Oztalgian
-
Content Count
6,371 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
51
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by Oztalgian
-
-
As a kid we nearly always had a fire as it heated the hot water in the "back boiler". As my dad worked shifts either he or mum would "bank the fire up" such that the house was warm and the fire stayed lit all night. At the time it was the only form of heating in the house and all the other rooms were freezing in winter.
We have just started the winter season here, its a cool 15 deg with light showers today.
-
11 hours ago, Brew said:
It will happen when 'pay per mile' comes along and yes Highways England are working on it.
Yes Brew, it is inevitable as more and more cars become electric the revenue from fuel excise and its VAT/GST component will fall.
Our new car uses 40% less fuel than the previous model so the tax take from our car has significantly reduced. As many new cars are equipped with GPS it will be relatively easy to tax them on a per mile basis.
-
Ooworreewi posted yesterday at 12:19am about some hi-fi stuff
-
Brew and DJ360 I enjoy the thrust and parry of your political discussions and often after fact checking I learn so much.
I can report that privatisation of South Australia's electricity supply system has been an unmitigated disaster.
Historically our electricity was provided by the Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) a state government owned entity. It largely used brown coal in power stations in the north of the state. At its peak it was widely held that it was one of the most efficient and cheapest energy networks in the world. The same price was charged for electricity regardless of where it was used in the state. During a state election in 1997 the then Liberal (Conservative) premier pledged not to privatise ETSA. However, after being re-elected proceeded with privatisation citing the dire financial situation that the state found itself following the State Bank crisis which nearly bankrupt SA. The premier broke his promise and the vertically integrated business was sold off as generators, transmission, distribution and retail entities in their own right. Many of these are partly owned by foreign entities. Since privatisation prices have risen steadily and in 2017 it was widely held that SA had the highest electricity prices in the world. Privatisation has been a great success. 51% of our distribution network is foreign owned (a Hong Kong entity) with a 200 year lease? The transmitter of electricity in SA is 46.5% owned by State Grid Corporation of China. All in all a resounding fail and only now are prices starting to stabilise of even fall.
Don't get me started on foreign ownership of agricultural land and water resources. A sovereign entity should control its' land, water, electricity, natural gas and oil reserves and other strategically important entities.
-
2
-
-
Yes Mary and I forgot to mention it is OK to play bowls, the club is about 5 minutes walk from our place and is right on the ocean side.
Top wineries are only a short car ride too.
-
South OZ Update
We have only had 2 cases since April 23rd. The most recent being on 26 May that of a UK visitor who was undergoing the mandatory 2 week quarantine at the port of arrival into Australia. The visitor was allowed to come to South Australia 1 week into the quarantine period for compassionate reasons and tested positive after arrival. This being the only active case. So far, thankfully, it has not generated any further cases. We are still testing at the rate of 1600 a day and police continue to check on those that are self quarantining. Masks are not required but some are being used on public transport where it is difficult to maintain social distancing
Things are returning to a new "normal", from 1 June restaurants, pubs, cafes etc can have a maximum of 80 people provided that the total number of people does not exceed one person per 4 sq metres and that 1.5 meters social distancing can be maintained for non related people. You do not have to buy a meal to have a drink but you must be seated at a table you cannot sit or stand at the bar. Professional sports have and are resuming without crowds and people are free to resume amateur sports but no sports or games with shared equipment.
Keep safe and well everyone.
-
5
-
-
Dominic Cummings should do the honourable thing and resign if he does not then Boris should do the honourable thing and sack him.
Opps, these two doing the honourable thing, computer says no!
-
On 11/25/2014 at 8:57 PM, Compo said:
Funny how a smell can evoke strong memories.
Just sitting here having a new seasons Mandarin for lunch and as soon as I started to peel it the smell took me back to Christmas morning in the 1950's.
The roaring coal fire, the frost on the windows and finding that Mandarin in the stocking along with the chocolate coins and the selection box.
Pomegranates were always a part of our Christmas too, eating the ruby red seeds with a safety pin. Nowadays they appear on almost every salad
-
1
-
-
Question 14
Didn't the Greeks keep Lord Byron's heart?
I hereby claim my pint for a supplementary answer
His dog, Boatswain, has a pretty fine memorial at Newstead Abbey
-
I am enjoying the discussions between DJ360 and Brew well done boys, so much to ponder.
I know its that Oztalgian criticising again and that things are different here in Australia, its much bigger, not so densely populated, less people, blah, blah blah. Yes they bl**dy well are different and thankfully so. We had Federal and State governments that acted early and decisively. That is the difference.
62% of all Covid 19 cases in Australia were "overseas acquired" I cannot find any UK source data but suggest that the UK would be similar and only now does the UK insist that International arrivals are quarantined via self isolation but only commencing on June 8?
As far as things go in my part of the world we have had 1 new case of Covid 19 since 24th April and that was on 7 May and no cases reported since.
Things are rapidly returning to a more normal state, I just hope they continue move cautiously.
Keep safe and well
-
1
-
-
It has been proven that the only time car owners refer to the manuals provided by the manufacturers is to change the clocks for daylight saving.
Luckily for me in my car the time is set by GPS so it automatically adjusts for daylight saving and for time zones when we travel interstate.
I do agree with DJ360 that getting the time on the microwave and oven which are above each other to show the same time is a pain in the ar$e.
-
Maid Marians real name was Trudi Glen
If you listen to the theme tune of the 60's TV series it tells you
"Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding Trudi Glen"
-
3
-
-
Australia reached a sad milestone today with its' 100th death from Covid 19
We should never forget that these along with the almost 36 thousand deaths in the UK, the 32 thousand in Italy and a total of 319 thousand across the globe were all someone's loved ones taken by this pandemic.
Regardless of where or how it started we need to get to the root cause in order to prevent a recurrence.
In our state we have no known active cases of Covid 19 and restrictions on our lifestyles are being further relaxed.
-
1
-
-
20 minutes ago, DJ360 said:
Personally I can't think of much worse than jigsaws.. but if you like them go for it!!
I have just finished a jigsaw for the first time in years. It was not a "normal" one where each piece has 4 holes or rounded tabs but one with two holes or tabs on each side, Took me ages as for some reason I had difficulty easily recognising which piece was the logical fit to the other piece.
-
Bugga you DJ360 that ear worm is now running around in my head.
Dam, now it's woken up the other one that sings It's a "Small World After All"
-
1
-
-
Been through many of those gates walking from Fiskerton to fish below the weir at Hazelford.
Never heard the term kissing gates, we always called them clapper gates.
-
1 hour ago, nonnaB said:
I think the govt should make restaurant restrictions according to restaurant size.
A momentous day here in South Australia. We currently have no active cases of Covid 19. The last case reported was one person on 7 May. There had been no cases for 14 days before that and none since. Can we say we have beaten it yet? The firm answer is NO, as there are bound to be more cases surface as testing is now available to all who think they need it. We have tested over 75,000 people and currently testing around 1500 people per day.
Police are actively checking those who are supposed to be self isolated and continue to issue fines.
Businesses are being allowed to open but must comply to total distancing guidelines. Restaurants/pubs are allowed to serve meals to up to ten people but can do multiple sittings. Like nonnaB I wonder who came up with that magic number as ten people in our larger pub dining rooms and bistros would hardly cover the cost of opening the doors or more importantly keeping the beer cold.
The restaurants, pubs and clubs are fully open in the Northern Territory but individual patrons can only stay for a session of two hours. Could go up there for a beer or two but would still have to self isolate for two weeks, hardly worth it.
-
1
-
-
3 hours ago, oldphil said:
Totally without education, respect or personality.
I've never heard that before either, I just thought it was slang for an idiot
-
2 hours ago, Dark Angel said:
(Whilst avoiding the twerp with the camera.)
It's a very long time since I have heard the word "twerp".
I will now embark on a crusade to re-establish its use.
It is a very useful descriptive word
-
Welcome Peter
As a former toolmaker/quality/manufacturing engineer I know it is tragic but I enjoy watching any hi-speed packaging machine.
It does not matter if it is a bottle filling line in a brewery, jar filling or automatic weighing and packaging in a food factory. Pick and place carton folding, filling and glueing etc. I enjoy the complexity and speed of which all the elements work together to end up with the finished packaged product. Having spent countless hours overseas commissioning tooling for automotive assembly I still find some of the clips on YouTube amazing.
-
oldphil,
The Chinese are now saying that it is not in retaliation for our PM saying there should be an inquiry into the origin of Covid 19 it is because of discrepancies in certification labelling of cartons versus what is on waybills as to the cuts of meat in the cartons. The abattoirs have acknowledged isolated cases of incorrect labelling. The ban affects 20% of our beef imports to China.
The Chinese are also set to introduce an 80% tariff on our barley imports too, they claim it is because of "dumping"
Looks like a mass dummy spit by a totalitarian regime that continually produces substandard product and ships it all over the world.
I am sure we would be happy to ship you some beef or any other products you need, what do you suggest you send in return?
Our politicians need to grow some balls and ban future imports of any Chinese products that fail to meet our standards too, but I doubt it.
-
23 minutes ago, notty ash said:
According to Facebook it is a Daimler with Massey bodywork
Can't disagree Notty Ash the Alexander and Massey bodied Daimlers looked very similar.
What made me think Alexander was the straight lines of the bottom of the drivers window, many Massey's that I saw had a distinct curve on the bottom edge.
I am working from a 40+ years ago memory of travelling on these as a kid. My favourite spot was downstairs at the front behind the driver and there was often a badge on the interior of who did the bodywork and interior. At one stage all I wanted to be was a bus driver.
-
The yellow rear number plates did not start appearing until 1968 so it is definitely post that. They did become compulsory until 1973 so it could have been taken after that too.
Looks like an Alexander bodied Daimler CV? probably built in the 1950's
One of the drivers must have been a bit careless as it looks like a dent in the nearside front roof dome
-
Cliff Ton
Many of the maps and perhaps some pictures (I did not know the place) from Nottstalgia can be found on Google image search without the evil empire banner.
They must have been indexed before interference.
Hope this helps
Graveyards and cemeteries
in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !
Posted
I know what you mean Mary1947 my mum would only have to hear the Last Post and she would burst into tears. It was on this day in 1940 that her brother died of his wounds received in fighting with the rear guard during the evacuation of Dunkirk.
At the close of every day at the Australian War Memorial they play the Last Post where the public is allowed to attend around the pool of reflection and remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice. Underneath the arches that you can see to the left and the right in the photo are walls upon which the names of all Australians killed in battle are inscribed.