Bruce Tuncks

There was a bunch of big but cheap tractors called "Belarus" sold here 30 years ago. We looked it up, and sure enough there was such a place on the map. They were not very good tractors or they would have been on sale longer.

Once, I was in the market for some really big nails, and I called them "jesus nails". The poor guy at the hardware shop had never heard of this. Mind you, he did have some 150mm long nails.

yes, space, tell him to recheck everything he thinks is true.

I reckon being younger than the rest of your class is a curse. An old teacher of mine ( a barossa german by heritage) was the dux of grade 4 and his father demanded and got him to miss grade 5 altogether. It ruined his enjoyment of school, he told me as an old man. I was a bit the same, without being promoted through a year, most of the rest of the kids were a year older. The darker your color, the more likely you were to be older. Well I was smart enough, but I was a small kid, always the last to be chosen for a sports team and the girls liked the big boys so I never had a girlfriend. Just being one year older would have been great for me.

I agree with oldK. As I am writing this from a shed with house-like interior, I reckon I know well what building can be done by oneself. And much cheaper... We just built ourselves a holiday house but then sold out in SA and now live here in it. Sorry to not have more sympathy for those poor clients of the gone bust builders. A mate of mine got a quote for a carport and when he was not satisfied that the contractor would not go broke, he paid for all the materials himself and then owned them. Everybody, including the contractor, was happy with this deal.

Thanks Old K. I never thought about a fire setting the tyres alight, but you are right!

I reckon I'm really safe.

Nev, I'd like to bet you a bottle of red that Trump will lose again if he stands. But I reckon that would be against the rules, so I will donate you a bottle of red if he wins.

But he will never win again, of that I am sure.

At first, I could "understand" why people voted for Trump. Personally, I would have voted for Hillary, but the "drain the swamp" stuff actually resinated with me. Here was a guy who was going to fight corruption, thought I and I was not that sorry when he won. Well I was wrong, and these days I am amazed at the residue who still support him, after seeing Trump's true colors.

cripes nev, you are even older than me !

If you burn them, I was told it had better be at night or the black smoke might give the game away. I don't advise burning them anyway.

Used tyres can be made into walls for dwellings. They are hard to fill though. Personally, I would live in a house with the exterior walls made from old tyres filled with sand. The University of SA has tried tyres out for retaining walls and they are good for this too.

Sure am old Nev, I went to school in the 1950's. In 1959, as a year 9 student, I helped do did Mulga Bill's Bicycle at speech night... I was Mulga Bill. My old schools ( Hartley st and Anzac Hill ) have both been demolished now.... that makes me feel old. The remains of Hartley st were a museum, maybe still are!

In a previous life, I actually was at wine tastings where I was the only one who could say something silly and still have a career left. These tastings were run by winemakers who were actually sizing up the senior students, and of course the students knew this. What really impressed me was the difference between taste as the fermentation proceeded, and how the experts could tell that it was going to be consistent at the end. Not that I ever let on. Like you Jerry, I pretended to be wiser than I was.

I reckon you have a better palate than i do Jerry. I can't tell the difference where many can see it. The son of a friend was even better... he tasted some wine and said " bacterial contamination from the barrel, and I had not noticed anything. He is a top winemaker, and I am only a cheap drinker.

I just love Banjo Patterson. Dyson may be correct, but I still like the Banjo. The man from Ironbark is still a favourite I can recite from memory. My Auntie Pat, who was at school in 1930, never heard about australian poets at all, english poets were all they were allowed to read.

When I lived in Alice Springs, the abos drank sherry from flagons. Then when flagons were banned, they started drinking " coolie casks" which was "Coolibah " white wine. They sure homed in on the cheapest alcohol. I agreed with the change.... would you prefer being hit with a half-full flagon or a half-full cask? I have a photo somewhere of a metre-high pyramid of empty sherry flagons in the dry Todd river.

I expected some argument about the US being the only army in history that cared about its own soldiers. But you guys are hard to fool. Remember " saving private Ryan"? apparently in the real war, about half of those platoons had dogs. The dogs ranged out in front to sniff out hidden enemies. The platoons with dogs had HALF the casualties compared with those without. My uncle Jack was on a patrol on a jungle track in ww2 when he saw a 2 shilling piece. As he bent to pick it up, a japanese sniper bullet went down his back. Bending saved his life, and it was only a bottletop. I reckon if only those patrols had dogs, the poor japanese snipers would be found out well before they had a shot. So I give the Australian generals less marks than the US generals.

South Australia is free from Philioxera, the nasty soil/insect thing which I reckon the prevailing westerlies help keep out. It decimated the area around Rutherglen over a hundred years ago. I know a few growers, and they sure carry the risk of bad returns. Personally, ten dollars a bottle is my figure, but it sure is getting harder to get good stuff for that price... I call the difficulty " my drinking problem".

What about just copying what the scandinavian countries do? They have about 70 % top tax rate and yet they are the happiest places there are.

I see their point... if everybody else has guns, would not you be silly to be the only one without?

I read once about dogs in ww2. The US had the best system by far. Their recruitment for dogs mainly consisted of stopping noise-sensitive dogs from joining up. The book said that 50% of dogs failed the test and were scared of noise. Personally, I reckon there are more than 50% scared, but remember that these dogs were brought along by their owners to a recruitment place. The owners clearly thought the dog was ok. Anyway, at it's peak, the US army had 40,000 dogs. They were mainly assisting guards, but many combat platoons had a dog too. Those with a dog had a lot less casualties. I reckon the US army was the only one in history that really cared for its own soldiers.

Cracker night.... I remember that 20 kids were blinded on the last guy Fawkes night where there was open slather on buying crackers first. How much does a blind kid cost? That depends of course on the amount of pension etc support . Reluctantly, I came to support the idea of the bans.

The Hunter Valley is too hot for grapes, which makes their winemaking even more impressive.