Pentax K-5  (C) PJ Croft 2016

I had a cleaning lady here today and when she arrived at 11.30am I had been on the go for a while. She started the work and I was so buggered I went for a lie down. I heard her working, but when I awoke suddenly, silence. The vacuum was still out, on the floor, but no sign of her. I thought she might have been on a break, but no, she was gone. Then I found her note: she hadn’t wanted to wake me.

No problem. I got going again and finished the vacuuming, cleaned the fridge, did the laundry, made myself some lunch, finished putting up the towel rail, fixed the toilet roll holder position and now I’m buggered again at 5pm. Drinkies. Just a little one.

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Autumn in Japan. The Kiso River, before the winter snows.  (C) PJ Croft 2016

Ah, rain. It’s a bit too rare in Perth these days, so we rejoice. It’s not cold, 24ºC or so. Nice. It’s still forecast to be 29ºC tomorrow, when V arrives. She’s wondering if she’ll be cold. I think she will, but I have enough to keep her warm.

I remember when I used to need a couple of blankets and a light fibre-fill quilt for winter, but I haven’t needed anything like that for ten years or more. I’m still only using a single sheet on top at the moment, a month into autumn. I’ll need to fill the quilt cover now, but I’ll probably toss it back a bit. I haven’t used the filling for five years or so.

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I forgot to mention: I caught the train to town yesterday and on the way back, the ticket inspectors came. They stopped a guy a few seats back and I heard him make a weak joke about “Nearly made it, mate”, as he had no ticket. The inspector brought him forward near me and wrote out a ticket for a $100 fine, payable in 7 days. Bloody hell, a fine like that to save a couple of dollars! What an idiot.

He was a young guy, ragged beard, cool gear, massive tattoos, wearing work boots, a wind cheater, a beanie, all warm gear in other words, on a warm day like yesterday. He tried it on with the inspector: “I don’t suppose the price of a good drink would do, mate?” Hah! He couldn’t stay still, constantly moving, twisting, weaving, never still.

Anyway, after the ticket had been written, I saw him pull his wallet out. He had at least two $50 bills in there, I saw it. So why didn’t he buy a ticket?

He was constantly looking at his phone, of course (everybody does!). Then he pulled his other phone out, a smart phone, white of course, another one! So he could afford the cost of two smart phones, all the phone company costs, hundreds of dollars worth of tattoos, and had at least $100 on him, yet he avoided a $2 train ticket and got a $100 fine instead. Stupid. Dumb. Low intelligence. On drugs?  UGH!

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Left: Bali thatch          Right: Japan thatch         Both (C) PJ Croft 2016

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While on the topic of trains … ach! I took two photos on my Sony smart phone yesterday, but getting them from the phone to the computer … hmmm. Too hard, too long a process.

Anyway, the first showed a bike placed completely across the three disabled seats on the train. Sure, no-one was using them, but if anyone had wanted to, they would have had to wait while the guy found alternative accommodation for his bike. Grrr.

The other shot showed two young (16-18?) girls sitting in the disabled seats. Again, no-one was needing them, but can’t they read? There were plenty of vacant seats. Double grrrr.

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From the comments section on a Guardian article this morning: “The Right Wing of the Liberal Party STILL think Labor’s economic management was bad. Despite the triple A ratings, getting through the GFC relatively unscathed, & all the experts & international accolades in the years since.”

As George Megalogenis says, surviving one financial crisis (the Asian banking crisis of 1997) was good luck; surviving two financial crises (the so called Tech Wreck of 2000/2001) could be considered good management; surviving three financial crises in a row (the GFC of 2007/2008) should be seen as excellent work. All these survivals were due to the sound management moves by Labor governments in the 1980s and early 1990s, along with very, very competent management by the Reserve Bank.

It suits their purposes (the right wing hard line conservatives) to keep pushing lies, no matter what the evidence to the contrary. Look at Maurice Newman, former head of Abbott’s business advisory council (http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/08/maurice-newman-claims-to-be-head-of-business-council-disbanded-by-turnbull). Despite explicit statements that the former members of this board have been retired, including Newman, he is still saying he’s the head of this committee. What??!!

This is the bloke who denies global warming, despite all the evidence, and who believes there’s a UN agenda to take over world governments which must be resisted. Um, the clinic’s that way, Mr Newman.

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A discerning Japanese shopper. Kyoto.   (C) PJ Croft 2016