While composing the previous item, I came across these shots. How about that! 39 years of ageing. Beautiful woman into hip man!

No, joking, joking. But not a good look for me, I agree. Pity about the absence of the lovely lady, too. Sutri Atrisno, Kuta, 1983. Wonder if I could still find her? It’s OK, she was married with kids.  Hey, Yudhie! Apa Kabar?

In the next few days, I’m going to be publishing some stories that will make your hair curl. Some people, if they are reading, may recognise themselves, although I will not name names.

Almost all my “mates” are too dumb and stupid to find this blog, or have explicitly told me they will not read it. One even told me he doesn’t read blogs because they are not “authoritative”. What??!!

Therefore, no problems. If they don’t read, they don’t see, they don’t know and they remain in their state of ignorance.

Did you know? On Saturday the Sun emitted a giant Coronal Mass Ejection and into Sunday, 14 and 15 July, we were bombarded by high energy particles. Now I know why my Wi-Fi modem was constantly dropped out on Saturday!

Doesn’t matter much if you were inside or outside, you were hit by invisible radiation. The vast majority was absorbed and deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field, but we all got a bit that got through. We probably got as much as as several plane flights’ worth of radiation in one day.

(Plane flights’ worth? Yep. Even inside that metal tube, you’re being hit by gamma radiation and cosmic rays. It’s bad enough that flight attendants are warned that if they get pregnant, watch out. And that’s just the women!)

So next time you hear about power lines or phone tower radiation or rare earth radiation, check the facts and get things in proportion, please. They are trivial in comparison.

This morning I received an answer from the BBC to my protest at the levels of horror and violence in Silent Witness, that formerly excellent show about pathology.

I have sent the following extra message to the BBC, sending it also to the blog of the cast, William Gaminara, Emilia Fox and Tom Ward:

I revered Silent Witness for the subtlety and skill of its acting, the deep philosophical themes, the importance of its subjects, and despite the graphic nature of the dissection scenes in the mortuary, I was not disturbed. Not at all.

But this is horror for horror’s sake [seeing a guy’s throat cut in full view, full frontal, nothing spared]. The week before, we were shown a savage, sadistic beating by a prison officer in a toilet cubicle, with blood all over the floor and  a guy having a truncheon shoved up his arse.

The week before that, we saw the den of a depraved child killer with body parts strung up on lines.

This is too much! I am all in favour of less censorship, and I love a bit of non-violent porn, as shown here on SBS. Full nudity and sex scenes, bring it on. As long as it’s not violent, I have no problem.

But this is just sickening violence for shock, horror and ratings sake.

I am going to take this further. I am going to protest to the actors themselves, William Gaminara, Tom Ward and Emilia Fox [viz], and take this to the ABC’s management as well.

This is in the same line as another BBC show, Luther, where a woman was shown having had her tongue cut out. This was violence pornography! I still have the episode recorded as proof, but I had to turn it off. It turned me off, I can assure you.

This is wrong! I protest.

I was blind, and now I can see.  I didn’t listen to my inner voice!

Sometimes what seems like a bad day turns out to be a lucky escape.

I had nearly taken out a contract with a bank that might have locked me in for some years, but a shocking communication has suddenly shown me that I was on the wrong path.

For the past couple of years I’ve been lost, wondering what to do. Now, suddenly, my path is clear. I am going to sell this house and move to a retirement village in another beach-side suburb. This will give me a much higher standard of living and release the equity in this house without having to be tied into a bank contract. 

The village units are much newer and well designed and are much less expensive than the value of this house. Importantly, they are also freehold, so if I want to, at a later date, I’ll be able to do a reverse mortgage even there. I’ve already asked the bank and they said, yes, sure can, when you’re ready.

I first thought of this a few years ago and went to view some units, but wasn’t ready then. Now I am. This village will allow a dog by prior agreement and Minnie will be able to come with me for her final year or two. She is still OK (snoring quietly beside me now) and wants nothing more than to sleep the day away. She makes an occasional woof, but I don’t think she’ll bother anyone in a village.  

(By the way, speaking of bothering people, I’m thinking of ringing Stirling City Council – there’s someone over the back of me here who has a workshop, but the work that’s going on in this workshop is on an industrial scale! A power  saw is cutting wood all day, weekends and all, it’s going on even now, along with loud shaper noises, a big belt sander and welding sounds. This is way beyond a home cabinet maker’s noise. I should know, I used to make cabinets.)

This will free me up in so many ways, to travel, to live better, and as the villas have an attached enclosed garage, to do my model trains or whatever.

Phew! Luckily, I haven’t re-cluttered this house. Everything is still packed away and I haven’t wasted money on new furniture or alterations. All I need to do is complete the packing and probably rent a temporary storage unit.

The estate agent tells me, yes, new carpets, and a new lawn at the back, but otherwise, do nothing. Suits me. Easy. I’ve had a valuation and it’s about what I thought.

How ironic. I think I’ve got a share in a Bali villa and find out I haven’t, but it opens up the path to a real villa, fully owned freehold in a small local community without having to emigrate. I’ll still be able to make Bali trips, but on my terms. Phew!

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