Having vivid memories of the Dismissal on 11 November 1975 and the period leading up to it, I have been a Malcolm Fraser hater ever since. I thought what he did was utterly wrong.

I never thought I would say this, but when he died on Friday, I actually felt some sorrow. Why? Because he came around to the proper views, that this Abbott Liberal government is atrocious, that the treatment of asylum seekers should be condemned in the loudest terms, that we are far too close to the US in foreign policy terms and so on.

In fact, this current Liberal government is so bad that as far as I’m concerned the same or worse conditions exist for it to be dismissed by the governor general. But having accepted the dollar, the cocked hat, the badge and the sash, that boot licker Cosgrove would never bite the hand that fed him. I will NEVER call him Sir. He was a craven fool to have accepted that stupid title.

Getting back to Malcolm, I can see now that his acceptance of Vietnamese refugees was one of the best things to come out of the late 70s and early 80s. Look at the result – Vietnamese have entered into all levels of Australian life and are now fully accepted and contributing to our life.

If only that attitude was accepted now. I am ashamed of an Australia that practices deliberate cruelty on asylum seekers; that practices what amounts to torture; that imprisons without trial, with no hope of release; that deliberately allows prison camp guards to get away with crimes; that breaches international law by imprisoning refugees; that knowingly sends refugees back to the dangerous conditions they are fleeing from; that makes jokes about UN condemnation; that demonises people who are trying to do some good. The list goes on and on. How any Australian can think this is OK is beyond me. I am sickened. If you think this is OK, you’re no friend of mine.

Anyway, RIP Malcolm.

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I always ask for my receipt, right? I caught another one yesterday. I was charged twice for one of the components of my bacon and eggs at my local Dome cafe. Only discovered it once I got home. It’s a trivial amount, but I’m going to show them next time I’m there.

I also noticed a petition to be signed asking for a community swimming pool for this area. YES! I need it for the exercise. I suspect I’ll be gone before it ever happens, though. IF it ever happens.

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As I said, my previous Coles coffee machine died, so I’ve bought another one from them. It’s a different brand this time, and at $49 it’s not too big a risk.

But I’m finding the coffee is unsatisfactory. It uses smaller capsules than my previous ones and I just don’t seem to be getting the flavour I used to get. As well, it only dispenses the demi tasse size of serve, i.e. about 100ml of coffee, the very small cup size. OK, push the button twice and I get more, but the coffee is diluted and hence the flavour is gone. Dang!

I guess this is what you get for buying cheap, but the jump up to the full price models starts at about $250 and goes up to thousands. Nuh. Not for me.

I keep reading about the Aeropress, but it’s a filter coffee maker, which means grounds and filter papers and grinding beans. The capsules are so convenient by comparison.

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I finished my Croft History Vol. 1 and sent it off for printing on Friday. I’m taking advantage of a special where I bought four vouchers in December last year – 8.5″ x 11″ 40 pages at two for $59. They expire on 5 May. I have two vouchers left so the next volume has to be done asap!

I checked the cost of running off extra full priced copies for relatives and they cost $95 each! Ouch. I’ll keep an eye out for another special, but if you want a copy, you have to let me know.

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Wow, the weather’s changed. A week ago I was complaining about week after week, day after day of 35C maxs. Now it’s 24C and sitting here, I actually feel a bit cold. Nice, but a really noticeable change.