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Definitely agree with the good neighbours thing. We're lucky enough to live on 5 acres, 20 minutes from Hobart, and can't see any neighbours from our place. Mind you, we get on really well with our neighbours - about 5 other families we've known over 10 years, our kids caught the same bus to school together, and we still get together a few times a year for parties. If someone needs something they put it on the group chat and usually within 5 minutes someone is offering to help.

The simple, over-riding feature of getting older is that the old body starts playing up, and needs regular repair and maintenance. And if you're 50 or 100 kms from medical care, docs, specialists, even ambulances - life gets a lot harder than it need be. I lived all through the wheatbelt of W.A. and the W.A. Goldfields all my working life, living in everything from rented farmhouses to dongas to caravans, and even old railway fettlers huts. I've never actually owned a house in my own name, I didn't place enough importance on that feature of life - much to my regret. I have no ability to purchase a house today. I part-owned various industrial properties, a mining lease, a farm, and a couple of houses, that I never ever lived in much, because they were largely occupied by my brother and his wife, while I was out in the boonies, working. But when I got together with SWMBO in my early 40's, she owned a house! - and she lets me live in it, and shares it with me - because she loves me, she likes looking after me - and because I fix anything to do with the house, or the car, or whatever else requires attention. We live in the city only about 5 kays from the CBD in a nice leafy, sought-after, quiet suburb - and we're close to 3 shopping centres, a number of major arterial roads, heaps of docs, dentists, medical centres and medical facilities, all within a few kays - and we've been here since 1990, and we don't look like moving until we get really fragile with age, or the bikies move in next door (highly unlikely). I could easily live anywhere in the country again, but SWMBO is a city girl and likes shops and theatres, and being close to where her daughter lives. Generally, most people select their living location according to how far away, or how close, they want to live to relatives (including children). Most parents want to live within a reasonable distance of children, but some don't want them close at all. Not having any children myself, and getting on O.K. with SWMBO's girl and boy from her previous marriage, makes any living area decision, easier. Of course, if we won lotto, we'd move to a nice mansion by the coast, but that's only a dream. I don't think I'd ever move into a high-rise apartment, even though that's the result for people many today - simply because I don't like living above other people, and not knowing what they're getting up to - by way of drugs, starting fires, and other aggravating risks. Good neighbours generally make people stay where they live. No neighbours often suits a lot of people.

My entire point was that the Euro's have been constantly calling the USA warmongers for the past 50 years, but they are always the first ones to call the US President whenever there is a situation in the world that might affect their economies. They have been been neglecting their own militaries knowing that the Americans are stupid enough to keep bailing them out. The Euro's had a royal meltdown when Trump called them out for not keeping their pledge of committing a few percentage points of their GDP to military spending. The EU should be its own power. There are 29 countries in the EU and there is no excuse for them not making a joint effort to protect their economies and sovereignties. The US has done 75% of the heavy lifting in keeping the Persian Gulf open to world trade while Europeans and many other countries reap the benefits. Then the Europeans turn right around and bash Americans to appease their left wing voters. As far as my fellow Americans go, we should not be trusted any longer because there there is no continuity in foreign policy from one election cycle to the next. On top of it all, we are in a non shooting civil war right now. Might sound crazy to some but it's very true. We used to be country first.........but now days we are party first.

I travelled through Iran to Afghanistan in 1975 before the Shah was deposed. I found most locals polite but border officials etc were not. I even hitch hiked from the Turkish border to a small town & then took a bus to Tehran. The main roads were good having been built by the US but the rest was quite poor then. I was only there for a week & saw some amazing architecture & ancient sites. If the place wasn't run by Islamist fanatics it would be great. The Shah was very wealthy but most people were poor. One of the reasons for the original takeover. Back to the sinking of the Iranian warship. US military sources stated it was the first sinking of a an enemy ship by a submarine launched torpedo since WW2. Well No. There have been 4 since and of course that included the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinking the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in 1982 during the Falklands war. The Yanks don't get much right especially history that they continually re-write to suit their narrative. As for fuel prices it doesn't bother me as they have yet to figure out how to tax the sun.

I got a black eye from trying to slide on a G-string.

I'm guilty of this myself as a retired Navy guy. A very large percentage of other retired military from my era are of the same mindset. The hostage situation happened during my second year mark. Four years later, I was stationed in Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico when the Marine Barracks blew up. The civilian secretary in my office came in one morning crying because CNN had just broadcasted that the Marine Barracks in Lebanon had just blown up. Her husband was a Lieutenant Navy/Marine Liaison living on the second floor of the barracks at the time. Luckily, he wasn't inside when the explosion occurred, but It took 4 days for the poor lady to find out that he was OK due to the confusion. I lost a good friend on the USS Cole. Engineman 2nd Class Marc I. Nieto He always called me "Dr. Diesel" and was constantly pestering me about technical issues with his gear. Great kid! So yeah, I'm still bitter.

We need more chuckles, the news is all too much gloom and worry today ....

The WLTP range for the MG Excite 51 is 350km not 405km. The WLTP range for my MG Essence 64 is 435km with the lower spec Excite 64 it is 450km. None of the models has a quoted 405km range. This is the old out dated NEDC range which was very inaccurate & was created in laboratory tests in the 1980s based on urban driving. It was last updated in 1997. A friend of mine has an Excite 51 & gets over 300km. In mine the range is about 380 to 400km based on 110km highway driving & some 50 - 80 km driving. Driving around in an urban environment at 50 - 60 kmh gives me much higher range. The range estimator (also known as the guess-O-meter) has given me 505km from a full charge & that would have been close if I hadn't gone over 50kmh. It has a level of intelligence that works out the range based on your driving style & it is surprisingly accurate. It is 182km from my house to Gold Coast Airport & a few weeks ago I left with 100% charge & arrived with 52%. Most of this was at 110kmh on the Pacific Highway. I could have got home without getting a charge but just like with my old petrol car I would never let the fuel get that low. I spent 15 minutes at the BP in Ballina for a comfort stop & coffee & added some charge. Cost me $9.04 but there was plenty left when I got home. Other than long trips it costs nothing to run my EV as I charge from solar, supplemented by my home battery and 3 hours of free power every day. I'll never have to worry about the price of petrol going up because of wars or other reasons for shortage. In any vehicle, electric or internal combustion it all depends on how you drive, the terrain, weather, the total weight of the vehicle and use of accessories like air conditioning etc.

It appears that 'prang' is a relatively new word, created by the RAF. The date might be the mid-1930s, but its first documented use was in 1940/41.

Pete Hegseth torpedoed an UNARMED ship sailing home from a friendly naval exercise, killed 87 sailors, and left the rest floating in the Indian Ocean without lifting a finger to help. On March 4th, a U.S. submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo into the hull of the IRIS Dena, an Iranian frigate returning from India's MILAN 2026 multinational naval exercises. The ship had roughly 180 people on board. At least 87 were killed and 61 remain missing. Sri Lanka's navy had to step in and rescue the 32 survivors. Here's what makes this even more sickening. Both the U.S. and Iran were participants in the same Indian-hosted exercise, which required ships to operate without live ammunition. The U.S. sent a P-8A patrol aircraft that flew drills alongside the Dena just days before a submarine destroyed her. Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal called the attack premeditated, noting the U.S. knew exactly where the ship was because it had been invited to the same exercise. Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney put it bluntly: if the Dena was lightly armed or unarmed, the strike resembles a premeditated execution more than combat. And Pete Hegseth? He bragged about it. Called it a "quiet death" at a Pentagon press conference, grinning like a man who just won a prize at the county fair. Trump has openly stated that wiping out Iran's navy is a key war objective. The Second Geneva Convention requires belligerents to take all possible measures to search for and rescue the shipwrecked after an engagement at sea. International law scholars, former Pentagon officials, and members of Congress are now openly debating whether this attack was legal and whether the U.S. violated its obligations by abandoning survivors in the water. Sinking a ship that was someone's guest, that was following peacetime protocols, that couldn't fight back. Then leaving sailors to drown thousands of miles from home. That's not strength, thats a warcrime.

The media are having a wonderful time spreading fear and anxiety, claiming that petrol will be $2.50 a litre within a couple of days. There is zero reason why petrol should go from around $1.50 on Monday to $2.50 next week, we live in a global economy with oil sourced from dozens of sources, and a small jump in the price of oil per barrel, doesn't translate to a $1 a litre increase within 10 days. It's simply motorist-gouging at its finest, and I hope it sends EV sales through the roof.

Oh, they've got a plan, alright - and it all centres around our ol' mate Donny, and the ever-increasing level of his personal financial gains - from any worldly conquests, Presidential decisions, and trade deals jockeying. I must say, I'm surprised he hasn't managed to score a deal with the U.S. military, to use Trump-branded armaments. I bet he's seen the profits of the U.S. military-industrial complex, and is itching to get his major share of them.

Flight Radar 24 is free to use. There is a paid version but I use the free version.

A couple was on their honeymoon, lying in bed, about ready to consummate their marriage, when the new bride says to the husband, "I have a confession to make, I'm not a virgin." The husband replies, "That's no big thing in this day and age." The wife continues, "Yeah, I've been with one guy." "Oh yeah? Who was the guy?" "Tiger Woods." "Tiger Woods, the golfer?" "Yeah." "Well, he's rich, famous and handsome. I can see why you went to bed with him." The husband and wife then make passionate love. When they are done, the husband gets up and walks to the telephone. "What are you doing?" asks the wife. The husband says, "I'm hungry, I was going to call room service and get something to eat." "Tiger wouldn't do that." "Oh yeah? What would Tiger do?" "He'd come back to bed and do it a second time." The husband puts down the phone and goes back to bed to make love a second time. When they finish, he gets up and goes over to the phone. "Now what are you doing?" she asks. The husband says, "I'm still hungry so I was going to get room service to get something to eat." "Tiger wouldn't do that." "Oh yeah? What would Tiger do?" "He'd come back to bed and do it again." The guy slams down the phone, goes back to bed, and makes love one more time. When they finish he's tired and beat. He drags himself over to the phone and starts to dial. The wife asks, "Are you calling room service?" "No! I'm calling Tiger Woods, to find out what the par is for this damn hole."

Yeah ... Predicting the death of a 96 year old. Amazing!

Doesn't seem like much of a prophet. He allows himself plenty of wriggle room to adjust his prophesies to match what actually happens.

You like Facts and Truth? Try using them then. Your Idol, Trump, doesn't either. Nev

Typical house and land prices in Perth have gone through the roof. Up around 40-50% in just the last 2-3 years. I was talking to a real estate agent last week. He sold a house near mine for $1.1m about 18 months ago. He said he would list it today at $1.5m. One of my daughters is renting and there’s no way she can afford to buy now. Three years ago she could probably have managed a mortgage but not now. Our other kids are reasonably secure but I worry about her. Once a parent, always a parent!

Probably the same reason I joined ... to provide some opposition to the excessive far-left viewpoints that distort facts and truth.

I think only Noddy and Big Ears would believe the world could happily tick along without major power dominance. Back to what I said earlier, the three choices to be dominated by are Russia, China and the U.S. Every power has it's pros and cons, but I'd still prefer to be under the domination of the U.S. than the other two. The Americans have their faults, but Putin and Xi don't really demonstrate any sort of society I'd like to live under. The Europeans will never get their act together to compete with the top three for power, not in your dreams.

Mrs and I bought in Central Vic 30 years ago, 40 acres. It was good until I got crook and couldn't look after the olive trees and sheep. Now living in "town" with a pub and post office, 20 minutes from the shops. Its good because she likes going to town most days. On my own I would probably starve.

The US and the Shah were quite close. When you look at a map you can easily see the strategic importance of Iran to the US and understand why they've always regretted it's loss to the Islamic regime. Resources aside, the biggest importance is it geographical location and it's boundaries. It controls the straights, acts as a huge buffer zone, shares a boundary with Turkey, a major US ally, and is just across the ditch from several of their Middle East allies. It also shares the Caspian Sea with Russia who has a naval force there, and while the regime runs Iran, Russia has free use of their airspace for launching cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea fleet. That's the path Russian missiles were taking during the Syrian conflict. It's not all about oil.

I had a feeling you're from the US.. And ex-Navy, too.. I know a few ex US Navy people; I worked for a company that was founded by one of them. Best job I had and best company I worked for, by far.

Yes but... As usual, the USA has not proposed any plan, or perthway to a regime change. As usual, the old regime has a sucession plan to continue power. As usual, USA has no plan for what to do next. Just go in all gunz blazing and expect the locals to miraculously unite their mobs and create a whole new system of government. Never worked before, unlikely to now. P.S. With the present state of amazing intel, and amazing precision strike capability, why did they destroy a school full of kids?

Well, if the girl trap is successful, you'll be told what to do. Problem solved!

The next thing to cause worry is not just fuel, but fertiliser and chemicals. As many farmers head into seeding by mid-to-late April, a lack of fuel is just the start of the seeding programme problems, and the unavailability of fertiliser and weedicides (which are nearly all shipped in from overseas, and a lot via the Straits of Hormuz) is going to cause some agricultural users, some stress. Urea is a major fertiliser in big demand, and nearly all of it comes from the petrochemical refineries of the Middle East, such as Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The ceremony would have been a lot more respectful if he hadn't shown up at all.

She obviously doesn't like him much.

Gees, just come across a YT on Iran - Real Iran - behind the scenes of chaos nobody realises-Tok discovery. Bloody hell, seem like lovely people something like l wish Aussies were and a lovely country too. They actually really look after their people , another thing l wished happened in Aus. Dig it up on YT if interested , really surprised.

The 1.7M barrels of oil purchased in 2020 as part of Australia's storage reserves, and stored in a Texas salt cavern, was severely criticised by opponents after it was purchased, with opponents claiming it would be of little use to us in the event of a war, because of the time lag in accessing/shipping it (2 to 3 weeks), and the risk of loss via enemy attack in shipping channels, when on its way here. The message must have been heeded, because that oil reserve was sold off in 2022. I have no idea whether a financial loss or gain was incurred in the sale - but it may been sold at a profit, as oil prices spiked in 2022, thanks to the Ukraine invasion by Russia. Regardless, the simple fact remains, we still do not have the stipulated 90 days of oil reserves in hand, as required by the IEA. Our fuel reserves are currently around 34 to 36 days, and that should be of great concern to every politician with more than one functioning brain cell. Unfortunately, we have quite a number of politicians who seem to lack any functioning brain cells.

Well, Oscar will start from position 5, in row 3. Pole position went to George Russell from Mercedes. The big shock was Kimi Antonelli, who starts from P2. In practice earlier in the day, he virtually wrote off his car in a wild spin and crash. Not only did they rebuild the car in a couple of hours so he could take part in qualifying, he got the second best time to start from P2. Standby cars are not allowed. Lawson (Mercedes) is on P1, Antonelli (Mercedes)is P2, Hadjar (Red Bull) P3, Leclerk (Ferrari) P4, Piastri (McLaren) P5, Norris (McLaren) P6 . Max Verstappen spun out and did not set a time, so will start at the back of the grid.

. He forgot the toilet Paper. It will be in short supply as well as most things, if trucks can't get Fuel. If he had a Prang, He'd have Burn problems as well. Prang is an old aviation term. Nev

I wouldn't own a hybrid for reasons of complexity with 2 power plants, a small battery and a complex drive train, maintenance and a reliance on fossil fuels. Studies have shown most hybrid owners do not get anywhere near the claimed economy. There are a number of reasons but with plug in hybrids many owners do not plug them in so their fuel consumption from the relatively small ICE engine can be very high. For most of my EV driving the energy is free as I charge at home off my rooftop solar panels supported by my home battery plus getting free power for 3 hours a day. On a recent trip to NZ I left the car at Gold Coast airport after leaving home with 100% battery. I still had just over 50% when I got to the airport. Most of the trip was at 110kMh. I stopped at Ballina BP on the way home & put it on the fast charger for 15 minutes while I went for a comfort break & coffee. It was pouring with rain at the time & I wanted a buffer to make sure I'd get home. Cost me $9.04 for a bit over 15 kWh of charge so had plenty left when I got home.

This morning I was listening to music on my radio. The music was mainly orchestral and the radio is mono. The thought struck me what a wonderful device the radio's speaker is. It can reproduce the wide range of pitch and tone produced by a number if instruments playing at the same time simply by an electrical current causing a fibre cone to vibrate.

I remember my Dad saying that if fuel ever got to 50c a litre, he'd sell the car and buy a horse. He didn't, of course, but shows what it used to cost. Mind you, I was probably about 10 then so that would be in 1982. House prices (and wages) were a lot less than 1/4 of today's, so fuel hasn't risen in price as much as other things.

I use the free version which I've had on my phone for years.

That's what's good about Australia. We managed to conduct elections in 1914, 1917, 1940 and 1943 during world-wide wars. We even held elections during the era of the Vietnam war.

I was lucky to buy a bare 2000 sq m block of industrial land in a wheatbelt tiny country town, about 130kms NNE of Perth, in 2019. I paid $10,000 for it, because the seller was retiring and selling up all his assets. In the 6-1/2 years that I've owned it, the value of the block has gone from $10,000 to $110,000. The land/property pricing "bubble" must burst in due course. I really feel for the young people starting off, buying a house must only be a dream for them. SWMBO has a friend who has 2 sons and daughter. The daughter married several years ago and both she and her hubby are on good money, and they managed to buy an old timber-framed house in an average Eastern suburb for $780,000. But the middle son isn't married and is working on the mines to try and get enough to buy a house. He proudly told his Mum recently, he'd saved up $50,000 towards the house. But he goes to look at a building block in the far northern suburbs, about 70kms from the City, and they want $500,000 for a tiny bare patch of sandy limestone. So then he finds a reasonable sort of house for sale nearby for just $800,000. He calls the agent, and the agent floors him with the words, "I'm sorry, I've already had 2 offers for the property in excess of $1,000,000!! This is the standard story around trying to buy a house today, Chinese buyers roll up carrying suitcases full of banknotes, explaining they have the cash to pay for the property, right now! AUSTRAC cash payments reporting is only being extended to real estate agents from July 1st this year. It's way too late, it should have been done 15 or 20 years ago. The flood of Chinese black money has ruined our real estate purchasing ability.

Another quandry well man, you've come to the right place 🙃. Thanks for the post to Jerry was really interesting. Don't really know anyone in this town as yet bar one bloke across the way met a few wks back. Classic of a guy we get along well but the funniest thing was though found out more about the town with him in 20mins last time than l could in 20yrs living here. Comes in handy ha ha. But l can say one thing so far, relating to all those villages over there for you and the different people, people here do seem very lay back and just have a kinda casual peace about them. Been noticing it a lot so at least that's pretty cool anyway. Well apart from old mate cross the way he's a lively cracker 😀 , good bloke though.

I get the feeling this person is not a fan.

It's not about continually targeting and taking out each new leader. The Americans have to deal with 50,000 hardened, dedicated, Revolutionary Guard troops, 1000's of ruthless Religious Police, and a multitude of Imams who are telling their adherents that America is Satan and coming to kill them all. Unless you have an extensive, well-thought-out, long-term plan to deal with those relentless threats, then a pile of "targeted bombing" without troops on the ground, and subversives and spies within Iran - all working seamlessly to ensure a total overthrow of the religious nutters running the place - then all the Americans will end up doing is setting the stage for "Iran-run-by-religious-nutters, MK 2". Israel has great success in neutralising opposition to them, because they use all of the above - and MOSSAD has spies everywhere, and utilises cutting-edge electronic technologies, to ensure success.

The biggest problem is, typical of American adventurism with their finest military equipment, there appears to be little proper planning for a desirable outcome in operation Epic Fury. It's like losing your temper with something that's not working properly, and hitting it with a hammer. You might feel good about assuaging your frustration in the short term, but the item become completely buggered with the hammering, and it has to be replaced with a new one, simply because you became furious with it, and attacked it without any thought for the outcome. Neither Trump, nor Hegseth, nor any of the MAGA mob running the show, can clearly articulate their long-term plan and satisfactory outcome for Iran. The messages they're sending are confused and confusing. Hegseth says his plan is not to carry out regime change. So, if the attacks are not about regime change, what are they about? Epic Fury is quite likely to become Epic Failure, if Iranian civilian casualties continue to mount, American deaths continue to mount, and world opinion - and especially Middle-Eastern opinion (from those Middle-Eastern countries who are sitting on the fence, or initially U.S.-friendly), turns adverse towards America. The Americans are very good at starting wars with a total lack of vision and planning, as regards the long-term outcome. It appears to me, they just feel the need to "kill a lot Muzzies, 'cos they hate us".

A lot of people believe that it was entirely a CIA coup taking down Mosaddegh, but that isn't the entire story. The CIA certainly played a role for sure, but it was British MI6 that initiated the coup because England was going to lose billions of dollars worth of oil machinery and oil contracts under Mosaddegh. It gets even more nuanced from there. Mosaddegh reneged on the deal it had for years with the AOIC and was going to take over the oil fields under the guise of nationalization. England protested to the International court. The International court (ICJ) sided with Iran on the oil fields because they stated that the AOIC was made up of civilian companies with no standing. The British government actually owned a controlling 51% of the AOIC and said "screw that". Britain was bankrupt at the time due to WWII, and it was losing the last of its empire as well. The country was deeply in debt and trying to claw its way out of bankruptcy. They were determined that there was no way that Iran was going renege on their deal with the oil fields and machinery. The oil was basically a life saver for their economy at the time. Meanwhile, the Soviets were waiting in the wings wanting to make a deal with Iran so they could buy into their oil. That was not going to happen if the USA had anything to do with it. The USA, Britain, and a lot of other European countries were in a panic about the Soviets back then. In the end........A lot of countries didn't cry all that loudly over the coup because of the Soviets and the creep of communism. And as a side note........some countries still resented Iran because they were a huge supplier raw materials to Hitler's Germany before and during the early parts of WWII.

Just as it's not all about oil, it's also not all about Trump. He's a bit like smoke and mirrors. He has an incredible knack of getting under people's skin, particularly those on the left who get almost hysterical at the mere mention of his name. I think a lot of people think a madman just woke up one day and decided to blow up Iran on impulse, well, ok, dream on. While people focus on Trump, they forget the strategic interest the US military and security people (and some politicians) have had for decades in trying to bring Iran back into their fold. The situation now is that a president finally took the gamble to try to do it, and it is a big gamble. The desire has been there since the regime deposed the Shah.

Weird really. Never felt it like this anywhere, although l've been married or partnered up so but you are right though nonetheless. Yep, ex in in Sydney safe enough 12hrs drive from me 🤣 . Been thinking about a dog but yeah l'm def on my own too much. Not much l can do about it though go out as much as l can and get around people.

Leave your ex in Sydney, stay where you are, extend your place and get a dog. 😊

You can be just as lonely renting somewhere else. If everything is pretty good where you are now, apart from the distance to a larger town, maybe it's being on your own too much that's the main problem?

The mere idea of this discussion is silly. Religion is a absurd abstract.