The return of 2020

I hope this excellent effort by ABC Radio broadcaster Sammy J is viewable in all countries. There is a couple of references to explain. 

Our Prime Minister Morrison said I think late last year that it wasn't a race to get everyone vaccinated. Now with COVID outbreaks in four of our states, the worst in Sydney, he has apologised for saying that and pretty well admitted drug companies should have been lobbied harder for Australia to receive more doses. The Gladys (Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales) reference is about her being too slow to lock Sydney down, which is has seen over 100 new infections on some days last week.

A note to bro

Dear Tradie Brother,

in spite of you being very tipsy (drunk) thanks for your call. That you are helping someone to learn to walk again is a great thing and you have clearly made great progress with him. I am not sure about your wisdom of when being suspended from work because of our lockdown and that you are doing it voluntarily is wise, that is unofficially, but I admire you for the effort.

You do need to call your ex wife, our Ex Sis in Law. She is having a rough time with wild and untrue allegations being cast at her at work by one person who she has gone out of her way to help and now with lockdown, she can't take her longed for holiday in Queensland. She spoke to our mother a few days ago and was in tears. I had an online chat with her Wednesday and R did Monday night and I hope we gave her some comfort. You do the same.

Ah, you wanted a printed timetable for a train. Good luck with that. Use Google, or an public transport app. C'mon, if you can post videos using your phone to Facebook, you can do anything on your phone. As I said to you, you will be disadvantaged if you don't get up to speed with the internet. It is laziness on your part. You need to learn about apps etc. Timetable printed out for the Stony Point line enclosed.

Nevertheless your train trip sounded great, from Baxter to Stony Point, about 25 minutes each way I guess. My memory is now hazy but I think our late friend David drove us there once. Let me have a look on Street View... I can't recognise it now. There was a building to the left and outside there was a lone piper playing a mournful tune. I suspect he is the same piper who I once saw playing outside The Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron in St Kilda. 

I think your trip was on a VLine Sprinter train car. I don't think I have have travelled on one and I think they are powered diesel electric trains with each carriage having its own motors. Diesel electric means diesel engines power electric generators to run electric motors to propel the train. I really should check this about Sprinters, so don't take me at my word.

I remember once at Frankston Market when your ex wife had her caravan selling pofferjes? There was a train engine with the name (Sir) Harold Clapp parked near by, named after the early 1900s train engineer, and the locomotive pulled a couple of carriages from Frankston to Stony Point. I don't know if it is the same engine, but at the end of Wiki is mention of the first diesel electric train with his name.

About ten minutes walk from us in Domain Road near Punt Road is the home where he lived. It has blue plaque outside telling of his achievements.

Yeah, so we haven't travelled on the train to Stony Point but we will. We must do the historic Mornington train too. Maybe you would like to join us. Let's make it a family event with your daughters, partners and their children.

Cheers Bro. 

Friday Frivolity

Oh those Spanish! Doesn't this look like a fun wedding to attend and how good does everyone look. The woman in polka dots is mesmerising. Sorry Grace, but here we go again.

Later: No it was only Thursday when this was published. I blame Lock Down Lunacy. 

Yesterday morning I watched a YouTube video of the train trip from Lisbon to Porto, in Portugal. By the look of the train, it was the same model high speed tilt train we caught for the same journey a few years ago. The tilt was unnoticeable and for various reasons it rarely reached its capable speed and ended up being quite late. It's nice to look back at some blog posts. http://highriser.blogspot.com/2017/05/europe-17-day-6.html

We loved Portugal and Spain. While my favourite city in the world is possibly Vienna, to be practical, where best to live in the world is a different matter. Spain is rather tempting, but I would go for Portugal. It's just an easier place to be. 

Then the rabbit hole of YouTube opened up and somehow I was looking at videos of  Portuguese soccer star Ronaldo. Gosh he is is nice looking and as Madonna almost sang, He has style, he has grace, he indeed gives very good face. He seems so tolerant of his fans as well as being kind to children.

Love him, well I did until I saw a photo of the disgusting act of being down on his knee on the soccer field and urinating. How long is a soccer half? Players' bladders can't hold out for 45 minutes? Or two hours? Further checking indicates maybe he did not and his bits just fell out of his shorts but he was caught urinating in a street in St Tropez. 

Still, if he proposed marriage to me and wanted me to have his babies..... 

A train to the country

We have two major train stations in Melbourne, Flinders Street Station for suburban services and where some if not all country Gippsland area trains stop before going on to Spencer Street Station.

The other is Southern Cross Station or as I prefer, Spencer Street Station. Along with dealing with most suburban trains, its primary role is the departure and arrival point for regional trains and bus coach services. There can be a lot of walking at Spencer Street Station, but for those who struggle with long walks, Travellers' Aid will come to the rescue with a pushed wheel chair.  I remember being thoroughly confused in Lisbon by a station terminus that had two name. Best we revert to Spencer Street Station in my opinion.

Next to the station is the old Victorian Railways headquarters, where all of our state's trains were managed from. It is a very fine building, now a combination of a hotel and expensive private apartments. Here a few photos.

Does the sign over the doorway tell you this is serious place. Don't expect laughter or humour should you enter.

It isn't common in Melbourne to have below ground level storeys. I expect this iron work is original.

Another entrance.

And yet another. It's a wonderful and massive building. You can see a photo of its minor southern face at this Grand Hotel link. It's eastern façade in Spencer Street is much longer.

On the other side of Spencer Street is this quite nice Best Western hotel.

Down on the corner of Flinders Street is the dilapidated Sir Charles Hotham Hotel. It too is a fine building and from memory, its proposed demolition was prevented and it will be restored for modern usage of some kind.

   

Motherisms

I was going to write about the appalling Katie Hopkins. but what is there to say really. The reason for her  getting into the country is very wrong. You could hardly say she is subtle and neither is my mother.

Mother refers to her GP doctor as Doctor Dumbo. Her heart specialist is Doctor No Knickers as he made her take off her underwear for an entering via the groin procedure. 

She found a doctor's prescription she did not recognise and was not taking and dispatched ABI Brother to the local pharmacy. The chemist called the doctor who said he changed the heart medication because Mother insisted she was allergic to it. Mother is a great taker of drugs but there is always one she is allergic to that is responsible for her bad health and nothing to do with her being 87 years old with normal  illnesses of the elderly.

Australia deported this person who should have never been let in.

Monday Mural

Joining in with Sami and others for Monday Mural.

We are now in COVID lockdown number five. Our various lockdowns merge from nightmares to bad dreams.

We seem never quite free but I suppose we were at some times within the last 12 months as I was on the Upfield train and took this photo of a mural from the window of my passing train at Anstey Station. I wonder what the mural is about? There is quite a bit to see in the photo really, but that is coincidental. I just took a quick snap from the train.

You Tubers Part 2

I said we would get wet and messy in part two.

Have you ever used your shoe clad foot to move away some leaves or rubbish to allow water to flow into a drain? I have and it is better than sex quite satisfying.

My interest in drains began with this bloke who uses the moniker Post 10. While he has other interests his primary one is an interest in clearing flooded road drains and road drain culverts. I understand how he loves to clear blockages and let the water flow from a flooded road in just one minute. He is an interesting guy and I think he may live in New Hampshire. From Post 10 I've also learnt about beavers and them damming water that they hate to flow.

Hi Maribeth, who lives in the lovely New Hampshire too. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCNU-ptlze2tqAJSDeVGNQ

As Drain Addict says to his little toys in his company, Ratty, Magpie and now Crocodile; Blocked Drain! Ollie is the ultimate drain cleaner. Do not trust the noises you hear. He inserts magpie noises as he strides to the drain cleaning point with his his orange gloved arms swinging in front of him. If he gets splashed by drain contents or something else amusing happens, listen for the laughing kookaburra noises. I say drains but they are mostly blocked sewerage pipes. I was initially horrified at what flowed out in a flood from a blocked sewer, but you get used to seeing it. I never realised corn is so indigestible. Drain Addict is Sydney based.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqTVbsEw73sR26xyJQMmceQ

That lead me to an interest in drain clearing and the Korean Blocked Drain cleaners are ok and the videos are subtitled There seems to be so many people employed to attend to clear drains at just one home or business, whereas Ollie above mostly does it on his own. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw7v5hZTLos08cvDbH9UjSA

Drain clearing is not pretty. We are talking sewerage, wipes, tampons, pads, fats and oils. They could be all combined in one solidified almost unbreakable mass, blocked by tree roots in drains with the obstructions blasted away by high pressure water jetting. Fascinating. 

Now we travel to England, Merseyside. That would be the greater Liverpool area, yes? We've were there a couple of years ago. Mersey Rods has become better and better with its video productions. While the boss does most of the filming, his secretary edits the footage for YouTube. Though he is an older person, there is something quite attractive about him and he has a younger bloke with him at times too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLYEQIWmYjQv8-R63f4Nplg 

Let's get away from all this sh*t, pun intended, and look at a nice lad who cleans pools and spas. How can one resist a good looking English pool cleaning lad who's slogan is 'Holla your boy for your pool work'. I am amazed there are so many swimming pools in cold old England* to the point that his is a viable business but you do need to add in spa cleaning...err, jacuzzies?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2XHNAE8IzWWUFrLuex0bzg 

Holla your boy for your pool work. Yes please! Frequently and often.

As I learn from your blogs, I've learnt so much about such diverse things from following YouTubers. The above are my focus now but I will get bored with them all and move on. You must think I am terribly shallow old gay man, and you are right, so we will conclude with the smoking hot Barron and his partner Elsa Rae who have travelled America in their tiny Scamp caravan/trailer with their dog Kamp and have now bought land. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaXSPxQxctfY_7smdTVkK6w

Did I say conclude? GTOger seems to have stopped posting.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPLjrMiMW2zSIMNZjjSRjQw 

It is an American business having private but open car parking off the street in a popular area and it contracts a company to tow away cars illegally parked in the 24 hour a day business car park. Some of the cctv of car owners returning to where their towed away parked vehicles were are hilarious. For someone who makes such an effort to always park legally, it's a real case of schadenfreude for me. This video is a classic of what you will see. Stupid stupid people. Skip forward to three minutes to see the real action.

*Except when we have visited there and it always hot.

PS I am breathless. I can't remember putting such effort into one post for a long time. It's been proof read, spelling, grammar and writing style edited and link checked three times, but I just know there will be an error or ten. Worse, it will not be of interest to many. Never mind. Publish and be damned.