wash2u Forum Posts (3,768)

RE: The Justice System

Some behaviours are inherent.

I have known people who have done time for stealing cars or break and enter. They did the crime because they thought they could get away with it, and they did for a while. Being in gaol made them change for the better.

But it doesn't work for some. Best example is a character named Darcy Dugan who spent more than half of his life in gaol. Within weeks of getting out when he was in his 60s (they were feeling sorrow for him), he was involved in an armed robbery. Some never change.

People who do a crime need to pay the price. Prisons are so soft now with prisoners having "rights" while their victims continue to suffer. Prisoners even have the right to vote these days.

They get free accommodation, 3 decent meals a day, clean linen and clothing, have tv, computer access for some, access to education, free medical with no waiting list for surgery, free counselling, a gym to get fit, and some even go out to work and get paid.

RE: This Place

But they have been known to be very effective in knocking some sense into people.

RE: sense and sensibility

Beni, we all suffer from some form of mindless or angry responses when we feel offended.

Most of us are friendly and will give an honest response. A few give an honest (or even at times a mindless) response or are deliberately trying to provoke others.

RE: Winter is here

Just spent 3 nights at Gundagai where temps got slightly above zero, good to be back in Melb enjoying 11 degs overnight.

If my old Landy had been going good, I would have thought about going with some others to enjoy the delights of Bombala where they were enjoying(?) minus temps.

RE: endure short term pain to enjoy long term gain...

I have had my own retail business and do realise that customer service is very important or you go under.

I have been in Local Govt for a lot of years and my role has been to provide a service to our customers (the i-ratepayers). No, I was not a "call-girl" on the switchboard.

Main focus was on road safety trying to make our roads and the roadside safer for all users - drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

But it is very hard to provide any more than lip-service when management does not give you any money to make it better for anyone. But you do have to come up with answers why nothing is being done.

People do get sick of hearing that "budget restraints in the current budget means that we cannot do these works during the current financial year. Funding is being sort in the next Capital Wokrs Budget to undertake these neccessary works. However, this worth projject will be competing against the many, many other worthwhile projects seeking funding in the Budget." If you ever get a reply like this, it means Buckleys of getting funding.

As probably a few realise from their own experiences, it is not always possibly to meet all of the demands of all the people out there.

Do wish you luck with your change, Serene, and hope it works for you.

RE: it is said

I see real issues as people wanting to force their religion/beliefs on others, or are just using religion/beliefs as an excuse for what they do.

I have known practising Maranite Christians who strongly advocate violence against all Muslims. The Muslims I know are very peaceful people. There are Muslims in the Middle East who want to "push the Jews into the sea." Yet Muslims and Jews had lived harmoniously in the region for thousands of years prior to 1950.

RE: Random Thoughts

Every day is a Saturday for me.

Means no work tomorrow.

RE: Role Call

It was more than a year ago that I heard of Buddy and his photo comps. And that he was not well at the time but did have a love for his cyber-community. No way I could ever really think of entering any of mine in them.

Merri, seeing what you and 10ccJudy have done with the Inters Buddy Memorial Photo Comp, I think he will be remembered by those who had a fleeting glance at him.

Wish you well in your endeavours.

RE: love and commitment

Not much elitism or tall poppy syndrome here.

We have heard this before from you and made a few suggestions.

It is up to you and you alone to get yourself out of your situation.

RE: I was chatting with another boardy the other night ...

Now my dear Abagail does not want to be stuck with a grumpy old man like me. She is looking for a loving man closer to her age group by 20 years or so.

Pebbs and Asha...love to be there when they get together to see the fireworks

Newlife and Obs.....Who is going to move???

Mickey and Serene...who will be the first to change their diet???

Curly and BJ ... I don't think either could stand the pace

RE: Life is precious

The stigma of depression is probably why people don't want to talk about it. No longer does medication result in a person becoming a zombie.

And probably the hardest thing is recognising you have it and then dealing with it. Most workplaces nowadays have a free counselling service with no details of who visits them passed back to the employer.

While we all get a bit down about some things sometimes, there are at times we should seek professional help. Looking back over my last 3 years of my last workplace, I did go on medication from my doctor for the first year because of the manager I had. When he left, so did a lot of my problems. But it is only since I decided to quit working that I have realised that I had been sliding over the last year and realised that the workplace was my biggest problem. Maybe I should have sought counselling.

Carbon Tax and How it affects you

I have just read where the Carbon Tax has increased the street lighting bill in my local area by $650,000. Add to that over $1 million Carbon Tax costs for other things. Means that my Council Rates are going to rise by 7.3% instead of the 4.3% they would have provided.

My gas, electricity and fuel bills are also hit by Carbon Tax. And GSt on top of that.

Australia going "Green" is costing me personally.

But there is an upside to this. Australia contributes less than 1% of total world Carbon emissions. A small start but who knows where we will be if everyone else follows.

RE: Alireza711

It was unfortunate that when Persia was under the rule of the US-supported Shah that there was an effort to bring westernisation to the country in a few very short years. But not everyone likes change quickly.

The Parsi did not accept the changes under the Arabic rule and ended up leaving the country to continue their beliefs. Many Persians stayed and accepted the change. But the Shah was too radical, too open to the West, and dictatorial. When he was ousted, it went back to a dictorial regime of the old kind.

People are willing to accept gradual changes, not sudden changes.

RE: make cs better

One or 5 of the forums I use has this. Unfortunately, it is not just limited to what I have posted but what I have looked at and someone has posted as a comment.

One is the school I went to posted up on fb. Everytime someone posts a comment, I get notified. Even if it was only to do with something 10 years ago and not back in the stone tablet era I went to school.

RE: doing a dodgey?

I got the impression that it was the CSA that is the problem referred to.

A mate has his son at least 9 nights every fortnight and has to pay Child Support. CentreLink has accepted the care arrangements and "acknowledged" that he has at least 51% of the primary care. His son's school contacts him as the "primary carer" because the mother is "unavailable because she is working" but does realise that he does work full-time and cannot leave work to travel the 40kms to the school at the drop of the hat while the mother is 2kms away and supposedly only working part time. She only declares half of what she works to the Tax Office.

CSA says "You earn more, therefore you pay. End of conversation."

RE: Sitting with your Past

We spend a lot of time in developing ourselves, learning (sometimes) from our mistakes.

Some people tend to keep repeating those mistakes.

Some people have de javu and when something is repeated that was a mistake/problem in the past and did cause a problem just think "No way am I going through that again."

Out at dinner tonight with my daughter and when I finally managed to get a word in and told I might be heading back to Sydney again, the question was "Are you seeing someone there?" Meaning 'hope you don't mean to move back there and leave me here....I don't want to have to move be near you, and that close to my mother.'

RE: doing a dodgey?

Sorry AA, they only write down the 'facts they hear.' Meaning, they only write what they want to write. And then you have to prove what you said and recording a telephone conversation must have the other party's agreement or it is not acceptable.

Best way is to make the other party (whether Government or other companies) aware that you are writing down the information they are giving you. Stuff such as "The time and date is ...... Your name is .... and no last name provided."

When people are aware that you are writing details of the conversation down, a lot does change in how they deal with you.

The CSA are very good at saying "We are only following the Family Law Act." That is when you ask them what section they are referring to. Stumps them every time. Most of the time they have no real idea of what they are talking about, it is just something that someone else has told them on how to get rid of a call.

The Family Law Act is on the internet and easy to look up but can be hard to follow. Essentially, write out the details of the conversation (referencing time, date and name), your understanding of the section of the Act referred to by the CSA and asking them to confirm the conversation and the interpretation by the CSA and youself.

However, if you child is with you, it is good to have a diary of all the dates and to approach CentreLink to look at getting the circumstances changed. Even drag your child along to confirm it.

I did go to CentreLink today to let them know I had stopped working. Told the very helpful Information Lady that I had stopped working and not sure what I am supposed to do next. I was thinking of getting the Seniors Card so I can get those 3 course meals at the club for $10 when the main meal alone costs $15-20.

She gave me this little card and said "You need to ring this number and make an appointment. Next please." Thought she was just going to give me a number and "go sit over there until your number is called."

Great. Didn't have to stand around with all those sick people sneezing and coughing all over the place. Last thing I need is getting sick and not being able to take a paid sickie like some (Micky).

Got home and the number she had circled was "Employment Services."
Should have put my glasses on to read the card.

RE: Winter is here

Was in Rydal NSW yesterday morning and the frost on the cars took about 20 mins to defrost with the heaters going - heaters struggling to warm up. Should have just scraped it off. And it was so cold, the camera battery refused to work.

RE: Whats for dinner?

Tuesday night - same old, same old. Very nice "Italiano" Pizza with lots of prawns and hot salami. Little restaurant does make them very nice.

I know tomorrow will be my favourite - Brussel Sprouts (chopped and boiled), snow peas, semi-dried tomatos, spring onions, fetta, olives, pasta with chilli sauce and sour cream.

RE: fun facts

Farrokh Bulsara died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS.

He was a Parsi (not Farsi) - an ethnic Persian member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in India and Pakistan, born in Zanzibar and also referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star"

At the time of the Muslim conquest of Persia, the dominant religion of the region was Zoroastrianism. The Iranians rebelled against the Arab invaders for almost 200 years; in Iran this period is now known as the "Two Centuries of Silence" or "Period of Silence". After many failed attempts to free the country from Arab domination, the Iranians were forced to either pay heavy taxes (Jizya) or to convert to Islam, the latter being the ultimate goal of the new rulers and thus the easier way. During this time many Iranians who are now called Parsi rejected both options and instead chose to take refuge by fleeing from Iran to Gujarat in western India or Pakistan.

More of an interesting piece of information I only learnt by watching a documentary on Freddie not long ago and it had a lot of his background in it and then did go a bit further on the internet to find out some more.

RE: One more sleep

A bit cool maybe but not cold.....yet.........

I have resisted lighting the fire. Usually takes about 2 hours to warm up the place, usually about 1 hour before I want to go to bed.

Micky, you will be so cool you will be hot. Enjoy life while you can.

RE: Would you vote for Tony abbot?

I do not like the current leader who has delivered the current policies, the numbers and the outcomes of the actions .

Being in Local Govt, I have seen some of the real costs there are to the local community. Nobody wants to pay Council rates when they see no benefit to them personally. The Council I worked for demanded through recent elections that costs be reduce by at least 5%.

My unit alone had a 23% increase in 1 single item, street lighting, thanks to the Carbon Tax. And 15% maintenance charges added to that as well.

Who pays for that? Okay, there is a need to compensate for that but what services does your local council need to reduce? We already pay a separate charge for emptying your garbage. Mine are every 3-4 weeks but I pay the same charge as those every week.

I don't have children using day care but I do have to subsidise those that do.

I love to read and have never used my current 11 years local library (now being retired I will have to use that "free" service).

I started work at 12 delivering Sunday papers making 2/6 for the mornings work. It lasted just the one day. At 15 I was earning $15 dollars for a decent days work as a brickies labourer. By 18 I was eaning $25 per week less tax. But I was learning my trade.

After 43 and 1/2 years of full time employment (including self-employed) when I have wanted to work, I cannot see how the current labouring Govt wants me to enjoy the fruits of my labour.

I have been ripped off to the tune of $350,000 by a lABORING NSW Govt through my super. Would I ever support Laboring? NO

RE: Winter is here

Couple of weeks ago (when I was gainfully employed), we had a job where a couple of concrete islands were removed from an intersection so we could save a couple of "heritage" trees from being cut down.

Ummm, normally it does mean a bit of depth to be taken out. "OOPS, we thought this had been plonked on the surface like it is normally done around here, not cut-in like most places." 3 hour wait for the bitumen plant to be fired-up again.

RE: One more sleep

Being a smoker, not a chance. But it is odd that they have realised that smoking and low cholestral may be related.

I do eat a lot of eggs, part of my diet even though being a diabetic. Eggs are supposed to be a no-no for cholestral. Yet never had a high cholestral count, even during the 12 years I did not smoke.

One of the problems that I perceive is that research is often limited to a few specifics rather than the 'average' people.

RE: Re : Boomerang Kids

My son-in-law borrowed the car and trailer last Friday. He got back late in the day and the daughter called in for a cuppa with us. She was checking out the room available for "her" storage.

Damn need a smaller place.

Today, I thought I would let my hair down and went and got it cut. Enough excitement for 1 week.

RE: Re : Boomerang Kids

When my last one left school and got a job... I upped stumps and ran away to Melbourne whilst the getting was good.

Okay, it wasn't as good as I thought. But my daughter had similar thoughts about Sydney and moved down here to get away from the place.

A bit after my divorce but before final property settlement, I did meet a very nice lady and things were going very strong. The drawnout property settlement did cause a lot of anxiety on my part but I managed, sort of. Not long after the final property settlement, my daughter asked if she and her fiance could move in so they could save for their wedding. While I would have loved to have paid for it, the leaches (lawyers and ex #2 had bled me dry) and it was a good way to help them.

But the lady friend said "I should have consulted her first." We were not living together "so what's the problem?" Wrong answer. Okay, my thought was that maybe I could move in with her until they got themselves sorted. Wrong thought. Her daughter decided it was also a good time to split from her long standing live together boyfriend and moved back home. With the dog she wanted while they were together but "I don't want him keep it." And she didn't really want it either but...

So 6 months later, with me stressing with my new job (which I have just quit ), things got to a head where she said that my daughter had ruined our relationship. To me, it was a lot of stuff that was happening at the time.

I do think that a lot of stuff I did may have been wrong but "it did seem a good idea at the time." I may be a bit spontaneous at times (like going to see a 4wd bus this Friday up in NSW) but also sometimes think about what I am about to do. Sometimes.

But kids moving back? Sell the house, find a 1-bedroom place and enjoy life. Oddly enough, my daughter keeps telling me that my place is too big for me.

Obviously, she does not want to move back in. Not sure if we could manage under the one roof.

RE: Social smokers

When you really get down to it, cigarettes are approaching $1 each with all the taxes added on. Be okay if they would buy you a drink every now and then.

When I was a worker (just rubbing it in), one of the guys was one of the "Today I smoke, when the packet is finished, I stop." and he did. And then maybe after a few months, he would bludge one off me. Only when he was really stressed. For the last 2 years, he would come up to me and say "Time for a smoke?" For me, not him. He just needed that time-out bit where we could both sound off about work. Worked for him mainly.

He is going through a bad trot with his father being ill overseas and much pressure at work with all the changes. And he has not had a smoke during these hard times.

Today is a [s]GOOD[/s] Great Day

Except this miserable weather means that I do not want to go just yet.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe not. Need to have the means (transport wise) to do the things I want.

Been busy with some writings, and tomorrow someone is coming to pick up the work vehicle. One less burden. Although I will miss the Peugeot Sports Wagon that I was leasing and all expenses paid in the lease agreement.

Now I will have to pull the wallet out when I want to go driving.

RE: Is anybody watching Eurovision?)))

Did manage to see the finals. What an experience. Not sure who won as I went to sleep just after the last singer (Irishman) did his number. The Italian singer was very good but a bit stolid. I think the couple from Ukraine (? - only duet) were great.

RE: Finlandia Convert

During WWII, the RAAF had to guard the AvGas as it was being pinched for hooch. By the Army guys as well as the locals. Resulted in many sick puppies and quite a few deaths.

Some of the best vodkas are distilled 4 times to give it high quality.

Worked with a Polish lady who brought in some triple distilled homemade vodka one Xmas party. Social Club was doing it on the cheap that year and it was BYO and kareoke. By the time the kareoke started, our group had finished off the 2 bottles of vodka. And then got up to do our version of "We got to get out of this place" (words changed to suit the workplace environment).

Half were lucky to be able to stand still, 90% couldn't read the words we had written, and none of us could sing. But we enjoyed it. But many sick puppies that night.