Kevin's Watch

Yeah, lot of Saffers did the chicken run to Aus when the government changed (and since)...very similar in terms of climate, environment and lifestyle to SA. Big ex-pat community there.

--A

Avatar wrote:
There's widespread corruption, rampant crime, frequent murder, ridiculously high road deaths, and terrible inequality.

You left out the giant spiders...

Oh, I don't count the wildlife. (Anyway, Aus has giant spiders too.)

--A

Well, he never did Skyweir, so I guess it must have been. The guy is on a zimmer frame now so I think the risk is over. (Those were in the much tougher and rougher days of my youth )

ah yes .. our youth I think I remember those days! LOL

Well not good for him, that's kinda sad .. but I'm glad you escaped a beating!! LOL

Avatar wrote:Oh, I don't count the wildlife. (Anyway, Aus has giant spiders too.)

--A

That's the problem. You guys think that's normal. I mean, this city has issues, but at least our spiders have never provided inspiration for any horror movies.

Uh, you could all drop into the ocean when the big fault line finally decides to give up... I'll take spiders, thanks.

--A

That's overdue and we're woefully unprepared. But I am better prepared than most, and if I survive the initial disaster, at least the post-apocalyptic dystopia won't include giant spiders.

45 years ago, Steely Dan wrote:California tumbles into the sea.
That'll be the day I go back to Annandale.

Even a decade earlier than that, as a school child in the Santa Clara valley (it was "Valley of Heart's Delight" then, not "Silicon Valley"), I heard of the coming earthquake that would destroy California.

Despite having the Bay Bridge and the Cypress Structure fall down in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the state is still there.

The giant fire breathing, dart blowing, tree hopping spiders in Oz are nothing compared to the European wasps... Those things are like an angry toddler swinging a hot poker.

Down under we had plenty of water through the winter, so now with the dry of summer on ua and the prevailing winds, we/I will be watching for treefall and bushfire activity.... and giant spiders.

Oh. what has become a little more regular to hear with the change of season is the activity of snakes. Particularly the western browns, and red belly blacks.

On the South African people migrating to Australia. Just thinking about it now it is amazing how many I know and can happily call friend. The jury was massively "out" in the 80s, but after I met a few and played rugby together with them sanity prevailed for all. Australians and South Africans have more similarities than I would have picked way back when.

Hope you are all well.

Yeah, Aus is as close as they can get to being at home without the inconvenience of being a minority.

(Or, fair play, with a much lower chance of being robbed and / or murdered every day.)

--A

So the weekend is on us.
I have a lot of gardening to do if the rain stays away. Then there is cricket to watch, and rugby league...
Maybe throw some spiders on the barbie. That is if the dropbears haven't eaten them all.

--A

The country is screwed over Brexit, the dislocation between the haves and have not's has never been greater, the political parties are in dissaray and the country ungovernable; what we need is a Royal Wedding! Do I detect an unheard voice in the background telling Harry to take one for the team, or is that just me being too cynical?

The gap is driven by accessibility to and the cost of "stuff". I have wondered if there will be some sort of revolution in a tier 1 country "somewhere" considering the "have nots" of today are more informed and likely better educated than ever before. Does Brexit mean you still pay 5 bucks for a coffee?

I am sure Megan is a fine lady and choice, however is there any way you can tie Trump into your conspiracy theory? Then it could be a cracker. Maybe Markle (sp?) is an FBI plant in the Royal Family, sent by Trump as a favour to Putin as a get square for the failings of Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm both being blood relatives of Queen Victoria?

What do I think today? That the FBI is unlikely to be a co-conspirator with Trump on that or any other scheme.

Because they haven't found a way to just get along?
If it is as serious as that sounds, the a saying/question comes to mind... "who's up who, and who pays the rent?"

Kizza wrote:I have wondered if there will be some sort of revolution in a tier 1 country "somewhere" considering the "have nots" of today are more informed and likely better educated than ever before.

I seriously doubt it. Having seen what it takes for people to actually try and do something drastic about their conditions, I don't think those in so-called developed countries are sufficiently bad.

Also, more informed and better educated can translate to "easily distracted" these days as well.

Even "having not" in countries like that are still pretty well off in general. (I mean in comparison to places where revolutions over living conditions tend to happen.)

--A

Kizza wrote:The gap is driven by accessibility to and the cost of "stuff". I have wondered if there will be some sort of revolution in a tier 1 country "somewhere" considering the "have nots" of today are more informed and likely better educated than ever before. Does Brexit mean you still pay 5 bucks for a coffee?

I am sure Megan is a fine lady and choice, however is there any way you can tie Trump into your conspiracy theory? Then it could be a cracker. Maybe Markle (sp?) is an FBI plant in the Royal Family, sent by Trump as a favour to Putin as a get square for the failings of Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm both being blood relatives of Queen Victoria?

Now you're getting it Kizza, but it goes much deeper than that! Just let me nip out and get my David Icke card index box and I'll explain............



Now that the Brexit divorce bill (a jaw dropping 50 billion quid) and the reciprocal treatment of ex-pats looks something like being settled, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel in the UK government's attempts to get trade talks up and running - but one fat fly remains in the ointment, the question of the Irish boarder. If you thought untying the fabled Gordian Knot was a challenge, just wait until they embark on this tangle of politics, business, religion and high emotion! It'll take more than a modern day Alexander to slice through this morass and he consequences of failure are too dire to contemplate. Farage et al may have more to answer for than any of them ever thought of when they embarked on this most disastrous episode in British history since the second world war.

peter wrote: Now that the Brexit divorce bill (a jaw dropping 50 billion quid) and the reciprocal treatment of ex-pats looks something like being settled, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel in the UK government's attempts to get trade talks up and running - but one fat fly remains in the ointment, the question of the Irish boarder. If you thought untying the fabled Gordian Knot was a challenge, just wait until they embark on this tangle of politics, business, religion and high emotion! It'll take more than a modern day Alexander to slice through this morass and he consequences of failure are too dire to contemplate. Farage et al may have more to answer for than any of them ever thought of when they embarked on this most disastrous episode in British history since the second world war.

Showing my age here Peter, in 1996 I walked down about 5 floors out of an apartment block in New Lodge, Belfast. I was there picking up a mate for a folkie jam. The graffitti on the walls, and the nature of the messages of hate, had me despairing thinking that there could never be peace. These messages all there for young and old..... ie, 5 year olds learning to read.
Then when good friday 1998 came along I remember feeling great about it, but honestly believing more than a couple of generations (more like 5 generations) of peace was required to really stand a chance to close the book on the dramas.
A good start will be when the orange marches stop. They serve for the purposes of a thugs lost weekend. Tourists go to watch in the hope of some "action". Any intended expression of pride, i believe, have long since been forgotten and conveniently misinterpreted to humiliate.
Cutting NI loose from Brexit will be like trying to keep an octopus in a string bag.