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My copy arrived today.. Looks like @pmccarthy is (probably once again) contributing positively to Australia's balance of Trade 😉

I could use one of those articulated ones about the place.

One of the most amusing bumpers stickers I've seen, was on the rear bumper of an old Kombi - and it read, "QUIT HONKING! I'M PEDALLING AS FAST AS I CAN!" 😄

How can you ignore the dishonest and evil labor party in Vic supporting crime and corruption to the tune of 15 to 30 Billion? Nothing the other parties have done comes anywhere close. Ever.

None of them are worth a vote. Looks like I'll have to attend to have my name crossed off and vote for Kermit the Frog.

PHON has NOT got ONE Lower House Seat OR any Policies other that RACIST hate ( which changes according to the Occasion) and Bagging Labor She's Funded By Gina Reinhart who is worth 37 Billion and some of that Assistance ? will (and is ) coming under scrutiny. All the People rushing to Her are Malcontents and mostly Nats who have a complex situation in ARE in Queensland where there is ONLY a SINGLE Party. Hansens Popularity is Highest in Qld. HER approval rating is Only Based on Polling of a relatively small number of People. Murdoch is Pushing her but the Main damage is caused by the Behaviour of the NP to their Partner. in the Unholy alliance, called the Coalition whose Main Purpose, Particularly Lately was to Keep Labor Out. The NP more supports Coal and GAS interests than that OF Farmers and say NO to anything Labor proposed. The NP don't actually represent a LOT of people but a fair bit of area and they are rusted on voters. When Election time Come s scrutiny of what Policies are In Place& How they are likely to work Might Bring some reality into the equation and see How the DIVERSE views of the NEW additions to Pauline's Party will share the Power and Pecking order. STABILITY. Can't see it happening. Nev

There are striking similarities between UK and AUS politics. Normally, I would say to predict what is going to happen politically in the UK, just look at Australia's recent past. The libs impending implosion and the lurch to the right are the two exceptions, where the UK leads, but Australia is following. The conservatives have been out of ideas and losing relevance for a long time. Brexit was a way they could lay the blame of the malaise they imposed on the country and solve it in one foul swoop. Of course, when that didn't work and the chickens came home to roost, it showed how hollow they were - out of touch with the electorate; out of touch with business; out of touch woth foreign policy.. the party kept on proffering candidates who seemed to be stuck in the old colonial days. Brexit initially delivered the conservatives a large swing from Labour. But they have no oether swung back, or swung to Reform - Nigel Farage. Brexit was a protest vote - people who were on the margins, which seemingly more and more of what should be the middle classes find themselves. Conservatives followed suit - their party in disarray, not representing the rank and file. First, they tried emulating reform. Once it became clear that conservative voters had shifted, so too have some of the lesser qualified conservative MPs. Reform took third place in the popular vote in the last elections; I would say they are even money, if not staring down taking first place of the popular vote at the next. They are unlikely to grab the premiership due to the concentration of their votes, but taking the popular vote is a big boost. Yet, their policies will hurt the ones that vote for them most. Australia is heading that way. The Libs are more and more irrelevant. They have a habit of nominating candidates that are less and less competent. Lib voters are moving to PHON. As the Libs implde, some will see the personal value of defecting to PHON. Labor lost some ground in the primary vote in the last polls. That is probably more attributed to Bondi and general incumbent blues than a shift to PHON at this stage. There has been no Brexit moment to pull Labor voters away. But, there are things creeping in that may move Labor voters at a higher rate. There is stuff like the NACC, where Labor have proved not much better than the Libs at the end of the day. That is minor in the scheme of things, but these sorts of things that can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, Despite Australia looking after its poorer and lower mddle classes better that the UK, we are seeing a wider gap between the haves and the have nots; we are seeing constantly increasing costs of lving, and hot topics like property rental and purhcase prices spiralling continues unabated. The result, more and more people will feel forgotten, get pi55ed off and cast their prtest vote. The difference between the UK and Australia is that voting in Australia is compulsory (or at least getting your name marked off the electoral roll is, anyway). This will mean those thast are p155ed off are more likely to cast a protest vote than in the UK, because many who would say normally vote conservative wouldn't turn up for the election - which happened in the last UK general election. Of course, Australia has a preferential system rather than first past the post, so that works in favour of keeing PHONies out., But don't bet on it. Libs and Labor have lessons to learn if they don't want a rabid right wing mob with significant power.

IF they aren't dills they are pretty good actors. They should return their Salaries for the Last year. Nev

Arguing devil's advocate, there's a lot of PHON supporters too, and Trump himself got 70m votes. The numbers don't reflect good choices sometimes. What's worse is the LNP tearing itself to bits with Angus and his far right mates totally ignoring the lessons of the last election and trying to emulate Pauline. What sort of opposition is that?

It's just that I have chosen a few times to fix things that were rubbish where I should have waited to Get a Better thing to start with. I'm NOT trying to run your life. Nev

Willie, the Australian gold price has been over AU$7,000 for quite some time. The price was above US$5,000 for the whole of the last week in January, and again for the last week.

It reached US $5,000 an ounce yesterday, or AUD 7,000.

Crazy prices for split window Kombis. I remember them as an underpowered tin box on wheels. But they had a lot of character.

That's ok Nev, enjoy your junk free retirement. I haven't quite got to that stage yet; achieved the retirement part but still haven't cured the junk addiction.

It all depends on how much money you've got, what your dream is, and how much determination you've got, to achieve that dream. One of the most amazing restorations I've seen is a split window Kombi, salvaged from the Higginsville Pumping station - where the entire front of it had been cut off, the body stood on its front, a huge chunk cut out of the side of it, and then it was used as a dunny!! But a bloke set his heart on having a fully restored split window Kombi, and he recovered every part of that "dunny Kombi" and restored it to superb driving condition!! It reportedly cost him $100,000! Why anyone would do this, to end up driving a gutless old pile of VW crap, is beyond me! But that's just my opinion! This is the Kombi when it was used as a dunny, I can't find photos of it when restored, I did see them on Instagram, but can't find them now.

There's a lot more Labor supporters that you are writing OFF. Nev

Ooo, sorry I spoke, wille. . Nev

I am currently salvaging Landrover parts salvaged from the Harcourt bushfire. It is quite satisfying.

Correct. Stephen Spielberg

spielberg the director

To each his own. Nev, you do what you enjoy in life and I'll do the same.

Life is too short to waste on stuff that should be on the tip. Trust me I know. Nev

I think I'll enjoy this project for a couple of reasons. Firstly, by it's nature it will be a fairly long term project and a nice way to play around in the shed on rainy days. It's all about the journey, not the destination. Secondly, it's not a registered road bike project. Not having to be road legal means one important thing - total freedom to do want I want. No concern about rules and regulations, no dealing with difficult bureaucrats and naysayers, and not having to march to someone else's drumbeat. It also helps a lot that I have a passion for rusty junk, which is how this thing will most likely be described.

I am getting through my copy of Peter’s book, nice to have a break from fiction for a bit. Some real interesting stuff in there. the amount of golden ounces pulled out of that ground is staggering. £3 an ounce might have been a fortune then, but t the ridiculous prices seen lately the numbers are staggering.