Jerry_Atrick

Yeah - I am not sure why, but all plumbers here insist on copper. The plastic stuff is eaier to work with, as far as I am aware doesn't degrade into the water, and lasts longer. I used it when renovating the house prior to to the last one - snap fit connectors, etc. Had some copper to the taps and that wa about it - so it was easy to fit chrome covers over the top.

Pumpkin and Rhubarb (is Rhubarb a vegetable).. They were pains in the old small holding and lasted season in and out. And as I recall, potatoes would, too if you left some in teh ground.

Progress.. though little direct from me (until nextg week when assignments are over). Main bathroom has all but been gutted.. Where the middle blue vac is, is where the dunny used to be. Where the one to the right is, is where the bath used to be. Notice, also, there is no longer a mirror above the basin on the left hand sude. Yay! No longer have to look at my ugly mug when brushing my teeth (not sure I have enough hair to care about how it is "brushed". And, some of the new pipework for the bath. The black patch to the right is where the storage cupboard used to be: Down to the kitchen, and the "stress" of having the builders in (and at times, lots of them) is taking its toll.. Who drinks wine alongside polyfilla? The 100mm kiln-treated Scandinavian pine battens thsat the new ceiling will be boarded and skimmed to: It's hard to see, but beyond the steels, there is another "border" beyind it which is where the partition wall used to be. If you look hard, the ceiling is aout 20mm lower than in the foreground as they had already battened and put in another ceiling. So that will be coming down to keep everything uniform. above that part of the room is a shower room on the first floor and it leaks like a sieve. They paper lined the loower ceiling and if you look to the far right top corner, the paper lining has been peeling off as a result - and that is the battened ceiling,not the original! Below, the kitchen is delivered. As is that new bath fittings (exept the vanity unit...) And, no photos upside down!!

You know, normally I love a good election (that is spelt correctly and I am not thinking about the way some from SE Asia may pronounce the other word)... But the UK election seems like a re-run of the Aussie federal election of, was it 2022. A totally on the nose conservative government that had outstayed its welcome by about a full term and a half, though thanks to Labour not being able to select inspiriging candiates; and a current Labour leader that has many of the traits of Albo as well, and running a similar small target campaign. At least there is some difference being the rise of Reform UK; the Nigel Farage party of xenophobes and further to the right than the Conservatives have become - and they will follow. Which means, there could be some really interesting outcomes. At the moment, the polls show Labour 20 points ahead of the conservatives, but that has been on a two party basis and before Nigel decided he would run for government after maintaining he wouldn't, and then I think taking the leadership of the party as well.The UK press is as bad as the Aussie press, except it is not all Murdoch - and even a Murdoch masthead - The Times - seems to be supporting Labour.But I still feel it will be a practical drubbing to Labour. They will likely win, but like the ALP, they will not likely do anywhere near as good as they should and it will reflect a defeat to the Conservatives more than a win to Labour. Although, one thing is Kier Starmer's favour over Albo as the leader of the Labour party is that he is a bit more brutal than Albo; He reminds me more of Dan Andrews than Albo in the way he goes about things. But I don't think that will come through in the same way because, like hom or not, Andrews led with the front foot and had bold visions (too bold one may argue). On the other hand, Starmer, like Albo seem to lead from the back foot and block rather than attack. The way I see this one going will be: Labour to take a relatively slim majority - maybe 10 seats Reform likely to pick up 3 - 4 seats in the south East and maybe more up North from what they call the "red wall" seats - typically Labour, but voted Conservative last time to "get Brexit done". These people would literally chop their noses off to spite their face if a pollie gave them someone to pile into for all their woes Lib Dems (sort of a better version of what the Democrats last were) have a genuine opportunity to overtake the Conservaties, as they have had at the last three elections, but always fluff it with fluffy policies. They have Ed Davey as their leader, who is a seasoned pollie. I think theyt will pick up seats from both Labour and the Conservatives, but their dogmatic persual of dodgy do-gooding policies (and coming from me, that means they really are over the top on do-gooding) will lose its sheen with many voters. Conservatives will probably suffer their worst defeat in a long time - since 1997, I would suggest. Greens will struggle - they are seen as too extreme and don't have the same sustainable growth agenda as the Aussie Greens. It may be unfair, but even listening to them on hour-long talk shows, they do drone on a bit. Count Binface (https://www.countbinface.com/) Sadly, only running for London Mayoral elections https://www.loonyparty.com/about/policy-proposals/ - They would get my vote if they stand in my electorate. 4th July - Bring in the Aliens!

It's always great to hear about something from people who have real life experience with the subject day in and day out.. And the above is with an immature supporting infrastructure that, I dunno, pollies whose parties are in the fossil fuel lobby's pockets may mean its roll out iew being hampered.. You know, like this fella: (I am not asserting Monique Ryan is a fella, by the way - it is who the question is directed to). I didn't watch the rest of the vid after the close to abuse of standing orders comment - close is not, "is", and it shows that sometimes that ship show is a sham, so getting anything for the benefit of the people, like, I dunno, an effective transport fueling infrastructure based on electricity rather than fossil fuel, is not going to happen any time soon.

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Only do my betting through a UK site and they don't have such elaborate schemes.

I would do a lot worse.. totally unpredictable.. .

My comment is both in the context of before the war and since the war. It is understanable that people think Israel wants to eject the Palestinians holus bolus, and there are probablly more since Oct than prior. However, bear in mind, the official position of Israel for most of the time since 1948 (declaring independence) was a two state solution which was repeatedly rejected through wars that attemoted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth (Inftidata, I have read means exermination of Jews, not just Israel). But, therefore, it is understandable that after all this time, and the many rejections as continued terrorism, that Israel is less accommodating than previously about a Palestinian nation state. However, that does not mean they want to drive Palestinians out of Israel or the Gaza strip either. I think you may want to check your history, and I doubt a purely objective assessment would even consider the current war ethnic cleansing. Remember that, unlike general assertions of aparthied, Palestinian Arabs are free to vote, there have been elected members of government, and they have all citizen rights. Yes, life has become more tough for them in Israel lately, especially the West Bank. And, they even serve in the IDF, though are not forced to. There has also been in previous years, a Palestinian Arab as the chief justice of the Israeli high court (as I recall - can't be bothered looking it up as I have done this to death on these fourms already). So, ethnic cleansing is hardly a valid assertion. However, different interpretations of Infitada are taken to mean extermination of Jews, not just Israel, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt.. it does mean moving all Jews from the land of Israel, which is Hamas Covenant, anf that is ethnic cleansing, is it not? And now, yes, there are a lot of innocent civilians dying.. And Israel warn the Gazans that they are going to strike at Hamas and where, and tell them to move to a safer area. The problem is, Hamas are corawdly terrorsits and move with the civilian population. So, to get to the enemy, the Israelis have "little choice", except if they want to unnecessarily risk their personnel, to create collateral damage to Palestinians. Pardon my cynicism, but I may be thinking this is a deliberate ploy - why would you risk your civilians lives unnecessarily, otherwise? The day the world call Hamas out for its tactics and ask it to stop doing what it does - that is draw a military fight unto the innocent population, and if Israel continue - then yes, I will agree it is genocide. Could Israel take more precautions without unduly risking their personnel? Probably.. but I am not a war tactics expert, so will defer to better informed people. It is easy to cast these allegations, but look through the veneer of the reports and protests, and it is a lot more nuanced. Also, if you are talking ethnic cleansing, then surely what Hamas is attempting and want to acheieve is exactly that.. no? And remember, their attack targeted civilians.. not a military hiding behind them.. By that logic, no country should take refugees from simialr situations like Syria, Yemen, the Congo, etc... Does that really make sense? Re the separate Palestinian state... How many tiimes was it offered to the Palestinians, but rejected. The UN resolution of the two states was accepted by Israel, but rejected by the Palestinians and most other Arab states. The day after Israel declared independence, it was invaded by 5 Arab nations.. and they lost and with that some territory to put a buffer between them and the Israeli population. Further diplomatic attempts continued in which the Israelis were willing to have a two state solution... This culminated in the 67 war where Egypt and Syria (I think) were given a very short and sharp defeat.. Israel took the Sinai and I think in the early 70s handed it back as an olive branch for peace and a two-state solution. Instead, they were invaded again in 1978 and it almost went to the wire, because the USA, who were not involved in previous wars told Israel not to take a pre-emptive strike after Jordan warned the Israelis of the impending attach.. In each of these wars, Israel, after being attacked would take more land.. This is one of the consequences of war - if you lose, you may lose more land - I don't see too many people worrying about Prussia not returning to Germany. After the '78 war, there were at least three almost diplomatic breakgrhroughs that would have increeased the land to the Palestinians compared to what they had, but they still kept rejecting it. The cry, from the River to the Sea... is the Jordanian River to the Med.. And that is the WHOLE of the land of Israel and what is left for the Palestinians - Gaza. Well, the world is now crying a two-state solution is required as if Israel rejected it all along. But the facts (and I do like facts) beg to differ. While Netanyahyu is saying no tw-state solution at the moment, most of what I have read is qualified by until Hamas is done with and there is a way to guarantee (as much as that can be done) Israeli security.. I dort of don't blame them on that one. I hope the above has dealt with that assertion - though I do concede, as with the rest of the world at the moment, there is persecution everywhere and Palestinians are not immune to it. I would word this, the countries that created the ongoing Palestinian problem should accept responsibility and take them as refugees (except, of course, we don't want them to, because that would aid and abet Israel in their ethnic cleansing, right? But what are the countries that made the problem for the Palestinians? Was it the USA and Europe in terms of arming Israel? Again, history would show this is not the case. The wars up until 1978 were fought without any international aid to Israel.. they purchased all their arms.. the 1948 war was Czech WW2 tanks and I think French aircraft. Most of 67 was French Aircraft and possibly tanks. In 1978, Israel didn't act unitl it was too late on the promise that if they were invaded, the US would come to assist.. which they, like Ukraine, didn't (immedately, anyway). It wasn't unitl the Israeli PM threatened to use the nukes they neither confirmed or denied having that the US started sending supplies. And even today, the US dodn't just given them to Israel; As I understand Israel pays for them (or at least most of them). So, who are the countries that are causing the problem for the Palestinians? Well, how about themsleves (although not a country), and the Arab countries that piled into Israel repeatedly and have until very recently not been interested in working with Israel. How I came to know what I know (and admit I have a lot more to know than I do), is that on here there was a comment about how the Palestinians were pissed off the UAE sold them out and normalised relations with Israel. My comment was simply if Israel has been there that long and were not goig anywhere, wouldn'y it be in everyone's intrest to come to a treaty or something.. that was met with quite a rebuke, so I did a bit of research as I knew literally nothing on the sibject.. and it yielded the above.. And before we go onto Israel being a colonial power.. I didn't know this, but Zionism started in the mid 1800s with the purchase of land from Arabs and Greeks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_land_purchase_in_Palestine, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sursock_Purchases). There are different accounts, from the Jews had purchased all the land afforded Israel in the UN resolution to 2% of it, but what is not disputed was that land was purchased and I am guessing it was somewhere in between. The land taken since the declaration of independence is a result of wars raged against Israel and continual guerilla type terrorism and warfare. There was no doubt some of the land taken that was unfair, but who is crying over Crimea at the moment? The Jews have not in a systematic way tried to eliminate Palestinians from lands (yes, there are isolated incidents - but not systematic). So, the facts do not point to a black-and -white persecution, disposession, not ethnic cleansing of the land. It is arguable whether the current acts are genocide, but what is not arguable is too many civilians have been killed; but I would equate or give more of the responsibility to Hamas than Israel at this stage for this war, but am very happy to change my mind in th elight of evidence. This came up in my feed.. I think it makes sense. Bill Maher is a historian, too, so knows a little more about how to assess history than I do:

Agree that Olaf is a bit of a snow man in all of this, but I doubt Angela Merkel would have done much different. As I understand, over reliance of Europe on Russian gas and oil was her policy which she persued aggressively, figuring that Russia would not start a war based on close economic ties. Freezing and immobilising her voters wouldn't have gone down too well. In addition, there is the intra-EU diplomacy as well with an increasingly Russian-leaning Hungary and is it Slovenia or Slovakia? Each of these has veto power on a range of other things, and a lot of horse-trading goes on behind closed doors.

I should have put more context around that above post. We are moving to Australia but am still keeping a property here for rental while we are gone. But should we return, it will be to SW London, not SW England. A few reasons - one is the activities; two the lack of need of a car; three, the kids will more likely live there when the leave the nest; four - the partner's artistic endeavours are probbaly better served there; and five - I am starting to tire of the London commute despite the respite it gives me for an evening per week and while I an near retirign age but not quite ready to retire - the older I get, the less I want to commute. Having said that, the other option is Cheltenham - which is technically in the SW of England, but is a lovely regency city. Apparently, there are properties there which are not too expensive but good rentals for the local college. Many people parition them to their primary residence and a rental residence and the rents are pretty good.. And it is a mini-London.. Good airport (Staverton - now Gloucestershire) very close by, except the council are running it down a bit at the moment. So, no need to drink those Wolfies, yet!

Yeah..definitely. Then we will sell it.. Well, that is the plan. So, what has changed? Can't recall if I already wrote this, but partner went to London for the first time in 10 years by herself (have been with the family). She is a fashion designer by training, and is vey arty. She went to the V&A Museum, which is a fashion museum because they had a Chanel exhibition on. She stayed in South Kensington in a decent hotel and had the weekend to herself. When I picked her up from the trai station, I asked how the weekend went and at first she was coy.. but then conceded that while she loved the open spaces and the lifestyle we can have in the country, she really missed London. So, it looks like, we will be selling up and then moving back to London.. We will look around where we previosuly lived, but accept a smaller house as the cherubs will shortly fly from the coup. No refurbs, though.

The celebratory thing is she has found a positive path forward and is really happy; I forgot to mention, her mental health seems so much more stable, too..

Well, I have to take the bad with the good; this was not a week to gloat about things. Last week, there was £250 in my betting account; today: One of my 4 games came home. What is worse is there was a good in-play hedge in one of my losing games, but I thought no way... of course, in this stuff, there is a "yes-way".. My only team to come home was the outside chance.. you guessed it.. the Hawks. In Tasmania and on a roll, I had them as a firm favourtie. But Port adelaide losing to Carlton on their home turf was a bit of a shock. And Essendon really should have easily accounted for Gold Coast even nort of the border. What I thought was a shoe-in, and was going to be more on but glad I didn't was Freemantle creaming Melbourne. OK, it was i Alice Springs (I didn't realise, but still would have gone for Melbourne, regardless), but that was a schlacking by any standards. This is the first of the bye rounds and they are notorious for throwing up many upsets. Also, there is the mid-season draft which can also upset the apply cart as teams bring in new players. I may sit out the next few rounds....

They drinking grey water... or the grey nomad bit? (or both) 😉 OK.. celebrating more positives.. My ex-manager has some condition that the docs are unsure of. She has lost her voice and it returns for a short period, and then goes again. She has been off work for over a year (we have insurance to cover extended absences of employees at about 80% of their pay). It has been mentally traumatic for her on many fronts, which is completely understandable. I keep in touch with her onece/month to see how she is going and let her know we are looking forward to her coming back. She has decided that she is not going to mope around and is now starting a pottery business with her friend. They are already selling stuff, and she is now looking forward to closing one chapter in her professional life and opening another. And despite the challenges of a fledgling pottery business, she is much happier she tells me. Although she would no longer be my manager anyway, I am going to miss her in the office because she was a vey pragmatic sounding board when I would come up with crazy ideas. But it is a positive to celebrate nonetheless.

Thanks, Pete.. They are the right way up when looking at them on File Explorer and even when attaching them, but for some reason, when they attach, they flip the wrong way..

Oh, and I forgot to mention.. Had to have an arborist out yesterday - we have a beech walnut tree (or something like it) that overhangs the neighours fence. It is starting to drop large branches on their garden. The arborist has done all the required work so far.. It will be another planning request to get it topped and treated. He said it would be easier, though less preferable to take it down... and I agree... That will be another £3K or so... At least we can sell some of what he would take down to the sawmill.

Not of the house, but certainly of the bank account. Yep.. I thought we had a healthy buffer for those unexpected things and of course, to put cherries on the top when it came to sell. Of course, as usual, we always forget one thing... In this case, the windows. All of them (about 20) need replacing.. That will eat up our buffer very quickly.. The quotes are around the £50K mark.. and we have to get permission for each type (there are 5 different types).

I don't think Congress is required to allow the president to approve munitions for use to attack inside Russia, as well. To be fair to Biden, only BoJo (initially) stood as a European leader who was willing to pile real assistance into Ukraine. Many of the European leaders were very tentative at the beginning for two reasons - first, there was the fear if an escalation of war with Russia (note, there have heen sabotages of infrastructure recently in European counrties which are thought to be the work of Russian (or Russian backed) operatives. The second was that Europe was so reliant on Russian gas supplies based on a misguided assumption that if Russia had strong commercial ties to Europe it would negate their aggressive tactices, that there were a lot of votes that would be lost from the incumbent governments if they suddenly went at Russia and Russia then cut of the gas and oil supplies. Not that what I think means anything, but I hold Europe just as accountable for the woes of Ukraine as I do the USA. Both were lilly-livered when the time to really stand with Ukraine - as they promised to do in the de-nuclearisation of Ukraine.

Things have moved a bit more: I have no idea why these are coming in upside down.. But you can see the left wall hhas been removed. and then (this is right side up): All walls removed and this will be the open plan kitchen/diner/family room.. News on the flooring. It is cheap pine, and I did suggest to partner that we sand and stain it, then a matt hiqgh quality laquer to protect the floor and stop the stain from discolouring. It was dismissed out of hand. Builder suggests it, and suddenly, it is a good idea and will save us about £8K to boot! So, @nomadpete, apart from the boards that are unsalvageable, we are keeping the flooring. Amazing how much influence I have over SWMBO! Steels have to stay exposed until the council building insepctor takes a look and signds it off. Just beyond the white door leaning on the left and in front of partner (after a hard morning's work), is a nib that the steel is supposed to be able to remove. The builder says it is not integrated into the wall that it is adjoined to, but the building inspector may require it stay and require another on the other side of the room.. It is apparently totally discretionary with no requirement for the inspector to give an engineering reason why. Builder, who is a couple of years younger than me remarked that was the steel he is ever going to install.. It was a doosy, apparently. Next week, the ceilings are going to be dropped 100ml to allow the fitting of spotlights (the ceiling height is a tad under 3m and it will be a lot cheaper than re-doing the existing ceiling and putting all the light battening in as well). Also, the bathrooms start being worked on. We are going to have to delay putting up the radiators throughout the house, though. The plaster on most of the walls are too buggered and getting a plasterer is more difficult than catching a great white on 3lb line.

Sounds like a normal natural day... Righteous I would say. 😉

It used to interest me that (before October 7) Israel would come under criticism for not opening the gates to Palestinians and everyone remained silent about Egypt. Israel did open the gates to mainly workers and Palestinians had to go through check points, yet Egypt stood firm. I understand Egypt don't want Hamas any moe than anyone other than, I guess Iran, but what about not criticing them on receiving some (if not all) innocent Palestinian refugees of a war? Or even providing safe passage so they could go to a third country more willing to accept them? So, while I get they may not want Hamas and a little Palestine within their country, Egypt is, after all, a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1669 Refugee Protocol (https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/legacy-pdf/4cd96bae2c.pdf). So why, if all of the protests are about human rights (which, I don't think is the main driver of the protests to be honest - although I absolutely am against the intesity Israel have shown lately), are there no innternational, press or protest calls for Egypt to step up to the plate in internatioal law? It is one of the reasons I don't think human rights is the main driver.

Would suggest the bear helping the raccoons is a tall tale - no doubt someone would have caught it on video and posted to it YT.. plenty of bear and raccoon vids raiding rubbish bins on there, but not together.

I recall a time where I was shocked to see a beggar in the streets of Melbourne.. No doubt they were around,m but not many of them. On my return to Aus in 2003 (21 years ago!!) how things had changes, in the seven short years I was away, they were everywhere and some were seen selling The Big Issue- something imported from London. Seems the wealthier society gets, the poorer the societ is for it. My gripe is (I think the same as Burce's);l in a society such as hours (collectively, UK, USA, Australia, Europe), we can afford to house and treat the homeless - we choose not to because corporate charity from the government is far more important, apparently.

Firstly, the crime is one in which custodial sentences are rare. You can argue that 34 counts makes it immediately serious enough (ie, her serially did it, and it was not a one or two-off); but ultimately it is about falsifying business records for one sordid transaction. He is unlikely to be given a custodial sentence for many reasons, including the court and DAs offices' staff health and well being. Like Australia's High Court, the Supreme Court of the USA has the power to hear appeals from state criminal cases, and it is reserved for unusual circumstances: https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/appeals#:~:text=A litigant who loses in,not have to grant review. I feel that Trump will get a writ of certiorari in the SCOTUS, (the write is also available in Australia for state criminal appeals to the high court) .. Judge Clarence Thomas will almost definitely accede to such a request.... IMHO