The Rudd Government - Heartless Bastards!

How is this for being heartless bastards! Kevin Rudd (our globe-trotting, big-noting under-achiever) and his government, especially Health Minister Nicola Roxon, have virtually condemned a lovely lady to death. They can throw millions at other countries, most of whom hold us in contempt, yet they can allow this beautiful young lady to die because of a few dollars.

Here's the story... you make up your mind....

"SAVE my life" - those are the words 36-year-old Pauline Talty hopes will touch the heart of Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

Ms Talty has been told her application for an overseas bowel transplant - an operation yet to be successfully performed in Australia - does not meet the Federal Government's requirements.

Now she fears she will die in hospital, her home for almost 12 months.

What More Could a Bloke Want?

I really wanted to get something special for Charlie for his 21st birthday present. Something he would always remember, something that would always remind him of his 21st and something that he would look at and remember an important period in his life.

So, after much deliberation, I bought him his own chainsaw. He loves helping out cutting the wood for winter and although I have an old chainsaw he uses, there's nothing better for a bloke to have his own special piece of equipment.

 

He loves it!

The Woodcutters

 

The expert team of Woodcutters sorting out Ben's backyard.

Dave - Roy - Tip and Charlie.

RNSH Chapel

The lastest news in this city, and no doubt it will make the news across the country, is that some idiot at Royal North Shore Hospital has decided to be politically correct and has had all the symbols of the Christan faith removed from the hospital chapel, which was built in 1968.

Apparently this was so as not to offend other faiths. Well even the muslims have called the removal stupid and they have no issue with the chapel being a Christian chapel. But there will no doubt be some religious bigots around town who support the move.

Health Minister, the incompetent John Della Bosca, came on the radio and announced he would call for some committee to look into the matter and that everything was being done to keep everyone happy... blah blah blah.

How about this for a solution Minister.... after all, you have the power, or is it that you are as ineffectual as every other Minister in this State government? You personally call the CEO of RNSH and simply say "Put the crosses and other stuff back." If the CEO utters one word of complaint or even says anything other than "yes Minister" then Della Bosca's next sentence should be ... "If they are not back by tomorrow morning then you look for another job... goodbye!" Thats the way Ministers SHOULD run their portfolio.

Don't hold your breath.

Happy Australia Day

An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the world.

So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando, thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North.

On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read '$10,000 per call'.

The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for.

The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God.

The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Atlanta. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it.

He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

'O.K., thank you,' said the American.

He then travelled all across America, Europe, England, Japan,New Zealand. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same '$US10,000 per call' sign under it.

The American, decided to travel to Australia to see if Australians had the same phone.

He arrived at the Gold Coast, in Australia and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read '40 cents per call.'

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. 'Father, I've travelled all over the world and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in all of them price was $10,000 per call.

Why is it so cheap here?'

The priest smiled and answered, 'You're in Australia now, son - it's a local call'.

What an Embarrassment!

Kevin 747 has done it again! Our globe-trotting Prime Minister (Kevin 747), who likes to step out onto the world stage at every opportunity and tell the rest of the world how to run everything from their economy to their health system, has recently embarrassed us yet again and in so doing, has come out with the most insensitive remarks to our soldiers in Afganistan.

Not content with turning up and wishing them all well and letting them know they have the support of those back home ... which they do, he then goes on to tell how he dislikes funerals ..."I have been to too many funerals and I don't like going," he said. "But when we say goodbye to one of our own, the nation is united in a common purpose." Yeah right. Just the thing that front line troops need to hear!

Rudd thinks he is a world Statesman... he is a bloody embarrassment.

R.I.P General Aviation in Sydney

I know airports in and around cities in Australia brings out the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) set, but the airports were there before most if not all the current residents moved in so they knew the score. They have set up groups to try and lobby the politicians to close the airports and it seems they have been successful.

Already Hoxton Park airport has been closed and the bulldozers have moved in to make way for more industry.

The news today that the owners of Bankstown Airport (a well known merchant bank) have raised the rents for aviation organisations and closed several pilot training schools spells the death-knell of general aviation is Australia. It is another nail in the coffin and sad to say, it was the Howard Government who started the systematic dismantling of GA in this country. Successive ministers oversaw the rape of a once proud and viable industry.

What makes this all the more hypocritical is how the politicians of all flavours like to trot out the Charles Kingsford-Smith stories, the Lawrence Hargraves flights and how Australia was a pioneer in world aviation. We were once, but a farmer posing as an incompetent transport minister destroyed any future for general and light aviation in Australia.

The Plan

You gotta love Robin Williams......Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.

Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' '

It's a tough life!

Sydney Harbour By Night
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

When Liz and I stayed at Traders Hotel in KL back in June it was a return to our favourite hotel in the world. We'd stayed there during our trip to Malaysia in May 2007 and we vowed we'd go back.

Last June we stayed there with my sisters Wendy and Jan and that's a whole other story. But because we'd stayed for 5 days, we scored a free night at any Shangri-La Hotel anywhere in the world.

Well we chose the Shangri-La in Sydney and we enjoyed a wonderful night looking out on the best city view in the world.

They Will Be Missed

People are born and people die every day. To families and friends, both events are of great significance and emotion... one of joy and the other of grief. But then there are famous people who die and their passing is felt world-wide. Recently the world lost two of it's great artists, each as different as could ever be.

Richard Wright, founding member and keyboard player from Pink Floyd recently passed away from cancer. His music was the sound of a generation and he was a part of one of the most influential groups of all time. In a hundred years people will still listen to Pink Floyd and marvel at the genius of Richard Wright, Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Roger Waters.

At the other end of the scale we also lost comedian, philosopher and irreverent social commentator George Carlin. George was funny but he also had a take on life and religion which appeals to many in it's simplicity and logic. It works for me.

Both will be very much missed.

A Short Take on the Financial Crisis

In a nutshell.... here's what's happened.... according to Brian Yap (yeweni).

1. A person in the great depression decided the government should lend money to those who the banks would not.
2. A person many years later decided to sell these loans to the banks.
3. A banker many years later decided to guarantee these loans.
4. Many people many years later discovered that there was a reason why it was the government making these loans and why the banks would not.

The Magic of Paris

I don't know about you, but over the past 2 weeks the Spam folder of my Gmail has been inundated with Paris Hilton messages. All Spam of course and almost all of them not fit for publication but the subject of one this morning caught my eye ... "Paris Hilton Refuses to Write a Book Until She Has Read One". More than a grain of truth I would have thought!

The Sweet Smell of Spring

The Sweet Smell of Spring
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

For me, the first sign of Spring is the intoxicating scent of those little beauties of nature, Freesias. I've been picking them every year since I was a kid at Newport where they grew in abundance amongst the low scrub behind Bungan Beach and on the headlands.

They live for a few weeks, until the heat of the day gets to much and they wilt and die until they bloom again in a years time.

Out here they grow in the lower Blue Mountains around Glenbrook and this year they are very late blooming. Still, winter is hanging on this year so maybe we are in for a late show of colour and heavy scented evenings.

Anyway, here are the first ones for this season.

A Good Read

I must thank Judy for her kind comment regarding my recently found espresso-making ability. Not only is she my Mother-in-Law but she's a good sport and a thoroughly good sort (I know where Liz gets her good looks and other fine qualities from)! Anyway, enough crawling ... !

I've always been an avid reader and so much so that I could not go to sleep at night unless I had put a few pages behind me. And my literary tastes run to almost anything but I draw the line at comics and Mills and Boon! But my long love affair with India and South-East Asia has resulted in more than a few books about that part of the world and the people who live there. So here is a small collection of what I am currently reading and recommend....

The Jungle is Neutral by F. Spencer Chapman. The true story of the guerilla warfare against the Japanese in Malaya. A page-turning account of one of the most interesting periods and places of WWII.

The War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barber. After WWII the communists tried to take over Malaya. They called it an Emergency ... it was war and the pre-cursor to the Vietnam conflict.

An Eastern Port by Julian Davison. Wonderful recollections of Malaya and Singapore during the 1950s and 60s. Sprinkled with excerpts from Conrad, Orwell and other SE-Asian lovers it is a treat to read.

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but you could do worse. If you love that part of the world you will love these books.

Tangerine Dream

I may be an old fart but a lot of the music these days leaves me shaking my head ... I guess much the same as my dear old Dad felt back in the 1960s. But one of my favourite bands of those heady days is German Electronic band Tangerine Dream.

Some of their stuff is downright crap ... but when they shine they take you to places you've never been. Anyway, I've joined up with the Tangerine Dream Fan Zone on Facebook and they have a Tangerine Dream Podcast at the link below. All good wholesome stuff... there that should discourage the rappers and scramble-heads.

Get a hold of their live album Quichotte, stick on some headphones and strap yourself in for a treat.

The Daily Grind

The title suggests that we're really back to normal... that is, wake up, go to work, back to sleep and so it goes. But "Daily Grind" around here is the wonderful Morgan's Coffee hit we brew every morning using our Sunbeam EM6900 Espresso machine.

We bit the bullet and bought this marvel of domestic engineering back in December last year and there's not a day goes by that we don't grind some Morgan's Cafe Verde beans and brew up a couple of cups of out-of-this-world espresso. Forget Starbucks and Gloria Jeans, this is the real thing and what makes our brew special, is that we buy the freshly roasted beans every week from Morgans and that's the secret, fresh beans. The beans you buy in Woolies etc are stale and not worth it.

So, if you are passing, drop in and we'll throw on the barista stuff and brew you a cup of pure gold.

Hargraves Sunset

Hargraves Sunset
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

Home Again....

At the end of the day
Originally uploaded by Just1Thing

It's been a couple of weeks since we arrived back home and the cold Sydney winter is something we're still getting used to. Those warm balmy days in Malaysia are now fading into pleasant memories as we look for wood to feed the fire.

I love the Blue Mountains as you know and it's been a while, so when the weather turned colder than cold I just had to head up to my favourite spot at Hargraves Lookout near Blackheath and try to capture the stunning winter sunsets.

I must have taken about 100 shots but only 2 worth keeping. It was freezing of course and as I was rugged up in my trusty DrizaBone coat I relished the biting southwest winds as I watched to sun dip below the distant hills. The next day they had snow out there!

Not So Fast...!!!

I should have known, when at the beginning of this trip and we were delayed almost a day, that things would go wrong.

This morning wew turned up at the checkin counters, which were packed to overflowing, only to be told that our flight at 9am was delayed until 9:45am. Not a big deal, but then we were aksed if we would consider catching the flight at 10pm and in return we would get upgraded to Business Class, be accomodated for the day at the Pan Pacific with all expenses paid for plus 400 ringit ($130) cash each for spending money.

Who could give up the chance to fly Business Class AND the cash for more shopping appealed to Liz.

So here we are, hanging around until 10pm tonight when we'll fly home in comfort. A minor delay but worth it for better seats... we can even lie down!

The End of the Adventure

After the indulgence of the Eastern and Oriental in Georgetown it was a bit of a come-down to arrive at the Holiday Inn Batu Ferringhi which is on the northern end of Penang Island. Nevertheless, the Holiday Inn was pretty spectacular in it's own way... we've been spoiled.

Jan and Alan had checked out of Ali's Guest House as it was a bit rough even for them. Jan ventured aloft in one of the Para-Sails towed by a speedboat but the most adventurous we could manage was a foot massage. In the evening we hit the crowded and noisy Long Beach Food Market for a sampling of the local fare. The Malaysians love their food and after our few weeks of enforced spartan eating we felt like cutting loose so we ordered large bottles of Tiger beer and an assortment of local dishes. Nothing too rich and it all went down well.

Next day Jan and Alan left early for their Sarawak Trek and we hung around the main beach and got in a bit of shopping (Liz reckons she hasn't enough junk already and wanted to support the local traders) and sightseeing.

It all becomes a bit of a blur when one day blends into the next but we managed a visit to a genuine Malay Fishing Village where we found a seafood restaurant for lunch. It was run by a Chinese-Malay man who proudly showed us the fresh prawns and crabs, still swimming in tanks, and guided us as to the local delicacies bought that morning from the local fishermen. No risk is saying the best seafood we've ever tasted and as it was quiet, we had a chance to talk to the chef and the locals, always a nice experience.

Then it was up into the hills of Penang to Batik Pualau and the durian plantations. Durian, the "King of Fruit" which smells like a toilet, grow on large trees in the mountains and fall to the ground when ripe. It was Durian season so our driver stopped at a roadside stall in the cool of the hills and we (well Liz and I anyway) cracked open a durian and tasted the heavely pods which taste a little like custard apples but a lot sweeter. Truly the "King of Fruit" despite the smell.

Charlie and I finished our last full day with some stunning photos of the small coves and fishing villages around the island and to top it off the sunset was something to behold. As the big red ball of the sun sank to the horizon of the Straits of Melacca, we clicked away madly hoping to catch the perfect shot.

Then it was off to our favourite Penang eatery, the Sunset Bistro, complete with pet monkey and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, to indulge in some good old fish and chips and watch the remains of the day at Batu Ferringhi.

Our last day and a short drive to Penang Airport with a stop at Penang White Coffee on the way but we check in and find our Air Asia flight is delayed by 90 minutes. Not happy campers as our gate is the last one and a long walk. Then when we arrive at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) at KL, our A320 parks miles from the arrivals hall and yes, another long walk! Liz asks about a taxi to out hotel and is quoted 67 ringits (about $25) but I opt for a bus which costs only 4 ringit! Taxi drivers are the same the world over!

We finally arrived at KL International and the Pan Pacific Hotel which is right at the International airport. God knows how, but we are upgraded to a Deluxe Room complete with Lounge with free drinks and snacks ... and still Charlie wanted to go to dinner ... and it's all very swish. Liz has gone off to explore the Pearl shops in the hotel ... she is addicted to shopping I am convinced ... while we guys check our email and finalise things before we head of tomorrow morning.

We are up tomorrow (Sunday) at 5:30am and then check-in at 7am for our flight MH141 which departs KL at 9:00am. Our expected arrival in Sydney is 6:50pm so Tip and Heidi will be there to pick us up. Liz has chartered an Airbus A380 (larger than a jumbo) to carry all her shopping stuff!

Anyway, it's been an interesting 3 weeks and all to suddenly it will be back to the grind and we'll wonder where it all went. We'll post the last set of photos shortly.

To all who've followed our travels, thanks for coming along for the ride.