Merry Christmas 2024

[old man emu]

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. 

[nomadpete]

And may 2025 be kind to everyone.

[Marty_d]

Merry Xmas all!

 

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

[facthunter]

Being fairly likely of losing my house has  made it my worst ever . Boxing day looks BAD.  I have to be away from here this afternoon.  Nev

[rgmwa]

I’ve better too. Glaucoma knocked off a lot of vision in one eye (the other one is fine) and I lost my wife in August so life has been a bit hard. Nevertheless it’s Christmas and we’ll have a good day. 

[facthunter]

A lot of lives are potentially at risk here. The Last Time( in 1983) it was about 80 dead, but things are much worse now. Even  if we dodge this, the worse  time is in about 6 weeks. People who  go through BIG fire events are never the same afterwards.     Nev

[spacesailor]

Wishing you All . 

A Healthy & Happy Christmas.  ( don't over indulge ) .

With a Prosperous New Year .

spacesailor

Edited December 25, 2024 by spacesailor

[onetrack]

Seasons Greetings to all the forum members and their families, and I trust the wind and weather conditions change for the better for you, Nev, and the danger of losing your house disappears.

I've lost my house in a fire, it is devastating, but at least approaching bushfires give you some time to prepare. In my case, my house burnt to the ground during the day with an electrical fault, and when I wasn't home.

But at the end of the day, all material possessions can be replaced, your life and family members lives can't, so keep safe. 

[facthunter]

A lot of what I have Cannot be replaced. If it was so I'd just LEAVE And let the Insurance sort it out, But I don't think like that. Money  cannot replace it. It's a lifetime of effort. Nev

[facthunter]

You need a challenge for your brain too.  IF it was easy everyone would be doing it. . Special tooling acquired over a lifetime.  World wide connections with people with a common interest.  Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Merry Christmas to everyone from this appreciative newby. Are you all pilots? I wanted to be one but never made it. Over the years, I've been a passenger in a DeHavilland Dragonfly, a Canadian Caribou (Very exciting when landing on a short dusty runway, tighten your seatbelts!), a Lockheed Hercules (for the sole purpose of a low altitude joy ride over Sydney Harbor, still vividly imprinted in my aging memory bank, Opera house and all ), a Boeing 727, and a high wing Cessna type flying through picturesque valleys on my way to connect with a commercial jet for a final destination flight.

 

All of these flying events were a Christmas to me. Thank heavens we have the ability to remember the good things in life.

[facthunter]

Anyhow I'll be off line for a while. . Fly safe. Flying is an addictive thing. .  .  Cheers.  Nev

[rgmwa]

3 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

 Are you all pilots?

Not sure about all, but most would be current or former pilots.

[old man emu]

16 minutes ago, rgmwa said:

Not sure about all, but most would be current or former pilots.

Or would be if they could be.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Merry Christmas all.. hope it is a good one. @facthunter hoping the fire changes track and conditions improve

[nomadpete]

Good luck Nev!

[onetrack]

Grump Old Nasho - No, I think you'll find there's a few forum users (such as myself) that are not pilots. I once studied up to some degree on the theory involved in gaining a PPL, but I was too busy owning and operating a sizeable business to actually go on with getting a PPL, so I had to give it away. But I've had plenty of clients with aircraft, and a former business partner I was in a mining partnership with, owned a Piper Cherokee. A farmer friend owned a Piper Dakota, and I utilised his aircraft to go and pick up urgently-required parts on occasions. Other times I chartered various aircraft (including twins) to inspect distant projects and jobs - and I've joyridden around in a wide variety of aircraft, from Cessnas (182, 207, 172) to the Pipers, as well as numerous choppers, including Robinsons and Jetrangers. Like you, I'm a Nasho and a Vietnam Vet, and I spent some time airborne in Hueys, Chinooks, Caribous, and even a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar! I'm too old and too deaf to fly now, so I'm just an observer on the sidelines today. Welcome to the forum, and Seasons Greetings as well.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Christmas day here was good The weather was glorious - about 12 degrees C and sunny. Would you believe it?

 

Ended up in Accident and Emergency, well after the revellers had gone and before the kids were coming in with broken limbs from their new bikes (yes, parents still give their kids activity based gifts around here). Put a rusty nail )not the drink) through my foot - not too deep, but deep enough, and since I haven't had a tetanus shot for about 15 years, decided it was an opportune time to get one. Was in and out of hospital within two hours  after an X-Ray, shot, and a bunch of antibiotics, just in case, meant I couldn't have a drink.. which I think is a good thing. Silver cloud, etc.

 

We had the in laws, whom I get on very well with, and a local couple over for the dinner, then friends came over for the ever where 15 of us ended up playing cards against humanity until about midnight. Excellent day all round.

 

Hope yours was a good one.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar

Crikey, was that safe?

[onetrack]

Ha ha! It was pretty scary being in the hold on fold down seating, no seatbelts, and the main landing gear is right next to you! I shat myself on landing once when a shower of sparks flew up into the hold from the wheels! Dunno where they came from, but none of the (Yank) crew seemed to be too concerned! And I must apologise, my failing memory has played tricks on me, it was C-123 Provider, not a C-119 Boxcar. Same company, similar aircraft, although the C-123 started off as a heavy haul glider, built by the Chase Aircraft company, and Fairchild got given the job to build the powered C-123, instead of Chase, when Chase were deemed incapable of meeting their military orders. The big Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radials were a joy to listen to, though - although the flames and smoke on startup were a bit of a concern to a 20 yr old!

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by onetrack

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

This one? It helped to spread agent orange.

We've gone off topic, better cease now.

Hope you had a good Xmas and Boxing Day. I live alone but that didn't stop me from rustling up a scrumptious Christmas dinner and downing a few beers.

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by Grumpy Old Nasho

[onetrack]

Yep, that's the type of beast. Photo below of the one I rode in. Did you go to SVN, or did you stay in Oz. What corps were you in?

 

Jerry, sorry to hear about your nail-in-foot exercise, that's not good. Tetanus is a nasty way to go. You're supposed to get booster shots every 10 years, and even in your old age.

Yes, we had a great Christmas Day because SWMBO was greatly pleased when her son John and his wife Cara, and SWMBO's grandson Nate rolled up from the Gold Coast last Friday night. They very rarely come West, they like the GC life too much.

They've been running backwards and forwards visiting Cara's two (adult) sons from her previous marriage, (they live just South of Perth), to the Perth Hills where Johns sister lives on 5 acres (2 Ha), and then to see SWMBO and myself in the City.

Everyone rocked up here at our place in the City for Christmas lunch - although J, C, and N spent Christmas morning with Cara's sons families.

 

We had a 3 day heatwave from Saturday to Monday (38, 41 and 43°), then a nice cool change for Christmas Day, 23°. We knocked up salads and dips on Christmas morning, I cooked steaks and beaut local fish on the BBQ (fish poached in ally foil), while SWMBO cooked up local squid rings and Shark Bay scallops (we'd previously bought a kilo of cooked Tiger Prawns (NW W.A.), and the final touch was SWMBO's roast potatoes (large handcut chips, actually). She parboils them, dries them, rolls them in olive oil, and roasts them in the oven until the edges are crispy. Just beautiful. 

 

There were seven of us for Christmas lunch and about three-quarters of the food and drinks disappeared. No alcohol of note, none of us drink much any more. Soft drinks, juices, tonic and sparkling water. We pulled a pile of crackers, wore all the silly hats (I wore my golden reindeer antlers), Nate wanted to read out all the corny jokes from the crackers, then after lunch we went on a present-opening spree, most of which was for Nates benefit, I think.

 

All in all, a good day, everyone was in a good mood - although SD's company rang her up, and wanted her to sort out a big OH&S problem for them - even though she's supposed to be on leave for more than a week! She got a bit snaky about that issue, this company thinks she's on call 24/7, it's not good enough. I can't see her staying with them, she only started with them early Nov., and she reckons they're a bunch of cowboys.

 

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

18 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Yep, that's the type of beast. Photo below of the one I rode in. Did you go to SVN, or did you stay in Oz. What corps were you in?

I stayed in Oz, I was left languishing in a field workshop at Ingleburn, close to home, with absolutely nothing to do for the last 12 months of my two years, I made foreign orders for myself and did machining work on parts for my mate's racing car. I was first in Signals, then in Reame which was the right corp for me but had to wait a year before finally being transferred to a Reame workshop.

[facthunter]

 Back on line (obviously). Fire risk reduced but NOT gone away. Thanks for the good wishes all. I moved temporarily to a place near Geelong but the Dogs weren't happy and that's a story in itself

  GON  I taught at Liverpool Boys High for a while and had kids from these two Army places in my classes. Never had a problem with anyone at THAT School despite it's reputation  I was sent there because teachers would not stay.  I was also  involved with Open Wheeler's (Tasman formula) as well as flying out of Bankstown to complete a Commercial + Instructor rating. and UNI at Night 3 times a week on a teaching related degree.  Nev

Edited December 27, 2024 by facthunter
more content.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Great success story Nev, I wish I could post a similar one about my self. I was born with autism but I did complete a 5 year machining apprenticeship at DeHavilland Engineering at Lidcombe (later to become Hawker DeHavilland Engineering). I learned a lot about metal fatigue and why the Comets fell out of the sky. Don't believe it was only just an existing crack that caused it. A crack had to start somehow, It was unequal stresses around the squarish window corners, THEN the metal cracked, after repeated expansion and contraction, and the resultant cracks progressed till disaster struck, very sad.

 

DeHavillands was like a wonderland for young enthused apprentices, it had everything, miles of all types of machines, a testing laboratory, aero engine reco section, heat treatment, electro plating, polishing section, a micro measuring section - it had it all. I loved working there but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to stay there, I was asked to go to a staging point and be transported to a camp, just like a European Jew.

 

Here's something I put together recently to compare

 

1) Conscripts in Australia in the 1960s were told to assemble at a staging point for transportation to a camp.

    (Jews in Nazi Germany were told to assemble at a staging point, for transportation to a camp)

2) On arrival at the camp, new conscripts had to have their hair sheared off.

    (Jews in Nazi Germany had their hair sheared off)

3) Conscripts had to wear a uniform.

    (Jews had to wear a white with blue stripes uniform)

4) Conscripts were under threat of punishment for disobeying orders.

    (Jews were under threat of punishment for disobeying orders)

5) Conscripts were sent away to sacrifice their lives, on the orders of politicians.

    (Jews were killed, because of politicians)

 

Thankfully, for the sake of future Australian generations, these grotesque abuses will never happen in Australia ever again. Your children's children and so on, will be safe.