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A 4:1 win is great result for Belgium. They must have been fired up for the match. Maybe Trump did them a favour in hindsight.

Actually, I figured I woould try one more local shop to see if they could take the bike while I was in Aus.. To their credit, they said they would, but they aren't the best with electrics and I would be paying for their training. I liked that honesty. They referred me to the shop that they send their bikes to, which is the one I wanted to go to that has no availability until the end of August. I booked it in anyway, in case I can't fix it myself on my return; At least it is scheduled and won't be pushed back even further.

Could be. Game Over.

Well, it's positive for them, but negative for you.

Sacre bleu! You are navigues sur mon fleuve sans me payer? C'est intolerable! It is time I close ze Strait of Marty. Pierre! Preparez l'avion automatique!

Good question, they have been at it for decades. Public money for corporate sport

When did the idea originate that sport stadiums should be paid for by the public and then given to team owners?

The lerning curve might be painful. But the alternative is to pay the houly rate for your mechanic to go through the same learning curve. In my experience, good mechanics hate electrical problems and charge accordingly (accidental pun).

Not even by Marty

At present I sail on D'Entrecasteau Channel, adjacent to Bruny Island. But in spite of the names, it hasn't been claimed by the French.

I'm confused. are you suggesting the frog knew that Cook had already planted his flag? Maybe his mission was not one of flag planting (claiming territory). Did he get a satphone call from the consulate? I rather thought that communication from parent countries was by letters carried on sailing ships.

They were very active in the Esperance area. Nev

Well, Belgium won.. So, the USA is out. I feel sorry for the team, because normally I - and I bet many millions more - are very happy with the result, rather than either ambivalent or even sorry they went out. No one I have spoken to, including two yanks over here, wanted the USA to win.

That is your opinion.. can you present stats from reliable sources to back that up... Otherwise that is the big flaw in democracy - people with only an opinion who can't be arsed to find out the reality get to determine who runs the country. So, what evidence do you have the books are cooked.. Just because it doesn't fit your narrative - your belief system - doesn't mean it is wrong or the books are cooked. Back to the "oh the left.. whatever" argument.. no basis apart from an attempt to disparage. Well, if being left is finding the facts, I am proudly left... You're just tired of being presented facts that don't correlate to your beliefs. Sorry for you, but facts don't give a stuff what you think. Or maybe your typo is a Freudian slip - you are tied up by the fact? I am not sure what the first sentence means.. It was an illustration of how a culture can change over time. And sometimes, the "traditional Aussie" in what I am guessing is GON's stereotype isn't nice, but is becoming nicer. But, also you shouldn't believe everything you read in the press, either. The number of women homicides are slightly down ion 2024-25 over the prevuous year - both in the absolute and intimate partner (domestic violence) categories, but the longer term trend has been downwards: And I doubt this is altogether to do with migration as well, but a shift in culture - to be honest, although it would be great to see it at zero, it is an, in general positive shift over time. Another plus for a shifting cultural values, although recent spikes are cause for concern, they have settled down.

GON could it be that you have not mixed with people from other cultures very much? I have, for most of my working life, worked with people from many countries. These people were highly educated and great people. I certainly have been helped by strangers from another country. My in-laws, who are now in their 90s and pretty frail, have some wonderful neighbours from Pakistan. These people are and have always been the kindest and most generous people you could ever meet. When we visit my in-laws (they live interstate) and go for lunch, their neighbours will often cook some food and send it over. When the woman comes over she will give my father in law a bug hug and ask "how are you Baba"? Baba means father, grandfather or respected older man. My in-laws house is getting pretty run down and their neighbour often comes in and fixes things. Here is a post from my father- in- laws FB page The thing is in any culture are nationality there is a range of characteristics. My doctor is Malaysian but this is the least notable thing about him. My son's partner is: Kind Extremely humourous Scarily intelligent Succesfull The fact that she is Chinese is interesting but mostly irrelevant to us. Is it wrong to assess people from my dealings with them rather than resorting to dumb stereotypes?

I stint in the Bush can be a wild ride when you unwillingly Infringe unwritten code and buy something some red Necked Local Yokel has had his eye on hoping Old Harry will die and he can get it Cheap. Blood is thicker than water. The Village idiot is the Local fix all. You are a Blow in forever. Only in a city can you maintain your privacy and circulate at Places WHERE you CHOOSE who you want to Meet from the Vast Number of Offerings you can easily access and Join. Jazz, Special interest associations etc.Nev

I don't see Marital rape law and Muscle cars as useful /relevant determinants. More women in Australia are killed by People known to them than has ever been the case. Some of this is Custody disputes and economic stress and lack of safe accommodation alternatives. Muscle cars are pretty Invisible where I drive . Modded cars are given a Hard time by the Police. Loving to extremes of some Weird evil handling gas guzzler has never been at the top of the crime statistics. Fast E bikes and Juvenile Car thefts are the Issue. There are essentially NO cheap Houses in the Capital cities. You are Paying for Position and access there. A lot of Properties are Overcapitalised and many are empty on Purpose, by owner choice. Churches etc still get Tax exempt status. No one is building cheap accommodation. The Value of the Land dictates that. Nev

I disliked Yank Tanks for most of my life, and admired small British sports cars. But in recent years I have grown to admire the muscle cars. I will probably never own one, but somehow wish I had bought a GTHO or an XU1 back in the day. Am I turning into a bogan?

Poppycock Jerry. Traditional Aussies out here in rural Australia are peaceful and law abiding, that's something all new immigrants can learn regarding integration, they won't learn in the idiot major cities. New immigrants should live a stint in the bush before they live in a city. Civilized camps could be constructed to house them in suitable locations. They'd get an education on Aussie values, manners, assisting the elderly without hesitation, friendliness, community co-operation and awareness, respect for wildlife, helping out in bush fire emergencies if any, ready to road assist for vehicle breakdowns, sharing information to bring neighbors up to speed on anything you think they need to know about, respect for other's property and privacy. I'm tied of reading that Aussies commit more crime than immigrants - the books are cooked to favor the far-left narrative. Do you have a mind of your own? The larger the town or city, the more crime there is, never mind who commits it, it needs to be stamped out. We could start with home invasions, then drug dealing, then arson. Why is it that the big cities keep tolerating these crimes? Is it to keep the police employed, or to give politicians something to condemn in front of TV cameras, silently saying "vote for me and my party"?

Don't forget that the Frenchman, La Perouse, arrived in Botany Bay just two days after the First Fleet. However, the British would have made in known that they claimed the east coast in 1770 through Cook.

Pretty Audacious!! I wouldn't have had the Gaulle to suggest that. English is a very Expressive Language. You probably need 2 lifetimes to Learn it. Luckily for US, It's got a widespread use, but there's a very Large number of people who don't speak it. Nev

With Trump, It's winner take all and being honest only gets in the way of success. He's a Greedy Grifter. I hope he gets what he deserves. He certainly occupies the Lie-on's share of the News. . Nev

It's also bad for the US team. If they lose, they're out and if they win, it will seem that they cheated. The best thing by far would be for player himself to refuse to play on the grounds that the rules are the rules. Then even if they lost he and the team would be heroes, Trump and FIFA would get a poke in the eye, and the world would applaud.

A lot of those Places were established because they were difficult to ESCAPE from. New Zealand was also threatened by Russians. The distance of Australia from the USA and Europe ads cost and risk to everything, and there was no communication other than by Letters. These trips were almost like going to the Moon. Nev

It gets worserer. The player who was given the red card was what is known as a birthright citizen. He was born to an English couple who were holidaying in the USA. His mother was seven months' pregnant when she wanted to return to England at teh end of the holiday, but the airline declined to carry her due to the risk of an in-flight birth. So they remained in the USA and the player was born on US soil, granting him birthright citizenship. I don't know how he later became a member of the USA team as I don't know anything about his career. Trump's birthright Executive Order has just been thrown out by SCOTUS and Trump is fuming about that. Yet he has the gall to ask (demand?) FIFA organisers to put the red card penalty on hold so that this birthright player can represent the USA in the next round of competition. You've got to have some sympathy for the player being innocently caught up in this blanant act of corruption.