The Daily Gaggle

A sort of day one does not feel like venturing far from home. A southerly up from Antarctica is the controlling weather factor, fortunately we have a sheltered veranda facing away.from the wind.      Yesterday we registered our Henry Ford Falcon which remember had a over heating problem and  the car doctor charged us $400-00 to cool him down, The  insurance cost another $850-00, I also passed my medical and I am able to drive until I reach 89 years of age, This was followed by a visit to ALDI to do some cheapo shopping and a trip to the large shopping centre to buy Rosey some warm slippers And get an expensive haircut for myself, I usually have my hair cut every eight weeks for sixteen bucks by George up the road and come out looking like a leatherneck, but the buxom lady barber at 'Just Cuts ' who charged 24 bucks stated I would have a free haircut every eighth visit, I told her I shall live in hope..      Today a vis...

Whingeing whining Sydney Suburb dwellers who complain about the price of fuel  have little to gripe about. Nearly 43 years ago the petrol pumps were selling petrol in Sydney at 48 cents per Imperial Gallon or 4.7 litres equivalent . The first petrol sold in Litres at a pump in Sydney jumped to 12 cents per litre. Since the advent of the litre at the bowser in the Sydney Suburbs, wages have increased by at least 18 times more than in 1971. Taking this into consideration and allowing fuel prices to to be increased with wage indexation, One would expect the price of fuel at this point in time to be AUS $2-16 per litre.  So why all the fuss.?. It seems  Ten selected Suburbs around Sydney are griping about the following prices for fuel in their area,  being $149 cents per litre and others At138,129,128,126,125,123,120,119,118, cents per litre. Most of these moaners have far less distance to travel to their area of employment than some persons travelling to t...

Sixty one years ago .Myself  26 and Rosemary 18  A beautiful lady from Portsmouth England, were married in St Christopher Church in Johore Bahru, Johore, Malaya. Rosemary is still loving and obeying and is at the moment fixing my breakfast, " Love You Rosemary".. All of our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to persue them. Vest ....Back soon.

      Elder abuse is a global social issue which affects the health, welfare and human rights of millions of older people. Around the world, older people are being subjected to psychological, financial and physical abuse. Unfortunately prejudicial attitudes contribute to the problem. We all need to re-examine our attitudes towards 'Aging' and the status and role of older persons. Governments can help by enacting legislation to protect the abused and prosecute the abusers. We owe it to older persons and societies around the world to fight ageism in all its forms and enhance the dignity and human rights of older persons everywhere.      Bullying and maltreatment of older persons can lead to serious physical injuries and long term psychological consequences and it is now considered one of the most serious and important human rights issues.       In Australia to report elder abuse phone 1800 052 222 or telephone your...

The Number three son of Rosemary and myself , David,  is the genealogy expert within our family of five sons, eight Grandchildren and four G/Grand children. David recently came up with the information that over the past several centuries our lineage has produced several persons of notability besides myself of course Hmm,  some of whom were an Admiral a General several Diplomats a  Crooked Judge Advocate  and several scallywags of notoriety also Knights of the realm.      However few of these forebears have reached beyond the three score years and ten M E O Life  within the tribe as previously stated going back more than a fair bit.and it would appear that yours truly recently passed the highest Expectation Of  Life recorded within our lineage, Yours truly having survived several conflicts over the years whereas many of my forebears have suffered the fate of  having their lives terminated  during a multitude of ...

This post commemorates the Signing of the 'Magna Carta' Document by King John of England in the year 1215.AD.June 15. IToday I was  writing the post number when I was  reminded of this particular date while at my boarding school WNTS in Nth Elmham Norfolk England. when asked by Professor A, D, Bates our History Master; the date of this historic occasion. Being a smart ass I replied, "Sir it was on the 15th day of June, at fifteen minutes past twelve" . Now  Attila Bates as we called him was a grumpy old sod, Got a sniff of Gas in the WW1 trenches, and when  anyone broke wind in the classroom, ,he would yell "Open the windows and open the doors" followed by the boys in the classroom who chanted " Down with the roof and up with the floors".. However on the day I replied to his question , I was called to the front of the class and reminded by four strokes of the cane across my butt not to be a smart ass.. My bottom smarted a fair bit afterwards. Aga...

      The  Queen of England and some of the Commonwealth will be 88 years and  41 days of age tomorrow. as per 21-4-26.  Q E 2 was eleven weeks and one day of age  when I was born on a Friday which coincided with the start of the Muslim year 1304 or 622 years later in the Christian calendar, The year 622 was when  Mohammad took flight from Mecca to Medina, pity he wasn't on M 307. I hope I haven't lost you. it does become confusing to the lesser thinkers, the first rpt, first atom bomb and the launch time of the Apollo 11 Brit S/T 2100 also coincides. my hatching date, but  later. 19 and 43 years later. Since this Royal birthday fiasco began  in the 18th century, only QE2/s grand daddy King George V born June 3 1865 on a Saturday became the closest to this imaginary date of the first Monday in June for celebrating the Monarchs birthday.       However there seems to be no ending to...

      It Seems June  5 has had it's share of happenings probably as much as any other time of the year in our history.However, we start off with a memory of my own when on the Tuesday June 5 1945 the ship I was serving on during WW2 The HMS King George V, a 40,000 ton British Battleship, the flagship of the huge British Pacific fleet ( The Forgotten Fleet) arrives in Sydney from Operation Iceberg via a stop in Guam,  Where it had been presented with an Ice cream Machine From the USS Missouri and a run ashore for the crew with three cans of free beer thrown in by the yanks, the ship returned two weeks later to receive another welcome from the sons of Nippon flying circus and later enter Tokyo at the Japanese surrender.       Other incidents on this day in history include The death by drowning of Field Marshal Kitchener in 1916 when the ship HMS Hampshire  he was taking passage in was mined off of Scapa Flow in the Or...

       I am writing this simply because My doctor reads my blog occasionally or so he tells me. Previous to the day of  my appointment last Friday at 1140AM I had been feeling an occasional pain below my upper left rib  for several days,. However, the morning of my appointment I was feeling great no worries - so instead of a three minute walk to the Doctor we took the car thinking we would go  shopping after seeing the Doc but a delivery truck was parked across our drive so we were eventually five Min's late for our appointment. (on arrival normally one waits about a half hour or more to actually see the Doc) I gave the receptionist my card who told me I was to keep my appointment at the correct time and mumbled something I couldn't hear "Are you deaf "She asked," " only when you whisper" I replied, Inwardly I was becoming miffed with this young lady and her attitude, She then asked several Questions in a louder voi...

" The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance. " - Cicero , 55 BC So, evidently we've learned little over the past 2,069 years.

LAGOS.       A Child Bride forced into marriage killed her new husband and his friends by lacing their food with Rat Poison.       Wasila Aymara 14, poisoned the men because she was forced to marry a man she did not love. They wed last week in a village !00 km north of the city of Kano in Nigeria.        The 35 year old groom had invited a dozen friends to celebrate.         Child marriage is common in Nigeria,; especially in the MUSLIM north. You may remember the Muslim North in the sixties ? was a place called Biafra, which had broken away from Nigeria, but soon became plagued with starvation; but the charitable good Christian countries around the world rallied to their plight and saved their population from annihilation.         I was in Lagos in the late fifties, I remember school children singing "Carter bridge is falling d...

    The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is warning Australians to be careful if travelling to the Middle East following 13 more deaths in Saudi Arabia from the MERS coronavirus, must have changed the name from SARS. The warning comes as The W H Org prepares for an emergency meeting due to the spread of the disease which has caused the deaths of 139 and has infected more than 500 since the outbreak. This weekend the Saudi Health Ministry said six people had died from the disease over the previous 24 hours. We in Australia should be thankful that Sharia Law and it's archaic ignorance and cruelty has not arrived as yet in our shores - well officially; as this story  sounds absurd and totally discriminatory.       Woman to hang for Christianity A Sudanese judge has sentenced a Pregnant Christian woman to death by hanging for committing Apostasy( Converting from ones original faith).     Meriam Yahia Ib...

       The most formidable of the Faith Industry Christian following the Roman Catholic Church, is rarely short of a sexual scandal concerning not so much Nuns but the Men of the cloth who wallow in the privilege of secret sexual activity between themselves and young children in their care. These people involved could avoid this ghastly activity. should the archaic Church of Rome allow priests to marry like other normal males.     The alternative could be castration which would solve the sex problem completely , also retain a healthy bank of treble singers should the choir boy numbers drop. Poverty, Ignorance and fear of the almighty allow the church to bully their charges into submission. little wonder most of these underprivileged people have few independent thoughts of their own, this is not only in Ireland as will be mentioned but worldwide, Particularly within Hispanic communities. 160 cases of sex abuse. Church at...

Several more people have died after contracting a deadly Middle Eastern Virus related to SARS,. Saudi Arabia's death toll from SARS has now passed one hundred, a total approaching four hundred cases of this respiratory disease. Other nearby countries  Jordan,  Egypt,  Kuwait,  Oman and Qatar have reported cases of this disease. No person is immune from this virus, avoiding  this geographical area  would be the safest solution for persons travelling to Europe. Heading North  to Singapore or even further to Hong Kong and taking  Northern  loop flights over to Europe and thereby avoiding these infected areas is the safest option. However, I cannot recommend Canton aka Guangzhou PROC for a stopover, for reasons best known to me. Have a safe journey. Vest ... Back soon.

The story goes like this: The Americans are withdrawing from Afghanistan; one of their command and control systems (used for controlling pilotless drones) was hijacked by the Taliban when an American transport convoy was moving down from one of the hill-top bases. The Taliban ambushed the convoy and killed 2 American Seal personnel, seized the equipment/weapons, including the command and control system which weighed about 20 tons and packed into 6 crates. This happened about a month ago in Feb 2014. What the Taliban wants is money. They want to sell the system to the Russians or the Chinese. The Russians are too busy in Ukraine. The Chinese are hungry for the system's technology. Just imagine if the Chinese master the technology behind the command and control system, all the American drones will become useless. So the Chinese sent 8 top defense scientists to check the system and ...

     Dear Emily Rose... It is doubtful if I shall be propelling myself further into the blogosphere this being due to my age and having less time to fulfill blogging duties, my wife has asked "what time is my 'Hair do' four times in the past hour, meaning I have another problem to deal with now. However, at nearly 88 and 8 years senior to my beloved I consider myself fortunate not to have lost my marbles and being youthful for my ongoing years, but not a 'Dorian Gray' as such, although I still have twelve bottom teeth no tatts and a fair amount of hair, I still drive and do gardening, mowing and cooking and other odd domestic chores,.My son aged 59 is a computer whizz kid and deals with all my PC Problems; eventually or when available when he is awake. ... Thank you for your offer,to fix my website - but due to a leak in our water supply I have recently received an excess water bill for $965-00. Although most people are seemingly aware I have oodl...

gt; Class Reunion 60th High School Reunion He was a widower and she a widow. They had known each other for a number of years being high school classmates and having attended class reunions in the past without fail. This 60th anniversary of their class, the widower and the widow made a foursome with two other singles. They had a wonderful evening, their spirits high. The widower throwing admiring glances across the table. The widow smiling coyly back at him. Finally, he picked up courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?" After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes,..... yes I will!" The evening ended on a happy note for the widower. But the next morning he was troubled. Did she say “Yes” or did she say “No?” He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank. He remembered asking the question but for the life...

Your first Easter email A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car. The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny , and he is DEAD . The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A beautiful blonde woman driving down the highway sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over. She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong. "I feel terrible," ! he explains, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM." The blonde says,"Don't worry." She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can. She walks over to the limp, dea...

Your first Easter email A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle  of the road.   He swerves to avoid hitting it, but   unfortunately the rabbit jumps   right in front of the car.   The driver,  a sensitive man as well as an   animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny , and he is DEAD . The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A beautiful blonde woman dr...