nomadpete

Makes me think our roads are underutilised. We only use one side for each direction.

That hasn't changed, Nev. My parents had a 30 year mortgage and so did I. Both were finally paid out a couple of years early thanks to an inheritance windfall. And we were often only a couple of months ahead of payments especially when interest rates hit 18%. So I refute the allegations that we all had it easy. Yes, in the end I got a nice capital gain. But it took a lot of doing without along the way.

1. Even though Spenaroo's folks have 5 residential properties as old age financial support, those properties are still available for occupation (rental). They have not contributed to the housing shortage as far as occupancy goes. 2. The purchase price reflects the true current value of a property. The short time on the market is an inducation that the house is not over valued in spite of it being expensive. Simple supply and demand. Capitalism at work. 3. The shortage of sellable houses is a reflection of population growth exceeding house building capacity. Our population growth by 'natural reproduction' is almost nil. Therefore the housing shortage is substantially due to migration, and possibly also foreign investors sitting on unoccupied residential property. 4. It is unrealistic to compare affordability with past history. Because a 'starter home' when I was young, was a simple, compact, 2 bedroom, cottage with no extras. No garage, no driveway or landscaping. The lifestyle of the buyer in 1955 would nowadays be called 'frugal'. No budget allowance for car, or internet, or phone, or takeaway food. And probably located in an outer suburb that had gravel roads, no street lighting, no nearby shopping malls or hospital. All the things that are taken for granted now. I do not see any entry level homes like this today. Of course current new homes will cost twice (in real terms) what they did when I was young - because they offer twice the lifestyle.

Regarding housing affordability..... ABC article reports: "More than one in four residential properties purchased in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland last year were paid for entirely with cash by older Australians, making them immune to interest rate hikes and propping up the housing market." How can housing be "unaffordable", when there are so many cash buyers? The article suggests that older people are cashed up, but I doubt that the stats actually have the ages of buyers available to support the claim. Anyway, even if true, wouldn't it suggest thes buyers have just sold the family home, thus not changing the number of available houses on the market? There is something missing from the story. Perhaps it would be interesting to discover what percentage of private dwellings are purchased with overseas cash. Or am I just looking for a conspiracy theory?

Never fear. Trumpy and Pootin are best mates.

So the Kremlin has a very substantial motive to push interferance in the upcoming election.

Thank you Ian. There is always more to a story than what the media present.

Home renovations ARE unending. The closest to completion I ever achieved, was the dayI put the house on the market.

If you put Jan..Feb..Mar, etc across the top you can reuse the chart every year.

Not that tame. I might compare the lyrics with.... "Ya can't drive a nail with a tack hammer"

Come clean OME. That's not yours for the bathroom. Your top line would read.... 2023... 2024...2025...

Sad to say I lost my Sweeny Todd record (and my cat) when I walked out on my wife. I liked that record. And the cat.

A day is not wasted if you learn something new. I had to google him and listen to the song, too. Fun song with some good lines. Nevertheless nothing will make silicone body modifications attractive to me.

So, Nev, who do you suggest Jerry should pay this bonus to?

Project management...... The 'IF THEN' cycle is what makes timelines retreat into the future (and costs blow out)

You have got your work cut out. I shudder to think how long your TO DO list is....

Is it just me, but (apart from the occasional thresd hijack), the Trump thread and the Putin thread seem to be converging? Those two names get very similar comments.

The oportunists are only there to diversify the gene pool

And there were no cities full of humans around due to numerous natural events and extremes. In my lifetime, I am seeing the global environment (and chimate) changing faster than humans and a host of other species can adapt. I cannot ignore the massive changes brought about by humanity. ALL forms of pollution have resulted in a catastrophic sudden change. Not only CO2. Plastics and Glyphosphate are only two pollutants that are affecting pretty much all creatures. I will be long dead before the game plays out but I think we should be doing everything possible to wind back our bad policies.

I notice that each year I see less and less older folk around. Is this the Thin End of the Wedge?

In any casw it is a generalisation created by a noisy minority (a long time ago), and cannot be used to denigrate any specific person.

I think that means the doc did a good job. The steroid has to go into the right spot for it to work. I had a steroid shot into my hand - when doc warned me 'this will hurt' I was sceptical. But lucky for me she got a nurse to hold my hand down to the table otherwise I would have involuntarily flinched and ruined her aim. It stopped hurting after a couple of weeks.

Smart to focus on moving the action away from the ground front as much as possible. It is their only hope.

Pity about that My present driveway is 10 - 15 degrees. My previous driveway was 15 - 22 degrees. No contractor was interested - said that it was too dangerous to work machinery on it and compaction would be impossible. So I bought a Bobcat and did it myself. Then sprayed coal tar emulsion surface to stop it washing away when it rained. This was on the escarpment north of Twba. The view was worth it.

I have heard that butt enhancement surgery is popular. Possibly the one disfigurement on the planet that is as misguided as tatts