with the fact that he made some costly errors, but the authorities response was quite unfair.

We've all got our stories of being unfairly treated by those with power over us - be they employers, official authorities, banks, bad judicial decisions, whatever.

I think one dear old Auntie had a good saying, that I try to follow - "As you age, you either get bitter, or you get better." Getting better is more desirable than getting bitter.

http://www.vividpublishing.com.au/fromherotozero/

https://fromherotozero.com.au/wp/

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1994/AAIR/aair199401043.aspx

From 1775 to 1781 battles were fought by the residents of the Thirteen Colonies to gain independence from Great Britain. From 1783 those residents and millions of migrants who arrived as free persons or slaves built a nation that by the 20th Century became the most powerful amongst nations, held in awe by all others. That was until the begining of 2025 when a freely elected government set about destroying it through avarice which led to the engaging in all sorts of activities considered to be corrupt and/or authoritarian.  As a result of those activities, the shining light that was American Democracy has been dulled. 

I well remember how in 1976 the American people celebrated the 200th anniversary of their Nation's founding. It was a time of great happiness. I am so sad that in 2026, the American people cannot celebrate this further milestone with the same degree of happiness, all due the the actions of a narcissist who never possessed the abilities required of the leader of a Nation. One can only hope that by the 275th anniversary, the American nation has recovered from its present situation.

Has he been threatened with zero computer access, if he continues to spend too much time on this forum? Did his managers find some of his posts and warn him his postings may soon result in job termination?

Even worse, did Trumps active MAGA gorillas track him down, and threaten him with extradition to the U.S., with added corporal punishment? Or was it Hamas operatives that found his pro-Israel postings, and put out a Fatwa on him??

Or is it just a self-imposed computer-and-forum-time restriction, that keeps him from adding his regular 2 cents daily?? 

Inquiring minds need to know - and we especially need to know if he's not running in fear, looking over his shoulder, since he noticed the surveillance and tracking! 😄 

https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/bunnings-swallows-industrial-empire-whole-in-mega-merger/?campaignType=external&campaignChannel=syndication&campaignName=ncacont&campaignContent=&campaignSource=newscomau&campaignPlacement=socref

However, yesterday I went to a funeral, and forgot to put it on "Do not disturb." 

Wouldn't you know, halfway through the eulogy, the bloody thing goes off loud enough to almost waken the dead. I pulled it out of my pocket and the caller ID on the lock screen said "Possible Fraud". I shut it off as quick as I could.

This first one is the older type before built in headsets, where you unbuttoned the ear flap to place separate headphones inside. No date on it, but they are a vintage from the 30's to early war period. Commonly worn in aircraft like the Soviet I-16, U-2 etc., particularly early in the war. For it's age, it looks to be in very good condition.

This 1941 photo shows a soviet pilot wearing the same model helmet.

The second helmet is a bit of guesswork. It's a German LKpW-101 but you can see where it once had front goggle straps fitted. The German helmets didn't have this and it was a feature of the Soviet variant only. It's dated 1947, so the Luftwaffe would have been disbanded and the East German air force hadn't been formed. Best guess is that the occupying Soviet air force used old German factory stock which they modified for their own use and added a dated tag. How it made it's way from East Germany to Belarus is anyone's guess. Most likely brought back by a returning Soviet pilot.