Jerry_Atrick

Gripe of the week... I went to Waitrose to get my go to summer red - Yering Station Pinot Noir. It is certanly quaffable - and then some. Problem is, Waitrose no longer stock it.. and have replaced it and a few other decent Aussie wines with crap - Yellow Tail shite, that makes Jacob's Creek look like a very decent wine. Bagoonies, I say... Although, my partner has the taste for Yellow Tail's jammy roo, which is admittedly lower in alcohol these days (12.5%) Shriaz, I think, but it does taste like jam.. and too sweet and sickly for me. There was a Koonunga Hill Shiraz, at about £13-ish; and a couple of other decent Aussie reds but over-priced for the UK market, anyway. So, I thought, I haven't had a Fluerie for many years - a French medium bodied style, so went the the Frog's section of the shelves. There wasn't much French stuff there either, and by De Boef (I guess for the UK market) go to of anything French that isn't in the super expensive class, followed by Lous Jadot had all sold out. But there were a couple of Flueries of unknwon labels - at least to me - that were there. One was a £9 bottle, and the other was £10 - marked fdown from $13. Well, I thought I may was well give that a try, At home now, towards the end of a 30 degree summer day and outside looking at the extended sunset which will take anouther 2 or so hours, and this is a very nice drop. So while the Gripe aboutd the Yering Station, which at normal price is the same as this one at normal price (I only buy it occasionally, and only when on sale, which was usually marked down to around £9), is still there, it has subsided a little. But.. I just looked at the label.. 15% alcohol content by volume!!! WTF, I didn't realise I was buying a port. I know in Aus, it is (or was for a while) harder to get good uality grapes thanks to drought and disease. But, FFS, fixing a wine at 15% is blooody ridiculous. I am already feeling off my mammaries just thinking about it. Still, there are plently more people far worse off than me complaining about the amount of alcohol in a bottle of wine.

Each to their own, OT 😉

So far, the only changes that are coming in are, IMHO, fairly reasonable. Anyone over 70 will require a medical at each license renewal. It will incude cognitive, eyesight, and checks for heart disease, and some others where is you suffer acute episode, it could be curtains for you and anyone on the road around you. I think it is eminently sensible and it forces you to get your health MOT (MOT is the UK equivalent of RWC). which is free for over 40s.. which canhelp diagnose issues anf fix them before it is too late. A licence lasts 10 years here.. and after 70, three years; so every three years after 70 you will have to get a medical - ant it is free at point of service. On another note, the UK CAA is implementing exercise based cardio vascular ECG testing as there has been an uptick of heat problems in air linked to accidents for older people.

We all have GPs.. they can be given the minimum requirements to maintain a licence. They can sign us off once a year, or if they deem more regular check ups required, do so accordinglly.. Just make sure you book your check up 3 months in advance so you can get seen.

It's about finding the right balance between the carrot and the stick. History tells us the pendulum between them swings but never seems to stop where it should. But don't ask me where the balance should be.

Sorry.. that made me laugh

Same

I must admit.. bit of an odd choice for a family event

I don't suffer hearing loss, but I use air pods for listening to music, pod casts and the like. They are the better model of air pods I got for a small fee when buying the daughter her student discounted apple stuff. Their noise reduction is first class and their sound reproduction is as good as I have ever heard. And I use them with a cheapie Samsung android. .

Look on the bright side (pardon the pun).. they got the shower bit right.

Hmmm. 10% increase in spews usually means a 21% increase in drag, doesn't it. If that is the case, won't your engine need more a corresponding amount more fuel to produce the power to rev ay 2750RPM with the additional drag? It's vertainly noit linear, and therefore there will be an increase > 10% in the fuel mixture to pump into the engine to get the revs to 2750. If the car is stationary and the gear in neutral, then getting to 2750 rpm doesn't take anywhere near the fuel as it does when at speed.

C'mon fellas.. You don't get like that withoout watching every penny.. Also, I am guessing it is a bit about pride. He comes across to me, at least, as an egotistical SoB.

Back to celebrating positives. Yesterday was a humid hazy day. Today was slightly hazy, but dry, and got to 29 degrees. Yesterday, took the lad into town and had a wander.. He has a new phone, and, @red750, it takes great shots. Had lunch with him and mozeyed on back home, walking the dog; worked on my next project (sold the web site prototype for about $500 - was not much whe you consider I put in over 300 hours on it - but it's a hobby). This morning, while spraying the weeds (which was well overdue), the daughter rocked up from an overnight house party. She's not a big drinker at all, but has come up with a clever solution to avoid the peer pressure of driniking.. She takes lots of cans of beer to the party.. opens them, and takes a swig (one at a time), and "forgets where she left them" (hidden). So, while everyone else was asleep, we nipped oout for a quick breakfast.. Back at home, took the K9 for a 6 mile walk (he did about 16).. Do I want to go to work tomorrow - even working from home? Nope.. (hopefully more on that soon).

My riding instructor back in Aus, who was previously a mechanical engineer had a saying about Harleys: "Yesterday's technology and tomorrow's prices". I am not into those sort of cruisers so can't comment.. I checked Bikesales.com.au, and there were three Virago 1100s dated '96 and '97 and about $5k - $6k.. Not too bad for a worhtless bike, but paled into insignificance compared to about $15K = $20K for the same year Harleys that at least looked similar. How much of that is brand value v qualoty bike? I have no idea. But I would still love a Goldwing... I think their market is slightly different to Harleys.. I don't have tattoos 😉 I have only had Japanese bikes, and I love them. Even the cheap Kawasaki er-6f I had took a hell of a lot of abuse befire it finally decided it was going to cost me more than what a better bike was worth to fix up. Unfortunately, VFR750s fall foul of the ULEZ emmisssions, which means it will cost me £12.50/day top ride it in London (Same as an old FJ55 spewing all of those emissions). Otherwise, I would get one as they were simply bullet proof. Back in Aus, I may get one.

Who wants to increase the speed limit to 130kph and for what vehicles and what roads? A lot of Aussie trunk roads are single lane each way with white lines dividing the oncoming cars. I would be surprised if people wanted heavy trucks running around at 130kph on these roads.I would even be surprised if too many wanted the limit lifted in these roads for cars? This accident happened at the 100 or 110 kph limit.. is your answer to reduce the limit to, say 80kph or less? Or should we look at the cause of the accident and take steps to addess that, than some sound byte.

The golden rule seems to apply here, too..

He always uses other peoples' money

W

Yeah, but he has the power to cut a lot of government work from these firms - and he has threatened them with just that. It's not just his personal wealth that he has the levers to.

At the moment, chump weilds significantly more power (i.e. economic resources) than Palmer.

Penfold's Kununga Hill chardy normally £13.50 in Tesco; today, £5.20.. Bank balance suffered a little today! I doubt you could make it for that price, let alone ship it, store it, and sell it.

Aren't we all the same way with... ?

oieau French version of oi!

The injunction will definitely be to stop the flight of cash/assets away from the jurisdiction of the court. Remember, at this stage, the court has only found prima facie evidence of the crimes alleged and I would not be surprised if there are some shady deals that have gone on in the background that may or may not come to light. I don't know how it works in Aus, but in the UK, a lawyer wouldn't surrender their certificate. It would be suspended by the relevant regulator/industry association responsible, pending investigation. A lawyer who surrenders their certificate is effectively admitting guilt. I would expect it to be the same, unless what was meant by surrendering or handing in their certificate was actually a suspension, and as a result the lawyer had to hand over their certificate. It sounds like it was being done over a long period and the lawyer, Iskander, must have thought it was water tight. Otherwise, you would have a bolt hole in Spain, and have used property to layer the proceeds and then convert it to cash and invest it using some offshore vehicle that is untouchable byy Australia. Then, when you hear the sirens, you head off to the bolt hole and enjoy Sangria and Chorizo for the rest of your life